I graduated with a BA in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Victoria.  I am one of those who can say that I am a Vancouverite -- I was actually born and raised there.  Many people say that everyone who lives in Vancouver isn't from there -- and I have helped the situation by moving away, twice!  I learned a lot the first time I moved away (to Victoria to attend UVic).  In my first year I learned how to play backgammon and cribbage, and incidentally some academic stuff.  My courses were interesting but my main passion was and still is still books.  That's how I came to be working at the UVic Bookstore starting in my 3rd year and ending when Joe and I got engaged and moved back to Vancouver (eight years after I left!).

That move put a little crimp in my career, but I figure that since Joe and I are a team, and engineers make more than clerks (even copyright research and coursepack co-ordinator clerks), he gets to have the job that determines where we live.  Which is how, three years later, we got to Houston.  Because Joe came to the US on a Nafta work permit (a "TN-1") and I don't have a professional designation, I was considered to be his dependent.  Ugh.  Don't like their viewpoint.  Even when we changed to H1-b status, we still had to apply for a green card (and get it) before I was allowed to work, and that seemed to take forever!  When we got me a social security card, it said right on it that it is "not valid for employment" -- something that drove me crazy as I looked at all the "Help Wanted" signs everywhere around at that time.  So I adjusted -- and actually enjoyed having the time to work on our web pages, learn HTML, try out new recipes and keep my apartment looking great (not just getting by on a lick and a promise).  So there was an up-side as well.  Once we bought a house, I had even more stuff to clean and a garden to weed (I hate weeding!) and care for.  Additionally, I had a lot of work to do on changing the decor (that wallpaper had to go!). Meanwhile our green card application chugged along until it was finally granted in January 2005.

I started volunteering at NAM, (Northwest Assistance Ministries -- the northwest refers to northwest Harris County) in October '98 and so had things to do with all that extra time.  NAM is an awesome place with great people.  It provides many services to the community including Meals on Wheels, a Children's Clinic (medical and dental), a food pantry, a seniors centre and seniors caregiving, among others.  It's an amazing organization and I found a place in the clinic and the business office.  It's very rewarding to have your skills valued by others and a large part of what makes work worthwhile for me.  In the pantry they have a sign that says: "Volunteers are unpaid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless."  Works for me!  It even helped me learn about the Houston area as well.  Best of all, I made some wonderful new friends and really enjoyed working there.  I continued working there in various departments until I became the volunteer coordinator in the Children's Clinic there.  Children's health is a big issue in the US, as many children don't have health care.  The clinic where I volunteered was a teaching facilility and offered care to those with Medicare, CHIP and no health care.  I volunteered anywhere from 4 to 40 hours a week there at various times.

Look, I'll admit, it was pretty cushy being in a position where it has been illegal for me to work.  I could stay home and read if I wanted to.  I could go to Vancouver as many times as need to help out my parents and then jut my mom.  I was able to help her when she moved into assisted living and then extended care and all the things that needed to be done when she sold her house.  I was able to go to NAM and wander in around 10 am after a latte at Starbucks and reading the paper and writing in my journal.  Like I said, pretty cushy.  Which is not to say that I've been sitting around doing nothing.  I've worked almost full time at the clinic (in June and July 2001 I put in over 100 hours each month!) and taken some continuing education courses (Spanish Conversation I was a great place to me a ggod friend) and written every page on this web site except for Joe's page (he finally got it updated!).  But there was never an obligation.  'Course, that means there was never a paycheque either. 

As our Permanent Resident (Green Card) application progressed, I was finally given permission to work in April 2003, just as things were getting busy with my parents and home decorating.  In December 2004 I did my first textbook buyback at Alvin Community College for a used textbook company. Then after nine years at NAM, I finally hung up my volunteer hat after a few years working and volunteering.  I was able to get more hours at one of my jobs.  Yes, jobs!  I loved working in a college environment and the college buyback was a good fit.  Lots of hard work and long days but a nice cheque at the end.  But it only happens for a week three times a year.  So I started keeping an eye out for other opportunities and was able to work at Cirque du Soleil's show Varekai when it came to town in January 2005.  That six week run was a blast and I had a great time.  Joe was thankful that I didn't run away with the circus and that I didn't spend all my paycheques on cool cirque stuff (but the 40% discount was great).  The following couple of years were occupied with a lot of trips to Vancouver for various family obligations so I didn't really look that hard for a job.  Until I applied in early November 2006 to work for the holiday season at the local Barnes and Noble.  A couple of days later I was a bookseller for B&N.  Again, Joe feared that I would spend more than I would take home, and for a while that was the case (it was the Christmas buying season after all), but it settled down after a while. I was pleased to be kept on after the holiday season, and I've started working a pretty consistant 3 days a week. Though the pay is low, for me the rewards are high and I really enjoy helping people find the books they need or suggesting something they might like. 

Unfortunately all the work on the house, work at volunteering and then at my jobs, means that this poor website has been languishing.  I've been terrible at updating it and have been falling back on Facebook for the day to day information and catch ups with my friends on there. If you're on Facebook, look me up.  Joe's there too. As for hobbies, I like to read -- though I find it ironic that I took a job at a book store so I could get books at a discount, and it means I have less time to read...  I also play the sudoku in the newspaper every day, and often on the facebook site as well. My sister-in-law has gotten me addicted to Scrabulous, like I need another time-suck.  For my 40th birthday Joe got me TiVo, which I love for making it possible to watch shows quicker, but it also makes it easier to watch more.  Luckily I can use the laptop as I watch.  And it's great for when I am ironing.  But is yet another distraction from working on the webpage.  I'm also a cat owner again -- I've always loved kitties and now we have three!

Recently I got started scrapbooking.  For quite a long time, I had done our trips in a scrapbook style, and when I started using the beautiful photo albums from Mindy, I started applying some of the techniques that my scrapbooking friends used.  They started to look really good.  Eventually I got completely sucked into the whole scrapbooking thing when I started going on retreats and investing in supplies.  When I started to need two carts to carry it all, I knew they'd converted me.  My first scrapbook was a photo album for a friend of mine and I was really pleased with how it turned out.  Thanks in large part to the helpful suggestions of my buddies.  I've been working on the one I'm doing from our Canada trip last year -- St. John's to Ottawa in 24 days.  It's taking me a long time, but let to us getting our new kitty, Scrappy, a stray found at one of the scrapbooking retreat venues. I certainly have been enjoying the creative outlet and the time spent with good girlfriends.
 

For my own reference and if you are interested, I have posted my bookmarks online.  It's nice to get to the fun stuff when there's time when I'm away from home and plus, you might like some of the stuff that I have here. 

Now that I've been in East Texas for a while, I've been exposed to the south (in a good way) and lovely southern people.  This is a link to a fun email about 'True Southerners".