Tag: early

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 941: Vancouver, BC – New Office Setup!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a lot of meetings booked for today, so he was up a little early to get ready for those.

The first meeting was a team meeting to discuss the projects coming up for the next two weeks.

After that, there was meant to be another meeting but that got rescheduled so Curtis had a little bit of time to go through some tickets and get other admin done.

Curtis then had another team meeting to discuss random things.

There was a little more time for a break and then Curtis had to join another workshop to learn more new things. This lasted for most of the day and then he had a few things to do at the end of the day.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a meeting heavy day today, but it was all super interesting! She started with a quick chat with her teammate to check in and make sure they have everything they need the. She gave an update in the weekly company meeting.

There was then an hour break where Kim was able to log costs and pull information together for finance. She then gave a quick update to the finance meeting before having some lunch.

After lunch Kim joined an interview and it was so interesting. She then had a call with her teammate to update them on how the interview went and next steps. She then had a quick planning meeting with another teammate.

To finish the day Kim had a great conversation with a department lead to discuss career progression with their teams. It was so interesting and Kim really enjoyed it. She then had another planning meeting with her teammate to make agendas for meetings coming up, start some early stages events planning and get organised on a few projects.

Later in the evening Kim set up a laptop to swap out for a current employee.

Evening

Kim worked for a while and then we took out the recycling and made dinner. We had garlic and herb chicken skewers, mango and chilli chicken skewers and corn on the cob with potato salad leftover from yesterday.

Kim got her new desk setup whilst we waited for dinner to cook and setup her office in a new configuration!

We watched a small bit of TV once Kim was done with work and that was it!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

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Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 935: Vancouver, BC – Finally Doing Normal Things Again!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a lot of tickets to do in the morning and then right before he had lunch he got another part of his project completed.

After lunch, Curtis had a meeting with an external company who were doing some training/a workshop. This went on until the end of the day and it was…Ok… Though a little too much sales for Curtis.

That was pretty much his day. Lots of sitting in a meeting. Curtis had nothing to do in the evening, other than play some games and have the leftover salad from yesterday.

Kim’s Day

Kim and her team had a trial day in an office and it was wonderful. She stopped for coffee on the way and then had a quick tour of the spaces. She then sat down with her colleague and they worked in a few planning items to really iron things out.

Kim then joined the marketing recruitment meeting before continuing on with the white boarding session to continue planning to change and update the current process for onboarding.

Throughout the day other team members arrived, Kim met a few people for the first time. At about 1 everyone had some lunch before having a discussion about ordering and even placing a couple of orders.

The team then built on the discussion from earlier to further confirm plans for the new processes. Kim then joined another hiring forecast meeting and worked with the department to see where they feel they will need support in the next few months.

Normal Things!

Kim got to go to pole dancing for the first time in so long! She was able to go before but she wanted to wait for things to die down a little before doing that. She drove out to Richmond and was nervous but very excited.

It was difficult but really fun! Kim really enjoyed it and can’t wait to go back again.

After, Kim did MORE normal things! She met with 2 people from work that live in the area and they went for some food on a patio! This is allowed with the new restrictions, though it did feel a little strange for Kim as she hasn’t done this since around November but it was really nice to meet people in person.

Kim ate a mushroom linguini which was pretty good and the had a chocolate melt in the middle pudding for dessert.

She left fairly late and got back home around 23:30!

Remainder of Evening

Once Kim got home, we relaxed a little before heading to bed ASAP. Curtis is awake at 07:00 tomorrow, far too early, as he needs to go to the office to do a lot of things there! It’ll be productive, but long!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 912: Vancouver, BC – Homemade Pizza! 🍕

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up late today, as it was a day off, then we made a fancy breakfast!

Curtis had something akin to an eggs Benedict whilst Kim had mushrooms on toast, with egg. Both were delicious.

We got ourselves ready, slowly, and then went out to the the supermarket.

Turns out, where we have been parking for the last 2 years is now paid parking, as is most of the area around it! We had to find another spot, which we did, but that’s a little frustrating.

We completed the shop and came home, then Curtis watched the leafs game whilst Kim chatted with a friend.

Kim then went out to buy a kitchen mixer and a few other items. Kim was very happy about getting to buy and use a KitchenAid for the first time… Very exciting!

Once Kim got back, we made homemade pizza! First, Kim made the dough and let that rise for a bit, then we chucked our toppings on.

