27 posts tagged “work”
Our Canada Day morning was spent taking down a damaged tree in our front yard. The Tree Guy said that it was going to cost $600 to take it down (plus GST). We took it down for free (with the help of a guy who’s taken down a bunch of trees – my brother).
We wrapped that up by about lunch and then headed to his place to help him with a little gardening too.
But, after that, Sherry and I took a mini-tropical vacation in our own back yard. It was a nice sunny day yesterday and we made frozen Margaritas so thick that they piled up in the middle (they melted pretty quickly in the sun, but they started out really frozen). We then stripped down to our skimpiest swimware and took turns on the massage table – out in the sun.
It was fabulous. Until my Mom arrived. We were barely clothed on our back deck and she came waltzing in our private party and she didn’t leave. Talk about a wet blanket raining on our sunshine. Yikes.
So, the Festival stress has started. We don’t have enough hardware, the hardware is antiquated and flaky and won’t talk to the server anymore (it did on Monday). Aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh. I don’t get paid nearly enough for that much stress.
To top it all off one of our bigger clients has an emergency rush job that needs to be done sometime today or tomorrow (and it’ll take about six to eight hours to do) and I don’t have nearly that kind of free time with the Festival being Friday afternoon. Ha.
I’m tired.
I’m thankful that we were able to save $600
I’m thankful that Mike was so good at cutting down trees
I’m thankful that Sherry and I were able to share a quiet margarita together
I know that God wants Sherry and me to be a happy couple
Vegas was a lot of fun. It was exhausting being on the West Coast – we’re from the EST time zone and when it was 9pm there it felt like midnight. Yikes. The shows didn’t usually start until after 9. I think we got to bed every night after 3am (our time).
The trip home put us in our beds around 3am (our time and local time). It was rough getting up for work Wednesday morning, and I’m still not quite 100%, but after this weekend I should be ok.
We had a chance to see Penn and Teller live. They were really entertaining and there were two or three tricks that I have no idea how they did. One with a gun where they fired the bullets across the stage and caught them in the teeth. Very cool.
We also saw Cirque de Solei (Mystere) while we were there. That was really impressive. We were hoping to see Zumanity as well, but had to settle for Fantasy instead (which isn’t a Cirque performance and you could tell).
Mom won a bunch of money at the slots and treated us to a supper at Planet Hollywood – it was one of the most amazing steak dinners I’ve had in a very long time. Really nice food.
We did a ton of walking while we were there. We shot some very cool photos and had a really nice time sleeping in and just exploring the casinos.
I decided not to gamble at all while we were there (not even a nickel). Most of us didn’t gamble at all, which is kinda nice.
Back to the real world…
We had our staff meeting this morning and we were talking about advertising our next Colours offering since we have two new people who haven’t taken the training yet.
I said that I’m planning on teaching a class at church this fall and the two new gals could take it then.
Well, doesn’t Bernie light up and ask why he’s not getting his share of the profit for me teaching at the church. It told him there was no profit, I do it for free and then he accuses me of breaching Conflict of Interest Rules. Holy Poop. We talked about this. Explicitly. Before I was trained. That’s why I was so excited.
He really pisses me off when he gets all sarcastic at me. It’s a non-profit organization. They won’t pay for training. None of the people that go would ever pay for it. I have to teach the class about every three months or else I forget the details. Would he rather me find a group of students or would he like to? It’s been four months since the last time he’s put together a class and the next one doesn’t look like it’ll be for another two or three.
Oh, he really pisses me off sometimes.
I’m thankful that I’m not married to him (I don’t know how Robyn does it)
I’m thankful that weekend is finally here so I can get some nap time in.
I’m thankful that our family enjoyed Vegas and didn’t have any major blowouts.
I know that God isn’t finished with me yet (whew).
Vegas was a lot of fun. It was exhausting being on the West Coast – we’re from the EST time zone and when it was 9pm there it felt like midnight. Yikes. The shows didn’t usually start until after 9. I think we got to bed every night after 3am (our time).
The trip home put us in our beds around 3am (our time and local time). It was rough getting up for work Wednesday morning, and I’m still not quite 100%, but after this weekend I should be ok.
We had a chance to see Penn and Teller live. They were really entertaining and there were two or three tricks that I have no idea how they did. One with a gun where they fired the bullets across the stage and caught them in the teeth. Very cool.
We also saw Cirque de Solei (Mystere) while we were there. That was really impressive. We were hoping to see Zumanity as well, but had to settle for Fantasy instead (which isn’t a Cirque performance and you could tell).
