Friday, August 12th, 2005
The week of bad luck..I think so... | Well the last couple of weeks seem to have brought back luck to me. Earlier last week, my employer was looking for 50 employees to volunteer for a new project that is to going live starting Sept 1st. I did not volunteer for it because the workload would increase dramatically, as well I would be stuck in training for over 2 weeks to learn a new job. What is the new job? Well it is doing customer care work for T-Mobile USA. I deal with the big business accounts. Accounts with hundreds or sometimes thousands of phone lines on each account. Very stressful job, dealing with escalations, troubleshooting handset and billing issues. Just not my cup of tea. What I am doing right now is fine, I know the job inside and out, and have made a name for myself as a good knowledgeable employee.
Fast forward a few days.... I guess they did not get enough volunteers for the job, so they starting going down the list and hand picking agents to be "voluntold" to go to the new project. They claiming the criteria for this was simply not picking all the best agents, as well they looked to see who did not have any vacation booked for the next two weeks (training time), and bingo.. I was picked along with 9 others on my team. I am ranked 58th out of over 500 employees, and I was picked. I am definitely bitter about this, but what can I do?
To continue with the bad luck... Coming into work for the last day at my current project, just within 2 kms of my work (I commute 30 KM each way). I get a flat tire on my vehicle. So I have to call in to say I won't be in... I call CAA to get my vehicle's spare put on, and the spare is all rusted to hell and unsalvageable.. This so far has killed half my day, as I had to get my vehicle towed to the nearest garage to get 2 new tires put on the front end.
Just glad it is the weekend!
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| Sunday, July 3rd, 2005
Canada Day | Everytime I come back from a vacation, why is the first week back at work so difficult? My week consisted of thoughts as to why I am still working where I am. Why did I ever come back from Vacation? Why didn't I just tell the company to...well lets say shove the job up their you know what. My Canada Day was not really a holiday for me (except for the extra pay). We were still busy as per normal at work because my company only deals with clients from the US, not Canada. So this Monday should be nice and quiet hopefully enough that I can bail out of work early and check out a few locations in town.
I am still sorting through my many pictures from my Northern Adventure. There looks to be 1 location that I will be putting in the UE DB once I find all my pictures. The location is an old Renfrew Hydro Building in Renfrew Ontario. The site was locked down very tightly, and it looked to be in process of being renovated. I plan on making another trip in a month to take more pictures of the site.
As for my Kingston and area explorations. I am still planning to get to the Midway Country Motel again and look inside. I have not been out that way in a while, but I don't expect any changes at the site.
It is also nice to see alot of Kingston Ontario area explorers finally starting to come out of the woodwork. I believe there is at least 5 active members that have been online in the last month, so hopefully we can all get together and start exploring some locations.
Anyways, thats it for me. Now back to your regular programming.
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| Sunday, June 26th, 2005
Is the Week Over Already? | Well I just got back from my week long vacation to Northern Ontario. I am currently sorting through pictures (all 250 of them) and videos (10 minutes) worth and uploading them to my computer. The weather was great for sitting out on the patio have a few cold drinks, but was not the type of weather for biking(which was the main reason for vacation) or to explore.
There were alot of places to explore. I first went to an abandoned fire lookout tower halfway between Lanark and Calabogie Ontario.I got within probably 1 KM of the tower, when I came across what looked to be a baby coyote , and heard rustling in the trees nearby which I assumed was the rest of the family. Lets just say I didn't want to be continue, especially since all I had with me was my camera and a water bottle. I stayed 1 night in Renfrew Ontario at a relatives place. I did a little exploring around there. There was an abandoned Canadian Tire Store which was in the process of being converted to an Ambulance Station, as well as an abandoned Home Hardware Store on the main street that were interesting to view.
My trip brought me along Hwy 17 north, towards North Bay, and there is definitely alot of UE potential along this route. Abandoned Campgrounds, old gas stations, restaurants that would be an excellent day trip. I stayed most my week in Temiskaming Shores, about 1 1/2 hrs drive North of North Bay. There was not too much to explore in the area. I do have some amazing videos of Devil's Rock, which I hiked on my trip. Amazing View of the area. I also went up to the old mining towns of Larder Lake and Virginiatown. Lots of UE potential here as well. Lots of abandoned businesses, and the trend seemed to be for every three houses, 1 was either boarded up, for sale, or abandoned. Kinda gave me the chills when I drove down the main street and not a single person was outside. I took pictures of alot of the abandoned buildings but was not able to enter into any of them. One home I took a picture of was still being occupied, but the owner had a sign in his front yard reading (Glenn Bradley: UFO's are real Spacecraft). Something out of the Twilight Zone.
