Nothing like Company for Easter!

It's been a busy few week (actually, a busy year), but now it's Easter weekend, and Mom and Dad and Lisa are here, so that's really nice.  They arrived on Thursday, which gave me just enough time to get most of my Easter preparations done at the church.

The weather has been pretty rainy all winter here.  Locals tell me this is the norm and the sunny winters I've had for the last two years.  I don't mind the rain, but it was getting to be a monotonous.  Luckily this weekend, or at least on Friday, the weather was great, and we were able to get out for a walk on the beach in between naps.

Allie was out for a visit in January, for a couple weeks, which was great.  She got a cheap flight on New Years Eve, but landed in the afternoon, so we were able to be back in Tofino for celebrations with Jeff and Kirsten and some other friends.  It was right after she flew home that her dad died really unexpectedly, and thanks to the Bishop and a colleague who filled in for me,  I was able to go there for ten days to be with Allie.  It was nice to spend so much time with her in January, but the reasons weren't great for part of it.

Since coming back it's felt a little hard to catch up. The time between Christmas and Easter is when a lot of church meetings happen, and when our annual reports and statistics are due, so I've had a lot of paperwork to do, some of which even got done!

But for right now it's nice to have Mom and Dad and Lisa here for a bit, and have the sun out!  If the weather holds, I think we're going to try for a beach fire later today.  

New Authors?

Jude suggested that Del should be able to post to the blog, so I have invited him. While I'm at it, anyone else who wants to be able to post? Send me an email or comment here!

 I have been back for almost a week now. Had an awkward conversation with my supervisor about holiday time - I forgot how crappy it is in America. Turns out there is an official policy that postdocs get 12 days PTO per year for everything - holidays, dentist appts, whatever. (Plus a couple of sick days). Quite grouchy about this as I said upfront that I would need to do some travelling to go see Del if I took the job, and he seemed quite happy with that at the time. I don't think he knew there was an official policy. I have negotiated some "working from home" time for days I am gone and I think he will be okay with that if I don't push it. (Apparently three weeks off at Christmas was kind of pushing it, whoops!)

But anyway, probably no visits now till April and I do end up working most weekends it seems, so it's not as if I won't be in the lab a lot. I guess if there turns out to be a problem I will start keeping track of hours and "working to rule", and since in my experience most postdocs work way more than 40 hours a week I think that should get me some time in lieu. It is weird though - my American colleague is coming from a job where they complained when she actually used her sick days and barely let her take a few days off for her wedding. She thinks it is great that we have more flexibility here and that no one minds if she gets sick. Meanwhile, I am chafing at the thought of only 12 days PTO after years of extremely flexible working/school, where I would be in the lab 10 or 12 hours for months and then take all of August off to escape to Oxford and do some writing or whatever. Personally I think the American system is messed up, but hopefully I can make it work somehow, because I really can't go an entire year with only 12 days to see Del... not to mention anyone else!

Other than that things are okay, though. Have a lot more energy than before Christmas - think I really needed the break. Obviously the trip back was ridiculous, but I recovered fairly quickly. I am busy writing a grant that would fund my salary for a year. Not very likely to get it, but coming up with some cool ideas and hoping maybe I could slip them in to existing visits anyway. We shall see.

 It was so great to see everyone at Christmas. Going back to a totally non-social existence is a bit of a shock. Helena has finally got her paperwork (after they made her miss Christmas) and headed back to see her family and do her embassy appointment on Friday. She has booked an open ticket and is not sure when she will return. I will definitely miss her but am thrilled they finally sorted things out.

1401

When I went to post, blogger told me that there were 1400 posts on the blog, so I guess this is number 1401!  That's quite a lot of family news.

I've been going full speed since I got back from holidays.  The holidays themselves were great - between folk fest, the backyard, Kane, the chuckwagon races, and just being at home, things were pretty awesome.  I got back to Victoria on Saturday, preached and presided at church on Sunday, left Monday to go camping with the youth group.

