What's a week worth to you?

It's amazing how quiet an audience can be, especially on the internet. I have no idea how many folk are actually reading this blog as I've only heard back from about 3 people I know who have mentioned they've read it. *chuckle* So it goes.

Jan 11th - back to work and Meet The Neighbours

Just an ordinary day, worked in the afternoon. Thankfully, it went uneventfully. I met some of my neighbours today too, so that was good; this building I'm in seems to be VERY quiet, so I made an excellent choice. My downstairs neighbour has been very helpful with a few questions I had so far, and everyone I've me seems very friendly. I've even got used to the buses that rumble the place every so often, but as I've mentioned before, it's nothing compared to the vast hordes of buses that passed the Landmark every hour. This is a placid pond in comparison!

Jan 12th - Boxes, boxes, and more boxes

Looks like I know what I'll be doing for the next few weeks( months? ): unpacking. At least I can watch TV while doing it, as the place is small enough to see the wall-mount from anywhere in the main room. I've booked off four days at the end of the month when the bookshelves from Sears should be in, so I can assemble them and load 'em up with consumer goods / books / whatnot.
I worked the evening shift tonight( sorry I can't go into details about WHAT does go on at work, but it's the privacy policy I have to adhere to )and that meant that I missed a chance to see everyone at a wine & cheese party thy were all attending tonight. Oh well... sometimes the timing just doesn't pan out.

Jan 13th - The Xmas Party

I opened the branch today, and it was quite a nice day overall. I was off in the early afternoon and headed over to my parent's for a bit to get ready for the Xmas party. in a few hours... which turned out to be rather hard to find. It was at a marina over in Esquimalt, down an unlit back road whose sign at the MAIN road was hidden completely from one direction, which of course was where *I* was coming from. Even the GPS couldn't find the address, which tells you something.
Still, I made it with time to spare, well before the rest of the crew showed up in a limo, of all things. The company was excellent, everyone was having a lot of fun, especially the ladies at the end of my table; my hearing has yet to recover from their enthusiasm. One thing bothered me though: the place was COLD. I mean, down by the water, a bit of chill is expected, but for some reason it was ICY in the place. Of course, I was one of the few folk who weren't drinking, so I guess everyone else was too 'happy' to notice. An hour after dinner and well into the karaoke, I was glad to head out to get back to someplace WARM. Unusual for me I know, who doesn't feel the cold( save for the arthritis, but that's different ). Ah well... it was a good party, and a lot better than a few of the annual work functions I've been to before. Victoria has a great crew!

Jan 14th - Missing Mailbox Key

I opened the store today, and things were rather quiet across the many branches, as expected after last night's party. I went to check my mail... and discovered my mailbox key was missing, thanks to the newly-broken keyring I pulled from my coat pocket. A quick check confirmed that ONLY the mailbox key was missing, so thankfully I wasn't locked out of my apartment( and I gave a spare set to my parents anyway ). Still, I can't get my mail - the key is circa 1962, and a quick call to my landlord confirmed no spare for THAT existed. I talked to my neighbours, who confirmed that they keys were both rare and unique to each box, so that ruled out a simple copy of someone else's key. Where MY key has ended up, I have no idea, even after a search of my place, the car, work, and my parent's. I ended up going right to the post office and getting my mail forwarded( within a few business days )so I can avoid getting my inaccessible mailbox stuffed while I think of another solution, whatever that will end up being.

Jan 15th - After a great start, I spent the whole... day ... driving around.

My first day off this week... and I had it PACKED( pun intended ). This morning I had a GREAT Skype meeting with the folks from Cyberwalker.com, and while I can't give out any details, the news was VERY good about future work with that wonderful team. As a writer, I'm very pleased, and it looks like I'll have a LOT to keep me busy in that department for the next while!
I spent the rest of the day driving around, getting various things straightened out with places like The Brick regarding missing deliveries etc... painful. I even went to Future Shop about my defective 360: they told me MAYBE next week, there might be some new 360 Elites coming in. No promises though, and I've been offline for MS Live for a month now; annoying. On the BRIGHT side, managed to find a GREAT deal at the local value village: a Panasonic Genius microwave in working condition, for only $35.00 - a bargain! I tested it in store by heating some water, and it worked perfectly. Since my 1-week old stainless steel Genius doesn't fit properly on the counter, I'll take it back rather than try and balance it on a board or something( and look stupid in the process ). Besides, that's quite a savings... too bad they didn't have the thing a week ago at Value Village when I looked; just goes to show you have to keep checking. At least I got to eat at Arby's today, in between driving around. Nice!
I should also mention that as always, there was a plethora of pretty ladies walking around. One in particular I should mention, as I was rather disappointed with the person, not the presentation. This lovely woman was in line behind me at London Drugs, pretty as all get out( and obviously knew it )as I was asking about the possibility that I had lost my mailbox key in the store and it might have been turned in. As I attended to that, this vision approached the Guest Services counter as next to be served... and asked for a pack of cigarettes.
My heart broke( well, it was dented anyway ). Not that I'd even exchanged a word with her, but to think that under that veneer of pretty, poisons and possibly cancers were eating away at her from within, all due to her addiction to something whose sole function is to make money for people who care only that she live long enough to buy a few decade's worth of smokes. It makes me angry and sad at the same time, to know that in a few decades her looks will be withered by the weed, and all she'll have in return is the likely possibility of a fatal doctor's report she hopes she'll never get. Bitter.

Jan 16th - Tax Training and Microwaves

I attended the Tax Training seminar we had for work today, at another branch. There were less than a dozen of us there, and I was among the most senior present. I didn't expect it to be overly informative, considering I've done taxes for a few years now, but I was wrong. The trainer we had was excellent, she went into detail about a ton of things that I had not been trained in in previous years, and all in a fun and friendly way. We all blazed through the training and were done the day well before dinner, which was nice, as I had a lot still to do.
I took back my brand-new week-old barely-used microwave tonight, as it just doesn't fit on the counter- the little support legs are about a half-inch too far to the left on the one side, so it leans against the fridge. I wrote four reviews later in the evening on epinions.com, check me out under 'modicus' on that site. I like doing those, as they share my tech product experiences with others who might be doing the same kind of pre-sales research I do before making a tech purchase. Also, it keeps my writing chops in tune, as well as testing my after-a-long-day-job-day stamina in being able to write coherent sentences on my own time. Soon though, the day job might be a fond memory, if I'm able to type-my-way to a living. Working from my own living room? Sweet.

Jan 17th - Some bad news, taken in stride

Of course, good news has to be balanced by bad, and that came in this morning. My parents, who have retired here to Victoria, got some not-so-great news about a dearth( lack )of supplies pf certain forms they need for some of their retirement planning; not good. It looks like it will be a few months before some parts of their needs fall into place, which places a rather awkward strain on them, and so me as well( since I can't stand by and do nothing ). Needless to say, it's going to be an interesting few months ahead in that regard( sorry about the lack of specifics ) ... so I'm going to have to reexamine some plans I'd made for the spring and put a few ideas on hold. Happily, it's not a disaster, as I tend to plan for the worst, since this sort of thing has happened to me again and again over the years. Sitll, it's disappointing to be right about planning for the worst.

Jan 18th - Another day off, so let's de-stress!

