White Rock

According to narratives of Coast Silash people, a subgroup of First Nation people who are dispersed in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, a white rock was once hurled across the Strait of Georgia by a young Indian chief. It was said that he and his bride would moved from Vancouver Island to wherever the rock landed, to make a home together.
With the introduction just given, S. J. today drove all the way to the city of White Rock, close the US border. The purpose was finding the city hall where I’m supposed to work for the next three month, if CF or CBSA wouldn’t want me.
The beach is a very beautiful place with all the restaurants and cafes at the side and people having a good time, either just walking and enjoying the weather and scene or having a meal or snack. Fishing, photography and kiting are also among the hobbies but I didn’t see anyone swimming. I was a little cold for that, I guess.
As I most of the time have to hang out with assholes and idiots and this time was not an exemption, S. J. after a few minutes walk said that we had to go back home. So we did. But if you go there, just give it enough time and enjoy everything in there. Don’t take a fucking lazy stupid with you!

(Photo: Part of the White Rock beach is seen in this photo. A wide variety of birds are seen around here including this Heron)

Too Tired

I’m really exhausted that can't write but at the same time want to keep this weblog up because that’s what have been happening to me in the last five years. I’m tired both physically and emotionally because I didn’t sleep enough last night. S. J. came a bit late and brought me two slices of Pizza and I had them while I had already my dinner. So that didn't let me sleep up to I don’t know when. And I’m tired in my mind because this long fucking struggle with job-hunting is not over yet. But I overcome that off and on and then I go back to that fucking disappointing mood again.
I called the screening lady of McElhanney and asked her about my candidacy, she told me that she would either e-mail me or call me after he talks to Jeff, the interviewer. That result was shit: after 2 month of waiting, being screened and interviewed, I’m not longer a candidate!
Then there was those shit exams of BST1 and BST2 (Bullshit Test 1 and 2!) and only 1 out of 4 people who are going to be a certain employee passed the first one and he got 75 which is the minimum mark. I got the worst: 66! Brian and Wayne both failed the first one but with higher marks and we all passed the second one. That made Brian, the 73-year-old to quit and I and Wayne have to write the fucking exam this Tue. again!
Then there was the e-mail from CBSA indicating that I have to write a 4.5 hour exam in Sep.05 to be considered for the next steps. But wait the disaster is not over yet: I’m booked for both medical exam and interview with CF in Sep.16! When I got there in their office in W. Georgia there was a very beautiful girl at the receptions who booked me: Corp. Hejazi, an Iranian originally but you wouldn’t think of her ethnicity at all.
So that’s all for today. I have to study the next three days while going to gym and do the other chores, write the damn exam in Tue. and go to White Rock in the morning of Wed.

And the last but not the least: Ali G. is coming to B. C. to his family in White Rock this weekend. He told me that he already had handed my resume to the Engineering Manager of the company he works for and hopes to get an answer when he goes back. That's good news too but which one will be my career for the rest of life eventually?

SUCCESS Sucks!

There’s an organization here in B. C. which might lead you toward success and that’s SUCCESS. But honestly you go there only and only if you either want to waste your time or laugh a bit. I spent 5 mornings in there and in the fifth day I was really bored, agitated and frustrated. There was only one guy that you could say that he knows something, well may be two of them but the people are usually horrible in there. So what happens in there is people, the newcomers go there and they expect to hug success in there soon and most of the time they won’t. But what they say is different they say they will and tell you the amazing stories about the successful people who actually got to well-paid jobs through them. I can tell that they are lying and there’s one thing that I can tell and that’s what S. J. said once. He said they are more likely are willing to keep their job up and running till get a job for you!
There’s one woman who was my case manager, an Architecture program graduate, a holder of a Masters degree and I’d say that she was trying to help but she mostly was pretending that she was helping. I mean look at the situation where a holder of Master’s is satisfied with a shit job in a Government founded organization, do you think that person has any motive or interest to send you to a professional job which might get more than $70,000 annually, especially when she/he is Iranian or Chinese??!!
By the way why don’t you just give it a shot?

Average on Cooper

You probably know about Cooper Test. It’s a running test defined for different age ranges of different genders and configures your ability. I did that test today and it was a total disappointment! According to the little table above, I have to do at least 2300 m in 12 min. to be considered a good athlete but I only did 1931.21 m which is the lowest length to be considered average!

