The First Week of the New Work

I finished the first week of my new job, yesterday. Not so bad. If I put the long distance between home and work, nothing else is an issue. They want me to do as many as 3 or for certificates and I will be okay with that. There was this clown who act as sort of someone who runs what I'm supposed to be in charge of later and he was training(!) me. A goofballs who doesn't even know what " Revision " number means in a document and does not have " Page number " on a 2-page document! Everything he has been doing has been told by an Oriental guy who is his boss. The nut-bag says that he cannot agree with the Oriental fella. The good thing is he won't be working past the new year and with Oriental guy going to another facility, I'll be the one in charge. It seems to be lots of responsibility for the money I am going to be paid but what the hell? There're not many jobs available and the country seems to be stepping into another recession!
I didn't know any other position which could pay me more or has at least a similar work until I came back home yesterday: There was an e-mail from the position offering department of the Government indicating that I was considered amongst the candidates. It's a good news and I'm happy to take that. It's in another province and they need multiple people. So my chance is not very slim. The money might be a little less, besides I will have to pay more for my daily costs due to higher GST and PST but I still would take that because it is a Government job in a new province and I'll probably be set up for life but still have to wait for another contact.
The surprising thing about this job is when I was checking my account to pay a couple of bills today I realized that I have been paid for the week! So I don't really know how it happened and I have no pay-stub! beside it's a little less than what I've anticipated and will have to check with the office this Mon. How I found out is because this week has been my first week, I still am eligible to file an EI report which I did for the previous week. I was ask how much I was expecting to be paid and I put a number based on my offer letter. Seems that I was too happy with myself! The actual amount was a bit less, not a whole lot. So I will have to contact Service Canada this Mon. and report it. 

(Photo: My new job is not much similar to this but at least I don't have to be outdoor or lift anything heavy)

A Pain

I received a job offer after almost 3 months of searching, yesterday. Not a bad one but I'm telling you it's a pain. It's a big pain. Every time you have to send resume and wait for the calls and do the damn interview and you go there and find all new people that you gotta know and work with and that's the part I'm good at but still it's not a fun process. And then you quiet or get laid off and you've gotta start over. 

This position looks good and the company seems to be stable but you never know what's in the people's head. They might only want you for a few months to get something done and then rid of you. They, of course, never tell you and now you're in the middle of a big spending and all of a sudden realize that you've been laid off and have all these bills coming to you, the fact many people pay no attention to! 

I've been wanting to buy a car because mine is old and fro that reason I visited a couple of Toyota dealers to see what I can get. Both of them were dumb asses! I'm looking for either a Camry Hybrid, Prius or Tacoma and one might question why such a great diversity! The fact is I like them all and I need them all but don't have enough money to buy at least the two that I need! My workplace is now away and I need to drive on the highway for quite a long time and that drive will not be much fun in winter. I saw so many accident and many cars in the ditch and collided with each other last winter. I certainly don't wanna see that to happen to me this year particularly that now I'm driving longer distance and in opposite direction which is more dangerous. Camry Hybrid and Prius are both excellent for such a trip. Safe and fuel efficient but Tacoma is much safer and more reliable but none of them could be purchased less than $40K and I wonder if that's a good investment. I need a car anyway but I can always go for something cheaper. I was the one who wanted to buy a Tesla Model 3 which is not less than $66K! Now I'm even hesitant about a $40K vehicle although I even have cash for that and don't have to pay the damn 7% interest! 

My other option would be renting a place in the new town but with the rate gone up so high, It'd cost not less than $1000 a month. In a year, I'd spent enough to be able to to pay a big chunk of my car's money! So thing's aren't that good at the moment. Really, It's a pain! 

One of the other painful drawbacks of switching jobs, even willfully, is the fact that every time you quit a position and then get another one, regardless of the time you have to search and go through all the shit, when you have the the job, normally you'd have to wait three months until your benefits kick in. Many people, especially the young ones may not even care about that. I never did, even 10 years ago. Now that I take a couple of pills every day, for my Gout, it would be nice to have a medical plan so I don't have to spend too much on pharmaceutical(!) but I have to wait until the new year to have my benefits while my pills are about to finish. Thanks goodness that these are not essential medicine. They help me but my life does not depend on them! The previous piece of dung(!) dung deducted too much for insurance from me every month and I only was able to use it a few times, the entire 13 months I work for them and it was mandatory!

(Photo: I buy a bag of Whole Wheat flour once in a while to make flat bread or other types with my machine. This is the French side of the package! No offence to our French-speaking people. It's a pain!)

How are Canadians handing their country to Sikhs?!

