Sept 20/09 A good first week.

I've had a good first week in moncton. Adding some pictures from my trip to moncton from Montreal. As well as pictures of some sights in moncton.

St Foy, Quebec and the St Lawrence river

The rolling countryside in Quebec

The rolling countryside Quebec

St Lawrence river and mountains in the background

Riviere du Loup, Quebec

Riviere Du Loup, Quebec

Footbridge/Gazebo in Edmundston, NB

Countryside New Brunswick

Countryside New Brunswick

Please also see Moncton Tidal Bore post and Moncton Treego post for more pictures

My first day in Moncton

I was up by 06:30am. Went looking for Timmies but couldn't find it. So I settled for a coffee at at a conveniece store. I went to Universal Staffing and start work Monday.
It's been great my roommates are friendly and relaxed. Later today I will go for a walkabout Moncton.
What a ride? It has been a whirlwind two weeks. Now to get back to working for a living.

Safe and Sound in Moncton

Sept 10/09
Leaving Quebec and into New Brunswick on a beautiful sunny day. Left Montreal at 6am arrived in St Foy at 9am. Then 10 minutes later onto Riviere du Loup. Arrived in Riviere Du Loup 11 am. 15min later onto New Brunswick. I was so upset while I was checking google maps for the NB border we went past the "Welcome to New Brunswick" sign. I arrived in Moncton at 8pm. I was safe and sound with Tammy and Wilfred (my roommates) by 08:30pm.
Sept09/09
I have had a good visit with my brother and his family. Church and a tour of chateauguay on sunday. A guided tour of Ft Lennox and a drive through the countryside of the south shore on Monday. On Tuesday a trip to Mont Royal and Schwartz's for their ...famous Montreal smoked meat sandwich. Golfing with my bro today and I leave tommorrow.

On my Way

I leave Red Deer, ab at 08:15pm. My flight leaves Calgary at 01:05am Sept 6th. I arrive in Montreal, PQ at 07:05am.

It almost surreal and I am getting both nervous and excited. When I wake up tomorrow I will be 3/4 of the way across the country. It will take a few days to get used to the fact I will no longer be in Red Deer, AB.

As Always
Have Fun Stay Safe
Jim

I'm moving to Moncton.
Woohoo! I have a place to live. I am renting a room from a couple i can relate to. She likes to talk and he appears to be pretty quiet. I get the best of both worlds. :-)

It has been a happy whirlwind couple of weeks. Ask me about my daughter surprising me by travelling from ontario for a visit.
My trip took two years of planning but Two weeks to achieve. It's all good ... but I am sad there are so many I would like to say goodbye to, even so it appears they are all happy for me too.

I was pleasantly surprised tonight that my daughter and grand daughter plan to attend my good bye hotdog cook out. I have made plans for Sept 5th @12pm (noon to 2pm) for friends and family I am leaving behind I was worried I might be alone but very proud i get to shoe off my daughter and grand daughter to any and all friends who plan to attend.

What more can a man ask for than good friends that wish him well. I'm glad I have good friends. And I am glad there is facebook.
Maybe this time i won't lose touch with anyone. LOL and i've been told i had better not. :-)
I won't lose touch because good people are hard enough to find in this world I would hate to lose even one of you :-)

As always
have fun stay safe
OKOK just have fun
Jim

Counting Days not months now

I purchased my ticket for Montreal. I leave Red Deer Sept 5. I will travel to Calgary catch my flight leaving at 01:05am Sept 6/09. I will visit my brother in montreal and take the train Sept 09/09 to moncton arriving at 11:05am Sept 10/09. I thought the train trip would be a nice way to see some of the land on my way to Moncton, AB.

I am getting a little scared but I know this will be a good move for me. Right now I worry more about finding a place to stay than getting a job. So far everything else has fallen into place, I know this will too.

Monton Here I come

Aug 27/09 I am so stoked my dream of Moncton, NB just took ten steps forward but i'm sad that i may not have time to see everyone I want to before i leave. DAMN IT! Oh well it appears they are happy for me too and that means a lot. :-) Thank God for facebook at least people aren't asking what happened to Jim. Jim is going to a place to call home and is stoked about it.

I am still a little worried that i didn't grow up there and that i will be an outsider but my eastcoast friends tell me i will fit right in. The east coast friends that are still in alberta have been very encouraging to the point they wish they were going as well but can't because of girlfriends and/or mortgages. I told one friend he needs to take his girlfriend back home for a week she will never want to leave.