I’m surprised a bit but at the same time shouldn’t be better than this because of my weight. I’m some 201 Lb at the moment which is 91 Kg. My little love has recently said that I should be anything between 80 to 83 Kg but I’m not sure.
Regardless of that what this short exercise tells me is I have to work much harder to get in shape and don’t have much time because of aging.

One more thing to consider: I did that on a treadmill not a track. There could be differences, if I did that on a track such as wind, temperature, etc.

Miracle or Mirage?

I had a week of training started last Wed. The topic is very interesting: Canadian justice and law. Mon. was the last day at packing work. I called them in the morning of Tue. And made up a story of my friend being extremely sick and I’m taking care of him.
Then it was interview day Thu. I really feel good about it am very hopeful. There’s no guarantee though. I see a few signs which may lead to a permanent full time position with the company:
1- He offered an ISO 9001:2000 lead auditor course, held in Coquitlam soon.
2- I almost satisfied him with all of the questions.
3- I didn’t let him to take control and bomb me with questions. I participated. It was mostly a friendly conversation.
4- He was going to introduce me to the company’s vice president. We left the conference room for his office but he was not in.
I guess there are only two dark points:
1- As he said I have not a Civil Engineering background. (I almost persuaded him how I would be able to handle the position with not such a background)
2- When he asked me how much I was asking for the salary I didn’t give him any number.
The second one could not be a serious threat but the previous one might be.
Anyhow everything is going to be clear in the next two week, up to Sep. Then I decide to what to do with the place I like to reside in and the vehicle I will be driving.

Ara at Rage

Remember Ara from the last Olympic? I mistakenly called him Iranian-Swedish because I thought he had been moved to Swedish like many Iranians and sought asylum as a refugee but the fact is he was born in Armenia so he is considered Armenian-Swedish.

But why is he in the centre of attention again? Is that because he gain another medal for Sweden? May be not.

What happened is when he was on podium in the ongoing Olympic and was given his bronze, he made a gesture and then he left the podium and put his medal in the mat and left the ceremony. He did that as a sign of objection to the referee's decision in the semi-final match where he were defeated by Italian wrestler. He went for the officials and argued with them but that didn't changed anything. He was named disqualified after he left the podium and in 84 kg class of Greco-Roman wrestling of Beijing Olympic there's no sign of him any more. He announced his retirement after that.

I completely understand his situation. He wanted a gold Olympic medal in his last days but politics had him deprived of that. I would probably would do the same but a little milder. Would keep the medal!

(Photo: This is when Ara rushed toward the officials at the desk and started arguing. The frustrated wrestler eventually left the Olympic empty-handed but not regretful, I'm sure)

Tennis

I and S. J. went to the tennis courts nearby yesterday afternoon and played a bit. We both got two used wooden racquets from a Value Village and played while had our casual dresses on! That was his stupid idea. Man! This is a breathtaking game! That was my first time and his as well. We didn’t know anything about the way we score, lines, sets, nets or anything. We were just trying to hit the ball with our racquets and pass it over the net. That, indeed, was very hard most of the time. Backhand is probably the most difficult technique.
I’m going to read and learn all the information for our next weekend game. Today I’m not feeling well emotionally. I don’t know what the hell is wrong. So probably during the week. It’s goin’ to be a tough week, this one.

(Photo: I chose Beijing's tennis logo. Just wanted to ornament the post. I will write about the interesting parts of 2008 Olympics. This is the second Olympic that I witness here in Canada)

Waiting for the Greener

I contacted a local Toyota dealer regarding the possibilities of financing a vehicle, specifically a Prius, what the answer is, might be interesting to you: You should wait for Prius! I’m not sure whether the salesperson is playing a trick or it’s simply is what it is. Obviously he wants to sell and gets his commission so doesn’t seem that there’s any intention for deflecting a customer.
After all I’m not ready to finance a vehicle although I really am in need of one, not a Prius which costs more than $30,000. Toyota has reduced its MSRP and that’s another reason why the demand is so high. The other factors are the high gas price and lack of many alternatives. Honda stopped its assembly line of a Civic Hybrid as a loss of a battle to Toyota and GM’s and Ford’s don’t seem as much satisfactory to the customers.

