Weathering the Storm

Ah alas, the weekend went by much too fast and it's back to the bump and grind at the office. Had to let go someone today. She had some issues for quite some time and well, they weren't getting better. She knew how to work the system and play the game. Unfortunately for her, so do I and I'm better at it. So I knew I had that to look forward to.

We're still progressing with move talks. I'm heading back to Massachusetts tomorrow afternoon for meetings Wednesday through Friday. Hopefully by then I'll have some clearer direction as to what's going on. There was talk about me taking the reigns of a new group they are creating in the Maynard office. That rumor is still floating around, however, between when they want to start ramping that group up and when they plan to move CS Ops from here back there, I could be back there by the end of August. That blows cuz well, I like it up here and, there's no way I can pack all my shit, find a place and move in all in under amonth. Plus I'll have 2 more months left on my lease here. So I don't know. The suspense is maddening, but there's no point getting all pissed about it.

In other news, one of my cohorts in the Maynard office called me this afternoon looking for some info. She's cool. We pool our resources well and even though we work for different groups, we're able to help eachother out quite well. Well, she called today as she's tallying the 2005 Employee Survey results and Canada's look real shitty. Employees complained of lack of direction, tools and just no idea what's going on. Very negative stuff. I was expecting some of that in my group based on the b.s. we had to deal with from the sales team earlier on in the year. However, according to her, my department scored as one of the highest and my team is quite loyal to me from the results she has tallied. That's very good news. However, the shit about the rest of the organization up here is not. I'll be glad if I can jump ship before the shit hits fan cuz the outlook here is not good now, imagine what it'll be afterward. So, it'll be good if I'm able to move back before those results come out, then granted the results she read to me about myself and my group are accurate, I'll find myself in a somewhat more rosey situation. It's not a gimme, however. And well, even if my results were just so-so, between that and still being out of the office up here when shit explodes is still a damned good thing. I need to keep my fingers crossed and hope I can ride this out and get out of Dodge before bullets begin to fly.

Oh yeah, speaking of all the cancer causing agents Tim forced upon me (peer pressure) this weekend... Marius, one of our web developers, went to Cuba last week for vacation. He brought back some cigars. Apparently many of the tobacco farmers down there make their own and sell them from the farm. So he brough me one. It smells mighty good. I may bring it back with me. Or maybe not. I seem to have forgotten it on my desk today. I'll have to remember it tomorrow.

And that's that. I've got a few things to pack once my clothes are out of the laundry, then back to work tomorrow for a half day, then on the road again.

I genuinely hope this doesn't end up like last year where I spent half my time here and half there. Cuz the drive sucks and I started doing that around September/October. Doing it in the summer sucks...

Vistors

Cool.. So I finally had my first visitors since I've moved in. Tim and Pam got in before 5 Thursday evening. We hit up Le Vieux Dublin as planned, ate, had a couple of beers each then went on to our next destination: Brasserie Dieu du Ciel. Being my local micro-brewery of choice, I had to let them try it out. We had a couple more beers there before coming back to my apartment. However, before we did that, we had to hit up the Tobacconist for some Cubans. mmmm. We then spent the rest of the evening on my birdshit-covered balcony enjoying some more brews.

Friday, Pam and I cracked beer #1 open at 8:00 sharp. I then took them into Montreal. They got to see Old Montreal, The Old Port, Crescent Street and the underground malls. We got back relatively early in the evening, maybe 6ish if I recall correctly. Had some more beers, gars and Tim made some Gin and Tonics. I've never been a fan, but as the beer supply was limited, I had to ration things.

Saturday, Pam and I started at 8:30. We tuned into Belina's radio show, watched some TV, drank, smoked, etc etc then head down to the Casino. The Casino up here isn't too bad. It was my first trip. I kinda like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun a little better. They seem cleaner and they are a lot bigger. But this wasn't too bad overall. We all took a bath there and decided to come back and finish the night out on the balcony. It was pretty cool, they got to watch the fireworks over the city from my balcony which was a nice way to wrap up the weekend I suppose. We usually have fireworks once or twice a week up here, just for the sake of having them. Being able to enjoy them from the comfort of your own place makes them even nicer.

