These Eastern trading hours are killing me!

Wow… this getting up at 5:15am stuff is really hard! It’s definitely an adjustment, but I know I’ll get accustomed to it, eventually!

I love my new job – I’m getting exactly the experience I need right now, and I’m working with four really great brokers. The learning curve in my new career path, combined with the working-hours adjustment is taking it’s toll on my internal clock, though.

As in the past, I won’t be commenting too much here about my working life – I don’t think it’s an appropriate venue. That said, I wanted to let everyone know that life is good, and my career is on track, as I hoped it would by by this time.

Can you believe it’s been exactly a year since we moved to Calgary? So much has happened in the past year… And so much change. Barry and I have been through our ups and downs, and made it out the other side doing pretty awesome, I must say. We’re both in jobs we love, and making friends on a daily basis now. I finally feel like I have a home here, with friends who mean a lot to me.

Having family close by is great, too. I’ve seen Dennis, Heather, Toni and Sean a fair amount lately (and the girls are heading out tonight for some fun!) and hope that we can get on some camping trips together this summer.

The weather is still kicking my ass… We’re expecting as much as a foot of snow tonight and tomorrow in the Southern part of Calgary – I don’t know what I was expecting for my first Canadian winter (WINTER! BRR!!!) but, these extended -20°C weeks weren’t it. This time last year, there wasn’t any snow on the ground, and it was about 10°C during the day. That said, we’ve just come out of a week of plus degree temps, so hopefully this snow blip will be very temporary.

The only thing I know will take some getting used to, is the damned commute on the CTrain every day to downtown Calgary. DAMN. I hate the transit here. There’s definitely NOT enough capacity for the amount of people who take the LRT in to work downtown every day (which is completely necessary, because parking downtown is $600 a month… one of the most expensive cities in North America to park in!) Combine that with the fact that transit in our neck of the woods is just plain stupid (Auburn Bay isn’t really serviced properly) which sees most driving into the CTrain park and ride lots. If you aren’t at most lots by 6:30am, there’s not a spot to be had. Something has got to change with the transit system here. A South East LRT line would certainly lighten the load on the West side… And, it’s eventually scheduled to come just a few blocks from our home, if we are to believe the city’s plan for this neighbourhood. We’ll see.

So, there you go… Coming up… I’ve got a blog queued up about the Calgary Auto Show, which I attended with Barry, Toni and Sean last Sunday. The Chicklette is going to be traded in soon, (I feel like a speed bump on the road in my TT, especially on snowy days) so I’m on the hunt for the vs. 2.0 of my ride! Stay tuned.

YOUR TURN! What have you been up to, lately?