And somewhat early, too.
I was asked into the manager's office today, and he told me that they were letting me go - he gave me two weeks notice, though the office is closed on Wednesday and Thursday next week, what with it being Christmas, and I'll be down in Tennessee for a week from then on, so I'm not entirely sure how that's going to work.
I should say that I'm not entirely unsurprised by this. For one thing, just before, he'd told the web designer the same thing; and one of my jobs was to set up development websites. There'd been, I think, no more than a couple in the last month, so there wasn't any work coming in, and I suspect that they'd decided they could do without the designer - he'd been effectively on makework for a couple of weeks - and me, because I think I cost more than the younger ones.
I should also add that I'm not exactly unhappy, either. Winter has arrived with a vengeance, and this morning on the way to the bus stop, it was -36 with the windchill. No, that's not a typo. So I'm pretty happy that I'm going to be able to sleep in til a more reasonable hour for a little while, and get to the bus stop both when it's already light, and a little warmer (though that's somewhat relative - a balmy day at the moment is around -15, and the promised temperature of +3 this weekend will probably get me into my shorts.
I'm busy baking the cookies for tomorrow, so I'll just have to see whether management take them with their usual enthusiasm. It's pretty tempting to split them into two batches, and offer cookies from different batches to colleagues based on how much I like them. Because who doesn't like getting into people's heads?
I think I'll probably leave the job hunt until I'm back in Canada in the New Year. It will be nice to have a break between jobs, and let me unwind some; and really, if you're going to do that, you might as well do it while it's so cold outside. Just hope that I don't get snowed into the apartment; or if I do, and my witterings on the blog are more surreal than normal, please send help.
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Monday, 30 September 2013
And tonight's nocturnal visitor....
... was a skunk, hanging around on the front steps just as I got in - it ran off towards the back garden as I approached.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to place a slowly-leaking tin of white paint in a spot where the neighbourhood cats are likely to brush along it. I'm sure that comical hijinks will ensue.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to place a slowly-leaking tin of white paint in a spot where the neighbourhood cats are likely to brush along it. I'm sure that comical hijinks will ensue.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
The local wildlife
I was on my way in the door this evening when I thought I saw a cat under the tree at the side of the garden.
I was mistaken. It was, in fact, a raccoon, that proceded to saunter across the front lawn, hissing at me.
Top that, Stockport.
I can't say I'm entirely satisfied with the quantity of the local wildlife. I've only seen a single beaver since I've been here (and that was a little deader than I'd like); and I've yet to see a single moose wandering the streets. So disappointing....
I was mistaken. It was, in fact, a raccoon, that proceded to saunter across the front lawn, hissing at me.
Top that, Stockport.
I can't say I'm entirely satisfied with the quantity of the local wildlife. I've only seen a single beaver since I've been here (and that was a little deader than I'd like); and I've yet to see a single moose wandering the streets. So disappointing....
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
A word of advice
Hosting a game evening with four friends, in an apartment with no air conditioning, on the warmest day of the year, is possibly poor timing.
It's currently - and by that, I mean that at 11:41pm - just under 30 degrees, and that's before you include the humidity, which adds an extra 6 or 7 degrees.
Luckily, I have a fan. That almost helps.
It's currently - and by that, I mean that at 11:41pm - just under 30 degrees, and that's before you include the humidity, which adds an extra 6 or 7 degrees.
Luckily, I have a fan. That almost helps.
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Protectron Security
I arrived home last Thursday just before 6pm; the phone was flashing to let me know that the line was in use, and the burglar alarm was making an odd noise.
There'd been what they call an alarm incident - something had triggered an alert to Protectron, who were calling to see if everything was OK. I waited for them to finish leaving a message, and tried to call back. Apparently, even though my call was important to them, there'd been an unexpected increase in the number of people calling, and they were most apologetic about the delay. At least they didn't have terrible hold music.
After ten minutes of being told how important my call was, I gave up. I figured they'd be in touch. And how right I was!
Around 6:15, a security man came round to check up. I greeted him at the door, explained the situation, and that everything was fine (I'd be interested to know what the alarm incident actually was, too - I must have missed it by just a couple of minutes, but the house alarm wasn't going off.) The security guard asked if my landlord was in, as it's her name on the contract. I explained that no, she doesn't live her; I showed him my proof of ID, and he went away seemingly happy.
So I was a little surprised when I got a phonecall at about 7:30, asking for my landlord, again. Why no, I said; she still doesn't live here. And the password on the account? I've got no idea what it is, since the password she gave me didn't seem to work. Of course, given that they'd apparently forgotten who lives where and indeed what my landlord's telephone number is, this shouldn't have surprised me too much. So I explained for the second time that I live here, and they went away seemingly satisfied.
Not so! They called back again, this time at 11:45pm. Perhaps they thought I'd hurriedly had my landlord move in, because we went through exactly the same questions. Why no, she still doesn't live here. Yes, I'll give you my name. No, apparently my password doesn't work. And have a pleasant evening yourself!
Can you guess who called back again, at 12:55am? You can? I'm fairly sure that he had the same script of questions to go through - you know, they one I'd already been through three times that evening - but he didn't get much chance. He got sworn at quite a lot before I hung up on him.
Thankfully, that was the last call. I've no idea if they finally took the hint, or if I was rude enough that they cancelled the contract, but I'm not really sure I care that much.
I'm not entirely sure what the point of the last couple of phone calls was - they were effectively calling in the middle of the night, to say that there'd been an incident six or seven hours earlier, and was everything OK. I assume they thought that this being Canada, even the burglars are really polite, and stay a few hours after breaking in so they can clean up after themselves, and maybe make a big bowl of poutine to thank the householders for being so thoughtful.
