Ville de Quebec

Here are a couple of photos from last weekend. Danny and I had a great time. By the way... Danny's a hilarious English "bloke". And I think we found him a new car! I'll post some pictures of the actual city later. LOL!

Danny's New Car

Hat Shopping

My Jason Statham Impression

More Hat Shopping

THANK YOU MOM!!!!!

Mom, you gave me Julie's contact information, and told me that she was a very nice girl. I was hesitant to contact her at first, because I am here in Montreal, and she is in Lincoln. I didn't quite see the point is setting myself up for more heartache. But...I am so glad that I did contact her. Quite honestly, all I did was invite her as a contact on Facebook, and Skype. I didn't actually try calling her. Wouldn't you know that Julie actually contacted me a couple of days later.

We finally first spoke on August 10th. And I can tell you that she's far more than just a very nice girl. She is an absolutely amazing woman. We've spoken on Skype every day and night since we met (thank the Maker for free Skype!!).

I have so much to say about Julie...She loves Christ, she's absolutely gorgeous (woohoo!), she's intelligent, funny, witty, charming, ambitious, athletic, and most of all, she understands my sense of humor! Needless to say, I've had a heavy case of the butterflies for more than a week now!

Both Julie and I understand the realities of our situation. But we see it as the perfect opportunity to get to know each other more intimately than if we were both in the same city. And we are both extremely excited about the possibilities of what God has in store for us.  

So...a big shout out goes to the mom who orchestrated all of this. Thanks, Mom!!!!!

***Stay tuned for an update from Quebec City!***

Going Home

So last week was my first 'week' vacation. I didn't really want to take the time off so soon after starting my new job. But the entire industry was off of work; including my office. So I was a bit obliged to follow suit. Anyways, I'm not complaining. Only after 2 months, I was extremely homesick. I was so excited to see everyone. I cannot believe how much I missed the little ones. 

Even the...un-mentionable family members...

I really loved, loved, loved our family camp out. I knew Justin would come around some time and start enjoying the camping experience! I loved having everyone together. It reminded me how important family is. I just have a tough time understanding the American sense of humor...Ha ha! Just kidding. Canadians are a bore! No..I kid there too. I have met some great people so far.

I also had such a wonderful time seeing my best friend and partner in crime, Edouardo El Poofterino Serre. I love how Edouard is not worried about what other people think of him. I can learn a little something from such an attitude towards life. Luke, Edouard's friend is a great guy too. Edouard and I were supposed to camp for 2 nights. But after the first morning of being absolutely drenched by summer rains, we decided to tough it out in the comfort of Luke's house. Good food, good wine, good good memories, great friends.

The week after my vacation was a very long one. But things slowly fell into place. Thursday, I took a client golfing to a tournament for the city's architects. She had never played before, and wasn't excited about it. But by the end of the day, she said that she enjoyed her time with me, and that I was a great teacher. She had to leave early, so she gave me her raffle ticket (every architect received one at the start of the day). Well, it turns out that that ticket was chosen for a $500 gift card. I was ever so slightly tempted to keep it since my client left early... But that temptation faded rather quickly, and I ended up surprising her today with the gift. She was very grateful for it. Let's hope I earned some brownie points there!  

There is one person in particular at work that I'd like to give a shout out to. His name is Stephane LaVoie. For some reason, him and I just understand each other. It's comforting really. I don't have to explain myself much. And he is always ready to explain things to me. He's a really neat guy. It's too bad I am too lazy to take a photo of him...

Out on the Town



Last night was my first night out with some guys from the gym. We didn't have any kind of plan really. We just wanted to get out and enjoy the night. As you can see, we're not dressed for clubbing or anything like that. It was too hot and humid for any of that. Plus, we met up at 7pm. So we were a little early for any nightlife activities. The guy on the left (Mitch) is the purple belt instructor who lives at the gym. He teaches and trains full time, and hopes to make BJJ his career. The guy on the right (Danny) is from England. Danny quit his job as a postal worker in England to come here and train for a year. He's hoping to fight some time in September. There's something about people with English accents that I find very amusing. He's a riot to hang out with.

I had the bright idea to suggest a "Mexican" restaurant across the street from my place. It was okay at best. But nothing compared to what I am used to. Mitch has spent some time in California, so he also understands what good Mexican food should taste like. But Danny was enjoying all of it. LOL! I asked the server if they offered chips and salsa, and she replied "oh, absolutely." What she brought out was a small plate of about 15 chips, with some cheese on them. The 3 of us just looked at each other and laughed.

The next stop was the ice cream shop (yep...3 dudes getting ice cream on a Saturday night)... LOL!

