c9 | Entries tagged with work

The Toronto Star recently published a map showing where the city would be hosting A(H1N1) vaccine clinics for the public. I sent this to all the Toronto employees at my company as an FYI. I got a response from a colleague (who I don't know very well at all) and we engaged in some back and forth debate on the vaccine and vaccines in general. I recommend reading from the bottom, so you get the full conversation. If you're interested in other links or have found other resources, please feel free to post.

Update: fixed broken links (even the ones I think are garbage), and name is changed to protect the other party.

( the full email trail )

Dear Sir or Madam:

Further to the information you provided in Form 2 of the Canadian Space Agency’s Recruitment Campaign evaluation process, we regret to inform you that your application will not be considered further.

In completing Forms 1 and 2, you provided information in each of the following topics: Experience, Expertise, Education, Certification and Language. Based on the evaluation of the information provided, the Pre-selection Board has retained the top 2,000 candidates presenting the best results for further consideration in this evaluation process. Unfortunately, your application is not included in those 2,000 files.

We would like to thank you for your interest in the astronaut recruitment campaign and the Canadian Space Program, and wish you good luck in your future endeavours.

The Astronaut Recruitment Pre-selection Board

Two thousand?! I'm not even in the top two thousand?! Goddamn overachieving Canadians. :)

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is recruiting two new Canadian astronauts. I applied (along with over 5000 others) and I reached the second stage! (this was not too tricky)

Stage two however is a little bit harder. Especially with a crappy GPA and no orbital mechanics experience. *sigh*

At least I can try to regain some ground with my cover letter. But what can I say that beats a super-Physics PhD who's also a pilot? (no stealing, primary_suspect!)

The Facts:
- I booked off July 23-27 for vacation, and we booked flights with friends to show them the Maritimes (well, Halifax and PEI, to be precise)
- I have been requested* by work to teach July 28-Aug 1 in Edmonton. This requires flying to Edmonton the evening of July 27.
- I currently have a flight from Halifax to Toronto (via Quebec City on Porter Airlines) that afternoon, arriving in TO at 18:55. This flight is cancellable for credit minus a fee.
- It is possible to fly from Halifax to Edmonton that evening and only miss out on the flights with Vinny, Bryce and Daryl, but not miss out on any other vacation time. (option 1)
- It is also possible to return to Toronto with everyone, go home, get another suitcase, and then head for the big airport and fly to Edmonton, arriving about three hours later than the previous option. This only works if there are no delays greater than 30 minutes. (option 2)
- I'm probably going to choose option 1.

* I say "requested" because I could say no, but I sort of already said several weeks ago that that week would be OK, not thinking it was likely. Apparently I've learned nothing about this company in eight years, because of course they would choose that week.

[Poll #1204814]

Ripping CDs into iTunes is taking forever. Man! I'm glad I finally have my various bits of technology arranged in a reasonable way to make it worth doing, but 300+ CDs is a big project. And no, I'm not ripping to 320kbps .ogg or anything, just boring 160 MP3. So far I don't care enough about fidelity I guess.
Seriously, WTF is with duvet covers? Are we not meant to have duvet and cover fit together and stay that way?!
A good friend had a crappy week last week, and I hope he's doing OK.
We have a new tree in our front yard! It's like 5 feet high, so hopefully it will do better than the little 1 foot high one that didn't survive the winter.
So much travel for work these days. Ottawa on Monday (one night), Saint John (!) on the following Monday (two nights), then Calgary the day after I get back for one night, then Vancouver the Tuesday after that for one night... eeek! Mississauga for a week in May, Edmonton for a week in June. I'm still enjoying it, mostly because I know it will all settle down soon and I'll look like a cost-centre to the company again until the fall.
Now that I'm teaching again I'm remembering the things that drove me batty about teaching... the loss of control and the disconnect from the rest of the company will be weird. I've gotten used to knowing everyone and having answers to every question, but now we've got lots of new faces around the office and I have no idea who they are.
I'm going to see Puppetry of the Penis on Saturday. I only know a tiny bit about it (the obvious bit I guess).
I'm running out of things to say, and the gas and water bills are staring at me. Make them stop staring.

Just watched The Day After Tomorrow -- cute. Insanely impossible etc etc blah blah blah, but still exciting. Popcorn.

Also, my laptop's wireless has stopped connecting to my parents' router. ARGH! I have tried just about everything possible in this two-computer household to fix it, but everything else seems to be working perfectly, just not my (work) laptop. Frustrating. Luckily work bought the super-extended coverage, so guess who's getting a desk-side visit from Dell next week?

We're visiting my parents in Wasaga Beach tonight. The air here is pretty clean, and I think it triggers our sleep muscles a bit. We always end up very tired and in bed early here -- this is the latest we've ever been up here! Of course, it might also be related to the huge amounts of food we always eat here. *shrug*

Tomorrow it's back to the big city (North America's fifth-largest, I learned yesterday!) for shopping and hanging out with Bryce and Daryl. Sunday it's brunch then a BBQ. Monday, back to the grind.

Real life is too busy.

Users.
Webs.
Servers.
Applications.
Pools?
Gardens??
*thunk*

Go miscellany!

