How Long has it been anyways?

Wow, it has been a really long time since I've posted something on my blog. So, where do I start? So many things have happened since I last updated, that I really don't know where to start.

The first is that our family has moved from Dieppe to Riverview. We purchased a new house in April & we are loving every minute of it. We purchased in a new subdivision and almost all the homes have been sold.

Here is our new house :

What else is new?

Well, I'm really disappointed in the election outcome. I know that I'm only 1 vote, but my 1 vote didn't make any difference at all!

The promises that now Honorable Mr Alward is really bothering me as there is no attached price tag on the final cost. The first thing that comes to my mind is the return of free Ambulances.... Not only will it cost the government Millions of Dollars a year, it will also put our billing department out of work. That would mean that people would be going on EI; which in turn is costing more money...  The other cost that worries me is the fact that he's promised to freeze property taxes for seniors. Again, Millions of Dollars gone!

Other then that, not a whole lot else has been going on. I'm trying to get into the Riverview Fire Department; however, I have yet to get a call. I now have a contact name which I should really follow up on; however, I seem to be the king of procrastination – just look at my blog!

I do have to admit that life in Riverview is treating me pretty well. Olivia appears to love her new area as well. We are always playing outside and there are tons of kids in the area. It's hard to believe that O will be starting school in the fall of 2011.... SCARY!

Well, I've best be going. I have to finish installing my central vac! Best invention ever!

'til next time!

Another day, Another dime

Life has been pretty interesting lately. As you know, March 1st, I started a new position at work. I am now a Operations Manager & I am more then halfway done my 3mth term. For the month of March, there was a transition month were my team members where going to change around. I also ended up changing rotation from a 4 on - 4 off rotation to a Monday to Friday rotation.

That last about 2 weeks & we are now back to a 4 on  - 4 off rotation. I think that this works much better when it comes to training & developing the teams. Each Ops Manager has 2 EMDss (Emergency Medical Dispatcher Shift Supervisor) which take over the shift when the manager is at the center. I'm hoping that I can continue to impress & possibly have the position become permanent.

On another note, Olivia is growing like you wouldn't believe. She's played soccer (SoccerTots) and loved it, but she decided that she wanted to take a break. So we put her in swimming. Last week was her first day in the swimming pool under instruction. It was fun as I went in with her & she seemed to love it. Have her follow instructions is another thing, but really, at 28mths, are there really instructions to be followed???

I have also started selling the same products that I was selling before. I haven't really done any "advertising", but I think I came up with an idea that I could canvas the area & possibly come up with some sales...

Well, that's all I've got for now as I've got to head out & pick up Allison from work.

'til next time!

Backyardigans

Tonight is going to be a fun night! We are going to go and see the Backyardigans at the Capital Theater in Moncton.

I actually can't wait! The Backyardigans are fun and Olivia loves them.

Other then that, not a whole lot else new. Work is going well. There are posting for full time jobs & we are just waiting to hear confirmation that we have them. I'm not sure what the delay is, but whatever.

They are also looking for people like crazy! It's really hard to find staff. They have a few people interested in jobs, but not nearly enough to fill the vacant positions. I'm actually loving working the 2 days & 2 nights rotation. I thought it was going to be a little tough, but it's really not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I mean, I sleep a little more on my night shifts, but that's about it!

The city of Dieppe actually put up some webcam's to highlight the city's downtown area. One of the cam's is pointing towards the intersection of Acadia/Champlain; while the other is pointing over the parking lot at Place 1604.

Not quite sure why they chose that position instead of pointing it towards the back area....

Anyways.... We had an interesting call at the FD the other day. We had a plane on final approach call an emergency because of malfunctioning landing gear lights. Well, I was driving E-26 and on our way up, our dispatcher called up and said that there was possibly 300 passengers on board. Having lived by the airport and knowing the area, I had a feeling either the information was wrong or the plane was diverted to Moncton for some reason.

Turns out the information was wrong... It was a 143 seat plane & not the 300 that was broadcasted....

