Chapter 40 - Money Pit (2016-2017)

Eric returned from Kamloops (his 2016 birthday trip) to an emptier house, Zack and Landon having moved into their own house while he was away. This gave Eric the opportunity to start some general fix up and renovations, as Cesar was his only tenant. First item on his list was scraping off the mouldy popcorn ceiling in the main floor bathroom, a task he ensured he was wearing full PPE and had drop sheets all over the bathroom. Painting the ceiling came next. All just an intro to the work ahead.

September also brought in a change of focus on work. Back in Edmonton, Eric returned to subbing with Elk Island Public Schools, this time with a Permanent Teaching Certificate. He also continued to look for other full time jobs and tutoring through LightOn Mediated Learning Centre.

October was the start of Eric’s full on adventures into the money pit as he tore out the carpet and ceiling, uncovering many (mouse) skeletons, in Zack’s old room, a room Eric had not spent time in for close to 8 years. This was followed by tearing down most of the remaining wood panelling in the basement; leaving the only wood panelling in the house in the stairwell. Eric used the back bedroom (Zack’s old room) as junk storage as he tore down all easy to bring down framing on the back side of the basement. The central support wall staying, as did the framing under the stairs and along the perimeter and any wall with plumbing, at least for the time being.

Eric didn’t neglect friends during this time of subbing, tutoring, and renovations. He went to the Deadmonton Haunted House with John, attended Brad’s Halloween party in Devon, attended games nights at JD’s, helped out Robin, tea with Erwin and Johanne Rauscher, and general other socialization with other friends and family. Eric’s continued search for full time work garnered some progress; he impressed the interviewers at the Pride Centre of Edmonton when interviewed for the position of Community Educator, however wasn’t surprised that an acquaintance he knew got the job.

November and December saw a major advancement in Eric’s renovations, and hit to the pocket book, with: the installation of new windows in the main floor; removal of all the basement demolition materials, including the tiny basement shower; mitigation of the asbestos tape on the air ducts; then installation of a new high efficiency furnace and air conditioning unit zoned separately for main floor and basement, as well as both a water softener and a flow-through / tankless hot water system.

With this major advancement in his house renovation, Eric took a break to join his father, David, on a trip to Brussels to spend Christmas and New Years with his sister Samara, brother-in-law Geert, nephew Sebastian, and niece Klara. David had gone ahead, but Eric managed to make it in time for Sebastian’s 9th birthday party.

Eric enjoyed his European time with extended family, which also included his Aunt Judy and Uncle Jonathan (from Winnipeg) for Christmas, distant cousin Jean-Paul and his wife Ina (from Paris) for a day in the new year, and Geert’s family a few times throughout his time there.

Many adventures happened in Europe, highlights included: Going to see a Dutch version of the Waldorf/Shepherd’s play, where, although Eric couldn’t understand the words the play, he was familiar with it from his youth, recalling the plot and vaguely remembered the jokes Staying in an AirB&B at a small farm in Domburg Zeeland and enjoying a foggy coastal visit, including helping Sebastian and Klara build a river track for a spring on the beach. Exploring an abandoned building with Samara and Sebastian while on a family walk. Visiting the Tashen Art book store with David. And exploring Utopia, well exhibits on Utopia and author Thomas More, in Lueven with David, Samara, Sebastian, and Klara.

Calgary tried to hold Eric hostage while on his return to Edmonton, keeping him at the airport for 5 hours due to flight delays.

Once home, Eric got back into his routine of subbing with Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS), tutoring through LightsOn Mediated Learning Centre (LOML), socializing with family and friends (JD, Joel, Brent, Matt, Ken, Lane, Zack & Landon, Johnny and Erik, Sheena, and John), volunteering again for FIRST LEGO League, continued meetings and commitments as a volunteer Team Leader of the Fringe Festival, and more job applications out - which resulted in a position with NorQuest College as a supply teacher for their academic upgrading program, commencing in May.

On the renovation front things slowed down for the first quarter of 2017, partly in finding an electrician replace the electrical panel and sub panel into one panel. Eric also started weekend courses, through NAIT, in basement renovations, starting with bathroom plumbing. A journey with David to the spring Renovation Show resulted in an excursion to Trail Appliance to put on oder a new stacking washer and dryer.

