Scraping Hard

I wanted to get out quickly yesterday morning to get in to my volunteer work because I only had yesterday and today and with the disappointing results of Jan. and Feb. I wanted to get everything done. So I went out I guess at around 08:00 and when I realized under a thin layer of wet snow there was a hard thin layer of ice on the windshield, windows and back glass which would barely come off! 

I grabbed the scraper and in the early cold quiet morning of March tried to remove the ice. Not easy! It was screeching so loudly and coming off hardly! I had not seen such ice ever before! I even had to do the side windows because the ice was so thick that you couldn't see clearly. I eventually got as much as I needed to drive safely, done after probably 15 min.!

(Photo: This photo clearly shows that there are two layers on the windshield: sticky hard ice and then wet snow)

Protected Documents

I have a bunch of documents to fill out and send back to the career I have applied. These are questionnaires in PDF format. I started printing them and filling them out. Then I said to myself why don't I type them in and then print. That'd much neater and the reader would find them easier to read, although my handwriting is not bad. I filled one form out and then took it to Staples to print it! 

Damn! Everything was gone! How? I had no idea. The young fella over there told me that since they were protected documents, the content would disappear once the file is transferred to another computer! That makes sense. That's how all my personal information is protected. I wonder what would happened if I simply typed and sent to the printer at the same time. Would that print? I guess so. I will have to do the majority of the forms again. I do have enough time. 

(Photo: Different logos used for PDF files. In another word this is the evolution of PDF logo)

An Experience with Autism

I wrote earlier that I and The Brave went to a restaurant. This post is partially about my experience with his son who is Autistic, a 20 something boy. The Chef actually had told me about his experiences with the boy and I knew it was bad but what could I do? He wanted to go there and I had to go because I had owed him a meal.

So we're there eating and talking and the boy's sitting next to me, playing with his food. I mean he plays with food instead of eating it! He does everything but putting it in his mouth! The Brave is still patient and just gives him warnings off and on. The boy only communicates with words. He is not able to make a complete sentence and spells it out. However he understands almost everything and lack of being able to communicate, does not affect his life much. Other functions, most importantly, not being able to think rationally has made life for him difficult. We are half way through our meal and he requests another Soda by calling it. His Dad tells him that he cannot have it, basically because it has too much sugar, he says but he doesn't accept and insists! I don't blame him. People who have functioning brain drink that disgusting liquid every day! What should I expect from a boy who is not even able to speak properly?! At this point he becomes agitated, stands up and calls his favorite Soda flavour by pointing at one of the passing waiters! His Dad becomes a little more concerned and asks him to sit down, while explaining to the waiter that the boy suffers from a condition, being Autistic! How stupid! How does a poor waiter from villages of a non-developed country, who has been lucky and somehow ended up in Canada, know about a mental condition that the majority of people have little or no information about?! The guy looks at The Brave and then the boy, smiles and then walks away. The Brave then warns him that if he does not finish his meal and continues making a scene, he would drag him out of the restaurant and they would never come back. The warning does not seem to be working as the boy does something similar and this time it pisses The Brave off really badly and he tries to kick him from under the dining table! The kick is really good and I believe he tried his best to reach the boy but the boy is smart(!) or experienced enough to jump back to avoid the kick while making a noise! We almost have finished our meal and ready to leave while, I guess, he still has some on his plate. That doesn't look like food any more! We both go to the counter to pay and the boy, I can see from the corner of my eye, is going to another table where people are still eating there! The Chef had told me that he does that at times and I wonder why The Brave let him be by himself! Eventually someone from another table came and complained to us! The Brave at this point grabbed the boy's arm and we left under the keen eyes of the diners! The Brave's face, while we were walking out of the restaurant, looked quite disturbed. He looked very annoyed and at the same time upset, quite similar to a kid that you tell him that he cannot have ice cream for his dessert for the entire week! I had seen that faced years ago when I used to be his tenant. At the time he was in such shit situation and was not able to handle himself very well. His wife had just lefty him and they were fighting over the custody of the children and he was out of work (like most of his life that he has been!) If you know the boy is sick, he would most likely make a scene in public place and he is unable to fully follow your commands, why would you bring him out in the first place or if you do, expect everything unpleasant and deal with it! I feel bad for my friend but that's life. You have to deal with it on daily basis. I now it's hard and I know I would not have had the patience to deal with such issue, if that ever had happened to me but I had to gain that. Poor boy. 

