OK. So I just got the call from the HR Manager......
I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'M MOVING TO HAMILTON!!!!!!
Craziness!!!!!
HOLY CRAP. This is nuts.
Ok... so... I guess I should fill you in on where I left off....
I got up to Hamilton without a hitch (unless you count the 5-airport, 10-hour travel day a hitch), and got sqaured away at the hotel... very nice. I go out for a bit of a stroll.... then I start to think to myself.... "Reid. You're in downtown Hamilton. This isn't Grand Falls." So after a short walk I headed on home.
Up early on Wednesday for the interview at 9am. Although, truth be told, it wasn't really much of an interview. More like.... an introduction to the place and people I'd be working with. My boss, Cyril (from Cape Breton I should add), took me all over the mill... which was a lot bigger than I expected. He also introduced/dropped me off to a few managers for an impromptu mini-interview. It all went very well... and most importantly for me, the people working there seemed to be best kind. After the touring was over the HR Manager (Barrie), plus another HR fellow and my boss took me out for lunch. We had a good chat about all kinds of stuff... mostly non-work related, which I liked! I could tell I was in with a good bunch on the car ride back to the plant after lunch. The entire 15 minute conversation was about beer and drinking! Nice.
We were due to clue things up after lunch, but then Barrie and Cyril brought up the fact that I wasn't flying out until the morning. Thus, they decided that they should take me out for a steak dinner at the Keg as well! (Score). That evening's meal was much more laid back and candid... like 3 friends having beers and steaks. The guys asked me what my overall feelings were about the plant and the company, and I had to be honest with them - I was impressed. So needless to say, I was feeling pretty good about it all, definitely thinking that things were going well. (I knew for a fact that the other second round interviewees didn't get no steak :)
Then, as we're walking towards the door, my boss leans over and says with a nod "If I were you.... I'd get my bags packed." So at this point, I'm flippin out! I head on back to the hotel and give my folks a call to tell them the very promising news. Then, to "celebrate" I head down the road to the theatre to catch Saw 2.... pretty good moive.
So I get home again late Thursday evening from another crazy travel day involving a cancelled flight out of Hamilton and burning in my rental up the QEW to Toronto Pearson Airport to make a replacement. Nonetheless, I got home safe and sound. Friday morning, the phone rings around 11:30am. It's Barrie calling.... and you guessed it.... I got the job! Turns out I'll be getting a damn fine starting salary for a young engineer, plus full medical and dental, and a signing bonus to boot! SCORE!
So yeah... I took the job. I am now officially a project engineer! The plant that I'm working at is about 30mins south of downtown Hamilton. Crazy shit.... I'm pretty pumped. At this point, the starting date is still up in the air. Both my boss and I would prefer it if I started after Christmas.... so hopefully that will be the case. Otherwise, it'll be Christmas alone and working (there's an xmas shut down - I'd have to work Dec 26 - 30th) up in Hamilton. I mean... I'll do what I gotta do... but I'd definitely like to have one last holiday season home with my friends and family before I get out there in the real world.
So yeah... big changes in my life man. Wild stuff. Does this mean I have to become a grown-up now? Yikes. Gotta start looking at places to live and vehicles to drive! That sounds kinda grown up to me. Anyway.... one step at time.... here's hoping I'll be home for Christmas! Update soon.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Monday, November 21, 2005
Will I walk the long road? Can not stay...
Hey all...
Well... long time no write. I apologize for that! It's not that I've been particularly busy this fall (cause I haven't really - being unemployed and all). It's just that the whole digitizing my Eurotrip (which as we speak is still unfinished) turned out to be a much more daunting task than I had originally planned. And I don't know about you, but there's only so much time I can spend blogging before my head caves in.
I was really trying to hold out until the Eurotrip entries were completed before I started making normal posts again. However, I got to thinking this morning that I should probably make an update before I forget a lot of what happened. Also... I'm at a potentially huge crossroads right now, so I thought it would be a cool time to write. But more on that a bit later.
So... I guess I'll start where I left off. I got home from Europe, had a great last week with the few remaining friends and classmates in St. John's - particularly Ricketts' birthday/farewell bash on August 9th. The only question is... who pissed in the corner? From here, things slowed down for me, as I headed on back home to move in with my folks and begin my job search - or at least - that was the cover story. Truth was, I had 3 pearl jam concerts to attend at the end of September, so I elected (perhaps rather foolishly) to hold off on my job search until after they were done - (i.e start the job hunt in October).