The Mystery of the Dreams

I had two strange dreams last night and as they usually are forgotten soon, I try to write them down here:

The first one which was extremely strange, I leave it. The next one I assume is a reflection of my recent communication with Keiv. SNC Lavalin Profac Inc., a big Canadian company which has branches in different cities of Canada including Vancouver and Calgary has an opening for Quality Control Engineer for his Vancouver office. I decided to apply for the position so I contacted Keiv who works in Calgary office and asked if he knew anyone in QA/QC department of Vancouver and the answer was no. Then I forwarded my resume to him and asked him to send it to the Vancouver office because after all his e-mail address is a SNC address and is more welcomed than mine.
Nothing happened and then I asked him if I can call the office and say that I’m him, asking for the opportunity situation. He neither let me call as him nor called himself. So I called myself and tried to talk to HR but the one who picked the phone didn’t put me through! Then I e-mailed Keiv and told him the story and he stated that there was nothing that he could do.
Now there’s my last night’s dream but before that let me tell you what happened last night. I came home after a not very busy working night and had a little shopping at Safeway. I made a few sandwiches and chopped them all up before I went to shower. I wanted them for today’s breakfast but I was so young, I couldn’t resist! (Led Zeppelin in How many More Times) Then I had my shower and hit the bed. I dreamt that I was in a supermarket, some place like Superstore and the cashier made a mistake and then the supervisor came and fixed that. I guess I had bought a cake or something like that and then the supervisor said that I also had won a MP3 Player! Then I was waiting somewhere to be served, probably my cake, and there Keiv showed up in a waiter’s dress with the empty dish, like a bowl! He mentioned something like the cake was gone and also said that I should have forgotten about the MP3 player and I was trying to get it while insisted that I have my own iPod!
I guess the MP3 Player is the SNC’s position which keiv didn’t do much about it and the iPod is the current position which is still open to me, the one with McElhanney. But maybe all these are coincidences and means nothing!
And finally just to fill you more in, I tell you how everything is being mixed in terms of job searching in the next post.

The Continuous Battle: Job Searching

I started a stupid job in the afternoon with a poultry plant last week. It’s close to home, I get the bus in front of the main door and then walk for 10-11 min., I’m there. But at night when I’m goin’ back there’s a bus which takes me to an intersection and it’s almost 11:45 PM. When’s the next bus coming? 12:14 AM and I’m walking home! Fuck!
Then I had an interview with Commissionaires. I easily passed but I have to attend a 2-weeks training course and have to pay for that! If I’m successful and stay 6 month on the job, part of that money is returned to me. But then again it’s a stupid low-paid job for jar heads. Nevertheless there’re opportunities. It may be easier to get a job in the police, RCMP and military.
And the last but not the least I had a phone interview (or as they call it screening) with a big engineering company for a QMS (Quality Management System) Specialist position. I was told that there’re 5 candidates left and the person who’s holding the position at the moment, will be retired in a year and the company is looking for someone to replace him. The job needs frequent travels to Calgary and Edmonton but is Lower Mainland based and a permanent position. That’s a job that everyone is dreaming about but will I be the one who embraces success?

Picking Fruits

There are fruit gardens or fields or whatever you may call, in provinces of Canada that you can go to, pick fruits and then go to the owner to have it weighed and then you pay and leave. S. J. also known as stupid scum told me that there are farms like that near Coquitlam, on the way to Maple Ridge, so we drove there, 3 of us, one another looser who is in deep shit as a result of a divorce with his wife, joined us, and drove around. There was basically nothing like that because the stupid didn’t have an address.
So we just had a walk beside Pit River for a few minutes. It’s a nice and quiet place. Then on our way back home, S. J. noticed a sign saying Blueberries for Sale. We stopped and there was a Punjabi family, son and father. S. J. said that, most of the farms in the area and also Abbotsford are belonging to East Indians, mostly Punjabis and a few, the flower growing ones to Europeans from Holland. Then we bought 6 pounds of Blueberry for $15 and when we got to Superstore for S. J.’s grocery we found that it’s cheaper over there and even cheaper in Save on Foods according to a flyer! It’s said that the ones bought in farms are fresher and in a better quality but I don’t see much difference.

(Photo: A modern greenhouse for flowers and everything else. The glass roof lets the sunshine pass while protects the plants from mostly hail storm and possible extreme cold)