sage_mum and the kids flew into town a couple of days ago. I did not see them for nearly 2 months (50 days, to be exact). I can't believe how much the kids, especially my one-year old daughter, have grown. 

When I left my daughter was a toddler; now I feel that we have a little girl. She's sooo precious. I bought her a little dolly as a welcome-to-BC gift. The look on her face as she kissed and hugged the toy baby was priceless.

A few days before the family flew out of Toronto, I spoke to my son (aka Spiderboy) on the phone and asked him how he felt about moving to British Columbia. He said "Ok... I'm just a little bit anxious".  Since he arrived, Spiderboy is enjoying spending time and playing with his older (10 year old) cousin. When we visited my in-laws for a month last summer, my son was very fussy, Spiderboy wouldn't socialize and was being meanl He would wake up in the middle of the night kicking and screaming. I'm glad that my son is more sociable this time around. Spiderboy is so chatty.

I'm really happy that the family is back together. Sanity is restored... for the moment. ;)

We will be renting a townhouse in one of the outlying suburbs of Vancouver. It is a fantastic neighbourhood and the house is within walking distance of the inlet, parks (including the best waterpark in the Lower mainland), amenities like a sports club, pool, etc), grocery store, coffee house and other shops. It is probably a 10 minute walk to the commuter train station plus another 25 minute ride into downtown. That's a 30 minute difference (one way) from my commute now. So I'll be reclaiming back one hour from my day! Hooray for sleeping in! And I get to see my kids earlier in the evening!

I've wanted a Nintendo Wii since last Christmas, but I'm foregoing electronic entertainment in favour of more active things like getting a bike and hitting the trail.

I haven't had much time to socialize but I making a few work-friends. I haven't gone for Friday after work drinks like I used to with the buddies back in Toronto but I attended the monthly work-sponsored social activity at a pub around the corner from the office. (Can you say run-on sentence?). They had a couple of free drinks and door-prizes including a hockey jersey. I didn't win but it was fun. It was a great way to blow off a little steam and get to know the other folks in the company and chitchat about something OTHER than work. I would like to go to the next social event.

Today is my 19th day as a British Columbian. I haven't been around these parts for a while. It's not that I don't have anything to say. Quite the contrary - there's quite a lot to tell. I've just been caught up in the whirlwind of mental and physical stresses that comes with moving to a new city and starting a new job.

The first week of work was, needless to say, hectic. The company I now work for is one of the faster paced companies out here. I felt overwhelmed, struggling keep my head above the water and there were times I literally felt out of breath. There were a lot of new people to meet, trying to feel out the specifics of my new job, learning new aspects of the investment industry and learning new technologies.

The stress was wearing down my defenses as earlier this week, I was fighting off a weird kind of cold. It wasn't your usual nose or throat infection. It was more like an ear infection and the passageways from my nose/throat to my ears felt plugged up for a couple of days.

I miss the kids and sage_mum. A lot. Being separated from my family isn't easy. In fact, it can get downright depressing on some days.

The good news is that I am slowly starting to feel better with the move. I get to speak with the wife (and occasionally, the kids) on the phone almost every day so that helps a little. But there's no substitute for proximity.

Work-wise, I felt the second week at my new job went a lot better. I was actually able to accomplish a few things and I'm in the final stages of finishing one of my projects.

I am also learning to live with my in-laws. My original plan saw me staying with my in-laws for a couple of weeks max - just enough time to find my own place to live in while waiting for the family to join me here in Vancouver. One, it's definitely less expensive to stay with my in-laws. The other consideration is that I am hoping that the house sells quickly so the family can fly over here in short order. I wouldn't want to find my own place only to move out a month later.

The house has been up for sale for almost a week and a half. There seems to be a good amount of traffic. Last Monday, our agent held an open house that was exclusive for brokers. The house saw an average of two sets of house hunters every day. It has been a bit stressful for the wife and the kids to be out of the house a lot.

How is British Columbia? It rains a lot. I really ought not to be surprised.

More to follow.

Photo by Gavatron - original URL.

I'm sure you know the rest of the words...

See you on the other side!