We went to a group site run by the Girl Guides near Elk Lake, and this year we joined with the Cathedral.  It was a good thing we did, as they had about 12 kids, and we had 3.  The kids were mostly around the same age, or at least two or three the same age, so that was good.  We spent a lot of time teaching them how to cook on fires.  For most of them, the first thing to do was teach them how to light a fire.  For some of them, we also had to teach them how to cook in general.  We did one supper and one breakfast over the fire - the bacon and egg breakfast took about 4 hours from start to finish, so I joined up with the fastest working group.  It was a lot of fun though, and I think the kids all had fun as well.

Our new interim priest in charge has started at the church.  His name is Dennis, and he's nice.  He's only working two or three days a week (including Sundays), so I'll still have a lot to do.  No danger of getting bored!

Today was the parish fun day - sort of a carnival.  We had a inflatable obstacle course, which was a big draw, but we also had kite making, gold panning, a scavenger hunt in the church, a wood working table, various games and cemetery tours.  There were nearly 300 people that came through, so it was very successful.  The weather was perfect, which helps.

I used to think that I was one of those people who never, or rarely, got sick.  Since I started at St. Luke's, I've had four colds, including the one I'm currently battling.  I'm very much not impressed.  One of the ladies at the church says it's like a little boy at his first year of school - catching everything that passes.  I think it's more tied to how busy things are! 

Things are very busy, just to back up my hypothesis.  Peter is retiring at the end of June, and he has somehow convinced us to give him a month's worth of parties!  It started a couple weeks ago with a concert - a couple vocal choirs from Victoria (including the one that Peter sings in) as well as a massed church choir, an oboe, a harp, a bassoon and three sopranos (all the instruments and the sopranos were from St. Luke's!).  It was a fundraiser for the diocesan camp and the diocesan soup kitchen, and raised three grand, so it was well worth it.  Tons of work to put on, though.

Then last week was a parish pub night on Friday, followed by a renewal of vows for a Jewish-Christian couple.  The Christian half of the couple comes to St. Luke's, and it was a great service.  They had been married in a civil service in England 15 years ago, and wanted a blessing for the anniversary.  They have three kids 13, 10 and 3.  When I asked the kids if they gave their consent to the relationship the two older boys replied quite properly "we do".  The youngest was looking at his mom, and when she pointed to me, and he heard his brothers, he shouted "YEAH!  WE DO".  Very cute.  Then we went to the hall and danced the evening away.  The day after that was the parish picnic, which was held inside because of rain.  We invited the Lutheran church from across the street, so it was busy and full in the hall.

Today is the parish garden party (which looks like will also be inside because of rain).  One of the parishioners hosts it in a beautiful backyard that they have landscaped themselves.  Then tomorrow is Peter's last Sunday, as well as a Youth Group barbecue. 

Thursday is the really big day - Peter's last service and his retirement dinner (which I'm working hard not to publicly call The Last Supper).  We have 157 people signed up for supper in our 125 capacity hall, and that's not counting kids!  We'll have to put some in the hall, some in the lounge, and who knows where else!  It's reminding me of Christmas in Rocky, with tables all over the place.

Once Peter is done, and we can stop celebrating, I'll be in charge for July, at least (since technically he's on holiday).  There will be an interim rector while the parish looks for a new person, but that interim will likely be part time.  This means that I'll have more to do, and more to do with the running of the parish.  I'm looking forward to this!  The bishop hasn't announced who the interim will be, but one person did come and ask me about St. Luke's, since the bishop had asked him to consider being the interim.  I don't know if he accepted though!  

Yesterday was beautiful

today I can hear the wind howling, but the sun is out and the sky is blue, so I am going to pretend it is still beautiful.

If you read the comments on the previous post, you know that I have talked T&G into coming with me to New York and Connecticut, not that it took much talking, they were very receptive. Anyone else want to come along? Week of March 14. It is good to have something to look forward to.
I saw the other Sivaks last week, and Uncle George had to go in for a but of minor surgery. His lower eyelashes are curling in and poking him in the eye. Other than that both are well, and have planned a trip to Phoenix at the end of March, into April.

