Here We Go Again...

The winter semester (though, I think the college calls this the spring semester) started this week and, as usual, I'm just dragging my butt getting back into doing school work again. The winter break is so long! And per usual, I was going to spend all my free time after I got back home brushing up on the software I'm going to have to use....that I haven't touched in many moons. This time it's Advanced Digital Publishing, and we'll be using several Adobe products....but concentrating on InDesign as a way to publish directly to the web and to iPads. According to the syllabus, the final project is going to be writing and publishing an app for the iPad.....okay....

I enrolled in this class last semester, but had to drop it because I didn't want to overtax my little old self by doing two classes and an international move at the same time. Unfortunately, the whole syllabus has been changed, and instead of working on advanced design for print materials.....I'm being dragged into the 21st century where I'm expected to learn how to ePublish. Yep! Who'd a thunk it? I suppose that's a hazard of doing a tech-type degree over a period of years; or perhaps it's a good thing. At least, I'm avoiding obsolescence. Some of the stuff I learned back at the beginning of this no longer applies. You can do websites without coding now! I've already taken two courses in Flash, and Flash is really and truly on the way out....and there is one more Flash course on my degree plan. I think I'll just hold off on that one as long as possible and hope that the college changes the curriculum for that course, too.

So, here I am....first project due on Sunday and I'm messing around with rewrapping my brain and trying to get those creative juices flowing again. You'd think finally having a mac to work on would be inspiration enough! For three days, I was procrastinating, but today I made myself sit here, and at least get started on the busy work of selecting images, and sketching out some ideas.

On a more exciting note, we got to Paul's last night for some absolutely remarkable steaks. The place was packed and it was Wednesday night! I guess good food will always draw a crowd, especially hungry male expat carnivores. Tonight, it's up to me but there's no way I can beat what we ate last night....best just open a couple cans of beans, and settle in to watch American Idol until John has all he can take of Mariah and Nikki, and makes me turn it off.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Tearing myself away from James Patterson for a while....

John went off to work and it's Sunday, but the oil patch has no respect for Sundays. I think I'll start a Project Runway marathon (Season 8). I bought those DVDs for just such an occasion. Season 7 was supposed to be for daily-girl-alone-time but John accidentally caught one episode and was hooked. The rest of that season ended up being last week's prime time fare, and I spent my afternoons with my good friend J.P.

We tried to get reservations for Paul's last night but there wasn't anything available. The expats must all be back in town after the holiday break, so I'm going to make a note in the "Notes" section of this fancy new fangled machine to call them mid-week to get us a spot. So much for the mouth-watering steak I'd envisioned since Thursday....instead we had barely passable food at the Hong Kong restaurant at the top of the street. For some reason, quite a few people who obviously don't have a clue what decent food is were there, too. Maybe, they were there because the management and staff let any children you might happen to bring with you run around like they are in a McDonald's playroom instead of a grown-up  kind of restaurant. The last count I took, there were about 8 little lovelies chasing each other and climbing over the banquettes with not one parent even giving them a second glance. They weren't all locals either....you folks from Norway? I'm looking at you, too. Your kids are horrible little pains in the ass.....

Maybe, I'm a bit grumpy about losing my Sunday to work, and the best thing for me to do today is go back to my serial killer novel and enjoy....

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I saw Keith Urban. August at the Metro Centre in Halifax. I took pics with my wee Canon camera and without flash, and set on auto.....I think they came out pretty well. Our seats were on the floor but we were about 15 rows back; not the greatest but not the worst. I think John wasn't super excited to go, but it turned out he enjoyed a lot more than he expected.....though I am not sure what he was expecting.

Would go see Keith again in a heartbeat. His show was awesome and he plays one mean guitar...seriously! Too bad he has to share those Idol judging duties with Mariah Carey and Nikki What'sHerFace.....I love Keith Urban but unfortunately not enough to sit through an hour or two with that other mess. Guess we just can't have it all, can we?

2013 - Turning Over A New Leaf (Yet Again)

Seventeen days in and I haven't exactly honored my New Year's Resolution of writing at least one paragraph a day for each day of the whole year....still beating myself up quite badly about that, and I can't mobilize myself to do anything about it. That's how bruised I am!

