Monday, October 31, 2005

New Workplace!

I start working at my new office in the morning! I'm excited and nervous about this new place. I really want to do well as this will (hopefully) be a stepping stone to other jobs. I'll keep you posted.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

The Perfect Box

I took a trip to my bank and went into my safety deposit box. This box of mine is a very peculiar thing - although it holds some of my most treasured possessions, it also holds some of my darkest secrets. So my visit to my box is usually a mix of wondrous treasure hunting and a harsh trip down memory lane. This visit was no exception. I painstakingly went through every little thing in that box. I always go through the good stuff first. Most of it I have been accumulating for years and it gives me a sense of triumph every time I look through it. I have been the only one to see everything in all its glory, and because of that my good stuff is also a bit of a secret. Each time I go in, it feels like I’m rediscovering it all. It felt great.

I was done going through my good stuff, it was time to get to the not-so-good-stuff. I looked over at my now mostly empty box, and there at the bottom lay the large, unmarked manila envelope. I reached in, took it out, opened it up and carefully pulled out the contents.

Looking through each piece, I relived many of my mistakes, my decisions to correct those mistakes, some regrets, and many ‘there’s no turning backs’. With each passing piece, I felt the weight on my chest get heavier and heavier. It was a moment of: ‘your experiences define who you are and who you become…the good experiences and the bad’.

With that thought, and for the first time ever, I decided it was finally cleanup time. I sorted through the contents of that envelope. I ended up with three piles: the keep, the maybe keep, and the definitely not keep. The weight on my chest was quite a bit lighter – I was back in control.

I left the three piles as they were, and started to put all my good stuff back into the box. Once all of that was back in, I sat back and looked at my box of good stuff. My box was perfect. In fact, when I looked over at my three piles I realized that none of those piles belonged in my box. I condensed those three piles into one: the definitely not keep. The weight on my chest was gone.

I left my bank that day with a large, unmarked manila envelope in my hand. The contents of said envelope, and in fact the envelope itself, no longer exist. The memories and lessons will always be there, but for now my box is perfect.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Oh. My.

A little background before I start this blog. My little brother Andy, and my cousins Jimmy & Prabh are all 15 yrs old. One was born in January, the next one was born in February and the third one was born in March (all their mom's are sisters, and Andy's & Jimmy's dads are brothers). These are "my boys".

All three of my boys go to the same school. At their school, every student gets a laptop. For this laptop, all students and parents have to sign agreement forms saying they will not do anything outside of their school district's rules, etc. There is also rent for the laptops that needs to be paid. At the beginning of the school year, the parents hand over post-dated cheques that cover the entire school year's laptop rent. If you don't hand in all the cheques, you don't get the laptop. All of this was written in the agreement forms...that the students read and signed.

Here is a recent chat I had with Jimmy (aka Jimbob, Jimp, Jimster, Jimboboreena, Jimbola...the list of nicknames is endless). I found it so hilarious, that I saved the chat and just copied & pasted to this blog entry. That's right folks, this is word for word Jimmy action. No editing on Luv's part. Enjoy:

Luvish says: hi jimp
Luvish says: finished your homework?

Jimmy says: what homework
Jimmy says: lol

Luvish says: you didn't have any?

Jimmy says: not that i know of lol

Luvish says: niiice!
Luvish says: how's your new laptop?
Luvish says: are you on it now?

Jimmy says: nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Jimmy says: ask andy
Jimmy says: i am too sad to talk

Luvish says: andy's in the washroom.
Luvish says: what happened??
Luvish says: tell me!!!

Jimmy says: i am too sad
Jimmy says: i am in depression

Luvish says: WHAT HAPPENED?
Luvish says: TELL ME NOW!

Jimmy says: i
Jimmy says: i
Jimmy says: i.. i. iii... i...
Jimmy says: n.. ne. .. n . nn n...n nn.
Jimmy says: oooh it's too horrible to say!

Luvish says: oh jimbob. just tell me honey.

Jimmy says: the pain !
Jimmy says: the suffering!
Jimmy says: THE HORROR!
Jimmy says: i am technologyless!
Jimmy says: i feel like ugh the cave man!

Luvish says: (LOL!) Oh you poor poor baby.

Jimmy says: if you want to hear why
Jimmy says: do not ask me

Luvish says: So...what was the reason that you didn't get your laptop?

Jimmy says: for i have done enough talking for a day
Jimmy says: any more might stop my feeble heart


- - At this point, I go and ask Andy to find out what happened. Drama Queen Jimmy would've just kept going with the dreadful and the sorrow and would've never told me why he didn't get his laptop. Here's what transpired after I found out why - -

Luvish says: you were an idiot...AND you only paid for September...you didn't pay for the rent on the laptop for the full year! Did you not read?

Jimmy says: read?
Jimmy says: read what?

Luvish says: read the agreement forms.
Luvish says: SIGN the agreements?
Luvish says: & forms?

Jimmy says: oh i just signed them
Jimmy says: and then got my dad to sign them
Jimmy says: I didn’t read them
Jimmy says: time was of the essence

Luvish says: don't you know that you should read before you sign anything?

