Back from the Dead

Hello Internet. So we meet again.

First off, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I suck. I've been away for so long that I forgot all about you. And I'm sure you forgot about me.

So many exciting things have happened in the past year. For a blog that was supposed to be updated daily, I really screwed up. You know how it is. Life gets busy, and you don't have the time to write, and then you forget.

I can't promise I'll be posting daily. I can promise that I'll try to drop by more often. Of course, there's a selfish motive behind what I'm saying. I hope that trying to keep this blog updated will also push me to do things I can write about. No one wants to read forty pages of posts all about menial boring stuff. To write about exciting things, I have to do exciting things. So consider this self-motivation.

I'll start off by giving a quick rundown of highlights from the past year.

I left my job in Detroit. The entire experience was something new, and exciting, but sometimes in the wrong ways. I learned valuable lessons about office politics, and dealing with clashes with management, and a whole slew of other lessons. It would take an entirely new blog to deal with it all.

Leaving the job was a new experience, because when I came back, I found things had changed while I was gone. Friends had gotten jobs, found and lost love, and so on. I had to do a lot of catching up, and it was a painful lesson that life moves on with or without you. I felt like I had been asleep for a year, and had woken up to a world slightly different.

Integrating back in was difficult at first. People change, including me. Some friends I had trouble getting to know again. Others, who had been acquaintances before, grew closer.

I think I'm only just getting back into the groove of things now. At first, when I came back, it felt like I was dreaming, since Detroit seemed so much realer, but now, Detroit is the dream, and I'm waking back up.

The bottom line is, I'm much happier. It was an awesome experience, but I'm glad to be home.

A few months after I came back, I started a new job with a local engineering company. It really highlighted the differences between Canadian and US labour. By that, I mean procedure, but also in mentality. While my job in America focused on profits, this company focuses on customer satisfaction and integrity.

One of the biggest changes was going from a salaried position to an hourly wage. I found myself being much happier with the increased freedom - typically, salary offers a lot of freedom, but I also have bankable hours now. That means that any overtime I work, I can save as vacation hours instead. If I work eight hours overtime in one week, I can take a full paid day off the next week, or whenever I choose. I have over 50 hours saved up, which is basically a full week of vacation! Awesome!

I moved back home with my family, but I'm searching for an apartment of my own - this time, I want to buy instead of rent. I'd like to live somewhere new. My company is opening new offices all over North America, which gives me a great opportunity to fulfill that goal.

Other than that, I've started geocaching as well! If you haven't heard of it, it's a great activity that involves searching for 'treasure chests' hidden by people all over the world. Here's the website: http://www.geocaching.com/. Basically, you use a GPS device to follow coordinates to a hidden 'cache', which is usually a camouflaged box with all sorts of trinkets inside. Check out the details on the site, it's really fun, and good exercise too.

I'll be updating as frequently as I can. There's a lot coming down the pipeline, so stay tuned!