For openers, I'm excited to be typing this on my new MacBook Pro....a Christmas gift from John that surprised the heck out of me. I was kind of expecting an iPad, having gone on and on about how useful one would be for me with all the traveling, etc. Nope, no iPad (not yet, anyway)...but I do have my Mac! And I love it! The transition from PC wasn't hard at all....I only got stuck on how to turn the darn thing off....and Rob was around to show me that there are little secrets hiding beneath that little apple. I'm all ready now for the new semester to begin next week. Bring on Advanced Digital Publishing!

We had a great time in Halifax over Christmas. John managed to get 3 weeks off so we took a detour to Houston, on the way back to Baku, to clean out a storage unit. I knew it would be much easier to work in the storage place when the temperatures outside weren't hitting the 90's, and it was. We managed to get down to one unit without the loss of one single power or hand tool. I sacrificed some Tupperware, some pots & pans, and a few boxes of clothes and coats....including a beautiful Simon Chang chocolate brown wool coat trimmed with brown and turquoise faux fur that I loved....but could never ever wear (not even once because it was too small when I bought it). I hated to part with it! It was such a good deal! I bought it about 12 years ago at 80% off it's $800 regular price. Maybe it was the fabric...the wool was so fine, it was a joy just to touch it. Anyway, it's gone off to Goodwill now....even though John kept telling me to keep the things I really liked (probably since he was doing it).

Renting a townhouse in Halifax for the month of December was the best idea I've had in a long time. Not sure if John would agree with me on this (since it was also my idea to clean out storage in January, and that turned out to be a bang up plan if I do say so myself)...but anyway...it was nice to have the kids and ourselves under one roof for a change. I had lots of room to spread out the wrapping business, and the tree with the dollar store decorations looked just fine. Maybe someone took a picture of it that I can post. I thought I did but a quick check of a couple of memory cards proves that to be wrong. The only bad part of renting was having to spend a whole day cleaning up and putting everything in the house back the way we found it. I think the kids want to do it again because they both pitched in and spent their New Year's Day with us cleaning and "moving out". Rob is now back at Dot and Bonsie's where he is redoing the flooring in his room, and Carolyn is back in frosty Fredericton once again.

My next ticket home is for the 29th of March, and when I booked it I had no clue that day was Good Friday. I'll be home for Easter....unexpected but nice.

Between now and then, I'll work on my classes, try to read all of the paperbacks in the bookcases that have yet to be cracked, and hopefully take in the waist of those new black dress pants I bought in the States. That should keep me out of trouble for a little while. I told myself when all of the books that I've already bought are read, I'll think about getting an eReader. Not going to do make any deals with myself about the pants, though, if I waited to hem them until I lost 10 or 20 odd pounds they would be nothing more than a place holder in my closet. Having a stable weight is a good thing, right?


So far, two books have been moved over to the "read" column, and I'm starting a third. I spent most of last week going through the photos I pulled off John's phone last May. He had a few hundred images on it that had never been viewed on a larger screen and most of which I had never seen. Well, now, they've been seen, edited, and uploaded to my smugmug. Some of them weren't too bad.....

Carolyn and Veda

Rob and his Christmas Shopping

Me and a Tim's in Dubai

Back To The Beginning Part III

 I wrote this in June but didn't get around to posting it....better late than never, eh? This family history segue is being written so I can preserve what little I know about my father's life for future generations (the great grand kids might want to know this stuff, right?)....so mostly I'm just rambling and trying to get everything down and saved....albeit slowly...

In honor of Father's Day.....said with a little bit of a snicker....just coincidence is all.

Telling Patty about Jill was tougher than I thought it would be. Patty, Pat and I had made plans to go to the Truro Raceway the next day for the harness races, so I figured that would be the perfect opportunity to tell her. Just a nice afternoon playing the ponies and passing on some big family news. What I didn't know, until we were almost there, was that we were meeting some of their friends...so we didn't get any time alone all afternoon. Didn't win any money either. In the end, as they were dropping me off at the MacKays', I had to ask her if she was going to be home that night because I had something I wanted to talk about. I hate doing that to people...leaving them hanging, but that was all I could do at that point. If they were going out and I had to hang onto this for one extra hour, I was going to burst! Was she surprised? You betcha!! It was great...