Jimmy says: amazing race season 8 was on tv!
Jimmy says: well if andy signed it i knew it was safe

Luvish says: so, if andy jumped off the bridge...it's safe to jump off the bridge?

Jimmy says: yup!
Jimmy says: but if someone else did it i wouldn't follow

Luvish says: oh. my.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Inaccuracies

There was a 5k run event on Sunday. It was to raise funds for and awareness of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

We had to arrive there around 8.30am and the run was set to start at around 10.30am. We got there at about 8.15, just ahead of the rest of my team. It was a cold cold morning, and we were layered up.

This is my fifth year in a row going to this event, and my brother has come with me every year. Everytime we go and meet up with people that we see at the run all the time, they always say "Is this your brother? Wow! He has grown so much! When you two first came here, he was shorter than you!". This year was no exception...in fact, it was worse. We met up with a woman we see at the event every year.

"Oh Luv, is this your brother?"

"Yup, that's Andy."

"My isn't he growing up to be a handsome good-looking young man?"

"What?"

"He's well on his way to being a heart throb."

"Ha. He wishes."

Meanwhile, my brother is eating all of this up. I could've sworn I actually saw his head grow bigger.

"I bet you're just getting all the girls in school, huh Andy?"

To this, he just smiled.

"Uhhhh. It was nice meeting you...see you next year!"

I grabbed my brother by the arm and literally dragged him half way across the stadium.

"Andy don't let that get to your head. She was very inaccurate."

My brother laughed and kept the smug smile on his face. I was ready to puke.

Suddenly, he looks to the other end of the stadium and says, "Hey isn't that our mayor?"

"Where?" I'm looking around, trying to find our city's mayor in the midst of people scattered everywere.

"There, in the pink winter coat."

"Oh yeah, there she is. Let's go say hi."

"Ok."

We head toward our mayor. She's walking along saying hello to people like the good politician she is. We approach her and say our hellos. I introduce myself, shake hands with her and then she turns to my brother. He smiles, shakes her hand and introduces himself - they've met before, so he strikes up a quick conversation. While they're talking (which was no more than 10 seconds), I thought "Hmmm. When did he become such a charmer? Maybe she wasn't so inaccurate after all. What am I thinking? The cold must be getting to my head." I quickly shook off that horrid thought, and told our mayor we'd take her over to some of the people that have organized the event this year.

Later, we completed the 5k run - which we didn't fully run because we were so layered up from the initial cold, that when we actually started moving we got too warm and ended up overheating. I was also still a little shook up from my thoughts earlier.

After the run, there's always a place where you pick up some food to eat/drink. They usually have yogurt, bananas, oranges, water, juice, coffee. My brother and I have finished our run and we're standing by our team tent, my brother pats his stomach and says, "I"m sooo hungry. I should've had a bigger breakfast."

One of my team members looks up at him and replies, "Why don't you go over to the food tent? They have some bananas and yogurt there."

He looks at her as if she's lost her mind, "No. I want some REAL food."

Aha. Charmer no more. There's the little brother I know. She was definitely inaccurate.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Dance Moves

I will be transferring to another office soon. It's a lateral move (sounds like some dance!), which means it's neither a promotion nor a demotion. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

A few reasons why I chose to move:

1. It's a little itty bit more pay.

2. It's in the same city I live in. Right now, I'm putting 80km's a day onto my car driving to and from work. Even with my car (a fuel efficient Civic) I'm spending over $200/month on gas. This new job is about 10km's from my house (that's a raise in itself). Also, it's been my dream for awhile to be able to do some long distance biking. With this job, I can bike to work in the summer months which will really help me condition myself to do longer distances. In long distance, I don't mean biking across Canada (unless there's someone else out there who'll do it with me?!), but maybe splitting up the cross Canada ride - like biking up part of the BC Coast one summer, biking across the Confederation Bridge and through the Maritimes another, etc. Anyway getting back to the point, I'd love to be able to bike to work.

3. The person who I'll be reporting to is someone who I'd like to work with. We share the same 'vision' and she's younger than my current leader - that'll add some life into my job.

4. I need a new challenge. In my current role, my team is on top of the game and doing so well right now that all I have to do is maintain and my team will stay on top. I've done the training and the coaching and have gotten them from near the bottom to the top...and now it's not a challenge anymore.

5. Did I mention it's a little itty bit more pay?

And then there are those reasons why I think I'm absolutely crazy to be changing:

1. My team's is the top ranked.

2. All I have to do now is maintain my team's level and I know we'll stay at the top. It's guaranteed success.

3. I have some great relationships with my team members. They actually like me.

Like it or not, I have officially accepted the new role. I'm jumping in with both feet and hoping I succeed. I'll be starting there the last week of October. Forewarning: expect me to bitch about my job for awhile...the new team will definitely be a challenge.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Bright Futures

As I was writing an e-mail to a good friend of mine, I had a bit of an epiphany. Here's that part of the e-mail:

"When we're 40-something, well established in our careers and/or families, we'll sit down together have some tea and reminisce about the old days when we were 20-somethings and how crazy and stupid we were. Then as we laugh our heads off, we'll realize that we're still crazy and stupid...and move onto the next crazy and stupid thing to talk about. Wow...our future looks a lot like our present, eh?

Bright futures, indeed.