I only spent the morning out and about, gathering a few more items for my place, including some flexible plumbing hose... more on that in a moment. I had found the PERFECT A/V rack at the Brick( on sale no less )to fit above the corner fireplace in my apartment. That was no mean trick, as I've been looking everywhere for weeks now for a tall, not-too-deep corner shelf / rack / thingie, to no avail. I was even considering ones from the USA from a few websites before I stumbled across this one while out earlier in the week. And, it's black, so it doesn't stand out.
As those of you familiar with me may have guessed, I spent the afternoon putting the thing together and then packing it with all the various tech toys I've saved over the years, including my PS2( thanks Rene! )and even a Turbografx-16... yeah, it still works. Once I get the place to rights I'll get the sound system working, but for now it's enough to have about half of it all working. Oh, and that tubing I mentioned? I cut it to size, and packed all the various wires that ran to the TV into it... so now I have a neat-looking black tub running from the black TV to the black A/V shelf. Amazingly stylish. *grin*

Jan 19th - Cartoons and Working

For some reason, my left leg's been aching this week, despite the Lakota I've been taking as usual. Hopefully it's just something I did while moving, but I'll keep an eye on it; I don't want to add to my new doctor's list of problems to fix just yet.
Morning cartoons were briefly amusing; there's a new show called 'Storm Hawks' that uses some cutting-edge cell-shading CGI that is very similar to another, somewhat older show called 'Dragon Booster' - it's like a comic done in CGI, marrying the best of computers and traditional animation. After the amazing Reboot series by Mainframe, I've kept an eye on this technology, as it looks to have promise in quite a few areas. Plus, it just looks darn amazing.
On that note, I worked the evening shift... which dragged on another 1/2 hour past when it was supposed to, due to some issues I won't get into with my signing off on everything. Thankfully I didn't have a bus to catch, or it would have been an even longer end to the day.


That's all for now. On a curious note, this blog seems to be turning into a journal of sorts; the two are very similar, but I've always thought it a blog as more of a stream-of-consciousness thing, whereas a journal is a diary of events. Maybe I'm blending the two here? I've been so busy it's hard to mention any observations I've made about life out here compared to back East, but I am trying to note them as I see them, and eventually they'll make their way into this blog. Until next update then.... with more puns.

Catching up from the beginning of the year, wow... it's been a busy 2008 so far! I knew it would be, so here I am writing this blog at 11:23pm PST Jan 10th - yeesh!
Please comment( below each blog entry ). I love to get feedback / razzes / gibberish( some kinds )on the blog, if you're reading it... just a sentence would be lovely, folks. Thanks!



Jan 1st - New Year's Day

Sucked back some more Tylenol and tried to get rid of a hangover headache... which is odd, seeing as I didn't have a drop to drink the night before. Go figure. Did some writing today, and relaxed.

Jan 2nd - Back to work.

Worked in the early afternoon today, it wasn't that busy. Checked on all the things to get ready for the move to my new place next week - lots of details to finalize.

Jan 3rd - A new Doc.

I met my new family doctor today, an ex-pat from England. She seems quite nice, competent and rather fun, we seemed to hit it off well. I hope she'll be here longer than the year she's said she's over for in Victoria, as she looks to be quite the doc to have. I told her my various medical oddities, none of which seemed to phase her, which is good. She was very positive about getting my needs met, so I have a positive medical outlook for the rest of 2008. Nice! Worked the rest of the day again, same as yesterday, a little busier but not too bad.

Jan 4th - Early to work, late to bed on a BUSY day

Worked the early shift today, it was decent overall but I was pooped by the end of it. Seems I can never get quite caught up some days, go figure. I spent the early evening running around again, including picking up various bits of hardware for my new place's AV setup. Nice to know all the secondhand bits I've hauled across the country will finally get wired together into a working whole.... thanks, eBay, for all your help over the years. I swapped a lot of boxes around in the storage area at my parent's new place, to better facilitate the move this Monday AM.
I chatted the late evening away with my friends via Skype, hunched over my tv-tray table setup in the temporary condo - not good for the back, and it's bloomin' hot in there too! It was great to talk to everyone again, though I had to do it one person at a time; they were at Starbuck's at the Fairview, so the crowd was loud. The video was bad too, but that's just the way it is right now.

Jan 5th - The Weekend starts

I worked later in the morning today, so I managed to get a few things done and packed before then. The day at work wasn't so bad, nothing unusual to mention. Again, the people I work with make the day fly by most shifts; it's too bad we have to deal with such stress all the time, but I think that's why the humour we all employ so often is so vital, as it helps reduce the tension, Heck, it's a lot of fun too, for that matter. The evening flew by, and I only got a little packing done.

Jan 6th - the Day Before

I was up at 7am today to finish packing all my things from the temp condo, and I managed to do it in plenty of time before working the afternoon shift. There's quite a pile of boxes set to go.

Jan 7th - Moving Day!

Turns out to be a beautiful sunny day after the usual predictions of rain: hooray! I was at my parent's place for 8am, awaiting the arrival of A to B Movers for 9am. Two big guys and a truck showed up a little after 9, and went right to work. They made impressive time, getting both the condo box pile and the storage area cleared out within the hour - we're talking dozens of boxes here, including all my 2000+ count book collection( that's a lot of boxes there! ).
They stopped at the temp condo to pick up another few dozen boxes, including the TV, then off to May St. where they hustled it all up three flights of stairs. Did I mention this included a couch and a loveseat? I was impressed, as they were done by 1:30pm... and I had a 1-bedroom apt stuffed full of boxes. You might have guessed that I spent the rest of the evening unpacking things, with some help by my parents, bless 'em... have to love the retiree work ethic.

Jan 8th - Moving, Day Two

Yes, it continues! Up early again, for the delivery of my bed & mattress from Dodd's. Oh, and a small table too, can't forget that one. The two guys hauled the stuff up the stairs and assembled it in record time, rather impressive for the bed in the limited space of the room I have. Looks great in there though, and damn comfy. Too bad I didn't even get to test it with a nap, as the day kept on being busy. Atlas TV came to install the TV on the wall around 1pm, and I must say it was a professional job all the way. The thing swivels like a dream on the mount I purchased( at a dear price ), so that I can watch it from any point in the main room. It looks fantastic! Better yet, my timing of the install was perfect: as soon as Atlas was done, who should show up but Shaw to put the HD tuner in? Yep... great scheduling all around, glad there were no problems too. As you may have expected, I spent the rest of the evening unpacking... while watching the TV. Yah! My first night in my new place was COLD though - it's heated by a fireplace, which is nice, but it's in the other( main )room. Supplementing it with an efficient space heater in the bedroom works, though again it's going to be cool in the morning walking around; guess it'll wake me up some. Hard to believe the windows in this place are single-pane glass, with no real edge-seal to speak of... which means it should be lovely in the summer.

Jan 9th - Third Day In

Yep, I have four days off work( thanks guys! )to get this move seen to, and it looks like I'll be needing ALL that time to do it. The place is mostly to rights now, after I spent the morning sorting boxes like crazy into some semblance of order. All the kitchen and bathroom stuff is away, the bed's set and my clothing's mostly in wearable condition. Heck, I even set up the PC today, and DAMN but it looks like Shaw's got a fast connection; I'll speed test it later.
Of course, I was still short on minor things, like food and some other consumables, so I spent the evening out( again )getting things from a list... yay, more money gone. *sigh* I had dinner at the White Spot over on Mackenzie, and it was very good: chicken ceasar salad with calamari on top. Quite tasty, and the service was excellent. I ended up with a new microwave too, as the one I'd hauled across Canada STILL stinks of burned popcorn, despite my intense cleaning efforts - in a small apartment, that spells B.A.D. ... and it was a Panasonic Genius 4-in-1 to boot. *sigh again* However, I found a great little deal at London Drugs this same night: a NEW Panasonic Genius( not a 4-in-1 though )for practically a song, with new features and stainless steel to boot. Took a bit of juggling but I swung the deal and took the thing home... and went to bed. So... tired.