This morning, we had 2 bottles of Sam left. Like good soldiers, Pam and I killed them off at 8:30 again. Tim and I took a walk around the park then they packed up and headed home around 11.

All in all it was a pretty darned good weekend. One of the best since I've moved up here. It was nice to be able to spend some time with some good friends and not have to worry about driving back home 5 hours. They had to, but, for me it was a change as the last 8 months I've had to make the dreaded trip back after a weekend of partying. Now for the rest of you, you should plan on coming up here soon as I'm not going to be up here much longer, unfortunately.

The totals for the weekend:

Cuban Cigars Smoked: 12
Bottles of Beer Consumed: 40
Cans of Beer Consumed: 6
Pizzas: 1
Beers ordered at Pubs and Restaurants: 21
Crown Royal Consumed: 3 Shots
Gin Consumed: 375ml
Wine Consumed: 1 bottle.

Please note the above tally is the closest possible approximation. Estimates were rounded down in the event of any uncertaintly

I have already nearly completed the clean-up for the weekend and shall spend the rest of the day watching baseball. The weekend went by too fast but, well, it was still a hell of a good time.

He's Dead Jim...

James Doohan, aka "Scotty" passed away early this morning.

In his honor, I shall watch a couple episodes of The Original Series on DVD, and have a quick nipper of scotch. It would be uncouth not to.

Back For More

As they say... "The more things change, the more they stay the same". I'm once again coming back to Massachusetts next week for more meetings. I am going camping next weekend and was planning on maybe stopping by the office for one day, but I'll be there at least Thursday and Friday and perhaps Wednesday as well.

I found out this morning that in a Senior Executive Ops meeting last week it was decided that that cutover date for transferring things back to Maynard is August 11. WHOA!? What the fuck happened to this being "investigated" before any action would take place? What happened to a slow, smooth transition!? Hmmm not too cool.

So I'm coming back to MA next week to tie up some of those loose ends. It might take more time than we have to transition everything, but thats the deadline we're shooting for... I guess. As for me, well, it looks like I'm going to be filling a role in the Maynard office from what it seems. They have to tell me some details about the job, but well, the SVP of Customer Service in Maynard tells me my salary will be the same. So chances are its going to be managing one of the upstart teams they're creating there, which seems to be the role the company always gives me. This would be the 3rd if that's the case. But then again, if they want to pay me what I'm earning to do grunt work, I'm cool with that too. But talking to him and my current boss up here in Canadia, the company is going to help me out again with relo costs. That's cool cuz if I chose not to renew my contract in October and just move back on my own, that wouldn't have been the case. The only downside is that I have to find out how long I'll have to stay with the company as a result of taking that money. Either way, it's not a big deal, but nice to know.

As for moving back... not sure yet as to when and where. I will be up here through the end of August and perhaps into September depending on how smoothly this transition goes. My last month of rent here is free, which October so that will work out cool. I'm thinking maybe Sturbridge area. My cousin Laura had mentioned at the party to talk to her if I'm looking for something out that way, I may take her up on that offer. Sturbridge is about a 40-45 minute commute to Maynard, which isn't bad, and it's also close enough to The Polish Hall and The Fifth Alarm and that's important. Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have some more direction as to what exactly my timeline is. Moving is a bitch.

2 more days of work this week then Tim and Pam are coming for the tour. Shit, they might be my first AND last visitors up here now. Tim wants to go to Sir Winston Churchills so that he can relive the good ol' days back when he and Bernier played up here with Louie once. However, that place is kind of a meat market and beers are expensive.

So that's that for now! I guess I'm going to be posting what's going on with the move quite a bit over the next few weeks so, they'll be more juicy bits of info here for you.

Sunday Muggy Sunday

Another muggy one on record up here. It's only about 75 degrees up here but the humidity is horrible. Even with my A/C, I'm dripping.

I was up until like 1ish or so last night, up at 7 this morning as usual. Watched some more DS9. I'm on Season 4 now. Ya know.. the episodes I'm watching are 10 years old now and they've held up quite well over time compared to other things.

I tried watching the Astros vs Cardinals a little this afternoon but didn't get too far. Read my Sports Blog for the update on that. I've updated that thing twice this week. On a roll. Now I don't have to touch it for a month. haha.

We're supposed to get some thunderstorms today. They've been saying this all week but today it actually rained a little and the sky is overcast. I could use a change in weather... for the better that is.