(Photo: I certainly didn't want to use any Autistic boy's picture here as that would have caused problems. Instead I decided to use this simple graph which indicated that Autism has become a bigger problem in today's world. In addition to The Brave's son, Kevin's daughter, he told me, is Autistic as well. Mom told me that one of the cousins has an Autistic boy. Also a family friend who lives in Ontario, according to Mom, also has an Autistic child. It has become an epidemic, I hope not though)

Milwukee Heated Jacket

I finally bought a Milwaukee heated jacket! I know it's too late because we have not had frigid cold of less than -15 ℃ for nearly 2 weeks now but I don't regret that because in Alberta you need jackets even in June sometimes! The jacket uses a re-chargeable battery which isn't included! You need to buy the battery and battery charger separately but since this jacket is mostly used by the people who work outside, I assume that they mostly have the tools which uses the same battery and chargers so it should not cost them extra. The cost of the jacket, battery and the charger altogether is a little less than $200 which is reasonable to me. You can't get a decent jacket for less than $300 unless it's on sale and good jackets, I've seen, cost as much as $900! So its worth $200 as long as no one minds the look, although it's not bad. It's a work jacket not a party or girl-pick-up(!) jacket but I don't mind it as long as it's comfortable and keeps me warm which it does both. It's also water replant. Once I washed my face and a few droplets landed on my chest. I saw them sitting there after 2 hours! I guess this quality deteriorates as the jacket ages but not to the certain that you get socket or even wet. 

If you're planning to buy the jacket (which by the way comes in three colours) you need to consider that you always carrying the battery and battery holder at your waist (left side where your kidney is placed!) I have never felt that since the purchase unless for the time I put it on and take it out. It never bothered me. I originally bought the jacket for hiking because I assume it would help if I was gaining elevation and the higher you get the colder it becomes and I thought if the side pocket bothers me, I can hang or put something at the opposite side and make it even but I haven't had the chance to try it during hiking yet. In fact I haven't been to any hike the short hike last summer but perhaps I'll get a chance in near future. Even if that's not comfortable during hiking (which I doubt, it should be) I still can use it almost year round in Alberta and perhaps in other place in the country and abroad. 

The only issue this jacket has is that they have used valcero for the end of sleeves and that is annoying at times. Besides it's extra hangs out. That's the only problem I can see in this jacket so far. The other thing and I don't want to call this one an issue is that there's no element for sleeves. I guess that is difficult for them to make because you bend your arms at elbows. Or maybe that would require a bigger battery. I don't know. It's how it has been designed and I personally believe that it would help much better, if the sleeved were heated as well. Maybe they see that in their next version. 

What I don't understand here is why this idea has not come to hiking gear industry. There are plenty of manufacturers of outdoor gear but I don't recall I've seen any heated jacket so far. Could weight be a problem? Battery? I see none as a major issue to prevent a company to invest in such product.
(Photo: Milwaukee heated jacked, names as M12 jacket as well, battery holder, battery, inside it and battery charger. The read rectangle on the chest indicate that the heat is on and at its highest for a section of the jacket)

CFLRS Notes (42): T. J.

I haven't written about CFLRS for awhile. It's been a year now since I went there and although I don't want to remember those days I have to say that there were disastrous ones for me! Sleep deprivation, crap food, marching in blizzard and almost everywhere in the school, dealing with asshole, rude comrades, exercising in cold, you name it. I'm so happy I got out and although I'm doing a low-paid and hard job now, at least I have my freedom!