We had chicken, red onion, red pepper and sweetcorn atop of BBQ & tomato sauce.

We are that, which was excellent, and then relaxed for the remainder of the evening.

We are both getting up early tomorrow, Kim for work and Curtis to watch the next GB hockey game!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 518: Vancouver, BC – X-rays

Kim & Curtis Hale

X-rays

We were up around 07:00 this morning and ready to go!

We had to get x-rays as the last part of our medical and it’s a walk in clinic for that, so we wanted to get there for when it opens so we’re in and out as quick as possible.

It opened at 07:30 and we got in and out of there pretty quick and we’re back home by 09:15, but did stop to buy a coffee on the way home!

Curtis’ Day

As soon as he got home, Curtis had a busy day!

He had meeting right when he got back and then did a lot of tickets right up until lunch.

Once lunch was done, he had more tickets to do and did some troubleshooting with someone.

It was an entire day of tickets but a busy and successful one!

Kim’s Day

To start her day Kim updated spreadsheets and made notes for the next few weeks and months. At midday she then joined her team meeting to discuss the ongoing projects and the next steps for them all. Kim then hosted the social call where everyone just had a chat and caught up, it was so nice.

For the afternoon Kim joined her colleague discuss the plans for the next year or so for the team. It was such an interesting call!

She then had a call with someone so that they could help Kim send the first offer letter on the new HR system. It was so great for Kim to have that support from someone who has a little more experience with the software than she does.

For the rest of the afternoon Kim worked on a few projects and eventually sent the offer letter out.

Evening

Curtis watched hockey after work whilst Kim was working.

We then had Mac and cheese for dinner, homemade of course!

We ate that and watched some TV and headed to bed at a decent time as we were up early this morning.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 369: Vancouver, BC – Early Morning Cocktail Class & Virtual Summer Party!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis did some tickets and answered some questions in the morning.

After this, Curtis and a couple of different project meetings and then had some lunch.

Post lunch, Curtis completed a contractor onboard which was pretty easy and fast and then he did some more tickets, some admin and answered some more questions regarding contractor onboarding.

Kim’s Day

Today Kim helped host the first virtual summer party, for the UK folks. So as it is held in UK time, Kim was up and in the office by 6! She finished setting up the last few things for the Zoom call by getting extention cables and getting all the aspects ready for the cocktail masterclass.

Once her colleague arrived they popped out to to Tim Hortons pick up some breakfast. Kim had a cheese and egg muffin and they ate while the did the audio and visual tests.

Then it was time to go! They started with a couple of introductions and then went straight into the cocktail class. It was so much fun, Kim made a long island iced tea and showed everyone the steps on how to make it and her colleague did the same for a pina colada. After this they went into the pub quiz. There were four rounds, two rounds had general questions about the past two decades and the other two rounds were about the people and the company. All the rounds went so well and people had a great time.

After the party was officially ‘over’ some people still stayed on the call to hang out. So Kim and her colleague hosted a couple of jackbox games which were amazing.

Once the event finished Kim and her colleague had a catch-up to see how well things went. We had a couple of people reach out and say they enjoyed it, so that makes all the work totally worth it!

Kim spent a little time working on her expenses before she had a team meeting with her manager and colleague to go over the event. It was a great meeting with some good feedback, easy changes to implement for the next two!

After this meeting Kim made a few notes and a game plan for the next few days before heading out and catching up with a couple of people. The colleague who left a few weeks ago is flying home this weekend so it made sense to have one final meet up and another colleague joined too! When they met Kim was suddenly hungry, so they went and got a taco from Tacofino and enjoyed that on the enclosed patio thing, as distanced as possible. Then after that they all went and got some cheese tarts and they were amazing! The colleague still at the company will be joining the summer party next week, but didn’t want to make cocktails so they went to pick something up for her to make instead. After that Kim said goodbye and has made plans to go and visit the colleague again sometime when the world opens back up!

Kim then popped back in the office to hang out with her teammate and just have a chat. It was so lovely to just sit, talk nonsense and plan for the next two events a little as well.

Evening

When Kim got home, we had some tomato and mushroom pasta which was delicious and then watched some TV and played some games.

Kim was pretty tired as she was up from 5am, so we tried to head to bed at a good time.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 187: Vancouver, BC – Housewarming

Kim & Curtis Hale

Early Training

Kim got up early(ish) to head out to pole training.

