Passed!

Second time lucky, I finally passed my road test!

Never mind the fact that it was pouring rain, and the thunder gods were calling at me when I left the house in the morning. I was soaked down to my underwear, but it felt good to pass. To think that 4 months ago I had fallen off the dang scooter!

Next on the learning curve - taking a passenger so I can start scooting my friends around! G has been scooting me around and it's been fun. Parking anywhere is a definite bonus, not being able to drink is not. Neither is not being able to wear heels, but I will live. When I remember, I try not knocking him about with my helmet. Who would have thought that head-butting is an issue when doubling on the scooter!

T-Dot: So where the bloody hell are you?

One way to make me feel loved when I'm all by my lonesome on this side of the world is to come and visit me!!

I have had so many people tell me they are dropping by NYC... but, but... I live in T-Dot! It's only 1 hour away, I even offer to house and feed them, but still it does not entice. Perhaps I have not been selling it right. Have I been awfully harsh on the T-Dot?

Finally, I had friends visit - M&I! And may I add, there was no hard sell on my part. I think they actually came with the intention of seeing me! As a matter of fact, they were pleasantly surprised that T-Dot has a lot more to offer then they thought (there, that's my little plug). Surprises for all when you come!


It was sad seeing them go. The house felt all empty, and me a little homesick.

Next up, my cousin will be here from sunny Florida! Pity rain is forecast all weekend... err... at least it's something different for them...

Recruiter Gripe

I'm sorry, I just got off the phone with a recruiter and I need to gripe.
I've dealt with some good recruiters and some bad ones, but this one is the worse. I am fuming because he is so rude, does not give a sh*t whether I am interested in the role, or whether I even have the skills for it.

Let's be clear, he called me. I did not call him.

He wants a workforce planner on contract. Great. I have the word 'workforce planning' on my resume once. It was a unique deliverable, where I had to make a recommendation on the number of contact center staff to recruit, based on processes I designed, for a brand new operation that did not exist. By no means am I a workforce planning expert.

I don't even get a chance to squeeze in a word in the one sided conversation before he demands to know what my rate is. I'm like "hang on.." and proceeded to explain to him the extend of my workforce planning and how I may not be a suitable candidate, and he cuts me off with "yeah, yeah...". WTF?

So he approaches it from another angle. Do I have BI experience? I don't, and I have no remote interest in gaining. I'm pretty sure I was pretty damn clear. But he wants me to send my resume over asap so he can get the process started.

I asked: "So do you think I'm a good fit?"
His reponse: "To be honest, you are just so, so" (Halle-f*ing-lujah, thats what I've been saying all along), but still he insists: "Send me your resume at email rarara and we'll get the process started"

No 'please'. No 'thanks'. No 'what do you think?'.

I may need a job, but I don't need someone like that representing and selling me.

To top it off, I checked out their website, and I could have done a better job with website design and photography skills (and that speaks for a lot). Guys in cheap suits with fake poses and handshakes and stupid grins on their faces do not cut it.

DS Season 4

Remember how I mentioned that a good friend of mine is on reality TV show Design Star? It airs this weekend! I am so excited!!

Unfortunately, it's not showing in Canada... so I'll be relying on You Tube, or recorded shows throughout the season. The premiere is this Sunday, and we have another friend who is visiting NY promise to web cast it live for us over video conferencing!

Here's the promo for the show:



Jany has been busy busy with PR lately, like a real star!
She's was featured on Good Morning Texas with cheap and cheerful design tips, and was interviewed by a Dallas local paper.

Us gals here in T-Dot are super excited!!

Newfoundland

Newfoundland was the one province I missed out on in my last Canadian road trip escapade back in 04. I finally got to see it.

Dubbed as a cross between Iceland and New Zealand, Newfoundland did not disappoint. We decided to skip the major city of St John's and hit the west coast where Gros Morne National Park is famous for the amazing views. In particular, we were searching for this shot of Western Brook Pond:


This shot was the inspiration for the holiday. Unfortunately, you can only get this if you are hiking for 4 days, and 4 days was not an option. Enthused by our hikes in Patagonia recently, we decided on the James Callaghan trail - 16kms of the most strenuous trail at Gros Morne. This was our compromise:


Not bad... this was definitely the highlight for us. Mind you, they weren't lying when they said the trail was strenuous... the mountain is covered in a 'sea of rocks' which we had to swim through from the bottom of the mountain all the way to the summit. The hike up although tiring, was actually quite ok, but the hike down was much worse... my poor knees!!

But the view was rewarding, and the we saw moose!! Last time Chris and I was on the road for 3 weeks and not one moose... we encountered 6 moose in 5 days! We tasted moose before we actually saw them... in a burger!

We also saw arctic hare, and a wild fox. One of the tour guides said he had a polar bear knock on his home window once. We were sad not to have come across a polar bear.

Other highlights were lobster!! Our trip coincided with the annual Lobster Festival, what a treat! Lobster straight out of the ocean and cooked in sea water - G and I had one each going up the coast, and stopped by for more one the way back down. It was sweet, juicy and utterly divine.

We took a boat trip on Western Brook Pond (the pond in the first photo above) and checked out what used to be fjords before the pond was cut off from the sea. We also took another boat tour to see whales at close range - photos do not do it justice, these creatures are so big, yet all we can snap is their back.

We paid tribute to a slice of Canadian heritage not widely known - we visited the once viking settlement of L'anse aux Meadows, now a UNESCO heritage site. This was especially cool since it tied in with out taste of Viking history in Scandinavia last year, and to see evidence of it on our own shores!

And lastly, we also saw huge icebergs floating in the sea - amazing this is, the icebergs originate from Greenland where they broke off a glacier, and the current has carried it south, past the northern tip of Newfoundland! The icebergs we saw have been on their journey for 2 years for it to reach Canada. Pretty darn amazing.

Here are the highlights... check out the pic link on the left for more: