Surrey

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Excel Induced Nightmares

There is already a hint of spring in the air and I’m starting to get the Itch, so I am glad to be so happy with my new job! I feel doubly blessed in that it found me, through my Craigslist ad. After my experience last fall at the RV park, it feels so nice to be back at a job where I feel valued and respected. The work is mostly satisfying and enjoyable. I’ve spent several days working on The Excel Spreadsheet That Never Ends (TESTNE), something that some people would find boring, but which I really do enjoy. The days just fly by when I’m working on complex Excel projects. I especially appreciate that the project TESTNE is part of is entirely mine and I can manage it as I please. That said, I’m getting a bit of a crick in my neck from all that time spent at the computer and I’m having nightmares about the dang Microsoft paperclip!!! I do have to say that I am not enjoying working on a PC after spending minimal time on one in the past six months. They really are antiquated and worthless junk and it’s high time that Macs take their place in the world. *sighs*

Life in south Surrey has settled into a gentle routine that is enabling me to recharge my batteries in anticipation of the summer ahead. I hope to be heading off to Vancouver Island for two weeks at the beginning of May and then pushing north. Hopefully, June will mean work, and lots of it, in Dawson City, and then I’ll head back south to Whitehorse in mid-July for the Chilkoot trek.

Because so many things went  haywire in the budget in the past six months (longer periods without work than expected, colder weather, having to move mid-winter, toad issues, etc.), I will need to make a serious concession about the rest of this first part of my trip: I get the Chilkoot, but I lose the Dempster. So, I don’t anticipate going to Inuvik this year after all, although, who knows, a lot can happen in the next few months and I hear the money’s good in Dawson City…. But I’m no longer focusing on researching that stretch of road and instead getting ready (and really, really excited) for my Chilkoot hike!

Yesterday, I pre-ordered my copy of the The Milepost 2009, an Alaska travel planner that includes great information on routes from BC to the Yukon. I’ve always enjoyed flipping through the year’s latest version and planning routes, but never allowed myself to buy a drastically reduced last-year’s copy just for fun, promising that I wouldn’t get one until I knew for sure I was going to put it to work.

Summer feels so far away, but I’m content enough here to be able to wait patiently. I’ve waited a lifetime to see the North, so what’s another few months, and, truly, there are worst places to be. I know, I’ve been there. 🙂

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Tricks the Weather Plays

I can’t say the same for the water pump, but there is most definitely nothing wrong with my shower. Yay!

It was back in Oliver that I noticed that water pressure in the shower had become horrible, but I chalked it up to frozen plumbing. It took a long time to test the shower again since I’ve been showering at the pool house since I got here. The one occasion I had to take a shower at home, I noticed that the pressure was horrible and my heart sank. It wasn’t that cold here…. I made a mental note to test the shower after a string of warm days. That test occurred yesterday and I had full, normal pressure. Last night, we had a cold snap, enough to freeze my water intake hose for the first time in weeks. I just filled up the Wonder Wash to do a small load and, imagine that, no water pressure to the shower. I’m not sure exactly where the freeze is occurring, but I won’t worry about it since it hasn’t been freezing completely.

If only the problem with my water pump could be resolved so easily. *sighs*

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Granville Island Disappointment

I thought I’d done my homework on Granville Island or, rather, how to get to it, and that driving was a sensible choice. It would take me nearly three hours to get there on public transit and there is ‘ample’ parking.

Well, I knew I was in trouble when I saw the line up to get onto the island. There was lots of parking, but I wouldn’t have called it ‘ample.’ ‘Ample’ in my book means enough parking in relation to the number of spots needed. Moreover, no one thought to warn me that there is almost no signage on the island, that one ways are poorly marked, and that everyone drives and walks around like there is absolutely no congestion. By the time the exit was in sight, I knew that even if by some twist of fate I managed to find a parking spot on a second or third circle around (after waiting in line to get back in, of course), getting out of said spot would require way more effort than the island seemed to be worth. I didn’t want to give up, not when I was doing almost 90km round trip, so I poked around the side streets adjacent to the island looking for a place to leave the car, but, of course, there was no parking permitted. So, I just went home. 🙁

Granville Island seemed like a lot of fun, with small artisan shops, quirky-looking restaurants, and buskers aplenty. But I doubt it’s worth the six hours round trip it would take to get there and back via public transit, so it’s unlikely I’ll get to experience it.

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Things; Some Bad, Some Good

Bad:

There was another shooting in Langley this week, a few blocks from the one last Friday, in a busy shopping area I used to frequent regularly. Then, two nights ago, there was another shooting, the ninth in eleven days, near the home of my relatives in Coquitlam. At least, arrests were made in that incident. The violence is escalating and has encroached on ‘home’, making me leery of going out beyond the confines of south Surrey and White Rock.  It’s a miracle that no innocent bystanders have been injured yet, but give it time. I remember the biker wars in Montreal in the late 90’s that culminated with a young boy being the victim of a car bombing and I hope that nothing so tragic happens here before the violence stops.

Good:

All roads seem to lead to Vancouver! It seems that I am to be blessed with the visit of a friend every month for the rest of my time here in the GVR! Two of these friends are from ‘back home’ in Ottawa and have not been seen since I left in September. The first visit will occur at the end of this month; my friend is coming to Vancouver on business and the plan is to meet up for dinner downtown on one of the two nights that she’s here. The second visit is a possible from my friend Donna, whom I met in Oliver. The third visit is from my best friend of nine years now (already!) who will be coming for a full week! She’s deathly allergic to cats, so she’ll be staying at a motel, but it will be so nice to introduce her to this area! Well, at least the part that isn’t riddled with bullet holes… 😉