Talking about broadcasting, I just thought I'd pass along that I am now dispatching at the center & not just call taking. Which means that anyone listening out in scanner-land can hear my voice - depending which part of the province I'm dispatching.

I know that I find it cool! LOL


Anyways, that's all I've got for now!

'til next time!

Moving & shaking

Olivia is all over the place now!

She is walking, peeing in the pottie & also pretty much talking. She can say Animal (muppets), ouch and a few others that where already in her vocabulary.

It's really incredible how much she has changed in so little time. I mean, just the other day, she was born... well, that was 14mths ago!

Work is going pretty well for me! I've started my dispatcher training on Thursday & Friday night of last week. It was pretty cool & certainly better then call taking. We've also been assigned permanent rotations which is kinda nice too! It really takes the guess work out of trying to find out when my next shift is going to be!

On another side of things, I completely screwed myself over. I missed the cut off date for the Casuals positions at the FD. Kinda upset about that, but what else can I do!

I'm also looking into a couple of other options to help pay down some bills. But we'll keep those to myself for now!

Well, I guess that's it for now!

'til next time!

Busy Busy Busy

Time is really flying by! My 2008 commitment is to try to post more often.

Work is still going great! It's busy lately & I think that it's just going to continue - especially because of winter.

Allison just started back to work today & I'm really happy that she was ok with it! Olivia is doing great.... Pretty much walking & talking & other things... I mean, she is growing up really fast!

Christmas was great! Well, Olivia was so tired that she couldn't even open all of her gifts. I ended up working on Xmas Eve and Boxing day so my holidays where pretty short lived, but that's ok! I was able to spend it with Allison & Olivia. My holiday experience didn't get any better or worse because I also worked on New Years Eve & Day.... It was really busy - on NYE mostly.

As I'm sure some of you know, we have had a great deal of snow so far this year! Well, I made a great investment!!!! I bought a SNOWBLOWER!!!

I love it! It's a Sears Craftsman 11.5hp! It's really awesome!

Well, that's about it for now!

'til next time!

Still kicking

Just in case you've been wondering, I'm still kicking!

Work is going very well! I'm really enjoying it & so far, I should be "signed off" by the end of the week. Basically, I'll be working on my own. Luckily, until the end of the year, I'll be staying on a day shift rotation... So, no nights.... So far! But I'm not complaining about nights either! I did do 1 overnight shift & it was pretty neat. It was extremely quiet as well; however, you have to come with a different work mentality.

On a different note, Olivia is having her 1 birthday on Saturday! This is unreal! I can't believe that it's already been 1 year! I know that they say that time flies when you have fun, but this is truly unbelievable. I mean, to think that in a few days, Olivia is going to be one.

She isn't quite walking yet; however, she is standing on her own & she does walk with a little encouragement. Also, talking is not far either. She makes sounds that sound exactly like words, but we aren't sure if they are really words or just jibber jabber....

We have quite the shindig planned for her and we are very happy to have everyone at our house to celebrate her big day!

So, that's about all that's new so far... stick around for more!

'til next time!

All work and no play

Believe it or not, but I'm actually on day 3 of my 5 days off... This is my first official week on the phone and so far I'm loving it.

True, it's just another job; however, I truly believe that I'm heading down the right career path this time. I haven't taken any really bad calls yet; however, the calls that I have taken have been easier then I truly expected.

I was a little nervous to start on the phones, but that pretty much all went away when I answered my first call.

Not a whole lot else going on. Olivia is growing up and her first B-day is almost here! That's really hard to believe! I have no idea where the last year has gone... Allison pretty much has the party all figured out and it's going to be a blast!

Allison and I actually just got back from the movies... only the second time in a year. It was nice to get out, just the two of us.... We saw "Dan in Real Life".

It was a really good movie! I was pretty impressed, but then again, Steve Carrell is great anyways!

Well, that's about it for now!

'til next time!

10 years and counting

Hard to believe that it's already been 10 years in the Fire Service. Time has really gone by fast. When I sit down & think about it, I haven't even really seen a lot of fires as per say!