September flew on by, and before I knew it, it was pearl jam time! Myself, Jen, Steve, and Patti-Lynn flew to Halifax to catch the show on the 22nd - Absolutely mind blowing. They opened with "Hard to Imagine" which completely encapsulated what this entire weekend would be for me. We had a great time at that show - Patti and I had 10th row floor seats - so that was friggin unbelieveable. I could have hit Eddie with my shoe! Man, what a concert. While we were in Halifax my good friend Kay came down to see Steve, Jen and I. That was awesome... if Ricketts was there, it would have been a full blown Eurotrip Reunion!
Then, the 4 of us flew home for the first of two St. John's shows - as did Gloria & Lesley (from TO), Scotty (from Saint John), and crazy Bri (all the way from med school in Ireland!!). So needless to say, it was going to be an AMAZING weekend - nearly all my good friends back home for one last crazy weekend to see PEARL JAM! This shit is EPIC!!!
The show on the 24th was friggin amazing! Gloria had my second ticket this time around, and we were once again in row TEN! She and I had a spectacular time - I was off my head. The guys played for over 2.5 hours - again, I was on cloud 10.
Through some last minite re-jigging, I managed to "upgrade" our tickets for the Sunday night show from up high behind the stage, to 5th row center ice! Myself, Bri, Lesley, Patti, Brad and Johnny were in on my tickets, while Steve, Jen, Pam & Leon, who were in on Steve's tickets, ended up in the same row as us! The second show was a bit shorter but nonetheless mindblowing. I tell you, if I didn't have the mp3s of the concerts as proof, I'd still not fully believe this happened. It was a weekend of weekends, that's for sure.
I elected to stay out on Patti's couch for another week after the concerts because a career fair was coming to town. That turned out to be a fairly wise decision, as 2 interviews developed from it. However, at this point it's looking like both companies have "moved on" as they say.
So I headed on back home in early October and hit the job serach like it owed me money. I kinda fell into the routine of sleeping late, firing off a few apps, talking to friends online, and making a eurotrip blog entry if I felt like it. With the exception of having to go out to St. John's for a week for the above-mentioned interviews in late Oct., things stayed pretty quiet. Then, about 10 days ago I had my first telephone interview for a company in Ottawa. That seemed to go pretty well, but I still haven't heard anything, so it's looking less and less promising.
I got a call last Tuesday evening from a guy with a company outside Hamilton, Ontario. I had applied though monster for a Project Engineering position, and he was wondering if I would be interested in a telephone interivew the following monring. Naturally, I was game. The interview went very well (it was definitely the longest interview I've ever had), and I was told I'd hear back if I was selected for the next round. The next day (Thursday), the phone rings again. It's the company's HR Manager - they want to fly me up to Hamilton for a second interview the following Wednesday. They're putting me up in a sweet hotel and hooking me up with a rental car for the trip! Clutch!
So that's where I'm at right now... my flight, rental car and hotel are all booked and I leave in the morning for Hamilton. I'm pretty excited, but we'll see how it goes... it's never a good idea to get your hopes up too high. Nonetheless, from the sounds of things this would be an incredible opportunity!
Anyway... that's my update for now. I'll let you know soon how it all went down. Wish me luck!
Well... long time no write. I apologize for that! It's not that I've been particularly busy this fall (cause I haven't really - being unemployed and all). It's just that the whole digitizing my Eurotrip (which as we speak is still unfinished) turned out to be a much more daunting task than I had originally planned. And I don't know about you, but there's only so much time I can spend blogging before my head caves in.
I was really trying to hold out until the Eurotrip entries were completed before I started making normal posts again. However, I got to thinking this morning that I should probably make an update before I forget a lot of what happened. Also... I'm at a potentially huge crossroads right now, so I thought it would be a cool time to write. But more on that a bit later.
