Where Did The Time Go??

Well I've now had 3 or 4 different people all ask me when or if I was going to update my blog again. So here ya go!!

It seems that summer has once again passed us by, as the days and nights get much cooler and I've now actually turned the heat on in my house again, one must ponder just where did the time go.

At the beginning of the summer I had so many things that I wanted to do. Well as you might guess, those things did NOT all get accomplished. It seems that time just disappeared before I got around to doing pretty much anything.

Sailing went quite well over the summer. Myself and the rest of the crew aboard SIREN II were quite pleased with ourselves when we finsihed in 1st Place in our class during Race Week 2006. Too bad that was about all we did well!!!

School....yes you read that right. I was in school over the summer. I was finally able to get into my 2nd of two first year English courses, so I thought I had better complete it when I have the chance. Taking courses over the summer isn't the most exciting thing one could do especially when reading novels that don't interest you in the least. It's over now though and I did pass.... barely!!

Work as some of you know hasn't been the most pleasant experience for me the last year. My employee decided that it would be a good idea to re-organize all the IT sections and bring us all under one roof and decrease the actual number of people that were there. So in the end, after applying, interviewing and sweating things out, I did get to keep my job. I just ended up with a different one. Currently it's so busy, it's not really that fun anymore. There is no end to the work coming in and we just can't seem to catch up. Here's hoping that the job I applied for at DVA will end in a positive result! So if you can please keep this in your prayers for me.

Odds and Ends -- I didn't get to the beach that often this summer - perhaps 4 or 5 times all summer. I've been on the Weight Watchers plan since the end of June and currently am 22 pounds lighter then when I started. Finances are continuing to be an big burden on me lately. I just can't keep up with things. I've decided to rent out the spare room in my house to see if the bills can get caught up with and to help with the fact that it does get quite lonely living by yourself after awhile.

New Car -- well i did it and went and traded in the Silver Sunfire for a Fiji Blue Civic. It's pretty nice looking if I do say so myself - and I think Laura will agree with me. Considering her and Marko bought the same car. Here's a pic!!


Prayers -- please keep the above thoughts in prayer for me. There is no end to the power of prayer and what it can do in people's hearts. I've had a really rough time over the summer dealing with some issues and feel further away from God than I think i've ever been. The fellowship with my friends means a great deal to me and always encourages me to get back on the saddle, but lately I just can't seem to hoist myself up there and get back to prayer, where I need to be.

So as you can see, the summer was quite busy afterall. My family vacation didn't pan out and didn't get everything done around my place that I had hoped, but I have some of the best friends a guy could want and am able to sit here and type, so what more could I want!! I'll try dilligently to keep this updated more often, but taking another course and having curling starting on Friday, the posts will most likely be as sporadic as before.

Cheers!!

Leaving Home

Well to appease Laura and her ever asking of when my blog will be updated, it's been updated as of today!!!!

It's Victoria Day weekend for those of us in Canada, the first real long weekend of the "summer" so to speak. There are people out gardening, cutting the lawn, fishing, farming, and getting the tourist sites ready to open for the summer. I went home to Souris, PEI to visit my family for a couple of days and was set to work in several of the above options. Mom asked me to help her get the garage cleaned up a little so we could gain access to the lawn ornaments and such, also finished cutting the lawn and cleaning up in side the house after some minor renovations.

I did get one rather large shock upon heading into the basement and into my "old" bedroom. I discovered that my 19 year old brother upon moving home from college, took over my room. My bed and dresser were in the "rec room", along with all the posters on my wall and odds and ends that were hidden in places I had forgotten about. I asked my mom what was up and she stated that he (my brother) was fairly entitled to the room as I don't really live there anymore and had decided that my things should be in my own house, that I recently purchased.

This was quite a shock to myself seeing that this stuff had been there since my teenage years through Junior and Senior High. I set out looking for some rather large boxes... the bookshelves were emptied into them, the desk drawers, old clothes were tossed in the trash and posters and old toys were placed in the box as well. Never know when one might wish to have his old toys!!

High school diplomas, scholarship letters and college diplomas were found under the piles of books and such. My mom wanted to put together a big blue bin of things that we wanted to save for ourselves, so I managed to sort through some of the things and place them in the keepsake box. One really forgets how much stuff one acquires over the years and forgets about. I managed to fill about 6 boxes with stuff of all sorts, 2 of which contain my extensive hockey and baseball card collection that I had ever so long ago forgotten about. Ill have to check out the "interweb" and see if any of them are worth anything. I doubt it though.

As I packed my car to come back to my house tonight, with all my personal belongings, I realized that I had truely "grown up" and moved out of home! All that is left is my old studying desk and a bed, which doesn't fit will in a SunFire, so that will have to wait for another time.

Now onto the bigger job - trying to find a place to put it in my house! ;)

Provincial Intermediate Champions

WOW, what a weekend!!! We did it though, it definately wasn't easy, but we did it. We won the PEI Provnical Intermediate Championships with a record of 6-0. We played on Saturday, two very close games, which we ended up stealing in the 10th ends. That put us at 4-0 and into the Final on Sunday night.

On Sunday morning, we played in the B Division Semi-Final for a change to play in the B Final and the 2nd birth in the Final game. The Semi - was a close game for a few ends, but we managed to score 4 in 6th end to take a 4 point lead. We hit away for the last few ends and won the game.