Got a little cleaning done over the past 2 days. Tim and Pam will be here Thursday it looks. They're bringing a case of Sam. I forgot to bring a case back with me last time down there so they're helping me out in the clutch. Thursday we're gonna hit up the Old Dublin for dinner then beyond that, who knows. They're gonna want to check out the city obviously so I'll be playing tour guide. Too bad I don't know the city quite as well as I want.. Yet, I know my way around enough.

Tonight I will probably try to catch the Sox. I may play some XBOX as well. I've got this game called XIII (Thirteen for the undereducated) that I bought either before I left or shortly thereafter but haven't messed with yet. Depending on how nasty it is, I might break that out and see how it is. I am debating maybe heading over to La Cage Aux Sport for a cold one to catch the Sox too. But I need to save some dough for the coming week. Life is full of tough choices.

Another Week Gone By

Friday already. This week kinda flew by. That's good I guess.

Yesterday I got up, went to take a shower only find there was hardly any water pressure. That sucked. Got through that obstacle, however. When I got out of my building I was greeted by the lovely aroma of Natural Gas. Mmmmm.. Apparently a water AND a gas line right outside my building ruptured. Sweet. Having to trudge through that shit as it was the only way to the train station wasn't so sweet.

Work wasn't all that bad. The one exception is that my boss unexpectedly put me on the spot in our exec meeting. He was talking about how well we did in Q2, we made lots of profit and drove down costs, yadda yadda and that we're looking to even further drive down the costs in Q3 "... and with that in mind I'd like to turn the meeting over to John Daigle who has been working on a project with Customer Service in Maynard". Great! Thanks for the advanced notice. I got through that, but that was entirely unexpected. My colleagues seemed a little dismayed that I "might" be leaving in October, which was somewhat bittersweet, but oh well, that's business.

After work I needed to chill abit. I was going to take the Metro back as I had to stop at Wal-Mart, but they had cops at most of the Metro entrances. Hmm that's the first time I've seen that especially after the London thing.. Well, I wasn't in the mood to deal with any of that bullshit. Not that much would happen. A French terrorist would have surrendered right away anyway. So instead, I headed up to the Old Dublin Pub for a burger and a pint of Guinness. That was the most filling meal I've had all week.

When I got home, I headed up to Wal-Mart. What a fiasco that was. These canucks still don't know how to walk in a straight line and look in the direction they're walking in. To make it worse, they pull that shit with shopping carriages. What was even worse, the place was full of Asians. And Asians walk with shopping carts much like they drive: "Very Srow!". I needed to get some frames to hang some of my breweriana photos. I was also in need of some other household goods (TP, Mouthwash, etc etc).

Then, much as I have the past 2 weeks, spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone.

Today was a little better. Was greeted first thing in the morning by some more sales bullshit. But I put that fucker right on the spot and 2 hours later he was kissing my ass up and down. That was rewarding. Later in the day I had a call with my archnemesis, the VP of sales about a different matter. But, it went very well for once. Almost too well. Almost makes ya wonder what they're plotting. Oh well.

That was the last couple days in a nutshell. I need to save some scratch for my visitors next week. But, I may go see a movie. Wedding Crashers, War of The Worlds and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory all seem interesting to me, so maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll head over to the cinema to check one out. I should probably tidy up the place a little bit. It's pretty clean, but well, I have nothing better to do this weekend so we'll see.

Odd

See I'm making up for the lack of writing I did last week.

The All-Star Game didn't end up being all that bad. I left some notes in my Sports Blog last night about it. The biggest disappointment was the beginning Chevy shit, but after that, it wasn't all that bad. Could have been better, but not bad. I'll give it a B rating.

Today, I slept later than planned. I actually went to bed early last night, but still, I was beat. I didn't bother calling into my conference calls. The last time I was an active participant in one was 3 months ago. It is good, however, to know what's going on in Maynard, too bad none of it applies to me. The rest of the day went by weird. Nothing bad or good, just weird. I dunno.

Then I got home and my laptop wouldn't power up. That was a scare. Luckily popping the battery out and putting it back fixed it, but that wasn't cool. Wonder what the deal was.

