Dec 31 2003

Christmas / New Year’s Update

Category: GeneralJeremy C. Wright @ 5:54 pm

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!


Dec 27 2003

Christmas Presents

Category: GeneralJeremy C. Wright @ 9:39 pm

Lots of clothes, XBox Live and decent amounts of chocolate. I only wish life was going better.

Still, it’s been a great Christmas all in all.


Dec 27 2003

Merry Christmas

Category: GeneralJeremy C. Wright @ 9:44 am

I’ve got the flu. Baby has the flu. Merry Christmas. Nobody’s sleeping in this house.


Dec 26 2003

Back

Category: GeneralJeremy C. Wright @ 11:43 pm

Just landed back in Toronto. Very tired. Opened mail. Government wants 1600$ by the end of the month. Shit.


Dec 19 2003

12 Days of Blogging

Category: BloggingJeremy C. Wright @ 6:33 pm

Good fun, the 12 Days of Blogging. Not quite giddy fun, but fun fun. Good stuff.


Dec 19 2003

MS Protect

Category: WorkJeremy C. Wright @ 6:21 pm

Another time-saving thing for when I’m back at work: MS Protect.


Dec 19 2003

Feedster Feeds

Category: IT ThoughtsJeremy C. Wright @ 6:19 pm

Just a note for myself when I’m back at work, both Feedster and GoogleAlerts provide RSS feeds of search results (on blogs and Google respectively). Great for staying up to date on various subjects.


Dec 18 2003

Second-Rounded

Category: From My LifeJeremy C. Wright @ 12:16 pm

Well, after finding out about the job, and doing the interview, I’ve just had the call.

I’ve been asked to fly out for a second round. It’s on my bill, which was kind of a surprise, but it’s a low-level government job so maybe not.

If I can catch a decent seat sale I’ll go. I’m willing to make an investment in this opportunity. For a cost of 150$ the benefit, even if I don’t get the job, is pretty high.

Fingers crossed, eh?


Dec 18 2003

WestJet

Category: GeneralJeremy C. Wright @ 11:49 am

Just arrived late last night in BC. WestJet’s service was fantastic. Made the journey absolutely amazing!


Dec 16 2003

It’s Now Christmas

Category: From My LifeJeremy C. Wright @ 3:29 pm

If you are reading this, it’s highly likely that I’m in BC skiing, having a ball, opening presents or watching Lord of the Rings. Either way, I won’t be posting much during the holidays.

So, for old and new readers alike I thought I’d provide some holiday reading material.

First-time reader

First, a quick intro to this site and who I am, for the first-timer. I’m Jeremy C. Wright. I’m a business and IT guy from Canada. I work for a large charity (a church in fact, but my work rarely involves the religious side of things). I’ve got a great family and a fantastic new baby son. I’m glad Saddam’s been caught.

Ensight was started just over 6 months ago, and ever since then I’ve been posting rather regularly (often 10-15 entries per day). I blog on a variety of topics including business, technology and a whole host of other things. For a more complete list feel free to browse the category entries to the right.

While blogging I’ve released a few pieces of software, free (under Ensight’s Creative Commons License). These bits of software are also available from the homepage, top right hand side.

My passion topics, so to speak, are Open Source Business (and ideas and practice); why Google’s IPO is evil (page 2) and a spam-fighting resource.

Anyways, if you enjoy the type of thing I read about, be sure to check out Business Pundit, A Penny For and Jeremy Zawodny’s blog. From there you should be able to browse a large variety of other like-minded and interesting sites, or you can take a look at the long list of sites I read at the right of the main page.

Regular reader

I wish I had as much to say to my regular readers, besides thanks of course. I’ll be back on the 27th of December, though my blogging will be fairly light until I start work again on the 5th of January.

So, I figure that until then I have two options. Either I can bore you to tears recapping some highlights or I can give you a list of some sites I wish I had time to read while I’m gone.

I figured I’d do the latter. Why? Because it’s much easier!

Business
Business Pundit
A Penny For
Professor Bainbridge
FC Now
Synergy Fest

Tech
Jeremy Z’s Blog

I know this stuff’s on my blogroll, but at the same time too bad. I’d hate to ignore my regular readers since it’s the constant emails I get that normally make my day.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Jeremy


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