Jill and her husband, Wayne, have a trailer they use in the summer near Kentville. We arranged to meet Jill there on Saturday. Were we nervous? Oh yeah...very...and there were unspoken thoughts as to whether or not the excitement would induce Patty to do a floppy, and she's be introduced as "sleepy-falling down Patty" right from the get go. But she did good. No flopping all afternoon.
 
Mom had wanted to come, but I figured her motivation was mostly curiosity and this was something I wanted to do more low key at that point. Kinda funny though.....when we stopped at the campground office to have them open the gate, the woman in there became so excited.....she told us we could take are car right in to the trailer site and skip the parking lot. It hadn't occurred to me that they'd roll out the red carpet for us. But, as we found out, Jill has many good friends there who knew that she had been searching for family. I guess everyone of them had a little investment in the outcome.

So, in we drove, as unseen trailer neighbors peeked from behind their blinds and curtains at "Jill's 2 sisters". We found her site number, and there she was, waiting on the front porch for us. As yappy as I tend to be when my fingers get to flying over the keyboard...there doesn't seem to be anyway I can really describe what it felt like to meet a new sister. For starters, I am incredibly awe inspired how much this whole meeting resulted from a few seemingly inconsequential circumstances and decisions. Really!....Something as trivial as a TV show that I only had half an interest in watching, could have kept me away from my laptop in the middle of the night...and who knows if this meeting would ever have taken place.

There were hugs and a few tears of happiness. There was an amazing family resemblance. And it all just felt right. The three of us sat on the deck of Jill's trailer and talked for the rest of the afternoon. We shared our stories and Jill told us how hard she had been looking for members of Jim's family and how she eventually gave up hope of ever doing so. She had been in touch with our cousins in New Brunswick who shared with her what they knew of our father, and had sent her some pictures. We ended up filling gaps for each other as we all had different knowledge from a different time.

One of the biggest surprises for me and Patty was to learn that we have another sister who is older than me. She was raised by her birth mother and husband as their own child, and was never told the truth about her birth father. The people who raised her are still alive, and I've managed to piece together their names....but we all think it's best just to leave them be.

There are rumors of other children, younger ones, but nothing really to go on. Back in 1972, I had a visit from someone who knew Jim out in Calgary. If I remember correctly, he said Jim was married and also that he had other children. He mentioned a 12 year old (that would have been Jill), a 4 year old, and a new baby.

In 1972, Jim married Linda Christie, but everyone I have been in contact with says there were no children in that marriage. Linda was killed in a single car accident in June of 1974 when she was only 29 years old. She had gone to pick up a puppy she was giving to Jim as a gift. As she was returning home with it, she drove off the road into the Fraser Canyon at China Bar near Hell's Gate in British Columbia....both she and the dog were killed. I can't find out any more about her, though. A couple of months ago I met some cousins in Maine who had some pictures of Jim and Linda....even a wedding photo. She was a petite and pretty blonde. One of the cousins in Maine was going to scan and send me digital copies of them but nothing yet. We haven't been in touch since our visit in Maine. Not sure why....just got busy with moving stuff I suppose.

So....anyway...back to our meeting Jill. The afternoon flew by and as I said, we mostly talked about what we knew about Jim and the McMullin family. We talked about our childhoods, and Jill told us how she found out that the man she thought was her "real" father actually was her adoptive one. She told us how upset her mother had been when she asked her about it, and how the subject was dropped between them for many years. We all felt that we were better off having been raised in the families we were, than in the one that could have been. It's hard to believe that I had another sister who was growing up a few hours drive away and had no idea. It also turns out that we like to do some of the same things...like quilt and write.

That day we met Jill's husband, Wayne. And the following Saturday, we drove back down again with Mom and Pat. Jill's son, David, and his wife, Erica, were there with their two adorable daughters....Emily and Peyton. Mom totally enjoyed herself and a good time was had by all. (How's that for a cliche?) But it was good and we did have a great time, and I was really looking forward to when John would be home again and he could come meet them, too.

In another post, I'll write down all that I know about Jim in one place....just to keep all that together. I've got the genealogy that Ralph Shaw did, and some more information on the McMullins that Jill has collected. I'll piece that together and add in what we know about Jim. I'm not sure how much more digging I'll do. I've been told that the person who would have the most first hand knowledge about Jim would be my uncle Roy's second wife Virginia. There's a good deal of history there....not sure if she'd even want to talk to me, but I did manage to find an address for her. Maybe someday I'll write her a letter....

