Can you believe it? I've been here for almost 4 weeks! Unreal.
So yeah, as you've probably guessed, I've gotten myself a computer! Ended up going with a Gateway laptop... P4 @ 3.06GHz, 1024Mb DDR Ram, 100GB HD @4200rpm... definitely a sweet machine (compared to my poor old 6Gb thinkpad celeron 550 - but hey... she got me though school, so I can't knock it!).
Life is pretty good right now. Work is going great. I'm getting lots of responsibility and lots of challenge, so that's cool. Plus, as I touched on in the previous post, I am one of 3 new engineers with the company. Brad started in Sept, Jaime started in Dec (she interviewed against me and they ended up giving us BOTH a job), and of course I started in Jan. So that's pretty sweet cause I feel like I've got a few people to realate to and to help me out with "newbie" issues. Plus they're my age, so they're cool to hang out with too. That's good news, because for the time being Jaime and I are sharing an office. I'm cool with that tho, because she's an awesome girl and always good for a laugh or to bounce an idea off of.
Actually, Jaime and some of her friends from Ottawa are coming in to party in the Hammer tonight... so I'm looking forward to that, as it will actually be my first real night out partying in my new city. Should be good times for sure.
I still feel like I've essentially been too busy to miss home. That might sound kind of harsh, but it really is the truth. Between long hours at work, shopping for things for the apartment, driving around in my car, and weekend road trips to friends' places in other cities, I really have been flat out. It's all good tho, cause I've got my phone all set up now, so I get to talk to the fam every few days or so (which, for anyone who knows me well, is pretty freqent for me). I do miss Newfoundland like crazy, but I'm kind of looking at like this: I'm here now. So instead of spending my time missing the days of old, I'm going to spend my time making the days of new as kickass as possible. That's a line from the book of Reid.
So yeah... it's good to be back in the land of the living (i.e. the internet). I should now be much more frequent with my posts! (and the crowd goes wild).
Until next time...
Reid
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Changes
Well, here I sit on the kitchen counter in my new apartment. In case you're wondering, NO, I don't actually have a new computer yet. I hand wrote this entry on paper and posted it a little while later (a la eurotrip).
So yeah, as the title suggests, some pretty big changes have taken place since I last posted. First and foremost: I got a new car!!! It's a 2006 VW Jetta TDI!! It's absolutely amazing! I bought it on Saturday and proceeded to spend the remainer of the day out joyriding around the city and the countryside. Goodtimes. I'll throw a pic or two up once I take some.
Then, on Sunday, I officially moved into my new apartment! (Changes indeed). It's pretty sweet to finally be out of the motel and begin to really get settled away. However, there is one catch: my furniture wasn't able to be delievered to me until today (Tuesday). Luckily for me, Jaime - another fellow new engineer at CGC - gave me her air matress. So that's what I crashed on for 2 nights while I waited for my bed to be delivered.
I got into my place Sunday, dropped my suitcases and spent the remainer of the day between Sears and Walmart getting myself all of "the essentials" (bed clothes, dishes, pots, pans, cleaning stuff, etc). I actually need A LOT more than what I actually picked up, but I was esentially limited to what I could fit into one cart cause there was no way I was becoming one of those "multiple cart" people. No dice. I'll just come back.
Brad - another new engineer from work - and his finace Trish had me over for dinner last night. That was very cool and hospitable of them. Steve, another engineer from work, had me over last week as well - so I've been doing pretty good! It's good to see that hospitality is not a Newfoundland thing.... it's a Canadian thing. (Ask me about my UK experiences sometime).
I'll definitely be returning the favor once I get all straightened away.
I took today (Tuesday, Jan 17th) off from work because, as I said, today is the day my furniture arrives. That also probably explains why I'm wriring this from my kitchen counter. For now, it's the closest thing I have to a chair (unless you count the twirlet).
But yeah, my apartment is pretty sweet. It's about 500 sq. feet (which after living in a motel room for 2 weeks, seems like a palace). It's got a new fridge, stove & tub, is freshly painted, and the best part - it's got a balcony! I'm on the 5th floor facing west, so I've got a great view of Dundas Valley & west Hamilton. I can already tell I'm going to be enjoying some quality time relaxing out there with a cold beer and some tunes in my ear.
So yeah.. I'm pretty pumped man. But I'll be even more pumped when all my furniture arrives and my cable gets switched on at some point later this afternoon. It kinda sucks waiting around here all day with nothing much to do - but hey - it could be worse! After all, I'm getting paid to sit on my counter and write this.
I'm hoping I'll have my computer very soon, so I'll be in touch then.
Peace
So yeah, as the title suggests, some pretty big changes have taken place since I last posted. First and foremost: I got a new car!!! It's a 2006 VW Jetta TDI!! It's absolutely amazing! I bought it on Saturday and proceeded to spend the remainer of the day out joyriding around the city and the countryside. Goodtimes. I'll throw a pic or two up once I take some.
Then, on Sunday, I officially moved into my new apartment! (Changes indeed). It's pretty sweet to finally be out of the motel and begin to really get settled away. However, there is one catch: my furniture wasn't able to be delievered to me until today (Tuesday). Luckily for me, Jaime - another fellow new engineer at CGC - gave me her air matress. So that's what I crashed on for 2 nights while I waited for my bed to be delivered.
I got into my place Sunday, dropped my suitcases and spent the remainer of the day between Sears and Walmart getting myself all of "the essentials" (bed clothes, dishes, pots, pans, cleaning stuff, etc). I actually need A LOT more than what I actually picked up, but I was esentially limited to what I could fit into one cart cause there was no way I was becoming one of those "multiple cart" people. No dice. I'll just come back.
