From Forklifts to Links Reforged

Thankfully, the multiple facets that made Monday interesting (and anyone that knows me knows what is truly meant when I say ‘interesting’) didn’t repeat once during the following days at work. What did follow was two days of training on aerial work platforms and forklifts. It’s kind of strange: I’ve been hesitating and procrastinating on getting a driver’s license since I had a bad day with a substitute instructor and Highway 403 (don’t ask) and yet now I’m fully qualified to use something that could do more damage than the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Go figure, eh?

After another half day of training on Friday (paid, thank you very much, Pellet) I was well and looking forward to a daytrip to Thunder Bay to see an old face, Yeti. Of course, Tesla piqued my interest with some robotics programming last night. Pellet has said I’m not even going to be looking at this kind of stuff for at least six months, but why not get ahead? As it is, Tesla was saying this morning how amazed he was at how quickly I picked up not just the programming method, which is completely different than anything I’ve ever touched, but use of the programming software itself. Maybe I should’ve gone into this kind of stuff years ago – it would’ve certainly solved (or caused me to avoid) several of my Big Blunders.

So then, on to Thunder Bay, and the meeting with Yeti. (Allow me to reiterate, for Yeti’s sake, that I never use actual names, just pseudonyms. And this is one you’re now stuck with – it could’ve been worse, and you know it.) It was pretty easy to spot him – he’s barely changed since I last saw him ten years ago. So, good times were had by all. Old memories, new stories, it all found its way into our five-hour talk, amidst bumping through various stores. (And at the same time, I managed to re-acquire a book that Athabasca had taken with her.)

But the biggest news of the day was one name, one I was almost certain I would never hear again. Carinae had been at the same high school as myself and Yeti, but moved out east about a decade ago. I will not get into what little was told to me today about how she fared out there. Suffice it to say, I’m sure the one fact I did hear today is the top snowflake of the iceberg. Even more surprising (and I don’t mean this as insult to Yeti) is that they are once again dating. It’s a fact I’m very glad to hear.