Back in the "Former" USSR.....Reprise

Well, here we are. Back in Azerbaijan again. All moved in and once that box of John's "work" things make its way down the street to the office, and the spare room bed gets some sheets on it....we'll be all in and done. In fact, we are down to rug shopping now which I take as a good sign. I think we'll like this place. It doesn't have the spectacular view that some of the other apartments had, but it has an okay one.



The common areas are nice (something rare in this town) and it's close to lots of places we tend to frequent....like Schlotzky's deli and Cinnabon for coffee.

Our favorite Chinese restaurant is on the corner and John can walk to his office in less than 5 minutes. No more having to look for street parking at Caspian Plaza because he has a place right here underneath our building. There is even a "super" or as he's called in Baku a "commandant" to look after the stuff that breaks....or doesn't work in the first place. I've had a few visits with the commandant already.

After all the looking, and thinking, and considering that went on in June over what apartment we should take, we ended up having to begin the search all over again when we got here at the end of August.

For some reason.....after the landlord handed over the keys to the one we had chosen (nice view, not so nice neighborhood) he decided that his son (who apparently had been dealing with it) made an error in the rental amount. Instead of 2,000 manat a month, he really wanted 3,000. A fact that only came to light after several meetings to resolve...whatever....the end result of which was a complete breakdown in negotiations. I didn't find out about any of this until it was all an undone deal and John called to ask me for the phone number of one of the other agents we had used. At the time he was pretty mystified about what had happened to blow the deal, and he had some of the local guys from the office working on it. He really was hopeful that whatever the problem it could be resolved....but in the end...it didn't happen. I was okay with it. The neighborhood wasn't what I had hoped for anyway.

John went to choice number two which was the duplex downtown near the school. I had really liked that apartment in June, but when I tried to deal with the landlord he was a major pain in the butt. He wanted 5 months rent up front and a 2 year lease just for starters. He wasn't bending on anything....so I gave up what I thought would be an awesome place because of that. By the time John got to see it he was still not bending and in the end, he decided not to rent it but to sell it, instead. We weren't interested in buying.

John and I arrived in Baku on August 29th and a few days later we started to look all over again. I was determined to find an apartment as soon as we could. Our shipment had arrived from Dubai and cleared customs, all we needed was a place to put it, and I was really anxious to get into my own place. We looked at 5 apartments on our first day out and this one was the 5th.



It's got 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, and the maid comes 2 days a week. She brings her almost 2 year old daughter with her.....so I'm getting in Grandma practice every Tuesday and Thursday.



Being back in Baku is okay. There have been a lot of changes to the city in the past 3 years! Somehow even the people on the street look more modern...if that makes any sense. There are new markets and malls....malls that look similar to western malls except that they tend to go up instead of sprawl. They don't have acres of parking lots either. The traffic here has gotten insane! So many more cars on the road; Hyundai and KIA are making a killing here. John is driving himself now and so far so good. Luckily the vehicle he's driving has over 200,000 kms on it so we really only have to consider personal safety while we're out there on the roads.

The end for now.....anticipating some good stories to share over the next while as I try to adapt to life in Azerbaijan all over again. It sure would be nice if I had of retained some Russian or Azeri, but sadly I have not....first thing will have to be finding a new teacher.

The Longest House Hunt Ever

Usually, we are pretty fast when it comes to deciding where we are going to live. Not sure what's going on this time, but committing to an apartment has been harder this week than it's ever been. Maybe because we have seen some fairly nice places but none of them has been entirely perfect. I'm not sure I have ever had a home that was entirely perfect, or even close to it..but it's worth trying for, right?

And maybe this isn't exactly the right city for such high habitat hopes....we have so far looked at about 25 apartments. We started a week ago with three on the first day I arrived. I think we were out looking with agents every day since except for Sunday. We have had four agents. On Tuesday, the "we" became "me" because John got too busy at work to come with me, and he left it up to me to choose. I guess he has forgotten that I am the woman who mistakenly thought the house she bought in Newfoundland, some years back, had a garage and two bathrooms. Glad to know he trusts me again!