I wanted to write about this guy that I was a partner with and since I always protect identities, I only refer to him here as T. J. He was a short (nearly 5" 2"), disgusting, jealous, low moral, selfish East Indian fella from Ontario, somewhere. It would be interesting if there was an evaluation by CAF prior to enrolling people, but then perhaps 75% of the recruits wouldn't pass even the first step then! I first met T. J. in TRP. We hung out a bit there but when I went to the second platoon we became Fire Team Partners and that's where he showed me and everyone else his real him! One might wonder why I'm even posting about this guy. There are different reasons. I would like to prove to the people who say " don't stereotype " that most of the time stereotyping is wrong but when it comes to East Indians, I have been right, 100% of the times, so far! I just point at a few things that he did during a few months that I knew him to prove what kind of disgusting individual he is: 

1) Every recruit has to shower after exercise. That's always been mention. This filthy animal used to escape showering until one day got caught! He was humiliated in front of everyone when his dry towel was taken out of his pack and shown to everyone. Obviously he was taken to the office and written up but recruits normally don't get sever punishments for small wrongdoings such as that unless they repeat it over and over. The showering time, mostly, is very limited. That's why some do that. Some recruits learn how to trick: They wet their towels and fool the instructors! I'm sure the instructors come up with their own solution for that soon! 

2) This guy barely showered during the week and his room always stuck to high heaven! If he opened his door, you would think that it was a skunks cage! I and I'm sure others as well, pointed that out to him but he always ignored us. 

3) Jealousy is one of the most significant assets that East Indians posses! He was not exempt. I once told him that I was late in paying a credit card statement and his reaction immediately was: It will affect your credit! While in no way it affects my credit, I'm sure, I'm also certain that if I had told him about my credit limit on my card(s), he would have said something odd, back! 

4) Low morality. There was barely a time that he followed school's regulations. For example recruits are not allow to go to bed before, I guess, 22:00 hours and he did that whenever needed it and even locked the door which is considered another infringement! However as I explained earlier, wrongdoings similar to that are mostly ignored by the staff unless it's a habit of the recruit. The policy of the school is to graduate recruits under most of circumstances, meaning that unless the recruit does something really bad, they're not going to kick him/her out of the school. I practically could stay and finish the damn program but I got sick and tired of the things that I explained above in addition some of the stupid things that I had to do such as cleaning, polishing boots and shoes, ironing the damn shirts, sewing the damn(!) labels and a few other things.

5) Being damn cheap. There's nothing that I hate more in a person than being stingy and that is another attribute that East Indians are proud of. This guy even hesitated to spend money for himself when he was hungry! There were vending machines, a store (called Canex) and sandwich bar (Subway I guess). This guy was seen in Subway once, probably, spending the money that CAF had given to him, very reluctantly one a small sandwich! 

I think I've said enough about this guy while there's still plenty left(!) including the ones that I'm not aware of. I could write a little bit more but that would reveal personal information (such as trade) and that's not what I want to do in this blog. I think I've proved that I was not wrong or targeting East Indians.
(Photo: I found a number of good photos in a website [weblog] by a current member of CAF who did the school back in 2005. I have no idea how was able to take these clear picture but I know that many of the recruits carries their telephone all the time, although it was illegal to do so. I even once got written up to have my telephone on me although I explained that I had it on to make an important telephone call and I had verbal permit for that. Anyways I hope he doesn't mind me using his photo here. This is most likely from one of the so-called patrols that we had to do during the training in Farnham. From what I see in the photo it seems that he was enrolled in late summer to early autumn. I also can tell that this probably is past week 8 of training [based on the current schedule of course. I don't know how it was back then] because the guys have camouflage on their faces and that is not used until everything learnt is put into test in weeks 10 to 13, I think) 

Keeping the Good Work!

I decided to go for jogging for the second weekend in the row(!) despite the mixture of snow and yesterday and the amount of physical work that this new job have for me. This past weekend I decided to refresh the old good days memory by going to Glenmore Park! It was only -4℃ but a little wind was blowing. The park was not busy but there was people. I ran for 30 minutes this time although my thighs were both sore last Mon. and Tue. from the previous weekend's run. I guess if I keep doing it after only a month (4 or 5 weekends) my body will be ready for that. However I need good rest during the week and on weekends as well.

This time I also had the chance to check my new Fitbit and it seemed working fine. 

