Birthdays

Happy belated birthday to Chris (24 on the 24th) and Dave (23 on the 26th) and happy early birthday to Dan (24 on the 30th).

I didn't forget these people on their actual days - just forgot to mention them on the blog here - not that the majority of them read this or would really care if I mentioned them here :)

Anyway - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAY BABIES!

The Verve Earth

I received an email this morning from Verve Earth. It is a really neat website which is attempting to log blogs from around the world on a map of the earth. As I think this is a really neat idea I registered this blog there and have added a link to it on the side (it's own section - not in my blog or exterior links).
I suggest that everyone take a look at it - it's sort of neat seeing where the blogs on the internet actually get posted from. :)

New Job II

I am having doubts about my job. Doubts about my performance and doubts about how well it fits my needs and desires.
Part of the problem, I think, is that I am deeply ashamed that I do not yet have an engineering job or an environmental job. I feel like I am wasting my degree when it took me so much time and energy and will-power to get through it and earn the stupid thing. I also feel pressure from others to get a proper job I am educated for.
Hopefully I will get better acquainted with how things work around here and a little more trained in my tasks - I hope it happens really soon too.

New Home

Dave and I signed a lease last night for a new townhome. It is a two bedroom townhome with a communal hallway and a secure entrance. It is part of the Parkwood Hills Minto homes along Meadowlands. We initially looked at one there on Monday and tried to get it on Tuesday but someone else had signed for it and we lost it. We then were supposed to see three last night but one was gone. The second one we saw was not nearly as good as the first and Dave and I were a little nervous. But then we saw the third unit and were absolutely floored by how nice it was. All the units we had seen before this had an archway between the dining room and the kitchen but this one did not have that. This unit had an L-shaped counter and no wall between the dining room and kitchen - it makes it look so much larger, and nicer too. Then upstairs instead of having a large linen closet it has a walk-in-closet in the master bedroom! Once I had seen the L-shaped counters in the kitchen and the walk-in-closet in the bedroom I was sold. Dave and I took a few pictures but we couldn't get as many as we wanted since the belongings of the current tenant were still in the house. We get possession of the house on June 18 and will probably be moving in early July. I am so excited!

New Job

I started my new job today (I am here right now). It is rather slow today since the lady who is supposed to train me (for the most part) is sick right now and I have therefore had to busy myself on my own all day. I learned how to use the phones today (which obviously didn't take long) and then I helped to complete some work orders - basically I just did what one of the salespersons told me to do. I am now out of things to do since the training manual has reached it potential and everyone else who could teach me further, is out for the rest of the day. I have a little less than 1.5 hours left for the day and I am super bored! I hope it picks up and gets interesting soon.

8-5

I got a call today from one of the staffing companies I am registered with about a 2 week temporary administrative assistant job. I went down to their office to sign the paperwork (since I can't really be passing up job opportunities right now) and got the great news that it was actually going to be a 3 month contract position. It is from 8-5pm every weekday (as most regular jobs are). The job is basic administrative assistant work with some accounting work as well. As they are willing to train me in the accounting aspect of the job, I feel I am more than qualified for the position and will be able to excel in it. Hopefully that is what happens and I fit in well with their company and they want to keep me for the whole contract.

I am rather happy about it since I can now sign for a new home (rent of course) and be able to prove that I can pay for it and wait for it...wait for it...I can get my dSLR camera!! Anyone who has spoken more than three sentences with me lately knows how much I have been wanting it and now I can actually go and get it and not feel that I am screwing myself over. So my plans (unofficial right now) are to work for a couple weeks, make sure that I am not going to get fired or 'let go' right away and then go out and get my long desired camera. I am so excited. This day has been amazing, seeing houses I want to live in and getting a job (though I would have prefered an engineering job of course). This one though, with the accounting aspect, should be helpful, it is atleast a different job than what i have had before and shows yet another side of my skills, and of course I get new ones too. I will be able to use new programs and complete new tasks that may be desirable to other companies. At the very least, it is money.

1...2...3...