My date for my flight is waiting on my brother in Montreal. This trip has been two years in the planning but two weeks in fruition. So to others it appears to be all of the sudden. I will make point of coming back to see all those who meant something in my life. I don't when or where but i will come back and i will come back to make sure they know they have and will always be important to me.
Good luck to all of you
May the fates always be as kind to you as they have been to me today.

My next post will be after i complete my airfare purchase.

So the plan. I have two.
One
Fly to Montreal visit my brother over the long weekend. then take CN rail the ocean line to moncton.
Two
Fly directly to moncton. and get my ass working ASAP.

A place to call home

In my last blog I talked about why I am in Red Deer, ab and why I am going to move.

I am going to move to a place to call home.
I am going to move to a place I can be happy.
I going to move so I can escape the chase for a better financial life and find a happy life.

So what is a 49 year old oil patch labourer gonna do out east. I have done a lot of other things like website design, computer repair, hotel night auditor, NDT labourer, Valve technician, in-bound call center (computer help desk), in-bound call center (road use permit issuer), general construction/landscape labourer.
I am still in pretty good shape and in all the cities I looked at I could continue the same type of general labour I am already doing.

Worst case if I don't find a permanent job I could always fly back to Alberta for a few weeks each year to catch a pipeline or service rig project. So the oilpatch taking off again doesn't worry me because I could maintain my home out east while I rape and pillage the oil patch jobs when necessary and only when necessary. I'm hoping it won't be necessary.

So now the hard questions started. The dream was requiring a look at the realities of jobs, housing, and quality of life.

Until today there were still 4 places I was considering. I grew up in Oakville, ont. so that was one choice but I also liked the St Catharines area for it's scenery. The jobless rate and cost of living were less in both Halifax, NS and Moncton, NB.

JOBS and WAGES

I have already travelled that "move where the jobs are" road. This time I plan to stay so if I can earn enough to eat I'm happy.
So who had the most promise for labour jobs (in order)
1) Halifax (2) St Catharines (3) Moncton (4) Oakville

HOUSING and COST OF LIVING

My housing needs are pretty simple so i priced out rooms for rent and bachelor aparments. I also looked at the price of vehicles, insurance, etc. For anyone who knows me "Of course i checked out the price of computers. "
So who had the best cost of living prices for me....
(1) Moncton (2) Halifax (3) St. Catharines (4) Oakville

QUALITY OF LIFE
Based on A) Sites to see (B) bikepaths, parks (C) Low stress levels
This was the most important category of all and it took me a long time to quit flip flopping.
Who had the best Quality of life for me...
(1) Moncton (2) Halifax (3) St. Catherines (4) Oakville

Winner ******** MONCTON ********
Best - Cost of living vs wage and low stress levels
Worst - Cost of insurance


Next Blog will be on or before Aug 28/09

Jim is moving to Moncton

For a long time now i have been talking about getting out of Red Deer, Ab. about three years ago after a work related injury I moved here from Edmonton, Ab. The intent was to do what i could for my kiddies who lived here in Red Deer, Ab.

Katy my oldest has moved, obtained her RN and gotten married. Jessica my middle child has started her own family and is on her way back to school. Dylan my youngest has recently told me he is ready to take care of himself again after recovering from his job loss last December. I have not achieved as much as I had hoped but did achieve what I had intended in my time here. I was able to help my kiddies through some tough times and/or to get to where they needed/wanted to be.

I can't remember when I found the article below
********
In 2007 Moncton was ranked the 7th best city in Canada to live in by Canadian Business Magazine. PROOF:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/rankings/bestplacestolive/list.jsp
******
But it stuck with me and the dream began. I wasn't quite ready I still had things to do here in Alberta. I was still chasing after the elusive success that would enable me to have the things I thought I needed and that I wanted to do for my kids. It seems Pipe dreams are like soap bubbles they are pretty to look at but eventually they will always pop.

Then last June I went to my Daughters wedding in Emo, Ont. Everyone i met was open and friendly, and happy. I noticed even though some were from other parts of Canada (and the world) they were all happy to be amongst family and friends. They were even happy to meet me. I was overwhelmed by the fact that this had been missing from my life for a long time.

The scenery, and the welcome to Ontario sign seemed to call out the words my daughter had said over and over again to me.
"Dad we just want you to be happy, move to where you are going to be happy. "

So the dream of living with the happy people of the east coast began in earnest. I talked to a friend who moved to St John, NB and another one who had moved to Halifax, NS. I also realized that the majority of people I got along with were from the east coast. I'm sure all my friends and family got tired of hearing about my dream of moving to the coast. Most of all I realized I had been struggling in all the wrong directions to find some measure of happiness and a place to call Home.

To be cont... A place to call home