I need to keep these exercises as I might be needed to do the same as part of the new job training, If I'm sent for training! But apart from that exercise has always been part of my life although it has had it's ups and lows. Besides I'm not going to spend my whole life on this job! 

(Photo: This picture shows the amount of snow that the city has received in the past months or so. I got my socks socked because the wet snow turned into rain after a few minutes but that was OK. That's how I prepare myself for tough hikes!)

Back to Fitbit with Zip

My Fitbit tracking device, Flex, malfunctioned 17 months ago and my efforts to replace that did not get me a new one since the company did not accept the responsibility for the failure. I then saw the same product in the only store of CFLRS when I was there last year. The product was on sale but considering that the province of Quebec has a high PST I decided to purchase that when I was back to Alberta. Unlike what I had thought, no major retailer carried the device anymore. Similar to many other products, when a newer model emerges, the older ones become unavailable. I them checked the website and realized that product is eliminated from the company's list. On the other hand a less advanced model and the least expensive at the same time, Zip, was available! So I ordered that and here it is. 

It took me a few minutes to replace that with the other model in my profile, with the help of the Fitbit chat guy and it was and still fine. Zip looks as good as Flex and of course not as advance of the newer model which I would never spend money on. However there's something that makes it different from Flex and that is its dependency on battery. It uses a giant lentil-like(!)(really!) batter and the good thing is it was included. A Maxell brand made in Japan. A product that you rarely see these days as everything is made in China! It's a positive and at the same time negative feature of the device. The other good thing about Zip is it has a strong clip, unlike what I had though before I purchased that. It's barely possible that the device comes up during activities even running, jumping, etc. although I only have tried that for walking so far! 

(Photo: One of the very first models of activity tracking devices made by Fitbit, called zip, is shown here)

Passed through the First Gate

I received an e-mail in regards to the interview I had few days ago. As I opened the e-mail I told myself: Damn! I messed up this one as well! Then I scrolled down and sighed! I passed! The interview was not very easy but it was not hard either. I only had to get myself together, read through, analyse and provide the answers. I have to mention that I freaked out first when I saw the questions which I explained why in a post but then I regain my power(!) and aced it! 

The fact is I'm good both in writing and presenting, at least I think, to a certain level and I used my skills to overcome this first stage challenge. Just the way that I used the skills to be recognized for the volunteer work that I've been doing for nearly 2 years now, with a gap in between, perhaps I should add!
This, however, is the first stage and I have to pass at least another 4 or 5 other ones. There's no mention of the next stage or a designated date but I was told, or I'd better say, one of the interviewers pointed at it briefly, what the next stage would be. I have hopes for this position and I know it's not going to be as hard as the CAF challenge but it is an endeavor!
(Photo: Gates have always been part of major cities in main civilizations. I decided to use a photo from the old country for this post to remind me that although I've been living at this side of the globe for a number of years and I like it here, this does not mean that I dislike the old country of mine. This is Gazvin Gate in west of Tehran. It used to be a major hob to the west in old days and since the first major city at the time was and still is Gazvin, it used to be and it still is called after that city. I hope something is remained of that structure and it is preserved)

The Little Pika

I first met The Little Pika many years ago in the old country when I was still in high school and then we became friends a few years after that. He is one of the guys who has had the most influence on me. But why am I bringing this up know and here at this side of the globe? It's because he had recently became a resident of the US. I must add here that unlike many others, I'm not the one who has selected this nickname for him! This nickname was given to him by one of the guys in those years in the old country and I just translated that a bit and made it nicer! The literal meaning of the given nickname would be The Little Mouse but since I've seen the cute and little Pika of Alberta Rockies (More specifically during a hike in The Wedge), I decided to use that for him as it's nicer!

Anyways The Little Pika was contacted by me last Aug. when I still was at the CFLRS. He sounded dazed and confused (just like Led Zeppelin's song!) and was not able to talk much. So I let him go and then called him again a few days ago. He's now in Texas. We talked, or I should probably say, he talked, as mostly he did(!). for nearly 70 min.! He had so much trouble after he would to the US, as part of US Green Card Lottery, he said and even had to take medication! That's very different from The Little Pika I used to know and hang out in the old country. The Little Pika I used to spend time with in the old country, and that relationship was diluted (I'm not sure if I can use that term here!) a few years before my immigration, was a guy who traveled constantly, made lots of money, bought property, was a very charming and friendly guy and was always positive and happy. 

