9:42 p.m. - 2003-10-31
Birthdays
Well, number five son is curled up in my bed at this moment and I'm hoping he'll stay there. He's been sick and hasn't been looking after himself properly between work and girlfriends. When he arrived to visit this afternoon, it was apparent to my youngest and I but I think there comes a point when you've been fighting something for a while, that you don't realize what a hold it has gotten on you. I've had pneumonia a few times - picked up from patients I worked with in the hospital and I'm guilty myself of that. Anyway, we got him comfortable enough so that he could breathe fully and got the fever down to a reasonable level, so maybe a good night's sleep will be enough. If not, then I'll call his Dad - where he's living right now - and see if he'll make certain he sees a doctor.
It was -17 C/ 0 F today, but no wind, so it felt quite balmy after the past couple of days. My youngest and I went on a shopping expedition to celebrate. Walking through the snow was a bit of a challenge for me. The drifts went up to the bottom of my son's calfs, but it was knee high where I was concerned - good exercise, right? Anyway, he still has quite a lot of birthday money left from last year and all the sales right now are too much for him to ignore. In addition, it was my grandson's fourth birthday yesterday - party is on hold until number three son comes home from Vancouver by order of the birthday boy - so we had to be certain we found something he would enjoy too. My youngest is a good shopper. He did all the price comparisons before we left home using the flyers and he knows the stores and their stocking practices as well. We ended up "saving" a considerable sum of money as a result, while still getting what we'd set out to find. I picked up a few good ideas too while window shopping. Now if only I can find a full time contract we'd be set.
Problem is our Prime Minister is playing a bit of a fan dance with the press so that it sounds, by their reporting, as though an election call is imminent. It isn't likely though because a minimum campaign of 36 days is required by the legislation. The leadership vote for the party in power and therefore, the new Prime Minister isn't until November 15. That would mean the date for an election, if called right after the leadership race would have voting day of December 22. It isn't likely. Nor is it likely to be called in December because most people will be focussed on the Christmas madness that takes over then. Potential employers aren't much different from other Canadians - they aren't going to know the nuances of the legislation or the political niceties so they will see what the press says as gospel. Unless something goes very wry, the new leader will wait until the new electoral boundaries are declared law. That can't happen until late March at the earliest.
Odd though, I was watching the late news last night and all of a sudden there is the Chief Electoral Officer for Canada - the head of Elections Canada - talking to the press in Calgary at a forum he had set up for young voters in Calgary. Yet none of the Returning Officers for the city were told about it. I checked my e-mail this morning just to see if I'd missed something there but there was nothing sent out that way either, although we are ususally told about all the CEO's public forays. There was one "private caller" on my call display yesterday, that I had not been available to pick up, but no message was left either. Too bad. I would have liked to pass on the suggestions of the young lady I worked with a couple of contracts ago and I would have liked to hear what the attendees at the forum had to say too. I make a point of hiring as many young adults as I can to work both in my office and in the polling stations on election day. We call the principals of the local high schools for recommendations of students and parent volunteers who would be good workers and we post notices at the schools as well trying to recruit them. At least we know their friends will show up at the polling stations to vote because it is the only way one can enter while voting is occurring. It's also a way to build a workforce that can succeed in taking over our jobs when we're ready to move on to other things. I would have liked to hear what other strategies might draw the young adults in from the source. Oh well.
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