No Job at the Paper?

I got the word yesterday finally according to the editor,"....the company decided to hire a woman from Vancouver who is re-locating here." All this and I had to call to get an answer they did not even let me know even though they knew last week. This free lance writer from out west is moving here to be with her boyfriend and work as a reporter. Meanwhile I live here and have volunteered with the paper since September and have the same skills and have a relationship but it counts for nothing. Of course this is what I expected from Transcontinental. The first time I applied I was told that the editor sent a personal recommendation. I guess that counts for nothing. What ever happened to expecting someone to call back. They made a mistake in my opinion as they could not have gotten a better more harder worker. The final burn is they called my references and each one in turn told them how good I was. I would love to have for once the HR person call me and explain why I was not offered the job. No hope of that though. I am going to get on with life and continue to look to find the opportunity that is best for me. The job paid poorly anyway and in my humble opinion the papers days are numbered as the reputation is taking a beating as of late. I do wish the new journalist luck as she moves to Noddy Bay to be with her new beau. I am sure the paper will continue to offer the public of the Northern Peninsula great stories about the people of the area. If you want news from a different perspective without waiting for 5 days check out www.stanthonynews.ca

Whats NEW~! A LOT

I never thought life could be so full of surprise and adventure. My wife and I are about ready to take on a new car. We have shopped and decided that the 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring is the right car. It has great economy and is great on the road. It will also fit our entire family and is great on gas. At the same time my kids have been bugging me to buy a snowmobile so we decided to take the plunge and on Thursday we will pay for a 1997 Polaris Indy Trail Touring machine. I know absolutely nothing about snowmobiles but this one is in great shape with only 3000 miles and was well cared for. So Simon and Noah and I begin our new northern adventure on the back of the new snow machine. Hope it is worth it. The next day we pick up our new car so all in all a busy week. Meanwhile still no word from Transcontinental after my interview a week ago but I hold out hope there is still a chance I will be selected for the position as reporter at the Northern Pen. If my references are any indication I got the job but who knows what is happening. I have run into the editor of the paper twice since Saturday and he does not let on if there is any news so I continue to wait and see what the outcome will be. Meanwhile there is other opportunity on the horizon if my first choice does not pan out. Anyway we are going to have fun anyway no matter what. For now I am very happy to have chosen this great locale with great people. Now I find myself hoping for some heavy snow over the next few weeks so the kids can enjoy the new machine.

Corner Brook Trip why?

Have you ever heard the saying that getting there is half the fun. In the case of our trip to Corner Brook that is so true. We left just after noon from ST. Anthony and drove on the most beautiful February winter day we could hope for. Blue skies poked out between the grey clouds and sun bathed us as we drove along. By the time we got to Parsons Pond and stopped for gas and a treat for the kids we just could not contain our delight at the mountains off in the distance. We had to capture a brief moment on video. We actually uploaded it here. We had a great chat with the lady at the gas station/restauraunt and she was so friendly. WE really enjoyed meeting her. This was the second stop actually as we stopped in Flowers cove where the kids wanted something to eat. We always stop at the one restauraunt with the drug store attached and both the clerk in the drugstore and the owner in the restaurant and took some time to chat with me. It was great to get to know some of the folks who live in this small town. I had been here a few times before so knew the restaurant well and it is recomended to me by Aaron Beswick from the Northern Pen. When we got to Grose Morne though we just needed to get a small sample of the sight we saw again with even bigger mountains in the bright sunshine. HERE is where we uploaded a small sample. All in all a great day to be a resident of Newfoundland and another reason why living on the Northern Peninsula is so great. We need to leave from time to time and experience the best views on a drive to and from our new home. I suggest if you want a great place to visit you think about the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.

It's 1:30am on Sunday Morning and I am still woking

How many of us have had that happen. We work on something and forget it is time to rest. We have been busy over the last 5 days working on a contest my sons and I have entered. Doritos decided to run a contest to name a flavor of Doritos. We entered with our 1 minute video and have started to try and get people to view it. I don't mind telling you it is a learning experience. What I find the most negative is having folks tell me they are going to watch it and post to the facebook page and then they don't for whatever reason. I would rather they told me no flatly. I don't know if they realize it or not but if you paste my link to your page I will see it if you are my friend on facebook. However there have been a lot of positive things like making new friends all over the world. It is surprising to me how many people have really tried to help me win this contest. I have committed to giving money to charity from the winnings so that helps and we have chosen the Boys and Girls Club and the Red Cross for our donation. I just hope I have something significant to give from the contest. This was my one small way to make big business (Frito-Lay) more socially responsible. I hope you might decide to support us in our attempt to win the contest. Go here to view the video. If you rate it 5 stars that helps. If you fav it it helps too. Most important is to put it on your facebook profile so all your friends might find it too. Thanks to all the kind people who helped me in week one of the contest. It makes a person feel very good to have the help of those around him.

Help me please!

Check out our entry in the contest HERE

My sons and I worked hard to put together a video for the doritos contest. We hope you might take one minute and view it. I have included a link above. It cost nothing to help us to try and win this Canada wide contest.

Thanks

Snow Plow II

So I am not the only one with a great amount of snow in the driveway. Today my driveway had approximately 2.6 feet of wet and hard snow at the end after someone who will remain nameless drove by with a yellow machine. My snowblower took three passes to move it. One on top of the snow and then two more gradually further into the snow pile till I was done to ground level. Meanwhile every other house had only a small amount of snow enough to maybe cover my shoes. Why such a difference. For the answer I called down to Town Hall and asked Councilor Patey who is tasked with responsibility for the plowing of our streets. I got a well I will check into it and drop up to have a look. I did tell him that I had already moved it out of my driveway as I was blocked in and could not get either vehicle out and did not want to wait to move it. Meanwhile a neighbor from up the street actually stopped the machine driver and convinced him to move the snow out of her driveway. She has a business and had paid to have it cleared before he came by. She was not very impressed either from the tone in her voice as she stopped to commiserate with me. I know it is a fact of life in a small town to have to move the snow that is in your driveway but there are better ways to move the snow I think. I may be wrong and if you have a comment I will definitely listen. Maybe he is not able to avoid my driveway with all the snow I am not sure. For now I will grin and bear it. What other choice do I have. On another note, I was disheartened to hear about the Luger death out in BC. TRAINING Run or not it must be very hard on everyone involved. Our sincerest sympathies goes out to anyone affected by this tragic death.

Nwfoundland and Labrador is a great place to live. We just got back from our lunch break and it is a nice afternoon. I am working on a video for a viral video competition for Dorito's new brand of Chips. I am not sure what to think as the flavor is not available till February 14th but I need to make a video and upload it for midnight on the 14th of Feb. Of course I could wait until the flavor is available but then I will loose valuable time spreading the word about my video and my hope to win a major payday for naming it and getting the best video viewed by the most people. Stay tuned on this one. If you know what the flavour is and can email me I would appreciate it. Of course I will make it work one way or another. My video is about the fact that the government mistakes the "bombshell anouncment as an imminent attack" and then the PM gets stuck in a bomb shelter for 1 year by mistake. Missing out on the launch of the greatest flavor in doritos history. Sounds mildly amusing does it not. Check out my video after February 14th on youtube. I will put a link in a subsequent blog to let you know where it is. Also If I can get everyone to go there I can win a lot of cash and just think of the good I can do with a load of cash.