Tom's World Trip

Well, summer is coming (came?) to an end and one of the last BEAUTIFUL days we had in August, crystal clear skies, I went up Thornhill/Copper Mountain to watch the sun set and the stars.

 

While I was up there, I managed to capture some photos of the sunset and have put them up here for everyone to enjoy.  I know it's been way to long since I updated my blog... I don't have any excuses!!  The craziest thing though was a satellite we saw that night... normally satellites are dim, slow moving across the sky, little pin pricks amongst the stars.  Well, that's how this one started out, as it moved about a 10th of the way across our vision, all of a sudden it started getting brighter, and bigger, and moving faster.... and BIGGER, and BRIGHTER and FASTER... and it literally grew from a pin prick size dim dot, to a LARGE super bright light and looked like it was actually going to crash into the mountain where we were, it literrally looked like it was coming straight for us out of the sky.  Then just as fast as it lit up, it started to dim out again and went back to it's regular size, brightness and speed and continuted its journey across the nights sky.  I think it was a UFO

 

So, what else is new with me... lets see... Gymnastics has started up again.  I re-joined the gym in January of this year as they were short on coaches and needed a hand, and also had a class that I could participate in!  I was very glad to get back into it, I needed to start getting some exercise!  Anyways, starting again in September here, this time 4 days a week instead of 2, and 12 hours instead of 6!!  It's going to be intense!!  My abs really hurt after the first two classes

 

Work is going great, mostly.  It is keeping me really busy, too busy at times.  I went away for a week and a half, had some problems here while I was away which made it difficult for me to help out my clients, and meant I had a lot of follow up to do when I got back... I ended up working 12-17 hour days for the first two weeks after getting back from the trip... It was crazy.  Things have slowed down a bit since which is nice.  I'm getting a bit of time to myself now.

 

On the topic of time to myself, I guess that leads me into how "life" is going.  And it's good... maybe even getting close to great right now.  For the past 2.5 years I've been back in Terrace, I have been focused on my work.  Starting a business in an economically depressed region (not just town) is a gamble, so I was really focused on making that work, so I didn't put too much time into "life."  Plus I'm kinda shy with  new people and don't enjoy "drinking every weekend" that a lot of people in Terrace like to do, so I never really fit in with the "crowds" here.  So needless to say, meeting someone has been tough.  But, that has changed!  I've started seeing someone who just moved to Terrace for work in January.  I've known her since then and we became friends and then just recently we started hanging out more and more and I guess we are at the "seeing each other" stages now... Although I've never been good at the whole dating thing so we might actually be at the "dating" stage, but I hope you get the jist.

 

So ya, things are going good for me right now.  Work is good... Life has stepped things up a notch.  I'm happy!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Well, summer has kind of officially come... and we decided to plan a dive trip out to Prince Rupert.  We were going to go, weather independant, but at the last minute it turned out to be GORGEOUS!!  Thank you Mother Nature!!

So, we spent 3 days out on the water, day tripping from Port Edward (just 20 minutes before Prince Rupert) to various different dive sites.

It was fantastic!!  Check out the pictures, there was some amazing stuff down there!!

 

 

 

Well this week has been on and off so far.  I've had a decent week work wise and I've sold a computer to a new client who runs a construction company and hopefully it'll turn into more than a "me selling him a computer and walking away" type deal.  I did some work for him already, kinda, I wired a new office for telephone and ethernet, that's how he found out about me.  So he said that it's good to know other companies in town that do this sort of thing, so he doesn't always have to use the only other company in town that does it.

Onto another topic... The Canucks are SUCKING lately.  It's not entirely their fault though... 5 of their top 6 defencemen are out with injuries so we have 5 rookie defencemen in our linup.  They're doing ok though.  It's the scoring where we are having troubles.  It seems like it's impossible for the guys to find the back of the net!!  Hopefully they'll come out of this slump soon... we're not actually in a playoff position at this point!

So they have another game tonight at 4pm PST against the Atlanta Thrashers.  Atlanta is only 3 points different from us in the Eastern conference and both teams have 26 wins (Atlanta has 26 losses compared to our 21, but we make that up with overtime wins)  So they're definitely more evenly matched than say Detroit and Vancouver points wise.

 

Here's to hoping tonights game is a good one.

I was expecting Friday to be like any other normal day.  Sleep in, get up, check my websites, emails and generally not to too much.  However it turned out to be one of the busiest days in a long time!