Mom won a bunch of money at the slots and treated us to a supper at Planet Hollywood – it was one of the most amazing steak dinners I’ve had in a very long time. Really nice food.
We did a ton of walking while we were there. We shot some very cool photos and had a really nice time sleeping in and just exploring the casinos.
I decided not to gamble at all while we were there (not even a nickel). Most of us didn’t gamble at all, which is kinda nice.
Back to the real world…
We had our staff meeting this morning and we were talking about advertising our next Colours offering since we have two new people who haven’t taken the training yet.
I said that I’m planning on teaching a class at church this fall and the two new gals could take it then.
Well, doesn’t Bernie light up and ask why he’s not getting his share of the profit for me teaching at the church. It told him there was no profit, I do it for free and then he accuses me of breaching Conflict of Interest Rules. Holy Poop. We talked about this. Explicitly. Before I was trained. That’s why I was so excited.
He really pisses me off when he gets all sarcastic at me. It’s a non-profit organization. They won’t pay for training. None of the people that go would ever pay for it. I have to teach the class about every three months or else I forget the details. Would he rather me find a group of students or would he like to? It’s been four months since the last time he’s put together a class and the next one doesn’t look like it’ll be for another two or three.
Oh, he really pisses me off sometimes.
I’m thankful that I’m not married to him (I don’t know how Robyn does it)
I’m thankful that weekend is finally here so I can get some nap time in.
I’m thankful that our family enjoyed Vegas and didn’t have any major blowouts.
I know that God isn’t finished with me yet (whew).
I hate it when I have two conflicting projects that are both really tight on time and due at the same time as well.
I have to finish up the install and documentation for my flagship product and get ready for Bayfest at the same time. Yuck.
Two more sleeps (well, really one and a half – we leave at 3am Saturday morning). I’m getting excited now! We’re working on a house sitter for the weekend. Do you know of anyone that wants to house sit a rather High Tech house for the weekend? We have a 12 foot screen in our basement hooked up to a Media Center PC with hundreds of movies on the hard drive. It has 5.1 Surround that will make your ears bleed (if that’s what you like). Anyone?
Sherry had a rough day yesterday. Her clients were so picky that they measured the plan and the install and it was off by one inch and they made them redo it.
When she finished installing it the yard matched the plan exactly and it looked like crap. The installer is supposed to have a little wiggle room to make the yard look right – the designer can’t spend enough time with the drawing to anticipate every little detail.
Anyway, she left it looking like crap because it matched the plan exactly. Stupid picky clients – they’ll never be allowed back.
Michelle is headed up to Sherry’s Mom’s place today for her long weekend. She should have a good time up there. She’s also promised to put some money down on her insurance bill. We’ll have to see how much before we decide if she gets to keep her car insurance for July.
I’m thankful that I did things the normal way and got a normal education and a normal job
I’m thankful that my normal education was at one of the top three schools in the country
I’m thankful that my normal job proved to me that I’m a World Class Programmer.
I know that God wants me to be World Class at what I do.
Apparently I’m getting a little excited about our trip to Vegas! We leave in the middle of the night this Friday. The limo gets us around 3am and the flight out is at 6am (or some such). I’m going to try indoor sky diving (apparently it’s a really tall hollow building, or a really strong fan – one or the other)
I’m still torn on what to do about gambling while we’re there. I have a rather addictive personality and haven’t gambled (other than church raffles) in 17 years. The last time was kinda nasty. I have a feeling that I’ll take the high ground on this one and not risk it.
The weekend was really nice (packed, but nice). Friday was actually an easy night – Sherry was exhausted so we did pizza and a movie at home.
Saturday was jammed. After our regular 6am meeting I trimmed the ivy that covers our house, fixed the satellite problem, revamped our Tivo, cleaned the house, folded laundry, fixed Mom’s digital frame and did some overdue banking. Then Sherry got home from work and the real fun started.
At least date night that night was a good time. We were pretty tired by the end of date night and fell into bed relatively early and pretty tired. There was a storm that night that woke us around 4am – grrr.
Sunday was church and then 6 people over for a Father’s Day lunch. That was nice and went until about 3:00. Then we did some yard work, cleaned out the laundry room and some other random chores around the house. We tried to get to bed early again last night and doesn’t the neighbor set off his car alarm at 4:05am (exactly)! Arrrgghh. If you can’t run the car alarm properly – especially at 4am – then don’t use it.
So, I’m pretty tired today and I’ve been tasked with a nasty project to get our product ready to ship. Trying to position the playback point in a variable bitrate wma file. Yuck.
