Random thoughts

SO I had a lobster boil this weekend and a few friends made it over which was nice. I was hoping for more and I do understand it gets harder to get a group together as people get busier. For the ones that made it, I think it was a great time, and for the ones that couldn't well next summer for sure....

I visited my old stomping grounds....company...job and seen a few of my former employees. It was nice to catch up on things but so little has changed, I actually felt a little taken back on how the atmosphere was very stagnant and dreary. I guess I am use to and comfortable with a more outgoing fun place of work. Everyone seemed happy to see me and catch up on things, and I think everyone felt a bit of relief knowing I was working and that there were jobs out there as they start to man down at that site.

I was a bit frustrated with the people at work yet again yesterday. I have so many infrastructure challenges and no one gets it, and I mean NO ONE! I have about 60% of my major tagged equipment coming to site in the next 3 months, and I have no staff to receive it, I have no permanent laydown or any equipment. I don't even have a pick up truck for the warehouse. This project, this site, is a joke, unfortunately I am not laughing. I hate not being in control of my area of responsibility or my chance at success. My best analogy for this site(I may have said this before) is I am in the middle of a mine field, and chances of making it out alive is very slim,and chances of making it out unhurt is even slimmer.

That being said , I will as we used to say in the military "Soldier On" and try and be as successful as I can considering the challenges and road blocks ahead of me at this time.

I have applied to join the reserves and have requested my documents from Ottawa to verify my former service in the regular force and reserves. I think this will be a long painful process to get back into the reserves and I hope I have the patience to wait it out.

My trip for February is booked.I am off to the Caribbean fora week of diving and sunbathing. I will need to shed a few more pounds so I do not look like a whale on the beach. I don't want green peace coming along and trying to throw me back in the water!

The time in Regina seems to fly by now during the week. I think now that it is starting to get busier it makes for a better time. Coming home on every weekend is definitely good. I enjoy my time at home in my house, and spending time with friends.

First day of Fall...routines and comittments

I didn't sleep very well last night and maybe it was just as well as I awoke early to do a new entry in my blog. I seem to be doing an entry once a week......or so. I suppose this would be easier if it was a daily blog, then at least I would have more of a routine. Routines are funny, they are hard to get into, but once your in one, it feels good to have some order in your life. Take the gym for example, I have been in Regina for 3 months now, and I want to join the gym. I haven't yet, I did however go visit the YMCA and check it out. So I am a a step closer to joining. I suppose I need to just sign up and make the commitment and then get into a routine of going. I think I am one step closer to going to the gym as I am making another commitment by joining the Army Reserves again. I will need to be in better shape if I want to do that and in order to be successful. I suppose once the gym becomes part of my weekly routine then the training in the reserves will also become routine once I make that commitment.

I went off to Minot North Dakota this past weekend and did some shopping. The only thing I can say about North Dakota is, it is pretty and it is pretty boring. More boring than Wyoming. I went on a Friday night and between the border and Minot which is about 80 miles, I seen maybe 12 cars on the road, past 3 on my side and 6 coming the other way, and 3 at stop signs. When I got to Minot they had a huge mall there with no one there! A Friday night and the mall was dead. Maybe there was a fishing derby going on somewhere, or everyone was off driving their combines. I will say this, Saskatchewan has a lot more going on then North Dakota.
Work is chugging along and although I have made the commitment mentally to be here for a while, I am still struggling with infrastructure issues , warehouse, staffing, equipment etc. I am making it work and able to get what I need done but it is not the perfect scenario for an $800 million job. I have decided to play nice with the other kids including the ones that are clueless, and rather than butt heads, I just ignore them now and do my own thing which is normally the right thing. That's the problem with inexperienced people, they normally get things right 50% of the time, based on a decision not experience. And experience is gained from making the wrong decisions. Unfortunately when they get it right, they think that they are smarter than they are, and the next 3 decisions bomb...and creates havoc. None the less, I have drawn the boundaries of my responsibilities and made it clear to these people where they will not make decisions when it comes to my area.

Speaking of decisions, When I filled out the paperwork with the reserves this time, I have decided to enroll as an officer. I figure the challenges I have faced and the positions I have help in my civie life in the past 12 years would closer mirror that of an officer in the military. I think I have worked in all the operational areas of EPC work and taking on a "Command" role in the functional manager position with Bantrel. I desired to get back into the field and now am working on the operational side of things. I think this will be the case when I get into the reserves...if I get into the reserves...I just hope I am making the right decision based on my experience for this commitment.....it is amazing how well them three words come together eh....experience...decision.....commitment...and with that I welcome Fall in and say good bye to a decent summer!