I had booked an appointment on Thursday for Friday morning, so I knew I had some work to do.  I got up, got ready and as I was having my breadfast the phone rang.  It was one of my regular clients and they were having trouble with one of their computers.  Cool.  We, not cool, but you know

 

So my day ended up turning into 3 appointments, 4 service calls and one booked for Monday with a home based accounting firm that wants to have someone available to look after all their 2 or 3 computers and their server for them!

 

YAY!!

 

So I celebrated last night... In typical "computer nerd" fashion.  I took my computer over to Chris's house, Lawrence brought his over (we did some fixing up on it, cause it needed it) and we played Battlefield 2 from 9:30pm until 3:30am!!  It was a blast.  And even more fun because we could co-ordinate really quickly because we were right beside each other... no lag from VoIP.

 

So hopefully things will go good on Monday!

And the prize goes to.... ME ... YAY!

Wow... September 12... I'd definitely say it's been a long time since I updated... I should try to do it on a regular basis.  I mean, it's not like I don't have much time on my hands....... and that will lead me into today's blog entry.

 

I'm fricken bored.  Terrace is killing me.  Not literally but close to financially.  As a bit of a history refresh, I came back to Terrace in March 2007 to start up my business, TCSI Computers, as a full time effort which I'd never attempted before here.  I originally started it in 1998, just as I was graduating high school, but it was always a "on the side" or "evenings and weekends" or "friends and family" type of venture.  I did some work for random people and did come up with some business clients.  However I was only 18 at the time and the offer of $32 per hour to be head technician for a Distance Education school was more than tempting enough to just be an employee and head away from home.

 

After a couple years of doing various things in the "employee" sector, I finally met up with Alan who "wooo'd" me into running my business and sub-contracting to a larger company called Nerds On Site.  This was a big step for me, it was a little nerve racking, but at the time my (now ex) wife was working, so it wasn't like we didn't have any income until things picked up.  So for the first couple months where things weren't to good, we were ok, and then about the 3rd month, I was up to a very comfortable wage and all was golden.

 

Fast forward a few years, and quite a few grey/silver hairs later (yes, they're there and I'm only 27) the stress was getting to me and it was time for a change.  By this time she was an "ex" and I was finally able to pursue another interest, which would become a passion, which was travelling.  Alot of you followed along faithfully while I trekked up and down the eastern coast of Australia, headed to New Zealand, across Australia and then to the Philippines.  After a year of being away, being a slacker (is there a trend here?) and not working, the amounting debt finally forced me to make the decision to come home and re-join the "real-world."

 

However my idea for my "real-world" now involved putting my new found courage in operating my own business to the test.  Take it to Terrace, where life in general is cheaper, it only takes 15 minutes to get from the absolute one end of town to the other, the pace of life is slower, and I have more friends and family that I did in the lower mainland.

 

I have a feeling this is where I went wrong.

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I do love it here, the area is amazing and I missed it horribly while I was away... Even when I was living in Vancouver I missed the sights of the mountains and the outdoorsiness (yes, I made that up) that Terrace offers.  I especially missed my friends and parents.  However time has gone on without me here and I would discover that things wouldn't be the same.  I guess I was under the delusion that I would come back to things as they were... and boy was I wrong.  A couple things have stayed the same, but mostly they've changed, as I now know they most definitely should have.  Friends have married (and most of them have kids) they've got their own lives and don't do the things we all used to.  I guess that is what growing up is all about eh?

 

I think I got screwed over with my life so far.  I got married young, at 21, to my first real girlfriend... and grew up into that roll.  Then when it all ended (on a good note, for both of us) things opened up for me.  I took my year to travel, spending that time with 18-23 year old people (because that seemed to be the average age travelling Australia) and "digressed" a bit in my maturity.  Not to say that I'm now immature, but coming back to Terrace and everyone's "grown up" with a wife/husband and kids, makes me feel like I'm WAY out of place.

 

I did meet some new people since I've been back, and that's good.  The bad part is that I'm horrible at making new friends... That's an even longer story, and I don't have a comfy couch to lay in while I tell it, but suffice it to say, I'm not very good at it and usually tend to screw things up with my own insecurities.  So coming back I met some people, started doing stuff, then the one single guy friend I had found a girl.  Ok, good for him, that's awesome.  I didn't hear a word from him for 2 months.  I think in the last 6 months or so, I've seen him half a dozen times, always attached at the hip.  I may be sounding synical or mad, I am happy for him, he seems to have found a great girl.  Maybe I'm jealous.  I probably am.

