Tag: new

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 988: Vancouver, BC – New Friends?

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up far too late, but tlwe slept great, which was good!

We had some breakfast and watched a bit of TV and then slowly got ourselves ready to go out.

The weather was better today, so we wanted to walk down to the beach. We got ourselves a coffee and walked down! The weather was actually perfect for a walk.

We saw a person in a replica batman suit, which was random but pretty cool looking!

We walked around for a bit and then started to head back home when we saw a big beautiful dog! We stopped to say hi and the owner was actually English, too!

We ended up having a very long chat with them and took their number. They’re a lovely couple and we’d probably like to meet with them again.

Once we got back home we decided what we were going have for dinners and then drove out to the supermarket to buy our weekly food.

After arriving back home, we made a homemade chicken tikka masala and Kim made homemade naan!

That took a while to make but it was certainly worth it. Delicious!

We watched a film whilst we ate and then it was basically bed time.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

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Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 936: Vancouver, BC – People Back At The Office, Again!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis was up at 07:00 to get ready and walk down to the office. There were 2 people coming back to the office (there are quite a few restrictions in place, but they wanted to come back before the office fully opens again) so Curtis had to be there to help them setup at their desks and he also had some other things to do.

Once he helped these people with their desks, he found and sent out some equipment for a couple of people who requested some. That took a bit of a time and then he moved onto the next thing.

He had to test some things out in the boardroom so he did that and sent off a reply to the people asking.

There were some issues with a piece of networking equipment, too, so he took a look at that with some help from a colleague.

After he did that, he confugured a couple of laptops and then he had a bit of lunch, followed by starting the office cleanup, which entailed taking a lot of monitor arms off the desks. This took the rest of the day, but he did meet someone at the office to swap a laptop for them as they were having issues with their current one.

Curtis left around 16:30 and walked home. He had a busy, long, day but a productive one!

Kim’s Day

Kim had a busy day but it was interesting! She started with two interviews and the check ins just after and then at midday she went into the weekly recruitment meeting.

For the afternoon Kim was in back to back meetings, she had a couple of smaller meetings around planning and communication. She then joined the weekly managers meeting for updates and collaboration.

For the final part of the day Kim was able to get a little more admin done before having a quick project check in with one of her team members. She then popped out to pick up a laptop. It should have been a 30 minute round trip but took an hour and a half due to a price update and a system bug. Kim had to stand in the store and call support to get it mostly sorted out.

Later in the evening Kim worked on a job description.

Evening

We had some chicken wraps for dinner with a side salad and then Kim had to do a little more work.

Once Kim finished working, we went for a walk and then watched a bit of TV.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 870: Vancouver, BC – Another Busy Packing Day

Kim & Curtis Hale

We woke up and had a simple quick breakfast and then got ourselves out for a walk and a coffee, before we got started with more packing.

We had done a lot of it yesterday, but still had some stuff to do and we wanted to take a few things over today in preparation for tomorrow, so it was less cluttered in here for the movers and well as easier for us after the move.

After we did our walk, we went to Canadian Tire and got a few things we needed to the new place, such as a microwave.

Once we got back, Kim went out to a shop to look at clothes and she also bought a drill and screwdriver. We’ve needed those for so long but never bothered buying them!

Curtis watched hockey whilst Kim was out and then Kim dismantled the bed and we organised everything for a lot of the rest of the afternoon and evening.

We did get some Vietnamese food and then after that we continued on again.

We got a lot of the kitchenware packed up but we will likely take some of that ourselves tomorrow.

We did a few trips over to the new place to drop items off and that all in all took us a few hours.

We got back home and still had stuff to sort and pack, but we are pretty much there in regards to getting everything ready for the movers.

We had showers late evening and then watched a little bit of TV on our laptop on our floor-mattress bed!

We are nearly there and we are very excited to move!

Tomorrow is an early wake up and then we need to be up and ready, but hopefully the movers will be all done by around 12:00 then we can get the things we need to take over and do some cleaning, then we’re all moved.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 867: Vancouver, BC – The Final Weekend

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a fairly quiet day.

He started with a discussion about a process which needed to be changed which was very productive.

Most the the morning was then spent doing tickets as well as trying to help someone setup a laptop remotely in a US office, which took quite a bit of work.

Curtis then had some lunch and after that had a 1 hour team meeting to discuss the projects over the last 2 weeks.

Curtis finished off some tickets and admin and then finished work for the week.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a block of time in the morning so she got a bit of paperwork done before she had back to back meetings for the rest of the day.

To start with Kim had an interview then she joined a meeting about a project that will be coming up. As it was a full working Friday Kim then hosted a games break just before midday where people joined in to play Skribbl, it was so fun!

After games Kim had a meeting about a new hire and then she went into another interview followed by an interview round up meeting after. As she had been in a couple of interviews for one department during the week Kim met with the other person on the panel to discuss and make a plan for the next steps.

Kim then had another interview and post interview catch up before having an end of week team meeting, a quick chat about a project and then completing some paperwork!

Evening

Today marks the start of our final weekend in this apartment!

We will likely spend it just packing up and getting ready, and then we are off on Monday to finish the last few items before we move on Tuesday.