When I first came to Canada I stayed in one of the most notorious ghettos in the country, Calgary northeastern quadrant. This is where majority of Sikhs live. Afghans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are amongst the residents of this part of the city as well but like every where else you will find people from every corner of the world here. The neighbourhood was quite diverse at the time. No Sikhs have taken over. There was a big Pizza Hut restaurant. The place was changed to a Punjabi Sikh restaurant after a few years that their population grew. Not many people would go to the restaurant and of course the franchise decided to shut the restaurant, lay off the people and move on. These days there're not any, or many, Pizza Hut restaurants. They all have been turned to pick up place. We visited the place a few times. The food was mediocre and the service was next to terrible! They changed it then to buffet/shop and served Pizza as well! In a few years the business went down due to low quality and then they turned it to butcher shop/sweet shop! It last only a few months and boom! Gone! I know how difficult it could be to run business, even amongst East Indians or to be specific, Sikhs who do not expect high quality, hygiene and customer service but even that could change otherwise the place was still in business. 

That said, it's no doubt that Canadians are the ones who suffered the most in these transaction. The shops, including this one, have been mostly replaced by the shops that Sikhs and other East Indians would shop at and of course they hire people of their own. Even Safeway which has been in the neighbourhood since I was there and I used to ride one of The Brave's bikes to go there for shopping, uses the majority East Indian employees. This trend is increasing to the point that The Chef was mentioning that these guys will no longer need Khalistan! This world is the name that Sikhs, in northern India, have given to the land that they have intended to turn it to a new country and they have been fighting with the Government of India for decades. They assassinated Indra Gandhi after she ordered Indian Army to attack Harmandir Sahib, or as its known to foreigners the Golden Temple, back in 1984, under Operation Blue Star to capture Sikh separatists. 

Singh Malik who was charged with bombing in Air India Flight 182 in 1985 was eventually acquited in 2005. He later was shot dead in Surrey last year. There're two explanations to that: He was killed by the people who had paid him or supported him to plan the bombing or he was killed by the people who sympathize with the victims of the bombing. 

Then they blew up an Air India passenger jet over eastern Canada back in 1985. The trail of the accused took up until 2008/2010, when I used to live in British Columbia. As far as I remember no one was charged and Indians (East Indians) believe justice was not served. Many Canadian politics have been accused of supporting Sikh separatists and that's simply because they seek votes at the time of election. Now I read in the news that India has expelled a Canadian diplomat because the Canadian P. M. had accused the Government of India of killing the Sikh separatist movement leader in Canada!

Despite the love(!) that Canadian politicians show to Sikhs and other foreigners, I'm certain that Canadian people are not so happy with what has been happening to their country but I think there's a little that they can do because in this country as soon as you open your mouth to protest and object, they label you with something that might not come off, easily! You're either sexist or racist or this " ist " and that " ist"! 

Besides Canadians are busy like everyone else and as soon as they're done with their daily work, there's nothing they desire more than relaxing and resting. So I don't think there will ever be any change but I'm sure they regret what they've done to their country. The next generation will be so disappointed and angry at their parents! 

(Photo: The site of former Pizza Hut restaurant at the corner of Falconridge and Castelridge in northeast Calgary. The place as is left vacant now)

My Second Face-to-Face Interview of 2023

I was a bit uncomfortable this morning and also the entire yesterday and I'm tried now! It was because of the damn interview I had this morning in another city. I was not nervous. It's just the whole concept of meeting new people who scrutinize you for the position that you might or might not get it. It's no picnic! I prepared myself. Went through the positing my resume and the thing I thought they would ask and left home early enough to give myself time to reach there on time. I had realized that my GPS was outdated and the company's address is not showing! I tried to update it and I don't know what the hell happened that it didn't! 

Then I said to myself: How would people travel for hundreds of years without a GPS?! I simply checked the address again and wrote the direction on a piece of paper! Then before leaving found the address in my phone and followed the instruction. One might ask why would I need a GPS if I have my phone? The answer is simple: I don't have a data plan! So my phone's GPS works when I turn the Wi Fi on, including when I'm home. This morning when I was leaving turned it on and put the destination in, which resulted in, obviously, a quick calculation and showing me the way. The GPS stays on, even when you leave home and there's no Wi Fi and that's, I've been told, because the phone has a built-in GPS device which allows it to keep the track, using the available satellites. The problem is if you somehow get distracted, instructions end but the point that you're following is still viewed on your screen. After that you have no control over it because the phone had this connection to the satellite using the Wi Fi and kept it on to the destination. Now that the destination is reached you still can follow the, say, pointer on the screen and go wherever but you can't give a new destination to the phone to find it for you. 

Now I've finished 95% of the trip and I take an exit and make two turns. The instruction is heard like a whisper and I, somehow miss the street and turn into another one! When I read, It's not " exactly " the same as what I had written! So I exit and continue on the main row just to realize after a few hundred meters that I'm getting close to the town while their address clearly says that they're located in the suburbs! I make a U-turn and enter the same street, go all the way and turn right and the clock is ticking! At this moment I am thinking I should probably give them a call and ask for the address which would've been very embarrassing! Imagine you're expecting someone for the interview and you have selected them out of tens of candidates and he's about to be interviewed for a very sophisticated position and all of a sudden the telephone rings and he's telling you that he's basically " lost " and can't find your address!  What would you do as a potential employer?! 

