Heather Maclaren

I am now one of Canada's newest Permanent Residents.
I flew to Vancouver through Chicago and came back into the country with my landing visa.

I feel......free.

..its always "tomorrow", its only a day away.

I can't leave the country. I've been waiting since the end of May to get my passport back from CIC. I had to send it to their New York processing center to have the Permanent Resident Visa put in.

Their letter states that it will be returned '15 business days' from the day that its received in their offices. This is hopelessly out of date. Their website says 30 business days, and this is not really accurate either. Their personal Email to me (after my website inquiry) added another 5 - 10 business days onto that. This means its probably being posted sometime this week. Unless that Email is also out of date now.

I'm reminded of what our Engineering Project Management lecturer said to us about any plan being out of date as soon as its made.

I really enjoyed StarTrek from a nerd point of view, I would consider going to see it again (something I've never done for any movie). No more info for fear of spoilers.

I didn't think Wolverine was worth the price of the movie ticket - but would have rented the DVD.

I considered going to see Angels & Demons but realised that I'd rather read the book.

I must have had several people here ask me "How do you find Ottawa?", and my answer each time has been "I really love the public transport system!" I never got round to sorting out a new driving license since I moved to Canada, so I've been reliant on buses and rides from friends ever since. Buses were better than England in Vancouver, but Ottawa is awesome!

Since moving here I've sorted out an apartment near a major transit station, and only 15 mins on foot from work. Then I sorted out how to get to fencing - its 45 mins to get there on Monday and 30 mins on Tues & Thurs - this includes walking to the bus stop/train station and waiting for a bus at 10pm! On Weds it takes a little longer to get out to Nepean for a music rehearsal (between 45-60 mins), but compared to Vancouver that's normal. I can get up at 8am and still be early for work. Instead of being rushed to get to practice, I can leave work at 6pm and still have time to eat some food before heading out again. Its a bit weird to be MORE relaxed since I headed east, but thanks to the transit efficiency life has been much easier.

I still have a bunch of friends who are back in Vancouver, and its weird to be 3 hrs ahead of people. I'm so used to being behind (or at the same time) of people I know. I feel stuck in the middle right now when I talk to people in Vancouver on MSN.

Do I miss things about Vancouver? Yes, of course. It was home for 6 years, I felt proud to live there. However, Ottawa doesn't feel like a foreign country any more, so its not as difficult as it was. Due to the different demographics, I miss some of the food (the sushi here is meh), but they have lots of Shwarma here which is really very good in its own way, and I have several friends from Vancouver who understand where I'm coming from. Its funny, I identify at least as much with my fellow Vancouverites as I do with my fellow Brits. Go Canucks Go! (ahem)

If anybody wants my new address and got missed off the mass-mailing I just sent out then please let me know and I'll send it to you.

Thx.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the thought of moving to Ottawa. I've never been there, or to Montreal, or to Toronto, and now I'm just upping sticks and moving lock, stock & barrel across the country. It feels like it did when I moved to Vancouver, except perhaps a little less alien since I'm so used to North America now.

I've got a book-map of Ottawa and I'm circling places of importance on it: work, my initial accommodation, fencing... the good news is they're all on the same page! Ottawa seems so big compared to Vancouver, especially since Vancouver had hard boundaries such as the sea and the mountains.

The main thing I have to do once I get there is sort out accommodation. I ended up booking into a hotel for 2 weeks while I look at apartments etc. Luckily I got an online deal that saves me 25%, and this time I get a moving budget from the company, plus tax breaks for whatever else I spend that isn't covered by that. I'm really glad about that - this whole moving thing seemed much cheaper in England. Maybe I was blinkered, I dunno.

Today was the second round of letting people know I will be moving on shortly (the first round was Friday evening during a brass quintet rehearsal for a wedding gig I can't make anymore). I'm not sure of the exact date of moving because I want to find out how the company deals with their work permit stuff first.

I mentioned it to a few people at the brass band rehearsal today when we were setting up, and news very quickly got to the ears of the conductor. At one point one on the other horn players asked the conductor if he was happy with the distribution of horn-players to parts for the concert next week, and he used the opportunity to ask me about my forthcoming leaving in front of the whole band. That was good of him because it meant I could answer all the questions in one go and not have to repeat myself.

I will be turning in my concert band uniform this Thursday because they don't have any more concerts in the next few weeks. I will also be collecting my Tae Kwon Do equipment from the martial arts centre.
I will need to let the fencing peeps know too.
I already updated face-book & LJ so many ex-colleagues know already. As usual I have to answer the same questions over and over again, but that's OK.

