Old Surroundings become New, with my new face.

I picked up my new glasses yesterday.  Before, I was in denial about having to wear glasses.  “Only at Night, when I drive” I told myself.

As I sit at the counter and slid on the glasses for the first time, all of the sudden the world around me became crystal clear.  I was speechless.

I took them off and put them on again, wow, it was that bad?

Driving home was a whole different experience.  Signs seemed to jump out right in my face, car lights didn’t seem so bright, and it seemed I can see for miles.  I was in awe.

In the evening, my sweetie commented back to when I backed into a tree at our house one night; “maybe this is why you backed into the tree.”

“Hummmmm“ I said, pondering at the thought.  It wasn’t because the night was too dark, or it was my poor driving ability, it was because I just couldn’t see it.

We have a small TV in our kitchen, and we usually have it on to watch the news during dinner.  I remember thinking in the past, we need to get a bigger TV so I can see it better from where I sit at the table.  I slipped on the glasses, and looked at the TV.   The screen became crystal clear. 

I think I am going to enjoy my new face, I thought to myself, happy I don’t have to go out and buy another TV. 

Is the sky really falling?

I remember, not long ago, sitting in a church sermon that I attended with my mother, and the pastor shouted out that there was no concrete proof of Global Warming, and those who are “promoting” that Global Warming exists, are simply running around yelling “The Sky is Falling.” 

I fidgetted, and kept myself in place, with my mouth shut.  It is one thing I am even in this particular church,  it’s another when someone is telling everyone to continue to pollute and damage the earth.    I could sense my mother was also getting uncomfortable, probably wondering what I was going to say after.  

I didn’t say anything.  I walked away.   It doesn’t matter what I was going to say, because in their eyes, I am the chicken running around yelling “the sky is falling.”    My mother likes going to this church.  Most of her support network is at this church.  And no matter all the things that I disagree with, it makes her happy.   That is why I attended, because it makes her happy.  She knows my opinions, and I know hers.  As we drive home, thousands of dead pine trees pass the truck. 

The mountain pine beetle, is a small insect, less than a centimetre long, which lives most of its life under the bark of pine trees, including lodgepole, ponderosa and western white pine.

Normally these insects play an important role in the life of a forest. They attack old or weakened trees, speeding the development of a younger forest. However, unusual hot, dry summers and mild winters in central British Columbia during the last few years, along with forests filled with mature lodgepole pine, have lead to an epidemic. To date, beetles have destroyed millions of lodgepole pine in BC – the province’s most commercially harvested tree. (kudos to: http://www.mpb.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biology/index_e.html)

 We say nothing to each other, knowing that global warming had something to do with all of these dead trees.

Does Global Warming really exist?  Regardless of people’s various opinions on this important issue, we must stop releasing so much toxins & greenhouse gases into the air.  We must reduce our energy consumption.  Stop cutting down trees (they are the air filter of the earth!) Find alternatives.    Why?  Well, think about running your car in your garage with the doors and windows closed.  What happens?  Now, think about planet earth.  Where does all these gases & toxins go?  Our trees can only filter so much, and with rapidly growing population, we are cutting them down faster then ever, while increasing the gases and toxins.  Even if this has no effect on our weather patterns, it must surely have an effect on every living thing physically. 

A friend told me one day, while driving over the Port Mann bridge.  People would take pollution more seriously, if they could actually see it.  Alternatives would come available much faster.  People would change thier actions. 

I don’t mind being the chicken running around “the sky is falling.”  Maybe the sky isn’t falling, but taking action to help make our environment greener, and healthier for future generations, in my opinion, is a positive thing

Finally… Some Action

Wow, we made it through.  We managed to find two drivers after a month and a half of being short, and turning down a whole whack of work.  Just in time for the summer slow down to hit.  Ironic. 

Now, we are going to overhire.  This is concerning me, because I like to play things safe.    This means, I now have to get more work into our network to keep all of them busy, and not sitting on the side of the road. 

In our experience, we typically go through a couple of drivers, before someone decides to stay with our company for a while.  This is typical.  Most think delivering packages, is just that simple.  What do you do? Deliver packages. 

Oh, only if it is that simple.  They forget the Vancouver road system is a nightmare to navigate through, customers are rude, and oh yea, throw in about 40 deadlines you have to meet during the day, and if you miss one, it is usually the customer who cries the loudest.   

Those who stay, love the challenge, the daily variety, and meeting a whole whack of new and interesting people.  I love these people, because they shock the hell out of you once in a while by going out of their way to satisify a customer, or not whine about how their work volume doubled over night. 

My work is now cut-out for me now.  Time to dive into cold contacts & contracts.  It has been a few months since I went out in the search for new customers, I will soon pick-it up again.  I am not worried, finding work is never a problem for us.  We always pick up more work when we need it.

Need a courier? Call me!

I am getting the twitches

I don’t own a house, I rent.  I enjoy renting at the moment, because it is giving me the opportunity to live in an area, I wouldn’t been live in if I was looking at buying. 

