Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Returning to normal
Except for the fact that I am on vacation this week and next, today was pretty much a normal day. Since I am off, I slept in until 11am (I did get up at 5:30am to take my younger daughter to work). I am still fighting the cold I have had the last few days - but I think I am getting better. There were some times today where I was being reminded that I am sick however. At those times, I was thinking that I probably would not have been going to work, there is a pretty good chance I would have called in sick.

I spent some time at church this evening for a meeting so there has not been much time to do stuff at home. A really normal day.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 10:57 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Monday, January 30, 2006
Everything has now been unloaded and stored
It took two days to do it, but we have finally completed the unloading and storing of all the furniture and effects that we had brought from down south. We did most of it on Sunday - including all of the heavy furniture - as we took advantage of the fact that my younger daughter was there to help us with the work (Thank you, Nikki!!).

All that was left to do this morning was to store the last of the boxes and then figure out how to move the motorized wheelchair from the back of the minivan onto the storage bay. At first we had thought would could lift it onto the storage bay, but the chair turned out to be too heavy. What we ended up doing was drive the chair into the U-Haul truck using the ramp, then move the ramp so it rested on the storage bay, and finally drive the chair to the storage bay.

Tomorrow has been declared a day of rest to give a chance for our weary bodies to recover.

Good day!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 4:47 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Saturday, January 28, 2006
And the great trek comes to an end
We're home!

We got home today around 3:30pm after a short day of driving. The day started late as we left the hotel around 9:30am and drove to the border. After stopping just before the border to top up, we headed to the border crossing where the process of bringing the inherited stuff across the border was not bad. The only thing we have to pay is some money to Transport Canada for bringing a vehicle in the country.

We then drove to the ferry terminal and sat there for at least an hour and a half as we got to the terminal about the time that the previous ferry left. Not that we would have been able to get on it as they were already advertising that the next ferry was 13% full. So we visited the shop area - which unfortunately was mostly closed because they were having a power failure.

We had hoped that we would get to eat at the buffet when we got on the ferry, but we ended up on an older ferry that did not have a buffet area. We spent a good part of the ferry crossing waiting in line for the restaurant so we could get our lunch. Turns out that they now serve "White Spot" food on the ferry so we had burgers and fries for lunch. A long way from the all you can eat buffet, but what can you do.

So we are now home, and all that is left to do is empty the truck and return it. We get a storage locker free for a month from U-Haul so we will be putting the stuff there. We have our work cut out for us tomorrow as we will be doing the unloading then.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 8:42 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Friday, January 27, 2006
The great trek of 2006 - Day Seven
Today started a little later than previous days as we did not get underway until 8am. This was partly due to the fact that I was feeling a little under the weather with coming down with a cold.

We left Yreka, CA with light snow falling and the temperature hovering around the freezing mark. The drive through the mountains was gorgeous as the mountains were covered with a light dusting of newly fallen snow. I have taken some pictures which hopefully will come out and I hope to put them up for people to look at them.

Today was another long day, and we managed to drive through Seattle during the peak of the rush hour. But after having driven through Los Angeles' rush hour, Seattle was not too bad. We ended up at a hotel in Bellingham, which according to Google Maps means that we drove just short of 600 miles, which will leave a very short drive (less than 100 miles) to finally make our way home.
The only hurdle left is crossing the border with all the stuff my wife has inherited.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 10:30 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Thursday, January 26, 2006
The great trek of 2006 - Day Six
There was no entry yesterday as it was a day of rest and relaxation from the great trek. I spent a good part of that day playing a Star Wars video game on the XBox with my great-nephew. Needless to say, I was pretty hopeless in the game though and my nephew was quite gleeful every time he "killed" me.

Onto the trip. It took a little while to get back into the swing of things, but we ended up driving around 600 miles. The weather was quite a change tho'; we went from really nice sunny weather in Los Angeles (high of 19C) to rain and even a little bit of snow in the town of Yreka (low of 1C), still in California.

To make things more fun, I am coming down with a cold - so I had a headache for part of the trip. As the truck is not the most quiet vehicle on the road it was quite painful for a while. But after taking some medication things got better. I did end up going to bed pretty much as soon as we got into the hotel room.

The one thing I did not remember is how many mountain passes we have to go through in Northern California and Oregon. For some reason, I thought that all the mountain driving would be on our way to Los Angeles - I obviously thought that I-5 was closer to the coast than it actually is.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 7:38 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The great trek of 2006 - Day Four
We had another early start for this fourth day of the trek. We got up at 5:30am so we could shower, get dressed and get all the gear loaded back up in the car/truck and then go to the complimentary continental breakfast. We got on the road at 7am. This was another long day as we wanted to make it to our mid-point destination today (510 miles).