Lots more stories to tell. Little time to type them. I am sorting through the locations I saw and I will see if any of them are UEDB worthy. |
| Sunday, June 26th, 2005
Is the Week Over Already? | Well I just got back from my week long vacation to Northern Ontario. I am currently sorting through pictures (all 250 of them) and videos (10 minutes) worth and uploading them to my computer. The weather was great for sitting out on the patio have a few cold drinks, but was not the type of weather for biking(which was the main reason for vacation) or to explore.
There were alot of places to explore. I first went to an abandoned fire lookout tower halfway between Lanark and Calabogie Ontario.I got within probably 1 KM of the tower, when I came across what looked to be a baby coyote , and heard rustling in the trees nearby which I assumed was the rest of the family. Lets just say I didn't want to be continue, especially since all I had with me was my camera and a water bottle. I stayed 1 night in Renfrew Ontario at a relatives place. I did a little exploring around there. There was an abandoned Canadian Tire Store which was in the process of being converted to an Ambulance Station, as well as an abandoned Home Hardware Store on the main street that were interesting to view.
My trip brought me along Hwy 17 north, towards North Bay, and there is definitely alot of UE potential along this route. Abandoned Campgrounds, old gas stations, restaurants that would be an excellent day trip. I stayed most my week in Temiskaming Shores, about 1 1/2 hrs drive North of North Bay. There was not too much to explore in the area. I do have some amazing videos of Devil's Rock, which I hiked on my trip. Amazing View of the area. I also went up to the old mining towns of Larder Lake and Virginiatown. Lots of UE potential here as well. Lots of abandoned businesses, and the trend seemed to be for every three houses, 1 was either boarded up, for sale, or abandoned. Kinda gave me the chills when I drove down the main street and not a single person was outside. I took pictures of alot of the abandoned buildings but was not able to enter into any of them. One home I took a picture of was still being occupied, but the owner had a sign in his front yard reading (Glenn Bradley: UFO's are real Spacecraft). Something out of the Twilight Zone.
Lots more stories to tell. Little time to type them. I am sorting through the locations I saw and I will see if any of them are UEDB worthy. |
| Tuesday, June 14th, 2005
4 Days Till Vacation! | I am counting down the days before my vacation will begin. It is my first full week of time off in over a year, and I am sure I am going to enjoy it. Me and my brother are heading off on a roadtrip to the North Country. For those who wonder how far north, I am heading up Hwy 17 towards North Bay, Sudbury, French River, and heading up Hwy 11 towards Cobalt, and Kirkland Lake for a full week. Most of the time, I will be spending fending off mosquitoes, but I am finding time to check do some exploring in a few areas up north.
There is a cave or "adit" as it is called that I am planning to explore near Lake Temiskaming. The cave was blasted out by miners in the early 1900's during the big Silver Rush in Cobalt. The caves go on for a reasonable distance, and are hard to get access to. I am planning on taking a private boat trip to the cliff and get inside one or all of the small caves. There are also some old ruins of a sawmill close to this area as well that the location is sketchy, but I expect to find this and see if there is anything worth exploring. There are also alot of old mine sites in the town of Cobalt that I also plan to access and check out as well.
I am sure I will be taking alot of pictures of the locations I explore as well as well I hope to take video clips of certain locations and maybe post them into the DB with the locations I am preparing to upload. |
| Friday, May 27th, 2005
Locations to Explore | Well with McBain armed with a new digital camera, McBain is set to explore some locations his disposable camera was not able to go. Here are some locations I am planning to explore in the near future....
Abandoned Motel: Located between Kingston Ontario and Gananoque Ontario on Hwy 2, there is an abandoned motel which has been vacant for at least the last four years. The real estate sign has been up there for longer. The motel for the most part is in good condition, the windows and doors are boarded up. There are some other unattached buildings on the property as well that may be interesting to explore. The property also has an in-ground swimming pool, and around a half dozen "decommissioned" school buses with random junk inside them.
Projected date of exploration: June or July 2005
Abandoned Farm House: Located between Kingston Ontario and Joyceville Ontario on Middle Road, just south of the 401. On my first scout of the property, there was an abandoned 2 storey farmhouse, foundations for what appeared to be an old barn or garage. There has been some recent activity on the property with people doing surveying on the property, possibly preparing for building or demolition.
Projected date of exploration: June 2005
Abandoned Fire Tower: Located between Calabogie and Lanark Ontario on County Road 511, there is an abandoned fire tower which looks to be serving as a transmitter site for a local small radio station. I have found the access road to the firetower, and expect to check it out for anything worthwhile.