Oh yeah, something of interest... Apparently next Monday at McGill University, they're having an auction. 2 of the pieces they are auctioning off some architectural drawings done by Adolf Hitler himself. Well all the Jews in the area are up in arms about the whole thing. There was an article in the paper and someone at work was talking about it. Unfortunately, they're going to be a little too costly for your average white-trash neo-nazi to buy. They'll end up in a museum or something. Drawings don't put people in ovens, and even if they did, they were probably just following orders. Yeah that was messed up... Poking fun at the holocaust is pretty mean.. And you know what they say "Two Wrongs Don't Make A Reich!". Ok that's enough for today.

I've got some more laundry to do, and I'll probably just relax. I need to save some money...

All-Star Tuesday

Nothing too new today to write about. I had quite a productive day at work today. No particular reason why, but I got more than usual accomplished. One of my arch-rivals on the sales team from Toronto is in town tonight and wanted to take everyone out for appetizers and beers. Being Mr Social, I socially told him "nah". I had some errands to run this evening, wanted to catch the All-Star Game and I'm still recovering from the long weekend. I gotta find a better way of doing this. What happens is, I party Saturday, get little sleep Sunday, come back Sunday evening, don't get a full night's sleep before work on Monday and my energy level is low for a few days. Bah! I'm actually not dragging too too bad, but I don't feel like spending a night out on the town with some cocksucker sales rep bastard. But then again, I hate judging people. Plus, tomorrow is Wednesday and that means I have to be on a 7am train into town which means I have to be up pretty friggin' early.

Last night, I got some laundry done and some grocery shopping. I have to look at my receipt cuz I bought a whole shitload of food for only like $37. There's enough there for about a week and a half to 2 weeks. And I didn't even half to clip one coupon. SWEET. I watched some more DS9 and spent some more time on the phone. My phone bill is going to be astronomical. Such is life.

I also got a surprise call from Tim today. Well actually, yesterday while I was hard at work him and Charles called as Tim's computer was hoarked beyond belief. I couldn't help them over the phone as they were describing some things I couldn't make a mental picture for in my head and didn't have my iBook with me. Alas, I got a call from Tim today who took his box to the Apple store where he's going to have to shell out some dough. That blows. I might have been able to help him out for free had I been local. Him and Pam are also planning on coming up next week. Granted they don't have to take a second mortgage out to get the Mac fixed. So I took next Friday off. We'll hit up some of the local sites. They are my first actual visitors from the US since I've moved here. My mom and Putnam helped with the move and stuff, but no one has since made the trip. This will be cool.

The game starts in a few minutes. I'm going to put it on. I may update my sports blog tonight for once with some All-Star thoughts. This will probably be one of the first All-Star games I've consciously made an effort to watch. Probably mainly cuz I have nothing better to do right now. I'll be sure to spew some negativity about it either in the Sports blog tonight or in an update to this one some time this week.

A Little Quicky

It's Friday... The afternoon before... Pouring like a, well, I don't have a good metaphor for that one. Work meetings went well on Wednesday... well, I suppose. Definitely coming back in October now, without a doubt. I was talking to my former boss, then equal, Mark who was telling me when I saw him in the morning how things were shaky but his job is ideal as he has the flexibility he wants. When I left at 5, he was packing up. Apparently between the time I saw him in the morning and the time I was leaving, he was laid off. Pretty nice. That's always comforting...

Afterwards, my journey took me by Charles and Joann's for some refreshments. Good times as always... Just don't eat the ice.

Yesterday I vegged for quite a while. Then went out with Julie. Pretty nice. we went to OTB then couldn't find a movie playing worth watching so she had the grand idea of walking around Town And Country Liquors. Now I could say something about her lineage and that not being surprising, but that's messed up and I would never think like that, however, shame on the rest of you... Then we ended up coming back to Chicopee and watched The Big Lebowski. She's a pretty good chick.

Today, a couple of us went up to Dunroamin to catch pneumonia. Got through about 5 holes before we called it quits. Then stopped by the Whistle Stop for lunch and then the Polish Hall for dessert. Putnam and I did inventory on my fireworks collection as well. Last year we got in trouble for lighting them.. however, well.. I have 3 smoke cannisters I want to get rid of. I think it would be nice to light them all off at the same time and play Ride of the Valkyries over the PA.

