c9 | Substantive Update

It's been a while since I used this journal to actually tell people about my life. Instead, it's become a bit of a ranting / linking / joking ground. So I thought I'd spend a little time discussing, at various scales, my life.

I know. Woooo! you're thinking. I'm glad I excite you so.

Condo Corporation: I went to the recent Condo Annual General Meeting, and it was like a less funny version of last year's. I made motions ("motion to accept the minutes"), seconded motions, and helped count votes again this year. All in all, a calm and hardly-worth-posting-about affair. They showed us some sections of pipe that caused huge flooding recently, and pointed out that we were unable to actually see through the pipe length (only 8 inches) due to the 18-year build-up of grease and other crap that everybody puts down their sink all the time.

Condo renovation: the kitchen is still exactly where is was, both literally and renovationally, last time it was mentioned. But our plan is to sand and paint like madmen on Thanksgiving Monday, either finding our wall closure or giving up and buying some tiles or something. Closure on the floor will take another few months at least, but will I think be a nice white ceramic tile.

Career: having my new MCT certification has not had any material effect on my career or salary yet, though I also have not actually used it to teach anything yet.

leapfish is anxious for my salary to jump a bit, but I think that my decreasing teaching time, and increasing administrative time, is counter-pressure on that. I suspect I'll have to see what the new year brings, and the latest merger brings. I really am liking the admin side of things, but I may need to bite the bullet and go for more teaching to help pay for the lifestyle to which we've become accustomed. :)

Employer: having agreed to buy CDI, Polar Bear is in a state ranging from blasé to panic, depending on whether or not our area code is 416, 905, or other. CDI, TriOS (the last purchase), and Polar Bear combine for something like eight GTA offices, when we should have something like three or four. Doesn't take a lot of imagination to see where that's going. Good chance I'll be project managing at least some of those shutdowns, which I love.

Workplace: Polar Bear Kitchener is fairly relaxed. CDI Kitchener is tiny, unstaffed, and usually empty, but brand new, with new chairs and computers and desks. Polar Bear's office on the other hand is crowded, reasonably busy, and completely out of space, with older chairs, desks, and tons of obsolete equipment (along with our newer stuff). We are hoping to expand into neighbouring empty office space on our floor, so we have a better space to work in, but I'm not holding my breath.

Cubicle: I need more shelves or something. I've got 29 instructor binders (read: teacher's edition of textbook), two copies of MSDN, a pile of Red Hat Linux 9 discs, a phone book, a box of "craft supplies" (markers, post-its, masking tape for my non-computer courses (the fun ones)), blank DVDs, blank CDs, an entire cloth Microsoft binder filled with various UNIX and Linux distributions (mostly FC4), a phone, and various pads of paper and pens. That's not even mentioning the computer or the things I have affixed to the walls. I feel very disorganized.

Computer: I have the slowest computer in the office, a Pentium II 450. Perfectly useable for surfing and email, but useless for the rest of my job (Visio diagrams, InDesign training, running VirtualPC, and so forth). I do have a spiffy mouse that I swiped from the Halifax office when I left: optical and scroll wheel. Yes, this qualifies as spiffy. And today I gave myself a new keyboard! We received some new PCs for use in a new GMAT testing setup, and the extra keyboard and extra two mice were distributed around the office by me. I'm a big fan of rewarding everybody with better tools, mostly due to my lack of interest in org charts. The more org chart-focused in the company would sooner leave extras in a box than be seen to use them. See frustration, below.

Frustration: when I left the Halifax office, I packed up a PC and monitor to take with me as I would be doing national stuff so Kitchener couldn't be expected to supply me with a machine. After arriving in Kitchener, my boss stopped the shipment of said computer to check and see whether it was actually OK to send. After much deliberation the computer was sent, but the monitor was pointedly kept. "You can't take a good 17" monitor!" I understood, because that was maybe pushing it a bit (but not that much). Since the move, in September 2004, I have taught in the Halifax office three times, most recently last month. Each time, I have spotted the valuable 17" monitor that I was trying to take, still boxed and sealed, sitting under a desk.

Theatre: after the one-act acting gig in January, I've done nothing. My deal with myself was that I needed to be MCT before I could do theatre again, since in high school and university I would throw myself into theatre and abandon all other workload. It showed in my high school average, it showed in the two universities that accepted me as-is, and it showed in my university GPA. *sigh* Anyway, I have my MCT now, but the latest auditions were too close to some travel just recently, so I'm waiting for the next set. I'm also not entirely sure I want to act again, as I've never thought myself strong at it. I know I can stage manage, and I know I can direct though. Stop that snickering. So I might direct a one-act or something, I dunno. Next opportunity with KWLT is (pause, click click click) One Act Plays with auditions just after Hallowe'en, and Popcorn Plays with auditions in March.

Children: I'm finding myself more interested in adopting a baby, rather than a toddler or child, these days. I think it's from exposure to everybody else's babies. Intellectually I know there are lots of older kids (even up to 15-17 year olds) who desperately need a home, but right now my head space is looking for an infant. This is very common, and it's important for us to know what we're looking for in the adoption process anyway. Just unexpected, since I always thought I'd be A-OK with any kid of any age. I may still be, just to be clear. It's just the way my brain's been thinking lately.

OK, this has gone on way too long, and I need to actually get back to work.