It's been a bit difficult to keep the old blog updated lately, since summer on the Rock has turned out to be a pretty phenomenal season so far and there hasn't been a lot of time to curl up with my laptop. There always seems to be something going on, something to do, and something to spend money on. It's getting a bit ridiculous...I'm kind of looking forward to a break from this busy little place.

Laila and Dallas have been here since last Saturday (two Saturdays ago now), and we're having a blast with them. Having visitors forces you to get out and do things in the evenings, which has actually been great. With daylight now stretching to 9:00ish, it's totally possible for us to go home after work, have dinner and then head down to the beach for a swim. On Monday, we went bowling to celebrate Dal's 30th birthday. Unbeknownst to me, Kurt is an excellent bowler. Beknownst to me, I am not. But, I held my own and even got a strike, which is actually kind of a miracle. Tonight (I think) we'll be meeting up for them for the weekly street fair downtown, which may have a teen fashion show included, which is well worth hanging around in 30 degree heat for. Hello, inappropriate. Hilarious.

Last weekend, we celebrated our heritage by congregating on the beach with a whole whack of other Canadians who have chosen the Rock as their temporary home. It was fun. $10 got me a one-year membership to the local association of Canadians (I am now a card-carrying member), a turkey burger, three alcoholic beverages and one water. Not a bad deal, considering. Also, I ended up scoring a flat of Red Bull at the end of the afternoon, which would be great if I liked Red Bull. Anyways, the boys did some body surfing, we all got a bit sunburned, and then we headed out to the furthest eastern point of the Rock to find this very random little "restaurant" that we've been hearing about since we moved. I think that "restaurant" might be a strong term for this place. It's literally in someone's backyard, behind a VERY rustic "house", with bathrooms that made Laila the nurse dry heave a bit. However...the chef (and owner), who is somewhat of a legend around here, is a lovely, friendly guy and he is a fantastic cook. For $17.50 apiece, we each enjoyed a bowl of his homemade fish chowder and a plate of fish and chips. Everything was delicious...we'll definitely be going back. All four of us did report having some very odd dreams that night (mine involved some shipwrecked Amish Mormons - yes...Amish AND Mormons...who we rescued from the water but then they made us sing Mariah Carey's version of 'O Holy Night'...), but I'm sure those were unrelated.

On Sunday, we discovered this great boat rental place almost right behind our house - cheap AND local...perfect. Six of us headed out on the water for the afternoon to explore, swim, etc. It was great. They also rent kayaks, so Kurt and I are going to start renting kayaks from them when we have beautiful days and nothing to do. Paddling around to the little private islands and snorkeling in the reefs...sounds great to me.

My ridiculous four week notice period has now been whittled down to a more tolerable 7 days left at my current job. Or, I should say, my current company, since my boss and I actually parted ways at the beginning of last week. It wasn't very pretty. Within about 24 hours of my giving my notice to him, he morphed into a gigantic turd and went out of his way to make himself look ridiculous in front of people he still has to work with. It was awkward...for him. Everyone else has been great and really supportive about it though, which means that while the four weeks have been kind of annoying...they've been tolerable. It's disappointing that eight months had to end like this though...even though I kind of expected his reaction, I secretly hoped that I would be wrong and that he would be classy about things. Mostly because he is not four years old. Not so much. Though, from what I've seen and heard since I left the floor, he's apparently prone to little tantrums, so I'm not taking it personally. As soon as my replacement was trained to be me, I asked to be removed from the floor and that was it.

More than ever, I think I've made the right move, and I'm guessing that he was probably a gigantic turd all along. It wouldn't have mattered if I'd left now, or two years from now...his reaction would have been the same and I would never have bothered asking for a reference letter from him, since he's never actually seen me work!

So, with Lai and Dal not leaving until Saturday, we have some fun stuff going on over the next few days. They've relocated to the house of some friends of ours, which is a lot more central for them and easier for them to see the other parts of the Rock, so we'll be meeting up with them over the next few evenings - their last few days here. This also happens to include Laila's birthday, so we'll be celebrating that with some swanky dinner and then trivia night at a local pub, I think. And then, a week from this Friday...we're on the plane!