Everything worked pretty well, except for getting somewhat lost in the confusing freeway jungle that is Los Angeles. We ended up in some neighbourhood, looked predominantly Hispanic. We finally stopped at Troy's Burger, regrouped and decided on a plan of action that got us back on the right track and led us to our destination.

It is nice to be in a home as opposed to a motel room.

Tomorrow is a day of rest from the great trek. It will give us a chance to recharge our batteries before starting on the northern part of the trek which will finally take us home.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 7:52 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Monday, January 23, 2006
The great trek of 2006 - Day Three
I did not think it was possible to have a fuller day of travel than yesterday, but I was wrong. Both my wife and I were awake at 5am and decided to get up and get underway early. So we were on the road at 6am this morning. And we did not stop (well except for breakfast, lunch, and refueling - oh and to buy new pants) until 7:30 tonight. The end result is that we are now in Tucson, Arizona - just over 700 miles away from where we began!

If you had asked me in the morning if we were capable of driving 700 miles in a day I would have said no. I have done more than that once in my life, but I was in my early 20s then.

We have only 510 miles left to reach the midway point of our trip - where we go visit family. I would say that it is very likely that we will be there tomorrow.

Anyway I better go to bed since there is another full day of travel tomorrow.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 9:41 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Sunday, January 22, 2006
The great trek of 2006 - Day Two
Today was a full day of travel. We left Pelican, LA at 08:21 in the rain and it did not stop raining until after 1pm. At times, the rains were torrential. I think the last time I remember rain falling that hard was the last time we drove through Texas on our way down to Louisiana 12 years ago.

We did make good time however, good enough that we went further than our scheduled stop (Abilene, TX). We are now in Colorado City, TX which is a drive of over 500 miles. For whatever reason, today's drive seemed to me to me easier than yesterday's even though it was almost twice as long.

It looks like we have left the rains behind for the time being so I am looking forward to some sunshine to travel under. The original goal for day 3 was El Paso, TX so we will have to see how far we go. El Paso is still 397 miles away from here.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 7:05 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Saturday, January 21, 2006
The great trek of 2006 - Day One
It has finally begun. We got all the furniture and boxes loaded into the U-Haul truck on Friday and were all set to go this morning. After installing the car-top carrier (we had to wait for the downpour to stop so we would not get drenched installing it). We did get drenched anyway, but only because it was very muggy and even just standing outside I was sweating.

This first day was a short (!) one, with us only driving about 275 miles to Trish's brother's place. The drive was uneventful, and the only sort of surprise is how quickly the U-Haul truck goes through gas. It is only getting 8-9 miles/gallon. But it is apparently what should be expected. I guess I expected a bigger gas tank then. Oh well.

Well I better close as we are about to start on day 2 of the great trek of 2006.

Will try and post tonight!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 6:08 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
One more soul in heaven
"And with your final heartbeat Kiss the world goodbye Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and Fly to Jesus Fly to Jesus Fly to Jesus and live!" Chris Rice, Untitled Hymn

My mother-in-law passed away today after a battle with liver cancer. My wife had been at her side for the last 6 weeks of her life. We are all flying down to attend the funeral and my wife and I will be driving back home afterwards. After 6 weeks apart it will give us almost 2 weeks by ourselves to get re-acquainted.

I advised work of the situation after I found out that she had passed away. I had told them ahead of time that I would be leaving for the funeral and the drive back, so it really was just a matter of letting them know that now was the time and that I would not be back for a month. I get 5 days off for bereavement leave, and I will take an additional 15 days of vacation.

Laugh on Glory's side, Mrs.G, and hopefully we will see each other again at the pearly gates.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 10:24 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Catching up is hard to do
I have been trying to adjust to a new schedule and not having much luck so far. Since it is only my younger daughter and I left at home at the moment, I get to be the one to drive her to work in the morning - to her job that starts at 6am! So, since I normally get up around 6:45am for work, it seemed to me like I would just be losing sleep if I just drove her to work and then came back home - just to go back to work an hour or so later...

I therefore decided that I would match her shift at work. Which means that I get up at 4:45am so I can take a shower before going to work. The one thing that I have not really adjusted is the time I go to bed. This week so far I have gone to bed at 10:45 and 11pm, far short of my ideal bedtime of 9:30pm. Needless to say, I have been dragging since I have been usually short at least 1.5 hours of sleep every night. And since I normally updated my blog between 11pm and midnight before, this particular task has fallen by the wayside.

To catch everyone up on the car situation: I arranged for a ride to and from church on Sunday morning and then rented a car so I could get around to try and figure out how to get the battery recharged. Turned out that Wal-Mart does offer such a service: for $12 they will test and charge your battery. So I took the battery there and left it overnight. I picked it up on Monday during my lunch hour and installed it back in the car - which started immediately when I tested it after the battery install. That meant that I could return the rental car and only have to pay for one day's rental.