Another person quit at work, so I guess that means more turmoil there, that is the 3rd in a month. I don't think it will affect me too much, might mean more work. I just generally do what ever they tell me and try not to let it get to me.

I had breakfast with Allison yesterday, and she showed me the stuff she has picked out for the kitchen and storeroom, both great choices, it will look so good in her house. Maybe this will be the year I do some renos here, or maybe not.

Streets of Baltimore. Next week.

Judith, I do not know how you do so much work travel. I've been back a week, and thinking about packing again and getting ready to go to Baltimore wears me out. I'm not ungrateful for the opportunity to gain air miles, but I get tired so easily. Maybe I am fighting off an infection.

The cats are clinging to me like lint. They do not know there is a reason the suitcase is not going back into the basement.

I have been getting organic vegetables delivered to my house, once every two weeks. It is pretty awesome. I do like not having a choice -- just having to make do with whatever they give me. You can always roast them.

It is time to shift fall clothes onto the hangers.

First Week Back

Well I got through my first week back after 8 weeks off. I decided to work regular hours for the first couple of weeks, because I was not sure I could last 10 hours. It went pretty well, though by Friday I was pretty beat. Everyone at work were glad to see me, at least that is what they said. I saw the surgeon last week, and she said everything look good inside and out, so no need to see her again. She also told me I was lucky to have Dr. Evans as my GP, always good to hear that someone agrees with me.

Life at Grandma's House...

...is pretty sweet. Even Clem let me sort of pet her. Just a little, mind you, but for her, a big step. I had a great couple days with Grandma and that couple that live across the street from her. We did a whole lot of nothing, spent the days napping and reading...like the houseboat, but fewer storms.

And now I'm back in Vancouver, facing real life again. Actually, it appears that real life has started without me, judging from the amount of e-mails that I've gotten about work. I'm only taking four classes this term, which is the benefit to taking six in my first year. To balance out my time, I'm working at a few diffferent jobs - school sacristan (organizing school worship), a research assistant for the Theology professor, and taking minutes at the Faculty Council meetings. If this year is like the last two, I'll also pick up various part time and one off jobs as the year unfolds. That is one of the benefits to living on campus!

End of co-op/start of school

In May I finally moved out of Lister, the dorm-style residences I've lived in for the past three years, and into East Campus Village, an apartment-style residence. It's a pretty decent place, nothing to write home about really, but I have my own room which is a change from Lister. All the time I was living there I had a roommate, sharing the same white cinder-blocked cube, sharing a bathroom with 10 other people and a TV with 35. I don't mind it but I feel like I'm actually living "on my own" now.

That means I have to cook. Luckily mom supplied me with a lot of her recipes, and I've been cooking out of some cookbooks from AJ. I cook the full amount, which normally is good for 3 meals (that's the target zone, +/- one day) - so I only cook about twice a week. I'm always surprised when I throw together a bunch of random crap and at the end of the day it actually tastes approximately correct.

I'm winding down my co-op job at PricewaterhouseCoopers for the year - last couple weeks were surprisingly busy. This week everybody realized I was leaving so they're madly reviewing a bunch of work I did in case there are changes (which there almost always are) and so I'll probably be working OT all this week to tie up the loose ends.

The firm offered me a second co-op term (May-August 2011) and a full-time job after graduation. Nothing to get too worked up about however, this is SOP if you're half-decent at the job. It's one of their primary sources of associates to work 60-hour weeks in audit. Haven't decided if I'll take it yet. Accounting is okay but not great; on the other hand the prospect of a guaranteed job after walking through the door with my degree is really attractive.

For fall I'm signed up for the usual slate of classes. I'm also an RA (resident assistant) for the apartment residences I'm in now, along with another small residence role. As well, I'm a TA (teaching assistant) for the intro operations management course, and am sitting on the Operations Management Club again. Should be a busy year. Hopefully I can handle it all.

