11:36 p.m. - 2003-11-11
Work Fair
I got a call from my supervisor this morning. He had a meeting scheduled with the liaison for the company I would be going back to work in this afternoon and wanted to let me know so I could schedule my time around their negotiations. There was a distinct sound to his voice that is common to people when there is something really dragging them down. A sound of fatigue that isn't physical. I asked him what was up and he responded that there was just a lot of work to do and some changes at the data management company that were disturbing. He said he'd call me back after the meeting to let me know more about what was said and also to fill me in about the changes in the data management firm - something to do with wages, not positive from the sound of it. I let him know tha I had scheduled a meeting with the Provincial Returning Officer who had contacted me last week and that I would be out for the afternoon. I'm not certain how to feel about the negotiations going on now for this contract. A year ago this was what this woman did, Tactics, using both my co-worker and I as pawns and causing us significant harm. Do I really have any trust in her intentions this time?
I read my comments in my diary from the preceeding months and remembered what else was happening. In one way I'd like to see the results of the work we did last year. There were some very serious environmental and regulatory issues that we had documented and this work appears to be with the data that would demonstrate the action taken. That's a part of the work I do that I rarely get to see - the clean up and I'd like to believe that all that stress was worthwhile - that it resulted in better health and safety conditions for people living and working around the properties involved.
I left for my meeting shortly after talking with my supervisor. I had decided to walk because the Provincial Returning Officer lives just one community north of me. I figured I could get about an hour of exercise in walking through the snowdrifts and get a look at some new development/construction occurring between our homes. I got out my map and calculated the shortest distance across a school field and down a couple of lanes. Decided it should take me about 20 minutes. Wrong. I hadn't realized how much ice had been formed before our first big snow storm last week. There had been a heavy rain the night before brought in on a west wind from the Pacific. Then the Jet Stream slumped south of us and everything on the ground froze solid while the precipitation still in the air turned to snow. That ice factor added about double the time to the journey since I had to be very careful how I stepped. In cases like this it's what you can't see that is the danger. The best strategy is to stay off the sidewalks - they're absolutely treacherous in such conditions - and work across unbroken snow in the fields or through the drifted snowbanks lining the street. Less danger of unexpected encounters with black or sheet ice. Last thing I need is to re-injure my hip. When one chooses that option, though, the tradeoff is that it is just like wading out into the ocean when the tide is coming in and the water is rough. Great exercise but balance is tricky and timing is slow.
Finally arrived at her home and had a very pleasant three hours with her and her husband. They're both retired - he ex military and she ex Federal government employee. A lot of common experiences as volunteers too. As it turned out she knew a lot of people I really learned to respect and admire while I was able to work as a volunteer - they were her co-workers. Made our conversation very easy. Her task right now is to redraw her maps and polls because the Provincial riding boundaries have been changed too. I looked at her work - and new as she is it's obvious she'll mangage just fine. She asked a lot about the logistics of setting up for and administering an actual event so we went throught the basics on that. She asked if she and her husband could spend time in my office working/observing since my event will likely occur before hers. I'm comfortable with that. Someone new observing from a different perspective is great way for me to get feedback about what could be done better or more efficiently. Nice couple and a good day all told.
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