3:04 a.m. - 2002-12-03
Homework
I finished my assignment for Elections Canada. One new polling division, one new mobile poll, and probably 20 new streets to add in about ten polling divisions. Doesn't sound like much until one thinks of all the people in each house, times the number of homes, times the number of streets. In some cases the streets are all multi-family units. The numbers can add up quickly.
It was snowing when I walked over to the post office to mail the maps and all the supporting documents (government work - remember?). Very pretty, but the wind was cold. I had several layers on though, so it didn't quite cut through to the bone.
Picked up some security stuff from Elections Canada while I was at the post office too. One doesn't see guns very often on the streets in Canada - only police usually. It is even rarer inside a building, but when we go to Ottawa we see machine guns in some of the sites we go to - no messing around. It sounds trite, but an election is the foundation of democracy - one person, one vote - and it matters that it is as clean and transparent a process as possible. Ask any immigrant what happens when threats and intimidation are allowed to occur at a polling station or during a campaign. There's a reason new Canadians, and probably new Americans, are the most likely to turn up to ballot - they know what it is like to live in a country where you can't participate in your own governance. It is why they come here.
When I got home I e-mailed the file I had created for this assignment to Stephane, so he could get a jump on some of the data entry and revisions necessary. Too bad we can't download the city's maps from their site and annotate them on-line. I've asked for the capacity to do that, or to generate our own maps, but no go so far. I've done a little mapping in some of my contracts and would love to apply that skill here. Learning the make-up of my Electoral District street by street is critical to the rest of my work. Not to complain though, I really enjoy the drawing, colour coding, cutting and pasting that goes into the paper map preparation - it's tangible, it requires creativity, and it is the basis on which everything else is decided/planned. An added bonus is working at home. That means I can work in my shift or t-shirt and shorts, no commuting, and I choose which hours of the day I labour.
Ms. Lollipop has decided our home is her domain now. She has established a few "hiding places" already, seems to understand that the fridge is where carrots and other juicy treats come from - she's at the door if anyone opens it, and feels any one on her floor is fair game. I laid down on the living room floor at one point and she crawled over me, then started nibbling on my fingers and toes. I thought rabbits were herbivores.
Alliance Atlantis has a website for their films. They are promoting the launch of the second of the Lord of the Rings movies "The Two Towers", with a contest and a trivia game. It was actually very well done and it is challenging. I played longer than I should tonight but it's a free reward for getting my homework done - ok?
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