I was always welcomed at his place and every time we went out he generously paid for our meal. Nevertheless the hard time, when he was talking to me, sounded that took a toll of him. However he, as usual invited me over to spend time with him down in Texas and I'm not even going to say what city or town but if I get a chance I will definitely go and there will be posts about that. What's better than spending 10 days in the great State of Texas, with an old friend while you don't have to pay even a Penny for your accommodation? We'll see. 

(Photo: Unfortunately at the time I was hiking in The Wedge I didn't have my good camera. So all of the photos that I have taken from the cute Pika are small and not very clear. That is why I had to borrow this from the web)

By the River After a Long Time

I went for jogging after probably more than 4 months today! With the job I've been doing and the weather which has been extreme, I became very hard for me to keep the kind of exercise that I used to perform, since I came back from CFLRS. 

My problem is I can't be unemployed and use up my money until I find something. So when I was offered this job, I took it and then when I was re-offered by the actual employer, I took it as well! Since I am considered as a candidate in a much better job (with the Federal Government) I'm hoping that after passing the preliminary steps I get myself to the training and have the job. 

Anyways I went for the jogging and it was good. Surprisingly not many people were on the pathway. I did 25 min. on a considerably good pace. Unfortunately I won't be able to keep it as a habit of every other day although I can get myself to the path, every day at about 16:45 and that's because I do lots of pushing, pulling and at times lifting, at this job of mine. Not to mention lots of lifting, at times. 

(Photo: This picture was not taken today. This is Bow River Pathway nearly 4 years ago in a month of May day! I might have a post for this on that time but I can't recall. Thought use it here because it's nice)

Is This Only a Resemblance?

I've met The Mumbling Guy a few times at a McDonald's in the southern part of the city. That 's where he wants to meet because its close to his place and the cheap bastard doesn't want to pay more for gasoline! And just to let you know that I'm not lying or exaggerating, I have paid for his damn coffee all the last three times we have met! This guy makes more than $100,000 year and I have to pay for his beverage! But wait until I'm done with him. Right know I need him because I still might need references for the job I've applied but once I'm done, I will take a big sh*t on him! Or I may not! It's the subject of another post and I may do that later.

Anyways that's not the point of this post but I can't resist to indicate that East Indians are cheap, majority of them, every time I write something! Going to the main subject, this is what my eyes caught the last two times we were there. There's a tiny Oriental girl, who looks like she's Filipino in that restaurant and she is kind of cute. She's not phenomenal but she attracts attention. She has nice eyes and long hair. She has breasts which attract eyes and she's petite. She also is very playful with customers but with the elderly only. McDonald's attracts a good number of elderly people who have nothing to do but sitting, sipping to a cup and reading newspaper or talk to each other. She goes around and talks to them and they hug her and do other silly stuff like that! It will continue until she becomes disgusted and files a sexual harassment or misconduct complaint (I ought to know what the difference is! Not that I ever was accused of or attempted either!).

What, later, last week in fact, stroke me is when I was looking at escorts(!) in a website, I saw a girl who looked very much like the McDonald's girl! I wasn't going to hire any of those girls or anything. I was just browsing to see what they offer and that's funny at times! I might have a separate post for that but we all know that Orientals at times look very similar to each other and becomes very hard to distinguish them but the resemblance between the photo and the girl is almost uncanny! 

