Bless you, Canada Post

I got home on Wednesday to find a note in the mailbox, telling me that they'd tried to deliver a parcel but I was out. Which, unsurprisingly, would be because I was in work. I'm currently expecting Beloved's Christmas present, so I was vaguely expecting this. Today, I went to pick it up. There was a queue - I think the woman at the front was sending Christmas cards to everyone in Canada, and the Post Office had just run out of stamps for local delivery - that should let you know how competent they are. But it meant I had a little time to read the card, and got curious - the date on there said they'd be holding it until the 9th November, and also that this was my final notice. Then I remembered all the fun I'd had at the start of Nocember with a parcel at that same Post Office. That's right. This was a note telling me to pick up the package that I'd (eventually) picked up over a month ago. Which, it seems, is still in their system - she scanned the card, and said it was there. I wonder how many more reminders I'm going to get before they realise that perhaps they've already delivered.... On an equally confusing note - today's mail included a cheque from the Canadian Government for $20. There's nothing to say why they sent it, though. It's not going to stop me from cashing it, mind you.

The new job

It's a little hard to say after just a week, but the new job looks like it's going well. I got in, and everything had been done - I had a contract to read and sign, a desk, and everything. I was given a quick run through of the task management software, and given time to settle in and find out how things work. I got my first job on Tuesday; and it was such a change. We're working with an organisation who have to produce a print directory - they have the data in their database, but the person who generated it last year is no longer working with them - he took his files and went home. I got assigned a good dozen tasks; the project had been broken down into different stages, with tasks for each, broken down into what I need to deliver for each of them. It's definitely not the way I've been used to working, but it's a pleasant change - I get a list of what I need to work on, how long it should take, and what I need to deliver at the end. It includes everything I need to do the work, and details of where to put things when they're done. Definitely much more organised than anywhere I've worked before, though I suppose that that's a function of them charging companies by the hour - they get a lot of detail and accountability about how long people spent working on their sites. The commute is reasonable, too. I'm getting up about a half hour earlier, but it's not too bad, and I get to spend an hour or so reading, which is definitely good. And I've just realised that I have a week to start and finish the next reading group book - ooops!

More snow

There was a little snow left at the start of the week. It lasted until Tuesday, when we had what was apparently the warmest December day on record. It was around 15 degrees, which is pretty good for the start of December. It had been settling down to be a proper winter, too. The temperature was slowly sliding downwards, and we'd had a handful of days where it was down to -10. But today the snow hit again. It had been alternating between rain and snow all morning; I was doing a little extra work, and at about 3pm I looked out of the window to discover that we were in the middle of a blizzard. It was a very impressive sight, too. It didn't last too long, but there's around a centimeter of snow on the ground now, though it's still just around freezing. This is probably the wrong time to discover that my boots have a rather large hole in the bottom, too. So the plan for tomorrow involves buying a new pair before my feet freeze off.....