Hey there.
So what’s changed over the past little while since my last blog…
We bought a car. A nice little 2003 Kia Rio for driving to and from work and driving around the city etc on weekends and stuff. She’s a nice little car. Gold in colour. No power steering, cd player, and I think that’s about as fancy as she gets.
So we then tried to insure her. Here’s where some problems began… Because I have been living in Australia for a few years, my license expired about 4 and something years ago. So I have to re-write the beginners test (passed easily on Friday). And then take the road test again. Which will be done in Yarmouth this coming Thursday. Note that I live in Halifax. Anyway though, The Wife and I are moving through this pretty quickly because it will cost us thousands of dollars (unfortunately I am being very literal) to insure us for the most basic of insurances for a year. However, with a valid NS driver’s licence, we get it for under $800.
Hmmm.. Ya it’s a no-brainer. So we are moving as fast as we can to get our NS driver’s licence.. And since the earliest I could get my licence here in Hfx is sometime in April, we are going to Yarmouth to do on Thursday. Much sooner.. And I am praying to God that we both pass.
How embarrassing would that be to fail!!! I have been driving since 1993!!! Oh ya, and when I passed the written test, I was offered a temporary NS license, and that it would be subject to the conditions of a beginner’s license… Like driving with someone who has had more than 2 years driving experience. I laughed and said no. I mean really, I have a valid International Driver’s license which entitles me to drive for a year as long as my Australia one is valid, and my Australian license is valid here anyway for a short period of time. Why would I opt in to getting a license which restricts me to driving with someone with over a decade less driving experience than myself.. Man it was hard not to laugh at that moment.
Even now I suppress.
And suppress some more.
Oops, there it goes… I lost it.
(UPDATE: since I am quick to write, but slow to post, I did the driving test, and passed with no problem whatsoever, so I have a valid NS driver’s license. The Wife was pretty nervous but she did well and passed with some pretty colours. So all is well in the world and you can sleep in peace.)
Going to look at some houses tomorrow too (Well last Tuesday, about a week ago). A few in Dartmouth, and a few in Timberlea. I am kind of leaning toward Timberlea at the moment as the house looks alright.. Especially after I give it some good lovin’. Paint and a few other bigger jobs. But I think that one of the main things I like about it is the price and the location as it will leave us with a very manageable mortgage, the street is full of owner occupied houses, it’s not too far from work, and the downstairs is laid out really well for Rebecca to do child care (babysitting; see previous post). I think that the only issue we are having is that the school is really big, and we don’t know what (or if) there is a demand for child care in the area. I imagine that there is, and I believe that The Wife will be able to get kids. Anyway though, my Parents are coming up tomorrow to have a look with us because we love the second opinions.
We even got my Dad to look at the car with me before we bought it… In fact, we even got them to pay for it for us!! So how’s that!!! Na.. we’re not that bad… I just couldn’t get money out of the bank on Saturday, so Dad gave me a loan which I paid back immediately with a lovely cheque…
A cheque which for some reason made my bank limit the amount I could pull out of a cash machine to $220, making it pretty hard for me to pay my student loan of $335 a month hard over the counter at the Royal Bank when they could only take cash from me. But that’s a different problem and pain in the bum.
So what else has changed…
We bought a house. Funny because it was one of the houses we looked at last Tuesday with Mom and Dad. And not the one we asked them to come up and see.. This is why we get the second opinions! Well we are in the process of getting it, but we have been approved for financing, and the house inspection was yesterday which turned out alright. We’re moving to Dartmouth, which I always kind of considered the New Jersey of Halifax. But now I think it’s alright. Kind of have to don’t I? But it’s a really nice house. We don’t have to do anything too major to fix it. Just some little tiny things for longevity purposes, and we may want to start thinking about fixing some of the windows. But besides that, the house is in great shape. Nice wood floors, nice paint on the walls, nice landscaped back yard, or at least it looked that way in the pictures!! It was still covered in snow! We picked this one because the mortgage is only a little bit more, but it’s finished, better demand for child care in Dartmouth than in Timberlea… And the amount of work required in Timberlea kind of cancelled out the when the Dartmouth house is finished… So Dartmouth, here we come. For your own info, our new home is kind of in the back-end of Dartmouth just before Cole Harbour. We checked out the school and it looks good, so we’re a happy family!
Works going good. I have some footing and I think that I kind of know what I am doing. Still hate the cubicle thing, and I am really starting to miss having internet access on my laptop while at work. I really need to check a few things right NOW but I can’t because all the internet accessable computers are busy. Apparently, there is some hold up with the stock from the suppliers supplier (ie Microsoft). I’m not too happy about this at the moment though.
I need things.
I have needs.
I need to do work now.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Hmm.
Just a little post to point out and highlight the fact that most if not all of my links go to pages that have not been updated since at the latest, Like December of last year.
Ah well, to you all, I bid you A'Dieu, and you may soon find yourself absent from my links page as I don't really want to have a bunch of dead links.
Maybe I will give myself an overhaul and put some interesting links to web-sites that I particularly enjoy on this...
