Round 3, and a final post on here.

Well, this will be the last post I make on here.  I've got a new spot where I'll be posting from now on.  Not that anyone has been reading this one. lol

That new spot will be at doug.fun which I can't believe was an available domain to register.  But that's where you can find me from now on.

So, September 2021 I bought myself a little house, as I mentioned.  Little as in 672 sq ft.  So yes, very small, but perfect for just me.  Then October 2021 was Grandma's 100th birthday! We were able to have an outdoor get together for her, so that people could get together since she wasn't able to have everyone visit at once inside at her home.  November then saw my housewarming, which was a fun night where I'm happy people were able to make it.

The start of 2022 was pretty quiet, but I got it in my mind that I wanted to book a trip to Toronto in late March to watch Canada's final home World Cup qualifier.  At this point they were almost assured to qualify for the first time since 1986.  It looked like they would either qualify that day, or it would have happened on the road prior to that and it would be their first trip home after qualifying.  I said yep, let's do this.

Turns out they could qualify on March 27, 2022 with a win over Jamaica in Toronto.  A resounding 4-0 scoreline sent Canada to the World Cup.  And sent tears down my cheeks. lol  It's when I turned to my friend Chris and said I'm going to go to the World Cup to watch them.

I debated it internally, mentioned it to my parents, and my mom said the one thing that sealed it for me.  Because I had to be chosen from a lottery to attend, if I didn't put my name in I'd always regret it, but if I put my name in and didn't get chosen then at least I'd know I wasn't lucky enough to get drawn and would watch from home.  So, in my name went and I waited for May 31 to find out if I was going to have that opportunity.

Sure enough, I get the e-mail stating that my application was successful!  I will be going to watch Canada play at the FIFA World Cup in person!  So after a period of disbelief, and a period of more tears (lol) I dropped $3600 on plane tickets and $4700 on accommodations.

Unfortunately, just two weeks later my grandma passed away.  I never got the chance to tell her I'd be going.  I know she would have sat in front of the TV watching in the hopes that I might show up on TV for her to see.    The whole thing was heartbreaking, and still hurts even today.  Sure, she was 100, but it was still somewhat of a shock.  Instead of watching for me on TV she watched down over me the entire trip.

So the lead up to that trip was bittersweet.  I continued to grab tickets to matches other than Canada.  Still didn't know where my seats would be, though.  I could be 10 rows up, or I could be sitting in the very last row.  There was no way to know.  Then one day in the app seats were showing up.  At first only for the matches that weren't Canada.  I had a couple decent seats, and one way, waaaay up.  Then... There they were.  Against Belgium?  In the 5th row.  Against Croatia?  Even closer, 3rd row.  And against Morocco?  FRONT ROW!!!!!  That set off some more tears (lol) and I seriously couldn't believe it.

Finally the time arrived where I left, connecting through Montreal and then straight to Doha.  From there, 16 days in the desert, 8 matches in total.  It was just an experience like nothing else I've ever had.  Probably will never feel the same again.  It truly isn't something that I can put into a blog post.  I could talk about it for days and days.

And just like that, I was at home.  Got to join friends to watch the great World Cup Final match at the pub.  Then it was the Holiday season.  Rolling into 2023, work started to go downhill and hasn't really recovered.  Changes going on that seem to be the opposite of what the company espouses as its core values.  I'll admit the whole of 2023 was a bit of a letdown after the highs of my trip to Qatar.

That brings me to now, where I'm headed to Jamaica to watch Canada yet again, on November 17, and will be back to Toronto a few days later to see the return leg.  This could determine whether Canada plays in Copa America next summer, which is a huge deal.  The one time Canada was invited they had to turn down due to issues in South America.  So that's exciting, but doesn't match how great the trip to the Middle East was.

So, this is me signing off from Blogger.  As I mentioned, any future posts will be made at doug.fun along with a bunch of galleries of my trips to bars, beaches, and stadia!

Back for Round 2? 15 Years in a Nutshell

I'm somewhat surprised that I've come back to do this today.  Maybe I really want to let everything out.  Maybe nobody will even read this.  Maybe it will just be therapeutic for me.  It will probably be good regardless.

