Here's your hat....

Well after uprooting the entire family and dragging us to a an area of Canada where the main entertainment consists of smoking (cigarettes and guns) and gasoline (producing or buying a toy that requires copious quantities of the stuff), Phil's company has decided that they no longer have a position in the company for him. If you would have asked how I felt about that two weeks ago there would have been a lot of of negative blasting, now I've mellowed to a sour bile that hurts the throat. I was at the point where I just wanted to find a nice muddy hole under a rock and curl up for several months. So ends one chapter.

As the song says I get by with a little help from my friends or in this case from relatives. Phil's sister-in-law Roberta seems to know everybody in town. Well not everybody but if you give her three names of who the person knows she can staple that person to the correct branch of the convoluted web of the Grande Prairie family tree. Sooo.... one of her friends, (also a client, Roberta does nails), had a friend, who had a brother-in-law (or something like that) who was looking for a safety guy at his company.
So after the domino connection and two interviews Phil has a new job. He starts August 5th. His old job end August 1st. I hope he doesn't get bored with all his time off. His new job title is Corporate Manager of Quality and Safety. Sounds pretty impressive doesn't it. I had a heck of time remembering it until I took the first two letters from each word Co-Ma-Qu-Sa. Sound it out. Sounds a bit like kamikaze doesn't it. Let hope that it is not prophetic.

On my job front, through a gross misuse of semantics, it turns out I am not making near the amount of money I thought. When I was hired I was told I would get 15% of new sales. Great. I even double checked this a few time with my boss, "So I get to keep my full commission?" Yep. I get to keep my full 15%. How it actually works is the company get a commission from each sale and I get 15% of that. So when I thought I was making $100 I was only make $15. When you factor in taxes when I thought I was taking home $50 I'm getting $7.50. So my first commission cheque will be roughly $45.00. Big f**cking whoop. I'm glad I came in early every day worked through lunch hours and left late. We don't get over time all the extra time I put in was to get my commission roughly 2+ hours a day x 5d x 12 weeks. You do the math. I'm just glad I only had the money spent in head and not on credit. Needless to say I'm back on the teeter-totter on whether I really want this soul sucking job or not. (Wait until I tell you what I really think).

Not a very cheery blog but I was finally able to get a bunch of stuff off my chest. I've wanted to blog a lot more but Phil asked me not to. He wanted all the dust to settle before a blasted the company. I will say the muddy rock is still sounding pretty good.

Storm

We had our first thunder storm of the season. It didn't last long but it was welcome. I must say I love thunderstorms. How they change the temperature so suddenly, the gusting unpredictable winds, the abrupt rain showers, and of course the thrill of flash and crash. The unexpected blinding light then counting the moments waiting for the boom and rumbles.

Well another weekend waiting for people who said they were coming and then never showed up. Sheri was suppose to spend three to four days with us to clear up space at her house for wedding guests (her roommates are getting married). She never showed or even bothered to call to say she wasn't coming. I'll bug her after the wedding. I didn't think it was worth getting her upset about before it. After and all bets are off. It wasn't really that big a deal. More of annoyance making me feel taken for granted. Our guests have just been missing out on some awesome meals and appies that we've had planned out. Phil has been working around the yard and I have been getting in the way just often enough that he is grateful when I head back into the house to do something else.
My dad called. He was kind of beating around the bush, when I finally said, "Dad you sound like someone just shot your dog. What's up?" It turns out the ever since his prostate cancer his PSA count has been going up. PSA is a protein manufactured in the prostate and virtually no other organ. PSA is a good marker for the success of prostate cancer surgery. If they remove a patient's prostate and all of the cancer was inside, then the PSA should go to very low levels. If some cancer cells had escaped from the prostate, then the PSA will remain measurable or become measurable and continue to rise after a few years. As a practical matter, PSA readings over 0.5 usually indicate residual or recurrent cancer following surgery. Well Dad's PSA has been rising and now it is over 2. So he gets to spend a fun filled summer in Kelowna at the cancer clinic under going radiation treatments. I'm trying to stay positive. He's a tough stubborn old fart (said with love, the only thing he would argue about is the old part) but at the same time I am worried about him. I hope this doesn't take to much of a toll on him...and Vera (his wife). This is where being so physically distant is tough.

July Long

We had a pretty laid back long week-end. My sister had said she was coming down so we didn't make any plans. She ended up not coming so we just hung around. Phil's uncle ended up spending Saturday night with us, we had a good visit so that was good. We spent the week-end exploring the area for swimming holes and camping spots. I've been dying to get a shot of a fox so when Phil spotted this little guy I was pretty excited. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to duck back down into his den or run to his mother a few meters away. His indecision was great for me as I got a few good shots of him. The poor thing would flinch every time the shutter would snap.We did a circle back road trip. I was really hoping to get some shots of a moose but they are very elusive. For something that's the size of truck they can be surprisingly hard to find. I did manage to find some very pretty wild flowers.We ended up down at the Smokey river where I was gathering some rocks for office. Yes you heard that right I have a rock fetish and I don't have any rocks at work. So I'm wandering around, hunched over, when one of the rock jumped about two feet straight up in the air and scared the crap out of me. For a little guy he had amazing jumping power. He was completely unimpressed with the amount of attention I was giving him. I, once my heart slowed down, was delighted to have him around.


We still don't have any real news on the job front that we can share at this time. Hopefully by the end of next week we will know something. I'll keep you posted as things happen.