I’m thankful that I really enjoy the challenges of my job.
I’m thankful that I’m not responsible for Bayfest this year – I’m just a teacher.
I’m thankful that we have a nice break scheduled just before the Bayfest insanity starts.
I know that God wants me to be insanely good at what I’m called to do.
Wow, I think that was as close as I’ve ever been to being ‘depressed’. It was like I was thinking in a cloud – you know how you get when you’re sick and you can’t concentrate on anything (like your thoughts are moving through molasses?) that was the same sort of feeling, but with Fog instead of Molasses.
Weird.
But, I think I’m back. I’ve decided to let the Bayfest thing go – I’m going to turn the code over to EBTech and just trust that they’ll figure something out that’s fair. I’ll spend this festival teaching the tech guys at work to use the system and then I won’t have to do anything else with it.
The only lingering question is why anyone else would want to go through the stress that I went through for the last five years without any payment (other than a dinner that even the ticket rippers get)? I guess that’s not my problem.
This weekend is Father’s Day – it looks like we’ll be hosting that event too. We’re hoping to have steak and baked potatoes for lunch – that should be a good time. I have to be at church this weekend and I have breakfast with Rick. Looks like it’ll be a busy day…
We’re announcing Deep Coffee at church this weekend. I have to decide how I want to introduce it and how the signup will work. Perhaps I should take care of that tonight… hmmmm… Of course I have that Office 2007 class that I’m teaching tonight – that doesn’t leave a lot of extra time… hmmmm…
Sherry is planning on starting in on the interlock patio tonight. She’ll bring home some gravel to level the surface and then we’ll be almost ready to start the install. She has a little bit of work to do on Saturday at work and then we need to get ready for Father’s Day. She’s also planning on doing a little work for a former client (and he’s offered enough to get us most of the way to Mexico –with a little money from my Vinyl to CD business we should be able to get away for a week this fall – yaaaa!)
I’m thankful that the Fog has lifted.
I’m thankful that the Fog is such a foreign experience – I know guys who live their lives like that (yikes).
I’m thankful that I enjoy teaching – it makes it a lot easier
I know that God is my Heavenly Father – and that makes me a Prince in His kingdom.
This has been a bit of a weird week for me. I guess the trip to TO made it feel like Wednesday was Saturday and now it feels like Tuesday, but tonight is date night (not tomorrow because I’m going in to work to play). Weird week.
I have a list of stuff that needs to get done in the next little while and I’ve already started to think about the Bayfest mess that ensues this time every year.
I actually wrote a letter to the organizers laying out my personal concerns regarding my payment. I feel that I put in a lot more than I get out and I’m tired of doing that. It was fine when the festival was struggling to get started, but now they’re booking million dollar bands (Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Rascal Flats, etc) – I think they can afford to pay me a little now, right?
The weird thing about this is that my brother is tightly involved with the organizers and he’s the one that takes care of the part of the crew that I work for, so really I have to get him to ask for something for me. Weird.
Sherry is installing a 4000 pound rock today in someone’s yard. She’s afraid they’re going to have to make a mess of the flowerbed to get that huge stone into the right place. Let’s hope that all works out – and it’s going to be a blisteringly hot day today. Bummer.
Vegas prep continues. We’re working out who’s paying for what now.
I haven’t seen Rick in a bit – I wonder if we’ll get together Sunday for breakfast – that would be nice. I have a couple of pens for him – he used to use these Zebra fine black pens until they stopped carrying them here at the local stores. I found a place in the States that still stocks them, so he asked me to buy their entire stock.
I’m really enjoying Woot.com. They have a special every day and some of them are pretty good. They have a deal with paypal so that you can make a standing PO with paypal and then to Woot you just log in and press “I want one” – check your mailing info and press done, and you’re done. (Woot is not allowed to just have the one button since Amazon successfully patented that while the patent office had no idea what they were going to do with the Web. Weird)
I’m thankful that my life isn’t always this weird
I’m thankful that we’re in good shape for Bayfest this year
I’m thankful that Sherry and I date weekly
I know that God wants to reward me for all the work that I put in at Bayfest.
... I must be exhausted now.
The trip to Toronto was, on the whole, excellent. I exceeded my own expectations and the presentation went far better than I had hoped.
I was clear, accurate, understandable and credible. The hardware and software did exactly what it was supposed to do and one guy in the audience said “It can’t be that easy” – implying that we had pre-arranged some of the events and that he wouldn’t be able to reproduce my demo. Just wait until he gets his hands on the demo and finds out that it really is that easy!
