Who am I? Calgary - The first few Years

So. Moved to Calgary. Bunked up with a couple of friends (Al and Doug) from high school for a couple of weeks while Beth and J packed up our stuff back in Saint John. I've known Alex and Doug for what seems forever and we have all been gaming for years and years.

Started work with CSB on July 16, 2001. Working as a Navision Developer, I literally jumped right into a huge project in Edmonton that lasted for about 2 years. I did a bunch of other dev work during that time and it was a lot of fun.

My Mentor, who worked as project manager and implementer on most of my projects was Wendy. Wendy is an ex-pat Brit who really taught me how the world of consulting works. We had our good days and bad (I just dreaded getting the 'I'm extremely disappointed....' emails, but they really helped me to apply due diligence.

CSB stood on its own for about 4 years while I was there and then we got notice that we were being bought out. Bell Canada wanted to increase its foothold in the ERP and professional services domain, and picked our little engine to help with that.

We were merged with a couple of other companies to form Bell Business Solutions, which was headquartered out of Montreal. This was a very turbulent time for the Navision team, but we survived.

Well, enough of work, what was going on in my personal life? A lot! (Oh? you want more?, fine.)
Let's see.... My Beautiful Daughter M was born in 2004 and she is a daddy's girl. Strong willed, but willing to cry at the drop of a hat, she never ceases to amaze me.

Got a new gaming group formed here in Calgary. A great group of guys with Alex and Doug (mentioned above) starting the core and then adding Bruce, Steve and Drew (There was also Dave, but he only lasted about 2 months before running in fear, but I don't think anyone misses him :)) We played primarily D&D3.5, but Bruce and Steve, also introduced me to Euro-Boardgames with Settlers of Catan.

Alternating between RPG's and boardgames, we get together almost every weekend for a few hours of comraderie and friendship. A Great group of guys and excellent friends.

Other changes in my life would be Beth and I converting to the Catholic faith. It began innocently enough, with getting J into one of the better schools in Calgary, MNA. This is a Year-Round school (shorter summer break and a couple of other breaks during the year).

We slowly started attending Ascension Church with our adopted family, The Hayles. Anne and Vicki are now Grammy Anne and Aunt Vicki and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I finished our journey into the faith, Easter 2007. I find it a necessary part of my life now, something I didnt realize I was missing until I found it.


NOTE: One more background entry, then I should be caught up.