I wound up with a MacBook Air - I got the 126GB hard drive version, I have a 2TB Toshiba external drive, I was hoping to use it.
The Mac blew the door off the Lenovo, they both boot quickly. The toshiba was recognized immediately. I copied the data off of it to the Mac, then I created 4 partitions on the Toshiba and formatted it (2 in Apple format and one in FAT).
Lightroom runs really well on the Mac, I am finally happy.
I really miss doing this blog, a person kind of needs to write one, well at least I do. I have been busy though. First off, overtime at work, I have worked a lot of it. I managed to save some money, get a Mac and a new camera and best of all, I have paid off a bill. I paid off $4000 in the last two months, I have a bit more to go, but nothing past April.
In January my car got hit in a parking lot. The guy that hit me fessed up to it and he arranged with a friend who owns a body show to fix it. Well that was fun, the friend was kind of busy and the repair kept getting put off. It was finally fixed, just as I was about to settle, take the money and get a newer car. The collision caused my wheel alignment to go out of whack. They fixed it and now the car drives better.
I did manage to drive the motorcycle for about a week while the car was getting fixed. But then the cold weather came back. I had to walk to work a couple of days. It was not too bad, but not something I would do everyday.
I am President of the Local for the Union. I actually would have preferred to be VP, but that wasn't an option. The previous administration and their friends did not accept the results. They have been doing just about all they can to screw me up for the past 3 months (I was elected in December). One thing they don't accept is that the rest of the members voted for me. So they have spent a lot of time trying to make my life tough and make me quit.
I guess in their thinking that means it will go back to the way it was and there'll be Peace of Earth. I think they missed the point, the membership didn't vote for them. That may be an indicator of something.
I have been dealing with Management on a lot of issues and I am keeping my own. Even 'old guard' can't complain about that. But they seem to be stuck in a rut. They don't think anyone can learn the job, it is something that you are groomed for.
Well, some things I have learned in the last 3 months. The grooming must have gone off the tracks as there were serious issues with Finances, nothing criminal (thank god!). The previous admin had a Treasurer that quit own employer and then went somewhere else. They didn't replace her, as she was a good friend. She took the job down to part, part, part-time. The first inkling was stale dated cheques. She didn't have time to go to the bank, so they had to be re-issued. I think there was one on it's third re-issue. This of course screwed up the Year End statements - so they didn't file them.
At the meeting where I was elected I asked why a payment to our local was 2 years late - we'd get this payment every year, so the next one would be late too. The explanation had a lot of 'you knows' in it. The other excuse was the person at the other office was too busy.
It was all BS. The reason for the late payment of fees was the Treasurer not doing her job.
As it appears that I am not going anywhere, my VP and Secretary are basically telling me that they no longer want to be on the Executive. The Secretary has actually stopped doing her job. I never knew Unions were so political - strange when Management is easier to work with.
I have been going on courses, one was a couple of weeks ago in Banff. That was fun, I went with my son. We spent three days there and even had a beer at the Banff Springs Hotel. On the way back, a tire blew out on Highway 2. I appears to have been related to the wheel alignment issue I mentioned before (this was before the car was in the shop). I had to drive from Red Deer to Edmonton on the spare, we got to see all the small towns along the way as we had to take highway 2A.
I have been hanging out at The Druid a lot lately, more so than anyplace else. Its great to go to a place where everyone knows your name. It makes other bars pale in comparison. At the Druid they actually take the time to get to know their customers and they come back, over and over. What a concept.
I was offered a job in Ottawa. I have interviewed for it and they were trying to figure out a way to move me there. It has been a month an nothing seems to be happening. I asked the Manager for an update over a week ago and I have heard nothing. I thought it was a good sign, but now I think the sun is setting on the opportunity.
Today I woke up and started Spring cleaning. There was a lot of stuff that I had been putting off. I was in 'Moving Soon Reality'. I had got another bed, as the house has 5 bedrooms. This was a Queen sized bed and would not go up to the second floor, I swear the house was built by shorter people, there was not enough clearance in the stairwell. That means it had to go in the second bedroom on the main floor. That was my computer room and extra dresser room.
For a month the second room has been a wreck, the mattress and box spring were on end and I had to move them to do stuff in the room. I was thinking, I am moving, no sense taking the desk, dressers etc out and set up the room. Well today I got tired of it. I have the desk out, it has to go upstairs. The computer is already up there. Two dressers have to go up there too. This is an old house, a Queen sized bed in a room leaves enough room to walk around the bed. I need to recruit someone to help with the lifting.
After doing all that, I mopped and vacuumed. the house actually looks half decent again, except the dresser is in the hall way :(
After all the cleaning I had breakfast, did a pile of computer stuff (which I would not allow myself to do until the other stuff got done). All of my photos for the past 8 years are available to Lightroom on the Mac now.
I took the new camera out to my favourite spot the other night and took some pictures. I changed the ISO to 1000 for the second one, the first one was on 200. If I go there again I will up to 3200.
I took the last one today in Elk Island Park - the bison were hiding