What a great summer 2

So I was home this weekend and I managed to get my patio poured in my backyard. It has bee na busy and expensive summer for the yard as I just paid $2600 for dirt and sod fopr the front and sides of my house(remember my house is 72 feet long) and I paid another $1700 for final dirt in the back yard(remember my yard is another 150ft long by 50 foot wide. I haven't done sod in the back as I wasn't sure what I was planning on doing back there yet and no sense throwing good money after bad.

So the guy that did my dirt, a really nice guy named Don agreed to do my patio as well. I was pouring cement back there and the pad ended up being aprox 500 sq ft 17 x 23 feet to be exact. Don enlisted the help of his son and sons friends who happen to work for a concrete place. The end result was the pad got poured on Saturday and now I have a huge patio in the back! and it looks awesome! They did a bang up professional job. And on top of that they charged me only $5000 for everything. I got quotes from others and they wanted $8000-10,000 for that pad. So needless to say I made out like a bandit!

Hats of to my buddy Cathy who has been taking care of my place the last while, She has been nursing the grass and keeping the place in order. I do have to keep her creative mind stimulated with choclate and liquor so she doesn't go off planting big flower gardens though!

Now that the fall is coming along Starting next week I will be home every weekend up until Christmas.I find that weeks go by so fast when I travel home on the weekends. I am also finding I am a lot more relaxed when I go home on the weekends than staying here. Something about being in your own digs I guess.

I plan on heading down to North |Dakota this weekend and do a lil shopping. Something I haven't done in a while inj the USA.I miss the Super Walmart's there and the The Targets etc. I have noticed it is not much cheaper there for many things now. Matter of fact when you count in the gas, exchange rate and hotel, I really am not saving much at all. I do need to pick up my Prilosec which is not sold across the counter in Canada. It is a ac id reflux medicine that I have been taking for years since working in Wyoming. I also need to buy the candy for the counter and my desk. The big 4lb bags go a long way and are dirt cheap there. Some electronics are cheaper as well, but most are at par as they are made over seas so there is no deal.
I think the big thing is just getting away for the weekend shopping will be a nice a break.

Work wise , not much has changed here. I have become more tolerant to the inexperience and incompetence I deal with on a day to day basis. I guess I figure there is no sense me worrying about things when the client or PMT aren't. I have enough grey hair that I don't need more.

Weight wise I am hovering around the 244 mark again. I think If can get motivated and push hard the next month, I can break the 240 barrier and head towards the 230 barrier. !0 lbs a month is very achievable as long as I focus and have some self control. The good thing is my weight maintenance is good, I am not gaining weight when eating normally. That's a good sign. If i can loose a few more lbs and stay in teh same range when I eat normal then my body is adjusting as well as myself being more active. It all goes hand in hand.

Until next time.....

Summer was ok this year

Well after finishing an awesome long weekend at my friends in Ottawa, and having perfect weather, I have concluded that summer was OK this year. It started out a little crappy with the weather and cold temperatures. that coupled with the gloomy economy made for a pretty depressing out look. But as I look back now, and see what I have done, and where I am, and where I have been, I think the summer was OK. I have managed to visit most of my old and newer friends, most of my family and get at least 15 days of golf in, so again this has been a pretty OK summer. I have my lawn in the front yard and a patio now in the back yard and I didn't pay through the nose for it, so I am getting myself ready for an even better summer next year. I may even start to price out a hot tub for the patio!

Speaking of last weekend, I had a great time at Linda and Dave's in Ottawa last week. We used to be best friends when we were in Calgary during our first posting in the military. Last time i seen them was in 1995 before I got out of the military. It has been a very long time. It was nice to catch up and continue on from where we left off. I think it rekindled a friendship that will grow forward as we keep in touch. We have already planned and booked a holiday in February to the Caribbean for diving for a week. I also was able to catch up with a few other friends this past weekend, Ollie Todd Thane and Blaine. We got out golfing for a day and other than loosing a dozen ball, it was a great day of golf! The weather was perfect, and the company even better. The only bad part of the weekend was I gained 4 lbs!

Speaking of which, I have settled back into my regular routine. I have made the commitment to stay in Regina at least for another 6 months. I will look at it again in teh new year when we are reevaluating my Contract. I found that once I made this decision my blood pressure and resting heart rate has come back down to normal. It is amazing how things affect us. I can work a stressful day at work all day and not have my BP go up, but when I start toi think about where I will be working etc, it goes through the roof.

