Game 7
Canucks 4 - Blues 1

It is now 1:40 AM ... the game is over ... and we are victorious !!! We have managed to fight off elimination for the last 3 games and take the series 4 games to 3. Next up ... Minnesota! Who also managed a 3-1 series comeback against the Avalanche. For note: only ~8% of those teams down 3-1 in a series manage a comeback - so two in the same round is interesting to note.

I should take pause and wish the Leafs a good season on the golf course - sorry to see you leave so soon!

Special thanks to:
CKNW and Internet streaming - bringing the action to my new found home.
PaddyWagon - for supplying cheap beers during all NHL games (even if you are a Leafs fan)

(1) Interesting error message ??

(2) This is what I like to see ... Canucks finally managed to find the twine and for the 3rd straight game put at least 4 pucks behind Osgood. Was also nice to see the underdogs in the Wild vs Avalanche game come back to take that series -- We now get to keep home ice advantage in round 2.

        Game 6
Canucks 4 - Blues 3

What a game! Leading 4-1 into the 3rd, the Blues managed two PP goals to pull within one giving us a roller coast ride to the end buzzer. The rough game play continued but it seems that the top line is starting to find their sticks and skates. Game 7 on Tuesday will prove to be an exciting match-up as the Canucks fight for a 3rd win in a row and a 3-1 series come-back. Go! Canucks Go!

In other news; Melissa should be heading out for Calgary tomorrow night - closing out our stay in Vancouver. After a short stop with the newest members of our family, she should be heading this way. Though the date and time is not yet confirmed ... I am really looking forward to her arrival. It has been almost two months and I am really wondering how families make it through six at a time. She has done a fantastic job cleaning up the house and moving our stuff south while I got to play on the beach - "Melissa, thanks so much ... you put up with my complaining and frustrations for long enough! Now it is your turn to take a break! Enjoy your visit with your sister - but hurry down here - the sunshine awaits!"

And with the tempuratures of over 30 degress Celsius today; we should be in for nice, though sticky, time in the sun!!! The thermometer in the house was reading 95+ degrees earlier and still reads over 80 degrees- thinking maybe it is time to turn on the A/C !!!

5700km later ... arrival!

The truck unloads and leaves

Unpacking starts

I found the important items ...

After another day of unpacking and cleaning ... I take a break

For what turned out to be a great evening

Well .... yesterday our stuff arrived. What stuff we shipped anyway. I have the TV, DVD/VCR, chairs, pots and pans, monitor, BED, and more cloths - not to mention china, books, and nic nacs that I don't quite know where to put yet.

All in all the house went from "clean" to "full" to "a freakin' mess" all in a matter of 48hours. So what do I do -- well, go to the beach then stop off at the pub for a game of hockey - guess tomorrow I will have to run down to the store and get some of our 'remaining items' ... and since I have my car I can do that.

By the way -- I have to thank Krishen for being kind enough to drive me around during this first month.

(Pictures coming soon)

" ... was that a right or a left at the stop sign ?"

Work seems to find me everywhere ... and the push has begun. I have until the end of the month to get this project done - and though things are coming along it is at that 'unknown' stage. You know that time in a project where the deadline is far enough off that the project does not look done yet -- yet close enough to scare the crap out of you. So needless to say, I recorded at least 10 hours of work over the weekend and am looking at between 12-15 per day over the next week.

But the good news is that by Thursday I will have a bed to sleep in - or at least on. The truck is due Thursday afternoon - of which I have been approved for an 'extended lunch' to take care of things. After that ... the buying begins ... need to find a washer/dryer before too long. I ended up leaving my cloths in Krishen's dryer for since Sunday. Oops!

Anyway - tonights I get a short break .. Fajita's and Movie - "The Big Lebowski".

After a day of coding and testing Krishen and I head back down to the Paddy Wagen! Game 1 between the Blues and the Canucks was rough - and this time we were not disappointed.

        Game 2
Canucks 2 - Blues 1

It was a great game (maybe just cause we won) ... but the body was being thrown around. The passes were crisp. Vancouver actually had a 2-0 lead heading into the last 5 min, but the Blues applied the pressure and managed to get a nice shot past Mr. Dan Cloutier - who, I might add, made some fantasic stops.

