Man, That Is Very Good: July 2004

This would be cool..

Bored again..

cuba

It's tough getting used to the heat and humidity there (+35 Celsius every day, 100 percent humidity), and tough also retuning to our dry Alberta climate.

The sunsets are beautiful there. These were taken from just outside our hotel room at around 8:30-9:00 PM.

We went on a ady trip into Havana, which was overall really cool. The old buildings were fascinating, though a bit depressing to see how many have fallen into disrepair, though restoration projects are underway. It was certainly geared for tourists, with all the trappings, such as the kissing girls, who run up to you, kiss you on the cheek while a photo is taken and demand a dollar.

I guess for Cubans, university is free, and you either take sports or art. We saw a few art centres, colourful courtyard settings with painters painting, peacocks strutting around, surrounded by murals and metal sculptures. It was very "artist colony" feeling.

It was kind of like a time warp seeing all the old American gas guzzlers mixed in among the Volvos and Hyundais. It was like an ongoing classic car rally.

We saw a graveyard containing incredible mausoleums, statues, and in the neighbourhood of 53,000 graves. To conserve space, they bury you (paid for by the state), leave you for four years, exhume you, and rebury your remains in a smaller space, usually a family plot.

Puppet Mike had a grand time. We went out for breakfast, he posed with the aforementioned kissing girls, as well as with the wedding couple and other nieces and nephews. He spent time on the beach, too.

I got bored on the plane ride home so I took a series of self portraits.

To quote MST3K, "Well, they're out of fumar, now what do we do?"

Anybody who wants to see more, feel free to go to my online album, to peruse more photos of buildings, sunsets, Puppet Mike, and more. Anyone that would like copies of the original higher-res images, let me know and I'll send.

almost there

For those of you wondering about some of the details, this is the house we are getting in Medicine Hat. Ours is now sold unconditionally, so when we head up there this week, we'll get it inspected and set a posession date for early August, giving us three weeks or so to get moved in.

Took bloody long enough...

back!

Hey all! Back from Cuba. What an experience. I'm glad I went, but more glad to be home. Will post pictures very soon. Puppet Mike had a grand time, amd was a source of much amusement to our own party, to other tourists, and to the locals, who thought I was loco.

holy crap

The week's forecast for Varadero, Cuba:nothing cooler than twntey four degrees for the next few days, with a high of thirty five (!!!) on Monday. Yes..thirty five (35). One degree for evey year of age I currently am, plus one more for good measure.

Yikes...see you when I get back, if I don't find a moment to post over there. If I survive.

ttfn

Goodbye, Grant MacEwan College, it's been a swell time. On to Medicine Hat, where hopefully, I may end up here, or here, but probably here, at least for awhile. :)

the party

I know from this it looks like there was nobody at the work party bidding me farewell, but trust me, there were people there.

My former co-worker John will find out what the letters in "Farewell Robert" can spell.

He'll also find out what happens when twisted people get together and change every alert sound on his PC to poopy sounds and gibberish.

mark your calendar!

..it's a post NOT about the house!

Just heard that George Romero's long-awaited fourth "Dead" movie may be going ahead. "Land of The Dead" may actually shoot in Winnipeg, or at least, it's being considered as a location.

He is also doing Diamond Dead, a zombie musical. Now, I like mixed-genre movies (Shaun of The Dead was a great zombie movie, and funny as hell, too), but a zombie musical just sounds stupid.

Hopefully, this is the end of it

..and I won't have to post any more of our ongoing house soap opera.

We are able to offer on the original house we wanted in the Hat, and are in a better position, due to the new offer on our house that isn't subject to the sale of another. We should have everything in place by July 20th, and depending on bridge financing, we may be able to start moving between August 13 to 20th. Maybe even sooner.

And I hope the next thing I'm posting about this house is photos of moving day.

did I mention I'm sick of showings?

I yearn for the days of being a slob. I've never vaccuumed so often in my life. Another one today, actually a second viewing by someone who saw it last week, so this is a good thing. They must be seriously considering it.

Since we have an offer already, hopefully they won't screw around, and if they offer, they'll offer high, not knowing what the competing offer is. At least, we hope they have a quicker possession date in mind. The sooner we can bring closure to this whole mess, the better.

I need a vacation

Two more today. These house showings are getting stressful..part of me wants to say "To hell with it, we have an offer, now it's just a matter of time, so screw all these other guys. Where were they before?"

But I can't do that, because one of these showings may result in a higher offer, or quicker possession date, either or both of which would be great.

At least we're heading for Cuba next Saturday..big family vacation for niece's wedding. I've never been on an all-inclusinve deal before, so I'm sure I'll come back from Varadero's Tryp Peninsula resort hung over (or still drunk), very full, and sunburnt.

I wonder if it's possible to combine activities at these places. You know, snorkeling on jogging track, windsurfing aerobics, beach volleyball in a canoe, archery and water polo, ping pong in a banana boat an the shooting range, cycling while learning to fire a crossbow...the possibilities are endless.

weird feeling

I'm going through the same thing Mukey did, having a hard time believing that my time at the current job is almost at an end. I've been here almost nine years, and have a lot of familiarity with the place. I've been in a "comfort zone" that, while I have been hoping to move on for some time, it's been difficult to do so. It could also be called a rut.

I'm going to miss some aspects of the job itself, but overall, it is definitely time for a change. I am really going to miss the people. Some of them, I've known for a few months, some a few years, and some have been here since I started in 1995, and will probably be here long after I leave.

I've moved on from places in the past, always with the "Stay in touch" well wishes, but sadly, very few of them ever did, or at least, beyond the first letter or two.

I don't intend to let that happen this time, partially because e-mail is so damn easy, but mostly because the people mean that much more to me, many more friends than acquaintances, and deeper friendships than I've had before.

So don't think you're rid of me just because I'm moving to Medicine Hat, that has all Hell for a basement. I intend to visit lots, our door will always be open for visitors should you ever find yourselves out that way, and through the wonders of e-mail, blogs and cheap long distance, hopefully I won't feel that far away at all.

photoshop

Bwhahaha....from Count Joe.
And I quote...Rob's Family, Mano, Mukey, The Count & Toast as Sailor Moon Cosplayer. by Marmy.

By the way

I figured out what was slowing my computer down, damn CommonName spyware got in there somehow, and my spybot killer didn't know it..much better now. NoAdware did the job.

photoshop

My apologies to Alex & Doc, not only for being the subject of the contest, but for what my poor photoshopping skills have done to them. Doc looks like a burn victim.

Original, from Mukey's farewell party.

Just wrong, courtesy me.

gave it a try

Well, we gave it a good attempt, but no go on the house in the Hat. Starting at square one again..man, next time we move to a new city, let's have the first house unconditionally sold and a possession date in mind before we even start looking for a new one. Sure, it'll create a sense of urgency, but better than finding the ideal place, only to lose it.

Meanwhile, this is cool, if it turns out to be true.

I knew it

They triggered the 48 hour clause on the house in the Hat. Meaning, if we can't remove our conditions within 48 hours, especially finanacing and posession date, they can accept another offer.

The big decision- give it up, and move on to the next available house,. hopefully after ours has no conditions on it either..or try to get another mortgage approved in the next day and a half. Allie's up there and working, we can probably manage it if we can come up with the down payment..the only thing is, if the offer on our house falls through for any reason, we are stuck with two houses, and I am supposed to be leaving my job on July 16. I could always push back my leaving date, but I really don't want to beacuse of the paperwork..and having to explain to everybody, "Yes, it WAS supposed to be the 16th, but it looks like I'm here for another month at least.."

Any good contract jobs out there I could do for the month of August?

Photoshop contest entries..

Original.
Courtesy Count Joseph.
Courtesy Soulus.

oh well

..so much for posting every day. Holidays, you know.

By the way, for anyone that missed it..ubergrande at yahoo dot com will reach me by e-mail. (replace "at" with @, you know the drill...

Also had problems with my net connection at home this weekend. Suspect something is going on with my computer (age catching up to it?). Slow, SLOW speeds, many pages coming up as unreachable one moment, comes up fine (but slow) the next, and usually only the front page..anything beyond that, slow or non-existent. Did I mention slow?

I picked up a cheap processor, now have to hunt down a new MB for it. Maybe a good project for the next two weeks with Allie off in the Hat again.

oh well

..so much for posting every day. Holidays, you know.

By the way, for anyone that missed it..ubergrande at yahoo dot com will reach me by e-mail. (replace "at" with @, you know the drill...

Man, That Is Very Good

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

This would be cool..

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

cuba

Sunday, July 25, 2004

almost there

back!

Friday, July 16, 2004

holy crap

ttfn

Thursday, July 15, 2004

the party

mark your calendar!

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Hopefully, this is the end of it

Sunday, July 11, 2004

did I mention I'm sick of showings?

Friday, July 09, 2004

I need a vacation

weird feeling

Thursday, July 08, 2004

photoshop

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

By the way

photoshop

gave it a try

I knew it

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Photoshop contest entries..

Monday, July 05, 2004

oh well

Friday, July 02, 2004

oh well

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