The New Project

Work is really challenging. I have the opportunity to work with some really smart and passionate people. As most of you know I am working for an Insurance company in Winnipeg and I am a Project Manager. We have a couple of really great initiatives that I get the opportunity to work on.

I can’t mention the project but it is pretty substantial and will be one of the bigger ones that I have worked on. It is also a defining moment for me because the project will have a lot of visibility by the VPs and CEO of our company. The VP of Information Services said to me that he is staking his reputation on this project and that I will be running with it, so by transitive properties, that means my reputation is on the line too.

Of course with great risk there is great reward. I am really gung-ho about this project and I can’t wait to start. Right now we are still selecting product and going through some of the initiation processes.

In a couple months I will either be on top of the world or at the bottom of the barrel…

Where are you David

It has been so long it seems that I last posted on my blog. I have been so lethargic lately and it seems like I don’t have the energy to be clever and funny. I seems like I just want to go with the flow and my creativity has lost itself. So now that I have posted my excuse I guess I should share some sort of information on my life lately.

Work has been a true blessing to me. I am finding that I am getting a lot of things accomplished at the office which is more than I could have said the last 2 years of working at EPIC. I loved EPIC. I was proud of EPIC. They gave me a shot and I definitely wouldn’t be here in my position today if it wasn’t for them. But as the years went on, I say every wart that the company had. I was very frustrated with the fact that it was more like a college dorm than a work place. I am finally working with the grownups now.

So work is going good and I am getting increasing responsibility. Another great thing in my life is my wife. She is awesome. I know that most of you that read this blog know Michelle, and probably think she is pretty cool, but I see a side of her that no one else knows. Not here parents, not her brothers, just me, and that is awesome. She is such an amazing mate. It sounds cheesy to say that, but it really is true. Sometimes I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for her… Mind you, she reminds me of that too.

Church is the one area that I am not totally satisfied in right now, and I am not sure that it really Church that is the problem. I don’t seem very motivated. I read an article on a friends blog and it was very interesting. I didn’t exactly agree with everything the writer had to say but it was definitely interesting. I have been feeling like I am not being fed and this article was talking about sometimes you need to feed yourself.

Check out the article at: http://www.xanga.com/agapetos7

I don’t think that I am not being fed because of anything the church is doing or not doing, I rather think that it is something in me. Maybe I have a blocked passage or something…

Worth the Trip

As my lovely wife has mentioned in her blog, we had a great time in North Dakota. Grand Forks has some good stuff going on. The drive down to Grand Forks was pretty bad and my nerves were slightly frazzled. With the snow that came during the week and then the wicked wind, the roads were slightly less slippery than a spongee rink. There was at least an inch of ice covering most of the roads and just for fun there was bumps here and there. That made it really interesting because every once and a while the tires would kick out a little. In the first 10 minutes of driving out of Winnipeg we saw 6 cars / trucks in the ditch. That got Michelle in the right frame of mind...

Crossing the border was pretty painless. We had a guy that was not in a very good mood. I guess that is what they are paid for. At least we didn't have to get inspected. In total it took us 90 seconds and we were through. The roads in ND were pretty good, just blowing snow everywhere with the occasional drift.

We were pretty happy to get to the hotel.

I wasn't very thrilled with the mall in Grand Forks, matter of fact the only thing that we got there was a Pretzel. The stores kind of sucked for us. My parents were always pushing JC Penny on us, but we didn't really find anything there.

Our goldmine was found at Gordman's. It is right beside the Super Target and the best way to describe it is Winners on Steroids. The difference is that where Winners has one offs, Gordman's has the same thing in every size. I couldn't believe that they had my size in a lot of clothes. I also managed to find a pair of shoes that I like. I finally can retire my old CATS since they have a huge hole in them...

Over all the trip was really relaxing and we had a lot of fun. The food was great too... All I can say is deep fried ice cream.

On another note, Michelle has been putting the word out that I have had a little bit of a change in cut and color. So for all of you who have not seen me yet, here you go!

States Side

Michelle and I wanted to take a trip to North Dakota for some shopping, Mexican food and generally just to relax a bit, and so we were planning on making the trip with some friends. Unfortunately we weren't able to go the weekend everyone was planning (March 9-11th) because Michelle is taking a course and it happens to be on Sunday. We thought maybe we could still go and just come home early on Sunday but with the time change happening (make sure to set your clocks) and the fact we have to cross the border, Michelle was just a little bit nervous. So we decided to put those plans on hold. Funny enough, my Mom and Dad were planning to go this weekend and asked if we wanted to meet them down there. As it turns out Michelle didn't have a class this weekend so it worked out perfectly. So we are going to go get some American money and drive to Grand Forks. I was hoping to go to Fargo but I guess I will settle... Coincedently, we are staying at the Settle Inn... (Is that Cheezy) . Honestly, I can't make this stuff up...

