Great weekend!

It surely was... It didn't start with a big bang, I was exhausted from so much change in a short period of time. Tucker wanted to go camping, but I really didn't have the energy to endure a light sleep in the forest. But we did spend lots of time outdoors.

On Saturday, we went for a hike at Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver. This is a fantastic destination close by that, fortunately, was not really busy even with the beautiful weather. This was a lazy hike, full of stops to admire the scenery, listen to the waves, take pictures, and absorb the sun. Then, we headed to Granville Island. We didn't go for our usual stroll but detoured to Go Fish, a tiny restaurant that serves delicious fish and chips. The fish was fresh and crisp, the "pommes frites" were tasty, and we ate our food sitting by the seawall. Simply good. Since we were so close to the fisherman's fish market (i.e. fish caught that very morning), we decided to buy some salmon for dinner and scored a whole Pink Salmon for $10. Enough for about eight steaks. What a steal!

Well, cutting steaks out of a whole (very frozen) fish is not that easy. Tucker brought the cleaver and hammered at the block of ice that was our fish. In the process, he also sent bits and pieces of frozen salmon everywhere, causing much distress to Melissa watching the scene with a worried eye. Fortunately, all rogue pieces were found and contained (hopefully) and Tucker did another BBQ miracle. After the day's excitement, we went to Tucker's place to watch Seven Samurai (1950s Japanese film) but we were both so tired from too much fresh air, too much salmon and too much sun that we conked out mid-movie.

On Sunday, we drove down to Seattle to shop for sandals for Tucker. Not many Canadian stores carry size 15. The drive is always fun, I keep Tucker entertained the best I can and he keeps on driving. We stopped at the Pike Market for a stroll and had brunch at Etta's, close to the market. The waitress forgot our order and felt so bad that management offered us the meal. How can you say no? A few stops at our favourite spots in Seattle, I scored two pairs of sandals and Tucker, one pair of sandoes (half-way between a sandal and a shoe). I also bought myself a book, Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown that I started reading last night. I wanted to read this book before we took off for Paris. It's already captured my imagination... I couldn't put it down! On the way back from Seattle, we stopped to say hi to Gail and Garry. Sitting in Gail's garden is always so pleasant.

Farewell BBQ

Yesterday afternoon was the farewell BBQ for Inkra employees, a chance to see old colleagues before everyone takes off for new opportunities. It's unfortunate that we never really had this type of get-together while we were all working, it was quite fun. I'll miss these people. I have some pictures from the event on A Frog in BC Visuals.

First few days

My new job is definitely quite different from the previous one. I am expected to work 8 hours per day and not encouraged to do overtime. If a project requires extra hours, permanent employees can bank the time, I still have to determine how contractors handle this (I would assume we charge for the time!). There is a lot more structure around the work and many more processes and procedures to understand (checking in documents, getting part numbers, and so on). I guess this is to be expected, as the company is large (1200 or so in the Lower Mainland, 4000 in total).

The working environment is nice, I work in an office with a glass sliding door (like a patio door) that I share with another employee (he's a software developer). It's very easy to get lost, my building has five floors and many long corridors (and labs!). There's a huge skylight just outside my door, so I get a lot of natural light (and we have a window in our office). There's free coffee and tea close by and yummy cafeteria lunches for $5.50. People, although you can tell they work hard, also have lives beyond the office. And you're allowed to bring your dog to work. Yup, doggies in the office. I met a Golden Retriever, a Whippet (or some other skinny, racing type of dog), a Jack Russell and a Boxer. All well-behaved and mostly quiet (I heard one bark today, but I think it was a 5 o'clock bark, as in "ok, miss, the day's over, can we get out of here..."). Apparently, a couple of employees also had cats at one point, but the combination didn't work out so well. I guess the dog people won.

This week is quite busy. The person I am replacing is leaving on Friday and she's the only one working on the documentation that I will be responsible for. Basically, after this week, I'm on my own. Well, not entirely, lots of people have called or sent e-mails to tell me that I should not hesitate to ask for help and they would gladly give me a hand, should a problem arise. Isn't that nice? I think it's nice. On Friday, I was initially scheduled to work all day (to get as much training as I could absorb in five days), but finally I'm only going in for half a day. The old office is having a farewell BBQ for the staff and I wanted to attend. Although I'm not going to miss the work, I'm going to miss the people.