We ordered some chicken katsu curry to eat tonight, which was pretty good, and then relaxed before we get crazy with packing etc tomorrow.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 866: Vancouver, BC – Starting The Packing Process

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had some tickets to get done in the morning and then he jumped into a team meeting which went really well.

He then spent some time sorting out some licenses that people shouldn’t have had, which actually took much longer than expected.

After that, he had another meeting in which we discussed how some software works and what needs to be done to get something working as it should. Curtis learned some new things which was great, and his colleague was also able to learn things.

The afternoon was a lot of tickets and admin. He had a discussion about a potential new tools and helped people out with some tickets.

Kim’s Day

Kim spent a lot of her day in meetings and interviews. She had one interview in the morning followed by a recruitment meeting. Then for the rest of the morning she was able to complete a few admin tasks and plan some projects.

In the afternoon Kim joined another recruitment meeting and then had a 5 Min surprise meeting with a colleague to catch them up to date on the meeting. The wellness break for the week was at lunchtime and a few people say down and took some time to hang out and do colouring in online. It was so enjoyable and Kim cannot wait to do it again!

Kim then joined a meeting about an IT project that will be starting soon. She will be helping out with the logistics of it and it will be really interesting! From there Kim went in to host another interview and then had a quick review of the meeting with her colleague.

There was some paperwork that needed to be completed so Kim jumped on a call with a colleague to work through it. Then Kim had a call with another teammate to just have a check in and a chat.

Starting The Packing Process

We got done with work and then Kim went to take back some items she didn’t want from Homesense and then we went down to our storage locker and took out some things from there and took them over to the new apartment.

When we got there, we took the items in but Kim also got the sofa finished and we sat on that for a bit, just relaxing. It was super comfortable and a great purchase!

There were a lot of boxes from the sofa, so we took those down to the bin and then we drove back home and brought up some more items from the storage locker, ready to pack clothes and a few other things. We’re actually getting some things ready for the move, now!

We made sausages, peas and mash for dinner and watched some TV whilst relaxing for the remainder of the evening.

We’re glad we got some stuff done for the move, though most of it will get done at the weekend.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 583: Vancouver, BC – The Mighty Ducks

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis didn’t have a meeting until 10:30, so he got some tickets done and had some messages from people to deal with.

After his team meeting, he was meant to have another meeting but he didn’t, so instead he got some more work done.

Someone requested a rushed onboard and Curtis, as well as the rest of his team, had to get information provided to different people and managed to get that all wrapped up how it should be.

After lunch, Curtis had a team meeting which lasted for 1.25 hours and then tied up the week with doing some admin and a few other tickets here and there.

Kim’s Day

Today Kim had few meetings, but each one was very long! The first was a vendor demonstration for a product that the company may use. It was so interesting and could be a great fit!

She then had a wonderful chat with her new teammate. They went over a lot of work stuff but also just chatted and had a catch up. It was so lovely!!

In the afternoon Kim co-hosted an interview and then had a post interview check in with the hiring managers. They went over the next steps for the role and discussed a few other things going on.

For the rest of the afternoon Kim worked on a lot of paperwork! She signed and sent forms, planned and for prepared for next week and also reached out to some potential candidates.

Evening

We ordered some Chinese food which looked really but wasn’t too great in reality. On the plus side, they did have fried pork soup dumplings which Curtis was able to get and they were delicious, but everything else was just ok.

We watched the first episode of the new Mighty Ducks series and it was pretty bad, to be honest, but a bit of a throwback.

We took the recycling out and then when we got back to the apartment we just relaxed for the evening.

Cases here are going up, up and up so it’s more important than ever here to stay home.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 559: Vancouver, BC – We Definitely Have A New Apartment!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had his Norwegian lesson in the morning which went incredibly well! He had a great conversation that flowed naturally.

After that, he had back to back meetings. The first was a project update meeting and the second was to understand some issues for a team and make a plan of how to resolve those.

Once that meeting was done and Kim was done with her meeting, we took our lunch break and used it to go to the apartment we were offered just to make sure it’s what we want…which it was! The landlord was amazing and the space was even more perfect then we thought.

We verbally agreed to sign and got all the paperwork to sort out!

For some of the afternoon, Curtis looked up about swapping internet providers to save some money at the new apartment, as well as hired a moving company as we are super lazy and can’t be bothered to do it ourselves.

We got that done and looked over the lease agreement and contract etc.

Kim’s Day

Kim worked in a few documents to be ready for meetings for the day. She then joined a recruitment meeting to discuss one departments needs for the next few months. Kim was able to get a great idea of the roles needed and how to put together the job descriptions for them.

She then presented in the weekly meeting before joining the weekly project huddle.

After the viewing Kim did a little training with her new teammate and made sure that they have the right log ins and accesses. She then had a meeting with another teammate to go over documents that they have been working on.

To finish the day Kim did a little admin and then popped out to a shop to pick up something that had been delivered. It turns out that it hasn’t been delivered, so Kim went to another shop for some things for dinner and then headed home.

