More Snow Good

This was taken well after sundown, but a combination of the ambient light and the snow seemed to make the whole town glow.

Continue reading "It snowed a bit last week" »

Posted by at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It has been a while since I've posted anything. So, in order to make a comeback, here's some fantastic news I received in an email not so long ago.

Continue reading "and now for something complete different..." »

Posted by at 10:19 AM | Permalink

It's been 4 months. Granted we didn't come during the best time to seek employment (I.E. November -> Christmas -> New Years -> Post New Years) but I finally have a job!

My new job is with a small company called boats.com. They're actually part of a much larger American company called Trader. They're basically the ones responsible for selling the magazines people flip through when they're looking for cars, bikes... and boats! I'm part of their online team so it's going to be development work.

An indicator of their culture would be the foosball table they have. Unfortunately for me, I'm getting my ar$e handed to me every time we have a 'meeting.' :)

Just a word of warning to those thinking of finding a job in the IT industry (and I suspect many others) in Canada. It would seem that companies will operate at their own pace. Generally, this means that it may be weeks before you hear from someone regarding a resume you submitted. On top of that, the interview cycle is also in the order of weeks. I can think of a few companies and potential employers that REALLY took their time getting back to both Tim and I. I had become so used to the lags that by mid-Jan I thought having a job at the end of Feb would be a reasonable thing. What else can I say? 8 months to go on the visa.

I'll add a link for the sake of it. Those who know Vancouver will realise how close it is to Robson. mmmm Robson during lunch == good.

Posted by at 12:00 AM | Permalink

So we spent some more time up at Whistler recently. I even got to hook up with Tim Theodore Logan and Kirsten S. Preston esq. But before I get to the skiing, a bit of background.

Poor Tim suffered a spleenic contusion the Friday before New Years. To quickly glaze over the details, here are some keywords; jump, crash, dizziness, hospital, ambulance, speed, better hospital, MRI (or x-ray), "don't need surgery but no skiing for 6 weeks".

5 weeks after the accident, we went up and planned to take it easy, so:

and

and

We came out unscathed, but endured a few Kirsten evils when we 'fessed up.

The kicker was the powder day a week later May-N and I experience. It was the day after 3 day snow storm. I can't remember the metrics, but all of the trees were noticably shorter and looked as if the heavens had dropped a bag of icing sugar. In riding terms, it was champagne quality baby!

The powder was so fresh and deep we kept sinking every time we walked around to take this picture. The entire day was all about cutting fresh tracks and floating on the pow. I have never, ever skied on anything that floated like this back in NZ. It wasn't even off-piste!

Posted by at 9:49 PM | Permalink

As for the ongoing saga of the driver licence. I've only got one thing to say...

CHEESE.

As I say, both sides of the road, watch out! May-N got hers too! :)

Posted by at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Lamont and I went to the Canadian equivalent of the LTSA to start the process of getting our BC licence a few days ago. Since we renewed our licences in 2004 we also had to bring in a cert from LTSA stating how long we've had our licence to qualify for a full licence instead of going through the new driver program which takes 24 months!

So there we were with our faxed copies from LTSA and after waiting for half an hour we were told that they don't take faxed copies, only originals are accepted. That kinda made us panic a little cause with the mailing holiday overload we weren't sure that the certs would arrive in time - we have till end of Jan.

After much debating we were finally allowed to start the process by taking the theory test. There are 50 multiple choice questions and you have to get 40 to pass. Easy sure but there are 2 answers that are right and you have to choose the more correct one, basically choose the answer that matches the rode code word for word.

Anyway I got 40/47 shameful I know but Lamont got 40/50! He just passed and took longer as well. And yes for all the guys reading this I've been told that women are better at the theory while men are better at the practical. So that's round 2 when we sit our practical after we give them our original certs.

Posted by at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Pemberton n. - a mountain town 20 minutes commute to Whistler along a winding mountain pass. Population approximately 100. Features include; one Greyhound bus terminal, four railway tracks, elementary school on the main stretch, a 'market' consisting of one supermarket and the worst little stores you've ever seen. Nightlife is non-existent. Synonyms - quaint, hole, South Park.

Cars n. - typically four wheeled transportation vehicle. Available to own in 'beater' models mainly around the Whistler area. Such examples can be found for "1988 Dodge Campervan. New tires & brakes, runs well, $800obo"

BC Driver's licence n. - some neither May-N or I have.

Whistler n. - town of over priced accommodation and under paid workers with typically unreliable hours.

For these reason's above, we've decided to put our Whistler experience on hold.

In the mean time, May-N's secured some short term contracting work and I am currently sitting on my arse, updating our blog. I hope to change this situation soon.

*sigh*

Posted by at 12:00 AM | Permalink

... as a cashier on Glacier Creek. Having been told yesterday, I'm expected to start on Sunday so May-N and I are frantically looking for a place to live.

This particular one is just out of our budget.

"Exec Golden Bear Chalet. Spacious & elegant on Golden Bear Place. 4bdrm+den, 2.5bath. 3500sqft luxury hme near Nicklaus North Golf Course. Fully furn & equipped. Avail 5Dec-23Jan '06. $20,000/mo. Whistler Exclusive Property Management 604-xxx-xxxx"

So the search continues...

Posted by at 3:40 PM | Permalink

It's 00:09, 21 hours behind NZ and we've just come back from an Asian Arcade. Perhaps a progress update is in order.

Continue reading "Finally!" »

Posted by at 12:09 AM | Permalink