Jan 10th - Last Day of the Move

On the go again early today before 9am, over to my parent's place to set up their TV and internet, once the Shaw guy was done. He did a great job too; turns out the place has a wiring cabinet in the back of one of the closets, so the modem, routers and sundry cables can be neatly tucked away... once I'm finished with them next week, that is. For now, it all works just fine. At least their place is pretty much to rights, with just a few boxes remaining to move from the temp condo tonight; they're doing that themselves.
I came back to my place for lunch, then went out again for the rest of the afternoon to collect the remainder of my list, as well as help my parents with their own things. We had dinner at the Arby's at the Mayfair: the Two For $4.00 Ham Melts are back! Mmmmm... sourdough. Back to my place to relax for the evening, catch up on some emails, watch a little TV and then write this blog... and here we are. Back to work tomorrow afternoon, which should be ... fun.

A whole month in ONE blog entry - yowsah!

They said it couldn't be done... that it shouldn't BE done, but I did it anyway: I've compressed the entire month of December into this ONE blog entry, to catch all of you folks up. I've only done the highlights, cut out all the boring stuff, and thrown in some tidbits for spice. Enjoy!


Dec 2nd to 9th - I find a place to call home

Sunday, I worked. Not much happening there - same kind of people, different city, more rain.

Monday, I looked at an apartment over off Quadra St - a little dated, but it's a 2 bedroom with lots of space, laundry on the main floor and it's five minutes from the Mayfair Mall shopping area - tons of restaurants, a Staples, and more. $900.00 a month plus cable, so it's within my budget. Needs some updating though; it was built in the 70's and hasn't been updated since. *sigh* After seeing my parent's place for the first time today, there's no comparison. Also, we're getting a LOT of rain, but northern parts of the Island are getting flooded - not us! Yay!

Tuesday, I FOUND my apartment over on May Street! I met the landlord there in the morning after a 30 minute walk from the condo we're in now; he's friendly and gives off an air of trustworthiness( so I'll use caution instead of paranoia like I usually do with folks ). As soon as I saw the place, I knew it was perfect - one bedroom, built in the fifties( but updated ), with hardwood floors and windows on three sides of the third floor. The capper is a new corner gas( pun unintended )fireplace, which heats the space. It's bright, fairly spacious and most importantly, affordable for me. The location is near( but not next to )the Fairfield shopping plaza, which has a pub, a grocery store, a TD bank, a dentist, a hardware store and more. Apparently it's the densest plaza in all of Victoria and I can walk there easily. Also, there's the Cook St. Village, which is another nice area to walk to with more pubs, stores and even a Starbuck's. To top it all off, I'm near 2 major bus routes( one in front of the building, but it's not noisy from what I heard while a few buses went by ). It's ideal. I had lunch with my parent's at Sam's Deli downtown( GREAT sandwiches, with beer! )and then met the landlord again an hour later to sign the lease and fork over cheques. Joy!

Wednesday, I looked at some more furniture at Dodd's, and managed to pick up a night table that is the twin to the one I left behind in St. Catharines... for $10.00 ! I love Kijiji! Needs a little love, but I'm thrilled - I'd had that thing for nearly thirty years, and I hated to leave it behind. Also I found a new vacuum for 1/2 off at Can.Tire( sweet! )and played around with my parent's new Pixma iP4500 photo printer in the evening - makes my old Epson Stylus 500 look like an ink blotter... and it's less than 1/4 the price of what I paid for the Epson back in the mid 90's. Tech progression...

Thursday, I worked in the evening. Today was Lucas' birthday, but I haven't been able to figure out what to get him yet( been trying for weeks now ). Something able to be mailed, but not cheap... we'll see.

Friday, I worked a morning shift. I got another car rental for the weekend, mainly for my parents to use, zipping around the area to look at furniture and explore. It's so nice to see them excited about retiring in this city.

Saturday I opened the store, had a busy but far less stressful day that yesterday, and had dinner at the ABC restaurant with my parents. Turkey dinners, no less - it smelled too good at the next table over NOT to order. Another nice thing is that my parents can order from the Seniors menu now, so their portions( and prices )are smaller... both things that they enjoy. I talked to my friends in Niagara that evening via Skype, which we all enjoyed. Miss ya folks!

Sunday I had off, as a day of rest. I fiddled around on the Xbox360, trying to diagnose a nasty crackle that it's had since Day 1; no luck. I'm hoping it's not the TV, as I'd hate to have to return the thing. Good that the crackle only shows up in certain parts of certain games, I guess...

Dec 10th to 16th - More working, got some furniture, windy out!!!

Monday I took my parents out to Smitty's for a lovely breakfast to get the day going. We went a few places, and I purchased a few necessities at Home Depot for the new apartment( like a gas detector ). I went to work for the evening shift, and it wasn't too busy, which was nice. Sunny!

Tuesday I was at 'my' new apartment for 11am to take some measurements, then we went to the Brick Clearance Center, where I found a nice 3-piece sofa set in a sage colour... that was on sale cheap, cheap cheap! So I bought it, with only a little wallet-twinge. I got off work quite early, which meant I was able to get back to the Brick Clearance to pay for the rest of the sofa set and so not lose it to some other devious shopper with a good eye for a bargain - whew! I also went to London Drugs right after to check out another deal on an HD-DVD player from Toshiba, the A30, which was on sale AND came with a total of 7 free HD DVD's; too good a bargain to pass up. Since I now had a 1080p-capable TV, I needed a DVD player that would take advantage of the high resolution... and the A30 upconverts regular DVD's to play at HDTV 1080p resolution too. Amazing, and not that expensive really. I always love a good deal, especially if I can actually afford it at the time.

Wednesday and Thursday I worked the early/opening shift, both days were OK. I had an early supper at the Bay Centre Cafe` with my parents, then took a nice stroll along the wharf area of town, which was lovely with the evening lights on. No snow, but it feels very Christmas-y.

Friday saw my parents over at their new condo, measuring and admiring the view. I worked.

Saturday I had off, so after some morning television I went out to do some shopping comparisons. The wind was picking up, so I didn't stay out too long, though I did manage to miss a couple of buses and ended up walking a LOT further than I'd wanted to today. Oh well.

Sunday was VERY windy; there was a lot of damage up-island from fallen trees and the like. We all basically stayed home and revised plans etc for our moves in a month's time. Relaxed too.

Dec 17th to 24th - Emptying out the storage unit exhausts me...

Monday was, as expected, freakishly busy for me. I was at Budget Truck & Van Rentals for 8am waaay down Douglas St. at Queens to get a 13' van; we're moving the contents of the storage unit today over to their new place. So my dad & I spent the day loading & unloading the van from the 3rd floor of City Center Storage using the freight elevator( I did 99% of the moving, he shifted boxes and packed them tight ). We ended up making three trips to get everything, most of the time was spent carting boxes from the storage to the van and from the van to the condo, 4 boxes at a time on the dolly. We hadn't finished moving the boxes out of the lower foyer at their condo at 6:30pm, but I had to go pick up some other furniture and get THAT back to the condo, then return the van by 8pm... which I managed with 5 minutes to spare. I finally finished getting all our stuff into the condo by 10pm, at which point I was totally... wiped... out. My left knee( oddly enough )was a mess, and my winter coat was totally soaked with sweat. Geez....

Tuesday I worked in the early am( groan )and I'm still wiped from yesterday's exertions. I basically got home and napped the evening away to recover.

Wednesday I rented a Ford Focus early at 7:30am then had breakfast with my dad at Smitty's, before I went to work for the morning( It's cold here in the mornings, but that's amplified by the wet weather as it often rains overnight and in the mornings - have to watch that if you're out ). Sadly, my first customer of the day was extraordinarily nasty, threatening me for no reason. I later found out he was emotionally disturbed and off his meds, according too several other people in the lobby - not an excuse, but a reason to understand why he'd go off like he did. On a lighter note, apparently the police had staked out either end of the block around the store, as today was Welfare Day, and they picked up several dozen folks they'd been looking for recently - good to hear, though I can only hope they got Mr. Nasty too. I spent the evening trying to relax and forget about how vicious people can be if they're sick.

