So it's been a while!

Well guys, I am truly sorry about the lag in time between posts. But I trust that you'll understand when you realize that me and my family moved from a summer in Australia, to the worst winter in 15 bloody years in Nova Scotia Canada!!!!

So I finished work on November 30. And honestly, it was a sad day for me. At 4:30pm I handed in my keys and my ID badge... I could no longer get into my office without someone else letting me in. After 6 and a half years. 6 and a half years. Long time. Small group. Good friends... A sad day indeed. But the going away dinner was really good. I got to dance with a very attractive belly dancer, photos on Facebook... Thanks Anne. You're a doll :)

Saying goodbye to the family was hard. That's all I'll say about that. It was hard and I didn't like it. Didin't like it at all.

So on Dec 7, we went to Sydney Airport, where we spent too long in line for them to tell us that we had to repack our luggage because our carry-on was too heavy. So we had to go and buy another checked luggage bag and empty all of our carry on. My problem was that we were only allowed something like 7 kg and my laptop etc was about 3.5. The really shitty thing was that we didn't get to say good bye to the family members that came to see us off because we were too busy re-packing. I am truly sorry and deeply saddened by that loss.

The plane trip from Sydney to LA was really long. Really long with a 5 year old and a 1 year old who is on the verge of walking. Neither me nor The Wife got any sleep on that leg of the flight. Not a wink. Nor did we really get to watch a whole movie. Alex enjoyed that flight though (except the food) since he could choose which movie he wanted to watch, he could play his Nintendo DS and the list goes on.

LA: Good and bad. The people were really nice and helpful. The airport was exceptionally well organized and were able to get our luggage, get through customs, and all that crap and then catch our flight with only portions of minutes to spare. We only had 2 hours from touchdown (which ended up being 15 minutes late) to the LA to Boston flight. The crappy part was the customs part. Do you know that you can bring in milk onto a flight, but not water, as long as the milk has no sugar added. but not waterm or liquid om greater than 100 mL aliquots. It was a pain in the ass. Especially when we were traveling with 2 little kids and could not remember in which carry-on luggage the drinks were in.

Boston: Same problems as with LA customs. Except there was a 1 hour delay which meant that we were in Boston airport for 4-5 hours. Not fun. Me and The Wife only got about 1 hour of sleep on the last flight. Only one hour. But the flight was only 1 hour or so.

Halifax: hat can you say, it was only good. Got to see my family again! Drove back to Yarmouth with my big bro Jason, The Wife, and my one year old daughter. Unfortunatley, there was a snow storm, and what usually takes 3 hours, took 5. But Jason did an exceptionally good job. Thanks Jay! And he had to get back to work at 7:30 that morning.... Thanks, and sorry!

The weather here in Yarmouth NS has been pretty crappy too! In the way that there has been way too much snow and I am not used to it. And neither is my wife. We played in the snow today though, and that was truly fun. Except when I realized that I lost my keys and they ended up in the snow on the front lawn. Mom came up with the idea of raking the snow covered lawn. Which eventually worked (after searching the entire house).

The important thing about the keys, besides the Swiss Army Knife which my Dad gave me when I left home in 1995, was my new home keys. My family will be living in Bedford for the next 8 months, and I had both of the keys on that knife. Not smart yes, but since 1995 I have never lost my keys, so why should that change now. Why should that change now??

Ah well, the family is great. We like the living arrangements. The kids like the grandparents (my parents). The grandparents like the kids. And all is well. But it will be nice to have our own place again. Since we moved out of our house in November, I have lived in 4 different houses with 4 different sets of people. But we've enjoyed each place.

So this is likely my last post of the year, so Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I'll talk to you all next year.

PS: I will be working at the IWK in Halifax NS in January 2008, and I will be doing medical research again in the field of immunology, particularly autoimmunity etc like rheumatoid arthritis...

Keep smiling and make your new years resolutions count for something.