Cam I Am

This year has been yet another roller coaster year for me..

Where to start?  Well, after trying for 2-3 years, I finally transferred from the Vancouver Operations Centre to Abbotsford in late January.  The commute has been so much better!  The people out there are great and it certainly was the change that I needed.  I’ve applied for a couple of service technician positions out there, one of which is still pending.  I’m ready for a change.  I’ve been an installer for over 8 years.

It terms of travel, I’ve been very lucky.  I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon in April.  Going to Las Vegas was amazing just for the experience of the altered reality that it provides.  Arizona and the Grand Canyon had a different significance to me.  In the winter, my grandfather would go down to the Tucson area to wait out the cold to leave southern Ontario.  As a child, I remember him talking about Arizona and what it has to offer.  He should us pictures of the Grand Canyon and even then, I knew that I wanted to go see it for myself some day.  Well, mid-April was my chance, and I couldn’t pass it up.  Even though it is very much a tourist attraction, I managed to find some peace there.  I literally sat on the edge, looking over it and thought about my grandfather.  Meghan just let me have my time there, not saying a word.  It was what I needed.

Two months after that trip, it was time to take out highly anticipated cross-country trek from Maple Ridge to Winnipeg.  My youngest brother was getting married and I simply could not miss it.  on a nearly 2 week trip, we drove across, seeing many things along the way.  It was great to reconnect with my family again and spend some time with them.  This was also an opportunity to get to know my new sister-in-law a little more.  Andrew and Martha seem to be perfect for each other.

In the summer, Meghan, the girls and I went camping only once, but we made it worthwhile.  We went to Vancouver Island and stayed in Victoria for the first night (and a hotel there!).  The next morning we drove up the coast to the Courtney are and stayed at Miracle Beach.  It was nice and sandy, but we didn’t get a lot of opportunity to enjoy it due to rain.  We did manage to find a short window of time when the tide was out to go digging in the sand for sand dollars and clams.  (They bite, I discovered!).  We also managed to find Canada’s largest geocache.  Then again, it’s not that hard to miss as you go by.

Lastly, in terms of travel, Meghan and I didn’t have the kids over Thanksgiving, so we decided to take a quick two-day trip down the west coast to Oregon.  We managed to get all the way down to Florence, where there are a lot of sand dunes.  We would have gone on a dune buggy, but we got there too late.  So, we drove to a state recreation area with sand dunes, and played in the sand there (both myself and in my truck).

It has been a remarkable year for geocaching for me.  My personal goal for the year was to find 200, which was double the amount that I had found the previous year..  Well..  I blew that out of the water.  Unless I go out with the kids later today to find one (not very likely), I found 386 in four provinces and four states.  Not too shabby.  I think I’ll try and make my goal for next year to be somewhere between 400-450.

Towards the end of the year, my back injury has been getting worse again.  For the month of December, I’ve been restricted to light office duties until it improves.  I find out on January 4th what the next course of action will be.  It could be a bumpy year next year.

For 2012, I’ve set some goals for myself.  I plan on losing a fair bit of weight, and getting into yoga to help strengthen my core muscles.  In a general sense, I’m planning on getting rid of the crap in my life — both physically and mentally.  I’ve been letting too much drag me down and that has to change.

So..  That’s pretty much it.  I’m also hoping to start blogging some more.  The one thing I’ve noticed about myself is that when the shit hits the fan, that’s when I get quiet on here and Facebook.  I’ll try to keep the complaining to a minimum too..  :)

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your 2012 treats you well!

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