I got on the elevator in the lobby this morning, and it was empty. I looked forward to the quick trip to the 12th floor. Until on the 3rd floor the elevator stopped and someone got on, pressing the button for 4. At the 4th floor, she got off and someone else got on, pressing the button for 5. At the 5th floor, he got off and nobody else got on. I am glad the pattern stopped.
Wells' Third Law states that on any given issue, Canadian politics will tend toward the least exciting result. However, there are occasional exceptions, such as this one. Short version: this shady character is probably about to be extradited to stand trial in Germany for something, but he paid our former Prime Minister $300k in cash for nobody's-really-sure-what, and the former PM didn't really tell anybody about it (even in his recently published memoirs) until he was kinda forced to, so now everybody's running around in circles. He was trucked in against the government's wishes (minority governments have this situation sometimes) and then said he isn't willing to talk until his appeal about extradition is dealt with. And by dealt with, I'm pretty sure he means 'made to go away now thank you.' It's vaguely circus-like.
My favourite lunch restaurant, Lettuce, was out of poppy seed dressing today. My Soho Salad tasted very weird with their recommended alternative, and I have filed it as edible, but unsatisfying.
I would like a winning lottery ticket. Not a big one -- I'm not greedy -- but a winning one. I figure it's time. This whole real world thing is no fun.

This morning I had a meeting which went so long that I missed out on the doughnuts that our office has for students*. When I got to the kitchen, there were only bagels left. They always have cream cheese, but today there was also raspberry jam**. So I had half a bagel with cream cheese and then raspberry jam on top.

It was really quite good. It's a good thing it's not often available, or I'd really be in trouble. The doughnuts alone*** are giving me pimples.

* and me
** and not the "double the berries half the sugar jam type spread" which we have at home, which is totally awesome BTW
*** my willpower may be part of the equation too, but I don't care.

I was in a movie that was filmed in Halifax, The Event, which was directed by Thom Fitzgerald of The Hanging Garden fame, and starred Don McKellar and Brent Carver. Woo! Anyway, I was just an extra, but I never saw the movie until last night. I bought a screener that was illegally on sale at the used bookstore down the street, and I actually made it into the movie! Well, the back of my head, due to the arrangement of the scene. Problem is I can't figure out how to get a proper screenshot yet, so I can't point myself out.
I'm pleased to tell you that Operation Feline Collar Force was a success after phase 2. Phase 2 involves collars that can't be unbuckled by non-opposable-thumbed species. So now our cats are a little safer when they run out into the neighbourhood against our wishes.
My company's new website has finally been launched. There was some difficulty with the firm hired to do it originally, leading to this insane "nine months after the company name change" launch timeframe. It's still buggy, so we're doing heavy beta testing internally while "soft-launching" to customers.
I'm really not ready for a Monday yet.

So there's this vendor we work with in the US who provides our classroom evaluation collection and reporting. They're in Chicago, but our main rep has an unusual manner of speaking that makes her sound like she's from Tennessee or Louisiana or the moon or something -- I can't quite place it.

Whenever she calls me, it's "Hiiii Cameron, (long pause) THIS is Ava? From CompanyName? (long pause) I just waaaaaanted to talk tooo you..." etc.

Anyway, today she sent me an email with this signoff. I again must ask, WTF?

Have a wonderful day in Canada!

...to steal a subject line from Tobin. :)

I had a meeting this morning with my boss regarding my goals for the next six months. My company is finally getting around to implementing a performance management and review structure, after years of doing just about nothing. This is quite encouraging to me, but a little scary too: it's easier to get away with shit when there's no structure like this. :)

Some of you know that I've been promoted (which is to say given far more responsibilities and no new money) a couple times recently, and I have been starting to worry that I'm getting away from the stuff I actually enjoy. Lately, my time at work has been stressful (which it always was), busy (which it always was), but also focused on areas that just weren't exciting me. I was starting to worry that I was getting stuck in a management role that didn't allow me to have fun and work with technology anymore, and I realized that I missed it already.

So I talked to him about that, and how I feel like I have about 2% of my time available for stuff that I want to spend 30% of my time on. So my role has been defined a bit more specifically to give almost 50% of my time to stuff that keeps me more amused and engaged, and 50% of my time to the major accountabilities that the company needs out of me. It's hard to explain without a huge post, but they interrelate quite a bit, so the company is still getting what they want, and I'm getting reassurance that I can spend time on the stuff I love too.

I have been toying with the idea of going back into contract teaching a lot lately. Mostly, it comes from looking at our bills, and the fact that I could charge like $600/day for teaching instead. But since my first experience as a contract trainer was not so positive, there's a lot of fear there that's holding me back. I have a huge need for caution and control too, so that comes into play. Maybe someday. I did register a company and get a GST number yesterday, so I've dipped my toe in the water. :)

I just noticed this interesting behaviour. I can't decide if it's annoying or appropriate.

When Outlook receives an email which requests a read receipt, and it's configured to ask permission first, it does not show you who the message was cc'ed to until you decide whether to confirm that you read it.