Thursday I worked quite early again, with no incidents to speak of. I spent the evening helping my dad move some boxes down to a storage locker at their new condo; my parents have spent the last 2 days sorting and packing boxes to separate my things from theirs and get it all ready for me to move in January to my new place on May St. Thanks guys. :)

Friday dragged until I worked in the evening; my week's caught up to me and I'm beat. Even Saturday was much the same, as I worked the closing shift. At least the morning TV shows were funny.

Sunday was MUCH nicer: we had Christmas Brunch at Samuel's next door, and we had my mother's friend Pat along as well. The food was fantastic, the atmosphere was sublime and we all had a good time, making me forget for a little while how the week had been rather hard on me.

Dec 24 to 31st - A busy week, my sister visits, lots going on ...

Christmas Eve( Monday )was another day off, which I really needed. We picked up my sister Cheri from the airport before noon in our rental, then went to have lunch at Spinnaker's Brew Pub near their new condo. It was rather busy and the service suffered some because of it; I think I'd like to go back on a less busy day and sit in the main restaurant, as we had to go upstairs to the 'pub' area to eat( same menu though ). I got dropped off at the other condo( home for now )while my sister & parents went for a drive along the coast, as I wasn't feeling well. That turned into a full-blown migraine within the hour; I attributed it to the microbrew I'd had at lunch. Some research a few days later( see item 10 here ) turned up the interesting fact that beer brewed in copper kettles( like a lot of microbreweries have )can be a migraine trigger for many folks, myself included. I spent most of the evening curled up in a corner in agony, despite medication, but I did manage to crawl out later on to watch some of 'Heidi' with my family before my sister was dropped off to sleep in luxury at my parent's new place. Merry Christmas to all, and pass the Tylenol...

Christmas Day was a quiet one; we had no presents to speak of, as we're all carefully watching our budget and have spent years worth of Christmas-cash in this move, so nobody minded. We went to the Sticky Wicket Pub for lunch... as we found out we'd arrived far too early for them to be serving their Christmas Turkey special; oh well. The waitress Jessica was VERY cute. We all piled into the rental for a LONG drive north up-island to Sooke, about an hour, which apparently we just HAD to do today. Good thing I love & get along with my family, and the view was rather pleasant with the varied scenery. I took some great photos( future link here ), then we went back to my parent's condo so I could nap for a while, as I'm still not feeling great after yesterday's migraine. We went back to the Sticky Wicket for dinner at 5pm, and though it took an hour for our dinner to arrive, it was worth it: turkey with all the trimmings, in large quantities. Fabulous! We all spent the evening watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which oddly enough felt very appropriate for Christmas( don't ask me why ). Again, it's amazing to have ALL my family there for Christmas, I'm feeling very blessed / lucky to have us all here and safe in Victoria.

Wednesday I was at Future Shop in Victoria for 5:30am... and there were several hundred people already there ahead of me in line for Boxing Day! Doors opened at 6am, and we all went inside in quite the orderly fashion; I was surprised. Though it was crowded, I did managed to snag several DVD deals, as well as a nice 'net router for 1/2 off. We met my mom & sister at Smitty's for 7am breakfast, then I took a nap for a few hours before working at 11am.

Thursday I had a morning coffee( well, tea for me )with my sister at the nearby Starbucks. We talked about quite a few things, and I was so pleased to just spend time talking with her. I'm thrilled that she's getting along well in life, and has remained such a great person. Love ya sis! It made working for the rest of the evening much nicer.

Friday I had a last breakfast with my sister( and parents )at Brannigan's, then got dropped off at work for the day after saying goodbye to my sister, as she's leaving today... I'll miss her a lot. I'm also happy that she has so many good friends who have helped her get here for two visits so far - it's VERY much appreciated. Just goes to show good folk know the same, and act like it. :)

Saturday was another day off, most of which I spend out again running errands, including a stop at Future Shop to test my Xbox360 on the same TV model as the one I have at home. Unsurprisingly, the SAME audio crackle boomed from the speakers to startle several customers, which leads me to a 99% certainty that it's the Xbox, not the TV, at fault. Now I have to convince Microsoft of the same thing... and get in line on the phone for long, long waits after the busy holiday season. Yay. Had lunch at the Red Robin restaurant near the Mayfair Mall, which was a mixed experience - the service was so-so but the food was good. At least we weren't near the section with the screaming baby... who stayed ALL the time we were there. I hate to say it, but if your child won't stop crying, perhaps you might consider taking them home a touch early?

Sunday I opened the store again. Man, this place LOVES paperwork, as I've already mentioned. Perhaps it's because they don't have a midnighter to balance everything, but even when I WAS working on midnights, the store didn't have so many, many things to checklist, file, sign and doublecheck... it's almost obsessive, and though I'm an organized person, even I find it a bit much. Ironically, I spent the evening at home filing MY paperwork to try and catch up on all the receipts and such that have flooded me since we moved... there's a ton to track, so I'm using MS Excel - urk. At least I'm getting practice for work, and I'm getting better THERE too.

Monday: New Year's Eve, and it was BUSY at work( shocker ). Even though I only worked until the early evening, the last few hours were crazy - human nature dictates that many folk wait until the last minute to get anything done, then complain when places close early( uh, holiday...? )and they can't get their business done. Sheesh. At least the TV repairman from Q-Tel came in the morning to tell me that my TV was fine... though he nearly made me throttle him when he shook my Xbox to 'test' it... not very technical, and potentially damaging! Anyway, enough on that. I was online with them on Skype until 10pm, talking & viewing with my friends for New Year's eve. Everyone was at Pierre & Faith's place for the evening( Rene & Shi couldn't make it, sadly )but I had a great time despite being 4000km away... folks stayed until 1:30am EST to watch the first Austin Powers movie, which I heard more than saw through the tiny grainy picture that I was granted via Skype. A great way to ring in 2008 with my friends, I miss 'em all.

All for now. For those of you who care, all posts have been edited as of Jan 3 2008 to eliminate any references that my cause heart palpitations for NMM. Of course, having an online policy would help matters... and now I know you're watching. :-)

Two weeks takes me into December in Victoria - busy!

As always, feel free to comment on this blog at the bottom; I love feedback. :-) Also, you can start at the beginning of the blog here or follow the links on the left, organized by date.


Nov. 18 & 19th: Starting out the week

Sunday, well... that was a restful day. Sort of. I spent the day relaxing, off work.

Monday: work time, of a different sort. My parents & descended on our storage unit, to sort through boxes and pick out some more essential items, which we packed into a rental SUV( a Ford Freestyle ). It was a cold day, and the storage unit was unheated... so after spending 4 hours there I was chilled and hungry, with what felt to be the start of a cold I'd picked up last Saturday; lovely. We packed the car to half-full and unloaded it at the condo, then spent the rest of the day doing grocery & other shopping at the various area malls, more easily reachable by car. I also managed to snag the cell phone I'd been waiting for, the new LG Shine Gold flip phone. It must have been my lucky pot of cold, as we saw a double rainbow at sunset tonight.

I couldn't locate the Olympus camera I'd purchased from eBay, and needed to return to the seller for a refund( after I disputed the fact that it was 'perfect', a long and protracted email argument resulted in arbitration through PayPal that was to end with my return of the camera for a refund... but it's MISSING ). In fact, the whole box it was in is missing... and since there was no item manifest for the movers( Multicites )to sign off on, I can't produce any evidence to get a refund. So, that sucks, I'm out a fair chunk of cash and( most galling of all )the seller on eBay gets away with selling a defective camera... and keeps my money. Life's not fair, kiddies... so take all the precautions you can, or you'll find yourself one day wondering how you got a hole in your wallet.