I'm of course not going to show the picture here but I could simply write the number down, show up at the restaurant and send her a text message or simply call her to see if she answers or not because these days people mostly have their telephones attached to their hands, especially girls and young women. In the meantime it seems a high risk for someone who works in a restaurant, exposed to many, to advertise herself as an escort. Besides, what if someone calls when she's at work? Would they arrange for a meeting after work? Seems stupid and odd!
This was the story I wanted to tell. I doubt anyone who works as an escort has another job but that would be much better! You can work certain hours and certain days and have an income assistant. I think some girls do that and I'm only saying that from looking at what has been advertised. Some only have certain hours and days. So it could mean that they offer their service as a part-time job.
(Photo: Sex tourism is a serious issue in southeast Asia and I believe the Government of Canada takes that very seriously. I do not have this photo here to condone the act but I know many do that. I remember The Hope, who cut his friendship with me by acting like a sissy, and that could be the subject of another post, once briefly pointed at a trip of his to Thailand to enjoy the benefits of safe[!] and cheap coitus!)

Stressful Days

It has been three or more stressful damn days. I've never been nervous before or during interviews but because I've been screwed over and over in the past 2 years or so, this time my level of anger went so high that I fear I might have a heart attack! In fact I have been feeling a pain at the left side of my back and whether I die soon or not, I don't know! Several factors have been involved and I never even imagine that life would be messy like this when I attempted immigration! Maybe it's not the time talking about something that happened but things have been difficult lately and I'm not complaining! I have the following issues on my hand:

1) Residence. It's a disgusting dump I live in! I hate high-rises and elevators and I have to deal with them almost every day. 

2) Job and career. I missed a wonderful opportunity this past Dec. and not applied for any job in my field of expertise since. Not that there are many jobs available. The ones which are available, as usual ask for a lot and pay you just a little. They ask for a truck load of certificates and knowledge. This job that I have had since Nov. is not too bad. Gets really annoying at times because I switch back and force from working inside and outside without having proper attire and this has really been cold. In addition to that it's the bullshit that I have to put up with almost every day. I probably have to start posting new series of Workplace Stories in regards to this new job because at times it becomes very interesting! 

3) Relationship. The weakest point of my life has always been my relationship with opposite sex! That has cost me very much both mentally (and subsequently physically) and financially. Not that I've been disrespectful of women or anything like. It has never been easy for me to keep a relationship healthy and for a meaningful time. This is subject of another post, maybe, later. 

Having those in mind I had been scheduled for this interview almost three weeks ago and I communicated with my buddy, A. F. (I ought to find a nickname for him soon!) in that regards a few times, both via e-mail and telephone and I believed I was ready but still was agitated and uncomfortable when I left home for that in the morning. I arrived at the site almost 45 min. earlier to the time(!) and sat in the car in the damn cold! Luckily the interviewer was late only 5 min. and I sat at the table after the initial introduction. There were only two people and I signed a paper indicating that I would not disclose anything about the interview and I'm not. Similar to all other interviews I've had so far I don't even mention the name of the company or organization. They then explained the way the interview would go. I immediately panicked(!) because the nature of the interview was time based and after I saw the damn question I thought there was a big possibility that I wouldn't be able to analyse the situation and provide a proper answer! I won't even mention the time I had to prepare the answers. I'm careful that much but after reading the questions I found them not that difficult. I started reading, analyzing, making notes and preparing answers in my mind while I had an eye on the clock. I was able to get my thoughts together and finish the answers before the time was up. I then provided them with the answers. I shared an eyes contact with both. They made notes about what I was saying. The next part of interview, first, sounded more difficult but I guess I handled that as well as the first part. The interview ended there and they asked me if I had any question. I wanted to know what the next step would be. I realized that it was a very long process and might take as long as 2 months before I'm even sent for training! It's good that I have this job and at least I can pay to eat and drive around! I then was thought that there was a problem with one of the documents that I had presented at the beginning of the session! Happily they agreed to bring it to them in the afternoon! I had this problem with CAF exactly a year ago(!) but they were not as strict as these guys or I would not have been enrolled in CFLRS! I never thought that would be a problem. So I drove all the way back home, grabbed the item and drove back to the interview location. But not that easy! On my way back to the location there was a damn traffic congestion and I hate nothing more than that! I didn't have to wait long, probably not more than 5 min. or so but that made me uncomfortable and more agitated! Then on my way I decided to stopped at a McDonald's and get an unhealthy breakfast sandwich as I had not eaten any lunch or breakfast and the idiots messed up my order! How difficult is that to take someone's order and deliver it to him or her correctly?! I guess extremely difficulty for some! But that is not the end. I made a stupid mistake there as well, Instead of sitting my ass down in the lobby and eat the damn thing I ate that at the wheel! That was when I realized that they had made a mistake but I didn't want to turn back! Luckily and after further explanation, they accepted my document and the interview finally ended, not knowing, of course, whether I passed or failed. I guess in cases such as this one, there is usually no pass or failure. Candidates are interviewed and a number are selected and sent to the next stage. Thus despite the fact that I do well in the interview, they might select other candidate(s) based on other factors. Even if I pass the interview, there's no guarantee that I am enrolled in. There are other critical steps to pass before the employment is finalized and similar to CAF, with a number of differences, the actual employment, commences when the training is successfully is finished by the candidate. And then, and only after a probationary period, the employment is finally finalized! However similar to any other career, a stupid mistake could cause the person this permanent position. 