By eby
Ah well, to you all, I bid you A'Dieu, and you may soon find yourself absent from my links page as I don't really want to have a bunch of dead links.
Maybe I will give myself an overhaul and put some interesting links to web-sites that I particularly enjoy on this...
By eby
What can I say, I'm slow.
(I should note that this was written last week and some things have changed, but the views and opinions herein expressed are nonetheless true at time of writting (if not at time of print), however, we here at AWE publishing company fully endorse and are willing to expand upon any and all views that are stated within this fully binding and staggeringly insightful document of documents. Enjoy. Or at least try to.)
Jeez, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.. And I guess the only reason for this lag is that I’ve been kind of busy… but over a month, a short month, but still a month… no excuse is sufficient. Sorry to all my loving and loyal fan(s). I don’t know why I added the “s”, I know it’s not true.
So what’s happened to me.. I turned 31. So I’m not the 30 year old I used to be. I’m the 31 year old that I’m growing in to! Yay for me. But that is yet to be decided.
I’ve been pretty busy at work setting up a few methods to test some stuff at work. It went well, I got three assays up and running in about 2 weeks or so. Wrote the most kick-ass Excel file to analyze them. You must remember that I am a PhD. This translates into Geek. Not the MD type who you watch on Greys’ Anatomy, House, or ER, but the Geek that they don’t make shows about because we’re geeky. Albeit, the drugs that the those MDs prescribe etc, especially the new fangled ones, are the result of PhD geeks… So just so you know, it’s the Geeks that tell the ones you watch what medications to give etc. To some degree. Ah hell, the largest degree ever.
Anyway though, I’m sitting at work on the second day of the Fast. And I’m bored and tired. And getting a bit hungry. Honestly, it’s a lot easier fasting here than in Australia. There’s not nearly the same amount of heat to scorch your throat making you crave a drink.
Oh ya!!!
That reminds me!! It’s Roll Up The Rim To Win at Tim Horton’s!!!! How cool is that (sucks that I’m fasting because I don’t drink during the day thereby limiting my chances of winning). BUT, have no fear my friend, I have played this game for many years, excluding the ones when I was in Australia. So maybe not many years, but I have played before, and as soon as I saw a Roll Up The Rim To Win Cup, I was excited. So I bought my first one. I lost, and I lost again and again that morning. But the next morning was another story. I got my coffee from the lovely girl at the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper, then I went across the road (the Tupper Building is on my way to work, and has less of a line-up than both Tim’s in the IWK), went up to my “office” drank and wrote my Kick-ass Excel file. Then decided to roll up the rim my friends. (Yes, I know you are wondering how long can he keep this crap up, but be warned, I am full of crap. Absolutely full of it. And even this little soliloquy is taking up your time). So I rolled it up and low – and – behold, I won a $50 Tim Card. So i got the card that night at another Tim’s in Bedford, where the girl’s immediate response was that’s awesome, and then “I wish I had of watched that video”. I think she had to send something away, but she was like, well we have the cards here, so I’m going to give him one. So I got my card.
So I went to the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper the next morning, only to find that they were not set up to use the Tim card. So my heart was broken. I get $50 and can’t even use it where I buy my coffee. ..
Yes a sad tale of woe.
Woe is me…
And now I am fasting so I am not even drinking coffee much anymore. But as soon as the Fast is finished, I promise that I will make up for lost time.
Ever wish that you had something intelligent to say? I have that wish right now.
So we’re still looking for a house to buy. Having some problems with that though. Trying to find a decent house and a school that has less than 700 students in grade 1 is proving a bit tricky. I may have found something though, it’s a little ways out, but then we don’t really have the cash to buy in downtown Halifax. Not that we want to, but The Wife would like to buy in Bedford. She likes Basinview school, which is where My Boy is registered to go to school in Sept. Assuming that we don’t move. Which we will since we only have our house until the end of August!
Ya, life’s good. I still don’t have a second car. Which is probably a good thing since it gives us more $$, but it means that I am still taking public transportation. It’s slowly starting to wear thin on me. I am appalled at the level of child care in NS. You know, I am sure that there are decent people who take care of kids, but when it comes down to it, it should all be regulated. And the government should support the child care industry. If you want to improve your workforce, women should be able to come back to work after they’ve had a baby. I know that they are technically allowed, but if that woman works IN child care, she’s screwed. Not worth working in child care when you have a child that needs to be in child care because the pay you get working in child care does not provide enough money for you to send your kid to child care. Where’s the sense in that? I understand why there are so many people taking care of children in their homes. There is no regulation against it, and you actually make real money doing it. $25 / kid /day, times one week is $125 a week for one kid. If you have 4 kids that you are taking care of, that $500 a week. Or $2000 a month, or $24,000 a year, with the possibility of this being tax-free. And for your information, you are allowed to have at leasat one more than 4 kids, and the going rate at a child care centre (at least the one where The Wife went for an interview) is $18-20,000, taxable income. You tell me what choice we should make. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would work in a child care centre here.
