It’s been a while since I last posted anything substantial. So here are some updates as to what’s happened since my last post in October.

As I posted before, I got issued a Social Insurance Number. Still haven’t received the plastic card, so I have to call someone about that! I was also issued an Ontario Health Card so I can get basic medical treatment for free, instead of paying through the nose just to see a doctor for 5 minutes.

I got my old job at McDonald’s back, still working the overnight shift – mostly full-time.

I had the brake discs and pads on my Lexus replaced last month. For a while I’d been feeling a vibration in the brake pedal, which I had attributed to a warped rotor. My pads were also pretty worn. I wasn’t happy with how long the pads fitted at Canadian Tire had lasted so I ordered Centric discs and Akebono pads from Tirerack.com where they were almost half the price of what I’d be paying in Canada. I also ordered some ATE Super Blue Brake Fluid so that my brake lines could be flushed out and the fluid replaced with something excellent quality. Bri and I went across the border to the USA to pick them up instead of getting them shipped here. Much cheaper that way.

While in the USA picking up the brakes, we visited our friend Mimi and her 2 kids Josh and Ashlee. Bri and I took down a suitcase full of clothes for them that had been donated by our friends. Mimi, Josh and Ashlee were over the moon with what we delivered to them. They’d had to leave a lot of their belongings behind in Mexico so didn’t have many clothes with them in the US.

We finally replaced the broken seatbelt. They are not cheap! My wife can now sit in the front passenger seat again, instead of being relegated to the back. I no longer feel like a chauffeur.

Since Valentine’s Day was the day of our friend Katz’s benefit concert at Call The Office, I took my lovely wife out to dinner on the 17th. We went to Spageddy Eddy’s, and ate a ridiculous amount of pasta. Absolutely worth going to.

Afterwards we went to see Kittie at the London Music Hall. I had bought the tickets a few weeks before, but kept it a total secret. I let Bri know where we were going on Friday morning and she was ecstatic. She’s like the band for years – and is actually related to one of the band members!

Thanks to Google deciding to remove the Share feature from Google Reader, I’ve set up a separate blog that I’ve imported all my old shared items to and is updated with new articles I want to share/save.

Bad news now… Bri’s grandmother passed away peacefully on the morning of Saturday 18th February. You can read her obituary at London Cremation Services.

She was a wonderful lady, and suffered greatly in the past year or so with illness. She is now at peace. Her ashes were interred yesterday. The day had started out rainy, but almost as soon as the minister started the reading, it stopped and the sun came out for a few minutes… and went away again when all was done. A sign? Maybe.

Welp, that’s enough typing for now.

I am now officially a Permanent Resident of Canada.

I “landed” on Friday with my wife at Sarnia, after taking a short trip to Michigan to do some shopping.

I had been incredibly nervous about the whole thing, but it was completely painless. Took no more than 15 minutes.

My PR Confirmation form was completed and stapled into my passport, and my Goods to Follow lists were stamped. I’m now free to import the rest of my belongings – I’ll finally be able to have my computer back! I’ve missed it so much. Using a netbook for the past 2 years has slowly been driving me insane.

Now I have to apply for a Social Insurance Number and an Ontario Health Card. I’ve already filled out the SIN application so I’m ready to walk into the Service Canada office next week. Then I’ll go to Service Ontario in Lambeth to get the application form I need for a health card.

Won’t be long until I have a job again either. I’ve been out of work for over a year, and I can’t wait to get back into employment.

My roommate picked up a copy of Halo: Reach last night and we sat down to play some co-op. 3 hours later and we’d completed the first 3 missions. The game is pretty awesome. I really miss being able to dual-wield weapons like you can in Halo 3 though. I spent part of today completing a few achievements I had missed early on in the game.

It’s been a while since I last updated, I haven’t really been in a blogging mood lately. Twitter has made it a lot easier to post things.

I’ve been working for McDonald’s now for 2 months.

I have finally got a job!

A year ago today, my best friend Bonita died in a car crash, tragically the day after her wedding.