Thursday, September 28, 2006

Quick update!!!

1. No more school... finished my last exam.

2. Finally out of the apartment and moved into the house. It's nice.

But I still have no internet at home!!!!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Back to ... Normal?

So this week I'm wrapping up a couple of huge steps in my life. My house (besides some finishing touches) is finished and were set to move in on Tuesday, as well as I am done school this week after my last two National CIP exams!

I can't wait but somehow feel a little down about it all. I feel that the whole experience coming to an end is a little anti-climactic. So much has changed in the 2006 that I missed. When I 'left' for school I was a newlywed, just off vacation to Mexico, renting an apartment and kind of fell into the whole going to school thing. I was nowhere prepared for what life in an accelerated program would be like. It was a year of juggling everything all at once and unfortunately that meant my personal life came to a halt. There was no time for me, my wife, or family and friends. I lost a lot of time that should have been spent with The Greeds in general. No coming out of school I own a house, I have a baby on the way and besides the people I went to school with I haven't talked to anyone.

Spending time with The Greeds is my biggest priority. I would love to get to know her again, I miss her so much. She's made several comments that I've changed a lot over the past year and I know that was true of her when she went to school. I just hope that I have not changed or grew in another path from her. At least I have a job to lean on for the next year at least while getting back to living; however, I need to catch up with everybody I put on hold.

I just can't believe a year went like that (snap of the fingers). Like waking from hibernation, it's back to business.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Can I have 1... How about just a drag?

I still scares me that after (see below) 169 weeks that I still have the urge to lit up a smoke. Every single week there's a point that I get a craving; however, every so often (today for example) it feels as though I just quit and NEED to have one. I'm not sure if it's something in the air, the crispness of the fall breeze or everything else that's been happening recently.

I haven't bent to the craving yet...

Just one day at a time I guess... only 65 years to go.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Already!?!

It happened on a dark and stormy night...

And by that I mean it was yesterday about 10 pm-ish, and I was driving while it was raining lightly. Between the wiper blades frantic strokes I noticed it 1 or 2 oddly shaped rain drops. The sight invoked a quick panic and flashbacks to skidding through the streets, traffic jams, cold hands, and hot chocolate.

It was.

I don't know if anyone else noticed it... ... a snowflake.

(Insert a quick high-pitched scream.)

Man finds his car seven months after forgetting where he parked it

he said: I had almost given up hope of finding the car again but I knew it must be there somewhere. In future I'll make sure I park in places I know I can find it.

This is totally something that might have happened to me!! My memory is about as sharp as a steaknifes handle!!

read more | digg story

Monday, September 11, 2006

Burnt toast...

At some point over the past month or so I hit the end I think. Yup, I am finally undisputed-ly burnt out. If you were standing next to me you would smell toast, if you asked for some though I would have to decline... I've no toast left (that's another story). But anyways, I'm not sure of the exact point it happened to me.

Somewhere in between doing the accelerated schooling, working, preparing to be a father, taking care of the soon to be mom (aka The Greeds), keep up with my chores, searching for a house, buying the house, and house renovations, preparing to move, study for the national exams and spending 3 hours a day commuting in between my commitments it happened.

Now everything I do it's feels as though I am sleepwalking; 14 billion things on my mind and struggling to maintain consciousness. Only 2 and a half weeks to go for school, then I can trade in my textbooks and 19-20 hour days for an 8 hour desk job.

I have never pushed myself this hard in life before and the fact that I am still going has surprised me beyond belief!

There are some sayings that I believe:
  • If something can go wrong, it's already starting to...
  • Everything will work out in the end. (The Even-Steven rule).
  • I am already there, it's done, the results are in, all I have to do is wait for time to catch me up.

15 days to go.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

The house...

Well it's been a week and I still love it! It's a small 1156 square floor, 2 storey with 3 bedrooms and 1 and a half baths. It's not the perfect place but it has character. So much character in fact that I've read more in the past month on home improvement then the textbooks I should have been reading.

(If anybody out there is considering the Insurance and Risk Management course, you could study your insurance policies it would be about as interesting! Not bashing the career I'm looking forward to the profession, but the textbooks could be made more interesting... just a smidge.)

So after an ... ahem ... sum of money for misc. tools and supplies, I have set out a brand new handyman. I was planning to paint the upstairs and replace the carpet with laminate flooring. I spent all Friday preparing the walls for paint, hours of sanding and patching as well as ripping out all the carpet, staples and tacking from the floor. Saturday was spent painting the walls which was finished that day and today we painted all the trim and the bathroom! Now almost ready for the flooring next weekend... right on schedule!!

Extreme thanks to all of our family that has put in the sweat and tears helping me to get our first house up to what we want!!!! I owe you all.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Possession date minus one...

To set the record straight... school may have won for the afternoon, but the evening was all nature (and excessive drinking). Good-times, Good-times.

I woke up early today and grabbed all my dirty laundry and head out to do it. Instead of taking the usual right at the lights and going to my local Laundromat, I went right and drove to my new (too me) house! I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. It was nothing special though an old washer and dryer in a dark basement, but they didn't take quarters! It was awesome. I'll miss the quiet mornings reading the paper at the L'mat, I may be weird but I found it relaxing. Now I have a ton of work ahead of me, the previous owners were slobs and The Greeds is picky! So I went out and bought a cart full of cleaning supplies and replaced all the lights and started cleaning. I also have to prep the entire upstairs as I bribed some friends and family to come help paint this weekend.

I'm half ready for the tests this week, but there is only two so I think they will go fine. I'll know for sure on Wednesday...

Saturday, September 02, 2006

School vs. Nature…

As it is the September long weekend we're camping, this makes it exactly the first and last time this summer that I haveve been outside for more than a few hours. The Greeds demanded that we go; she has gone with her friends and family several times this year. The catch is the two exams and two assignments that are coming due this week that I need to get started on. That being the case here I am at the lake fighting myself to study for a couple of hours so I don't fail. This is my last term and it's wrapping up fast. My marks have been dropping due to the fiasco that was house hunting in Edmonton. Now with that behind me and moving in coming quick, I am getting worried about pulling everything together for the last couple of weeks! So it seems for the mean time that school has won this battle.

But who knows maybe, just maybe, starting October I can live the 2006 that I missed this time around... Kinda like yearlight savings time you could say...

Friday, September 01, 2006

Time flies...

So I found myself in between assignments for a day and looking back to my neglected blog. It's so amazing how time has flown since my last post. School for me is almost up, done the end of September. I cannot believe for a second that I have done it, looking back 20 courses in twelve months - what the hell was I thinking a year ago.

With my break (this morning), I grabbed a seat for a couple of poker tourneys finishing both in the money 3rd and 5th places. Decent I figure as I also renovated my blog as you can see from the shiny new layout!

The Greeds is demanding a new name for herself suggesting something like the amazingly entrancing-ly beautiful sexy super-hot wife formally known as the greeds. But that just tells you why my first choice was so good! Seriously though, she is doing great 4 months along and we're both excited and a little scared. I think it will take a lot to get used to having three of us, it took me 4 and 1/2 years to come to terms with the 2 of us before I finally proposed.

After weeks of searching in the hottest real estate market of the world, we finally squeaked out a deal of buying a house! It's sweet, and along with trying to do everything while I'm preparing for final exams....I move in Sunday.