We met the Jeff Nelson team from Montague in the B Final. They had to beat us twice to win this year. The game was extreamly close, but we managed to battle our way back through some rough ends, missed shots, and shortened tempers. We scored a big 3 in the 8th end and took a steal of 1 in the 9th end to be up 2 playing the last end. The end was well played by both team with Jeff having a chance at scoring 2 and tying the game. He was just a bit out on the hit he needed to play and left us for one and the win.

So thanks to Jody, Jamie and Les for all playing so well and coming through with the hard fought victory. Way to go guys, we're Provincial Champs!!!!!

Intermediate Curling Championships - Pt 2

Well that was a close one!! We certainly didn't play as well as we did yesterday, but we managed to have the game tied up coming home in the 10th end. The other team had last rock, but we somehow had ourselves in a position to steal a point or two. Jody (our skip) made a great draw to the tee-line and we were sitting 3. The shot was just a hair too deep though and the other team needed to make a draw through a hole and just tap us back a bit. As soon as he put his broom down to call the amount of ice he needed, we were all pretty sure it wasn't enough. Sure enough though, he overcurled and didn't make the shot, leaving us with 2 point and the win!!!

So now we move into the 'A' Division Final tonight at 7pm. SHould be a great game. A win will put us into the Championship Final and only 2 more wins away from taking the whole thing. So here's hoping!!!!!

More to follow.........

Intermediate Curling Championships

Well curling again this weekend, seems to be happening every weekend lately, but that's why you play right. This weekend we're playing in the Provincial Intermediate Championships. Lester, myself, and Jamie and Jody Jackson.

So far so good!! Two games into the thing and we are 2 - 0. We played excellent for both games on Friday so here's hoping that tomorow will be as good. Just got home and it's 12:30 am and we have to be back up to Montague by 8:30 am in the morning, so going to be a short night for sure. We have two games tomorrow for sure, at 9 am and 7 pm. Would love to see some fans there if any of you don't have plans for tomorrow night. It's being played at the Montague Curling Club.

HOpe you are all having a great weekend and i'll keep you posted tomorrow. Or you can check out http://www.peicurling.com and follow the links for the Intermediate Championships.

Possibily Losing my Job

Hey,

Well working for Government is just wonderful, especially when they can just about do whatever they feel fit, regardless of how it affects the people that work there. As those who know me know, my employer has begun restructuring their IT services. I just wanted to keep you filled in the the work front here.

I know some of us had discussed it last week at bible study. When I got to the office this morning and checked my e-mail from yesterday when I was out, I ended up having a meeting with my Manager and the HR rep from the Public Service Commission. The meeting was to inform us and to give us a letter stating that we have been placed on an Intended Notice of Layoff. Which basically means that our current job will no longer exist and we have to reapply for jobs within the new Government IT Structure. If we end up not getting one, we are placed on an 18 month call back list, where we could still apply for Internal Job Postings for up to 1 1/2 years after we leave. It also means that our salary level is red-circled, so it allows us to apply for jobs at lower leves, without having to take a pay cut. So things are moving now, even though it a pretty sucks way to start your day. It's been a very very very awful day.
Four of us in the end user area were given the layoff notices, our Admin Assistant has been moved to a new section, our Manager received a new position and the other 3 people were confirmed into their new positions and one positions which is vacant, is not being filler. So of the 10 of us, just 4 of us are left to find something

Sorry this is so long, but I needed to vent and let you all know what's up. So please keep praying as job interviews will be occuring over the next 2 - 6 weeks.

Nick

Curling Results Among Other Things

Well I guess I didn't post my next message here as soon as I thought I would. I've been pretty busy the past 2 weeks with school work and curling, so really haven't had the time to add another entry in here.

Anyways as for the results of the curling provincials, we didn't manage to improve our 0-3 showing from last year, we went 0-3 again, but we have definately improved our game to say the least. Two of the three teams we played this year have moved onto the Final 8's that are taking place this weekend here in Charlottetown, so the fact that we lost those two games isn't so bad. Our first game against Andrew Robinson though was a very good game, we only lost by 2 and we played the entire 10 ends. So cheers to the boys for playing great and we'll get 'em next year.

We're not done yet though, we are also playing in the Intermediate Playoffs this year in Montague in mid-March, we went 2-2 at them last year, so here's hoping to get a bit further than before.

As for other things, my nose is healing great!! Had a doctor appointment this past Monday and he said that everything looks great, but wants to see me again in a month's time, so hopefully that will be the end of the drives to Summerside for a bit.

My online course mid-term exam is coming soon, and I have ALOT of reading to catch up on. So this is going to be a very short post!!! Hope this finds everyone well and look forward to hearing from everyone. Feel free to post comments in here - i do check them from time to time!!

Happenings and Goings On

Well once again it's been awhile since I've updated this again. Have to get used to writing about what's going on!!

The recovery from the nasal surgery is going well, had a doctor's appointment last week and was told that it looks good and to see him again in 2 weeks, so that's Feb 6, for those of you who are curious. Hopefully by then it will be almost healed. It's definately nice to be able to breathe through ones nose again and able to use his Sleep Apnea machine at night. I went about a week without using it, so didn't get much sleep. Doing much better now that I can use it again though.

My online course this semester - Introduction to Personnel and Human Resource Management is going well, definately more reading than last semester, but much less Math so that's all good.

Tomorrow is the big day, the PEI Men's Curling Provincials!! They actually started tonight, but my team doesn't play until tomorrow. For those of you that might read this tonight or tomorrow you can keep tabs on how we're doing at the following website.

http://www.isn.net/~derekm/peicurling//tankard/

Hopefully we'll play well and at least improve on our 0-3 record from last year!! That's the goal anyways. I'll put up a post later on how we did and other stuff happening.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!