I've fought a few, but nothing major where we can "surround & drown" the place. I guess that just means that Dieppe Fire is very efficient!

We had our open house this weekend (Oct 7th) and that's where I was presented with my 10 years of Service Maple Leafs. Also, during that time, Allison & Olivia came down & I was able to snap some good pictures with Olivia. You can see them on my Flickr page.

Other then that, not a whole lot is going on. I'm still waiting for news about some movement, so it's still all hush hush, but I'll let you know as soon as I know something. I'm sort of anxious to get it all over with and I have to be careful that it doesn't affect my current performance.

Well, that's about all I've got for right now....

'til next time!

Back from vacation

We are back from our trip to Toronto with great news! Olivia is not going to require any surgery! This is great news. Dr Clark said at this point, Mother Nature will do just as good of a job as surgery would, so why bother putting her through all of that for the same results.

Other then that, we had a great vacation. The drive was surprising not that long. I mean, we did do over 3300 km's round trip; however, it didn't feel that long. The first night, we stopped at the Four Points by Sheriton in Quebec City. It was a beautiful hotel; however, I felt that the room's furniture was a little over size for the room itself.

That morning we went downstairs to the restaurant, Le Dijon and we had a great breakfast. Afterwards, we trucked all day to Belleville On. It was approx a 6hr drive from Quebec, but with Olivia having to eat every 3 hours or so, it made it a little longer then that. Olivia was the greatest in the car. She never really fussed or anything. She mostly slept all the time!

Our last stop before Olivia's appt was in Ajax at Allison's uncles place. It was great spending a few days there. We didn't have to rush anywhere, just kinda sat back & enjoyed the pool. The first night, he heated the pool up to 92F. It was awesome! Just like in a hot tub!

Our drive to the Hospital itself was an interesting drive. On the 401, it was really smooth; however, we were suggested that we should get on Avenue Rd and simply follow that until we to the Hospital as Avenue Rd transforms into University Avenue.

I thought "no problem!". Well, little did I know that the transformation isn't the smoothest! At one point, you have to turn left at an intersection that actually continues to Avenue Rd. Well, instead, we went straight throught & ended up in a residential area. We did a couple of turns & I decided that we needed to get some directions. I pulled up to a stop sign & there was a couple walking along. Allison asked them where University Rd was & it turns out that the people we asked where from Nova Scotia; however they where also familiar with the Sick Kids Hospital as their grand child had been operated on a few times already.

Anyways, they pointed us in the right direction & we were off again! Overall, it took us approx 20 minutes from Ajax to Avenue Rd, but it took us approx 1hr and 15 minutes to go from Avenue Rd & 401 to the Hospital. That was crazy! Talk about going nowhere fast!

We had planned on going to Niagara Falls on Thursday; however, Olivia decided that she wanted to sleep in (for the first time since Monday morning) and also she was going to have a big lunch. It usually takes her about 1hr to eat, but that day, she stretched it out to 2hrs. So, that put us back a couple of hours and everyone suggested that traffic was going to be horrible so we should just hang out there! So we did!

While we were up in Ontario, my cousin had her baby! It was almost perfect timing. So, we simply modified our trip home & headed back to Belleville to meet our newest family member. They named him Rayden and he was born at 10lbs 3/4oz! Certainly not a little fellaw, but he seemed tiny compared to Olivia....

To finish off our trip, we left Belleville and drove as far as Drummondville, Quebec. We stayed the night in a Quality Suites which we felt was a better hotel then the Four Points was.

When we got up on Saturday, I quickly calculated what we had left to do as far as time in order to get home & made the decision to simply go all the way & finish the drive. So, we got on the road & kept on driving until Olivia was hungry. We'd stop to eat and then get right back on the road and keep on going.

Overall, we had a blast. It was fun to see & we did get to see lots of stuff. It would have been better if we could have stayed downtown Toronto longer, but I think we are going to plan for something like that next time. They would like to see her again in May for a check up. So, we'll have to plan another vacation - maybe - and do it all over again!

'til next time!

*Cough*Cough*

Well, that was a fun week! I wish I could say that we actually went to Toronto, but we had another type of adventure instead!