Next week I start training for the RA job (got first-aid certified on the weekend), and once that's done then back to school!

Offers

I got co-op job offers Friday. And so ends a two-month saga - 19 applications, 11 interview invitations, 10 interviews, 3 second interviews, 3 office receptions, a lunch, and 5 offers. The accounting recruitment process is very long. For example, for E&Y there was a first interview on campus, a second interview downtown, an office tour, a lunch, and then an office reception. Most firms do some variant of that, which makes the whole experience very draining.
In case you were interested (which is a rather tenuous assumption), they are:

Solution 105 Consulting - Data Analyst. This company does forecasting and budgeting for companies needing to manage their utilities.
PricewaterhouseCoopers - Tax associate. One of the largest accounting firms in the world.
Auditor General's office - Staff auditor. Audits government agencies and departments on behalf of the people of Alberta.
Running Room - Junior accountant. Chain of stores selling running shoes, apparel, accessories, and offers running clinics; publishes a running magazine.
Merit Contractors Association - HR Research Assistant. Non-profit that provides a benefit program, advocacy, and training to non-unionized workers and contractors in the Albertan construction industry.

Quite a range there. Even the three accounting ones are totally different. I was quite disappointed that I didn't get offers from either of my top two choices, Ernst & Young and KPMG (both large accounting firms)... but I suppose I should count my blessings and so on. I really have no idea what they base their selection process on anyway, so I don't know what I would need to change.

I ended up going with PricewaterhouseCoopers - it was a straight toss-up between that one and the Auditor General.

Back at school

Finished up at the historic site in the last week of August, and boy was I glad to be out of there. How can somewhere with so many young workers have so much office politics? However, I got a promise of a good reference from my boss, so that's good, particularly as I'm looking for a co-op position.

My first two work terms are back to back, supposed to be January to August. So I've been really busy applying to anything that sounds like it's remotely applicable to my major (accounting) or my minor (operations management) or not even close, but sounds all right (HR, management consulting, finance) so hopefully I'll get picked up by somebody out of the 20 or so organizations I'm applying to. It's pretty stressful, especially since accounting is so competitive.

My courses are pretty rough this semester, two ops management courses, two accounting courses, and intermediate macroeconomics to top it off. I'm finding it really difficult to keep up with everything normally, never mind when group projects and midterms are surfacing already. One that looks like it will be difficult is about where to put receivers for reading utility meters on the sides of houses in the most efficient way. Now, that might seem pretty banal to you (ie. Who Cares?), but it's the kind of thing I like doing and it's a real-life problem facing operations people.

I'm still working as the Food Ombudsman this year. The position, which I did last year, is basically the three-way communication link between ARAMARK (the food contractor), the university administration, and the students on a meal plan. The meal plan is a mandatory part of living in Lister, so it's a touchy subject. Anyway, this year ARAMARK's contract expires after 15 years, so the university is putting together a request for proposal. I'm involved in this through focus groups and advising, and as always, transmitting the information between the three stakeholders. The workload has increased as more students want to get involved and I'm personally involved in the process, but at least it's interesting and pushes my portfolio from the back burner into the spotlight. The Lister Hall Students' Association (LHSA) president seems really interested in food this year, so I got office space and a computer, which is sweet. Plus I know more about it than anybody, and it's nice to be an expert at something.

I'm also VP Academic for the Operations Management Club. Mostly what I do there is coordinate the OM tutor program. Half the people in business are on the exec of some sort of club, so I thought I'd better start up for resume material.

This year I also moved floors, up to 9 Henday from 3 Henday. I have a roommate again, for the third year. He's an offensive lineman for the varsity football team. Somehow the smallest guy on the floor got put with the biggest; his legs stick four inches over the bed. However, he is pretty chill and we get along really well.

Grande Prairie

Back at work and it is like I was never away in the mountains. Lots going on so the days go fast. Wilf and Henry are good and the drama with Kris was resolved. Judith is coming to visit on September 25, and the gives me something to look forward to. Henry is going for his medical and testing on October 6th, so it will be just a matter of time I think before he goes. His girlfriend and another friend came to visit this week it was good to have them over. I will post my pictures to picassa soon.

