pattyfaye

I am way overdue for an update so here you go.

We got back from our trip last Saturday night. All and all we had a great time but the week was very busy with thesis stuff.

While I was typing my last post Joe was starting to print his thesis. Once he finished that we were going to go to the Hershey factory. Well… our day turned out quite different. It’s a long story so stay with me J

After printing just 3 pages the printer was out of toner and need a new black toner. So Joe contacted the system administrator who would be in charge of getting and installing a new toner. Turns out he had ordered the new toner Monday (it’s Thursday that all this is taking place) and it had still not arrived. He then called and checked the status of the order but it would be a couple of days at least before it arrived.

So now we were running low on options. It turns out there isn’t another printer in the department that we could use so we started to look at outside sources. We started with the Queen’s “printer” I put printer in quotes because it turns out he is really just a photocopier. So the main problem there… we need something for him to copy.

Okay so we then set off on a trek across Kingston to find a cheap place to print the thesis. So we were looking at getting 5 copies, one for the university, one for the Physics department, one each for Joe’s two supervisors and then one for Joe.

Off we went checking out various places all ranging from a place with official quotes and fancy machines to a guy with a printer. The main problem we were running into cost wise was the colour pages we needed. See Joe’s thesis was 188 pages long but 47 of those pages had colour on them. I’m not talking about a lot of colour, mostly one of two lines on a graph. However, no matter how much colour is on a page they need to charge you the colour printing cost which can range from 40 cents to a dollar PER PAGE. The quotes we get for the job range anywhere from $30 - $80 per copy.

At this point we are obviously getting discouraged but head back to the guy who quoted $30 and see what he has to offer. Joe asks for a test page because hey this has to look good. Guy says no problem, sends the file to the printer and… jams. Yep that’s right it printed 2 pages and jammed. The main problem with this is that one of the copies had to be on “special” archival paper. We had 200 sheets of the special paper; the thesis is 188 pages, not a lot of room for error.

So Joe decides he wants to think about it, we will go eat lunch and come back either later that afternoon or tomorrow if we want to get it done.

We head back to Queens and get some lunch. By now it’s almost 1pm and my chocolate factory dreams have gone out the window, this was much more important. We had one more day to get the thesis printed and submitted before we left for Halifax.

So after lunch we are back in Joe’s office and just for fun he looks up the part number for the toner and finds that Staples has some online and that they ship in 1 day. We decide to call and see if they have any at the store in Halifax and see if we can get it earlier. I call Staples and the lady there says they have 2 sitting on the shelf. YEAH!!! Joe’s runs down and tells the System Admin that Staples has two can we order one of those. They go to the lady who orders stuff and find out that when you order from Staples it actually comes from Ottawa or Toronto, not your local store so it would still be a few days. So Joe says “well what if I just drive out to Staples and get it, can I be reimbursed” (the toner cost $155) “Sure”

So back out to Staples we go and get the toner (I buy a big chocolate bar at Staples to make up for my missed factory). We come back to the school; Joe prints all the copies and finishes close to 5. The grad school, where you submit, closes at 4:30 so we will have to wait until tomorrow for that.

So after all day of trying to print we are done, exhausted in fact. We then went out and saw some friends who recently had a baby. I say recently she is 6 months old J and then head back to the hotel and collapse for the night.

Phew you still with me after all of that?

It was a good trip there is more to tell but I’m sure you have had enough reading so I will post more later.

Tricia

Hello from Kingston

We are in Kingston for Joe's defense this week. All went well we are currently in at the school printing off the final copies so he can officially submit them to the graduate school and he can be done.

The week is going by way to quickly, it's already Thursday. We are having a good time and eating way to much. We have gone out to dinner every night so far and have had some wonderful meals. Last night we went to Jimmy's place for some homemade lasagna. Man was a home cooked meal every nice. Thanks again James :)

Today after Joe finishes with the printing and submitting we are going to the Hershey chocolate factory in Smith Falls. It is one of those things I always wanted to do while we lived her but never got around to.

Okay that's it from Kingston for now. I will probably post again when we get home.

Take care.
Tricia

Tales of a drummer-less band

So we need a drummer. We realized that we would be a much better band if we could get a drummer. That would allow Fabian to take over the bass and Joe could concentrate on guitar and all I have to worry about is singing. So... We put up some ads at local music places and waited.

Well we had a drummer get in touch with us. She was new to Halifax and hadn't really played in any rock bands but wanted to give it a shot. So we met up with her, she was great. She really knew what she was doing and she really seemed interested but alas she had way too much on her plate so she doesn't think she could commit to being in the band.

So the search continues. Yesterday another drummer got in touch with us and we are going to meet up with her on Saturday. Wish us luck.

Well we are all moved in. Our move went way better then we could have expected.

On Friday we came to get the keys and move little stuff in to the apartment. There were so many people here and it seemed like everyone was trying to get an elevator. It was nuts. We had our elevator time booked for Saturday and we were hoping that it wasn't as bad.

So Saturday morning at 8am Bob and Irene showed up in Hammonds Plains to help us load our stuff. We managed to fit everything into the van we rented, Dad's truck and Irene and Bob's car. This was the first good thing because that meant that we didn't have to make multiple trips back to Hammonds Plains.

When we got to the apartment building, around 9:45 people were already using the elevator (which is weird since I was told 10am was the earliest I could be moving stuff in). They said they had it booked from 8 to 10 and then there was another group of people (a moving company) that said their client had it booked from 9-12!!!! That is also weird since once again I was told I could have 2 hours.

Anyway we worked it out everyone shared, the moving company was done shortly after 10 so we got going. It all went really smooth once we had a dedicated elevator and we had everything in our apartment and the van returned to the dealer by 11:30. Then we went for lunch, got groceries and started to unpack.

Now it's Sunday 11:30 and we have pretty much everything done. We still need to buy a few things (bookshelf, hangers, garbage cans) but stores aren't open today or tomorrow so it will have to wait.

Now for some pictures. The first is our living room and then others are our awesome view.