Work

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Needing a Day Off

I’m exhausted today. I can’t remember the last day that I didn’t push myself physically, either at the convenience store or working on the renos. I’m behind in the required hours for my contract, so I decided that today was going to be a multiple cups of coffee, sitting in front of the computer in my jammies, cat(s) on my lap, heavy production day.

Of course, the internet had other plans. It always does. Internet is sentient, I am now 100% sure of that. There is no other reason why it works fine when I have better things to do and doesn’t work when I need it. I’m sure inquiring minds want to know how I’m posting this; I’m in the living room of the house; at least wi-fi is working there again today (earlier it wasn’t).

The only work I did on the rig today was finish pulling up the wood flooring in the kitchen and start to chip away at the edges. I need to finish working on the edges and then figure out what I’m going to do in the entrance stairwell. The sides and bottom are metal covered by wood, so I can just pull up the wood and install the Allure over top the metal, but the back is an access panel. I might simply install the vinyl over the boards. Then, I need to take that dinette bench apart. I keep procrastinating on doing so because it’s my way up into the loft. Soon as I do away with it I’ll have to start focusing on making a new way to climb up. I might as well put this off as long as I can and just focus on getting the wood flooring out of the way.

My heart just wasn’t into it today, so I quit early and went to get pizza and beer for dinner. There’s a liquor store located two doors down from the pizza place in the Willowpoint stripmall, which is highly convenient. 🙂 I was asked for ID for the first time in my life! According to the cashier and the manager I don’t look a day over 18. I am going to be thirty-one next month. I don’t know if I should be flattered or horrified! I also seem to be aging backwards; when I was backpacking around Scotland at nineteen and going to pubs with people ten to twenty years older than me, they always got pinned as being younger than me. Very, very, very odd!

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Planning My Second Klondike Summer

I can’t believe that it’s already time to start planning my trip back north! I’ve ordered Terri and Mike Church’s book that I regretted not having last year as well as the 2010 Milepost.

Planning my route north this year is such a different experience since I am not about to set off into the unknown!

The ferry to Prince Rupert is probably not going to happen and there’s no way I’m taking the Sea to Sky highway again, so it’s pretty sure that I will be going to Prince George via Hope and highway 97 like I did last spring. From there, I’m really undecided as to whether I’ll take the Cassiar like I did in the fall, or the Alaska highway like I did last spring. I’m leaning towards doing the Alaska highway again and then doing the Cassiar in the fall. Have I fallen prey to routine?! 😀

While I’d love to stop off in favourite spots, like the Chasm, again, I’m hoping that the Church’s book will help me see this trip with new eyes.

For the little I did this winter, the season has flown by exceptionally fast. I didn’t see much on Vancouver Island, but other things that happened more than made up for that. I mean, I was in the right place at the right time to give my business the boost it really needed to take off. Financially, I won’t see the results of that until May, but that’s perfect since that’s the month I’ll be putting in the fewest working hours. It seems that I will simply need to return to Vancouver Island and the BC coast at some later date to do more ‘island hopping. As it is, I do plan to go to Victoria for a long weekend in late March or early April, so there is more tourism to come!

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Renovation Goals

While beautifying my RV and making it suit my personality is a perk of renovating it, I’m not decorating for the sake of decorating.

Most motorhomes, unlike fifth wheels, do not have a layout suited to a full-timing lifestyle. As my friend Donna pointed when she gave me the tour of her place, her fiver has an entrance closet!

I’ve been living in Miranda almost a year and a half now and I’ve clearly identified not only what my layout is lacking, but also how I aim to remedy those deficiencies.

By the time I’m done with the first phase of the renos I hope to have:

1) an entrance area with space for a coat or shawl and footwear;

2) functional storage place for clothing and all the related accoutrements;

3) a more efficient way of dealing with dirty laundry;

4) a way of counter-acting the dampness in the loft and against the far wall of the study;

5) a home office that I don’t have to completely take apart when I drive;

6) a bathroom that I don’t have to partially take apart when I drive;

Those are the big ones. I’ll link back to this post as I cross the items off the list… or add to it. 🙂

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Technological Irony

I bought a new keyboard today. My old one died months ago and I was using my archaic (mid 1990’s!) one as a ‘temporary’ back up. It was a good keyboard in its day, but it’s definitely on its last legs, with some keys sticking and the command key not always responding. I’ve got too much on my plate right now to be working with an unreliable keyboard.

My last ‘good’ keyboard was a Microsoft Comfort Curve. Do y’all see the irony in that? I’m an Apple gal except when it comes to peripherals. The Apple keyboard and not-so-mighty mouse suck (my not-so-technical opinion, of course!). I was thrilled with my Microsoft keyboard. It was ergonomic, clicked pleasantly, and was spill proof. My only complaints with it were that the ‘hot keys’ don’t work with OS X, that the command key is where the option key should be (and vice versa), and the ù is in a really odd spot (to the left of the 1 above the tab); does anyone have a pinky long enough to reach up there?!

Microsoft Comfort Curve keyboard

One day, though, the whole left side of it just stopped working. I’d only paid about $40 for it and had had it for over two years, so I accepted the loss. I type a lot and am hard on my keyboards, so I try to buy them cheaper and am accepting that they need to be replaced regularly.

All that to say that when I got to Staples today and learned that the Microsoft Comfort Curve is now the cheapest Mac-compatible keyboard they carry (with a price drop to less than $30 with tax!), I decided that it’s going to be my official keyboard from now on!

When I brought it home, I didn’t have to shut down to install the new keyboard. I just unplugged the old one (that I still can’t bring myself to trash!), plugged in the new, and started to type. Macs are just so easy. Getting reaccustomed to the Comfort Curve’s layout took a few minutes and then my fingers felt like they had come home. The command key thing, however, is going to take some time to get readjusted to. 🙂

(no, this post was NOT sponsored by Microsoft or Staples! 😀 )

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Honesty

Today, my boss and I had The conversation; that is the one about when I expect to quit and head back north. It came up as another conversation turned to Dawson City and travel in the north between 1969 and 1979.

I made the decision when I hit the road to be upfront with potential employers about my intent to be only a temporary worker. A lot of people told me that would hurt my chances of finding work and that it was no one’s business that I had no intention of staying for more than a few months.

Being honest with my employers has been the best choice. Sure, some jobs like the nursery and the communications contract were sold as temporary positions, but my current position wasn’t. If I had pretended that I was looking for a long term job, I would have had to watch every word I say and always be on my guard. Instead, I’ve been able to have interesting conversations with my boss and colleagues about my lifestyle, where I’ve been, and where I plan to go. My temporary status didn’t even impede me from getting a raise this month!

Sure, I’ve probably lost out on dozens of jobs by being forthright, but living openly is truly the way to go. Moreover, I’ve had people admit to me that they Googled me before inviting me for an interview, so lying really wouldn’t be possible for me now anyway.

As for the answer to his question, I have three full months left in Campbell River and am still on target to leave May 1stish.