Those Canadian doctors bandaged me up, put my shoulder back in its socket, and reset my jaw, and they didn't even bill me. Idiots!

So I am in Vancouver, BC with Jeremy, tagging along during his annual “Geek Conference” (computer graphics conference). Yesterday was a loooong day getting here, but after a good night’s sleep and a plate full of fruit (to combat the complete lack of fruits/vegetables and all the beer from yesterday), I set off to explore the area around the hotel.

No exaggeration, there is a coffee shop on practically every corner. It’s also ridiculously clean. I saw one homeless man going through a garbage can, but I also saw him pick up litter off the ground and throw it away. In DC, if a homeless person is going through a garbage can, it’s usually followed by some kind of disgusting bodily function (peeing, spitting, etc.), not random acts of community clean-up!

There are dogs everywhere. I actually saw one dog walking itself – not merely off leash, but with the leash folded up neatly in its own mouth. Most dogs are just off leash completely, however. You can tell they’re Canadian, because they are so freakishly well-behaved and nice.

In short, I’m really looking forward to the next week and a half here. In other news, this will be my last “unemployment adventure” for a while—I start work on August 18. It was the first (and only) job I applied for, and it’s an educational consulting firm with a “virtual office,” meaning—I’m working from the comfort of my own home! Which was the dream all along, really.

I got the news about the job exactly 6 months to the day that I left my old one. A lot happened in those six months, both good and bad, and I feel blessed to have had the time and opportunity to travel a little bit, to say goodbye to a few loved ones, and to (as cheesy as it sounds) find myself again. I’m feeling stronger and happier than I have in quite a while.

Cheesiness aside, my main focus right now is drinking good beer and doing some quality people watching. I’m sure there will be some highly-mockable folks in town, so stay tuned!