Nov. 20th & 21st: The head cold sets in... and my articles are published!

I worked both days, feeling miserable and blowing my nose every 5 minutes... all day long. But I stuck with it, and vowed to purchase some nice lotion-packed kleenexes on the way home. On a BRIGHTER note, BOTH of my articles that I had submitted last week to Informit.com were accepted, without ANY alterations, and for a NICE sum of cash - lovely! Too bad they don't have a timeline for being published... and that my head hurts too much from the cold to celebrate.

Nov. 22 & 23rd: Suffering from my cold, but persevering.

I stayed in bed for both mornings until I had to get for the closing afternoon shifts; the cold has, of course, socked it to me. It was a nice sunny day here in Victoria, and quite a few flowers are still blooming along the way to work. Too bad I couldn't smell them.

Nov. 24 & 25th: Soldier on. Skype, then brunch the next day.

I opened the store on Saturday, which was an experience. Did I mention that though I lot of things are the same with NMM here in B.C., there's a LOT more paperwork that they seem to LOVE doing? I'm not a fan, if you couldn't tell. At least I finished work early Sat. and could spend the evening resting up until I chatted with my friends in Niagara using Skype; it was a blast, though I was really, really tired after 90 minutes of fun talking to them all at Pierre's place. The 3-hour time difference does make things tricky to schedule though.

My parents & I had Sunday Brunch at Samuel's Restaurant next door, only a few steps away. It is a lovely restaurant, with top-notch service and impeccable food. We had to make reservations, and it was quite crowded, but things run smoothly there and it was a pleasure to dine at such an establishment... despite the cost. Having someone ALWAYS notice that your tea needs topping up, or whisks away plates right after you're done, is indefinably comforting. The best part? The brunch was paid for by our landlord Kevin, as an apology for the various small annoyances we'd experienced at the condo over the last few weeks. How nice!

Nov. 26th & 27th: Two Days OFF

My cold seems to be fading, and these two days off should help kick the little buggers out of my system permanently. I spent the Monday making a TON of calls about rentals, hoping to find the perfect place... or at least an acceptably affordable one. Turns out that Victoria hasn't had its rental market expand much at ALL in the last 20 years, so the turnover rate is low; it's really a landlord's market, so they can be both picky AND pricey in many cases. While I was originally looking for a two-bedroom unit, I soon found that these were both scarce and pricey, so much so that the few decent ones I did find were either already taken, or had major things wrong with them... heck, a lot of them were just too damn pricey to even consider without a roomie... which negates the storage and guest benefits of a second room altogether. My mother's been a great help in the search; being retired, she's been scouring ads from many sources to find those few that fit my needs. It's helped cut down on the number of calls I've made considerably.

Tuesday the 27th, I saw a few places, but again there was nothing I'd be happy to call 'home' - I'm not picky, but having a kitchen where I can place my flat palms on ALL four walls is a little too cozy for my tastes; I can't cook in a closet, thanks. On a more interesting note, there was a minor earthquake( a 3.3 ) in the late evening, which caused a large mirror to fall off the wall in the front entry... on top of a glass table, no less! Miraculously, neither the mirror OR the table shattered, or even cracked - considering that the HUGE mirror had been held up by a tiny little hook in the drywall, that was amazing all over again. Needless to say, it stayed on a solid shelf elsewhere.

On a lighter note, my sister called to say she was quitting her job at the art gallery in Banff. The stress was simply too great, and though the owners were nice folks, they apparently just can't bring themselves to take the pressure off my sister to do more sales... so she's quitting before she has a fit at work. Can't say I blame her, though it's a shame, as she's said she loves most of the other aspects of the job. She's got a new job already though, at a high-end spa, so we're relieved and happy for her.

Nov. 28th & 29th: My Dad's Birthday... and I bought a BIG TV! Doh - my wallet...

I just worked on the Wednesday; too tired to do much else. More and more I know that I'll have to get some physical activity scheduled for the spring, once I find a place to live. It's been a lot of work so far, day after day, in getting things DONE even AFTER the move here to B.C. ... I've definitely lost weight, as well as sleep. I'm hoping to get more of the latter and gain none of the former once things settle down and I can just RELAX for a time, get some writing done... *sigh*

The 29th was a BUSY day. I viewed an AMAZING condo today, right down by the bayshore on the west side of Victoria, near the Johnson St. bridge. It was called the Mermaid, and it was so fantastic I would have given half of several vital body parts to be able to live there. It was a HUGE one-bedroom place( sizedfor 2 bedrooms, but only 1 was built.. so the main room was BIG! )with stainless steel appliances, in-suite laundry, a soaker tub and heatlamp in the bathroom and a TON of storage. It even had a SPIRAL STAIR that led to a rooftop terrace that was the size of the ENTIRE condo's footprint - amazing, with an amazing view from the top floor across the bay! Sadly, it was $1500.00 CAN a month PLUS utils, so there was NO way I could even dream of affording it.

I took my parents across the street to the Canoe Brew Pub for a nice birthday lunch for my dad( he turned 60 today )though the beer as usual gave me a headache instantly( even the nicer microbrews do this; allergies perhaps? ). They went over to view a nice place across the bridge in Esquimalt... and fell in love with it. The building is all white-painted steel and glass, consisting of sweeping curves and floor-to-ceiling windows in a design that looks like a cruise ship on land. All of which costs a fortune, which is why they are going to rent the place; no sense in stretching themselves to invest, as it limits their future mobility.

I zoomed over to Future Shop to check out a deal on an LG HDTV that seemed too good to be true: buy the 42" TV and get an Xbox360 Elite tossed in FREE! Skeptical, I had been checking the specs on the TV for the past week, and found it was a top-end model from many, many reviews and owner's write-ups. I prepared for my trip today by filling a USB key with a bunch of 1080p high-def images, to test the TV in-store. Armed with the key and some other info, I tested several of the TV's on the store's sales floor, collecting a large crowd of store staff around me in the process; apparently nobody else had ever bothered to test a flatscreen TV while still IN the store, BEFORE buying...! Nuts if you don't, if you ask me.... 'cuz the first TV I tested had a dead pixel, spotted right off the bad - saved a messy return right there! *grin* I was quite satisfied with the TV's image after a half-hour of testing, and bought it on a no-interest Future Shop card deal... which was the ONLY way I was giving them my money, thanks... too many bad experiences at the St. Catharine's F.Schlock over the years had soured me somewhat. The staff at the Victoria store were VERY nice though, friendly and knowledgeable... and soaked up the HDTV info I was spouting as I tested the TV. All in all, a good time.. then I went to work. *sigh*

Nov. 30th & Dec. 1st: Work, work, work... and work some more.

Friday the 30th was boring; all I did was work after dragging myself out of bed to PLAY WITH MY NEW TELEVISION! It was delivered not long after 10 am, and to my horror the delivery guy was carrying the large box BY HIMSELF, pressing the flat against the bump of his shoulder....!! With visions of a cracked screen, I quickly unpacked the TV and found to my utter relief it was unharmed by the idiot. Whew! I let it warm up for a half hour while I unpacked the Xbox360, then plugged them both in and ran their setup routines. I was playing Forza Racing before noon while the new dishwasher was being installed behind me, thanks to Kevin. Nice! Leaving for work for the evening was hard, but I knew the TV would still be there in the morning...

Saturday, the 1st of December I spent playing with the TV. Yep, it's that simple. The colours are great( after tweaking of course! ), the sound is good ... I've run a ton of tests, and the picture comes out with( pardon the pun )flying colours! I walked over to the Bay Centre and purchased a few games( used of course! )from EB Games... Halo3, as well as Mass Effect and BioShock. All of which promise to be great-looking games at 1080p on a 42" screen... *drooling* Ah, tech.