So... I guess I'll start where I left off. I got home from Europe, had a great last week with the few remaining friends and classmates in St. John's - particularly Ricketts' birthday/farewell bash on August 9th. The only question is... who pissed in the corner? From here, things slowed down for me, as I headed on back home to move in with my folks and begin my job search - or at least - that was the cover story. Truth was, I had 3 pearl jam concerts to attend at the end of September, so I elected (perhaps rather foolishly) to hold off on my job search until after they were done - (i.e start the job hunt in October).
September flew on by, and before I knew it, it was pearl jam time! Myself, Jen, Steve, and Patti-Lynn flew to Halifax to catch the show on the 22nd - Absolutely mind blowing. They opened with "Hard to Imagine" which completely encapsulated what this entire weekend would be for me. We had a great time at that show - Patti and I had 10th row floor seats - so that was friggin unbelieveable. I could have hit Eddie with my shoe! Man, what a concert. While we were in Halifax my good friend Kay came down to see Steve, Jen and I. That was awesome... if Ricketts was there, it would have been a full blown Eurotrip Reunion!
Then, the 4 of us flew home for the first of two St. John's shows - as did Gloria & Lesley (from TO), Scotty (from Saint John), and crazy Bri (all the way from med school in Ireland!!). So needless to say, it was going to be an AMAZING weekend - nearly all my good friends back home for one last crazy weekend to see PEARL JAM! This shit is EPIC!!!
The show on the 24th was friggin amazing! Gloria had my second ticket this time around, and we were once again in row TEN! She and I had a spectacular time - I was off my head. The guys played for over 2.5 hours - again, I was on cloud 10.
Through some last minite re-jigging, I managed to "upgrade" our tickets for the Sunday night show from up high behind the stage, to 5th row center ice! Myself, Bri, Lesley, Patti, Brad and Johnny were in on my tickets, while Steve, Jen, Pam & Leon, who were in on Steve's tickets, ended up in the same row as us! The second show was a bit shorter but nonetheless mindblowing. I tell you, if I didn't have the mp3s of the concerts as proof, I'd still not fully believe this happened. It was a weekend of weekends, that's for sure.
I elected to stay out on Patti's couch for another week after the concerts because a career fair was coming to town. That turned out to be a fairly wise decision, as 2 interviews developed from it. However, at this point it's looking like both companies have "moved on" as they say.
So I headed on back home in early October and hit the job serach like it owed me money. I kinda fell into the routine of sleeping late, firing off a few apps, talking to friends online, and making a eurotrip blog entry if I felt like it. With the exception of having to go out to St. John's for a week for the above-mentioned interviews in late Oct., things stayed pretty quiet. Then, about 10 days ago I had my first telephone interview for a company in Ottawa. That seemed to go pretty well, but I still haven't heard anything, so it's looking less and less promising.
I got a call last Tuesday evening from a guy with a company outside Hamilton, Ontario. I had applied though monster for a Project Engineering position, and he was wondering if I would be interested in a telephone interivew the following monring. Naturally, I was game. The interview went very well (it was definitely the longest interview I've ever had), and I was told I'd hear back if I was selected for the next round. The next day (Thursday), the phone rings again. It's the company's HR Manager - they want to fly me up to Hamilton for a second interview the following Wednesday. They're putting me up in a sweet hotel and hooking me up with a rental car for the trip! Clutch!
So that's where I'm at right now... my flight, rental car and hotel are all booked and I leave in the morning for Hamilton. I'm pretty excited, but we'll see how it goes... it's never a good idea to get your hopes up too high. Nonetheless, from the sounds of things this would be an incredible opportunity!
Anyway... that's my update for now. I'll let you know soon how it all went down. Wish me luck!
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Update: Eurotrip '05 Posts
Note to readers...
Eurotrip '05 blog entries have been updated to reflect the date they were originally written (as opposed to the date I posted them online).
Thus, you can now find them either in the "Previous Posts" listing, the "Archives" for June, July & August 2005, or just by scrolling down (for the time being).
I should have the last few entries up very soon! They'll be the closest to the top. Enjoy!
Reid
Eurotrip '05 blog entries have been updated to reflect the date they were originally written (as opposed to the date I posted them online).
Thus, you can now find them either in the "Previous Posts" listing, the "Archives" for June, July & August 2005, or just by scrolling down (for the time being).
I should have the last few entries up very soon! They'll be the closest to the top. Enjoy!
Reid
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