 

Oh... man I think that train got derailed.

 

Work sucks.  There we go, back on topic.  So I came back and have been working with my best friend and business partner to try and kick-start TCSI here in Terrace.  Things were going good over the summer, new clients were calling, we were developing some good business relationships with some key companies here in town and it all looked promising.  Then came fall, and work fell...  More mounting debts forced me into "hermit" mode... part of what screwed my friendships I think, because up until then I was going out, having fun, doing whatever, then realizing I was spending more than I was taking in I realized I couldn't do that for long.  So for about two whole months I stayed home, watched TV, movies, gamed... didn't spend an unnecessary penny.  That helped me get on the right track financially, but screwed with my personal life quite nicely.  But as a side note, if these people I was hanging out with were really interested in being friends, wouldn't (shouldn't) they have tried to call me after the first couple weeks to see what happened to me? ... hmmm... I guess that means they didn't.  But I didn't make any effort to call them either, cause I new I couldn't go out and do anything anyways... Guess I screwed myself on that one too.

 

Wow... I must have some issues I need to talk about... I was going to complain about work but I keep getting off topic.  I guess that last paragraph is kinda on topic... no work, no money... so we'll go from there.  January started out great!  Three new service calls in one day!  A training gig with a local company, to teach some basic MS Access skills and a $900 to the good, 4 days work.  That was January 7th to 10th.  What have I been up to since?  Nothing.  Not a single service call or request until this last Thursday.  Then it's a computer sale and a proposal request.  Ok, so those aren't bad.  A foot in the door with a company for the computer sale and a proposal for another.  That'll lead to more work right?  One can only hope.

 

Can I live off of this amount of work?  Probably, for the time being.  My parents have been great in supporting me, but I'm not making any financial headway.  The debt from the trip is still there, and the debt from the first few months of being back and starting the business is still there, and not very much money coming in to start hacking away at that.

 

I'm frustrated... with all areas of my life right now.  Work sucks... personal life sucks... there doesn't seem to be much hope anywhere.  So I'm here, plugging away at what I can. 

 

So where do I go from here?  How much more time do I commit to my business here before buckling under the mounting financial and emotional presures?  Definately a different kind of stress then the "grey/silver hair creating" stress of being over worked in Vancouver.  Do I want to go back to that?  How much will that have changed in the time I've been away?  Am I going to find similar issues going back there that I did back here and loose my "one year" of "start-up" time again?  What about other opportunities?  Bermuda, Dubai, the Caymans... hmmm... all looking for skilled people in my field of expertise, should I step out of my box once again and try something like that?

 

What's next for me ... who knows ... I sure wish I did, it would cut the ice a little bit and make breathing a little easier.

 

Thanks for sticking this one out to the end... I know it's alot of wining on my part, but I needed to get it out... especially since I can't afford to go lay on one of those comfy couches.

This summer hasn't been much of a summer.  And now that we're into the middle of September (almost) we're getting some BEAUTIFUL weather.

So yesterday Chris and I decided we'd had enough (although not nearly enough lately) of hiking Terrace mountain.  Terrace Mountain is right in town and only takes about an hour and a half to get up and down, depending on how fast you go.  So we headed to do Thornhill/Copper Mountain!

 

Now THIS is a mountain.  It wasn't nearly as steep in the first part but it's a gradual incline with off and on steep parts all the way up.  We hiked for about 3 hours before calling it a day and heading back down.

 

It was VERY scenic.  Definately a temperate rain forest.  BIG trees growing up to a canopy ceiling and very little under brush.  Moss everywhere.  And quiet, sound seemed to die right off your lips.

 

We didn't make it to the very top, but it's the plan for the next time!

 

Enjoy the pics.

 

Tom

Sunday August 19, I got out for a REAL dive. We (my Mom and Dad and my dive buddy Tanya) headed out of Prince Rupert, BC to some of the western islands and hit up 4 different sites that we wanted to see what was going on! They were ALL AMAZING!!

We saw a >6 foot long Adult Wolfe Eel, seals (although we weren't swimming with them they did come right up close to have a look at us) octopus (3 different ones), Ling Cod, Kelp Green Ling, tonnes of shrimp, some AMAZING nudibranchs (you have to check out the photo album for these!!), crabs (Red Rock and a couple I've never seen before) and we swam through a couple kelp forests and we had PERFECT weather. It was sunny, glass calm and a real amazing first experience diving on the North coast of BC!

 

It was an amazing day!!!