So yesterday I registered for a counter for this blog and then today when I read Chris' comment on my previous blog I felt a little better about having got it. I was just going to let it sit down there at the bottom and hope that no one noticed it and I could get a little information back, but I guess I will make it more public. I do have to take into consideration that I visit my own blog at least once a day and it seems to be counting each visit (instead of registering my IP address or realizing that I own the blog).

A Little Sad...

I was visiting Chris at her new place the other day and mentioned my photography blog, Stephanie Beach Photography, and how no one comments there or even seems to visit it. She said that it was because it was not linked from her blog, Always Standing. This statement hurts a little, I am not mad or anything like that, it is a true statement - it is true that people come here (and my other sites) from Chris' blog and that most people do not come here directly, I doubt anyone has it in their favourite list or anything like that. It is true that no one really comments here even, let alone my other sites (although Chris' Mum does comment on my health blog, The Road to a Better Me, that is when I post there which I have not been doing regularly lately). I have always known that few people read my blogs and that the only person who comments is Chris (or Chris' mum) I guess it just hurts to realize that other people can see it too. And of course I am a little jealous that Chris has tons of visitors and lots of comments on her blog on a regular basis - although Chris is more outgoing than me and has more friends...okay I swear I won't post another pity-fest like this one again - just something that was on my mind and I wanted to get it out there.

House Hunting

July 31st, 2008 will be our (Dave and I) official last day here at Unit 58. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate to be unprepared and always have some kind of plan, whether the plan is for the day or for the next year - so in preparation for the move I started researching houses (townhomes and apartments) for Dave and I to live in after July. I started looking places up in the beginning of April - mostly internet searches but also a little bit of driving around town and writing down apartment and townhome names (to look up later on the internet). Anyway, the paper part of the search is complete now and of course there is a spreadsheet system as well as some mathematical interpretations to properly compare places.

My paper research has lead me towards a couple different large companies, such as Minto Rentals, as well as a few private home owners. It has also informed me that I am leaning towards a townhome while Dave enjoys the all-inclusive feature of most of the apartment buildings. The reasons I lean towards townhomes it primarily the storage aspect, but also the fact that there are no elevators involved, private entrances and the fact that laundry facilities are within my home (I don't like the thought of having to go to a laundryroom and wait there with my stuff as it washes, I prefer to multi-task while I wash clothes).

I called Minto yesterday and Dave and I are going to look at our first option tonight at 5pm. I am really excited and am currently getting all the paperwork together so that when we go we are already informed of most of the features of the home and area. I plan on calling some other places tomorrow and setting up times to see them over the weekend and throughout the next week. Hopefully Dave and I will be able to decide on a place by the end of the month, if not earlier, so that we can finalize where we are going and I can have a sense of security (which I believe is my main drive to always have a plan - though most of the time, the plan is fairly flexible if not completely changeable).

DeviantArt

I feel a massive thank you is in order to those who visit my DeviantArt site - particularly those who comment or fav my photographs. So for those of you who go there from here or got here from there, thank you. I really do appreciate any and all comments and suggestions about my work - I feel it will make me a better photographer in the end.

Tulip Festival 2008

Today I ventured out to see the beautiful tulips of the Tulip Festival. It started this past weekend but because of the weather I didn't get a chance to get out there. I started out just heading to Chris' old place with a small pit stop at the university along the way. There is a bed of large red tulips there and a smaller bed of yellow ones near Chris' place, but along the way I saw some of the other side of the canal and felt impelled to get there - somehow. I ended up biking down the canal to Pretoria bridge, crossing and riding up to the Olympic Bed near Lansdowne Park, of course making stops along the way. I kept going along the canal and roadway all the way up to Dow's Lake where there are tons of tulips (Chris, you would hate it there, haha!). Anyway, I took tons of photos while biking around the area. There was a girl doing yoga there and I wish I had more courage because I would have loved to take some proper shots of her - perhaps I will get that bravery when I get my proper camera, you know, have the feel of a real photographer. Anyway, I really enjoyed myself, mind you getting home was long and tiring as I was biking against the wind and I had been going for about 2 hours. To make a long story a tiny bit less-long, it was a great day. Perhaps tomorrow I will go looking for those magnolias around Chris' new place (which happens to be just a few blocks from her old one haha).