The problem with going out on the town  with no plan, is that one can easily find themselves stuck in the "well, where should we go" vortex. That's what happened to us. We decided to walk along a very popular street for nightlife, but none of us wanted to stop at any of the bars. Mitch kept saying that he wanted to go and see the newest Harry Potter movie. LOL! We finally settled on a bar and had a drink. But it wasn't long before we were back on the street, walking aimlessly, asking each other where we should go. I ended up calling it a night around midnight. I think that we'll need to have a plan of activities set up before we venture out again!

Construction Holidays...Gotta Love It!

Today is Friday, and it's the big day before most of the construction industry (yes everyone..) takes 2-3 weeks off for summer vacation. Today, the company hosted a BBQ, with an open bar. As much as I'd like to attack some wine, I've opted for water, since I don't want to be asleep at 3pm! I'll be sure to make up for the water later tonight. Heyo!

My office mate (Martin) is leaving for vacation this Sunday, and he literally turned off his computer at 11am this morning. He turned it off, and said, "I'm done. It's time to party". LOL! He took off this morning to go buy some new polo shirts and underwear for his big California adventure. Martin is taking his daughter to California for a week. It's all he's been tlaking about for the last month. I hope he has a great time!

I guess I'm not as excited as everyone else, because I have to work  next week. For the life of me, I'm not sure what I am going to do, because all of my clients are...on vacation. LOL! Out of 25 people in the office, I think there will be 3 of us here next week. Oh well, such is the life of the new guy in the office. At least I do get one of he weeks off...I'm not quite sure what to do with myself this afternoon. It doesn't look like anyone is working. I guess it is party time!


By the way, below is by office.

Some drunkards causing trouble downtown last weekend.

BJJ and Wine

The BJJ -->

So I forgot to tell you guys about 2 Fridays ago. Well...2 Fridays ago our BJJ school hosted a Roger Gracie (pronounced Haw-ger) seminar. Roger is arguably one of the greatest BJJ fighters in the world, and quite possibly, history. He's just a monster. The gym was packed with bright-eyed students wanting to learn something cool from Roger But the "coolest" thing about Roger is that he sticks to the basics. If you sat for an hour and watched how he finishes his opponents, you'll see that he beats them by chokes taken right out of the blue belt handbook. Only he does the chokes with such strength and precision that he finishes his opponents 9 out of 10 times. Anyways, I had a great time learning some basic techniques with my new friends.


The Wine -->

So if I didn't show you this picture from the local government liquor store (SAQ), I don't know if you'd really believe me. If ever there was a reason to stay on the wagon, it's the cost of wine and liquor in Canada. I mean really... At least import good CA wine. This stuff just gives CA wines a bad name. May a curse be upon the house of whomever came up with this idea. LOL!

First Camping Weekend In the Bag

Well, my first weekend camping trip is in the bag. I can thankfully  say that there were no unexpected problems. I had a great time. The campsite, "Camping Gregoire", is about 50 minutes outside of Montreal. It's actually only about 5 miles from the US border.

I started preparing for my trip last weekend, when I bought a new tent, a sleeping bag, a cooler, and some other camping gear. I took Thursday night off from jiu jitsu so I could do my food shopping, and prepare my meals. Since I'm so new at work, I wasn't going to leave the office on Friday until about 4:30. But some of the people in the office said that I would be smart to leae around 2:30. After asking my boss for permission to leave, I was on the road! Thankfully I left early enough to miss the Friday afternoon traffic. If I would have hit the traffic, my 1 hour trip would have turned into a 2.5 hour headache.

The location I chose is more of a summer trailer park, than a campground. This place has about 450 sites for trailers, mobile homes, and tents. I'm glad I chose this location, because it had a lot of things to do to occupy my time. To be honest, the only thing that really interested me was the petanque court. I've been jonesing to play some petanque for a while now! Call me crazy.. LOL! I wasn't surprised to find that I was the youngest participant...by about 15 years. I couldn't understand anything these old people were saying to me. I speak French, but I don't speak that kind of French! In any case, I just let me tossin' do the talking, and I had a great time.

I took a long drive on Saturday afternoon. The countryside is nothing short of beautiful. I got some great pictures, and enjoyed the empty country roads. Later that night I returned to the petanque courts for the big weekend tournament. The tournament had a $1 entry fee, but I was able to stomach that. At the end of the matches, my team emerged victorious. I walked away with $1.75 in my pocket, and the pride of beating some of those retirees. LOL!

Well, it's Sunday now, and I'm back in the city, at the apartment, just watching the live stream of Mosaic and enjoying the sunny afternoon.