9:35 p.m. - 2004-02-27
Social Studies
I was just stepping into the shower this morning when the power went out - AGAIN. What's up with that? The bathroom is on the inside wall of the house, so there is no natural light. I thought about it for a moment and decided to go ahead with it anyway. Truth is it was still before sunrise so even if there had been a window it wouldn't have mattered. The worst of the power outage was that the coffee was only partly warmed. I guess tepid coffee isn't a major tragedy eh? The cause of the problem? Ice fog messing up the power lines all over the region. Air quality problems again - breathing was difficult.
I ran completely out of copy paper yesterday. I need to get my maps printed now since the balance of my work hangs on them. The reason I decided to proceed with my scheduled shower was that with my deadlines so tight, I thought I would try using an online order and delivery service for the office supplies and equipment that might be necessary over the length of the event. I thought it might save my staff considerable time, since they wouldn't be having to go on supply runs - more time for core responsibilities instead. In addition, the tracking of inventory would be more efficient and reconciliation of accounts would be easier without a myriad of little paper receipts to keep track of - some of which are always illegible or incomplete with respect to all the information Elections Canada requires. It was my intent to give all my business for the two months of the election to this large national company if this first order was satisfactory. Ordering through the online portal yesterday was impossible to use due, I was told, to it's newness and high user volumes, so I called the 1-800 number instead. I ordered copier paper and was assured it would be delivered to my home today between 8 am and 5 pm. I found the order person a little difficult to deal with, since she didn't seem to feel my order was important as it was being delivered to a home address. However I decided maybe she was having a bad day and chose to follow through on the order process anyway. At 5:45 pm today the order had still not arrived so I called the service line. I was told it would not now be possible to ship that material until Monday. The company's failure to deliver on an agreed schedule cost me one day's work. I cancelled the order and requested immediate cancellation of the charge on the government's credit card. Bebother and confusticate it all.
I did get a lot of sorting and cleaning done while I was waiting. Read the paper and was shocked to see one of the fellows I had volunteered with for years had died. Rattled me a great deal. That sort of set the tone for the rest of the day, not feeling great anyway with the air problems and the emotional hit about the death. When I feel like that I just keep as busy as I can doing mundane tasks. Ones that keep the hands busy ut free the mind up to do it's thinking.
I also registered for an online grocery delivery service last night. I don't really like the idea,but during an election, I basically live at the office and shopping is one of the most difficult activities to schedule. The boys are older now of course and could be given the money for supplies, but it always seems to cost a lot more and some of the basics always seem to get lost in the shuffle, so this is sort of a backup plan for me. What makes me leery of it is that one of the most important things about shopping for food is to see, touch and smell it to check for freshness and quality. I'm not certain I want to turn that vital function over to a person I'll never meet. Also the selection isn't all that great and the prices, especially for meat and produce are quite a bit higher I think.
The final issue that concerns me is that the local grocery store is one of the last places where everyone in the community congregates as peers/equals. It is the only place where all neighbours really gather anymore in a relaxed, non-structured atmosphere and interact socially. The loss of such activities is why our society is becoming less cohesive and more selfish. I'm afraid of what is going to happen if our geographic communities become increasingly sterile socially, especially where children are concerned. No sense of rootedness or responsibility for and to their neighbours is a major factor in asocial or anti-social behaviour. The self discipline and community values in their structured activities like school and sports aren't being reinforced or integrated into everyday life because the opportunities are so few now. Hmmm.
�
�
