May 31, 2002
Tbay, Day 24
Finally, another week is over! I learned this week that seagulls will nest where it is warm. That being on the roof of the paper mill where all the smoke stacks are. And if you are a person who goes up to the roof to test the stacks for flowrate and concentrations and stuff, the seagulls will protect their nearby nests. By dive bombing. At you. Of course, i only heard stories from my coworkers and if you believe them (and I do), a seagull flying at you at full speed will make anyone run away screaming like a little girl. LOL.

May 30, 2002
Tbay, Day 23
Not much to tell today. Although i did manage rest a bit at work. hehehe. Oh and also, construction boots will keep your feet toasty warm and dry even when the bottom of your jeans are totally soaked by rain at 6:30 in the morning. 8)

May 28, 2002
Tbay, Day 21
I�m waiting, waiting for the internet guy to come and get me hooked up. The appointment was for 8:30 am but now it�s 8:50. Well, the locals do say that everything here is slower than in Toronto. I guess they weren�t kidding. Lalalala� I want my internet! !@#@#%@#^%*
YES! I�m now online! Woo hoo! Too bad I have to leave in � an hour to catch my bus to go to work.
8(

May 26, 2002
Tbay, Day 19
Ah, time for my �weekend update�. Got a ride home from work meaning I get home an hour earlier� 8) Shopping with my landlady next, there went another 50 bucks. Also I have a big drawer full of junk food at my computer desk, including Doritos, Oh Henry�s, Smartfood, Cherry Blasters, ketchup chips and Werther�s chocolates. So far I�ve only opened the ketchup chips and werthers. Hehehheh. Went to the mall on Saturday and bought a �hoodie� sweater and a needlepoint kit. Also realized that I�m seriously not a shopper. Saturday afternoon, all by myself in a mall, with a credit card and and (soon to come) money from a job and I stay less than an hour and spend 50 bucks. I guess that gets me minus points from the girls and bonus points from the guys, huh?
Hint for living on your own: Dishes are your enemy. So just re-use them as many times as possible before you wash them.

May 23, 2002
Tbay, Day 16
Not much to tell today. Did some calculations for my boss who didn�t have the time to do them. Plans for the weekend are: go shopping Friday nite with my landlady cuz she�s got a car; go to the �Intercity Mall� on Saturday to check it out and spend money I don�t have yet. I won�t get paid till JUNE anyhow. Sigh�

May 22, 2002
Tbay, Day 15
I actually did some work today. But, of course, not the work that I moved to tbay for. I can�t even do the modeling stuff until they get some more RAM for my computer cuz it gets bogged down even when using excel! Oh well, I shouldn�t complain about getting paid big bucks for doing simple conversion calculations. *) So how�s the weather down in Toronto? It�s soooooo nice here. Went up to 20 degrees today. Supposed to go up to 22 tomorrow. The only problem is that it�s like �2 in the mornings when I have to take the bus. So I need my winter jacket and scarf in the morning and tank top in the afternoon. Also, since tbay is a lot farther west, the sun doesn�t really set until about 10 at nite. Apparently it doesn�t rise until 9:30 am in the winters�

May 21, 2002
Tbay, Day 14
Sigh. Back to work again. Spent most of the long weekend at the computer trying to get it to work properly. The 'plug and play' monitor isn't really plug and play. It's more like plug and get frustrated when it doesn't work. I also did the laundry by myself for the FIRST time in my life this weekend. Hehe. I'm so proud. =D
Argh! All the stuff they do here at the mill is in the imperial system! Well @ least MOST Of the measured data is. But numbers have to be reported in metric, meaning lotsa conversions. I learned today that the "old school" equivalent a kelvin (K) is a rankine (R). Wow. Utterly mind boggling. I brought a bag of Skor Bites candy to eat at work. It's a quick source of sugar that hopefully will keep me awake. You guys must be bored of reading these long journal entries by now. I'm sure they'll get shorter and less coherent when I start to do some real work, so enjoy the sarcasm while u can. 8)

May 18, 2002
Tbay, Day 11
My computer arrived from my Toronto home today. I was soooo happy. =D But like I said, nothing I do is crisis-free. =/ So I get everything hooked up, all the accessories and stuff, only to find that there's NO power cord! FLANGE! The only thing to do is go out and buy one. I take Tbay transit to future shop and am back home with a cord, new game and pencil sharpener in an hour. Plug the computer in and voila! Instant time waster for those long, boring tbay nites!

