Tubing, deceptive price-tags & Chad Hogan

Surely that’s not week 2 of 10 over already.

Rewind to the end of last week and the ‘Innovator’s JumpStart’ event I attended held at one of the entrepreneurial hubs of the region, Planet Hatch. Although the event was mainly for people who were in the process of starting up their businesses, it was really interesting to hear about the several different aspects to entrepreneurship such as finance matters and employment regulations. Plus I got to meet some of the entrepreneurs and gain a first-hand insight to the support network that is available in New Brunswick.

Back at the Pond Deshpande Centre and my boss Heather said that she felt like I’d been there for a month already. Safe to say that was appreciated and put into perspective how easily I have settled in here. The relaxed atmosphere and responsibility I’ve been given have eased any concerns I had prior to coming here. In terms of day to day work the ecosystem project is coming along nicely, a lot of planning has gone into how this should look and what it needs to include. Now it’s just a matter of trying to collect information on and provide links to all of the programs and support organisations within the Atlantic Canada region, which is by no means a small feat. Here’s what one of the sections looks like so far;

Of course there’s far more to spending the summer in Fredericton than work. Saturday marked my first tubing-run. Essentially you just hire out rubber rings for the afternoon and float down a river drinking beers without a care in the world. The fact we were a group of over 30 people with our rings all tied together and had a massive speaker system floating down on a tube was brilliant. Then there was Canada Day this past Wednesday. I spent my Canada Day cliff-jumping, chilling at a waterfall and then having a ‘couple’ of drinks at night (a common theme to my time here already). At the base of the waterfall we came across a dead beaver. There’s a picture, but I won’t risk a court case with an animal rights’ organisation by sharing it.

One thing I am yet to adjust to is the tax system when buying anything. For example back home you pick up a product with a £20 price tag, meaning you pay £20 for it. Here you pick up a product with a $20 price tag, meaning you pay $22.60. That’s because the tax/VAT which is 13% in this province is added on at the end. It’s the equivalent to doing all your shopping at Makro, if Makro sold everything. Already I’ve been caught out by that too many times to recall.

For people who know how I am regarding money, you’ll appreciate how having to pay more than I originally expected for something irks me. It’s something that I could picture the character Tam from Still Game getting annoyed over, who is probably a good prediction of what I’ll be like in 50 years time.

I’ve been invited to my first ‘kegger’ tomorrow for 4th of July. Seeing as I’m in Canada and not the States, I can only assume that the theme of this party will be to sarcastically mock American parties. Which immediately makes me think of Kevin Bridges. I look forward to uncontrollably shouting “wooo Spring Break” and “Chad Hogan yeeaahhh” tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll catch on…

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