As we put Olivia to bed on Saturday night, she started to fuss a little. After a few minutes, Allison went in & just as she leaned over to check on her, Olivia vomitted in her bed! Well, that was only the start!

To put a long story short, every 20minutes, Olivia was sick. We ended up going to the hospital around 11pm on Saturday night & they admitted her for the day. She was sick until they where able to get an IV into her. It was horrible. She was screaming because she had nothing left in her. She was basically dry heaving & all she was bringing up was bile! Poor girl! There was nothing we could do!

They decided to keep for for 2 days (Sunday & we left late Monday afternoon).

You'd think that the adventure would be done there! Nope, not at all! Once we got home, Allison wasn't quite feeling well, but we passed it off to not having slept at all on Saturday night & also not having had a good night sleep on Sunday night.

Shortly after we got home, Allison was sick! Not a good start to the week because shortly afterwards, I was sick!

We ended up being out of commission until Tuesday night for Allison & Wednesday for me! It was truly horrible. We are not 100% sure, but we can only assume that we had a GASTRO virus going around because my sister-in-law was sick, her fiance as well and my father-in-law was sick too!

I can certainly tell you that it's not a fun trip spending almost 12 hrs in the bathroom sick like a dog!

Everything has been postponed to next week. So we are going to be doing the same adventure as last time. Spending a week on the road, stoping in Quebec the first night and spending some time with family on our way! We are also going to see our friends Colin & Heidi at Niagara Falls! It's going to be a blast!

So, again, I'll try to post from the road as much as I can.

'til next time!

New Adventure

Well, I'm on vacation!

That's right! We are leaving for Toronto on Sunday Morning - bright & early! Keep your eyes open because I'll be snapping some pics with my camera phone & posting them to my flickr account.

Also, whenever I can get a connection, I'll try to post an update of how the trip is going & where we are so far in our journey!

Stay tuned!

One Step closer!

Well, there are a couple of things new since earlier today!

I am 1 step closer to my interview & Olivia sat up all by herself!

Yup! you read that right! Olivia was able to figure out how to sit up all by herself! The way she does it is very cute! She rolls onto her belly, then brings her knees in and brings her feet under her belly then walks her hands backwards until she's on her butt! Very cute & ingenious of her!

We're gonna have to try to get her on dvd....

Waiting for what?

Well, another week is almost over & I've decided to pursue another job opportunity!

The Mountain Rd branch has an opening for a Senior Account Manager (SAM) and I think I'm pretty well qualified for it! I put in my application - which closed on Monday and now I'm just waiting for my interview! I really do hate waiting, but it's the only way things get done.

Other then that, not a whole lot else is going on. Almost had a huge fire last night; however, turned out to be some kids that decided to burn a tire instead. The passerby who called 911 stated that there was heavy smoke showing.... There was, but it was from a tire and not a building.

Olivia is almost 8 months old now! That's really hard to beleive! She's growing up really fast & I can still see changes in her every day! We're pretty sure that she's already waving to us when we say "HI" & "BYE"... She'll lift her hand up and wiggle her fingers.... it's really cute!

So, I'm in Richibucto right now & when I first got here, there was an MVA just outside of work. Didn't seem to be much damage; however, it looked like it may have been some visitors to the area. Now that really sux!

Allison & I tried to go & see The Simpson's Movie last friday & when we got there, it was already sold out!

We ended up going to see Transformers instead!

IT ROCKED!

The movie was excellent. Very well done! You couldn't tell that the Autobots & Decepticons where CGI. I hope that they make a second.... I was also surprised to see some of the other big names that where in the movie. Josh Duhamel and Jon Voight, I'd seen in commercials; however, some of the others, I was surprised to see!

Well, that's all I've got for today!


'til next time!

Where did the time go?

WOW! I can't believe that most of the month of June is already gone! It's unreal!

Well, work is getting pretty busy and today was one hell of a phone day! I mean, i had something like 10 or 15 voicemail to get through - as soon as I would check them, I would get another call to work on, then I would have 2 more voicemail to check after... just crazy!