But 60 mins of hockey, 2 intermissions, a couple of $2 Labett's and a pub packed full of ladies from a lingerie party made for exciting Saturday night out.

Well ... I am bored. Writting module/class test cases is not what I would call exciting work - but I suppose it has to get done. I spent a couple hours this morning/afternoon working on getting the full system to compile as well as further implementation. Then I decided that I better start working on the main goal for this weekend : Confirming the operation of supporting classes and system file reading/writing.

So I built myself a little 1.5 foot table out of a cardboard box, grabbed my pillows to use as a seat and stepped out onto the deck. Being as I am facing the western world - it was not until 4:30 that it became a tad to bright/warm! - now I have moved my "portable office" inside. (wonder if this technology is patentable ?). I feel a lot like Schroeder sitting here on the floor typing away. I type, think, edit, think, delete, type, think, tell myself to forget thinking, type ... ... ... then I got to compile, run, type, copy, paste, type, type, compile, *crap*, edit, compile, run ... ... ... so far things are looking good (with the code at least).

Taking a break does not seem to really help. Since I am still awaiting my stuff I have no pictures on the wall, no TV (which is likely a good thing), not much in the way of cookware: basically there are NO distractions. Except for the lack of furnature (chairs, couch, tables, etc) this would be a nice place to just 'get away' ... quite, sunny, relaxing ... maybe that explains why it is so hard to concentrate on the code ? Kind of a catch-22 as with nothing to do I sit right back down and start working again!

Soon it will be Sunday ... then before I know it -- Monday 8AM I will be back sitting at my desk. But this time next week my house will be full of boxes and I will be dreaming of those moments when the house was simple, clean, and I had nothing to do !!!

But anyway ... you can obviously see my state of mind from reading this cyrptic, semi-technical, and completely tangent based posting. Maybe another coffee would help ... ... ...

Another late night at the office lead to some progress in my project and several games of Quake. Thanks to Nigel for picking up the pizza - very tasty.

This weekend will most likely be a working weekend as the days seem to be passing me by faster than I would like. Lots of development has been done - and this weekend I want to do testing on those modules that are now complete. Either way -- there is lots of work to do!

At least I have an evening of hockey to look forward to!

After another day at the office and an embarrassing game of Quake we (Ron, Jeff, Kemp and myself) headed back to the Bonefish Grill. You know, they have some tasty food there but you pay for it. Previously I had mentioned that the girls there seemed to be intereseted in our little project here ... well -- now they are just spreading rumors!! Apparently one of the girls had mentioned to our waitress that we work on simulators -- and some how they became simulators that were .. ahh ... compatible. I had to the explain that "We make anatomically correct medical simulators. And, right now we are working on a pelvic exam simulator." "Ahh ... ok" ... then Kim stepped in ... "no no no, I told her that they were for pre-med students ... honest!!" Well, at least we are making a name for ourselves.

After dinner and beer I retired to the Paddywagon for some Canadian beer and Canadian hockey. But to my disappointment the Canucks decided to not show up for the game ... well, it sure LOOKED like they did not show up for the game. And the score displayed that ... 6-0 Blues ... ouch! Looks like the disappointment of loosing the div. title and scoring races all in the last game took a toll. Hopefully this is a nice little wake up call ... come Saturday I will be found either at the Paddywagon or by the radio .. GO CANUCKS GO!!!

As I mentioned before, in an attempt to get me to work longer hours work has provided me with a laptop. Turns out that I am really just borrowing it during the development period and have to pass it along to Alex once the initial, time sensitive phase is complete. Figure it is not too disheartening -- it is a Windows box.

But I got to thinking -- I am waiting for my machine, but I have this machine. Maybe I can start the 'hookup' process of internet service - after all my monitor is only about 10 days away. So I started calling ... DSL looked promising since there was an added discount due to my phone service selection. But nope -- "too far away from the central office!". Wow -- hard to believe since other in the complex have DSL, but suppose it is possible; the 18000 ft of line has to end somewhere. So Cable then ... $55 / mth plus $5 /mth modem charge --- OH DEAL! If we get basic TV it is only $55 for both!!! Internet can be so expensive. So, Dial-up it is ... $10.97 / mth for the next 6 mths (likely move to cable before then) ... it is 56Kbs ... but you know what - I have been living too long with broadband. Well ... at least I have basic internet at home!