She enjoyed the session, but it was a little early!

She headed back and when she got back, we planned to go out for breakfast.

Out For Breakfast…Or Not!

We walked up to a place we had been before, called Yolk, but when we got there, it was a 1 hour wait, so we changed our mind and walked home, with a stop at Starbucks so Curtis could try a gingerbread latte (which he liked!) And at the supermarket.

We got home and made some scrambled eggs with ham and cheese and some toast.

Leafs & Winners Shopping

Curtis watched the leafs game and whilst doing this, Kim went up to Winners to find a few things she needed for our kitchen and apartment.

Hockey

Curtis had another hockey game today, at 20:30!

We left at 19:15 to get there at a good time.

Curtis’ hockey game was awful and they lost 4-0!

Housewarming

We were invited to a housewarming party out in New Westminster, but couldn’t go for 19:00 as we had Curtis’ hockey game, so we went after!

We were there from 22:00 something and had a good time. This was for someone that Kim met through pole dancing. It was a nice house, too!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 174: Vancouver, BC – Long, Long Day

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis arrived at work at a pretty good time, but was not tired, surprisingly, seen as he didn’t get much sleep last night, for some reason.

Curtis started the day with a bit of project work, but most of the day was other things, like admin stuff, meetings and ticket work, which was a nice change.

Curtis finished the day with something a little challenging, but mostly to test and teach himself.

Curtis walked home alone as Kim had to stay at work for a while, as you’ll read below!

Kim’s Day & Evening

Kim knew today was going to be a long one! She got in early to decorate for Halloween.

At about 9 Kim did a new hire tour for two new people, they did the full floor tour, went to the roof and checked out the facilities.

Kim then took some time to set up some of the drinks for the evening, as there is a drinks and nibbles going on just after work.

Kim collected a small fridge and filled that with white wine, filled a larger fridge with the beers and cider. She also made room in the drinks fridge for the platters to go in.

As they had to collect the platters, Kim and a colleague went over to up the road from Kims house to pick everything up, so they got dropped off at the supermarket and Kim went home to pick up her car.

She then went and picked up her colleague who collected almost everything that was ordered.

Everything expect the 15 pumpkins as the supermarket had run out. This surprised Kim as she saw some over the weekend when she went in!

Once they had driven back to the office Kim had some pizza left over from a meeting for lunch.

She then had a little time at her desk and attempted to catch up on things!

Kim then set more drinks up, by clearing space in the drinks fridge for more soft drinks!

She then had a few minutes before the she needed to start setting the kitchen up for the evening drinks so Kim stuck some more decorations up.

Her favourite is a skeleton hand and a skill with a google eye glued in on the top of the vending machine!

Kim and a couple of teammates then set up the room by moving all the tables out and setting up a bar area in front of the fridge.

Kim also used the high chairs to act as a lower bar and set up a fan to keep her cool for the evening. It was a beautiful set up and Kim was very happy with it.

They the set up all the crackers and cookies to go around the room with the platters.

Kim.then spent the evening serving drinks which was great fun!

Kim will always love serving behind a bar, but doesn’t really miss the long nights and sore feet too much!

Towards the end of the evening Kim started packing down the bar and mixing the platters all together to be put in the fridge.

After a while Kims teammates notices that she was cleaning up and told her to go home as it had been a 12 hour day, so instead Kim sat and finished her doughnut from.ealier on in the day and tidied up the front desk as it was a tip from setting up earlier.

She then gave someone a lift home and headed home herself!

The Usual Monday Clean

Curtis got home and instantly took all of the bins out and emptied them. It was very full today!

Curtis then cleaned down the counters in the kitchen, followed by vacuuming the whole apartment, emptying and putting away the clothes from the dryer and emptying the dishwasher.

After all of that, Curtis was hungry, so it was time to have some food.

He had some leftover thai green curry that we had a while ago (which we defrosted) and cooked up some nice rice to go with it.

Curtis ate this and then played quite a bit of call of duty, whilst Kim was out.

Once Kim got back, she showered and we watched a little bit of TV but more than anything, we just wanted to sleep.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 75: Vancouver, BC – Too Much Food, Too Early

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis arrived at work and had a meeting which is regarding security and compliance. It was a good meeting and helped clear up some things he was wondering as well as notify everyone about certain things they needed to be aware of.