Today during my lunch hour I went to BCAA and ordered a Triptik - although it seems unlikely that it will be ready in time as they need 10 business days to fulfill the order. I did manage to get Tour Books for all the states we will be driving through; missing however is Southern California as they were out, and Louisiana as I did not think we would need it. I might just try the Broadmead office tomorrow to see if they have them.

I also took advantage of the fact that I was at BCAA to get my passport picture done, that way when my new birth certificate shows up I can go immediately to the passport office to order my new passport. It has been almost a month now since I ordered the birth certificate so it should show up any day as it is the turn-around they advertise.

Good day!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 3:49 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Saturday, January 07, 2006
More car fun
I was not going to recount the whole incident as I have already mentioned to pretty much everyone who reads this blog (yes, I have talked to that many people) but it would appear that I did anyway.

Suffice it to say that it turns out that our car likes to drain batteries. The car died while on my way to a store in downtown Victoria. I thought it was overheating (the temperature gauge was on the high side although it never went outside the "normal" range. So I walked to the store and back and I was finally able to get it restarted about 90 minutes after it died.

Then I did something stupid: instead of going straight home I assumed that everything was back to normal and went to another store. After spending about 30 minutes in that store I came back out and the car would not start. So I decided to give it more time and went for dinner. When I came back it still would not start so I walked to yet another store and came back after another 30 minutes. That is when it became obvious that it was the battery that was preventing me from starting the car. So I called a tow truck to get a boost. The car started immediately.

The car is now in the garage at home and, although I have not yet tried, I feel quite certain that it will not start as the battery is drained enough that it cannot start the car. Only thing left to figure out is how to get the battery recharged.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 11:59 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Time wasting extraordinaire
I have not been updating my blog for the last few days as my younger daughter and I have been working on the hardest riddle on the internet. We are currently on level 16 - there are at least 84 levels! We have spent a lot of time on some of those riddles. We did not go to bed until 3am last night (this morning?)

Got to talk to my wife yesterday (Love you, Sweetheart!) and we even played a few games of Showdown Solitaire. While we were pretty evenly matched on the number of games won - 9 to 8 in her favour - she left me in the dust in the number of points accumulated (difference not mentioned so as to not depress me any further :) ). Her mother is continuing her slow decline and it is taking its toll on both my wife and her sister.

Work continues to be frustrating; we have a continuing problem which can probably only be diagnosed by getting some expensive test equipment. It has now been over 6 months since we have started the process of obtaining the equipment. It would appear that next week we will finally have it in our hands. In the mean time, the backup reliability has been fairly poor; not what you want to hear when you are talking about backups.

Good day!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 11:38 AM | Permalink | 1 comments
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Weary Wednesday
After staying up until 1:30am to give a ride home to my older daughter, the lack of sleep caught up with me this morning and I felt like crap when I finally woke up at 9am. So I sent an email to work telling them I was not feeling well and was taking a sick day. I then spent the next 30 minutes exchanging emails with my co-worker who wanted to know this, that, and the other. I started by using my Blackberry to respond, but it soon became clear that she could type much faster on a keyboard and I was falling behind on my replies. So I fired up the laptop and got caught up that way. Which was a bad thing it turned out because I never got back to sleep but rather just aimlessly surfed the web until noon.

Since I was not going to get back to sleep, and I was feeling somewhat better, I decided to go downstairs and have lunch (chicken noodle soup). I then proceeded to waste the whole afternoon again aimlessly surfing the web.

I (technically we since all those here at home did) talked to my mother-in-law; she sounded so very tired when she talked and she also was slurring her words a little. But we did get to chat for a little while. Then we video-conferenced with my wife for an all too short conversation. She then went to bed.

And we went out to Boston Pizza to "celebrate" the fact that it was my older daughter's last evening with us for 3 months as she is going away on a course. It is of course great that she is continuing her education, but it will not stop the fact that she will be missed.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 10:48 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Monday, January 02, 2006
Statutory holiday
I had the day off today since yesterday was New Year's Day. So I took it easy all day. I started by not getting up until 11am. And then plopped myself in front of the computer and played games at Pogo.

Then went to Wal-Mart to pick up my daughter after her shift; it was a zoo there! You would think it was the day before Christmas or something. Then I came back home and did some more computer stuff - reading my mail this time. Then I took my other daughter to her work.

I did get to talk to my wife tonight (Love you, sweetheart!). I'm sorry that she is having such a hard time dealing with the approaching death of her mother. A lot of people are praying for her as well as for mother.

Good night!
 
posted by Christian Thibodeau at 9:04 PM | Permalink | 0 comments