At this moment the only options left was either get out of the damn car and ask one of the local businesses, which I'm not very into, or simply don't show! I was about to leave when at the corner of my eyes saw the very same building that I had seen in the Maps! There it was! I pulled into their parking lot and let myself in. Right on time because while I was signing in, the guy showed and directed me to a big meeting room. 

There was an Oriental guy waiting for us there and the interview was officially started but I was the only one talking! The guy at times had a glimpse at my resume and would ask short questions or commented on. The other guy was just sitting like a dumbbell (and that's why you see a big dumbbell on the top!) and the only thing I noticed about him was either looking at his laptop and my resume or just making different facial expressions! By the way the expression " sitting like a dumbbell " is a quote from a 90's movie called Casino. If you haven't watched it yet, it's highly recommended.

It seemed to me that the younger guy was not very confident about the whole situation and the Oriental one, who had been doing everything that I'm supposed to do, since he's going to another location, lacks interest or I don't know how to interpret that. You're interviewing someone who's supposed to do what you've been doing and you don't even ask one technical question to see how confident they are in all the shit they have claimed in their resume??!!

That was basically the interview for nearly half an hour. They never said anything about when the selected person would start and they never even asked when I would be available! The only thing the guy asked me at the end was weather I would be willing to move to the town and of course my answer was yes. That was why I chose to attend the interview, you dolt! There was a mentioning of a test, its tool and its related certificate. I did a thorough search about that and learnt a lot. I even contacted The Mumbling Guy and he gave me a few good tips. Even that was not part of the interview! I assume once if I get the job, that would be an easy job considering I'd would have to deal with these geniuses but I haven't met the floor guys and that could change everything! 

(Photo: A dumbbell! Read the post, if you haven't and you'd realize why I've used that. I should've probably drown eyes, nose and lips but in today's world every simple joke could cost you!)

The Neighbours

 

There's this couple in my neighbourhood whom I had a few interactions with, some not very pleasant! But they're neighbours. You can fight with someone you see them every day. We have a couple of sayings in the old country:

1) A neighbour is closer than a family.

2) Up to 20 doors down, is consider your neighbour.

Some might laugh at these but there was a time that it was true. Maybe not so much these days but I'm now happy that my relationship with this crazy couple has been patched up now! I made a compliment once after they had some encouraging worlds about my jogging and that resulted in getting a good amount of fresh herbs and vegetables! It was leaned against my entrance one morning:

1) Parsley

2) Italian Basil

3) Thai Basil (a bit different from the one above! I don't know what really the difference is. That's how they name it differently)

4) Coriander (it is consider the same thing as Cilantro but what I saw was different! In fact I think that was Cilantro seed!)  

5) Swiss Chard (Not my thing usually because not available or popular in the old country and Ice Berg or Persian Cucumber is my main ingredient for salad but here people adore it as a member of their salad)

6) Tomato and Cherry Tomato

7) Red Hot Pepper

8) And Red Potato! (This one, honestly I don't know where could have been grown but will ask them!)

The smell of the Basil was and still is incredible. Now I'm feel reciprocity! I need to give them something and not just once, Perhaps more than once! It was an incredible generosity. Of course I have thanked them but the thing is I didn't expect that from them at all and that's 

Swiss Chards are very colurful and they say they have good health benefits

because of the impressions that I had from them. This is quite similar to the encounter I had with the truck guy a little while back. Unfortunately I was afraid to approach him and now that I've lost his number, there's no way to make it up to him. 

(Photo, top: I just put a few of the amazing-looking produce/herbs together and took this photo. I still have to try them yet! The green one is coriander seed)

Confluence Park

Sometimes it doesn't matter how long you live in an area, it seems there're still places that you haven't seen, even for me who always is looking for new places to discover. I try to avoid the places that I've been, as much as I can but it's not always possible and cost more too! For example for jogging that I'be been doing it for the past 3 months or so, it's boring to do the usual neighbourhood. I, at times go to Nose Hill Park and I even have done my jogging in Downtown pathways! 
Today I decided to go where to this green area that has passed by few times. I checked the map and when I was there, the signed said: Confluence Park. I had never been to this place! I took the pathway and despite the drought the park was green. But what was greener was the adjacent golf course which was busy. The park's pathway which is part of Nose Creek Pathway goes up and you have a nice view of the course. Despite the warmth, it was not a bad walk and then I turned the other way and walk towards east which basically gets you close to Deerfoot Tr. I certainly didn't want to hear the traffic noise, besides there seem to be a bunch of people there, so there were good reasons to avoid there! (Hell is other people!). I ran the way back and continued a little bit to complete my 21 minutes. It'd be new jogging spot at least once a week until I get a job because I know it'd not be very easy to continue exercises but I do it now that I have the chance.

(Photo: I took a panoramic by my phone. I think it looks nice. There was an eagle circling above when first I enter the park and then sat in a tree in the center of this photo, which I don't think it can be seen)