Greetings from the Big Nickel

I am in Sudbury right now, in my hotel room. I was invited to speak at a northern libraries conference on our human resources study. I left Tuesday night and got here 10am on Wednesday...that was a stupid arrangement. I spent most of yesterday sleeping off my fatigue, and getting room service. And fell asleep at 9pm.

Which meant that my presentation was not put together until 7am this morning. For my presentation time of 8:30am. Luckily, I have worked on this project for 6 years so it's pretty intuitive (not to mention I have about 50 other presentations with slides I could use). And it was a tiny group but they were super engaged and talkative and I really liked them. So my procrastinating was unduly rewarded.

Flight home at 1:30pm! I won't even get to see the big nickel.

Home for the summer

Well, I arrived home for the summer last Sunday, and I still can't get over how much free time I have now!

Before I left for the summer, I had a phone interview with the Confluence Heritage Society, which is a non-profit that does a lot of work with the historic site near Rocky. Although I used to train people to take interviews, I didn't think this particular one went very well. I rely heavily on reading people in my interviews, and it's hard to know what they are thinking over a phone line. But like an hour later, they rang me up to offer me the supervisor job out there.

I went in for a couple days last week, and they seemed really disorganized. I'm showing them how to use and program their new till - it seems natural to me to use the till to track inventory and cashiers, but they had never heard of such things before. Turns out it sounds like they want me to do schedules, inventory, stock ordering, training, etc. However pretty much the whole staff turned over last year and nobody left any notes, so in addition to doing this stuff, I have to figure HOW to do this stuff. Should be interesting.

I applied for the co-op program at the U of A (for accounting). We'll see what happens there. I changed my minor to operations management, which is stuff like supply chain management, congestion management, aggregate planning, demand forecasting, etc. It's really cool, I think, but most people hate it. Got all my marks back, and I did better than last year, which is always nice as they'll be going down from here on in I should say. (Accounting curves on a B- for senior courses, while everybody else curves on a B+... fantastic).

I got offered an RA job next year, but turned it down (which, in hindsight, was a bad decision) so instead I'm the Food Ombudsman again next year.

Pecked to Death by Ducks

That phrase is from that biography of Ann Landers Mom had that I read about 50 times.

I'm feeling a lot of work frustration due to peers being anal retentive and crabby; I'm not your dang secretary, librarians. The non-crabby peers agree that working with librarians is like being pecked to death by ducks.

In other news, I am going to start a yoga drop-in class this week. I am hoping it encourages me to pursue other forms of exercise, in the cardiovascular and strength-building genres.

I just watched a good Australian movie called 10 Canoes, in which a white Australian director worked with a little Aboriginal community to make the movie. Almost more interesting was the documentary on DVD about the making of the film, and how difficult it was for the 2 cultures to communicate with each other. I am sometimes baffled by how hard communication can be -- but I guess it's a lot of work to do it really really well and not assume other person is making your same assumptions.

Montreal in Fall

I'm staying at my friend Annie's post-major-work-event in Ottawa. My friend Luke is here (from undergrad) doing his PhD, and so we've all been walking, eating, drinking, and shopping in 18 degrees. There are lots of leaves still on the trees! Not very much red; more yellow.

I was in Ottawa for a library human resources summit -- it's something that I've worked on (with a committee, of course) for the last 18 months! We were trying to get together a bunch of the library decision-makers to come up with possible strategies to deal with the HR issues we have in front of us (access to library education, prof dev, leadership, etc.) -- and I think it went very very well. Lots and lots of work the last 3 weeks for me, and the 2 days were super intense, as we did some retooling of a few program pieces as we thought we needed to -- so I feel very good and very tired. I got applause for the work I did. Thanks, librarians, for being applauders.

