Monday, February 7, 2011

On the way

Greetings.

So here I am.  Alone in a cheap motel on the edge of a strip mall on the out skirts of Whitehorse in the Yukon.  Its in the -20's outside.  The room smells of old stale cigaret ashes a sent I have not enjoyed since the Red Coach inn in Yellowknife.  During my stay at the Red Coach, the room which clearly said no smoking had along the walls the grey burt embers of old smokes.  Here I see no visible evidence but its in my sense.

The day was over all good.  I was fortunate enough to have a ride to the Airport, the amount of stress this removed is huge.  Not just from the not having to transit it but to not having to do second guessing as to when to leave.  The airport was well YVR domestic terminal gate B 12, wholly unremarkable.  I did find my self in the security line behind a fellow talking endlessly about his fishing boat to a balding fellow with a slick backed mullet.  Fish story man turned out to not be some one you wanted a head of you in line.  I suspect mullet man grew tired of fish story man's fish stories because he entered a different line for the baggage screening.  Fish story man ended up being rather a bad traveler, the person who could have been his wife and certainly his travel companion ended up having to wrangle trays for him and her.  Fish story man had half a kilo of loose change on his person which he had to shovel out by hand.  I went for my default empty pants pockets in to coat take coat off have no troubles.  

As trips go having Fish story man in front of you as the worst part defines a good trip.  The flight it self was great.  Due to a very empty aircraft I got myself an exit row to all to me.   A good nap was had, the view was great.  It did not feel as much like leaving BC.  There was not the moment and suddenly prairies. No there was alternating mountains and valleys the whole way.  I saw several glaciers and would have seen more if my seat was on the west facing side of the plane.  I saw a lonely little volcano doing nothing all by it self.  

I took my shuttle bus to the hotel, realized after I got there that I had no idea who was in town and no way to reach them.  Well ain't that great.  Then out of nowhere, kind of like in the spy movie when the cover is blown, the room phone rings.  The phone call was from the company travel person telling me who to get a ride with in the morning.  The plan was a ride to site a 8 am.

I get back to the computer from that call and find my self with a half a brick.  Tap the track pad, hit the keys threaten it, not much happened. The USB wireless mouse worked as did the power button.  I could not type or even hit enter.  I spent the second half hour in a state of stress.  I did the smart thing and bitched at the fellow at the front desk.  I later did a actually smart thing and asked the shaved headed fellow if there was a shop where I could find computery things.  There was a stables close by.  Thankfully I got distracted.

The distraction provided me the opportunity head back to my room, not straight to the shop, I reset my computer and it now works. Still slated for replacement.

Just as I got back from my trip to the shop the room phone rings again, its the travel wizzard telling me that my ride is now leaving at 10 am.  Yay a slow morning.  I will attempt to contact the contacts that got forwarded to me.  Then comes the fun part, work.

The job will be logging core something they don't tell you about in school hours of looking at rock in the form of a series of not tubes.  Long days are enforced by the fact that the drills have to keep turning or they will freeze.  This work has a repetitive quality to it.

I made an understatement there, its nearly robotic assembly line data collection.  I have the miss fortune of also getting bored of music quickly enough that eventually there is no media that I can pack with me that keeps my brain from it self.  I don't like spending long hours in a room working alone with my own brain.  I want to work in an office where I can occasionally interact with other humans, ride my bike to work and even just pretend to work.




Bye Vancouver I miss you.
 

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