Are you still in suspense?

I knew that if I titled this chapter "The Good News" all of you would think I'd turned into one of those semi-Christian people that go around banging on doors disturbing honest decent folk, and trying to convert them. As if! But the long promised really really good news has arrived! As I think of it, you are all likely to think it's even better news than I do.

The actual news is that today I signed the contract for a business analysis job at Enmax. I've had a bunch of different jobs doing various elements of business analysis, along with lots of other stuff. I'd always said once I reached the age I am, or just a bit older, I wanted to start looking at part time work, and try out this semi-retired gig. I've done the no-regular-work thing for a while now, and I'm not ready to totally retire yet.

I'd been hoping to get some contract work using my various (some say eclectic) skills, and this is looking like a really good fit. The initial contract is 4 months, which is just perfect for IMC training. It might extend, or it might not, and in any case, they are willing to work around IMC. The really good part is that the person I'll be working for doesn't particularly care about our hours of work once the initial training and orientation is done, and is happy with us working from home at least part of the time. I'll be one of a team of 3 working to improve and map some of their data processing. They're using some new SAP modules, so I'm really looking forward to adding some new tools to my inventory.

Between work, working out, sleeping, eating, keeping my blog updated, keeping the wine production going, and finishing off my course paper, I'm going to be a busy puppy. From what I've read about other people training for IM, what little social life I have is going to disappear totally. I can see some of you dancing for joy here, figuring that there will be fewer senile Kanadian semi-literate ramblings strewn in the comment sections of your blogs. You might well be right. Or I'll comment when I'm asleep, and it will make even less sense than it does now. Will you even be able to tell?

Today I went for a two hour hike in Fish Creek Park. I used to know all the major trails in this end of it, but there was a flood a couple years ago. The area shown by that video is normally less than a foot deep, and if you're careful you can cross it without getting your feet wet. It washed out many of the pedestrian bridges, rerouted the river, and wiped out kilometers of pathways. They've put things back and made lots of improvements, but I haven't been down to explore much off the main paths.

My thought for today was to rent some roller blades since the main path is good pavement, but it was 3 C and windy. Roller blades didn't sound like much fun, so I went hiking off the main path, exploring areas I hadn't been in a long time, and in some cases, had never been. Lots to see. Up and down the hills. Surprised four big white tailed deer. Had a really good time. Should have brought the camera. (Yeah I know Julie, it's hypocritical of me to break your stones about not posting photos.) Stretched and rollered after. My calves are really feeling it today, especially the left one.

Yoga last night was excellent! Fiona has been giving us some really good stretches and yoga moves. During corpse pose that we always do at the end, I was visualizing myself on a beach, with a warm but not hot sun shining. The gentle waves were splashing up my body, bringing the life of the sea to me, then washing back out taking stress and tension with them. It was wonderful.