July 7th, 2008
The trip was a success! We rode hard for four days and got to Montreal around 8pm on Monday June 30th. It was a lot of riding and a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.
Thanks to the generosity and support of a bunch of people, we more than doubled our goal of raising $1000. Our final count came to $2100! Thanks to everyone who donated, including family members, friends, coworkers, the fine people at Marigold Ford in Whitby, Coach Canada for the free bus ride home and everyone else who contributed or helped out in any way.
We met at Spencer’s house on Friday morning at 7am for a little send-off party. We presented the money we raised to Wyatt’s aunt, took some photos and then we were off. Within four minutes, we had our first breakdown. Spencer broke the first of many spokes. It took a good 25 minutes or so to get fixed, then we were off again. As we were turning into Darlington Provincial Park, I took a little spill on some loose gravel. Luckily, I didn’t get hurt and nothing on my bike was affected. As soon as we left the park, I got a flat tire. Ten minutes later, I got another one.
So, within the first hour or so, we had three breakdowns and one wipeout. It got better from there. Spencer’s spokes broke almost routinely throughout the ride, but the frequency decreased as the days went on. It wasn’t horrible though - spoke breaks provided us with a little break to get off the bike and stretch.
We had a good time in Montreal, checking out the sights, eating at different restaurants and drinking at different bars and pubs. It’s a nice city, like a smaller, Frencher Toronto. While we were there, we got to check out a little bit of the Jazz Festival, which drew a lot of crowds.
Over the next week or so, I’ll write about some of the highlights of the trip and upload some pictures.
June 17th, 2008
I recently learned the true meaning of that phrase. About a month and a half ago, I was contacted out of the blue by an old friend from university. He is working for a consulting company in the USA, and was looking to hire a programmer/database guy for their Canadian office. The job sounded great at first, with a nice salary, an interesting work environment and there was even a career path already mapped out for me. The only reservation I had was that the job was in Oakville, which is about 100km west of where I currently live.
After talking with my friend for a bit, the possibility of getting the job sounded very promising. He told me if it were up to him, he’d hire me right away, but of course it wouldn’t be that easy.
Almost immediately, my mind started racing with thoughts of relocating to a new city for this new job. The very next weekend, I drove out to Oakville to get a feel for the town and see what it was like. I started thinking about finding a new place to live, how soon I would be able to move and all the other things that come with a big life changing event.
As time passed, I got a bit more information about parts of the job, and about relocating/commuting. That last part really put my mind at ease. My friend basically told me to try commuting for the first month or so, and then figure out how close or far away I could move to keep a balance between getting to work and still being close to my family, friends and everything else in Whitby that I’m used to.
As the hiring process continued, I had several phone interviews. They went very well, except for the last one. In this particular interview, I was asked a lot of tough technical questions, and I had no idea how to answer them. Suddenly, the job was not what it originally appeared to be - it was sort of similar to what I do now, but not really…
Needless to say, I was contacted several days later and was informed they would be moving forward with several other applicants. They thanked me for my time and that was that.
Overall, the entire process was interesting, but the time and stress could have been lessened if so many assumptions weren’t made from the start. I learned a lot, and I’ll take that with me moving forward. It was a long, drawn out process, and even though things didn’t work out, I’m glad it’s finally over, because the uncertainty was annoying.
March 3rd, 2008
My piece of shit car was deemed too unsafe to even be tested for the Ontario Drive Clean emissions test, so I couldn’t get my plates renewed. The car’s not worth fixing, so I’m looking for a newer car at the moment. But that’s not what this post is about.
One of my coworkers lives near me, and offered to drive me to and from work until I get a car, which was really nice of her. I had to adjust my schedule, since she starts at 7:30am and I used to start at 8. Today was the first day and it was a bit rough getting up earlier, but that’s not what this post is about either.
So anyway… on our way to work, we stopped by Tim Horton’s to get morning coffee and tea. When we got to the drive through window, the cashier informed us the lady in the car ahead of us paid for our order! That was a pleasant surprise and brought a smile to our faces. My driver (the nice coworker, not a real chauffeur), in turn, paid for the order of whoever was in the car behind us. Hopefully it sparked some sort of chain reaction that continued all day, but I’ll never know how far the giving went.
I have heard of this sort of thing happening before, but never seen it firsthand. I hope the nice lady in front of us had a great day.
January 17th, 2008
Back in April of last year I bought a new bike and started riding quite a bit. I had lofty goals of riding 1500km by the end of 2007, and I kept track of all the days I rode to work, as well as all the weekend rides I went on.
I checked my records the other day, and I rode a total of 1340km last year, falling a little short of my goal. I had a lot of fun, got some good exercise and I’m a lot better on a bike now than I’ve ever been. Since late fall, I haven’t really done any biking, but I’ve been seeing a lot of people riding even in the snow lately, so I’m thinking I might do a little winter biking soon.
December 18th, 2007
I guess a lot of people couldn’t make it to Sunday night’s concert because of the snow storm. Alexisonfire, being the cool dudes that they are, decided to put on another show in January for those of us who couldn’t attend the other day.
From their website and MySpace page:
For those of you who could not make it, we want to put on another show just for you.
If you are one of those people, bring your UNUSED ticket to:
The Sound Academy (formerly the Docks)
Friday, January 25, 2008
More details will be available on their website at a later date. I’m really impressed they are doing this and I’m looking forward to getting a second chance to see these guys in January!
