Adding another author to Agile*

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A pediatrician, a scuba diver, and a geophysicist walk into a bar . . .

Sounds like the start of a great joke, but actually, it will be the story of my first blog entry. The last time I had to describe my career to someone, it was in a completely different context. The week Matt moved to Nova Scotia, my wife and I were scrambling to get our scuba diving certification so we could dive the reefs of Mozambique. One of my best friends was getting married in South Africa and diving was one of the must-do activities on our trip.

Getting to the dive camp in the gentle beach settlement of Ponta Malongane was a mission. Crossing the border from the familiar and relatively cosmopolitan townships of South Africa into Mozambique was like shaking off the anaesthetic of an already waning familiarity. We watched entourage after entourage of vacationing South Africans in beach shorts creep their vehicles 25 metres beyond the mobile trailers and chain link fence that comprised an otherwise unrecognizable border post. Methodically, they would turn up the radio, as to celebrate their clearance into the country, take out the gauge and drop the tire pressure down to 0.8 bar.

A common conversation about driving to Mozambique starts like this...

“Evan, do you have a 4-by-4?”
“Yes.” We were lucky enough to borrow the groom's.
“How many spare tyres do you have?”
“Er, one, . . . just one”
“Oh, well, . . . you might be alright.”
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Landed!

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After a predictably exhausting trip across Kensington, then across Calgary, then across Canada, then across Nova Scotia, we have landed in our new town. Next week (we hope) we make the final move across the village to our house. Before then, we have some painting, planning, repairing and replacing to do. Fun stuff, but I am going to be trying to make myself useful to present and future clients while we do it. We'll see how that goes!

In the meantime, I got my new business cards just before we left Calgary. They are a bit home-made, but I like it that way. The geeky 2D barcode thing is a QRCode, and very easy to make online (just Google make qrcode). This one points at this website. You can encode more or less anything in them, but the more text you encode, the bigger they get. They max out at 255 characters.

Packing our bags

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We fly to Halifax in a week. Before that, we have to pack up our house... or, rather, watch some guys come to pack up our house. Supposedly it will only take a day, and they'll be ready to load the truck on Tuesday. Unfortunately, it has become very cold and snowy, so it won't be much fun for them, trudging between the house and the truck.

Relief all around this week as we have finally sold our house, after it was on the market for about ten weeks. The buyer got themselves a good deal, and we got some peace of mind. The transaction doesn't happen till 1 February, but once we get to Nova Scotia, I think time will start to fly. Just as well, since we'll be paying for two mortgages till then. 

Only 7 more sleeps in Calgary.

Welcome to Agile*

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In late August, my family and I spent a week in Chester, Nova Scotia. Beautiful little seaside town. Incredible weather. And the Multiple Listing System. We decided to look at some houses, around Chester, Mahone Bay, and Lunenburg. So gorgeous! So old! So inexpensive! We'd already looked at a few online, of course, talking about the options. Reduce our mortgage(s). Work from home, Enjoy the outdoors, the sea, the community. 

Next thing you know, we've made an offer on an amazing house, had it accepted, talked to a mortgage broker, and changed our lives completely. Our happy, safe, healthy, wealthy life in Calgary, Alberta. In our beautiful, much-loved, unique house. Where my fun, exciting, interesting, well-paid-with-great-benefits job is. Or was, because I quit last Thursday and in two weeks we're moving, jobless, to the other side of the continent to see what life is like in the slow lane.

And I can't wait!