May 17, 2002
Tbay, Day 10
Yawn. Didn�t get enuf sleep yesterday. I was woken up @ 12:30 am by my land lady banging chairs around upstairs. It was quite loud. Apprently old houses have thin floors. Thank goodness it's Friday. Hehe, I asked my mom to send me my process dynamics and separation textbooks to me. I think I might actually have to apply stuff I learned in class here! =O Never thought that would happen.
Ugh� It's only 1:30, why are the hours going soooo slowly?!? Kinda reminds me of Reactions class, only my hand isn't dying from all the writing. I want to go home and sleep. My computer better get here too cuz if it doesn't� I'll be going insane in the membrane for sure. Argh, the process is already starting! Swear words heard today = 20

May 16, 2002
Tbay, Day 9
Ew. The wind is blowing the wrong way today so all the smoke from the (smoke)stacks is blowing across the office building that I�m in. It�s gonna be smelling like sulphur ALL damn day! I already smell like it cuz I had to walk thru the smoke cloud to get to the door! !@#$^&* I was so bored yesterday nite that I actually lifted some weights and did pushups. Who knows it might become a habit! =O K, gonna sit back and �rest� my eyes now. Hehe.
Sigh. I�ve been just told all about the lovely bug infestations that occur here in Tbay. You get tent caterpillars (aka army worms), gnats, blackflies and mosquitoes. Wonderful. They guys here say that you have sweep the army worms outta the way on the putting green on the golf course. Hehe. Cool. I�m also anxiously awaiting my first blackfly bite. Apparently first timers might get an allergic rxn. Yay! Good thing I brought 2 kinds of prescription antihistamines. Now I just have to go out and buy mosquito nets for my bedroom and caulking to seal my windows! 8)

May 15, 2002
Tbay, Day 8
It�s 7:41 and I�m already bored and getting sleepy. My mom left today. So now I'm truly living on my own. The funny thing is that I won't have to do any real cooking for at least a month. My mom washed and cut up pork, chicken, beef and ribs and then boiled some soup so that I wouldn't have to. Most of it is in the freezer waiting to be cooked. She also bought me another alarm clock, so as to avoid situations like my first day at work. *) I'm also getting used to waking up at quarter to 6 in the mornings now. Scary, eh? It's STILL unnatural, though. I can�t get any good radio stations here! They�re either country or (crappy) rock stations. If they had good rock, I�d listen but no, it sounds like 70�s rock or something. Yeeha. If only I could be bored but not sleepy. But I guess that�s asking for too much. Sleeping on the desk in plain sight would probably NOT be a good thing. Hehe, I met a chem eng guy today. He�s a Waterlooser, grad in �93 but he�s cool. I was starting to wonder where all the engineers were. Great. Now I�m starting to �bob� every time I close my eyes for a rest. In fact I�m falling asleep now as I write this�
My boss took me for a tour of the kraft pulp mill today. No, not kraft as in peanut butter, it's the name of the pulping process and it means "strength" in Swedish and German. It is the biggest, loudest, dirtiest, smelliest most disgusting place I have ever been in. Gotta wear earplugs and have a respirator handy just in case of a gas leak. The kraft process uses a lot of sulphur, and it really gets into the air, so you come out smelling positively FOUL. It�s where the stuff that is made into diapers, Kleenex and paper towels are made. Ew. Now I smell like sulphur and I have little bits of wood all over my clothes. Can�t wait to go home.