Property is at an all time high.  I am surrounded by older houses, in the country.  No mansions.  No Porches or BMWs parked in the driveways.  No pool boys.  Yet, for me to buy the property we live on, I will have to find someone to give me a mortgage of around $800,000!    We spied on a neighbors house which is listed at over two million dollars.   It is insane. 

My rent is very resonable, quite affordable, and it is actually cheaper for me to rent at the moment then to buy a house.    We have been looking at buying a house in the suburbs, however a fixer upper entry level starts at $350,000 and goes up to $500,000. 

Mortgage rates are rising, and have recently cooled off.  However, Bank of Canada is getting anxious over the rate of inflation (from 1.1% in Jan/07 to 2.2% in May/07, kudos to http://www.canadianeconomy.gc.ca/english/economy) and there is talk of rising interest rates.

Rising interest rates mean a higher mortgage payment, which means a lot of people who are looking at an entry level home (like me) might have to move into something smaller (townhome or apartment), relocate to a whole new city, or continue to rent. 

I am looking at renting for the next year, and see where the market is at then.  I am “hoping” with the higher mortgage rates, it will drop the property values. 

Property value will have to drop if mortgage rates go up. There are a lot of families who want to buy a house, however, if their mortgage payment is too high, they won’t buy = less demand = drop in prices to move the properties.   

I am getting the twitches.  I would love to buy my own place right now, however, I am concerned, that when I buy, the value will drop.  Paying a mortgage on something that isn’t worth as much, is actually just as bad as paying rent.  You are still throwing money to the wind.   

So for now, I will continue to dream and watch.  When the time is right, I will jump into the property market….  Until then, I will continue to enjoy the peace of the country!

Sunshine Coast Trip, Alone in the woods with a crazed criminal

Today, I am back home, just barley.  Half of me is still on the coast, and the other half is fighting to join the coast half……  I get this way every time, and probably all this week I will be trying to figure out how to fast forward my 5 year plan, and move back. 

It was great fun!  We woke up very early on Saturday morning, 5am to catch the first ferry over…….  We left the house way too late, and with my expert driving arrived at the ferry 20 minutes early!  We had breakfast in Gibsons overlooking the water, and I felt the city stress quickly leave my body!    We watched a barge take two cars over to one of the islands as we gorged ourselves with scrambled eggs and bacon. 

After, we went up to Upper Gibsons and stopped at the London Drugs to grab some pain killers for Randy’s ankle (which he badly injured the day before,  just so he could get out of hiking with me during the weekend!!) and off we went up the coast!   We made a pit stop in Sechelt at the Daily Roast (a place where I first got my addiction to coffee) where we grabbed a couple of teas and some yummy sticky buns and headed up to Pender Harbour.  It was pouring rain, so we toured around in the van, checking out the old neighborhood where my family first moved to over 21 years ago.

On the way back, we stopped at the Halfmoon Bay General Store where we bought a bottle of Wine (sold along side pepperoni sticks and ju-jubes).    Then we made a detour through West Sechelt, up Mason Rd, past my old place where I mostly grew up at.  It was all gone now, they tore down all the buildings, and now they are loggging all the trees.  We hit the gravel road and made a pitt stop to munch on some Salmon Berries in the rain.  We made our way back into Sechelt and had lunch at Daphnes, where I had a very yummy greek feta wrap.   

That evening, we met some of my friends who still live on the coast at a local pub.  It was great to see some of the “get-along” gang.  Tried my hand at pool.  Lost very badly!  Met some new friends, and then we made our way down to a beach where we had a bon-fire.   It was very late and I got tired of “stuff” falling from the trees into my hair so we headed back to sleep! 

The next day we grabbed a coffee and headed to the beach in Sechelt to relax.  The rain had stopped and it was great to sit and watch the ocean!  While we were sitting we were treated to four bald eagles flying about chasing crows!!  (It was great to see the eagles again!).    Our tummies again cried out for more food, and we headed into Gibsons.    Ran into another friend, chatted then went up to Soames Hill.  Randy waited patiently for me at the bottom while I hiked up to the top, thinking it would be great to do this everyday.  I got up to the top and heard sirens nearby.  I dismissed it and started on my way down.  At the bottom, while in the woods, Randy called me on my cell asking if someone ran passed me.  I said no and got worried.  He proceeded to tell me there was a cop car chase and the (bad) guy almost plowed through a bunch of kids in the parking lot, got out while the car was still going and ran into the woods (the parents of the kids had to jump into the car to stop it before it went into the creek!).  Ok, great to know this, as I looked around at the trees around me, expecting a crazed criminal to jump out at me.  I got off the phone and picked up my pace back to the car.  Just then, a bird got startled and flew out from a log.  My heart jumped out of my chest.  I made it back and found several police cars and this black car still running with music blaring.  The cops hardly batted an eye at me as I came out of the woods.  They started searching the car.  I thought it was odd they didn’t stop me to ask questions.  Then we proceeded to the ferry. 

As we neared the highway, my radio friend came on and proceeded to say the next ferry was 40% full.  We pulled in just when the previous ferry was leaving.  YAY, we didn’t have to wait for a couple sailings!!  We grabbed a couple of teas at Wheatberries and relaxed in the van.

Oh, it was great fun!! Can’t wait to go back in a couple weeks!!!