And the weather is simply gorgeous out here. Sunny and warm.

Spring walk in Vancouver

My initial goal when I left home was to walk to the Kitsilano Library and get a few books to read. I'm out of books at home, it was about time. However, after visiting the branch and signing up for my library card, I couldn't find any interesting books to read. Their selection was quite limited, it's a very small branch of the VPL (Vancouver Public Library). I think I will have to visit the main branch downtown, they most likely have an interesting selection. Well, I had my camera on me and started snapping pictures as I walked around for over three hours. Good training for the walk in August!


Spring walk in Vancouver, click on the picture to see other pictures from the album.

Buy organic cotton

I was reading my WWF (the wildlife group, not the wrestling) newsletter and came across this startling statistic: cotton production accounts for 25% of insecticide use worldwide! That's huge!!!

I've recently purchased some casual clothing from MEC and have to admit that this year, they came up with a nice selection of organic clothing. For example, follow this link to see some travel clothing for women. There are many nice items made of organic cotton. Prices are reasonable and, considering the environmental impact of traditional cotton farming, how does it not make sense?

Slowly sinking in

Today was my last day at work and it felt really strange. I had already packed most of my stuff (when you take public transit to work, you have to plan for a few trips to haul your personals back), I only had to clean my coffee cup, return my keys, and say goodbye. I'll see coworkers next Friday at the farewell BBQ someone organized. But this is it. All done.

I have to say that the past two and a half years have been some crazy learning experience for me. I don't think I ever worked so hard and learned so much. But I'm ready to relax a bit now, work a more humane schedule. I think work assignments come in cycles. Before this last gig, I was working in a highly organized environment, updated more or less the same book for two years... I was on cruise control. Then, I moved to Vancouver for this job and let me tell you: I was the one driving but the road had plenty of obstacles. Now, I can't say the next assignment will put me back on cruise control, I still have to prove to this new company that I'm a good potential employee, should a permanent position open up. But I think this is a company that believes strongly in employees having a balanced life. Work hard, play hard, as they say. Enjoy both.

Woohoo!

I'm very happy to announce that I am starting a new job this Monday (April 18). It all happened very fast today, I got an offer this morning, e-mailed my resignation and now, I am on contract with this other company for the next three months. The absolute best thing about this contract is that it is four days a week, 32 hours. And with the contracting rate, I make as much money as I was making before, but I get three-day weekends until mid-July. And the technical writing manager said she would be working hard to find me a permanent position within the company. Apparently, I made a good impression in my interview yesterday.

I feel this is going to be a very positive change in my life and 2005 is going to be an excellent year. New job, new opportunities, trip to Europe, and long weekends to go camping!!! I'm a happy girl.

Feeling tired, keeping myself busy

Tucker made me breakfast in bed on Saturday morning, an omelet with salsa and cheese, and toast with peanut butter and jam. I never tasted salsa in an omelet before, it's good! I was hungry, ate everything and drank a big glass of orange juice as well. Since it was beautiful outside, we couldn't stay in for very long, we drove to Granville Island, bought coffee at JJ Bean and walked around, avoiding the crowds. It's already started, the Island is so busy it's mad and it's not even tourist season yet. I guess we just contributed to the invasion. It would be unfair to think that nobody else is allowed to enjoy this wonderful hangout. We did some shopping afterwards, but didn't find everything we were looking for. Then, Saturday night, we had sushi and went to see a movie. Sin City is based on a comic book and is just to bloody violent (or bloody AND violent). I didn't enjoy it, made me think of Kill Bill with more gore and dark characters.

