By far the most tedious aspect of taking up a new job on the other side of the country has been the ordeal of moving ourselves and our household across a 4,000km distance. Upon learning that the opportunity in Victoria had solidified into bona fide reality, and after the expected procrastination/denial phase had passed, we somewhat reluctantly set down to exploring our options. Romance of heading west aside, it was not a pretty picture, particularly in terms of financial cost. Shocker.
My new employer did offer a moving stipend, which in the end amounted to enough money to pay for my own transportation costs, but not those of my partner. That said, as the career benefits of the move mostly sided in my court, I felt it only fair that I should undertake the majority of the resulting expense for both of us.
The least costly quote we received for shipping our furniture and belongings from Ontario to BC (for a two bedroom house) was $3,500 US + gasoline 'tax', which we were told to expect would probably amount to another $1,000. This was for the mostly-do-it-yourself option, where the moving company would drop off a container at our house that we would then pack ourselves. The company would then pick up the container, transport it across the county and deliver it in Victoria where we would then be expected to unpack it. In addition to this expense, we also needed to consider our own transportation costs, which we expected would amount to somewhere between $700 and $1000 one-way for the two of us. In case you're curious, the most expensive quote we received was about $8,000 US for a full service option where the moving company would pack, load and then unload all our belongings.
Being the cheapies that we are, we immediately viewed this level of expense as being out of the question. Having had only a brief, four year experience with home ownership, we remained of the mindset that anything demanding an immediate cash-in-hand payment greater than $2000 is outrageously extravagant. Re-evaluating our options it occurred to us that it might be more practical to consider selling the majority of our furniture and belongings and using the resulting funds to purchase the necessities upon reaching our destination. Realizing the multiple benefits associated with this option - drastically reducing our moving costs, earning a few bucks, and being afforded the opportunity to purchase items to best suit whatever new living arrangement awaited us - we quickly decided that this was the route to go.
We set down to tackling the task at hand, which we jointly decided was to pare our belongings down to the bare minimum. What followed was an interesting exercise in negotiation and determination as we struggled to find common ground between our somewhat disparate interpretations of 'bare minimum'.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
On the charms of red broadloom and apartment living
B and I have moved into a one bedroom apartment with a bathroom big enough to spin around in, reclaimed kitchen cabinets, an acceptable amount of storage space (thankfully we pared down our belongings before making the move out west), and a nice big living room with wall-to-wall tomato red carpet. As far as living arrangements go, I think it's a pretty good find - what seals the deal is that, if you make a right turn out our front door, it's a ten minute walk to my office, and if you make a left turn, it's a ten minute walk to the beach. I'm sure the novelty will wear of eventually, but having migrated from the relatively, flat, waterless expanse of Southwestern Ontario where the closest substantial body of water is a forty-five minute drive away, this location seems like somewhat of a dream scenerio. All that's left to do now is to pick up some furniture so that we can stop sleeping, eating and lounging on the floor.
B seems to be settling in and is mostly recovered from the drive across the continent which in the end only amounted to three days of driving stopping each evening to bunk down in a roadside motel. The first evening he and Karen spent the night in Walnut, Nebraska, the second in Ogden, Utah and the third in Port Angeles, Washington, where they caught the morning ferry to Victoria the next day. Compared to the experiences I've had making this journey, they made pretty good time - of the three times I've travelled to the west coast from Ontario by car, the fastest was two and half days and that was driving non-stop with two drivers trading off. The total cost of the trip, which put about 4,500km on the odometre (gas, food and lodging included for two people) was about $770.
Tomorrow we plan to take in the Royal BC museum and hopefully pick up some new (old) bikes at one of the Victoria's many second-hand bike shops. Getting acquainted with a new environment is a bit of an adventure for Baasje and I and we're enjoying the unusual sense of accomplishment that accompanies even the most everyday experiences, (e.g. shopping for groceries and going to the laundromat). Most of our trips by car include at least one u-turn and we have become accustomed to explaining our behaviour to people we encounter by mentioning that we are not from around here. Interesting times!
By the way, Mother Mother and Hawksley Workman are both playing here over the next few weeks. It'll be a treat to see Mother Mother (I'm curious to see what effect the departure of Debra-Jean Creelman has had on their sound) and am pleased to get another opportunity to catch Hawksley as we had to eat the tickets we purchased for his concert in London which took place a few days after my departure in November. Anyway, we've got our tickets purchased and the routes all mapped out! Can't wait!
