*taptap* Hullo?

Is anyone there?

*peers out at empty room*

Right, so... last time it was four months between updates, and this time it's been a year and a half. Wow. I think I just suck at this blogging thing. =)

Since I last got my tail in gear to post here, my son has attended his first year of high school (classes finish up the end of June), my daughter is nearly through grade 3, and a whole lot of things have happened in our lives.

My wife and I are planning to get married... again? From what I gather, technically we don't have to, since California will now recognize the validity of our Canadian marriage, but we want to have a ceremony here, too, so the kids and our local family and friends can attend.

We're planning to move up north at the end of this summer, whether the residency cards have been granted yet, or not. We can stay in Canada for up to 6 months as guests, and one hopes that by then things with immigration will have been finished - or we'll ask for an extension on the 6-months-visiting, due to impending residency. That's apparently fairly SOP.

I've become a Mac user - my little MacBook is so wonderful. I can leave it running for more than a week without rebooting. I can use it without fear of ever seeing a BSOD. I can get a UNIX command prompt and interact with my operating system in a way that makes sense. Yes, I love my Mac. =)

I'm going to try to post more often, over here. My other blog is primarily locked down because of the nature of its content, so I'll try to make better use of this one. Promise. =)

Later!
-Barb =)

I seriously suck at this blog updating thing, eh?

August 29th? Yeah. Four months between updates. I gotta do better than that.

So, in four months, there's been all kinds of stuff going on! I'm enjoying the hell out of my independent contractor work (php is my friend!). Cady is kicking academic butt in grade 2 (gotta get used to the Canadian terminology - I'm trying to train her to say 'zed', also). Pete is now a teenager (AAGH! So not ready for that!) and we're gearing up for high school next year. International travel has occurred - okay, to Canada, but hey, it's international! My wife visited for a couple of weeks, during which time we went to a screening for an awesome movie and met a famous (and totally cool) geek and members of his family. My ex-husband moved out of state and started a new job. I've learned that I have to have my gallblader removed, which is going to be oh, so much fun when I'm currently without health insurance - yeah, wishing I was a Canadian resident already. Immigration is still pending.

Somehow, it got to be less than a week before Christmas without me noticing. I really need to finish up the shopping and wrapping. It looks like the cards this year will be 'late December or early January' cards, since there's no way the folks up in Canada are going to get theirs by the 25th, at this rate. =/

I hope all y'all are having a happy, healthy, relatively stress-free holiday season. Bright Yule, Good Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas or, if none of these applies to you, I wish you the best insert-your-winter-holiday or just best December possible. =)

I suppose I should update this thing...

Eh, what's a few months between initial post and first update? =)

(Then again, it's not as if people read this thing, right? ;))

So life has thrown me a few curveballs, lately. No no no, I have to use hockey analogies - okay, uhm, the puck ricocheted off my face and I scored an unintentional goal? Gimme a break, I'm only Canadian-in-training.

Given that next Monday is a holiday, today is my last Monday at Intel. September 8th will be my last day as an Intel employee.

Barb's Intel Employment

22 May 1997 - 8 September 2006

Rest In Peace

After ten years of working for The Man in (Intel) Blue - I did a 10 month stint as a contractor before I was hired on as a real(tm) employee - I've become redundant, obsolete... I've been cost cut. Web and database development and maintenance for my group aren't going to be done within this group any longer - everything will be supported centrally by IT. My web server's being decommisioned, even. =/

I had myself a freak-out worthy of Dr. McKay, for about a day and a half. It wasn't pretty, believe me. And then I bounced my situation off a few friends, posted in That Other Journal, got pinged by a friend of a friend - and found myself an Independent Contractor doing, guess what? Web and Database development from now until at least the end of the calendar year.

Now, if Immigration Canada will just hurry up and get my app. processed, I'll be ready to move myself and my family to Vancouver shortly thereafter... we'll see. Here's hoping, at least. =)

Hey, if y'all are reading this, do me a favour (see! I can spell properly!) and comment so I'll know that I'm not just babbling into the ether(net).

Cheers,
Barb ;)

Testing, testing...

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro cinco cinco seis!

I'm here. It's Ric's fault. Blame him. ;)