So, I'm back in Winnipeg after a few year hiatus, with my new job starting in August of 2016 at the place where I still am working.  Over 6 years is probably a record for me working anywhere!  Not probably, it is. lol

I start in a pretty tame, but incredibly low stress phone jockey type job.  It was such a welcome change from the constant anxiety brought on by working in banking.  However, the pay was a bit less.  And in Winnipeg I didn't (still don't) have any roommates so I wasn't sharing the bills anymore!  But my new apartment was within walking distance of work.  It was very handy.

Less than 2 years later, my manager (which was already my 2nd manager with the company) asked me how much interest I might have moving into a different area of the company, though still with the same general area.  It would be dealing with another type of software that I had marginal experience with already, and would come with an increase in pay.  Of course I'm interested in learning more!  No more phones all day everyday?  Sign me up!

I have a conversation with that manager, who is currently my manager, and it seemed to go very well.  My big bank experience, small business and financial knowledge seems to be appealing for what they're trying to accomplish.  Along with the customer service skills, of course.  She encourages me to apply.  After some contemplation, some bouncing of thoughts off of my parents, friends, and co-workers, I take the leap.  Very quickly I've got one of the recruiters reaching out to me at work.  She'd like to set up a time to have a conversation, and then do one of those ridiculous personality tests.  Fine, of course I'll do it.

That leads to an interview of sorts with two other managers.  That conversation seemed to go very well.  The recruiter reached out a few days later and confirmed that they felt the same.  She'd be back to me by the end of the week.  Sure enough, the reply was, "We'd like to offer you the new position."  I'll take it!  Along with the 20% raise! lol

I find myself a new role with a substantial raise on October 1, 2018.  In this new role I quickly become a go-to person.  Results in a promotion and another raise (only 13% this time!) just over 2 years later.  Mind you, the job stays basically the same, but I'm more relied on for other situations.  And of course, this is during the pandemic.  I had a lot of time to sit alone and wonder what I should do.  I'm not spending money anymore, should I think about buying a condo?  Maybe I should crunch some numbers?

So, that's what I do. I crunch some numbers.  I take a look at what's been saved to date.  I take a look at my budget and see where I can save even more.  Can I come up with a 5% down payment?  I think I can!  I have no debt, so it opens some other doors.  So I casually look on the MLS website, let's see if there are any condos out there worth further looks.  A couple, let's keep an eye on them!  It somewhat goes on the backburner until summer.  Then I realize, "I don't want to be renewing this lease in October, so let's get serious!"  I reach out to my good friend/divorce lawyer, her husband happens to be a realtor.  And we go to task.  Except I never once look at a condo.  Not once.  Everything I viewed was a house.  I saw one that was quite appealing, but gave me cause for concern.  I was going to offer, then didn't.  But I'd have been outbid anyway.  A couple weeks later another one.  They wanted quick possession which I wasn't overly thrilled at the idea of.  But hey, let's try anyway.  Yeah, that place was wildly underpriced.  My bid wasn't even in the ballpark, and I expected as much.

One night I decide to go out for a walk.  I take a much different route than I'd ever taken before.  I spot a for sale sign a block or so away, so I keep walking in that direction.  A little pre-war house for sale within walking distance of where I'm living.  I didn't notice it on the alerts that the realtor had set up.  I wonder why?  Overpriced?  Underpriced?  What's the scoop?  I look it up on the web while I'm standing in front.  Oh, it doesn't have a couple features I had listed as "necessary."  But it looks decent, the pictures inside look decent.  It has a lot going for it.  I can probably handle the lack of central air.  We didn't have it when I was a kid, only when I was a teen did my dad get it installed.  Let's point this one out and get a viewing!

That Saturday the viewing was set up.  Foundation of the house looks great.  No cracks.  Not the best exterior, but that can be changed.  Eavestrophs etc. need replacing, but that's always likely going to happen at some point.  And it's nothing needing immediate attention.  We go inside.  It felt familiar, even though I've never set foot inside before.  Hardwood flooring over the whole main floor, including in the kitchen.  The kitchen and bedrooms actually appear to have some very old hardwood.  The living room is obviously newer, different type of wood, but still, it's lovely.  Kitchen is... dated, but functional.  No dishwasher.  I really wanted a dishwasher.  That's fine, I can handwash my dishes.  I've had to do it in the past!  They do have a window unit air conditioner.  It's not a big house, so it likely cools the place off just fine.  And I already have another of my own.  Two of them will be plenty.