Other then that, not a whole lot more going on. Did some really good training at the Fire Dept lately. We did some pumper training & also did some Auto Extrication. It's been fun!

Charleston had a major lost yesterday! They lost 9 firefighters in a Sofa Store fire. Here is a link to the story.

Olivia is doing very well... She's growing up like you wouldn't believe! She's starting to develop an attitude - where if you take something away that she's playing with, she will let you know that she wasn't done with that yet! It's really funny & awesome to see her grow like that.

So, things may be changing soon with me. I can't go into to many details just yet, but kep your eyes open & you'll see what's happening.

Well, that's about it for now!

stay tuned for some news!

'til next time!

Anything new wtih you?

Well, not a whole lot is happening on my side of things, but Olivia is pretty busy. She now has a tooth, she's sitting up, rolling over..... what's next - walking i think! LOL

She's also eating - actually self-feeding. She grabs the spoon & puts it into her mouth & everything! It's really awesome to see! We where a little worried that because of her left arm, she would be a little late in the rolling over & stuff, but she's right on time. Everyone is really pleased with her progress.

It's hard to beleive, and I'm sure that I say this every month, but it's already been 6mths. WOW!!!! I can't beleive how fast it's really going by! We are also waiting to hear from a neurologist from Halifax who is going to evaluate Olivia & suggest if we still have to go to Toronto or not.

We are pretty much hoping that the answer is no, but you never know & we are prepared to do what it takes in order to make sure that she has functionality of her arm.

Talking about functionality, we had some company this weekend. Our friends from St-Leonard where down & we had them over on Friday & Saturday. It was fun. I wasn't able to stick around too much unfortunetly because we had 4 fire calls - 2 grass fires - in a very short period of time.

I'm certainly not complaining. I got to drive our Tanker truck at the 2 grass fires. That truck is old & really needs to be replaced, but it's supposed to be done soon.

Zoe, their daughter is growing up really fast! She now has a baby brother who is 10 days older then Olivia & he's a little monster. He eats like there's no tomorrow.

Well, i think it's time to hit the road... gonna head home & get ready for training tonight!

'til next time!

Bloggin

Why is it so hard to think of something to say when you want to say something! Does that even make any sense?

I guess I just wanted to start with a ramble! now that's out of the way, we can carry on....

Olivia is the big 5 today! I can't believe that 5 months has already gone by! You never really realize how fast time does go by until you have a child!

Talking about a child - I ordered some stuff from rbcperformance - a reward program that work has, and it's already in! I'm so excited! It's a fish rocker for Olivia, a walker and a golf bag for me. I think I'm going to take a drive tonight & pick those things up! I can't wait!

Other then that, not a whole lot else is going on. Still pluggin away at work, trying to make a million$$, but I don't think it's going to happen this year. Oh well....

The competition is trying to tempt me to cross over! Talked to an old colleague who works with them & she said that she likes it very much! I'm not sure that I'd want to make the move, just cause, after a 3rd straight year, I'd be starting over again. So I told the area manager for the mtg development officers that I wasn't interested anymore & she didn't take no for an answer... Just like a true banker!

She told me that she was going to send me some information regarding how they work & asked me to compare it to what I'm doing now.... i have yet to receive that email.

Talking about jobs, my sister is going to have an interview with Moncton Regional Vice President on Monday. I'm anxious to see what's going to happen! I can't wait! I hope that she gets it! She needs to have a better income job. She's worked at Coles for the last 10yrs & she's done well, but the income is - as always, retail income. Never enough to really be able to live.

There's also some pretty interesting news with the new Banking Acts. Homeowners no longer need to have a 25% down payment. The Federal Government has decided to reduce that to a 20% down payment before default insurance has to kick in. It might not affect a whole lot of purchase transactions; however, it will have a huge impact on the refinance deals & our new Homeline product.

Talking about new products, RBC has also come out with a way for you to get free banking depending on the number of products that you have. It's a way for us to say Thank You.

Well, I guess that's all I have for now! I must be going!

'til next time!