It's my last day at work

...and I should have left for it about half an hour ago, but I can't find my key card.

Just bloody great. "Sorry, guys. I know I'm supposed to turn over all the company effects today, but I can't find them."

I've taken the house apart, and I can't find them. I know I must have used the house key (which is attached to them) to get into the house last night. What the bleep?

Well, I don't have any more time. I'm already late. I'll have to find them this weekend.

Seriously. What the bleep.

I found it!

I was on hold with some annoyingly soft-spoken fellow from the Rogers employee discount hotline and I decided to catch up on some reading.

Turns out I've been using my trip itinerary as a bookmark for Bill Bryson's 'Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe.'

So without further ado, I give you my (still potentially in flux) travel plans:

April 30, 5:20 p.m. - leave Moncton
May 1, 8:15 a.m. - arrive in Montreal
May 4, sometime - train to Ottawa
May 12, 10:00 p.m. - leave Toronto
May 15, 6:37 a.m. - arrive in Edmonton
May 17, 7:37 a.m. - leave Edmonton; 1:00 p.m. - arrive in Jasper
May 20, 12:45 (I have never been able to figure out if lunchtime is a.m. or p.m.) - leave Jasper
May 21, 2:10 p.m. - arrive in Smithers
May 23, 2:20 p.m. - leave Smithers; 8:25 p.m. - arrive in Prince Rupert
May 25, 7:30 a.m. - leave P.R. via ferry; 10:30 p.m. - arrive in Port Hardy
May 26, sometime - find my way out of Port Hardy, get to Vancouver by May 27
May 29 or 30, sometime - take greyhound to Banff

I have discovered that planning a trip by train is not without its inconveniences. On the one hand, yes, there is no car to break down and cost you money, but on the other hand, half the trains only run three times a week and arrive in places at really stupid times.

Case in point: I had planned on spending the day in Quebec City before going to Montreal, but the train arrives in Quebec City at 5:15 a.m. How stupid is that? Very stupid. What is one supposed to do upon arriving in Quebec City at 5:15 a.m.?

Also, I had planned to make some stops in Manitoba and Saskatchewen, but the fact that if I stopped in Winnepeg or Saskatoon (the train doesn't go to Regina - just Saskatoon) I would be stuck there for three days gave me pause.

Anyhow, enough whining. Time to go buy my tickets and head into work.

Hope to see lots and lots of you!

...16 days to go!

Oh where, oh where has my itinerary gone...?

Oh where, oh where could it be?

I was planning on posting a (semi) detailed trip itinerary, today, as well as emailing it to all the friends and family I had promised to email it to days ago, but I seem to have misplaced it.

I know some of you think I am this disorganized on purpose, but I would really rather be organized on purpose. In fact, the whole point of the lists I write is that they are supposed to organize me. I seem to spend half my time looking for the lists, though, which kind of defeats the purpose, I suspect...

Sometimes I watch those alzheimers commercials and worry about my hypothetical children. I don't think they'll be able to recognize the signs of alzheimers in me early on while their treatable. I think they'll just assume I've misplaced something again.

On that note, I'm going to go look for my itinerary in my bed and in the cupboard. I'll be back once I've found it.

mission accomplished: notice given

I gave my notice at Rogers today.

It was amazingly easy. There was no tears, and no yelling. I had slept just fine the night before giving my notice, and didn't feel like puking.

I've been informed that should I decide at some future time I would like to return to the company, the company would be happy to have me.

...17 days 'til I'm on the train.

A new blog, a new beginning...

This morning when I logged into facebook I was greeted by this post from my friend Neen: 'Oh Snow, you need to stop coming around here anymore. I'm dating Spring now.'

It made me laugh, and think about how much I will miss Janine. I will also miss Bonnie, who I have only just reconnected with, Shannon, who I don't see nearly enough, Ryan, and our drinks at Docs, Amy, Andre, and their lovely new baby, my mother, all my new friends from work, and all the other people who are reading this blog and wondering why I haven't mentioned them. And while it is unlikely that I will actually miss working at Rogers, I will almost certainly miss bitching about working at Rogers.

Which begs the question, why am I moving again?

I don't really have a good reason.

Well... I have one good reason: it is April 12, 2009, today, and it is snowing. Not just a little, either. Big fluffy flakes are swirling around outside my window. Yesterday, the last of the snow had finally melted from the yard, and I was busily coming to terms with just how ugly Riverview in the spring can be. Today, there has to be a good foot of snow in the yard with plenty more where that came from.

I suppose what it comes down to is, it's time.

I filled out a passport renewal application a few weeks back. It was way more difficult than it should have been, due to section 7. This was the section where they asked me to list my addresses within the last two years, if different from my current address, and my occupations in the last two years.

I couldn't remember all my addresses.

In Banff, I lived in... hmmm... I think four different locations, but I'm not entirely sure (and what the street addresses are, let alone the streets, I couldn't tell you. In Smithers, I lived in two different locations.

In the past two years, I've worked as a waitress, sold fur coats, been a horseback trail guide and an office girl (or office troll, as I believe the official term was), worked as a reporter, waitressed some more, and worked in a call centre. Oh. And freelanced quite a bit. Mustn't forget that.

And now, after a ridiculously long stretch at Rogers (8 months! ...It feels like I just left Smithers yesterday) I am heading out to Banff again.

This new (and improved) blog will chronicle my experiences as I head back out into the big, bad world again.

But more on that later... I think this is quite enough for a first post.

testing, 1-2-3

My new (and improved) blog should be up and running by Friday of this week.