Well, we did it - this is huge !  We finally completed our major project at work on time and under budget !!

This was both a personal and professional milestone for me as I was the "guy in charge" for this undertaking and honestly at the beginning of it,  I was not totally sure I was even remotely qualified to even be associated with it at any level.

If you recall, I was rehired by my old company towards the end of August last year, to manage and complete this project within a six month period.

This was an extremely high profile and large budget project which, for some unknown reason to me, I was sought out and selected to head this up by our obviously very astute and brilliant Vice-President,  Mr. Andrews.

Clearly he is a visionary!

I had never managed a project of this magnitude before and realized immediately that the very success of it was dependant on having a good, knowledgeable and dependable team to work together to achieve our goals.

I had no problem convincing Mr. Andrews of this fact and he made it clear that as long as I worked within budget, how I chose to allocate the budget was at my own discretion.

Once his blessing was intact, I wasted no time in assembling the best team I could get by stealing staff or luring them away with better pay from other departments in order for us to succeed.  My methods, as self-serving as they may be deemed, worked out excellent and this past Friday we did our Celebration & Project wrap up.

I was very proud of our team which contained five full-time members (including myself) and three short-term contractors who worked extended hours, weekends and even a few holidays to get this project completed when it needed to be.

It all goes to show that none of us ever really know our own personal potential until we actually attempt something.  This is a theme I have been preaching for years (okay, you must know that I am lying now...I was just as surprised at the results as anyone & probably more so - I just didn't let on publicly!)

Thankfully the long hours and hard work by our group did not go unnoticed and we are all starting a much deserved holiday break for a couple of weeks or so.

The company was so pleased by my performance that they offered me a new and very attractive contract to continue my role as Manager but I am still unsure of my future and want to enjoy a holiday before I commit to anything.

I made the mistake of mentioning the contract details to my father and he immediately advised me that "only a complete fool would not sign a lucrative  contract as this one".  He may be right, as so far I haven't signed.  He knows me too well.



Most of my recent holidays in the past couple of years have been more to 'get away from things' than actually to 'go somewhere'. This one is just to 'strictly enjoy' so I know I will be having a great deal more fun.  Hell, I am already enjoying myself by just even by writing about it!

With the exception of last year when everyone was busy, all the guys and myself use to have an annual ski holiday up in the mountains a few hours drive from Calgary.

I use the term "ski holiday" rather loosely since it was rather a pretense to encompass drinking, gambling, carousing and of course, a little bit of skiing thrown in just to make the whole weekend seem somewhat legitimate.

This year Rich, John and myself are heading out later today to begin our holiday.  None of us are really avid skiers at all, but the resort is nice, the bars are open quite late and the tourists are always fun to hang out with.

We are all hoping to wind down, relax and possibly even meet a few female visitors which we can show the sites to.  Damn, if all goes well I'll show them my & obviously Canada's,  greatest attraction !

We plan on hanging around the resort just till Thursday and then head out to the west coast for some more rest and relaxation as John has an important job interview Friday morning in Vancouver.

Rich and myself have no business there whatsoever, and are really only going for moral support and more carousing as the west coast is well known for a great number of bars and hot spots.  It also has some nice scenery and the ocean, of course.

I've made a note to myself to try and see both of these during the daylight hours, but I am making no promises!

No, this holiday is going to be strictly for fun and a well deserved break.  It's time to make an exit from my routine for awhile.

With that said, it's time to get going.  I can't wait.   Cheers!