Oh on that 5 lbs I gained in Ottawa this past weekend, I have dropped that 4lbs this week, and even a lil bit more . I have not dedicated myself the past month to loosing more weight but I have managed to do weight maintenance. So basically, I haven't lost or gained and I have eaten when and how much I wanted. So now that I know I can eat right and maintain a healthy weight, I am now forging ahead with trying to loose the 44 lbs to get me into one-derland. That basically measn 10lbs a month until New Years. I think it is very achievable and I just have to want it again. I think now that all the summer travel is over and I am now back into a steady routine, I can make this happen. There may be a couple bumps along the way but really, its not a challenge I can't achieve! All the compliments I have received on my weight loss to date has been great, now I need to work hard and achieve the second part of getting to my over all goal. I am 60% of the way there and I did that in 10 weeks. I have 13 weeks to complete the other 40%. And lets face it, I want to look good on teh beach in February!

Summer is a great time of year in Canada

Ok, so I am going to sound a little positive here for a bit. My last few ramblings have been a bit on the negative side so I thought I would be a little more upbeat. What a fantastic August we had in Alberta. The sun was shining most of it, almost every weekend was nice, I was able to golf 7 days during the month, and it actually felt like summer.

It is times like that you grow to appreciate what little summer we enjoy in Canada. We are rounding the corner to fall and although last year we had a nice fall....it is still not summer. Summer is holidays with family, the kids, the travel, the patios, the sudden rain showers, the festivals. Even if September were to be 27 degrees everyday, it is still not the same as July or August in the summer. As we approach the last long weekend of the summer, the weather looks like it will be cooperating again to allow us to enjoy the end of summer. The last long weekend of camping, and the last long weekend at the cottage or festivals. I don't want to hear anyone complain about the summer in Alberta as I think we were very lucky to have a summer this year.

On to other things, so I was able to get my front lawn done, dirt and sod, but the beauty of that is I was also able to get the back yard done with the topsoil, AND the guy that did the topsoil is going to take care of my cement pad in the back. Just a really nice guy who is a retired heavy duty mechanic that wanted to do Bobcat work in the summer to make money to relax in the winter. I mean he is retired, and he loves doing this work. It was a breath of fresh air to deal with a guy like this. He obviously was not in it to make a huge amount of money, but to make a modest living to supplement his pension. What that means for me is, I saved about $3000 on my back yard and cement patio. I now have a 17ft by 27 foot cement pad in teh back of my house being poured and I didn't have to worry about a thing. This "Bobcat guy" too kit all on himself.

When I tried to pay him up front he said nope, too many contractors run off with other peoples money. When I tried to buy the lumber for the forms for the concrete, again he said no, he has some old lumber he can use. And he will book the cement through a person that he does work for so he will get a smoking deal. This translate into me getting the work done by a trusted guy, and him making a profit out managing the project. He is also the guy I will recommend to do other work for other people in a heart beat.

Whats left to do for me in my house, well I have to get sod for the back yard, and a fence. I plan on doing the sod for the back yard next june, and the fence when the neighbors are ready.

Speaking of which I was less than impressed with my neighbors on both sides, as they bought dirt and then bought sod to do their land without talking to me. I figured they would have called and said hey we are buying dirt and sod so why don't we all buy together for a deal, and so the lawns are all even. They didn't even ask me. So thats fine, they had family and friends helping them, and I had mine done professionally. Which means ,my land is a higher than theirs , its even and all the water will run down onto their properties. When it comes time for a fence I will make it clear that I want a say on which fence they are installing or I won't pay for it. They want to do their own thing then they can pay for it. It won't bother me in the least. I am tempted to buy my own fence that won't match either side of their neighbors fences so they can deal with having either to put up their own fence or look at two different fences on their property...but I guess I taint that much of an ass.

On the work front, I turned down the one offer I was looking for. Apparently they dint understand what my lowest acceptable salary will be $XX. They came in at almost $18 less an hour. Now again I may sound greedy here but I worked very hard to get up in my career and make the money that I have been making. I do understand market conditions and I did correct my asking rate accordingly. Most people adjusted 10%, I adjusted 15% before I even talked to them. I think they tried to pay me the same as the other guy they have without taking into consideration that I am a lot more qualified than them. Also I think the plan was to bill me out high, pay me low, and pocket the rest as profit. It was a good eye opener for me and a relief, and It made me realize what it is like interviewing with people again that don't know what you bring to the table. So I have mentally settled into this job at least until Christmas when I will reevaluate whether I want to stay or not. I also will be looking to get out of this ATS deal that they got me in. If nothing moves on that work front, then I will be leaving this project for sure and I will be content in knowing I gave it a chance. It is funny, I also received a call from Enmax in Calgary yesterday in regards to a position there that I was interviewing for to see if I was still interested. I need to call them back and decline the position although I am tempted to explore it.

BUT in the meantime, I am going to work the next two days and then enjoy my last long weekend of the summer in Ottawa with some good friends and catch up on the last 12 years with them........