Wishes DO come true...

Much has transpired since my wife's birthday, and most of it is positive. I mentioned that we were brought the wrong fridge; turns out that a scant 15 minutes after I posted, BLCS was back on my doorstep, this time with a full-sized Frigidaire - thank God! It's probably 2/3 the size of our fridge in Burlington, yet it looks half-empty compared to the jam-packed bar fridge we had earlier. That's one of many things I've learned to better appreciate since moving here; other items on the list include unlimited water, a wide variety of shopping choices, and $11 cases of pop, to name a few. 

Lily also mentioned in our last post that she made a wish when she blew out her birthday candle, and it came true! That wish was...
....for a job for me! I am now the working at the airport, for arguably the biggest airline here (head-quartered in Winnipeg). The pay is good, the perks are even better, and my team is great. I am looking forward to helping our office maintain its great level of customer service, and even improve it with my own brand of awesome (ask anyone who knows me, I am truly amazing.) Lily will probably back me up on this :-)

I had earlier applied to be a supply teacher, and would have been accepted, but for a frustrating bureaucratic snafu. Because I have a similar name and the same birth date as a wanted fugitive in Canada, I needed to submit my fingerprints to Ottawa to prove I'm not the criminal their database thinks I might possibly be. It costs $25, which is not a big deal, but takes 4-6 months to get an answer back, which is ridiculous, in my opinion. What employer would offer you a job and then hold it for 6 months?? I was so annoyed when I found this out, I resolved to find an alternative....and I did. 

If you submit your fingerprints electronically, the wait time drops from months to 72 hours. Of course, there are no such facilities here, but one can send the ink and roll cards to a fingerprint company, who will scan them and submit on your behalf. All you need, according to the RCMP website, is a letter of instruction from your local RCMP branch. So....guess which organization has no idea what a letter of instruction is? Right. I ended up having to create my own, but the local branch was unwilling to sign a document they weren't familiar with. I was in the process of following up with them when the airport offer came through, so I am putting the whole fingerprint thing on the back-burner. Eventually I intend to resolve it, if for no other reason than future employees who run into this same problem should have a reasonable alternative to the excessive wait they would otherwise endure. 

 So, it's been a good week all around since i started work the day after I was offered the position. Now, had I known about my wife's powerful wish making skills, I probably would have been baking her cupcakes a long time ago.

-J