Tag: Bolognese

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 152: Vancouver, BC – Plenty More Snow

Kim & Curtis Hale

Snow

We woke up to even more snow this morning. This was cool, except for the fact the bridge we walk on was completely frozen so we had to walk carefully on the way to work.

Curtis has had quite a bad cold since yesterday, so the -8 temperature didn’t help on the way to work!

Curtis’ Day

Curtis continued to feel rotten all day, but did get a lot done. He fixed a couple of other migrations that were causing him problems, so he got those completed.

He also got a lot of tickets done and had a team meeting.

At 16:00, Curtis left the office to head home and relax as he really wasn’t feeling great.

Kim’s Day

Kim caught up on emails from the weekend and saved a few invoices to start her day.

Just before 10 Kim headed out to look for mini wine glasses and a few bottles of bubbly for a celebration in the morning. When she got back she set it up and all the offices in the company celebrated! It was a really fun morning!

Kim then spent some of her morning trying to.fix an issue with someone’s profile on the travel booking site. After that she had to sort out the postage machine, which also required her calling for support for that!

After both of these Kim ran a raffle to win one of two broken full espresso coffee machines! To ensure fairness Kim had someone else draw out the names, which was lucky as one of her colleagues won!

Kim then spent some time remaking the floor plan as it didn’t save from last time.

She then had a chat with a colleague from a different team in regards to their desk set up, so Kim made a few adjustments and spent some time researching other things that may be able to help!

On the way home Kim stopped at a few shops, one was to pick up some essential oils to put into the humidifier to help Curtis with his cold!

Weekly Clean!

We did our weekly clean this evening, after Kim got home from doing a bit of shopping.

Kim then made a veggie bolognese which was excellent.

We watched some TV and Curtis relaxed and slept at a good time with hopes that he’ll be better tomorrow as he has a hockey game!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

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Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 123: Vancouver, BC – Shoreline Cleanup

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis made further headway with his project, investigating how to setup the folder structure within it, as well as looking at the best ways to do permissions and best way to migrate.

After a while of doing this, Curtis did some tickets, helped a couple of people out around the office and then spent way longer than he thought he would collating a list of the top 10 most expensive software packages the company uses. This is to help them see where costs can be cut.

Lunch came around quickly and once that was done, Curtis donned some nice plastic gloves and along with his colleagues, headed out to pick up some litter! This used 2 hours of his volunteering time for the quarter, but it was quite fun, team building as well as very good for the environment.

All together, in around 2 hours, Curtis and his team collected 12 bags of trash!

For more on the shoreline cleanup, check out their website here – https://www.shorelinecleanup.ca/

As a reward, they all got an ice cream cone from McDonald’s.

Curtis got back to work, did a couple of things and then changed a total of 8 batteries in some uninteruptable power supplies, with the help of a colleague, which brought him to the end of the day.

Kim’s Day

This morning Kim had the second half of her new hire orientation so spent most of the morning at home, remotely in the meeting. After the meeting Kim called her friend back in the UK to congratulate him on passing his exam! Then Kim caught up on some emails from the morning and updated a game for tomorrow new hire meet and eat! She also placed the order forr todays pizza.
When she got in Kim continued to catch up on emails, focusing on going over the catering and making sure its all correct and up to date. The weekly pizza arrived so Kim popped that into the meeting and continued on with ad hoc tasks before having some of the leftover pizza with colleagues for lunch!
After lunch Kim and her teammate sat down to go over which reports they were each tackling for the project.

Then Kim organised a delivery to the Ontario office before having her 1-2-1. Somehow Kim has been with the company now for 3 months already! It has flown by. The 1-2-1 went really well and it was all good feedback from both sides, Kim is enjoying her job so much and it sounds like people are happy to have her about!

After the meeting Kim was late into another meeting, which she had totally forgotten about, so she sat down with another team mate to go over the remote meet and eat to ensure that they are both on the same page for tomorrow!

After those meetings Kim dropped the boxes off to FedEx and then a letter off to Canada post before heading back into the office to send out emails requesting info in regards to the reporting project.

NHL 20 Early Access

We chilled out when we got home and Curtis purchased EA Access, meaning he could access the new NHL game 7 days early!

Curtis played this for a while, and then we made spaghetti bolognese and watched some YouTube videos, followed by the newest Suits episode.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 38: Vancouver,BC – A New Project, Baking ‘Brookies’ & 19000 Views!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis got to work, grabbed some coffee and an orange juice and went through his many emails (mostly spam) from the weekend.

He then swapped someone over to their new laptop and stored away the old one for safe keeping.

Curtis had a few new tickets come in and people reply to some from last week, so he managed to keep perfectly busy.