My parents went out in the evening with a new local friend by the name of Pat, who through amazing coincidence is part of the Victoria Welcome Wagon group AND knew my mother in high school back in Niagara! They went to see the annual Island Truck Light Parade( see the pictures at their website here )which is a popular tradition here in Victoria every winter. It was too wet out, and I was both too tired and still trying to shake my cold, so I stayed home and comforted myself with my TV... a little. Amusingly, there is a Fireplace Channel through Shaw Cable here, so I called that up and had hot chocolate while reading by the fire... with the REAL( well, gas )fireplace on as well. Quite warm and cozy, all in all - a nice end to a hectic and tiring two weeks.


Hope you're enjoying this blog folks... I certainly am while writing it. :-) Merry Christmas!!!

The Second Week in Victoria: Lots and lots to tell...

My second week in Victoria was rather stressful, and I ended up catching a cold by the end of it from some helpful stranger, likely one at work. As always, you can comment on this blog at the bottom - I keep wondering if anyone's actually READING this thing....? ALL previous Blog enries have been updated as of today with Links - images will be next, I hope, in a week or two.

Nov 11th - Remembrance Day

We drove through Beacon Hill Park today in the rental Pontiac G6, the last day we had it. I took a lot of pictures, as the sun peeked out here and there from the overcast sky to give a few good photos. The park is very large, larger than the sizable Bourgoyne Woods back in St. Catharines, and since it sits in the middle of the south end of Victoria, the city surrounds the park but does not intrude on it. Tall trees cover about a quarter of the land, with winding roads and paths meandering through the vast spaces. A good portion of the park is undeveloped wilderness, with great rock prominences jutting through the grass like the bones of the earth itself. Some areas, like the ones where I saw 4 peacocks, are planted as beautiful flower gardens, while another area contains a large pond surrounded by willow trees. A gorgeous park, the south end of which overlooks the ocean straight and gives amazing views of the Juan de Fuca Islands.

We saw quite a few folks out for Remembrance Day today as well, despite the weather. Quite a gathering was down at the Parliament Buildings on Government Street, and we saw many military uniforms returning home from that area as we finished our tour of the park. After returning the rental car, my parents and I had lunch at the Bay Centre cafeteria, which is on the fifth floor of the Bay Centre and is quite large. The food is excellent, as are the prices, and included in the meal is a fantastic view to the west of Esquimalt, where my parents will be getting their retirement digs set up in a month or so - more on that later. The view of the harbour shows seaplanes taking off, as well as the ferry to the USA and other boating traffic.

Another nice thing about Victoria is that everyone seems to watch out for one another. The bus drivers actually SLOW DOWN when nearing each stop, even if all they see is someone walking towards the stop area - they slow, just in case that person is trying to catch the bus. And as I've already mentioned, everyone THANKS the driver when they leave the bus; it's great to hear. Even seeing people wait patiently in groups to cross almost-empty stretches of street is a treat; I keep expecting people to do the Niagara Falls dash-for-your-life-through-oncoming-traffic thing, and seeing people actually WAIT for the 'walk' signal, en masse, even with no cars in the immediate area, is still a source of fascination for me even weeks later.

Nov 12th - Stay Home Storm

A nasty pacific storm blew in today, revealing that our temporary quarters at the Landmark building are not all that well sealed against the weather. In particular, the door to the patio of the main bedroom had huge drafts of air blowing in around all four sides, so we sealed those with painter's tape temporarily. We also have noticed the tile floor in the kitchen is quite chilly, which we suspect is a lack of insulation in the walls. Another point is that the kitchen backs onto the second bedroom, and there is a complete lack of noise insulation in the wall - you can hear every drawer or cupboard close, utensils rattle or appliances running. I am very glad we haven't rented this place for more than the few months planned, for although it looks to be a lovely building and the trimmings are very nice, the guts of the place aren't very well thought out a'tall.

Needless to say, we didn't go much of anywhere today due to the storm, and a good thing too. While we didn't lose power here, the evening news revealed a lot of damage all over Vancouver Island - the heavily wooded Island meant a LOT of trees fell from the severe winds. Seeing as today was the second of FOUR days off in a row, I spent some of it sorting through things I had brought from the storage depot and just generally relaxing, as I've been very tired of late.

Nov. 13th - a Day Spent Shopping

A very quiet day again... I had received notice from Multicites Moving that the delivery would be taking place either today or tomorrow, so I was very grateful to my new co-workers for giving me these three weekdays off to get that taken care of. Unfortunately, nothing arrived today due to delays caused by that severe storm a few days ago - it played havoc with shipping schedules for the Vancouver Ferry, setting things back at least a day... of course.

So I went walking around Victoria instead, determined to get a better look at the place on foot. I wandered into the London Drugs store on Yates, and found a fantastic camera that I had been eyeing for a while. After having a better look at it, I bought it - a Fuji F50fd, a little pocket camera that packs a 12 megapixel SuperCCD, a large screen and a ton of features. While it cost a fair penny, it was nowhere near the SLR-range price insanity that seems the rage these days.

I also bought a 2-gig high-speed SD card for the thing too, to ensure I could snap pictures fast. Seeing as our last camera had started to severely malfunction a few weeks ago, I knew that I would be needing a new one, so my research pointed me to the Fuji above all others. Joy!

When I arrived home that evening, I discovered that Multicites had called; the shipment would finally arrive tomorrow. I was thrilled, as I had been stressing that the bad luck revolving around trying to ship our goods would keep true to form and result in its total loss in transit. Whew! I slept a lot better that night, let me tell you.

Nov 14th - Our Stuff Arrives

I went to the Budget Car Rentals just down the road with my mom at 8am to rent a nice SUV to use today once our things had arrived in a few hours. It was a nice Ford Freestyle, which had a ton of interior cargo room, lots of bells and whistles and drove like a brick, while looking like a squashed cousin to an SUV. At least it had heated seats, as it was quite chilly today.

We got a call from Multicites at 9am: they were en route from the morning ferry. We met them at the City Centre Storage depot on Johnson St a little after 10am; after some paperwork, they started unloading our stuff... which was no longer palletized - Strike One. I had organized our goods into seven distinct pallets, to allow easy shipping and distribution of important boxes on arrival - apparently that wasn't good enough for Multicites, which jumbled it all together... while damaging several DOZEN boxes in the process. The moving crew of three men were nice enough, but they were NOT careful with our boxes at all, even though we were right THERE watching them unload and directing certain boxes to be set aside for our SUV to take. I saw quite a few boxes CLEARLY marked 'Fragile!' in red marker all OVER the box simply tossed around and piled under other boxes marked 'VERY HEAVY' - can you say, DO NOT CRUSH?

It was rather stressful, and all this in the wet and cold too. I ended up paying a TON of money for these folks to mangle my goods, and LOSE several boxes in the process, conveniently one containing my Olympus camera, which was marked clearly on the box. I suspect that this was 'lost' intentionally along the way, but the last laugh is on the theif: the camera is defective, and while I had to eat the $200.00 cost through an eBay fiasco I won't get into, I am very slightly satisfied that the camera will NOT do whoever has it now any good. However, the flipside is that I have NO idea what ELSE was in that box, and never will likely know. My whole plan was to take pictures of the contents of EVERY box before it was sealed, as a record of the goods that we could use in case of loss in transit. Due to the failure of our old camera and severe time constraints at the tail end of October, this simply didn't happen - let that be a lesson to any of you who are going on a long move that will see your goods out of sight for weeks: TAKE PHOTOS! My shattered Visions pots, broken wine bottles and missing boxes are all proof that any idiot can move, but only a wise one will take precautions against other idiots messing it up. Given the MANY negative reviews of Multicites I have since come across on the 'net, I am not bothering to claim anything with them, as very few people have had any results without a lawyer!