The only downside to the trip was the seven hours of driving and a night in a hotel room just before the presentation. I guess the hotel room was better than leaving here at 3:00am.
But, anyway, if I thought I was tired before, I’m barely functional now. I think I’ll just fly under the radar today and tomorrow and then catch up on my rest this weekend. The only thing that’s really planned is a movie on Friday night (Indy!) and a poker game on Saturday – I’ll just make sure they both wrap up by 10:00.
Mike and I were able to get the paving stones for our patio from DeGroot’s on Tuesday. We had a fork lift put them on to the crane truck and then we used the crane to lift them off the bed. The whole process took less than two hours. So now all we need is the gravel and a bunch of labour to get our patio done. Whohoo – we may start that this weekend…
Dang. Have you read about this ACTA crap that Stephen Harper is trying to push through? The way that I read it, he can pass this Agreement without parliament’s approval and without public consultation.
The agreement will allow border guards with no computer expertise to arbitrarily decide if any of the songs on my iPod are illegal. If they guess that any of them are, they can fine me and (at their discretion) destroy my iPod.
This agreement is being pushed by the US based RIAA and MPAA!
Yikes. More information here: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
I’m thankful that none of the ACTA stuff has passed yet – write a letter!
I’m thankful that our meeting went so well yesterday.
I’m thankful that my product will be able to increase our company’s revenue significantly.
I know that God respects the prayers of a righteous man.
Oh my. It’s been a tiring 10 days. Starting with the weekend before inventory, and going through inventory and then getting ready for this stupid meeting in Toronto and we had two more late nights this past weekend and I won’t get much sleep tonight because the presentation is 8:30 am and we’re about 3.5 hours away. Dang.
I need to get a little sleep. I’ll have to make sure that I keep the social calendar down to a bare minimum for a little while so that I can recover.
Michelle called me yesterday. She said she had a favour to ask – she had run out of gas a couple of blocks from my place and she was hoping I could bring a gas can over. As it turns out we always keep 20L of gas on hand in case the power fails for a couple of days (I’d hate to lose the meat in our freezer!). (Ok, do you guys remember the power failure that wiped out the Eastern Seaboard a couple of years ago – the one they blamed on Ontario but was really in Michigan somewhere? That’s the kind of thing I want to be able to ride out).
Anyway, I dropped off the gas and she said that she only had a couple of bucks left until Friday (payday) and that she’d get me the money for the gas then.
If your tank is that empty shouldn’t you just park the car until payday? Anyway, I’m really hoping that she learns the value of money and how hard it is to earn (and easy to spend!) while she’s playing house.
Sherry lost her best worker yesterday. One of the other guys threw his back out and so Sherry’s guy had to go and cover his work. She’s afraid that they’re going to expect her to use the machines that she can’t handle safely. Bummer. Let’s hope today goes well for her.
I’m really excited about what’s going on at our church recently. I’ve been working on building a sense of community and I’m getting some pretty good feedback. We’re going to run a program called “Deep Coffee” there shortly and we’ll see what kind of a turn out we get for that. Let’s hope it works well!
Bayfest is closing in. I’m hoping to do some video work for the organizers. I’m meeting with one of the key people today to see if they liked my proposal. Oh, let’s hope!
Vegas is closing in too. I’m a little too tired to be overly excited about that yet, but it’s on the horizon… I need to get a little sun tanning in…
I’m thankful that I normally get 8.5 hours of sleep every night.
I’m thankful that I enjoy my social calendar
I’m thankful for a chance to show off my program in Toronto tomorrow.
I know that God has given me authority and He wants me to use it wisely.
This past Wednesday was inventory day (which went remarkably well once the inventory started, but the whole processes sucked rocks through bent straws right up until the start).
Then yesterday I found out that we have a surprise meeting in Toronto to sell our flagship product to a huge potential market. I don’t have anything ready for that type of a demonstration. I figure it’ll take three to four days to get my material together and polish my presentation. I have exactly three days including today to get it done and that’s if I work 16 hours this weekend.
I hate surprises.
We have our first Christmas present show tomorrow night! We got season passes to the local theatre for Christmas and tomorrow is the first show of the season. We’re excited! It should be a good time.
I’m also hoping to get some work done on the deck this weekend and we have dinner plans with friends of ours on Sunday – that should be a good time.
I’m thankful that our Christmas present was so cool and that we get to start enjoying it this weekend.
I’m thankful that we have friends that want to invite us over for supper
I’m thankful that we have a flagship product to sell and make money with
I know that God has way more in store for me than He has given so far.
