countdown's on

Well, the countdown is back until I am (probably, yet hopefully temporarily) unemployed again. You might remember that my Development Tech position at the city of Halifax was a 90-day temporary position.... And, yep, those 90 days are going to be up mid-December. Boo. However, there is an upside. There was a Planner I position posted a while ago, and they've done their interviews for it. (I applied but wasn't interviewed; word on the street has it they want 2 years of development tech experience before they bump you up to planner. Argh.) Anyways, two of the interviewees were people with permanent development technician jobs. So if one of them gets it, then their position opens up, and I can apply, along with the two other temporary development techs. So that's relatively good news, but I have no idea how long it'll take to filter all of this through the union and HR. (Best guess: too slow!) And on the other hand, there's always consulting...

Countdown #2 - Three and a bit weeks until Steve's done in Saint John! He wasn't on call this weekend, so came back to Hali, and we had a great weekend. Pretty lazy and VERY relaxing, but we did manage to do most of the Christmas shopping. And he took the car back to Saint John, so I am now without wheels. (Not that it really affects my day-to-day life: when I got home from Vancouver, I drove home from the airport and the next time I drove, I was heading to Saint John two weeks later. Just means no trips to the power centre, which is probably good for me!)

Countdown #3 - This is on a longer time scale, but we drove by the condo today, and there's actually been a bit of progress! They've got all of the windows and sliding doors done on the first four floors. Nothing on the top floor yet. And according to our email update from the developer, some kind of progress is happening inside as well. (Not enough progress for a tour though - that's been postponed until the new year...)

ahh etsy

Hello again! One more day of work, and then another week is done! We are now half-way through Steve's stint in Saint John.

Phewf - I need him back home so there's incentive to cook good food. When he's away, I survive on toast, cereal, yogurt, soup and cheese and crackers. And carrot sticks. And a frozen pizza once in a while. It's disgusting. However, tonight I am going all out as soon as I finish this post - I am going to make.... drum roll please.... pasta with basil pesto (out of a jar). This will also mean tomorrow's lunch will be much more awesome than the usual granola bar plus apple plus carrots. Am I five years old? I should be feeding myself better than this.... I've actually broken down and bought a bottle of multi-vitamins, which is odd for me. (Generally, Steve and I don't really worry about vitamins, cause we're sure we eat a healthy balanced diet. Obviously, that's gone out the window!)

On a more positive note, here are three good things.

Number one: We got the new Beautiful Girls cd in the mail (Ziggurats) and it's awesome. For those not in the know, we discovered this band when we were in Australia, and they're amazing, with a really unique sound on all of their albums. Love them.

Number two: You guys should check out this website: www.etsy.com. It's an online shop for artists and crafty people all over the world, where you can buy handmade stuff directly from the maker. For example, I ordered some lip balm from a lady who lives in PEI... But there are people all over the States, South Africa, Europe, Singapore, and they're all selling these amazing creations for (what I think are) reasonable prices. (Liz - if you haven't seen it already, I apologize for the time you're going to spend surfing! It's so good for ideas...)

Number three: Steve is coming home for the weekend! We don't have much planned, except for hopefully a surf, depending on the swell. (Our wetsuits should be good for another month or so, depending on how the ocean gets stirred up. I don't relish the thought of getting OUT of the water and changed though!) We also have to do our Christmas shopping, but I'm not too worried about that. I've got a couple ideas and things bought already, and we only exchange small presents with a few people, so it's not a major event. Estimated shopping time (before Steve and I both run out of gas): 2 hours.

And remember - tomorrow is both Buy Nothing Day and Black Friday. So, depending which side of the bed your credit card wakes up on, either keep it locked up (to stick it to the American economy) or else go hard (to keep aforementioned tanking economy afloat). I think I'm ready to buy nothing (except ferry rides) - I got some groceries today (that's why I can make this exotic pasta with pesto) and a bottle of wine for dinner tomorrow. Steve and I are set.

animal tracks

Hey all. Just wanted you all to know that I haven't forgotten about you - I just have nothing to report....!! Steve will be back this coming weekend for the anesthesia Christmas party and hopefully one last surf, then he's back to Saint John for two ugly weekends of Friday-Sunday call. I'm not up to much, just work and putzing away on making lists and crossing things off!

saint john

Here are a couple of shots from my trip to Saint John - I don't want you to get too excited, because we had the laziest weekend ever! I drove down on Saturday (just ahead of the first snowstorm - yuck, who invited winter?!), while Steve and Brady were both on call. I met Steve at the hospital to get his keys, and spent the evening watching cable tv. We don't have cable, so I do enjoy watching it when I get the chance, but it only takes one evening to catch up on everything worth watching. Then you're stuck with sports. Steve and Brady (another anesthesia resident, also in Saint John for 8 weeks) live in an apartment supplied by the hospital, which is in one of the (nicer) projects around town.