Tonight I'm not too sure what's up. Frank is taking my truck to change the spark plugs and oil (cuz I'm too lazy) and service the throttle body. So I'm not going to have a vehicle until tomorrow.
Might possibly hang out with the aforementioned party's niece again depending on the ride and financial situation and the such (see... there's your cuban cigar money you bastid).

Also have the opportunity to grab coffee or something with Heather, but I have to see what's going on. Maybe tomorrow morning. I kinda need to have a little conversation there. Luckily Rogers Ave and Rte 20 isn't too far from where I have to go tomorrow morning: Back to Town and Country to pick up the kegs. It's almost like Christmas in July!!! Wow...

The Long and Winding Road

Bleh... It's Tuesday and I'm once again getting ready to embark on another trip back to lovely Massachusetts. 5 or so hours worth of automobile happiness. However, the most challenging decision I have to make so far today is whether I want to go through Vermont or New York. However, in the name of spontaneity, I'll wait to the last minute.

This week should be a good time. Tomorrow I have meetings in Maynard all day. Then I plan on heading down to Randolph to spend some time with two of my favorite inebriates. Thursday is still up in the air. As it stands now, I don't have any meetings scheduled and I'd like to keep it that way if possible. No point in driving all the way back there for a 30-60 minute meeting that I could handle over the phone. Maybe if all works out well and I end up having the day off, I'll hiking up at Mt. Tom or something. Thursday evening I have plans. Friday is shaping up to be a morning of golf at Dunroamin. Still need to get 1 more person but I'm sure I can find someone.

What else is there to write about today? Oh yeah... Sunday I didn't do anything. Apparently Louis called when I was in the shower but didn't leave a call back number so I didn't end up going to the Jazz fest with his cousin. Oh well. Jesus, between nieces and cousins and daughters and Mexicans and the such, I've got quite the operation going here the past few weeks. Life is tough, but you know what, somehow I will survive. ;-)

Yesterday was another typical day at work. Not bad, not great. Things are kind of in a holding pattern until we decide what we're going to do. It sucks as people are frustrated (and they don't even know what's going on) but there's little that can be done until some of those decisions are made. Good times. My boss, however, did give me today off. For working a good part of the 2 Canuck Holidays we had as well having to work yesterday (which really wasn't as big a deal) he told me to take the extra day. Sweet. So I got all my shit together and am just hanging out. I'm now a couple discs into DS9 Season 3. Oh yeah, that reminds me, I need to pack my pocket protector...

So that's that. I'll probably hit the road around 2 or 3 and should be back sometime around 8ish I would hope depending on traffic and the such.

The Montreal Jazz Fest

Well Canada Day was all kinds of fun but today had much more in store for me.

I got up, got some groceries as I was low on food. Then I needed to get a trim. Unfortunately, however, Lucy was out this whole week and with me departing early next week, it wasn't going to work. So they had Joy cut my hair. This chick was a train wreck and a half and did not do a good job. Well, she didn't do a bad job, that is, up until the gelling process, which luckily I was able to rectify with washing my hair when I got home.

After that, it was down to the Montreal Jazz Fest for some culture. The Jazz Fest runs from June 30-July 10 and consists of tons of bands, free outdoor concerts, costly indoor concerts, food, drink, etc etc. Sorta like the Kielbasa Festival only for Jazz. And it's bigger. Oh yeah, and unlike the K-fest, they still run the Jazz fest. I heard a few bands. The first band was called Accoules Sax. They were good. A handful of sax players and 2 drummers. One played a marching bass drum, the other a snare. Not too shabby. I then checked out this group, that I was unable to find out their name, that consisted of a clarinet, bass, violin, guitar, accordion and drums. They played a lot of eastern-European styled songs. Very very good. They were the most interesting of the groups I saw. Also got to check out the GM Jazz Band, which wasn't bad except they were more interested in pimping GM Cars and Trucks then talking about the music they were playing. Then last, but certainly not least, I got to hear a dixie-land band which was also pretty good.

The crowd started off small throughout the day then grew significantly. When I got there, the sun wasn't too bad, but got pretty hot as the day progressed. As a result, I have some nice burnage going on. Great!

