We signed a lease for a new apartment in Kelowna, my first call was naturally to have our internet connection hooked up, and 12 minutes after placing the order by phone, I had a Shaw cable modem installer knocking on my door, modem in hand, and was up and running a few minutes later.

Wow.

As it turned out, our truck had another load after us which was being dropped off in Vernon, a town just on the Calgary side of Kelowna, so despite getting picked up on Monday as planned, our stuff won’t be here until Sunday morning.

On the plus side, the movers do deliver on Sunday, and at no extra charge, so at least we don’t have to take time off work.

Also luckily enough, instead of flying out, I was able to hitch a ride with my parents who happened to be driving more or less through Kelowna (or at least that was one possible route), so it not only saved me the airfare, but we also brought the cats out, saving the cats the stress of a flight.

The trip was good, Bear spent most of his time cowering in fear, but then his previous trips have more often then not ended up at the vet and cost him a body part, so he has good reason to be scared of road trips. He settled in though as well as could be expected, and once we got him into the apartment he found a nice corner to hide in and there he stays, at least unless there is food, in which case he does sneak out for a snack.

As for Maxx and Snoopy, Maxx loved traveling, parked himself above my dad and was more or less a perfect little angel, or at least as close as he gets. Snoopy was naturally more trouble, he was rather insistent that he wanted to get into the cab and distract the driver, but we kept him otherwise occupied, generally in the back of the motorhome.

All in all, a good trip. Stuff arrives tomorrow, yay!

I’ve finally got movers confirmed, our stuff is getting picked up on September 15th. Shortly after that, I’ll have junk haulers grab any left over junk I can’t manage to sell or give away by then, after which I’ll time travel to Kelowna, finally arriving shortly before our stuff.

Then comes the task of unpacking. Someone remind me to forget to schedule vacation time so I don’t have to unpack?

Some big news that most of the important people in my life know, although certainly not everyone just yet, but Lori and I are moving to Kelowna!

Last July we drove to Oliver BC for my grandmother’s 90th birthday, and the way luck would have it, Lori happened to have a job interview in Kelowna. One month later, she was starting the job, and we were starting to plan for the move.

We gave it a few weeks to let Lori get the feel for the company, make sure she would be happy committing to stay for a minimum of a couple of years, and once she was sure.

Last week I flew out and we started the house hunt, found an absolutely amazing condo, reasonable price, with pretty much all the upgrades. Air conditioning, two balconies, a nice view, stainless steel appliances, front loading in-suite washer and dryer, dishwasher, granite counter tops, pretty much the works. We formally took possession on September 1st, although we actually got the keys a couple days earlier.

Now I hate moving, but having lost track of how many times I’ve moved in the past six years, I’m somewhat familiar with the process. We’re taking a bit of a different approach, in that we’re trying to get rid of absolutely anything we can, cutting back both the amount of stuff we need to move, and the amount of junk to store on the receiving end, hopefully only keeping what we actually need and use.

We took care of some of the important stuff already, got internet service on day#1, and I’ve got electricity and insurance all arranged as well, mail redirected, now just working on all the other details, health care, address changes, mentioning the move to work, friends, family, trading in the polar bears for brown bears, etc. Did I mention the weather is beautiful?

Based on our current plans, I’ll be wandering back to Calgary every two or three months or so for several months. Why not, it’s a $49 flight ($105 or so with taxes. Yes, that’s over 100% taxes, fees, and other garbage, but still, $105 isn’t bad), and besides, the Calgary –> Kelowna trip is the closest you can get to time travel, you actually land about 8 minutes before you depart.

Anyway, things are looking good, just keeping me busy busy busy, so expect blog postings to be sparse. As time permits, Lori and I are working on another little blogging project, a collaborative effort with a bit of a different focus, but more on that once it’s closer to being ready for human consumption.

So who wants to help me pack?