We packed and moved three SUV-loads of goods to take back to the Landmark; I had had the foresight to purchase a handcart from Canadian Tire for the move, but it was defective - the tires went flat in minutes, and since I was the only one capable of heavy lifting, I had to move ALL the boxes on my own. My parents could not do more that unpack the stuff once I hauled it to our condo, which was stuffed with vital necessities by day's end. I was exhausted by the whole experience, and went to bed early with thoughts of how I could have managed the move some other way dancing a nasty tap in my head. I hadn't come up with any solutions before sleep whacked me with a soft pillow.

Nov 15th - Wow, can it RAIN here in Victoria! But what if you have nowhere to sleep...?

When it rains here in Victoria, it tends to be a gentle sprinkle in the morning, followed by some clearer skies around noon, then some more rain in the late afternoon. Today was no different, save that the rain decided to skip the clear bit around noon and dump a load of water instead.

Which made me glad to have my umbrella as I walked to work today for the closing shift; having a solid gust-proof umbrella is a must for anyone walking among downtown's odd wind patterns.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the preponderance of street people here in Victoria. While there were homeless and street walkers in Niagara, one didn't see too much of them all that often, which wasn't to say they were not really there. However, here in Victoria they are quite visible in the downtown core, right in your face quite often. My first time walking through downtown Victoria, I counted more homeless folks in sight that one day than I had ever seen in my life up to that very day. Here, they are polite but ever-present and certainly not shy; they will approach anyone to ask for change, and there is usually someone sitting in front of any store or business that is closed for the day, or in front of the few empty shops that dot the area.

I have mixed feelings on these folks, having worked in cheque cashing for nearly eight years now and seeing the many paths that life can lead a person down. On the one hand, some of these folks were simply dealt bad hands and became stuck here in Victoria, where their life went askew and they haven't been able to turn it back around again. That, I can understand very well. On the other hand, I see people every day on the other side of the glass at work that simply don't care to try, or are so lost to themselves that they are beyond the help of all but the most dedicated social worker. Having heard stories about folks making more by begging changed that I make working for a living( and questioning those same stories ), I always wonder as I pass these folks what their real story is, and why they sit on the sidewalk day after day, asking strangers for change... and where they go at night. I have seen things in passing down alleyways that I will not repeat here, and I know there is a sordid life that exists in every larger city, everywhere in the world, that most folk do not see nor care to. Due to my job, and my own observant nature, I KNOW it is there, and it tarnishes my image of this lovely city to see each street walker working the crowds in downtown Victoria day after day. For it is where the crowds are that they set up; you will not find them outside the local malls, or on side streets or suburban shopping plazas - downtown is where the easy money is, and why they still persist day after day in asking for change. Which is sad, and ironic, for they themselves will never change until it is forced upon them, likely through circumstance and likely through violence. And while I applaud the efforts of organizations like Stop Homelessness.Ca, I wonder how many of the people I see every day walking to work actually want to change things for themselves. That, I think, is the sad part, and one I see played out day after day in the lobby of my workplace.

So that's my rant on the homeless and the street folk of Victoria. Like it or not, they're there, and nobody who lives in Victoria can deny that fact, though many choose to ignore it as they walk past them... day after day.

Nov. 16th - T.G.I.F.

I spent the morning putting together the last of my PC, so that I could communicate with the world once more without having to use my parent's laptop. Too bad I have to run a fifty-foot cable all the way down the hall to the main room here to connect to the 'net; I will have to figure out a wireless option one day soon when I have more time, as I had to work later this day.

My closing shift last night went well enough, or so I thought. Apparently I missed a few things, as I am wont to do when faced with a new way of doing things in the same company. At least they were minor, and I am dilligently taking notes as I go along, so tonight will go better. As I noted above for yesterday, there are quite a few homeless folk here in Victoria, and the system here to support them is set up somewhat differently from Niagara. Wheras I was used to seeing Social Assistance cheques once a month coming through the doors at work, people here receive a weekly allowance instead, albeit three much smaller cheques and one larger per month. I should also note that due to the wet weather here in Victoria, many of our poorer clients do not have the best odours, and I find that hard to ignore when dealing with them regularly, being a fairly clean person myself. My empathy is working overtime in this new job; seeing so many people so hard-pressed to get through each day tugs at my heart, but at the same time I have to deal with the anger, mental illness and stress that same life brings about in them. Good thing I've trained myself not to get emotional at work, or I'd be a wreck some days.

Nov 17th - A cold, of course...

I woke today with a sore throat, which I blamed on the lousy air in the Landmark; there's no fresh air save if one opens a window( and baseboard heaters only )so I resolved to unpack my air cleaner later tonight after I finished work, hoping it would fix the problem while I slept.

No such luck. By the end of my shift today, I had added a stuffy nose and a headache to my sore throat, all classic signs that I had caught a cold. Lovely. I've very careful at work to wash my hands, use sanitizer regularly and NOT to touch my face, but something got through the window and now I'm going to suffer for it.

I did talk to some of my friends tonight, thanks to my foresight of getting a local number set up in Niagara through Vonage, so that anyone can call me from there as a local call and have it ring out here in Victoria. It was great to talk to all of them while they were at Starbuck's at the Fairview Mall in St. Catharines, as they are wont to do most every Friday. Though I can no longer be there in person, I did stop at a local Steeb's here on the way home tonight, so that I could hoist a hot Tazo Chai tea to them as we talked on the phone. Lovely folks, I miss 'em all.


While it was a great way to end the week, I was feeling rather under the weather... but there you have it Next time, I will try to pack two weeks into one, as doing a week at a time, as a once a week blog entry, will mean I'll always be behind. There's lots more to come!

My First Week in Victoria - What a difference 4000km makes!

My time in Victoria these past 5 weeks has been very busy, but I have tried to be as observant as possible - I want to note all the things, big and small, that I find different about life here in Victoria B.C. . Granted, it's a sizable city, so I'm not exactly living in a small village by the sea.

***I will be updating my previous posts with Web links and pictures in the next week or so, so feel free to check back over them by the end of December to 'see' what you've missed! Again, don't forget you can Comment on on this blog down at the bottom, and the same for any other blog entry. Or, just email me. :)


Nov. 3rd - 10th, 2007 - A Week of First Impressions

I was up & out the door before 10am on Nov. 3rd, a Saturday - tired or no, we had lots to do and see, and only so much time left before we took the rental car back... but we ended up renting it for the entire week. Our first stop was at Sears, where I picked up a nice belt - on sale, no less! Needed a new one too, the others are a little tatty.

From there, we went to the Mayfair Mall, one of four area malls( the link also has a lot of info about Victoria's history too ). This one is rather unique; it has a hundred-year-old transplanted "Jeweller's" clock tower on the main corner of Douglas & Hillside, clad in shining golden metal that blazes in the sun like a beacon to shopoholics from across the city. We actually parked on the ROOF of the mall; due to the topography of the area, two of the sides of the mall are actually of a height with the surrounding roads, so the designers built the place with hundreds of additional spots ATOP the mall - you just drive on, and take one of the many stairs or the elevators down. As an aside, you can look DOWN through some of the mall's skylights from the parking lot - rather surreal, in some ways. What I liked the most about the mall( aside from it being modern & clean )is that it had BOTH an Arby's and a ToysRUs - I mean, really, does it get better than that? The food court is spacious and has a wide selection of vendors, and is done with lots of natural fieldstone designed to look like stylish stone fences.