At 13:00, instead of lunch Curtis had a training session for the new HR system, which he learned for about 45 minutes, after which he had lunch.

After lunch, Curtis didn’t have too much going on, so he reset a couple of laptops and set them up ready to be reused.

Curtis finished these and then was asked to think about changing the procurement process and possibly automate a lot of it also, so Curtis looked into that for the rest of the afternoon.

Kim’s Day

When Kim got in to work, she went through her emails and got stuck in for the day. Kim then went and sat with the people from HR as this week she will be learning some of their processes so as to be able to lend a hand as and when needed.

Just as Kim got comfortable, something came up that she needed reception’s help with, so she went back over and sat there for an hour or so. Kim was going to head back and then the weekly fruit arrived so she helped put it all away before heading back to HR.

Kim then went into a meeting about a specific application that is used and really got some good knowledge on how to use it and what its used for.

Then was lunch! Kim had to run a few errands over lunch so she set off on her little adventures and then ate her sandwich in the kitchen area when she got back. It was nice to get out of the office for a bit in the middle of the day.

When Kim got back off of lunch she was doing some self teaching about the processes and applications used in her new role.

Kim then headed into another meeting and learned more about this mornings application. This was more in depth than before and Kim was able to process some paperwork too.

Kim spent the last few hours learning about the company and doing some research into the company’s background. 10 minutes before she was due to leave the laptop ran out of juice and died!

Kim got a cool photo when she left the office as the weather was beautiful.

Costco Again

We visited Costco on the way home. Kim got her actual membership card and then we looked at getting a few things but they weren’t actually that cheap, so we walked home.

Forgotten Purse

Once we home, Kim went back out to get some baking ingredients. Once Kim got to the shop, she realised she forgot her purse so Curtis had to take that up to her.

We got what we needed to get from the shop and came home.

Bolognese Day 2

We had bolognese with a side salad again today, because we had some left over.

Brookies

After dinner, we watched some TV, including Lucifer & Chernobyl and then Kim made brookies (brownie cookies). Kim is taking them to work tomorrow.

The Start
The End

19000 Views!

Today, we also hit over 19000 blog views in total! An exciting number, just under 1000 to go until we hit 20000!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 37: Vancouver,BC – Croque Madame, More Jeans & Homemade Bolognese

Kim & Curtis Hale

Croque Madame

We woke up and Kim got up to make breakfast. We decided we wanted a croque madame, so Kim lovingly made those, with our Norwegian cheese and some delicious ham inside.

Xbox E3 Conference & Jeans

Whilst Kim got ready to go out, Curtis watched the Xbox E3 conference whilst chatting with some friends online.

Kim went out whilst Curtis was still watching this and went to the city to find some jeans. Kim’s jeans had recently broken so she desperately needed some new ones.

Kim found a pair eventually, but they weren’t exactly what she wanted. They will work for now.

Coffee

Curtis went in to town to meet Kim and go for a coffee!

We got there and had a place in mind, but it turns out it was closed, so we had to find somewhere else. We decided on Faubourg Paris.

This French cafe seemed alright but we think it had seen better days and thought it was more upscale then it is.

We each got a cappucino and relaxed whilst we drank it.

Faubourg Paris | Vancouver,BC

Rating:- 6/10

Homemade Bolognese

We came back home via a quick stop at the shop and watched some TV as we weren’t quite hungry enough for dinner yet.

After the one episode though, we both became rather peckish, so we started dinner.

Kim made a great homemade bolognese and we had it with pasta and a side salad.

We finished the evening with a beer and some more TV and then got ready for work tomorrow.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Kerikeri

Place 68 – Day 9: Kerikeri – Rainbow Falls

Kim & Curtis Hale

We were up a bit later today, but it was also our last day of this HelpX.

We had about 1/3 of the outside of the house remaining to clean and the same amount of windows inside and out also.

We got all of this done and then had some pesto pasta and watched some TV. After lunch, we got all sun lotion’d up and got in the car to go down to Rainbow Falls, which is a waterfall just down the road from where we are.

We walked down to the waterfall and decided not to go into the water as it was full if very slippery rocks and quite dirty.

We did notice a lot of rocks down stream, so we walked down there instead. We found an area to enter the rocks and then walked down them. We got pretty far, navigating the rocks and trying not to fall in the water.

We eventually ran out of rocks near us so we walked all the way back to the waterfall and headed to the car.

We drove to the supermarket and got an ice cream which was much needed in the hot weather! We also got a doughnut from a local doughnut shop.

Once our host got home, she got our cheese and crackers, so we sat out on the sun eating cheese! A great end to the day.

We then relaxed and talked about our days and then our host made us a delicious spaghetti bolognese!

We watched some of the latest Kong film and then went to bed.