Evening

When Kim finished work, we made some food (just some seasoned chicken in a wrap with cheese, BBQ sauce and mayo) then we went out to the supermarket to do our shop.

Once we got back, we took out the bins and then we looked at some additional furniture we will need for our new apartment, most notably a desk and chair each, as we’ll each have dedicated office areas, which is exciting!

Curtis also bought himself a monitor to work and play games on.

We relaxed for what was left of the evening…it was a busy one!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 547: Vancouver, BC – Really Great Conversation

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had no plans today, other than one, long, meeting to discuss kicking off a project in which they would setup and roll out a new software.

Whilst not much of the planning got done, a lot of information was found and after some playing around with the software, more capabilities became apparent and that was really promising!

Curtis spent a while playing around with the software after the meeting and got a lot of tickets done.

The day went incredibly fast and before Curtis knew it, it was time to watch hockey!

Kim’s Day

Kim spent the morning amending documents and catching up on a few things. She was also invited to a meeting at midday so Kim started preparing for that.

At midday Kim joined the meeting. It was so interesting and she learnt so much. She then had a quick call with her colleague and to show her a process and have a quick catch up.

Kim also had a call with another colleague to go over some hiring and the plans around it. She then got to call a candidate to offer them a job, which was so great.

For the rest of the afternoon Kim sent out contracts and worked on documents.

Evening

Once Kim finished work and Curtis finished watching hockey, we made some orange chicken (it was just frozen) with rice and ate that for dinner.

Once we finished dinner, we played a new game that came out called Wreckfest and it was actually way more fun than we thought it would be!

We then watched some more TV for the evening and it is do crazy that it’s Thursday already!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 462: Vancouver, BC – A New Work Laptop!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis woke up and his ear was blocked again, so no hearing for him!

Curtis had a few meetings today. One of them was a 1 on 1 and then after that he had done lunch.

Once lunch was done, he had a strategic meeting with his team to discuss some plans over the next month or so.

After that, Curtis did some tickets and then the day was done.

Kim’s Day

Kim did a few little admin things before having a chat with a department head to get their thoughts on the facilities project. He agreed with the general plan and is on the same page, which is great. He also mentioned to maybe run a survey to get other peoples opnion. So after the meeting Kim started a survey and she wanted to send it out right away, but she wasn’t 100% happy with it. So she will think about things that should be included and make some changes before she sends it out.

For the rest of the morning Kim did a few small tasks like update a new starter and send over new job descriptions for people to review ahead of tomorrows meeting. Kim and her colleague agreed that they would set up Kim’s current laptop for the new starter and get that sent off in the afternoon. So Kim wiped the laptop and then made the new profiles, added some apps to the laptop and got it set up and ready to ship over.

Kim then went to Apple to pick up a new laptop for herself and then went to Fedex to ship the older laptop to the new starter. Once she got home Kim started to set up her new laptop.

Once it was up and running Kim sent out invites for the first round of the connect four tournament. She wrote up instructions on how it works and then sent out all the invites. As the winter party is fast approaching Kim decided to get started on the quiz part. She would like to make a 20-25 question quiz about winter celebrations, facts and sports.

Just before she finished for the day Kim had a call about the facilities project. They went over the new requirements and made plans for meetings tomorrow.

Evening

Kim worked fairly late this evening but once she was done, we watched some TV together and had the remaining stew from yesterday.

Curtis tried a few more things to unblock his ear which seemed to work a little, but he has an appointment tomorrow evening to get it checked out.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 439: Vancouver, BC – New Vancouver Job First Day!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis was up at the same time as Kim as he had an orientation to do in the morning.

The orientation was very easy and quick, so that meant Curtis could do some other stuff.

Along with doing some tickets and catching up on emails from over the weekend, Curtis got some more things done for his visa. To get his certifications approved, he has to get them reviewed by Canada. To do so, he has to contact the exam body in the UK to get them to find the information and send it to a place in Canada and then wait for them to review them and provide the results.

This is a long process, but Curtis is glad he got that done.

Curtis also had to apply for another New Zealand criminal record check, so that was another thing he got done.

Curtis had a team meeting at 10:30 which was good and then after that it was more tickets, mostly.

The afternoon was a bit quieter, but some things here and there.

Kim’s Day

Kim had her first day at her new job and it went well! She spent a lot of the day getting set up and settled in. In the morning Kim attended a couple of meetings, the first was a team meeting where she met a few people and was able to learn a bit more about the team and what people do.

Kim took notes for the second meeting, so it was much more of a fly on the wall experience than being involved.

For lunch Kim and her colleague went to a nearby taco place for burritos. They were so good.

After lunch Kim organised the meeting notes and sent them across to a couple of people for their reference. For the rest of the afternoon Kim finished setting up on different apps and was able to ask a lot of questions, which was good.

It was a great first day and Kim is extremely excited for this next chapter.

Evening

Once Kim got home, we chatted about our day and then Kim felt a little tired as she didn’t sleep great last night, so she had a quick 30 minute power nap, which made her feel much better!

After that, Kim made some pasta with a mushroom and white wine sauce which was delicious, as expected.

We watched some TV and played some games as per usual.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale