April 19th, 2010

* Kick Ass...kicked ass. I can bet I'm not the first person to actually say that - I can almost guarantee it. Look for a review on the website. Speaking of movies, took in Date Night on Tuesday night. Carrell and Fey have awesome chemistry - undeniable. Some good laughs, one of the better action comedies I've seen in a while.

* I finally got my driver's license - It only took me 10 years. Ah well, I never honestly needed a reason to drive before. However, now that I'm selling insurance and will need to complete inspections and what-not, it's pretty important. Supposedly, Ash completed a quote for me with a rival insurance company (I won't say who) and the price was astoundingly cheap. I'd say within the next year or two, I'll be getting my own vehicle. As for right now, we're good with the one we have. Also, I don't know if I'm exactly the best driver at the moment.

*I'm 900 pages deep into Under The Dome. I think it'll be a long time before I tackle something of that immense length. I'm quite used to 400-500 page books that I can down in about 1 or 2 weeks but this has taken me roughly a month and a half at this point - it's hard to find the time sometimes. Don't take that as a complaint - I love this book so far. My second Stephen King experience is yet another positive one. That being said, I think he'll be on my back burner for a few months. I've built up a stack of reading over the past couple of months including James Frey's first novel, "Bright Shiny Morning" (which I'm REALLY excited to read after finishing his two part "autobiography"), Dean Koontz's "Velocity" and Hulk Hogan's recent biography. I also have an exam coming up on May 05th that I need to prepare for.

* The Stanley Cup playoffs have been awesome so far. The fact that I'm a Leafs fan does not waiver my enjoyment of the tournament itself. I'm enjoying the Caps/Habs series so far - especially last night with the Canadiens losing in OT in an awesome come from behind effort by the Capitals. I want Montreal out in the first round and I want to see the Pens/Caps in the second round. I'm sure we'll get it.

That's all for now folks.

Fort McMurray

Part of me really misses Fort McMurray.

I've accepted that it wasn't somewhere that I wanted to raise a family because there was no real future in my job. Granted, I could have waited a few years and maybe taken a stab at the ownership of the office (as my manager had said to me) but that would have really involved me "rolling the dice". Running an insurance office in Fort McMurray isn't really all that ideal - you have such a transient population that start and end policies so often that you can rarely establish loyalty with anyone.

I miss small things. I miss Edmonton and the West Edmonton Mall. I miss the chance to go to NHL games. I miss the food (oh, God - Do I miss the food) and I liked living in a bustling town where infrastructure was constantly going up and jobs were plentiful. That being said, employment has sort of gone down there in recent months but it was still pretty steady. It was exciting knowing that there was always something in the works. Living in Cape Breton can be a bit disheartening at times as nothing ever changes. If something ever does change, it usually results in something closing rather than something new opening.

I also miss the time zone. I liked being able to watch shows on television at ridiculously early times. I could watch SNL @ 9:30pm! It was fantastic. I miss the shitty movie theatre (and that's not even an exaggeration whatsoever).

I don't miss the winters. It's too friggin' cold. I don't really miss my job. I somewhat miss the people and I miss working with Mark but I don't miss the stress. I don't miss some of the people there - no, not co-workers, just the general public. Some of the people there were ridiculous. The attitude that some people had in that city was just atrocious.

I loved our house - so much. We had a fantastic home - a lot of work was put into it and it was a shame that it was sold for what it was sold for. On the other hand - we have an even nicer home here. We have a nicer living arrangement as well - we made a lot of money up there but the bills here at home aren't as high - which is always a plus.

I miss our routine.

It's almost been a year since the decision was made to move home and it's edging closer to a year living back in the Cape. This whole blog post seems like a downer - but it's not. The bottom line is that I was married in Fort McMurray; I grew up a lot in those two years and established the roots to a family with my wife and part of me misses that place - as fucked up as that sounds. I'm lucky to be living in Nova Scotia with an excellent full time job that pays really well and living in a glorious home that is too nice for me to begin with - so no, I'm not complaining. I just feel a little homesick for somewhere that's not even my home.