Archive for December 2003

Christmas / New Year's Update

Dec 31st

I figured I’d just do one long big post. Maybe I’ll have enough energy to get through it that way, eh?

Well, the trip to BC was great. Absolutely fantastic, totally relaxing. Grandma loved seeing grandson again and being in a relaxing and laid-back atmosphere was definitely what we all needed.

Christmas dinner was ham, which was a bit odd, and there was no snow which was really odd.

Evan did really well on the plane on the way there, hardly cried at all (maybe 15 minutes tops, out of 5 hours).

I got to play drums for the Christmas Eve service which was awful. It made me realise how spoiled I am at my church since most, if not all, of the musicians I work with are professionals or, at the very least either teach music or do occasional studio time.

Also got to see my extended family including Great Grandma who is about 8 months from dying. That was really cool, did this funky gift exchange game which was good fun.

That night we missed the last ferry back to my mom’s house, so we had to go back the next morning, which meant I missed my trip to Whistler, which sucked.

But, Evan became sick while we were there so it was likely for the best anyways.

Christmas was mainly “Evan-centric” which was really cool. In some ways I wish he was older so he could have enjoyed it more. He got so many clothes and toys and, and, and! :-D

I managed to nab some cool shirts, but mainly just a lot of good times with my family.

I went out to Winnipeg on the 29th, got a good price on flights, had a tour of the premises, did the interview over supper at a cool pasta place and then stayed the night at one of Winnipeg’s nicer hotels (courtesy of them, which was nice).

I was sick as a dog the whole time though. I was literally going through 3 boxes of kleenex a day at that point, so I felt like an arse. Apparently that didn’t matter much though, as I got a call this morning that they wanted a couple of references.

I gave them my boss and a colleague as contacts. They called my boss and talked to him for half an hour. I’d already given him a heads up as we met for half an hour this morning just so he was aware where I was at (and that they’d be calling of course). His reference was so good that they didn’t call the second guy.

They did call me though, to offer me the job. 47K to start, plus 3 weeks vacation and full benefits, plus another 8K/year after I’m settled into the job and I can do pager time. I’ve accepted as I really enjoyed the time I spent there.

I’m hoping I can go more into the interview, experience and everything later. Maybe not, but it’d be good to go over it a little as there were a lot of times where I was consciously going against “the best way to do things”. Things like telling them I really wanted the job. Apparently you aren’t supposed to do that.

Anyways, tonight’s New Year’s Eve and we aren’t doing anything but still recouping from being sick.

I’m obviously feeling better, since I can sit up and type though ;)

See everyone in the New Year, and thanks to everyone for the well wishes and so on!