There'd been what they call an alarm incident - something had triggered an alert to Protectron, who were calling to see if everything was OK. I waited for them to finish leaving a message, and tried to call back. Apparently, even though my call was important to them, there'd been an unexpected increase in the number of people calling, and they were most apologetic about the delay. At least they didn't have terrible hold music.
After ten minutes of being told how important my call was, I gave up. I figured they'd be in touch. And how right I was!
Around 6:15, a security man came round to check up. I greeted him at the door, explained the situation, and that everything was fine (I'd be interested to know what the alarm incident actually was, too - I must have missed it by just a couple of minutes, but the house alarm wasn't going off.) The security guard asked if my landlord was in, as it's her name on the contract. I explained that no, she doesn't live her; I showed him my proof of ID, and he went away seemingly happy.
So I was a little surprised when I got a phonecall at about 7:30, asking for my landlord, again. Why no, I said; she still doesn't live here. And the password on the account? I've got no idea what it is, since the password she gave me didn't seem to work. Of course, given that they'd apparently forgotten who lives where and indeed what my landlord's telephone number is, this shouldn't have surprised me too much. So I explained for the second time that I live here, and they went away seemingly satisfied.
Not so! They called back again, this time at 11:45pm. Perhaps they thought I'd hurriedly had my landlord move in, because we went through exactly the same questions. Why no, she still doesn't live here. Yes, I'll give you my name. No, apparently my password doesn't work. And have a pleasant evening yourself!
Can you guess who called back again, at 12:55am? You can? I'm fairly sure that he had the same script of questions to go through - you know, they one I'd already been through three times that evening - but he didn't get much chance. He got sworn at quite a lot before I hung up on him.
Thankfully, that was the last call. I've no idea if they finally took the hint, or if I was rude enough that they cancelled the contract, but I'm not really sure I care that much.
I'm not entirely sure what the point of the last couple of phone calls was - they were effectively calling in the middle of the night, to say that there'd been an incident six or seven hours earlier, and was everything OK. I assume they thought that this being Canada, even the burglars are really polite, and stay a few hours after breaking in so they can clean up after themselves, and maybe make a big bowl of poutine to thank the householders for being so thoughtful.
Monday, 20 May 2013
Wedding postponed
Feh.
The plan was to get married in Scotland, and then for me to head down to the US, where we'd wait for my paperwork to come through and I could get a job. This isn't going to happen.
We were supposed to be getting married on the 12th June; but it's not now going to happen. We ran into an issue with visas, and there's no way we could have gotten it resolved in time, so we ended up cancelling. We're both somewhat disappointed by this. Details follow, if you want them - they are quite dull - but the TL;DR version is that we're now going to be getting married in the US, towards the end of the year, visa willing.
The plan was to get married in Scotland, and then for me to head down to the US, where we'd wait for my paperwork to come through and I could get a job. This isn't going to happen.
There are three paths that a foreigner can get a visa when marrying a US citizen. The first is to get married in the US - this requires a fiancée visa, and involves coming to the country and getting married within three months. This is path we've chosen; we now have to go through all the hoops of proving that we know each other, that we've met, and so on.
Path two involves marrying outside the US. In which case, the paperwork is dealt with in the country where the wedding takes places, which would have been the UK in this case. So I'd have to visit the UK for the interview, which is expensive but not a problem. But the other side is that while you're waiting for the paperwork to come through, the husband is effectively barred from the US. It's not so much that you can't visit, but Homeland Security start out with the assumption that you're only visiting so you can stay illegally, and you need to prove that you're going back. It's do-able, but the general advice is not to, unless you really need to.
I'm sure the more astute of you are wondering - if One involves getting married in the US, and Two outside the US, what does that leave for Path Three? That's a very good question, in fact. That would be the path for people who visit the US with no intention of getting married, but who do so on a whim and then have to have a path to legalize their spouse. (I generally call this the "Whooops; I accidentally married an American" scheme.) Alas, we're not exactly eligible for this one, what with Beloved owning a wedding dress and us having booked a venue or anything.
So there we are. We're currently applying for a Fiance Visa for me, which should take between 6-9 months; and once I've got it, I've got 90 days to get married in the US. It's not the situation we wanted, but it means we get to be together a little sooner than otherwise. I'm still going to miss not being able to give Beloved the wonderful wedding we'd been planning, and which she so definitely deserves, though.
Path two involves marrying outside the US. In which case, the paperwork is dealt with in the country where the wedding takes places, which would have been the UK in this case. So I'd have to visit the UK for the interview, which is expensive but not a problem. But the other side is that while you're waiting for the paperwork to come through, the husband is effectively barred from the US. It's not so much that you can't visit, but Homeland Security start out with the assumption that you're only visiting so you can stay illegally, and you need to prove that you're going back. It's do-able, but the general advice is not to, unless you really need to.
I'm sure the more astute of you are wondering - if One involves getting married in the US, and Two outside the US, what does that leave for Path Three? That's a very good question, in fact. That would be the path for people who visit the US with no intention of getting married, but who do so on a whim and then have to have a path to legalize their spouse. (I generally call this the "Whooops; I accidentally married an American" scheme.) Alas, we're not exactly eligible for this one, what with Beloved owning a wedding dress and us having booked a venue or anything.
So there we are. We're currently applying for a Fiance Visa for me, which should take between 6-9 months; and once I've got it, I've got 90 days to get married in the US. It's not the situation we wanted, but it means we get to be together a little sooner than otherwise. I'm still going to miss not being able to give Beloved the wonderful wedding we'd been planning, and which she so definitely deserves, though.
Saturday, 4 May 2013
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