We will probably be leaving here around 10:00-11:00 tomorrow morning.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

Auckland

Places 49 – Day 309: Auckland – Sundae Treat

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day;

The power was back on at Curtis’ office, so he went there in the morning.

Curtis got to the office, made a coffee and then started working on a Mac that he had been given. He was trying to move files from the Mac to an external hard drive, which any other time is easy, but it just would not do it so that took most of the day, too.

Curtis had two phone calls in the morning also, one lasting an hour and then one right after for 25 minutes! A busy morning for sure.

After the busy morning, the afternoon was less busy, until Curtis started to look at setting up a USB print server, which didn’t seem to work and before he knew it, it was the end of the day for Curtis.

Both of us;

We had a nice simple spaghetti Bolognese for dinner along with the remaining wine.

After dinner, Kim popped out to get a free McDonald’s sundae each which we got from the monopoly promotion. We then watched the Great British Bake Off whilst eating these with some strawberries!

We are off up north with Josh and Danielle for the long weekend, so it should be another interesting weekend!

We packed this evening so we are ready for going tomorrow evening.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

Auckland

Place 49 – Day 299: Auckland – Baked Potatoes!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis got to work incredibly early and spent half the morning doing admin.

14 laptops arrived which Curtis then had to setup and configure, as well as install some more hardware inside. This took up all of the morning!

Curtis finished lunch and then had a remote session to complete. He luckily managed to complete that as he was having trouble connecting last week.

Most of the afternoon we then taken up by a possible virus on a server which Curtis then had to look into and resolve.

Both of us;

Once we were both home, we just had to go for a walk as the weather was incredible! We walked up to the shop to buy some baked beans for dinner.

For such a long time, Kim has wanted a baked potato for dinner, and we finally found a big enough potato to do so! Curtis got a ‘kumara’ (Sweet potato) for his.

We got back from our walk and had a baked potato with cheese and beans.

We then watched the first episode of the new Apprentice series and a few YouTube videos before going to sleep.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

Auckland

Place 49 – Day 298: Auckland – Tāwharanui Beach & Fish Burgers!

Kim & Curtis Hale

We had a nice 10+ hour sleep last night, which made up for early start on Saturday!

We woke up at 09:30 and had a spot of breakfast before we got ready for the day and jumped in the car.

Josh drove us to Tāwharanui Beach, which is a beautiful surf beach! He weather wasn’t that great at times, but the rain held off and we have some great fun. We walked on the beach and onto the rocks, where there is a few rock pools which are beautiful clear water!

Kim jumped into The above pool, which was apparently very cold!

After the rocks, we went back and off them and up a little hull where we got a really nice view of the beach.

We left the beach and went back to Josh’s grandparents’ house, where we had some lunch. They made us some beer battered snapper burgers and battered sausages, which was excellent!

We then got packed up and got on the way home, but not before stopping at an the old ‘cementworks’ building, which is ruins of an old cement factory, which was pretty cool to see!

We drove on from here and headed towards home, stopping for an ice cream on the way back.

We had quite a bit of traffic on the way home, but we got back home at 16:15.

We popped down to the shop to get stuff for the week, and then went to McDonald’s for a coffee as Curtis got one for free through the monopoly promotion.

We got home and did a few chores, doing laundry, making lunch and a few other things.

We then booked some more accommodation and then had some leftover spaghetti Bolognese for dinner, which watching some YouTube videos.

After this, we got ready for bed and spoke to Kim’s family regarding the trip.

Back to work tomorrow, which is a shame as we’ve had such a fun weekend!

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

Auckland

Place 49 – Day 296: Auckland – Post Modern Jukebox

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day;

The start to Curtis’ day was great! He actually remembered his keys do was able to go to work.

After he got to work, he spoke with his family back in the UK. It was lovely for Curtis to speak with them, it was just a shame it was to receive bad news.

After, Curtis had to clean his bag as the leftover swedish meatballs had gone everywhere! Finally, Curtis began work.

The day started with admin and then Curtis did training for most of the morning.

In the afternoon, Curtis had a couple of remote sessions penned in, two of which went really well and the third was unable to happen.

Both of us;

We both got home and did some laundry.

Post laundry, Kim made a spaghetti Bolognese and we ate that pretty quick!

Tabitha came over at 19:15 and Curtis drove Kim and Tabitha down to the city as they were watching a show.

Kim and Tabitha watched post modern jukebox, who take new songs and cover them in a vintage style. This was an amazing show!

Kim and Tabitha left and went to McDonald’s to get an ice cream. After that, Curtis drove down to collect them, drop Tabitha home and then drive home.

When we got home, we finished packing for the weekend! We have an awesome weekend planned with Josh and Danielle which should be great fun, though and early morning tomorrow!

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale