What the New Division ment to me, by David "Arrow" Sim - July 1999

Good question, and I'm going to reserve my opinion on that until such
time as I've had an opportunity to carefully weigh all the options.

Meanwhile, here is my bio, which I already had typed up which I will try
to attach...

much love

d-A->ve
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My place is in a little village called Maple Bay, outside Duncan...halfway 
between Nanaimo and Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
My bio goes like this; after Nasson off to Grand Valley State College in 
Michigan, which I hated, but they had a foreign study program in Merida, 
in Mexico.  So after a semester there (which ended my college career} I just 
stayed in Mexico and travelled around, until I got busted in San Blas with 
some weed, and deported (eventually) after a few months of Spanish immersion 
in el Carcel.  Back in Canada I moved into the hills in Quebec, north of 
Ottawa for a year, and hung out,  then went to Amsterdam with a group of 
about 14 people, and worked on building a 52 ft Ferro-cement schooner for 
4 years, as well as a few other merry adventures.  This was OK except for 
living in close quarters with 14 people, and having no money, so in '75 Carol 
from upstate NY, and I moved to BC, where I started working on the coastal 
tugs, usually 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, as a deck hand, then went to 
Navigation School and wrote my Mate's ticket.  In '82 work on the west coast 
was scarce, but things opened up in the Beaufort Sea, on the North coast of 
Canada, in the Arctic in the oilpatch, so I worked up there for 6 seasons 
(June to November) as 1st Mate and then Captain on the offshore supply boats.
When this petered out I went back to the tugs on the coast, then worked on a 
seismic survey vessel in Norway, the Netherlands, east coast of Canada, 
Bermuda, and then a couple of stints in West Africa.  This was 2 months on 
2 months off, but I had a young family and felt I was missing seeing them 
grow up. So since '90 I have been working for the Canadian Pacific Railway 
(now called Seaspan Intemodal) on the 380 ft "Carrier Princess" between 
Vancouver and Vancouver Island, about a 40 mile trip, one way, so we run 
about 160 miles a night, for a week, with rail cars and highway trailers, 
followed by a week off to recuperate. I am mostly 1st mate but also sail 
occasionally as master.

On my week off I have a small business, delivering topsoil and gravel and 
stuff in a small dump-truck, that someday may even make some money, and 
meanwhile provides some well deserved tax write offs

I've been in the local volunteer fire department since 1975, which I 
still find rewarding, as well as a great excuse to play poker, drink rum and 
tell lies after Thursday night practice.

The kids are Winona, b. 1979 and Eli b. 1985

I am getting balder and older and fatter and more incredulous as we go along
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