Settled Into An Unsettled Situation

So we've landed in Victoria, found our place and spent the better part of a day dealing with the wonderful situation that is being completely unsettled.

Honestly, we shouldn't have spent those extra two days in Vancouver, as there is just so much running around that comes with moving to yet another new house that needs to get done, that getting here Monday afternoon would have made much more sense.

Good ol' hindsight...

The Positives

• Landlords are great, as is their dog Chili; he and Luke are already best friends
• Starbucks is around the corner - perfect distance to be a reward at the end of a walk...
• Sushi joints everywhere
• Internet and such is all set up and super fast
• House is going to work just fine, once our stuff arrives

The Negatives

• Stuff isn't here yet, so we don't know for sure if everything is going to fit
• Car needed fixing the minute we got here; nothing like an unexpected $300 to kick off a move
• Chapters is miles away
• Uncertainty doesn't sit well with the missus, but she's doing okay

The most interesting bit of uselessness thus far has to be the design of our suite. Monica, if you're reading this, do not take it as a slight on you and Derek... like I said at the start, you're awesome.

But whoever turned this basement into a rental unit was certainly smoking some crack when they decided it would be a good idea to leave half a staircase intact in the middle of our main living area.

The ceiling is all closed in, you can't see where the rest of the steps would lead, yet we've still got ten steps leading to absolutely nowhere taking up what would be an ideal place for our big-ass couch in the middle of our living room.

I suppose I could use them to do step aerobics or something...

Hopefully, everything gets here on Saturday as scheduled, so Sarah and I can get stuff organized and I can spend Sunday alternating between unpacking and watching football, because you know the TV is going to be the first thing I hook up.

If not, be prepared for a whole lot of entries here on iBlog, because there is only so much time I can spend staring at the stairs...

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10 Things I Learned This Week

Week #1 in the new digs has been hectic, entertaining and a little nerve rattling at times. It has also been educational and here, as always, is what I learned.

1. A Bar is a Bar is a Bar

Filled out all my Kelsey's paperwork Wednesday and dove in head first working a training shift Thursday. Low and behold, pouring beer is the same in British Columbia as it is in Ontario. Who'da thunk it? Right now, the place is a ghost town, but I'm getting hours and that's the key for right now. The people will come... hopefully.

2. Making Sushi is Easier Than You Think

So we learned last night and let me tell you, it was delicious. An old friend of Sarah's and his girlfriend gave us the tutorial and helped us down the loads of rolls that amounted from four of us spreading rice on nori for the better part of an hour. Now, our rolls didn't look quite as nice as the ones you'd pay to have made for you at your local sushi bar, but this was our first time. Like everything else, the first time is kinda dicey and you get better with every try.

3. Stuff Everywhere

The truck arrived yesterday afternoon with all our goods and now there is stuff everywhere in our condo. That's not such a bad thing, except that, well, where the hell do we put this crap? With the landlord's gear still sitting around here for another week or so, it's kind of hard to fully establish our setup with bedrooms full of furniture and cupboards full of leftover food. Good thing we never eat at the dining room table - it's now become the storage center.

4. Still...

This place is really starting to get that home feeling. The kitchen is full of our stuff, the dog has finally realized that this is his house and not just some place we're shacking up for a week and we're all ready to get started on the office once the bunk beds go. We've got the new desk, some artwork for the walls and a whiteboard so we can continue to pretend that we're an organized couple that adheres to schedules.

5. UFC 90: Letdown

Not only did I have a horrible night predicting the fights - I think I managed three winners on the whole card - but to have the Anderson Silva / Patrick Cote fight end the way it did was an utter disappointment. Cote became the first man to make it to the third round with "The Spider," only to blow out his knee advancing on Silva to open the round. One thing everyone needs to take away from last night though is that Thiago Alves is legit! He hammered Josh Koscheck from start to finish.

6. No Word of a Lie...

There are deer everywhere. I know I've mentioned it over and over and Sarah has started to think I'm a total nutcase because I'm so fascinated by these stupid creatures, but they're literally everywhere and it still amazes me. They don't even flinch when you approach them. In fact, they turn and face you, sizing up whether they want to take you on or not. I need to get over it and I know it, but for one more week, I'm still awestruck by Bambi's peeps roaming my neighbourhood.

7. Smoke Free

10 days, no darts. That's the longest stretch in some time and I actually haven't had a single moment where I've thought, "You know, I wish I had a smoke right about now." Not one. How awesome is that? Now I just have to get back to the exercise portion of things and we'll see if I can't shed this spare tire that resides around my midsection.

8. The Big 3-0 Doesn't Bother Me

I was asked last night if I'm nervous or scared about turning 30 on Thursday and I thought I would share my answer with you here. I've got the girl of my dreams, a career aspiration that I'm passionate about, another job that I actually enjoy that keeps some money coming in, a great dog and a killer place. I actually love the way my life is right now and hitting some supposed aging milestone couldn't change that.

9. Back at the Virtual Felt

Since we're not quite at the point of setting up the office - stupid bunkbeds - I've taken to wasting time back at PokerStars on Sarah's computer. Cool fact: she installed it herself because the future Mrs. Kyte likes her some poker too! Seriously, I got me the best woman in the world - we spent the afternoon unpacking watching football and the WSOP.

10. We're Watching 13 Going on 30

Honestly, I love Jen Garner; she's cute, she's fun, she's usually entertaining. This thing? Horrible. Might actually crack my Top 10 for Worst Movies Ever. Cute little premise, but I mean really... horrible. This is me returning the favour for an afternoon of football and poker.

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Pretty Busy Saturday... Not Sure If We'll Have Enough Time

Today is my Frank the Tank day.

Well, I don't think I'm going to be jumping on a beer bong later tonight and eventually ruining my relationship with Sarah, but still, we've got a pretty big Saturday planned.

First of all, our stuff should be here within the next two hours. That means that before noon today (this was written at 9:30) everything we've been waiting for will get here and we'll have a living room full of boxes that need to be unpacked.

The arrival of all our stuff leads to the second activity of the day - returning the rental car. Our stuff includes our car, Vic, so we won't be needing the 2000 Taurus we're been spinning around for the last week and change, so we'll drive into Cranbrook to drop it off and get Vic his first taste of BC roadways.

Since bombing into Cranbrook actually takes around half an hour, you don't go into town and not get stuff done and we're no different.

Groceries were grabbed yesterday, but like everyone else we tend to forget things everytime, so we need to pick up some steaks for later in the week. We also need to grab some goodies for tonight too.

See, after only a week in town, we've already got friends!

Actually, Sarah has a friend and he and his girlfriend have invited us to dinner at their house. We're making sushi!

They've lived here for a couple years and Sarah has literally know him her whole life, so we'll be picking up a couple bottles of Sake and Pinot Grigio to bring with us and who knows what happens from there...

One thing is for certain: there'll be no streaking since Kimberley is small enough for everyone to know everyone else...

Regardless of how the night ends up, I'm looking forward to our nice, busy Saturday.

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