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........
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