The story is not ended here! While I was waiting in the car to go back and confirm the authenticity of my document, the damn telephone rang and it was another province's area code! You see? I don't even say what province it was! First I thought it was a friend calling me to ask what had happened in the interview. I thought he was calling from his work because that was not his number that I had saved in the telephone but as soon as I answered the call I realized that in fact no one cares about what's going on with my life! That, in fact the HR of this current job of mine, offering a permanent position! I've written already that I have been given this position by a recruiting agency and since I worked well, they decided to hire me and that is a good news because I need something reliable before being able to start the actual position that I attended its interview today! 

That is all. That's all happened today and I still am so angry, mostly, at myself. All the carelessness and stupidity are paying now. I need a good vacation and I'm even offered to go and join an old buddy down in The States but I don't know if I get the chance to go or not! Regardless of the money, which the majority of that would be spent on airfare, I need days off which I doubt I can get at this job. Besides that I have to be alert in case I receive anything regarding this job application. I guess a wise decision would be save the available days for the time of need although vacation, in my position, is a need!

Left from a Kananaskis Walk

It has been cold in the past week and snowed a lot. It has snowed so much that I had problem driving around. Last night I had to drive around for nearly 7 min. to find a safe spot to park. A corner which I can get out easily without being stock and the chance of being hit by sliding cars in slim!

I wanted to get out of the damn city and do a hike or at least photography but the financial situation does not allow me to spend my hard-earned money on luxury such as that! I'm being very careful now and I only pay for basics: Food and gasoline. That's about it. I wanted to by a jacket back in December and I haven't purchased that because I thought that $200 and something, when the hard time comes, is more than 2 weeks groceries and food. 

This is the shit I'm in and I know most of the people don't care about that but that's not how I live. I have 3 credit cards and a Line of Credit with $0 debt! Two of my credit cards have given me $18,500 and $11,800 credit but I don't use them the way people use them here in North America. 

With all that in mind, I just wanted to say it was lots of fun when I could easily go wherever I wanted to and this picture on the top is from an easy hike back in 2015. This looks like a Cougar to me but my mistake at the time was not reporting that to Alberta Parks officials. This was taken in Kananaskis area while we were on Highway #66. I don't think its a Lynx unless it's short tail is taken into consideration. It could also be a Fox, again, not considering its tail. Coyote? I highly doubt that. Any ideas?

(Photo: A snowy April day in Kananaskis and an easy hike. I took the photo from the this animal and is coming back to me after more than 2.5 years. Who knows what it is? Look at the center of the picture, please)

Recognition Award for the Last month of 2017!

I again received a gift for my contributions as a volunteer to the organization which starting working for them almost 2 years ago. This time, however, the way it was sent was different and why? Because most of the businesses have turned to paper-free communication. But am I posting this today when 2 months have passed from the new year? It's because that I missed the opportunity to submit any work for Jan., due to the amount of work and taking a course and then cancelled the damn course later (which will be the subject of another post) and wanted to compensate in Feb. but when I was going to submit my work, I realized that the deadline has arrived and someone else has jumped over me! 

It was quite disappointing but I'll see what I can do for Mar. although things might change in this month (for the same reason that I will have a post for it later next week).