April showers brought more than just flowers to Eric’s house and life. After numerous attempts to get on with Edmonton Public Schools (EPSB) they finally opened the door for him to start subbing. Eric now had to pick up juggling. . .  Juggling his multiple part time jobs: subbing with EIPS, EPSB, and Norquest, tutoring through LOML, and occasionally tutoring Oil Kings hockey players (through a school with EIPS).

Just prior to tutoring an Oil King player on April 1 Eric got a call from Cesar that he was moving in with his girlfriend, and out of Eric’s house. This was another hit to Eric’s rental income, bringing it to nil. Also a chance to touch up the paint in the main floor bedroom. Eric’s vacancy was fairly short lived. By early May Jesse move into the finished basement rooms.

During this time Eric continued his renovations and courses: taking home electrical then a framing and dry walling course, both weekend courses still through NAIT. He also finally started to frame the basement, commencing the building phase of the renovations. Eric hired a company to do the plumbing ground work for the bathroom.

June brought a slowdown and conclusion to many of Eric’s part time jobs. This opened time for Eric to prepare more for volunteering at the Fringe Festival, having offered to learn the new volunteer management system and help the volunteer coordinator with some aspects of it. Eric also assisted in the Fringe Festival’s float in the Pride Parade, and took time to socialize with family (David, Katrina and her kids Josie and Leo) and friends (Ken, Sergey, Elias, Joel, Chirs, Lane, John, and Jeff). Matt and Agnes, a refugee couple from Poland, moved into Eric’s main floor bedroom in July, bringing with them their two cats.

On the renovation side, Eric hired a friend of Sharon Remple to rejuvenate his back yard, turning it from a scarred mess of mud, weeds, and renovation litter, into a lush green sanctuary. Spray foam insulation was applied along the exterior wall of the basement bathroom, also attempting to fill the cracks in the joists that may allow the mice inside. As the framing progressed, the plumber and electrician came back to run their lines.

Summer was a busy time for Eric beyond the renovations. July was yet another year of teaching a LEGO robotics summer camp through Metro Continuing Education’s Cool School Summer School. August started with Panfest, which Eric was dragged to this year (application graciously paid for by friends who could not bear to not have Eric or Sheena there). Fringe Festival was the craziest year for Eric’s team he had seen in ages. The Fringe Theatre Festival implemented a restructure of some volunteer teams and the introduction of some technology into the new Information and Patron Services (IPS) team, this made the year memorable due to the unforeseen challenges Eric and other fellow IPS Team Leaders had to contend with, especially with the technology.

Aside from the pleasant surprise of attending Panfest, Eric had a few other joyous moments in the summer. Samara, Geert, Sebastian, and Klara came for a short visit, and Eric always enjoys the time he can spend with his nephew and niece. A lead from an old classmate, Jeff Warner, lead Eric to apply to Spectrum Education Supplies as their Western Canada Robotics Sales Specialist in July. A few phone interviews in August lead to a flight to Toronto for an in-person interview at the head office in Newmarket.

Upon the heels of returning to Edmonton from Newmarket, Ontario, Eric hopped in his car with his father David and headed North on his annual birthday trip.

For his birthday trip Eric decided to visit a part of Canada he had never seen before because it was Canada 150 (the 150th anniversary of the signing of confederation); Yellowknife.

The Yellowknife adventure stared with a drive to Grande Prairie and the Philip J Currie dinosaur museum. A lovely coffee and catch up was had with Adrian in Grande Prairie. The following day was drive to High Level with a stop at Dunvegan, where after assisting in proofreading some signs, David and Eric had a free tour of part of the historical site. Day 3 was leaving Alberta and entering North West Territories and a stop at the 60th Parallel Information and Visitor Centre. Other stops for nature viewing occurred this day: The twin falls of Alexandra Falls and Louise Falls, where Eric slipped while walking barefoot in the river above Alexandra Falls and landed in the mud. In Hay River a stop at the local museum was a fascinating experience. Day 4 took Eric and David to Yellowknife itself, despite the Bison Blockade on the way . . . Well a few bison that couldn’t decide what side of the road to be on.

We shall leave this chapter off with Eric and David in beautiful Yellowknife, where they visited the Legislature Assembly, Prince of Wales museum, Pilots’ Monument Lookout, and a wonderful day, on Eric’s actual birthday, with Eric’s old engineering classmate and friend Elaine canoeing part of Great Slave Lake and exploring Joliffe Island.