This also means that you can get anyone operating a “babysitting” service from their home. Just advertise yourself, and you may get lucky. I believe that you should have some sort of formal training in child care. Some sort of First Aid kit, and some kind of insurance, Heaven Forbid, should anything happen to a child while in your care. I think that the Nova Scotia government really needs to step up and deal with this.
It’s a travesty.
A bloody travesty.
Jeez, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.. And I guess the only reason for this lag is that I’ve been kind of busy… but over a month, a short month, but still a month… no excuse is sufficient. Sorry to all my loving and loyal fan(s). I don’t know why I added the “s”, I know it’s not true.
So what’s happened to me.. I turned 31. So I’m not the 30 year old I used to be. I’m the 31 year old that I’m growing in to! Yay for me. But that is yet to be decided.
I’ve been pretty busy at work setting up a few methods to test some stuff at work. It went well, I got three assays up and running in about 2 weeks or so. Wrote the most kick-ass Excel file to analyze them. You must remember that I am a PhD. This translates into Geek. Not the MD type who you watch on Greys’ Anatomy, House, or ER, but the Geek that they don’t make shows about because we’re geeky. Albeit, the drugs that the those MDs prescribe etc, especially the new fangled ones, are the result of PhD geeks… So just so you know, it’s the Geeks that tell the ones you watch what medications to give etc. To some degree. Ah hell, the largest degree ever.
Anyway though, I’m sitting at work on the second day of the Fast. And I’m bored and tired. And getting a bit hungry. Honestly, it’s a lot easier fasting here than in Australia. There’s not nearly the same amount of heat to scorch your throat making you crave a drink.
Oh ya!!!
That reminds me!! It’s Roll Up The Rim To Win at Tim Horton’s!!!! How cool is that (sucks that I’m fasting because I don’t drink during the day thereby limiting my chances of winning). BUT, have no fear my friend, I have played this game for many years, excluding the ones when I was in Australia. So maybe not many years, but I have played before, and as soon as I saw a Roll Up The Rim To Win Cup, I was excited. So I bought my first one. I lost, and I lost again and again that morning. But the next morning was another story. I got my coffee from the lovely girl at the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper, then I went across the road (the Tupper Building is on my way to work, and has less of a line-up than both Tim’s in the IWK), went up to my “office” drank and wrote my Kick-ass Excel file. Then decided to roll up the rim my friends. (Yes, I know you are wondering how long can he keep this crap up, but be warned, I am full of crap. Absolutely full of it. And even this little soliloquy is taking up your time). So I rolled it up and low – and – behold, I won a $50 Tim Card. So i got the card that night at another Tim’s in Bedford, where the girl’s immediate response was that’s awesome, and then “I wish I had of watched that video”. I think she had to send something away, but she was like, well we have the cards here, so I’m going to give him one. So I got my card.
So I went to the Tim’s at the bottom of the Tupper the next morning, only to find that they were not set up to use the Tim card. So my heart was broken. I get $50 and can’t even use it where I buy my coffee. ..
Yes a sad tale of woe.
Woe is me…
And now I am fasting so I am not even drinking coffee much anymore. But as soon as the Fast is finished, I promise that I will make up for lost time.
Ever wish that you had something intelligent to say? I have that wish right now.
So we’re still looking for a house to buy. Having some problems with that though. Trying to find a decent house and a school that has less than 700 students in grade 1 is proving a bit tricky. I may have found something though, it’s a little ways out, but then we don’t really have the cash to buy in downtown Halifax. Not that we want to, but The Wife would like to buy in Bedford. She likes Basinview school, which is where My Boy is registered to go to school in Sept. Assuming that we don’t move. Which we will since we only have our house until the end of August!
Ya, life’s good. I still don’t have a second car. Which is probably a good thing since it gives us more $$, but it means that I am still taking public transportation. It’s slowly starting to wear thin on me. I am appalled at the level of child care in NS. You know, I am sure that there are decent people who take care of kids, but when it comes down to it, it should all be regulated. And the government should support the child care industry. If you want to improve your workforce, women should be able to come back to work after they’ve had a baby. I know that they are technically allowed, but if that woman works IN child care, she’s screwed. Not worth working in child care when you have a child that needs to be in child care because the pay you get working in child care does not provide enough money for you to send your kid to child care. Where’s the sense in that? I understand why there are so many people taking care of children in their homes. There is no regulation against it, and you actually make real money doing it. $25 / kid /day, times one week is $125 a week for one kid. If you have 4 kids that you are taking care of, that $500 a week. Or $2000 a month, or $24,000 a year, with the possibility of this being tax-free. And for your information, you are allowed to have at leasat one more than 4 kids, and the going rate at a child care centre (at least the one where The Wife went for an interview) is $18-20,000, taxable income. You tell me what choice we should make. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would work in a child care centre here.
This also means that you can get anyone operating a “babysitting” service from their home. Just advertise yourself, and you may get lucky. I believe that you should have some sort of formal training in child care. Some sort of First Aid kit, and some kind of insurance, Heaven Forbid, should anything happen to a child while in your care. I think that the Nova Scotia government really needs to step up and deal with this.
It’s a travesty.
A bloody travesty.
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