As we enter into a slow season here at the Halifax Airport, I’ve been trying to decide what I’d like to do with some free time.

My immediate priority is filing my citizenship application when I meet the residency requirements in November.

Obviously travel is one of the first things on my mind, considering how much I’m around it at work.

I’d like to explore more of the Trans-Canada Highway, thinking I’d go to Newfoundland for a section of it, followed by Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

I’m trying to learn programming. Currently I can do a lot with scripting but at a point writing code would be better. More time would certainly help.

I also want to upgrade my ADS-B and AIS receiver, add an APRS I-gate to it as well. I’m just waiting for a part to finish.

Honestly knowing myself and fearing additional financial pressure, most likely it’ll be taking an additional job elsewhere. If I’m lucky, maybe something back in IT.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for so long, honestly things are so routine now I actually had most of the day go by before I realized what day it was. I’ve gotten used to many of the subtle differences to the point where my last trip into the US I was surprised the restraint needed to take my card (In Canada, the card processing machine comes out to your table)

Thankfully we were already at Peggy’s Cove and able to celebrate it while we were there, shortly after got some days off. I’ll try to update this post and add the pictures and the Natal Day fireworks. I have to process them first.

Sorry it’s been so long since my last update, I’ve been preoccupied with new jobs these past few months and just really haven’t had much to say here. I wish I could say I’ll be more active going forward, I’m just not sure if that’s true. Right now my main goal is planning a trip to Jakarta, Indonesia within the next 12 months and just keep working. Hopefully it will be a calmer year, last year was a year of chaotic good.

Right now my main projects are working on some maintenance scripts for various services and servers I run, getting my ham radio license in the US upgraded and getting one for Canada too.

Sorry for the long time between posts. I’m working on some video content by the years end. I’m also going to finish some of my drafts later this month.

I’m actually surprised and at the same time disappointed with how my New Year’s Resolution went.
This post will mark 13 published posts this year out of the 15 total published posts.

I started out with a goal of posting weekly, but quickly realized that was too frequent and actually defeating the point in some respects. I scaled it back to once a month thinking that’d be the bare minimum, that I’d always be able to write a personal update, a technical how-to or maybe a post about a previous trip I’ve taken and ideally be able to actually do more. I fell short of this in a few ways, which covers the disappointment.

However I’m surprised that I never gave up on this blog, even when writers block kept me away, it got harder with three jobs or times where I felt unmotivated. (I actually made some private posts for some of those days, not a part of the count above)

I’m even more surprised that I wanted to keep coming back, write more posts and improve this blog, it’d have been so easy to scrap it and move on/start over with a clean install.

I kind of hoped that this year I’d have Permanent Residency in Canada, my application is still in process. I’ve hoped to see my family and meet my girlfriend’s family for the first time, as border requirements have changed, risks of those requirements changing mid trip and Covid’s own evolution as new variants occur have all played a role in postponing these plans for the time being.

I’m going to talk about 2022 goals in my next post, partly because I’m still ironing out what exactly I want out of 2022 and partly because I’m considering trying a different format for that announcement.