B seems to be settling in and is mostly recovered from the drive across the continent which in the end only amounted to three days of driving stopping each evening to bunk down in a roadside motel. The first evening he and Karen spent the night in Walnut, Nebraska, the second in Ogden, Utah and the third in Port Angeles, Washington, where they caught the morning ferry to Victoria the next day. Compared to the experiences I've had making this journey, they made pretty good time - of the three times I've travelled to the west coast from Ontario by car, the fastest was two and half days and that was driving non-stop with two drivers trading off. The total cost of the trip, which put about 4,500km on the odometre (gas, food and lodging included for two people) was about $770.
Tomorrow we plan to take in the Royal BC museum and hopefully pick up some new (old) bikes at one of the Victoria's many second-hand bike shops. Getting acquainted with a new environment is a bit of an adventure for Baasje and I and we're enjoying the unusual sense of accomplishment that accompanies even the most everyday experiences, (e.g. shopping for groceries and going to the laundromat). Most of our trips by car include at least one u-turn and we have become accustomed to explaining our behaviour to people we encounter by mentioning that we are not from around here. Interesting times!
By the way, Mother Mother and Hawksley Workman are both playing here over the next few weeks. It'll be a treat to see Mother Mother (I'm curious to see what effect the departure of Debra-Jean Creelman has had on their sound) and am pleased to get another opportunity to catch Hawksley as we had to eat the tickets we purchased for his concert in London which took place a few days after my departure in November. Anyway, we've got our tickets purchased and the routes all mapped out! Can't wait!
Monday, January 05, 2009
How I came to be drinking a Slipstream in Victoria on January 5, 2009
Every new year I try to reflect upon all that's happened over the past 12 months, what's different, what's the same, all that I've done, all that I failed to do, etc. I remember last January the mood of the moment appeared to be complacency. I remember thinking that I had finally reached the plateau of mid-lifeness, where very little would change forever and ever. I could picture myself at sixty living in the same house, with the same job, following the same weekly routine I'd always had. Visiting the same hair dresser I'd gone to for years who might comment from time to time that perhaps I should think about trying a new style, to which I would perpetually reply, 'maybe next time'. Maintaining a tidy wardrobe of classic staples season after season - one black turtleneck, one grey turtle neck, one grey cardigan, five neutral short sleeve dress shirts, black slacks, grey slacks, brown slacks, and so on. Visiting the grocery store every Saturday morning to stock up on the same staple items - boring apples, pasta and tomato sauce that I don't really enjoy eating, brown rice and tofu to mix it up a little.
The scariest part of a static existance is how okay it all seems.
In the spring of 2008 Baasje and I decided, a little out of the blue, to go to Bolivia. A few years had passed since we'd purchased the house, and our bank accounts had recovered sufficiently to make it somewhat practical to assume we could afford a vacation that didn't entail sleeping in a tent every night and cooking all our meals. The decision to go to Bolivia was mainly based upon rumours we'd heard that Machu Picchu (our second choice) was well on it's way to becoming the Niagara Falls of South America, and Baasje's cousin Julia's stories of getting stranded in the Bolivian jungle and having to ford swollen, muddy rivers to reach the nearest village on foot to beg for water and food from the locals. 'It's the hidden gem of South America' she said.
So we flew into La Paz where we spent 2 days recovering from altitude sickness followed by 12 days of being constantly at the mercy of strangers we couldn't communicate with. We had a fabulous time. Since then, Baasje has often remarked how the experience, opened his eyes to the idea that there are many people in the world living an alternate existance - enduring little inconveniences for the payback of seeing the world and experiencing new environments. It was a first time for him, and so many years had passed since I had last experienced it that I had forgotten.
With this newfound/renewed perception of the limitless possibilities life has to offer we returned to Ontario for the summer were I quickly fell back into my old routine while Baasje got shipped off to spend weeks at a time working refractory jobs in the cultural wasteland of Northern Ontario. I was very disappointed when he forgot his camera at the hotel on his last night in Sudbury and so returned home sans pictures to share of his time at INCO. Yes, that's the kind of summer it was.
Insert reflections on very cool trip to Los Angeles here (omitted for the sake of consitency).
Towards the end of the summer, as we braced to bypass autumn and head straight into winter (as has seemed to be the routine in Ontario for the past few years) I was invited to apply for a position at the University of Victoria. With all the fun we'd been having - Inco, turtle necks, apples, etc - it was a bit difficult to decide whether or not we should entertain the prospect of undertaking such drastic change. Once I'd finally made the decison to give it a go and apply, 'just to see what happens' it occured to me that I may as well check around and see what other options might be out there. I discovered there was a position open at Memorial Univesity in Newfoundland working on their website. If you've read my past blog posts you'll know that I LOVE Newfoundland, and Memorial has an awesome website. Unfortunately, the job prospects for Baasje out there are just about zero, so Memorial wasn't really and option. I also noticed there was a web position open at MIT in Boston that I applied for thinking they would never accept and out of country application, which is why I didn't keep an eye out for their response, which is why I missed their invitation to interview.