After lunch at the Mayfair, we went to the local WalMart( there's always one around ), where we stocked up on all the 'essentials'. From there, it was a quick hop to a nearby TD Bank, where the bank manager himself took the time to open up a new account for my parents for their pensions. We stopped across the parking lot at the large Save-On-Foods grocery store, where we picked up more essentials and had to stop my dad from overbuying( as always )on foods. Just next door was the Saanich branch of the Victoria Greater Public Library, where we signed up and took out some reading materials. It wasn't a huge branch( that's downtown )but it was well-appointed, and about half the size of the St. Catharines Central Library - not bad for just a 'satellite' branch. Again, both the staff and patrons were very friendly.

It should be noted that so far, everyone without exception has been friendly and relaxed. A great many people my parents have talked to have enthused over how wonderful Victoria is, and welcomed us effusively to the area with genuine warmth. I must say, it is extremely gratifying to have total strangers smiling and chatting with you within five minutes of meeting you - when this happens again and again, anywhere in the city, you begin to glow and grin as well.

We ended the day on the 3rd rather tired, putting away our shopping swag and relaxing in the evening.

November 4th dawned as a beautiful Sunday morning. We decided to take a drive up the Malahat highway, a winding mountain two-lane road that curves west from Victoria into the gorgeous scenery. The view to the south from Victoria was amazing as well; the peak of Mt. Baker was quite clear, its snow capped top gleaming in the bright sunlight. Too bad I don't have a telephoto camera, or I would surely have snapped some awesome pics. Maybe next year...

The Malahat drive was stunning; huge trees a hundred feet high at the smallest dominate the slopes of the mountains in this region's wilder sections and in the parks that cover the lands. The drive was a spectacular vista of stunning views and shadowed corridors of trees, recalling many a nature documentary and summoning thoughts of primeval forests that humans stepped lightly through. The brilliant sunshine was a muted green glow filtering through the vast wooden spikes of the trees, whose lower sides were often covered with masses of soft green moss.

Another neat thing going on was the annual Salmon Run. The highway parks were simply bursting with parked cars and crowds of people under the massive trees, all of whom were there to see the local salmon spawning run. Tons of kids running around in the water, which can't have been all that warm. Given that the road curves like a snake on speed, I found it somewhat frightening that so MANY people and cars were packed along the shoulders, with so little room to maneuver for passing vehicles. Still, I put it on my 'to do' list for next year; looks like fun.

We had lunch at the Malahat Mountain Inn, which is perched on the side of a mountain at the side of the highway and affords spectacular views of the Findlayson Arm of the ocean inlets. The lunch was excellent: I had a spicy broccoli soup that was unlike anything I'd had before, light and tasty yet very filling. Not too expensive for lunch either, considering the view. Too bad the only camera I had was my parent's new cell phone - I took some shots, but they'll be rather pitiful.

On the way home, we drove by Beacon Hill Park, where another crowd of people were enjoying the fine weather by planting trees. Seems this is another annual thing that goes on around here; a ton of families were out, as were many environmentalists clutching spades. Add the many joggers, cyclists, walkers and other folk, and this place is quite the outdoor mecca.

The evening of the 4th was another quiet one; I added a quilt AND a blanket to my window with some creative use of nails and clothespins. Tristan seems to be quite happy here now too.

The 5th was a nice Monday, for my first day of work. I walked down the road to arrive for my am shift, which only took a few minutes through the heart of downtown Victoria. The day at the store was quite pleasant, as all the staff there are very friendly. They seemed to let me fit right in, and actually appreciated some of my modest attempts at humour - no serious Sams or prudes there, I am glad to say. Method-wise, the procedures and such are going to take some getting used to in terms of day-to-day operations, as there are many things that differ from what I am used to doing back in Niagara. Still, the basics are the same, and if my co-workers are any indication then there will be little internal staff-stress to deal with - which is good, as the customer stress is more than enough to worry about daily.

The 6th was an uneventful day at my new store, and later on I started to look for apartments here too using the local paper and search websites. While there is a large selection, I found right away that 2-bedroom units are not only scarce, they are expensive. But I will keep looking.

November 7th brought an unexpected surprise after an early 7am work shift: my sister called to say she was ON the island, as she had caught a ride down this way with a friend who runs hos own trucking business. So we piled into the rental and drove back north up-island to the ferry port of Sidney, where we managed to meet her at the local Saveway foods - all this without being able to get her on her cell phone. Unfortunately, we only had about fifteen minutes to see each other before they had to leave again to catch the ferry back to the mainland, but we did a lot of catching up, hugging and generally being a whole family again. It was great.

Nov. 8th was a typical Victoria winter day: grey and drizzly. Unlike Vancouver, our area does not receive heavy rains for weeks at a time; more like morning and afternoon showers that fall gently, unlike the usual driving rains I've grown up with. I worked this afternoon, while my parents spent the day driving to Langford to check out the various 'big box' stores up in that area, as well as scouting some furniture stores along the way.

Friday the 9th opened with us having breakfast at a lovely place called Brannigan's, which though excellent did not have the cozy atmosphere of the Sunrise back in St. Catharines... and of course, only my family was there, and not the usual crowd of friends. Still, it was good. Since it was a day off work for me, we then went on to London Drugs, which is a large chain of stores out here in the West that carries a large variety of goods, like a mini-WalMart in many ways. But less evil... anyway, I purchased an amazing little camera from Fuji, an F50 with a 12-megapixel resolution and a ton of great features all packed into a pocket-sized metal body. Now I could really start taking some decent photos of my new home. After that, we stopped by a place called Dodd's Furniture across from the Mayfair Mall, where we saw some great pieces including some new mattresses that I think both my parents and I will end up purchasing. Not cheap though, but at least I managed to secure some backup funding only a week before our move, enough to meet our many needs until my parents are settled into their pensions come the new year. Kudos to me, and my good luck! We ended the day by stopping in at the license bureau and getting new ones for all three of us, which was remarkably stress-free.

November 10th was another day off, and the weekend to boot. So of course, we went shopping... again. Good thing I love my parents, as I am no fan of shopping for anything save tech. We ended up putting down payments on a pair of mattresses at Dodd's Furniture, as well as a bed set for my parents that my mother simply fell in love with at first sight - my wallet gave a lurch at the same instant. To make up for it, they treated me to lunch at a nice restaurant out on the east end of the island in Oak Bay, called the Blethering Place Tea Room. It is an authentic British Tea Room and pub, with great service and even better food. The decor left something to be desired though; I'm sure any HGTV design team would get hives at the sight of the interior. Still, I had a fantastic turkey club, and being able to sit next to the windows allowed us to enjoy the sight of downtown Oak Bay in the sunshine - it's a very pretty town, similar to NOTL.

I also purchased a GPS( on sale, of course )for my father to use once he begins his tour guide job(s) in the new year. Though he was reluctant to leave the car to see it, he only needed 30 seconds of my demonstrating the easy-to-use Garmin Nuvi250 unit before asking "How much is it again?" with a smile. I was happy too; having a GPS will allow us to navigate the city much more easily in terms of FINDING places, instead of just wandering and making notes on a paper map. The day ended with my channel-surfing the cable TV here, trying to find my fave shows...


So that's a summary of my first ten days in Victoria. As you can see, I was quite quite busy and had already started work - so much for my week's vacation at the end of October / early November( as usual I spent it in service of the family - maybe next year will be different ). All this, and our huge shipment of worldly goods STILL hadn't arrived from MultiCites - I was starting to worry, and resolved to call them up on Monday the 12th to get an update.

Seeing as THIS blog entry has run on rather long, I will put some of my 'observations' into my NEXT entry, I promise - by this point, I can imagine some folk's eyeball's have started to melt, and a very big THANKS to those of you who have read this far. As a treat, here's a link to one of the things I love the most about Victoria... more about that later. Love this place! Cheers!