Monday, August 15th, 2011

Rain today.  It probably rained for a few hours.  It was good, since everything was starting to look pretty brown and dried out.  I went out to Okotoks for work today, and it was a nice and productive afternoon.  After work, I just made dinner and chilled out.  I downloaded the first season of "Game of Thrones" and so I watched episode one.  So far I like it.  

I have a date to call my bestie and chat on the phone.  We haven't had a chance to catch up and I feel like I need some Lisa time!  

I also found out that this moving company might be able to move my stuff from Vancouver to Calgary for $1050!  The first company quoted $2000, the second one quoted $14-1500, and now just over $1000!  Amazing!  That's definitely do-able!

The family that lives upstairs is already driving me crazy.  I couldn't stand the constant banging and jumping, so I finally went up to "discuss" the situation.  The father, who barely speaks English (he's Turkish), apologized for the noise, but told me that "Helen" is hyper and there's nothing they can do about it.  They don't want to use violence, but she doesn't listen to them.  The entire time we're talking about the noise, Helen and her younger brother are jumping and stomping on the ground ... and smiling at me.  The father says that they go to bed around 10:30 or 11 at the latest.  He kept saying that there's nothing he can do about the noise.  It didn't look like he was going to try, either.  Who puts their 2 and 4 year old to bed at 10:30pm or 11pm??!  What ever happened to kids in bed by 8pm??  SOMEBODY GONNA GET A HURT!  To be continued...

These are my front steps leading up to the building.  Good thing there's a back entrance!  It's quite a climb.

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

I had some trouble this morning booking a moving truck.  I left messages and emails for various companies and nobody got back to me.  It's making me a little nervous.  It kind of put me in a bad mood.  I guess I wasn't very pleasant to deal with - according to the Raposos.  Oops!  I didn't mean to take it out on others.  I have to be more conscious of that, I guess.

Anyway, Tristan helped me move a load of stuff in my car.  He's been a great helper over the past two days.  Then we went back home to meet Lur and Dave - they were just finishing up doing marriage prep work.  I loaded up my car again, while they went to grab some lunch.  They said they'd put some big stuff in Dave's SUV and would meet me at the place.

As I was unloading my car, there was an incident with a guy (and his wife) who live in the building next door to me.  He was shooting a magpie with a beebee gun.  The bird was injured, but not dead.  The guy went back into his house when he saw me.  A few minutes later, he came back outside with his wife and a cat.  I confronted him about what he was doing, and he replied that he was killing a magpie.  We had some words about it, and I told him I didn't think he should be killing wildlife.  He didn't seem to care what I thought, and proceeded to tell his wife to let the cat finish the bird off the natural way.  Obviously the cat didn't manage to kill the bird, either, so he went back inside.  He came back out with a shovel and smashed the bird to death, then threw it into the dumpster.  What kind of psycho goes around killing magpies because they're a nuisance?  Is it even legal?  Should I be worried??  What's your opinion?  Anyway, I related the story to Lurline and Dave, and they were in agreement that the neighbours must be a little "off".  

Lurline helped me clean and put stuff away.  I scrubbed the bath tub for probably close to an hour to get it clean.  This place needs an overhaul, but I think it's definitely going to look nice once I've got it fixed up.  Dave, Tristan and I spent probably 30 minutes trying to figure out how to manoeuvre my sofa into the apartment.  It was interesting to say the least.  These old buildings don't really give you much room to bring in large items.  This is the celebration of our ingenuity, and trust me, it really took some brain power and calculations.  We're NEVER getting that sofa out of here again.

Friday, August 12th, 2011

I think I got a speeding ticket this morning.  I've only ever had one in my entire life and that was just after I got my new car and I was driving between Calgary and Vancouver back in 2008.  I don't know for sure if I got one, but they have these SUVs parked on the side of the road around the city and as I drove by, there was a flash behind me - looks like it took my picture.  What happened to the good ol' days when cops would actually pull you over and do the work?  I don't think it's fair that they can just take a picture and mail it to you.  I really don't even think I was speeding, but maybe that's because I wasn't paying attention (my bad).  

Anyway, I got off work a little early because I start earlier on Fridays, and when I arrive at the Raposos - my temporary home - I'm locked out of the house.  That's right, I was never given a key.  I called Dave, and he told me to call Tristan.  I guess Tristan left to get his hair cut, and was on his way home.  However, I sat on the front step for an hour - and it was HOT outside.  I also hadn't eaten all day, so I was starving, so I was a little cranky.

I met the guy from the property management company to do a walk through of my new place.  There are definitely things you should always ask before signing a lease.  You'd think I'd know that by now.  While we're going through everything, the noise in the apartment upstairs is SO loud.  I find out that it's a family of four - two small kids.  They like to run around, and when I told the dad that they were very loud, he replied with "it's an old building".  Great!  I'm going to have to buy some ear plugs.

Anyway, I got my keys and then Tristan and I went to grab an ice-cream from My Favorite Ice-Cream Shoppe, near where I used to live.  It's very close by my new place.  It's fantastic to be back in the same neighborhood, and also so close to my job.  I guess it's a small moving day tomorrow.

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Garage sales today.  Lurline and I left Dave at home to work on the yard, while she and I headed out to scour some garage sales for some good deals on furniture, dishes, appliances, or whatever else I could find.  I got VERY lucky with some of my deals.  I got a rocking chair and ottoman for $12, two Ikea end tables and a brand new Epson printer for $60, a fantastic floor lamp and red kettle for $11, and an array of kitchen items from some discount stores.  We even took a break in the midst of all the buying to have a Vietnamese lunch at Bagolac - one of my favorite restaurants in Calgary.  When we got home, Dave had made some great progress on the yard.  I perused through the Kijiji listings for some other great deals and came across an ad for a solid wood table with four chairs for $100.  When I called, he said I could go to see it tonight, so Lurline, Dave and I took his SUV and off we went.  I couldn't believe how beautiful the table was ... it has a leaf, and a glass top to protect the solid wood on the top.  It was in immaculate condition and weighed a ton.  We managed to load everything except the glass top into Dave's Toureg, surprisingly.  I was ecstatic for getting such an amazing deal!  Not sure if you can see some of the items in this picture... but it's all starting to pile up now!

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Well, I'm off to Calgary!  Got up earlier than I would've liked, got dressed, and headed out the door.  The drive was pretty good. I was a little worried about possibly falling asleep at some point, since I didn't get enough sleep and this was the fifth trip between Calgary and Chilliwack in about three weeks. The first few hours hardly had any traffic, and the sun was shining the entire way.  My car was so full, so it was a little heavy, which made for some slower climbs up the hills.  I saw some big horn sheep through Golden, which was the only wildlife I encountered.  I made some pretty good time, arriving in Calgary around 5pm Mountain Time... just in time for rush hour traffic.  It took me an hour just to make it from the highway to Lurline and Dave's house.  Here's a photo of my very full car - notice all the squashed bugs and dirt on my car.  It needs a good wash!