I start work on Monday, back at the old call centre. Minacs has come in to take over the building, and want to be up and running by the beginning of August. It is going to be supporting escalations from an American Credit Card.
My interview went very well, and the fact I had trained as a Quality Auditor was spotted, and it was suggested that I could be the Quality Specialist, which would be a salaried position. Well then I got a call yesterday to say that the building has to be ISO Certified before that position will be filled, and that could be a month or two down the line. What they have said is that I will be top of the list for the position once they are ready. So I start there as an agent taking calls initially, but then everyone has to do this training on the floor whatever job they do afterwards.
So although I am pleased to be back at work, I do feel I missed the carrot, but trying to feel confident that I will be taken on for the other job in due course.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Job News!
Received an email yesterday from the Chamber of Commerce. The background to that is that they were involved in trying to recruit a company to come in and take over the building. Some time back they requested everyone who might be interested to send in their resume, so they had a database of people to put to any company that might need some proof of the level of interest. There is to be an announcement tomorrow at the Call Center, and the Premier will be there, to the effect that a new company is coming in to the building shortly. There is to be a Career Open House on Friday and Saturday for people to go in with their resume and speak to the human resources there. Hopefully we will find out more what company or companies they hope to be supporting here.
They plan to have 350 working there, and hope to be up and running by the end of June. I think this is very fast track in any body's book, so we will see what happens.
They plan to have 350 working there, and hope to be up and running by the end of June. I think this is very fast track in any body's book, so we will see what happens.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Update after the Weekend!
Jerry's Mum and step dad came through Port Hawkesbury this past weekend. And our house in town here and the lot got a big thumbs up all round.
It seems we have wild strawberries growing in abundance, possibly some Elder, and possibly some wild rasperries. And seemly growing everywhere are tiny purple violets, and also some white ones. And we already knew that we will have more bull rushes than we will know what to do with, and the new green growth is already starting to come through.
Jerry's Mum and step dad are taking a mega trip across Canada, probably a trip listed by everyone as a must do one day.. and that is a train trip from Halifax to Toronto, and then the train across to Vancouver. From Vancouver a cruise to Alaska. Then a flight back to Halifax, and they come back to us for a weekend. Of course the latter past is not included in everyone's list.
We are still waiting on the quote for the foundation. But are thinking more and more that getting Jerry's colleagues to work on it on their week off in July would be a perfect way of getting it done a lot lot cheaper.
We were sad to hear that Matt and AJ our friends from downshiftme are not going to be podcasting every week as they have been doing. What Jerry and I have always said is that it was not something we could do, we would feel under too much pressure to have something terribly interesting to say each week, or feel that things have to be done in order to be able to talk about them for the podcast. So sad as we are we do understand the reasoning. It has been part of our weekend since coming to Nova Scotia, (we didn't have broadband in France so had not been listening to their progress), and we will miss listening to them. We found we enjoyed it very much even when nothing extraordinary had happened that week, or if they were just exhausted. The reason being is that that is what life is about - most people's lives are filled with more less interesting days and weeks than ones with exiting events.
With our decision to start this Blog, we decided from the start it would cover most things in our lives, not just to do with the house build. Having said that, the decision that may lead to the house not being built till next Summer has made us feel that there will be less to say about the house on this Blog than there would have been. However, at this point we do plan to continue, and update when we can, with whatever is happening in our lives.
An update on our house decorating plans for our house in town, is that paintwork we can do without a problem. Regarding replacing the old windows - which are mostly downstairs, we need to cost that out, windows and labour. Also at that time check out how well insulated the walls are, and cost that out if it is necessary. Our heating bill for fuel this past winter was $3000 at least, and a decision as to whether we have all this work done will depend on whether we plan to rent out the house once our house is built, or to sell it. The way I see it is that if we just have to fund one winter of fuel and then sell the house next year sometime after we move to the new house, it would not make financial sense to replace the windows now. But if we intend renting the house, then people may not stay in the house for long if they find the fuel costs too much for them, so we may well have to do that for our long term benefit. So something we have to think about as to what our future plans are before doing any major work.