So while you ponder the question of "Send read receipt? (yes/no)" the screen displays this:

To: Cameron MacLeod

But after you click Yes or No, the screen displays this:

To: Cameron MacLeod
Cc: George, Tony, Jacques, Angela, Felipe, Stephen, Abe, Zemin, Luiz, Giorgio, Vladimir

"Sorry Scott [my boss], I can't get that report updated because Colleen [our CEO] needs me to pirate Glengarry Glen Ross off the internet."

Update: She was talking about using it to bring some humour into the office. The first clip I find on YouTube? The first comment says "Yeah, I had a sales manager who shows this for 'motivation'. He was fired pretty quickly."

Also, for those who haven't seen it, the bad word count is pretty intense.

What a fucking day. Not really, and there are children starving and homeless people and all that so I need to just STFU. But still, I need to vent.

- I forgot about returning the rental car this morning until I put on my jacket, so I was already running later than I wanted to.
- I got to the rental place and the guy had gone to drop someone else off and nobody else was working, so I had to sit and wait for 25 minutes. Good thing they give me good prices.
- My boss wants me to basically drop anything that isn't directly related to my new priorities, but this one supposedly little project keeps coming back and eating like 1-2 hours every day. I'm so sick of it, but I can't drop it and everybody else now associates me with it making it worse.
- The website of a vendor I have to work with was misbehaving all day and I managed to get basically nothing done with it.
- An employee of mine complained that he was stuck working at reception to cover for the receptionist instead of prepping on new courses he needs to learn, so I sent an email to the local managers asking if there's a way to fix this in future, and it was interpreted as a huge complaint and the result was a big guilt-filled clusterfuck.
- I have a few projects that have been stuck on the back-burner until I find more time, but now I have a meeting at 8am with my boss and I need to have some progress on them. So much for having an evening.
- I just want to go home but somebody has unlocked the new lock on our new office door during the construction, and the only keys are all at least 30-75 minutes away from the office at the moment. The door can't be locked without the key -- great design -- and I'm sitting here to protect shit for at least a little bit longer.

ARGH.

I didn't even get into the existential do I even want this job shit that's swirling in my head today. That's an entirely separate journal I think.

Turns out there was no debate -- when I ran the numbers, I qualified for the full bonus. Woo! Papa's gettin' ~~a new pair of shoes~~OUT OF DEBT SLIGHTLY SOONER.

My previous boss gave me a bonus sometimes when I did not technically deserve it, according to the document that ostensibly described my bonus requirements. I wasn't way off, I just didn't actually meet the requirement stated.

As mentioned previously, I suspect it was partly to give me an under-the-radar raise.

My new boss has asked me to evaluate myself, as I mentioned, according to those same criteria.

[Poll #914176]

[Boss' office. Day. Boss is thinking about ten things at once. Boss is examining the comp plan my previous boss created for me.]

Boss: "So what the hell is up with your comp plan?"
Cam: "Yeah, I don't remember. I think Kim wrote is as a way to give me a raise without giving me a raise."
Boss: "OK." (long pause) "Do you know what her assumptions were on this part?" (points to section B)
Cam: "I can explain the mechanics, but she did all these calculations herself."
Boss: (long pause)
Cam: (long pause)
Boss: "OK. I want you to do two things. Write me an email and tell me how much of a bonus you think you deserve, and tell me why."

[Scene.]

...ummm.... Eeep!

From The Daily WTF:

Take-Your-Child-To-Work Day never made much sense to me. Unless you're someone cool like Tony Hawk or Batman, showing kids the reality of the workplace just seems outright cruel. Cubicles, meetings, TPS reports -- I mean really, while you're at it, why not just crush all of their hopes and dreams and tell them that Santa Claus died in a mid-air collision with the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny was run over while trying to save the world's last candy factory, and that there would never be any birthday parties ever again. It's practically the same thing.

I've never thought of my job as a noble pursuit. In fact, I often get a little down because I don't believe I'm doing Good. I could be helping children in Africa, or building houses for the homeless, or even getting into civic politics and effecting change. But teaching people how to make a database? It certainly helps them, but where does the planet actually benefit?

The other night my company (well, a co-worker and I) hosted an instructor event where we brought in our favourite instructors and talked about the changes at Nexient, gave them a chance to talk to the CEO and with each other, wined and dined them, and talked about presenting what Nexient is all about in the classroom. One of the things that happened was my new boss talked a bit about how he sees the work we do, and it was the first time anyone had ever made me think about the Good that is found in what we do: "People are entrusting their careers to us." Thinking about it like that made me think just a little differently about it.

I still don't see overall Good in what we do, but the positive impact we can have on other people, not just on their activities, did make me think a bit.

I do think I'd like to find something I can do that I feel is more meaningful though. Volunteering would be a good start, but the way my work is right now I don't think I could find time -- and I think that maybe I should devote more of my time to Good than I currently do to Neutral.

Do you see Good in what you do? Do you want to see Good in what you do? Does all this talk of Good make you a little bit Pukey?

pretty random

Entries tagged with work

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Learn more about A(H1N1) and the vaccine

Fizzle.

Becoming an Astronaut

Work & Vacation trying to collide

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The Angst After Tomorrow

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Pete Form Update

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