Yes, Meredith. Sometimes I'm an early bird. We have had an exhausting two days, so Hubby and I went to bed early last night. Sometimes I don't need more than 5 hours of sleep...I love it when I can sleep 7 hours.

Meredith I am sure those girls are happy to get your jewelry pieces.
Congrats Orchid on your new job.
And 50 is nifty!

orchid, how's it feel to be winding down on the old job?

Congrats on the new one.

What are you doing for the 50th? I just turned 50 in '08. Welcome to the club!

It is very strange for me, to begin a new job...when the work commute time and distance has been reduced by 50%. Now my evenings outside of work ..are longer! And hence I no longer have to leave home so early. Plus my daily work hrs. are in total shorter than previous job.

This means I recover/regain 4.5 additional hrs. of personal time EACH WORK DAY, that I lost in former job!!!!!!!

Looking back, methinks I was in denial on how much personal time was sucked up by working at a former job that located so far out. If I wasn't in denial, I would have been a mental basket case if I thought too much about the insanity of previous job.

This job also provides an option to be on compressed work week, which means working longer hrs. daily but getting every Friday (or Monday) off every 3 wks. Now that I like..

It is a job in the non-profit sector and for employee retention, the employer tries to offer non-salary benefits also.

Orchid -- I certainly hope you are planning to spend at least part of the 4.5 hours you have gained riding your bike. Sounds like you are in a much better situation now. Congratulations.

Yes, cyclinggal I have every intention of returning to round trips of cycling between home and work..when the weather becomes warmer again. Right now it's black ice time in the mornings and evenings. Too risky, I've fallen on 2 different occasions from bike on black ice in the past 4 years. Fortunately I was cycling slowly with no traffic around me at that fallin' moment.

Interestingly, this new employer has all sorts of health and fitness incentives. They have rewards points system where if you rack up enough points from regular forms of exercise one gets gift certificate ..to ie. GAP,etc.

I was shown a gymn with weight machines and elliptical running machines for free use by employees. I must admit this is abit lost on me since I don't even use the stuff in my home building.
But a secured bike storage area, showers, lockers to store bike gear, etc.

Haven't had time to fully explore these wonderful benefits, since am still ramping up with rapid learning of certain things in new job right now.

Dotsie, I haven't a clue how to celebrate the big 50. I'm probably celebrating right now in terms of the latest change and Maui vacation (which the latter I initiated the vacation location switch from Jasper, Alberta.)

Orchid, although a bit late, Congratulations! Sounds like your new position offers many intrinsic values and opportunities for you!

Sounds like a great way to celebrate to me. You're going through a little reinvention which sounds fun.

Do most Canadian employers offer all the healthy living incentives?

Not necessarily, Dotsie. It depends on the organization. Since this organization is non-profit and do need people with certain skill sets to deal with difficult clients, they need to offer certain benefits to retain good employees when the salaries simply are abit lower against some private sector employers.