Projected date of exploration: June 2005
Abandoned Farmhouse II: Located between Calabogie and Perth of County Road 511. Long single lane driveway leading to an abandoned farmhouse on huge property.
Projected date of exploration: July 2005
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| Saturday, May 21st, 2005
Weekend Plans, New Camera, Hockey | As I put in a previous Journal Entry, I was looking to purchase a new digital camera. Well yesterday, I finally picked up a new camera from Black's. It is the Canon Powershot A95. The camera got some amazing features on it, and so far the pictures I have taken are coming out real good. The only real pain in the ass is going to be trying to figure out all the settings and how they work, and buying some rechargeable AA batteries.
Today, I am planning to head off exploring around the city, see what I can find to explore. There are a few places I have my eyes set on that I will probably look into today. I am not sure if I will be posting the pictures in the DB, just because I am not sure on how they will turn out. Then later on tonight, me and a few buddies will be heading out to watch the Memorial Cup game between London Knights and Rimouski Oceanic. I am a big Sidney Crosby fan and I miss the NHL not being around. So this is kinda like the Stanley Cup playoffs for most NHL starved fans.
Well thats it for me. And I will finish off saying "The Cheque is in the Mail and I am outta here!"
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| Sunday, May 15th, 2005
Time for New Camera! No more $hitty disposables for me! | Well it is a nice sunny day out my way today. I thought I would clean out my van. Alot of dirt and stuff from the winter that I have yet to clean out. Snowbrush....Don't need that anymore.... Lock De-icer.....Nope....disposable camera with last year vacation photos.... Wait! Is this the same camera I had "lost" over the winter.. Sure enough it was, but looking at the best develop date... 2003. I tried to see how they would turn out, and most pictures didn't turn out very well at all. Alot of these pictures were from a trip up to Cobalt Ontario, where I spent a week relaxing and checking out some old mining sites that have long since been abandoned.
It sucks that these pictures didn't turn out, but I am not going to make the same mistake twice. I have decided to get a digital camera so I have no worries about pictures not turning out, and I can process the pictures easier. I have been looking around at cameras in the $400-600 dollar range. I want something that is easy to use, has good battery life, and won't fall apart in 1-2 seasons. I have been looking at the...
Canon A95
http://www.audiotr...ms/CAN/CAN_A95.jpg
and the
Nikon Coolpix 5900
http://www.nikon.c...ducts/coolpix5900/
I am still undecided as to what camera I want. I have been shopping around comparing prices between the cameras, and so far I am interested in the A95. Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have my decision made up. |
| Saturday, May 7th, 2005
Weekend Plans | With this being the first full weekend off for me in quite a while, I am not too sure what I want to do. There is finally some nice weather expected, temps in the high teens. I think I will be heading out exploring at an old abandoned Motel just East Of Kingston.
I have driven by this hotel numerous times, and there has been a real estate sign posted at the location for as long as I can remember. The windows and doors appeared to be boarded up. There is an old in-ground pool outside that looks to have been neglected for years. There also 3 to 4 old school buses on site that appear to have junk inside them.
There are alot of old abandoned buildings, probably from the early 1900's in the town I am in. There is one that has been standing forever that is currently being restored. A large fence outside the perimeter, but looks like easy access to the building.
There is an old windows/door manufacturing place down the street from me that has been abandoned for a couple years now that I am contemplating whether I want to explore it, or if it is worth the risk. The main problem I have with this building is that the Police station is the next door neighbour, and only less than 500 M away. |
| Sunday, May 1st, 2005
Busy Last Couple Weeks, 2 days off in two weeks | Well I have not had anytime at all to do any exploring in the last couple weeks. Do to a combination of bad weather (rain, rain, and more rain) and with my work schedule (2 days off last 2 weeks), my exploring has had to be put aside temporarily.At my workplace (call center), schedules change more than people change their underwear.All employees are assigned a shift window. The window is basically giving you an idea of when you will start work and end work. My window has changed numerous times in the last six months. Most normal workplaces allow you to start work at 9 AM, Lunch at the same time everyday, break at the same time everyday, and finish the same time. But at my work place, no one schedule is the same. Everyday, the time that I start work, take my breaks, and have lunch is a different time everyday.
Oh, I can't wait for my vacation coming up in June. I have taken a whole week off to relax and do some exploring. I am expecting to make my way up to Northern Ontario to visit friends and do some mountain biking and exploring. It will be great.. |
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