When choosing a place, anywhere, location is one of the primary considerations. Then there's layout and size to consider....how many bedrooms...what's included...stuff like that. Here in Baku, you have to like the furniture because 99% of apartments come furnished (right down to the knives and forks, and the bedding). If there is something you really can't live with (and most of the time there is something hideous), then you ask the landlord if he would remove it should you decide to rent. Accommodating landlords seem to agree to take out anything you want....and then there are some who whine about where they can put it. Of course, there are those like ours in Dubai who agreed to take things out, and never sent anyone to pick them up. Since we have some furniture of our own, one of the considerations is how we can incorporate what we have with what is there. No matter what apartment we choose, we are definitely going to have an eclectic mix....just trying to keep the "IKEA- meets-Arabian Nights-meets-the-Marie Antoinette" down to a dull roar.

You also have to like the wallpaper because 100% of apartments are wallpapered...because wallpaper is classy and expensive, so a classy expensive apartment is going to have wallpaper. If one is lucky the wallpaper is a textured vinyl in a neutral color.....gold is popular. Most likely, though, the paper has a pattern and there is a good chance it's a bold pattern. Might as well spend that money making a statement. If it's a really classy brand new apartment, there will be a sparkly sprinkles in the wall paper. I've seen this at least a dozen times in bedrooms...often with a bold pattern to go with it.

The next kind of funky thing around here are the common areas. Since street frontage is valuable commercial space, no apartment building has an entrance from the street on which it sits. To access the "lobby"....a term I'm using in its loosest possible sense....you have to wend your way to the back of the building, past the kids playing soccer on the asphalt, past the haphazardly parked cars, past the security guy out having a smoke.....All to get to a tiny, four person elevator with no air conditioning.....sometimes there is a light in the "lobby" and sometimes you have to turn it on yourself if you can't see anything. Fancier places use reflective, polished marble floors and walls which helps in the dim light. Hallways aren't typically lit either....you flip the light on when you get off the elevator and it goes off on a timer. Can get a tad creepy.

Since the owners of apartments essentially just buy a box from the builder and in a lot of buildings there are no covenants requiring that the unit be completed in any particular time frame, it's possible to get off the elevator and see one or two nicely finished wooden doors and a couple of steel ones covered in plastic. Most of the time the hallways are just painted concrete, decorated with gas meters. The trick to apartment hunting in Baku is to put on your blinders until you actually get inside the unit. First impressions can just kill the joy if you don't....because inside there can be something pretty spectacular. Getting past that outer crust can be hard, though.

By far the nicest apartment we have seen is a penthouse in the area of the U.S. Embassy. It's beautifully finished with high end appliances, really spacious rooms, lots of clever storage space, a very accommodating landlord who has agreed to amend a couple of design issues for me. It comes with the lowest price tag and a million dollar view.

BUT.....it's got no neighborhood.....take this place and move it ten blocks and the price would double. It's still on the list and will be the last one we see tonight. It's been a week since I've seen it and I wonder if it will seem as amazing as it did on first viewing. If it does, then I'm going to have to ask myself how important it is that I be able to go out and walk around in my neighborhood. It's not like that's something I've really been doing all that much over the past 5 years or so.....and with the savings on this one, I could pay the monthly salary of a driver to take me where ever I want to go walking anyway.

The next apartment still in the running is a three bedroom in the building above the Sahil Metro station. For location is can't be beat. It's got shopping and proximity to more shopping....coffee shops and restaurants, the pedestrian street and the seaside boulevard are all within 2 blocks. It has great views of the Caspian from its three balconies. It's clean, it's modern and the current occupant even happens to be from Newfoundland. (Not that is really matters once he is gone). The only thing is.....all that convenience comes at the price of crowding. the street is always packed with people and cars. I imagine there's a pretty decent rumble, too, as the Metro train arrives in the basement.

The last possibility is a two bedroom duplex....which mean 2 levels, here, not 2 places side by side. It needs a lot of work but the location is fabulous! Downtown but across from a school and a park which makes it a lot quieter than some. According to the agent, the landlord will fix it up and it could really be a spectacular place. John hasn't seen it, though, and it doesn't look like he will get the chance before we leave for Dubai.