We tried to go out for breakfast on Sunday, but everything was closed because of Remembrance Day, so it was coffee from McDonalds and cereal at home. Why McDonalds? Steve is fighting with Tim Horton's because they have a monopoly in the hospitals out here and he hates their coffee and food. ('Where's a Good Earth when you need an americano and something sort-of healthy for breakfast?' is probably what he's saying right now.) And, one more note: this closed sign is at the Java Moose, the only coffee shop (other than Tim's) in a town of over 100,000 people, and it was closed both days.

And that was about it. We did find some bacon and eggs on Monday, and I drove home on Monday evening. Not much to report, but it was great to see Steve, plus he was happy to have his guitar delivered.

lest we forget

here's the photo

happy friday!

Hello! Here it is, lunch time already on the Friday before a long weekend. (Some of you may still be in bed. Ahem. Sister. FYI to the rest of you - Devon and I have opposite schedules. We often chat on the phone when I'm walking home from work and she's just on her way to work! It actually works well.) But I have been productive at work so far and will leave the office with a nearly clean desk, which is my goal for Fridays. (It makes Mondays so much better.)

Since I last blogged, this is what happened. Last Sunday, I woke up and the weather was clear and almost sunny - the storm had passed! The power was still on, but it did go out for a few hours that morning, just long enough for me to get a little antsy. The damage in Halifax proper wasn't too bad, but there are some crazy pictures out there of areas near the water. I'll try to find one of Queensland Beach, where it looks like the road melted over top of the rocks. Some of my co-workers didn't get their power turned back on until Tuesday...

This week would have looked uneventful from the outside, but I got a lot of little things finished off my (always very long and thorough) list. Emotional meltdown about living 5000 km away from (almost) everyone we know on Monday evening, but Steve talked me down and my attitude is back to perky. (Phew. Who likes an un-perky Mackenzie? Well, besides James and Greg....)

Tomorrow I am heading to New Brunswick to visit Steve in Saint John. Looks like the drive will be about 4 hours, and there's a toll highway with the toll booth at the highest elevation (with apparently the worst weather), so you can all pretend it's the Coquihalla. Except: the toll is only $4, and the highest elevation is probably 200 m instead of 1400 m!

noel update

Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunny and calm, but kind of chilly (which is acceptable for November). It was definitely not the kind of day which made you think, "Hmm, I wonder if there'll be a hurricane tomorrow?" And this is why I am thankful for meteorologists! As an aside, it's been a treat here in Halifax to read the forecast in the morning paper, dress accordingly, and actually have that weather happen during the day. How often does that happen in Calgary?!? ;-) (Although, in Calgary, there's really only three kinds of weather: 1) sunny and warm, 2) sunny and cold, and 3) rarely occurring other weather.)

Today started out looking like a regular cloudy, blustery, possibly-rainy day, but it has been getting worse and worse. The photo was taken at 1:30, when the rain started. It's raining relatively hard and quite windy, but I would say this is a fairly average stormy day so far (i.e. no worse than Friday the 12th, when I got soaked coming home from work!). We'll see how ugly it gets later on - I think the worst is supposed to hit tonight...

batten down the hatches!

Hurricane Noel is expected to hit Nova Scotia tomorrow. According to the Globe and Mail, "Canadian meteorologists think the hurricane will lose enough strength by the time it reaches Canada to be downgraded to a severe post-tropical storm, but they warn that it will still pack a punch with intense rains and strong winds."

Isn't that weird? (For a west coast kid, anyways...) It was briefly mentioned in the paper this morning, and I did take notice that tomorrow's weather is going to be terrible. My preparation: I will get some groceries after work (since I'm out of food anyways), and at lunch I picked up some magazines and DVDs from the library. My clue that this is out of my league: All of the engineers at work are talking about bringing in lawn furniture, tieing down BBQs, etc.

I think tomorrow is going to be a bit of a write-off, but I'll keep you posted. (Maybe I'll finally get some photos from Cape Breton on the blog!)

And it's too bad that Steve's in Saint John right now*, cause there's probably big waves today. I think the swell typically arrives before the storm and bad weather, so today is probably a good surfing day. (Tomorrow... Not so much!)

*I probably haven't mentioned this: Steve went to Saint John, NB after our trip for an eight-week internal medicine rotation. It's less than ideal, but two of his anesthesia classmates are there with him, so that's good. I'm going to head out next weekend to visit him and check the city out.