It seems we have wild strawberries growing in abundance, possibly some Elder, and possibly some wild rasperries. And seemly growing everywhere are tiny purple violets, and also some white ones. And we already knew that we will have more bull rushes than we will know what to do with, and the new green growth is already starting to come through.
Jerry's Mum and step dad are taking a mega trip across Canada, probably a trip listed by everyone as a must do one day.. and that is a train trip from Halifax to Toronto, and then the train across to Vancouver. From Vancouver a cruise to Alaska. Then a flight back to Halifax, and they come back to us for a weekend. Of course the latter past is not included in everyone's list.
We are still waiting on the quote for the foundation. But are thinking more and more that getting Jerry's colleagues to work on it on their week off in July would be a perfect way of getting it done a lot lot cheaper.
We were sad to hear that Matt and AJ our friends from downshiftme are not going to be podcasting every week as they have been doing. What Jerry and I have always said is that it was not something we could do, we would feel under too much pressure to have something terribly interesting to say each week, or feel that things have to be done in order to be able to talk about them for the podcast. So sad as we are we do understand the reasoning. It has been part of our weekend since coming to Nova Scotia, (we didn't have broadband in France so had not been listening to their progress), and we will miss listening to them. We found we enjoyed it very much even when nothing extraordinary had happened that week, or if they were just exhausted. The reason being is that that is what life is about - most people's lives are filled with more less interesting days and weeks than ones with exiting events.
With our decision to start this Blog, we decided from the start it would cover most things in our lives, not just to do with the house build. Having said that, the decision that may lead to the house not being built till next Summer has made us feel that there will be less to say about the house on this Blog than there would have been. However, at this point we do plan to continue, and update when we can, with whatever is happening in our lives.
An update on our house decorating plans for our house in town, is that paintwork we can do without a problem. Regarding replacing the old windows - which are mostly downstairs, we need to cost that out, windows and labour. Also at that time check out how well insulated the walls are, and cost that out if it is necessary. Our heating bill for fuel this past winter was $3000 at least, and a decision as to whether we have all this work done will depend on whether we plan to rent out the house once our house is built, or to sell it. The way I see it is that if we just have to fund one winter of fuel and then sell the house next year sometime after we move to the new house, it would not make financial sense to replace the windows now. But if we intend renting the house, then people may not stay in the house for long if they find the fuel costs too much for them, so we may well have to do that for our long term benefit. So something we have to think about as to what our future plans are before doing any major work.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Back home in Cape Breton!
I have now been home almost a week, and finally over the jet lag or maybe over the excitement of being home in Wales with Mum and my sister for our Mother's 83rd birthday. The photo is of us helping Mum cut her cake. Suffice to say it was wonderful to be back in Wales, for me it was 7 years since I was there, so shame on me. Mum is coming out to Canada in August, so that is something to look forward to.
Since getting home Jerry has had good news - he has received the Student Leadership award for this year, and we go to the school on Wednesday night for the presentation.
We are also in the process of making some decisions on the house front, based on the fact that I have still not found another job, and that Jerry will be back at school and not earning until this time next year. We plan to wait and see what his boss's quote will be for the foundation... then another company that specialises in concrete and foundation jobs is apparently offering a very good price just now, we plan to get a price from them to compare. Then we have to decide are we going to get that done this summer, so that if the school want to give the class experience and help get the framework up, then we are in a position to let that go ahead. We have been working on the plans and decided on the layout, so there is no more dithering to be done on that front.
We have accepted that we will not be finished in the house by winter, so we plan to decorate our little house in town, and hopefully replace the windows before winter, as we spent a small fortune on fuel this past winter. I hope to change the look of the house a little too with paint, as it had been redecorated in very neutral colors for selling, and I plan to give it some life with color.
Yesterday we bought four window boxes to put on the verandah rail, and bought some flowers and herbs. Two of them have flowers, which I hope will fill out and hang down to cover the boxes themselves.. and the herbs are in the boxes as a temporary solution. We plan to build a raised bed for herbs, and then move them from the window boxes, and then plant flowers in those two boxes.
Today we took Oliver up to the lot, and some chairs and a picnic, and had a nice sit down in the sun. It is so quiet up there, truly a perfect spot. Took some bottles of Nova Scotia Cider as well which was really refreshing.
We will update when we have made some progress.
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