So, after sorting out my connection issue I decided to go for a little workout! With the apartment comes a pool, hot-tub, and workout room - so I thought I would check it out. Short stint on the bike, a little upper-body work and a jog is all it took to make me realize that I am WAY OUT OF SHAPE! Guess I am going to have to work in a more regular schedule - maybe then Melissa won't bug me about going back into construction! At least I got to watch Enterprise on the TV ;)

My, no longer little, sister

Well ... to my horror I got into work today to find this lovely picture of my sister in my email. It is not the she is just dressed up ... but she is dressed up for PROM. And it is not really that it means that she will be heading out with a 'boyfriend' for the evening (though the grapevine tells me so) ... but it is the fact that our 8 1/2 year difference in age does not change the fact that *I* remember *MY* prom ... AND IT WAS NOT THAT LONG AGO! ... time sure passes quickly. An Kari ... you look great ... have a good time. I would give you advice ... but then again, I remember my prom !

In other news; ok so it is not really news. In other areas of my life: After a 12.5 hour work day on Monday Krishen and left on time today. We headed out to meet up with Hugo and play a little football - European style! In spite of a tweak to my ankle (think it is still weak in general) I had a great time. It has been a long time since I have kicked the ball around.

Playoffs start tonight ... be sure to keep me informed. Starting tomorrow I will be found down at our local Canadian Irish bar glued to the TV :)

Well ... daylight savings time again. This kinda of catches up with you ... a 7AM morning now feels like 6AM ... the benifit - you can relax at the beach an hour longer. Of course - that too has its 'pinker' aspects. And after a Sat evening and Sun afternoon sitting on the white sand beaches - I am feeling the after effects ;)

Went shopping Sat - note to self: Never go into a record store that is going out of business. Walked out with $100 less in my pocket, but a new Count Basie 2-disk set, Diana Krall, Areosmith, and Tom Cochrane. But that is not all - also picked up the movies Sphere and Starwars II ... but it was at the counter that the real problem was encountered. The dreaded impulse buy. A James Bond collector set of 7 DVDs was listed for $80 ... but a further 50% off discount was just too tempting ... and now I am 7 James Bond DVDs richer :) Now I am really looking forward to getting that DVD player down here :)

Speaking of which ... should be leaving today ... so I will keep you informed ... I have sources right in the thick of things, we'll call them "embedded sources" - just for fun!

UPDATE: 11:15 EST / 8:15 PST
The movers have arrived, after a sleepless night in Vancouver Melissa has managed to get all our stuff in boxes and ready to head out the door.

UPDATE: 12:00 EST / 9:00 PST
Documentation seems to be in order ... the loading continues. Only about 25 boxes and the car - so should not be too much longer!

UPDATE: 4:00 EST / 1:00 PST
Well ... turns out we were a little over weight. Guess the idea of a truck&trailer got the best of us. Estimate is currently running about double our quote - but we will know later today! Means that I will continue to have to keep the wallet in the pocket for the next little bit, but we have more stuff (including our bed). So the truck is packed -- and they are hitting the road ... ETA on border crossing: 14th ... arriving here around the 18th/19th. Time for Melissa to head to bed :) Night!

By day a computer systems analyst ... by night ...

Well, an update to our moving plans. After sparse contact with our moving company and an extensive internet search for auto movers we came across "Allways Moving". For the same price as our original quote they will move both our stuff (full 1500 pounds) and the car ... that, as it turns out, would be a savings to us of about $1500 since our car was originally going to be left behind.

The truck pulls out Monday afternoon - and I am "finally" expecting my stuff around the 18th. Personally I am looking forward to having a chair ;)

As for work ... it looks like it is going to get busy. We are doing a concept review of the software and interface Friday (today). My schedule is tight (less than 3 weeks) - so I may not get all the features in that I would like. However, I think the design is solid and leaves room for several future improvements. What we are starting to find is that the it is a great way to pick up girls *g*. At least the girls bartending at the Bonefish Grill last night seemed to find it 'interesting' !!!