So as I was saying we are going to go do some shopping and fill our need for Mexican food. I was thinking that maybe I could also stop by Theif River Falls and check out the Arctic Cat Plant. I wonder if they give tours. I heard that they have a snowmobile trail to the plant and people drive their sleds to work. I wonder if you are allowed to drive a Polaris to work...

So I was hoping people might give me some ideas of good stores to go to, or places to check out while I am States Side.

By the way, for the people that are hitting the states next weekend, pick up a TV Times from the Saturday Free Press, there are a bunch of good coupons for cheaper hotel rates. We are paying 55 Bucks a night.

Check out our "fromage" hotel: http://www.settleinn.com/grand-forks-settle-inn.html

By the way, I hope they have Krispy Kreme donuts at the gas station, because I am going to clean them out! I might actually make a special trip to Fargo just for those!

Operation myMuzik

Thanks for all of the feedback about the websites (specifically the myMuzik.ca website). I am getting to the point where I am happy with what I have. I know it isn't "professional" but that really isn't the point. Basically I am just waiting for content and then we will be finished. I also want to put a stat counter to see how many people actually visit the site and where they are coming from...

One of the features that I really like is the timetable which is dynamic. Basically Michelle can change the schedule on her own because it is connected to a database. Really cool eh! Ok, so it isn't "cool" per say... But I am proud none the less.

I have a couple of people interested in hosting their websites on my server so that is cool. I wouldn't mind off setting the costs a little bit. I realized that it is a little more expensive to have it at my house than originally thought. The good thing is that I have control of it.

So check it out again www.myMuzik.ca (Terry get over the spelling!) and let me know what you think of the almost finished product. Keep in mind there are no pictures and content yet. That is the next stage.

Family Camp

Well it has been a while since I last posted to this blog. It feels like I am all Blogged out…

So here is the update. Two weeks ago I was commissioned as the Rowandale Family Camp Dean. My role was simple, keep 125 adults and children in line for a weekend at camp. It is a natural role for me, since I love project management, but it was a challenge none the less. It was tough because Michelle was being a good sport and came along for the weekend. Her fear was that I would be off snowmobiling or something and she would be left behind with the women talking about babies and stuff like that. Or worse, she would be sitting by herself and no one would talk to her. Well I am happy to say that I didn’t leave her to go snowmobiling, however my role as dean made it so that I didn’t have a chance to sit down and eat with her. Since I was the dean, I had to decide which table eat first and that meant that I ate last… Over all it was a good weekend. Saturday we gave the kids rides on the snowmobiles, and even Michelle was out there taking the kids for rides.

Which leads me to my next thought. Michelle has been telling me how she doesn’t like the hills. She is scared of falling off the sled. I took her for a ride up a really steep hill and she did survive. Well when we got back to the other people I asked her if she wanted to take someone for a ride, and so she did. She went the same path that I took her, up the steep hill…. Unfortunately she jumped the road and went down the other side and got stuck in a creek. Fortunately she didn’t hurt herself. When she didn’t come back right away, my mind was going crazy, I thought maybe she might have fallen through the ice or something. We sent out a mini search party, and found her being helped out of the creek by some helpful strangers. Michelle was so embarrassed.

So that was basically the weekend.

Webmaster DES

Apparently I like to create websites. I just recently decided to get business Internet which basically allows me to host websites and email at home. I did this because I was paying someone to host a website for me... www.stonebuilder.ca ... and I wanted to help Michelle with some marketing so I figured she should have a website too. So I got it set up for the most part. Some things are still working themselves out, like transferring my website from the old server to the new one, and I am working on Michelle's new website. The name of her business is Michelle's Muzik and so we are building a site called www.mymuzik.ca I would be interested in your thoughts on the site. Mostly I am looking for some constructive criticism. Since it is still a work in process, it is not complete by any means, but I am looking for advice or comments about the layout and such.

Let me know what you think.

By the way, if you want to host a website, I would be more than willing to host it for you for a very minimal charge (basically just to cover costs).