Curtis made a big order from Apple which he had to get sorted out and speak with the accounts team about.

At 12:15, Curtis had someone coming in for an interview with some people in another office, so he had to meet them, get them into the boardroom and setup their video meeting.

Curtis had a laptop to configure but also had a meeting starting at 14:00, so he didn’t do that right away, but jumped into his meeting.

His meeting was again, very good and informative. It was over an hour long but it was with the full team about the plan for the year as well as completing the document that the whole company will see regarding the teams plans and goals.

After the meeting, Curtis continued with setting up the laptop and then even managed to start another.

He had a few tickets to do and tidy up some things admin wise and then he walked to meetin Kim from work.

Kim’s Day

Kim started her day by going through her emails and sorting all of those out. Then she got a request for catering request for later in the day so she put that through.

Kim then spent some time organising the travel for a visitor who is coming over in a few weeks. They confirmed their preference on flights so Kim booked that and was looking in to arranging his accommodation. It was Kim’s first time booking travel on this system so lets hope they make it!

It was then time for the social team meeting and discussed some of the things they will be putting on over the next few weeks.

When she came out of the meeting, she was met with a delivery man who was 30 minutes early, which was strange. It was then horrible for Kim to sit next to lovely smelling food for about 40 minutes!

One of the action points Kim assigned to herself was to create a Pride Bake Off for the Vancouver Pride Festival that will be happening in a few weeks. Kim has challenged her colleagues to bake or make anything and they will get extra points if it is a rainbow! Kim is very excited to be organising this and even made posters.

The quotes for the breakfast coming up came in so Kim evaluated them and proceeded to order which is great.

Just as Kim was about to leave she got an email request about catering tomorrow so she called up and got that all sorted.

Nothing-ness

After 2 busy evenings, we got home and did nothing.

We had dinner right away, which was enchilladas with salad like yesterday and then we got caught in a YouTube void and watched a load of videos.

We watched the first episode of Season 9 of Suits and then a Vikings.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 35: Vancouver,BC – Meeting Setup, Afternoon Beers & Karaoke!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had an eventful start to the day! He began walking to work and about half way there he saw a car crash! A car decided to pull across 3 lanes of pretty busy traffic and there was a small bump. Nothing too crazy though.

Shortly after witnessing that, it began to rain. Curtis had expected that the day was going to be bad due to there being 2 bad things already at that point!

Curtis could tell it was going to rain because of how the sky looked!

Curtis had got in early to make sure that the boardroom was setup and working correctly with all the other boardrooms for the meeting.

The meeting was an update from the senior leadership team and it was quite interesting, though Curtis didn’t always understand what they were talking about. He also had to pay attention to the video streams from each office and the audio to make sure they were all running smoothly.

After the meeting, Curtis finally had his first coffee of the day and then completed a few tickets.

The rest of the day was just clearing out tickets and preparing things for next week.

At 16:00, the office all went to our lounge to have some beers and chat. A colleague of Curtis’ baby came to visit, too!

Curtis walked home and pretty much just played xbox all night.

Kim’s Day

Kim got to work and set up all the breakfast for the last time.

Once breakfast was all set up, Kim did a bit of computer related work before settling in to watch the results of the Hackathon.

Each team had a 10 minute presentation and it was incredible. Kim was in awe of the work people were able to put together in just 2 short days. Kim released just how amazingly smart the people she works with are.

Kim then took some time at her desk for more setting up and learning about the role. One of these things was setting up the weekly fruit order and processing that for the next week.

After a few hours, it was suddenly lunch time. Kim grabbed some marmalade toast for lunch today.

When Kim finished lunch she did a little clean and tidy of the kitchen area before getting on with some scanning.

On a Friday, one of Kim’s tasks is to set up for the Friday afternoon drinks by getting the drinks from the local store and setting up snacks.

As it was Kim’s colleagues last day she had decided she wanted to do karaoke as her leaving get together. At the end of the Friday drinks they all headed to the karaoke bar down the road and sang their hearts out. It was so much fun and everyone really enjoyed themselves!

They all then went to a pub down the road to watch the end of the Raptors vs Golden State game where the Raptors won!

Kim got up to say goodbye and was getting ready to leave, and started a small conversation with 2 ladies and the next thing she knew a while hour had passed!

Everyone then started filing out and Kim walked to the train station to head home and relax! It was a wonderful evening and so much fun!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale