Vacation!

Well, here it is. I am taking my first 2 week vacation ever. I have never been in a position to take 2 consecutive weeks off of work. When I was younger, it never occurred to me and I took my holidays whenever I could. A day here and a day there. Then I started working in computer sales. Then I was terrified to take even a single day off. You're so worried that the second you spent any time off the sales floor, one of the customers you had spoken to previously would come in and be "scooped" by another salesperson. I remember Boxing Days where I considered wearing a catheter to prevent having a return customer (we called them "be backs", as in "I'll be back after I talk to my wife") stolen by another salesperson. Now that I think back, I remember how much of my fantasy time was spent thinking about the busload of "be backs" that I was waiting for.

I was particularly worried about 2 other salespeople; Terry and a girl we called "B.R.".

Terry was an exceptional salesman. Extremely aggressive and very smooth. A formidable combination. On a slow day with no customers, we would all hang out together and wait for the next customer. As we watch the next few people come into the department, I would often be shocked by Terry's choice of "prospect". He would often pick the most unlikely of candidates. Like guys carrying motorcycle helmets. Now I'm not saying that a guy who rides a motorcycle is not likely to own a computer. I'm just saying that the likelihood of him taking one home on the back of a motorcycle is fairly remote.

But Terry had vision. See, these biker types are a loyal demographic. Not only would he have harvested a good client and likely made the sale eventually, bikers tend to be a tight knit group. Once you have a trust with one biker, you have an assumed trust with ALL bikers. And as far as carrying the computer home? Well guess what a biker drives in the winter? That's right...a half ton. You can fit a LOT of computers in a half ton.

Terry was often fond of Hutterites. If you think bikers are loyal, try Hutterites. I bet you there are STILL Waldners and Geisbrechts pulling up to Future Shop looking for Terry. And one more thing; Hutterites drive 5-Tons. You can get a poop load of computers in a 5-Ton!

B.R. on the other hand had a different advantage. Tits. Now before you get all "high and mighty" let me say that she was also a good salesperson. But not great. Just good. But combine that with the other...fugeddaboutit. Don't forget, this was computer sales...in the early 90's. The typical client was, shall we say, not likely to avoid the salesperson with tits. So this worked for her. And I'm fine with that.

After that, I went to my current position where I was, and still am, the only on-site IT support in the province. It was simply impossible to expect to relax on holidays. Something was always broken. Always something to fix. Eventually over the past 10 years I have gone from taking NO time off (the first 5 years), to taking a day or two (the next 3 years), and then finally taking as much as 4 days at a time(the past year and a half).

I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Even though I can't go away anywhere, I hope I am able to get some R&R. It is getting overwhelming at work. I am constantly thinking of tasks that need to be done and priorizing helpdesk tickets. It will be nice to finally take a break from that. Today I went Geocaching for a couple of hours and then I went to Clay's office and set up RAS for them. That was fun.

Then I came home and made glazed salmon and shrimp canneloni with salad for the family. It was good. Tomorrow I will be heading to Home Depot to price out light fixture parts for the kitchen. Maybe more Geocaching....we'll see.

Nano-insanity

October the 28th in the Year of our Lord 2008 is officially recorded as the day I went a little bit insane. Or a little bit more insane.

It was on this day I decided to tackle all of the available ICU traditional nano-caches put out by "Eye of Sauron" (probably not his/her real name). Some 30 caches were placed at the base of the lights for the red light cameras all across the city. There was one disabled one, and one that hadn't been found for a while (even ertyu dnf'd a couple of times, and THAT's saying something). I ignored the disabled one, and gave a good effort at the other. Although I feel no guilt for not finding it, as EoS disabled it as well shortly after my efforts.

To make up for the 2 missed caches, I found 2 other ICU caches that were unpublishable due to proximity issues. So, I feel I'm ahead of the game. Mostly because it's MY game, and I tend to make up rules as I need to so I stay ahead of it.

I surprised myself by having a pretty good time doing these caches. I usually don't like nano hides because they often require alot of conspicuous searching. This tends to arouse the attention of people who may become motivated enough to look for whatever it was I may have been looking for and therefore compromizing the hiding spot, or the cache itself. Except for a few exceptions, the caches were is the same basic locations for all of the hides. There were a few that had lost their magnet and as a result had been relegated to cave-dweller status in a nook in the shroud. But for the most part, all caches could be found by a blind person provided his hand were to be guided to the correct pole. (There is a hilarious off-colour joke lurking in that last sentence, but it is to far in the shadows for me to extract).

It took me till nearly midnight to complete all of the caches, but I was only grabbing them quickly between work episodes during the day. And then I went home to make supper, and hit the road with the kids to grab a couple, then went out again later to grab the rest.

My original intent was to cookie-cut my logs. I felt this was the same spirit in which the caches were placed. But as with all things caching-wise, I ended up enjoying myself and wanted to tell my story at a couple of the ides anyhow. So I devised this hybrid log where I stated my mission for the day at the top, and then each cache got a personal note below.

So, thanks for the nano-adventure, EoS. I had more fun on this journey than I thought. One word of advice...silicone the magnet into the container. You'd have less lost magnets.

Test Video

This is from about 5 years ago. Brooke singing the ABC's and eating toast. She is truly multi-talented. I just wanted to try posting video to see how it looks. Verdict: Looks Good!

1000 Geocaches....now what?

So I went out and found my 1000th geocache with my family in Stony Mountain a few weeks ago. I thought for a while about what cache should carry the honor of being my 1000th find. Initially I thought I would re-visit the first cache I had ever attempted, Reynold's Ponds. But due to the weather, and other factors, I chose to take the family with me to this comparatively easy location.

It is also a cache owned by one of my friends, Jacques. I have always wanted to go out caching with him, only my spider...er...lizard-sense tingles like crazy every time I consider it. You see, when the folks at the Energizer battery company were trying to come up with a theme to their new advertising campaign back in the early 80's it was Jacques' unending enthusiasm and unstoppable contant motion that they based their bunny character on.

So, I must say, I am a little scared to venture into the wilds with this guy. I am not sure exactly why...I just am.

School...my future? Or just a Supertramp song?

I have decided to look into school. Actually getting an edumacation. Great idea. At least I'm still young. Pardon? What's that? I'm 40? ... Well that's still young...isn't it? For a rock, I suppose.

I have always felt unfulfilled as a result of not having pursued an education. Although my life's path has led me to my current situation. So all things considered, I'm glad I didn't go to school. But the time has definitely come to repair my unfulfilled psyche and perhaps better my life in the process.

Shouldn't be too difficult. I mean, I will be taking courses the subjects of which consist of my current day-to-day activites. I just need to fill in the gaps. Perhaps I will learn how to write better sentences than the second one in this paragraph. Good one, Chaucer.

What prompted this sudden thirst for knowledge, you ask? Well lately the voice of some of the policies and communications from head office have led me to believe that perhaps my job may be getting phased out. Outsourced? Me? Shit! Upon further investigation it seems that my instincts are likely incorrect. Marion tells me that there is no plan at all to minimize support in the field. Quite the opposite, she says. But I still can't shake that feeling.

Within the next week or two I will darken the door of academia to research my options as well as the time and money commitments required to get me some fancy book learnin'. I hope that some organization will offer me a flexible scedule as well as the opportunity to challenge a few of the exams. After all, I have been DOING the work for 15 years. I just need the paper saying that I have done it once.

I am very excited about this. It's kinda scary, but it will be good. And perhaps I will be motivated to change my job to a company that offers me a vertical career path. As I can't do any more for this company than I already have.

Stay tuned.

I Have a Crazy Friend Named Charles

I got an e-mail this past weekend from burchil (aka-Charles) asking me if I wanted to go caching. Charles noted that I had been leading a very busy life lately and thought he would invite me out to walk around with him in the snow and de-stress a bit. Nice.

Some background on Charles: He has the superhuman ability to ride his bicycle in any weather, to any destination, at any time. He can snowshoe at a brisk 5KM/h through knee-deep powder, against the wind for at least 40 mins without pausing. He has canoed in all but one month of the year, I believe. And in Manitoba, that's saying something.

I have been out with Charles on a couple of other occasions and have had a fantastic time. I have never had concerns as to whether or not I would be at risk. I always felt that if there was ever an issue with fatigue, or if I was ever injured, Charles would simply load my body on his back and jog back to the car, or perhaps to the nearest hospital.

The cache my good buddy had chosen as the subject of our adventure is MuStash's Elk Island Cache.

4/5 Difficulty - 5/5 Terrain

20 (!) KM round trip

Cliff climbing involved

And the map on the cache page shows the starting point for our journey is some 200m off the shore in the icy waters of Lake Winnipeg. Yes, I realize that that is just a Google map, and the actual location is likely bone dry. But consider it an omen. One more tick in the "cons" list of whether or not I shoud attempt this cache, or perhaps advise my friend Charles that I have come down with some rare illness that prevents me from walking any farther than 5 km without going indoors for a while.

Well, as luck would have it, we are going to be busy for the next few weekends anyhow, so it looks like my geocaching adventures will be a bit more urban. At least for the time being.

Where to? North, I say!

My good friend, and fellow caching reptile, TurdleEggs, and I went and visited a couple of caches yesterday. It sure was nice to get out and get some exercise. We tackled a few caches in the North end of the city until it got too dark to be very enjoyable. And it was a school night after all. If anybody needs their beauty sleep, it's TurdleEggs. :)

I learned of some parallels in the earlier years of our lives on this trip. Odd how that happens. Seems every time I go out with this guy I learn something new about him. We swapped stories about our upbringing. Told him of my being raised by my grandparents and my step-fathers illness. He told me about his parents and some about his sister. I think she's a lawyer, or perhaps collects ocelots...who listens? :)

I have decided I need to do more winter caching. The exercise felt good.