Author: Ian Sharland
-
Time to get on my bike and work
Amidst ongoing house renovations, the writers installed a mid-century modern dining set and successfully repaired the shower’s drywall. They also began priming walls, acknowledging the effort despite not having ideal furnishings yet. Elsewhere, a new Trek Roscoe 7 mountain bike promises outdoor adventures, accompanied by indoor training plans once compatible parts are secured. Read more
-
We survived
This week, we successfully moved into our new home amidst a chaos of boxes and the stress of our cats adjusting. While ambitious painting plans weren’t fully realized, we painted several key areas and made numerous repairs. We thank our community for their support and assistance in our smooth move, although plumbing and further painting… Read more
-
Pain-t – new house reno
During moving week, we rushed the inspection of our new home amidst busy schedules. We’re replacing problematic Polybutylene piping and re-caulking baseboards, delaying the painting process. Despite an overwhelming amount of prep work, including learning to repair drywall, we managed to buy a dining set and partially clean before starting painting three days behind schedule,… Read more
-
It’s DI-Buy time – why I’m replacing my woodworking tools
During COVID, I began woodworking, motivated by the satisfaction of building tangible items and learning useful DIY skills. Read more
-
We bought our first house – in rural Canada
A couple happily residing in rural Canada shares their journey of buying a house as new immigrants, detailing the financial hurdles and the steep learning curve faced in understanding the real estate market. Despite a tough housing crisis, stringent bank requirements, and a scarcity of rural listings, they navigated the complexity of mortgage approval and… Read more
-
Cats on a plane – emigrating with cats
Moving two cats across continents is an expensive, complex, and emotionally challenging process, as experienced by pet owners who recently emigrated to Canada. Through the assistance of an agent, they completed essential steps, including vaccinations, microchipping, and documentation. Despite the stress and logistics involved, reuniting with their pets in the new country was invaluable. Read more
-
Hey Alberta, nice to meet ya
The author recounts how their move to northern Alberta, near Grande Prairie, was influenced by the opportunity for South African GPs to become licensed in Alberta, due to its simpler process. The decision was eased by a South African friend who had followed a similar route, providing a small but crucial local network. The author’s… Read more
-
Oh, Canada! On the why behind immigrating to Canada
The blogger plans to share their immigration journey from South Africa to Canada, discussing the mechanics, emotions, and cultural differences. They and their partner chose Canada for its beauty, career opportunities, and easier medical license conversion. They emphasize the importance of having both push factors from the home country and pull factors towards the new… Read more
-
Blog setup – tedious the second time
Setting up your own blog is a pain in the ass. At best, it’ll take several hours, even if you know what you’re doing and you’ve used the services before. For my sins, I’ve now done this twice, several years apart. It wasn’t as confusing the second time around but it’s still not nearly as… Read more
-
(re)Learning to code – and why you shouldn’t waste a great skill
It’s funny, I spent 9 years of my pre-working life learning to code in Visual Basic, first in Computer Science in high school, then whilst studying Information Systems at university. Almost immediately after leaving the academic environment I stopped coding outside of the odd script. Frankly, I used my SQL skills significantly more often over… Read more