Tomorrow I may head back depending on how much pain I'm in. Louis' cousin is supposed to be calling tonight or tomorrow two. I kinda hope she doesn't. Having someone to walk around the Fest with isn't a bad idea, but everything there is damned expensive. And with having to purchase the keg for next Saturday, as well as food, truck work, and certain other expenses (you bastid), money is going to be a little too tight. But then again, if I must then I must. I mean, it would just be rude not to.

Either way, I'll be going back at least once more before I head back to MA. A couple of us from work were talking about going up there for lunch one day, so maybe Monday...

Anywho, below you will find some photos. Enjoy.

A view from up high. 

No Swimming Allowed!!! 

One of the many surroundings at the festival. 

Nicer Lookin' Than Swiader 

Place Des Arts 

Accoules Sax 

Canada Day!

Rejoice Rejoice for it is Canada Day! I awoke early from my slumber to see what Pierre and Francois, the Canadian Ambassadors of Giving, had brought me on this joyous day. I had left my touque out in hopes that this morning it would be filled with Beer, Donuts, Back Bacon and Maple Products galore. And rewarded for being a good socialist I was. 2 cases of Molson, a pound of back bacon and a donut, of course it was a jelly. This has truly been a joyous holiday...

Bah!

Canada Day is the Canadian 4th of July. Which is why, of course, it takes place on July 1st. They've been having fireworks in the city almost all week that have been able to observe from my bedroom window. I will try to take photos for you tonight should they have them again. It's supposed to thunder and lightning all day. It's just overcast, hot and humid again right now.

I actually slept in for once, and it felt good, real good. I was going to hold off on doing anything as I had a conference call scheduled with my pal Lindsay in the US. She's a Director for one of Customer Service teams in Maynard. Basically, her job is one of the many I perform on the Canadian side of things. We were supposed to discuss financials and what it would take to possibly integrate both groups. However, she called me at 3 as planned, to ask if it would be ok to reschedule until next week when I'm in the office. Sure, why not!? That was great. It's hard to convey how happy I was to know I sat around waiting for that call. Good thing she didn't ask me that this morning. I might have actually gone out while it was still nice. By the way, conveying sarcasm is sometimes difficult in the medium. I hope I was able to make it show enough in the last 3 sentences.

Yesterday did end up being quite dead until the end. One of the dumbshit sales reps that actually works in our office (most are in Toronto) dropped 6 contracts on one of my employee's desk with 20 minutes left in the day. I swear that chick means well but she's a few dimes short of a dollar. And by the way, the Canadian Dollar is often referred to as "The Loony", how appropriate. So I talked a number of my people into staying later. As a result, I bought them some refreshments out of my own pocket. How nice I am. That's $40 less I have now for this coming week's fun.

Before I left, the VP of Marketing, Louis (pronounced: Louie, cuz he's French) had asked if I intended on hitting up the Jazz Fest this weekend. I said "why of course". So he asked for my number, which I gladly left him. He then informed me that his wife's cousin is in town for the weekend and wants to check it out but knows nothing about Jazz. Him being the good man he is told her that I went to school for music and am a "fountain of knowledge". Great! Only problem is, my knowledge of Jazz isn't all it could be. Luckily, I am more a fountain of bullshit and will get myself through the experience. The other point of interest was that he tells me she's quite the looker and is right around my age. When I asked how old, he told me 32-33. Hmmm.. I hated to really burst his bubble so I kept my mouth shut. However, if I wanted to bullshit some chick that old (or older) about music, I would have picked up a polka gig this weekend and I could have done that on a much larger scale and got paid for it. But because Louis is a wicked cool guy, and I'd be going there alone anyway, why not have a little company. She's supposed to call sometime this weekend. We'll see what happens though. I definitely want to go up to the fest and don't want to wait around till the last minute and get stuck here doing nothing. I'll give you all a detailed report later.

Well it's starting to get a little darker out. Hopefully the storms come and go soon. It's close to 90 right now and pretty humid. Tomorrow, it's not supposed to go above 72. That would be just right. Though there is a decent chance it may rain tomorrow. I hope it holds out until Monday. Monday it can rain all it wants cuz I'll be working, then coming home and packing for the week so the rain would have little impact on my day. Tomorrow or Sunday, it will just piss me off.

So, I guess that be it for now.