Brad - another new engineer from work - and his finace Trish had me over for dinner last night. That was very cool and hospitable of them. Steve, another engineer from work, had me over last week as well - so I've been doing pretty good! It's good to see that hospitality is not a Newfoundland thing.... it's a Canadian thing. (Ask me about my UK experiences sometime).
I'll definitely be returning the favor once I get all straightened away.
I took today (Tuesday, Jan 17th) off from work because, as I said, today is the day my furniture arrives. That also probably explains why I'm wriring this from my kitchen counter. For now, it's the closest thing I have to a chair (unless you count the twirlet).
But yeah, my apartment is pretty sweet. It's about 500 sq. feet (which after living in a motel room for 2 weeks, seems like a palace). It's got a new fridge, stove & tub, is freshly painted, and the best part - it's got a balcony! I'm on the 5th floor facing west, so I've got a great view of Dundas Valley & west Hamilton. I can already tell I'm going to be enjoying some quality time relaxing out there with a cold beer and some tunes in my ear.
So yeah.. I'm pretty pumped man. But I'll be even more pumped when all my furniture arrives and my cable gets switched on at some point later this afternoon. It kinda sucks waiting around here all day with nothing much to do - but hey - it could be worse! After all, I'm getting paid to sit on my counter and write this.
I'm hoping I'll have my computer very soon, so I'll be in touch then.
Peace
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Reid and the Hammer
Greetings from Hamilton, Ontario!!
Here I sit at the internet terminal in the lobby of my motel! I'm hold up here for the time being until I get my situation sorted. Work is going great so far. They've been very accomodating with regards to time off to get myself straightened away, so that's awesome. My first week was mostly spent out of the office apartment hunting and what not - and it payed off. I managed to get myself a spot on Friday! Awesome stuff! It's not the cheapest of the lot I looked at, but that being said, the cheapest of the lot were absolute shit holes, and this place is Very nice, and in a great & safe location to boot. It won't be ready until the 15th (it's getting painted and cleaned), so I'll be here in the motel until about that time.
Yesterday morning I hit the road again (in my rental car) to start test driving vehicles. I've decided I'm gonna go with the VW Jetta TDI - a very swank car with great preformance and amazing fuel stats (something ridiculous like nearly 1000kms to the tank). So yeah, I had a busy morning hopping around dealerships and trying my hand at "the haggle". Hopefully if I get my insurance crap figured out tomorrow (Monday), I could have my car early this week! Exciting!
After the test driving sessions were over, it was time to hit The Brink for some furniture for my apartment! Ended up hitting some pretty amazing boxing week sales that were still in effect - got myself a quality bed, a bedroom set, couch, thing to hold the tv/dvd, and a table - all the essentials. It was awsome cause the bed I got was on 30% off, and it came with a free 20" tv, dvd player & 3.2 mp digital camera!! Score!! So yeah... I did good. The only small downside is that they won't be able to deliver the goods until the 17th, so I'm in the motel until then... but dem's de breaks!
Anyway... today yet another busy day in trying to get settled away. I'm here searching the net for insurance quotes so I can have an idea of what's out there. I'm also in the process of sourcing out my internet/cable/phone situation... fun times.
So yeah... lots to be at, but all in all things are going great. I've been too busy to really think about how much I miss home (so that's good.... I guess). But yeah, of course I do miss my fam... it's a bit of a culture shock to suddenly be moving out on my own after 4 months under the umbrella. But that's it! Life moves on.
I'll keep ya posted on life in the hammer!
Reid
Here I sit at the internet terminal in the lobby of my motel! I'm hold up here for the time being until I get my situation sorted. Work is going great so far. They've been very accomodating with regards to time off to get myself straightened away, so that's awesome. My first week was mostly spent out of the office apartment hunting and what not - and it payed off. I managed to get myself a spot on Friday! Awesome stuff! It's not the cheapest of the lot I looked at, but that being said, the cheapest of the lot were absolute shit holes, and this place is Very nice, and in a great & safe location to boot. It won't be ready until the 15th (it's getting painted and cleaned), so I'll be here in the motel until about that time.
Yesterday morning I hit the road again (in my rental car) to start test driving vehicles. I've decided I'm gonna go with the VW Jetta TDI - a very swank car with great preformance and amazing fuel stats (something ridiculous like nearly 1000kms to the tank). So yeah, I had a busy morning hopping around dealerships and trying my hand at "the haggle". Hopefully if I get my insurance crap figured out tomorrow (Monday), I could have my car early this week! Exciting!
After the test driving sessions were over, it was time to hit The Brink for some furniture for my apartment! Ended up hitting some pretty amazing boxing week sales that were still in effect - got myself a quality bed, a bedroom set, couch, thing to hold the tv/dvd, and a table - all the essentials. It was awsome cause the bed I got was on 30% off, and it came with a free 20" tv, dvd player & 3.2 mp digital camera!! Score!! So yeah... I did good. The only small downside is that they won't be able to deliver the goods until the 17th, so I'm in the motel until then... but dem's de breaks!
Anyway... today yet another busy day in trying to get settled away. I'm here searching the net for insurance quotes so I can have an idea of what's out there. I'm also in the process of sourcing out my internet/cable/phone situation... fun times.
So yeah... lots to be at, but all in all things are going great. I've been too busy to really think about how much I miss home (so that's good.... I guess). But yeah, of course I do miss my fam... it's a bit of a culture shock to suddenly be moving out on my own after 4 months under the umbrella. But that's it! Life moves on.
I'll keep ya posted on life in the hammer!
Reid
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