So I've really been trying to catch up on my sleep and try to calm down while I'm here. We went to a comic book store I love and today, Luke & I are going to see an art show on rock music. Eating very well. Delicious microbrew!

Can't Wait

I have booked part of my trip to Portugal, from Edmonton to London. I was able to use points, and book business class, the flight is direct from Edmonton. So now I just have to get over to Portugal. Anne and I are going to meet in London for a couple of days when I am on my way home.

Things have been very hectic at work, we are implementing the system on the long weekend in Sept, so lots of things to try and finish up. I am looking forward to having Grace come and visit next week. Will be nice to have someone to have supper with, and will motivate me to get out a bit more in the evening.

I went to see Cirque du Soleil, last weekend. It was pretty amazing, the performers look like they have no bones, they are so supple. And the costumes are so colourful and beautiful.

To the Max

I'm in Seattle! Conference on Library Assessment. We will all sit around, observing each other and making furious notes on our notepads. I'm thinking of wearing a turtleneck with a big medallion around neck, so I can look more like an anthropologist.

The trip was messed up -- I'd rushed to clean home into semblance of home (versus landfill) since Lisa is going to get there before me on Wednesday. I was going to take airporter, but was a bit late -- so I called a cab to get a ride to the airport, thinking, "no big deal. Work can pay." They said 5-15 minutes. After 20, no cab. I called again, and the woman said no one had picked up the call. Was there any way she could put an 'urgent' on it? No. Could she call me back if no one picked it up? No. How would I know that a cab was actually coming? I could call back. Should I call another cab company? (I asked this, thinking, "this will put the fear of God into her.") Sure, if I wanted. But if I did, I better call this company back and cancel, because if they both showed up at the same time, I would never get a cab from this company again.

I'm still calm, but disbelieving and crabby. Call another cab company; they are to come right away. Cab comes. Off we go. Cabdriver asks what airline I'm on? I say Horizon. He says, what? I say, Alaskan. He tells me he's just back from a cruise to Alaska. I say, no, I'm going to Seattle. I'm flying Alaskan. I close eyes so as not thave to chat for remainder of ride. We get to airport, and I hand him my credit card. Remember that 'slow old man' skit Tim Conway did on the Carol Burnett show? Seriously: he says, "oh." Takes card, and places slip over it. Doesn't have pen to rub the imprint. I hand him pen. He tries to take imprint. Doesn't work. I ask, "Should I do this?" No, he's got it under control. (He likely wanted to make sure I wasn't going to defraud him.) Makes imprint. I sign. Now he has to call it in for verification.

he slooowly tok out a piece of paper from his wallet. Read the instructions out loud, one by one. Reads them out loud a second time. Reads first out, and follows it. Reads second out. Reads it again. Ad nauseum.

Finally I say, "You know, I'm going to miss my flight. I'm sorry. My card is good. You'll have to trust it." And ran out of the cab. Got through all my lines. The customs dude asked me if I was going to a "Muslim flag-burning conference or a librarian conference." I bite tongue and smile politely. Finally get to gate.

On plane, we are about to take off, and the cover to one of the overhead bins falls off. A few minutes' wait, and they announce they are just waiting for somone to fix it. More wait. Etc. Eventually, we deplane. We end up leaving at 7pm, 5.5 hours later than planned. I slept on the airport chairs.

But no sympathy my way. I am staying in the Hotel Max. ! A short walk from Macy's, Anthropologie, and Nordstrom sales outlet.

30+

It is going to be hot this weekend. I have to work on Saturday but it means I'll take next Wednesday off. I go to Vancouver for the library conference. Staying in the SHERATON.

Happy birthday Theresa! You are also 30+.

My biggest news is that I have had 2 job interviews -- 1 for MacEwan and 1 for UA. Didn't get the MacEwan job, though they told me I did a super interview & that they thought I could walk in & do the job easily. Still waiting for UA. I should know within the month. I thought it went really well, but it's always about who you are competing against. I did realize that if I'm on EI, I can still make my mortgage payments. It is somewhat appealing...