Winnipeg Home Buying

It turns out the bidding wars in Winnipeg are not as sinister as I thought. Today I met witha fresh from school Realtor. 21 and six months in, but over 15 (or 50 but I guess it is probably 15, seeing as how I can't hear properly) home sales and he passed the course in 3 months. Good country boy from around Brandon. But he was very helpful. I did feel a little guilty after. He spent an hour and a bit with us and then asked if we could see us working together, adn I hit him with the I still need a job. The look he gave was priceless, but he soldiered on and helped us set up the property searches that will inevitably find their way into my Inbox. That was great of him and you know it impressed me that he wanted to keep going. I am glad that he did cause he straightened out the bidding wars. Turns out that when they post a ne whome and then have a showing 5 days later only for 5 days and then take offers... breathe... they actually post a lower than market value price in the hopes of bringing in more buyers and then getting more than market value in a bidding war. How nice of them... kind of. it still sucks, but at least it is not a bidding war above and beyond an already ridiculous price. It is still not perfect, but I am now in Winnipeg and that is how real estate home purchases are done here.

A Dream is a Dream

The wonderful part of dreaming is that it is a perfect scenario. You win the lottery, you get the perfect job, your credit card company's mainframe self-implodes and your bank gives you some Y2K goodness (remember that?). Always though it is a dream and it should be perfect. So no matter what keep it alive. Disregard the fact that you will only get minimum wage to it. Disregard the fact that it won't get you a home, tuition for your kids, or a ring for your wife. Or accept those facts and postpone it for a more opportune time. Because when is it the right time?... When you are ready you say? Wrong. Trick question. It is NEVER going to be the right time. The right time is now and no other. So for me, I just went to look for a dream job today. Found out I would get 50 cents over minimum wage. So do I say forget it? No. For now the right time is never. But never may not be far away anymore. That is how I am going to convince myself. Ah sweet distraction. So wrong but so necessary. The right time is coming, I just need to say now. Then I will have my dream job. Then I will start studying my brewing text. Then I will start apprenticing under some smart and fun brewmaster. Then I will write those exams. Then I will again be a resident of Earth. That is a dream worth waiting for. Because they do come true. Just read last years blog.

Hunt is On

It's all circular, as Kevin Nealon from the movie Happy Gilmore says. Well never truer. I left in 2001 and now I am back in Winnipeg, but with my family. What do i need to do? Get a job. Today I went for a first interview at the Canadian Grain Commission, otherwise known as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Yeah it sounds like there is an extra Agri in there, heh. So this is not new territory for me. I worked there in 2000 and was always involved in a small way thruout my BSc and MSc at the U of Manitoba. In fact, in my tour I recognised a number of people still working there. That is nothing strange being government work, but it was strangely reassuring, satisfying and comfortable. A colleague of mine from the Grad program at U of M met me (she is now heading a dept) and it was great to see her again. We talked and she gave me a tour of the place and I was introduced to some people. Although most people were not bouncing off the walls excited working there, I ralised that I would be more than happy getting involved in testing and analysis again and joining the ranks of the scientific minded. Hell, I would welcome a chance to be creative and innovative on projects. In short, I was soon more than willing to be hired on there. Unfortunately, there are competitions for all positions and you have to go thru the government website, and get all that in order at jobs.gc.ca/ (Which I have). She even went so far as to say that there would probably be people fighting over having me in their dept. Which I thought was not going to be what she said after checking out my resume. In fact i thought she would have said something like "wow not doing research or analysis for the past 7 years... well that's not going to help you here." Well that is apparently not the case, and the fact that I stuck with Foods was enough. All I need is to wait for the competitions. So I cross my fingers. But knowing that crossing ones fingers, trusting to God and blind luck only get you so far, I have also booked a meeting with a former professor representing a different entity in the same building for Thursday, and that wonderful person also is part of the gruop that does Pilot scale brewing at the building (I hope/ think). Will wonders never cease. I was told this was a good time, because people were retiring- in fact one retired just today- and I am certain they are correct. Like Tamara says, things work out for us, we always have correct timing, so why should this be different? I hope I can be patient enough is all. Well, talk soon. I think that I may have something else to say about the Winnipeg housing market, or a repeat of a previous post.