Today, Tucker was helping a friend drywall his ceiling (sounds painful, doesn't it?), so I stayed home and cleaned my apartment. Everything was messy, I didn't put anything away during the week, it looked terrible. It took three hours, but I feel better now. I also went to the gym, but it made me feel worse. Not physically, mentally. I've been on a low-energy cycle since the announcement at work and I could measure the impact of stress on my body by the weakness I felt while working out. I felt good for having gone at least. I'll need to return more often, that's all. Then, some grocery shopping and I rented a movie, Closer. I should have picked something happier, maybe Hitch. I couldn't get into the plot. It feels like a few disconnected snapshots of overheard conversations between estranged couples. What it did capture nicely is the pain of love, I'll give it that. Not a warm and fuzzy movie, that's for sure.

Granville Island on Saturday 

Daffodils blooming on my balcony! 

Work update

Today I received a bit more information about my employment situation. I am employed and paid until April 22, my termination day being today and the law allowing me one week of compensation for every year of service. Unfortunately, I am also expected to BE at work during that time. Since the company is shutting down, I have no idea what I am expected to do for the next two weeks...

I had a first interview for a potential short-term contract on Wednesday and a second interview is scheduled next week. This is a good company, the contract could potentially turn into a permanent position and if it doesn't, it gives me at least a few more months to find work. I feel a little bit more confident about my immediate future now :-) If I can start the contract position before April 22, I might just resign, get my vacation days and start working for the new place immediately. It pays more anyways, and I'd rather be working than going mad from having nothing to do.

Auto Show is not stellar for small engines...

Tucker got some free tickets to the Auto Show through work, so we decided to drop by tonight. We played a game: can Tucker fit in...? Surprisingly, even the smallest cars would sorta fit him, unless it was to actually try and drive. Being able to put the feet on top of the pedals is a requirement, under... not so much.

The new Prius looks really cool, but unfortunately, most of the show was dedicated to Hemi engines, trucks and SUVs, and luxury sedans. Bad gas mileage, lots of toxic emissions... It's unfortunate that the market is still pushing for such monsters.

Can Tucker fit in a convertible PT Cruiser? For sure, there's even lots of room for his legs. 

Can Tucker fit in a Z4? Oh yeah, he also looks really happy, don't you think? 

Can Tucker fit in a Smart? You bet he can, but his feet were stuck under the pedals... Not a safe driving option. 

Independence looks good

I had coffee with Lara this afternoon (I still thought it was the morning but, blast!, we lost an hour somewhere between last night and this morning). Event though we live close by, we haven't found much time to hang around and chat. That's a shame because she's truly a friend that I can open up with, we share similar ideals and can really engage ourselves in pretty interesting conversations.

Lara told me about her experience as a contractor (self-employed), how she cannot go back to the 9-5, working-for-someone-else deal after being her own boss for more than a year in Montreal. We spoke about careers, projects, boyfriends, family, and things that scare us about the world we live in. I thought my change of vision since I had moved to Vancouver was only in my imagination, but it seems that Lara is living the same change. There is something about Vancouver (and the West Coast) that makes you more aware about environmental issues, about health and the food that you eat, about consumerism and our general slavery to material goods, about human rights and responsibilities. It's not that these topics are not on the mind of people back East, it just seems that they are more openly discussed and promoted out here.

I'm a bit worried about tomorrow and at the same time anxious. I'm hoping that we will know more about the status of the company. Not knowing is the hardest, once you know, you can turn around and prepare a plan of action, what your next move will be. Let's see.

Sooo...

It looks like I might be out of a job, maybe as early as next week. Yikes! Well, not entirely a surprise, but still a bit of a shock. I work for a privately funded company and it seems like our investors are not liking where the company is heading. They are most probably going to pull out and cut their losses. This means we are running out of money. I guess this is pretty typical for the high-tech industry. I'm slowly getting used to the idea.

So, you can guess what I am busy doing this weekend: updating the resume, searching job offers, sending applications, and doing a bit of research on contracting. Contracting is quite the norm in my field. Because of the additional freedom and independence, it is appealing. However, it requires a lot more work making sure you always have work. Properly marketing yourself and building a strong network is crucial if you want to work on contract. I'll see.

Since I don't know when my current employer will actually pull the plug, I do have a little bit of time to prepare myself for the inevitable. However, from the rumors going around the office, it didn't sound like we will make it very far into the month of April. C'est la vie!