May 14, 2002
Tbay, Day 7
Zzzz� I have spent 2 days @ work doing nothing. I�ve spent almost all 16 hours sitting on my @$$ and reading the �Handbook for Pulp and Paper Technologies� by Smook. =) Well � of the time reading and � of the time falling asleep. AND getting up @ 5:45 am to get to work for 7:30 is totally unnatural. It�s EVIL! Stupid Tbay transit sux. SUCKS! But that�s ok cuz this suffering will build character. Yeesh, at this rate, I�ll have character coming out the wazoo by the time I get back to Toronto. Still haven�t seen any lumberjacks. Why? Cuz they don�t cut trees close to the mill!

May 13, 2002
Tbay, Day 6
First day at work. I'll have u know that nothing new that I do is 'crisis-free'. Put it this way, I set the alarm clock to (supposedly) go off @ 6.45 am. I woke up at 7.30, which is when I should have been on the bus. !@#$%^*! Serves me right for setting it in the dark with my glasses off. LOL! Sooo, after a panicky call to my landlady, she said she'd drive me to work. Phew. Anyways, with that over, I get to the pulp mill and realize that are VERY few women working there. Most of them are in administration. The rest of the employees are surly, burly, pot-bellied, middle-aged white men. Still wanna send me those 'info-cards', Jen??? Haahahaha. Well, I'm eventually led to the environmental affairs office and they don't really have space for me yet, so I have to share a desk and read a text book describing the pulp and paper process in all it's glory. For EIGHT hours! Zzzzz�.

May 12, 2002
Tbay, Day 5
Last day of freedom before work starts! =( A friend drove me and my mom around the paper mill today. It is frigging HUGE!

May 11, 2002
Tbay, Day 4
Ah, yes, went to purchase accessories for my computer @ Future shop today. Now I have a 17 inch monitor (sorry alice, it's not a flat panel one, optical mouse, my speakers from home, keyboard but uh, no CPU. That's all sitting, useless, on my desk�so sad� =/ Went back to Wal-Mart for a few more things, like a non-stick pot and cheese grater.

May 10, 2002
Tbay, Day 3
Ok, time to describe my apartment. I know you guys are very curious. The first thing is that is it BIG. About 3/4 the size of my basement (more like the blue wood floor part and the part with the pool table and bookshelves). Anyways, it came fully furnished with fridge, microwave, stove, double sink, TV, 2 phone jacks, kitchen table, computer desk, sofa bed, double bed and big closets. The only weird thing is that I have to walk out of the apartment (as in out the door I can lock) to get to the washroom. Neh, you can get used to that sorta thing - it builds character. The washroom has a set of vanity lights in it that has four 100 watt bulbs. That would make it VERY bright. I don't turn it on in the mornings cuz I like not being blinded right after I wake up. Even with all the furniture in, there's room on the floor for about 5 sleeping bags, perfect for my friends from toronto who might wanna come visit, right? (Insert guilt trip here.)

May 9, 2002
Tbay, Day 2
Today I got my first look @ Tbay in daylight. And well�there's not much to tell ya, that's for sure. It's pretty ghetto looking. Most of the houses are kinda old, and they're not 'classy old'. More like 'dilapidated old'. And the biggest mall in town has - get this - BOTH Sears and Zellers! Oh yeah. Spent more moolah on vegetables and things today and also went to get my phone connected. My first link to the outside world�. 8)

May 8/02
Tbay Day 1
Well, well, the spoiled brat city slicker has finally arrived in Thunder Bay. My mom and I arrived about 2 hours late cuz my flight had to be turned back to Pearson after 15 mins in the air because a flap or some other part didn't retract properly after takeoff. Gotta love air Canada. It wasn't even cheap Tango service or whatever. Hmph. The plane was really small too, like the size of a TTC bus and with a MALE attendant who was ok looking and of course bilingual (bonus points?). When we got to thunder bay, it was 2 degrees and rainy and windy. Anyways, After dropping luggage off at my apartment in tbay (more about that later), we were off to the local Wal-Mart to buy some essentials like toilet paper and a rice cooker and things. Ended up spending $367 and change (three carts full). Then went to buy some groceries. There went another 140 dollars. Good thing my mom had her credit card. Heheh� Also noticed that if you're looking for lotsa cultural diversity, thunder bay is NOT the place to be, as expected. *)

Back to Archive