I will be moving to Ottawa during March, to start my new job on March 30.
I'll be working for Fuel Industries, in a team led by my old mentor from Nexon, who moved out there last April. In his case it was a move back home for him and his wife - back to be with family. In my case it is a new adventure, and highly welcomed.

I'll try to move out there a couple of weeks early so I can be a tourist, I've never been to there, or Toronto, or Montreal, so I've got lots to see. I figure I should spend some time doing so and getting oriented before work takes over.

More details as they become available.

I am finding it very hard to stop gushing about how cool this new toy of mine is.
I've gone from a knackered old handset to something that does EVERYTHING.

When I upgraded my handset I locked out the internet data packet option - choosing instead to piggy-back on whatever free WiFi is available. But I think I will be paying for the data packet option pretty soon. As soon as I started exploring the apps I wanted to use them. I can read my Email and facebook wherever and whenever I like - on the bus, BEFORE getting up, its up to me.

PK got given a blackberry for his work, and he says he uses it to read the news when he's getting up in the morning - now I can see why.

I can has iPhone.

Downloaded SDK - about to build stuff.

I must admit that I am still taking a second look at my surroundings each day and rejoicing to be in such a happy and constructive environment. We're a small tightly knit team and we're all a bit emotionally invested in the success of the game we're working on. Its like an extended family. We've added a few new people recently, but they've fit in so well that its been an almost seamless transition and I'm having trouble imagining the team without them.
We've created a team united by a set of common goals not torn apart by undue external pressure. I'm not naive enough to assume the lack of external pressure will last but for now I can safely say I'm having a really good time.
Two of us on the team responded to job adverts saying "when was the last time you looked forward to going to work every day?". After over a year, we both still agree with this statement.

A belated Happy Birthday to lazyknight, well, its still August 30th here..

I don't have a lot to say on Russia & Georgia because I haven't been paying much attention.

I don't have a lot to say about China & Tibet because I know of newspaper columnists who have received death threats from Chinese people who have immigrated to Canada. I've heard a lot about this though because PK is so upset about how short-sighted these people are. He is(was) HK though, not PRC. Actually if he was PRC I doubt we would get on so well.

I was watching BBC World while in the gym at lunchtime today, and I heard some guy from Georgia talking to the UN about why Russia was wrong to do what it did. He cited a lot of statistics. He referred to a lot of laws and conventions. And yet.....I was put in mind of the PRC government's opinion on Tibet.
It seems to me that there is some form of similarity along the lines of "we don't care what the residents want, they are part of our Nation and have no ethic identity"

I could be wrong with regards to those regions in Georgia. But I think perhaps some people will say I am, and some people will say I am not. Just like people's views on Tibet.

I am going to the Austin GDC in Sept (that's Austin TX). This should be really good. The first time I've been to a conference as a game developer, and an excellent chance for networking.

I have to make a connection in Houston I think. I expect it will as much of an eye-opener as last time. Its like going to the zoo....

The paperwork for the Nexon-sponsored application to the Provincial Nominee Program was completed on Wednesday and submitted on Thursday. We should hear from them somewhere between 4 and 12 weeks.

I'm neither nervous nor confident, I'm just getting on with my job, knowing that I'm not being held up by anyone on my side and there is absolutely nothing more to do than just wait.

I have just finished processing the photos from the company's annual golf tournament. It took one day to shoot them and another day to process them, which is not bad given there were about 1300 photos.

To be honest, processing golf photos is a bit like processing dragonboat photos. You look at different people doing the same action over and over again. You know that everybody wants to see pictures of themselves - and somehow you have to stay focused long enough to still be doing as good a job for the 13th team as you were for the 1st.

This is why I would not do this as a proper job - not enough variety to keep me motivated. But its nice to do it occasionally to make people happy.

You could get all upset about the US's change to the visa waiver program and say "its only a few steps away from making us apply for a full visa" but personally I think ESTA is a good thing. I'm fed up with filling out that green form whenever I cross the border, and its time they came into the 21st century. If we can check in for flights online 24hrs before boarding, and most of us like this facility, then why not do some immigration processing ahead of time too? Sure, there'll still be some processing at the port of entry but I think it'll be a bit less tedious. The ESTA is good for multiple entry and last for up to two years, and how many people honestly drive across the border without knowing 3 days in advance?

It'll be a bit messy at the start, but I think a step in the right direction. I'm fully intending to do the voluntary application when I cross the border after August 1st.

I am enjoying my Sigma 70-200 f2.8

I got it for $1000. OK it doesn't have image stabilisation but it does have an onboard focus drive so you can do panning etc. So it does pretty much everything I want, its lighter than I expected, and it was $600 LESS than the Nikon.