Alea iacta est.  
I'm stepping outside my comfort zone and stepping up to take on new and greater challenges. I will still be working within the financial services industry but I'll be taking on a new role in another department in a completely different area of the investment business.

My last day with the bank is Friday, February 16. I'll spend at least a week helping sage_mum prep the house for sale, spend some time with the kids, meet up and say good bye to co-workers and friends over lunch or dinner.

I told my parents about the decision to move and what's going on with the job search and selling off the house. Not the happiest or the most welcome news, but I thought they were proud to see where I'm going with my career and to know the kids will grow up where there is less hustle-and-bustle.

I'm aiming to fly out in late February - and missing my wife's birthday :( - or early March.

Update: My official start date is Monday, March 5th. I bought my plane ticket and will be flying out to Vancouver on Tuesday, February 27.

We're making some headway on Goal 1.1 Fix up the house:
Last weekend, sage_mum and I said good-bye to the bright, beautiful saffron walls in our living dining rooms. After some prepping, sanding and priming, we slapped on a brand new coat of "Almond Bisque" paint on the living room.

Spiderboy (my son) asked why we were painting over the walls. sage_mum said the first thing that came to her mind "Because, the orange is too SHOCKING!" which prompted a scowl from me. I wasn't too happy with that response as my son is a serious young man and internalizes a lot of things (gee - I wonder where he inherited that from 8-| ) and he really doesn't understand my wife's sense of humor. Later on, when I asked Spiderboy what he thought of the new color on the walls he said "It's too SHOCKING!"

The wife being the ever efficient, busybody that she is, continued on without my help to paint the dining room.

The office area of the basement is getting really crowded as I packed another eight bankers boxes of books (including three boxes of the kids' books) and some board games. I also admitted to myself that I won't be doing a whole lot of miniatures painting (more info on this brand of geekery will be coming in the next few days) and packed a 3 cubic foot box of the little plastic and metal soldiers.

I was in Montreal all of last week on an emergency trip for work. With longish days at the office and hanging out with the work buddies over dinner and drinks, the excursion to French Canada left me little quiet time. I missed the kids a whole lot!

I didn't really start any new applications last week but I'm trying to get the momentum going again this week. I've got a couple hot prospects, a few warm and cold leads and one definite DOA. I also sent my cover letters and resumes to 4 firms this week.

 

 
I'm finding it mentally and emotionally draining to go through the long interviews but I'm mildly surprised that I'm enjoying the challenge of the interview process and quite pleased that I can approach the meetings with confidence and come out feeling like a winner.

At this rate I hope to have some offers around three to four weeks from now. So if I hand my two weeks notice and spend another week prepping for my immediate move... my SWAG* pegs my ETA in B.C. around the middle of March (March 10-24).
*Scientific Wild Donkey Guess

sage_mumand I also interviewed a real estate agent on Monday evening. seems like he's got his act together with a comparative analysis of similar houses and a solid marketing plan so so it's almost guaranteed we're going to let this guy run the campaign to put La Familia's Headquarters on the market and get it sold. A quick sale, short closing date and a decent offer that doesn't leave us too far in the hole would be nice. sage_mumand I are not holding our breath hoping to make a profit off the house; we bought the house at above-market price two years expecting to hold on to it for five to seven years. I was glad to know that the agent, the wife and I had a similar dollar figure in mind for the starting list price. As I expected, the agent was eager get us signing the dotted line and list the house. We held off as we still need to do some general fix-it work, painting and de-cluttering around the house before we're comfortable to put it on the market. The good news is that the agent does not recommend having the main bathroom renovated. We are not likely to see a return on investment on a bathroom reno as the house is already at the higher end of the price range for the neighbourhood.
 
I started packing my books last night. The tally so far: 9 banker's boxes of novels, RPG books and military history books.  And that is not even a third of my collection. I’m taking a perverse sense of pride in that fact. I had a new batch of used books come in the mail today so sage_mumasked me to put a moratorium on ordering books until we've moved to the West. We were joking that I should get the books delivered to my in-laws in the mean time. I'm sure they will be thrilled.