We walk down into the basement.  Wow, it's a finished basement.  New electrical panel.  This means the knob and tube wiring, if it ever existed, has to be long gone.  Fairly new water heater and furnace, too.  This place is looking better and better.  Off to the back yard.  An old, old, old two car garage.  There are no outer handles on the doors.  The floor is wooden, and rotten.  Wood floors, I learned, were a thing when this garage was likely built.  Okay, no big deal.  Those doors don't look like they open, though.  We don't even try.  The garage likely needs to come down at some point.  That's fine, it's not like I have two cars to park!  I could knock it down and have a smaller one in its place.  Great idea!

We look at another house after this one that same day and couldn't run away fast enough.  That's the house I want to put my bid in on.  My last bid.  I want this house.  I come up with my number, realtor says why not add 2k to it, in case someone else decides to bid the same number?  Sure, done.  Bids go in.  Nothing else I can do but wait.  Everyone asks me if I'm nervous.  Why would I be nervous?  There's nothing I can do.  If someone has outbid me, then they're going to get the house and I keep looking.  Except, if someone did outbid me, they must not have had as favourable conditions.  Dougie had become a homeowner!  Possession on September 1, 2021!

And I think here is where I'll cut it off.  Maybe I'll be back three nights in a row to finish off the story?  At least the "business" side.  There's plenty left.

Back after 15 years?! Round 1 of 15 Years in a Nutshell

Don't ask me why I decided to do this.  I was busy sitting on my computer looking at simple ways to add another couple hundred dollars a month to my income without having to resort to driving delivery services or prostituting myself out in other ways.

Speaking of that, I've learned a new term which describes me and my professional life perfectly.  I'm a Personality Prostitute.  I give great customer service, "Inspiring" is how it's described in my annual review, but I hate people.  I have no use for about 99.9999% of people out there.  But I fake it for money. It's a perfect description.  Who else is a Personality Prostitute?  Sure, I have other skills and knowledge, like of finance, payroll, etc.  But what makes me shine is the how I treat the people who I would rather never talk to.

So, what's new with me since 2008, you ask?  I'm certainly no longer selling shoes.  My Al Bundy moment has passed.  I went from there to RBC.  That took me to a small town, Russell, MB, which I hated every moment of.  And which brought out my inner demons, although I wasn't quite realizing it yet.  After about 15 months I was back in Winnipeg.  Another year and a half later, my demons were really starting to come at me and take over.  I figured, "Hey, let's find a new job in Calgary!"  So I did.

I loved living in Calgary while I was there, although it wasn't helping out my demons any.  I started to drink a whole lot more.  That's never, ever good for those demons.  Or at least for keeping them in check.  After about 8 months, those demons reared their ugly head, and I was back to being taken over.  This time, at least, I acknowledged that maybe it was an issue that needed some help.  Notice I said maybe.  But acknowledgement is the first step, I guess.

So, after another period of time, about 18 months maybe?  I ended up being fired without cause.  The regional manager for whatever reason decided he didn't like me.  It made me feel somewhat better that the location had a mass exodus of people not long after that happened.  They thought if I was being fired after getting great annual reviews, that anyone could be.  Karma is a bitch, though, and that regional manager was fired about 18 months later.  Something about impacts on employee morale that resulted in financial impacts.  Banks and Credit Unions don't like it when your performance falls.

So, for the first time in my life I was off to learn about the Employment Insurance system.  At first I was convinced I'd never qualify for it, so I didn't apply.  But I took a closer look at my Record of Employment and I wasn't listed as Dismissed, but "Other."  I figured what the hell?  I'll apply and worst case scenario is they will decline me.  Turns out I wasn't declined, and they even paid retroactively to when I was eligible on my first pay.  Until that point I was much like a lot of other conservative types, where social programs are for the devil and anyone who uses them are scum of the earth.  I couldn't help it, that's how I was raised.  Prairie living is full of it.  Okay, maybe I wasn't that bad, but it was one of many eye openers I've had over the last decade and a half.

Anyway, fast forward and I've found another job.  The job itself was actually quite decent.  The environment was less so.  I didn't last long, it was right in the middle of the oil downturn of 2015/16 and a lot of people in downtown Calgary were losing their jobs, and that's what's brought me back to Winnipeg.

It's time for bed now, it's after midnight.  I'm shocked I've got so wordy in this post today.  I'll continue the next story after work!