So a few months later, I flew to Victoria to start a new job at UVic and we decided to sell the house along with most of our belongings to start a new life out west. And here I am in January 2009, hanging out in my comfortable, temporary accomodations drinking a Slipstream cream ale, which is very tasty, fighting off jet lag having just returned from a visit 'back home' for the holidays. It was, by far, one of the most memorable holidays I have had in a while - hectic and wonderful. We cleared out the house, which had been a terrific first home first home for Baasje and I and will be sorely missed (particularly, I suspect, once we reacquaint ourselves with the relatively un-private charms of appartment living), struggled through Christmas colds, and enjoyed too brief and much treasured visits with good old friends and family that I was loathe to part with. The static existance I thought lay before me is now nowhere to be seen and, once again, the universe has proven that I will never, ever have it all figured out.
Thank goodness.
The scariest part of a static existance is how okay it all seems.
In the spring of 2008 Baasje and I decided, a little out of the blue, to go to Bolivia. A few years had passed since we'd purchased the house, and our bank accounts had recovered sufficiently to make it somewhat practical to assume we could afford a vacation that didn't entail sleeping in a tent every night and cooking all our meals. The decision to go to Bolivia was mainly based upon rumours we'd heard that Machu Picchu (our second choice) was well on it's way to becoming the Niagara Falls of South America, and Baasje's cousin Julia's stories of getting stranded in the Bolivian jungle and having to ford swollen, muddy rivers to reach the nearest village on foot to beg for water and food from the locals. 'It's the hidden gem of South America' she said.
So we flew into La Paz where we spent 2 days recovering from altitude sickness followed by 12 days of being constantly at the mercy of strangers we couldn't communicate with. We had a fabulous time. Since then, Baasje has often remarked how the experience, opened his eyes to the idea that there are many people in the world living an alternate existance - enduring little inconveniences for the payback of seeing the world and experiencing new environments. It was a first time for him, and so many years had passed since I had last experienced it that I had forgotten.
With this newfound/renewed perception of the limitless possibilities life has to offer we returned to Ontario for the summer were I quickly fell back into my old routine while Baasje got shipped off to spend weeks at a time working refractory jobs in the cultural wasteland of Northern Ontario. I was very disappointed when he forgot his camera at the hotel on his last night in Sudbury and so returned home sans pictures to share of his time at INCO. Yes, that's the kind of summer it was.
Insert reflections on very cool trip to Los Angeles here (omitted for the sake of consitency).
Towards the end of the summer, as we braced to bypass autumn and head straight into winter (as has seemed to be the routine in Ontario for the past few years) I was invited to apply for a position at the University of Victoria. With all the fun we'd been having - Inco, turtle necks, apples, etc - it was a bit difficult to decide whether or not we should entertain the prospect of undertaking such drastic change. Once I'd finally made the decison to give it a go and apply, 'just to see what happens' it occured to me that I may as well check around and see what other options might be out there. I discovered there was a position open at Memorial Univesity in Newfoundland working on their website. If you've read my past blog posts you'll know that I LOVE Newfoundland, and Memorial has an awesome website. Unfortunately, the job prospects for Baasje out there are just about zero, so Memorial wasn't really and option. I also noticed there was a web position open at MIT in Boston that I applied for thinking they would never accept and out of country application, which is why I didn't keep an eye out for their response, which is why I missed their invitation to interview.
So a few months later, I flew to Victoria to start a new job at UVic and we decided to sell the house along with most of our belongings to start a new life out west. And here I am in January 2009, hanging out in my comfortable, temporary accomodations drinking a Slipstream cream ale, which is very tasty, fighting off jet lag having just returned from a visit 'back home' for the holidays. It was, by far, one of the most memorable holidays I have had in a while - hectic and wonderful. We cleared out the house, which had been a terrific first home first home for Baasje and I and will be sorely missed (particularly, I suspect, once we reacquaint ourselves with the relatively un-private charms of appartment living), struggled through Christmas colds, and enjoyed too brief and much treasured visits with good old friends and family that I was loathe to part with. The static existance I thought lay before me is now nowhere to be seen and, once again, the universe has proven that I will never, ever have it all figured out.
Thank goodness.
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