12:01 a.m. - 2004-04-02
Fools
April Fools Day - yes indeed. Well some of the "jokes" were entertaining, some weren't. First call this morning was from my supervisor - that was a good surprise. He was a in a good frame of mind and was quite informative about the possible new contract. He requested a rewrite of my resume to highlight those aspects of my skill sets that are relevant, since this work is parallel to, but not quite the same, as the industry I usually work in. Could he have that this afternoon so that he can provide it to the client tomorrow. No problem. I had a meeting for some election work scheduled, but not until mid-afternoon. Lots of time.
Then the telephone rang. First up one Returning Officer who was quite angry. She vented I listened, while I edited away. Put the telephone down and it rang again. Another Returning Officer telling me about some supplies we had discussed picking up for our revision/registration teams to make their work a lot easier. Bit of a glitch now that everything is on CDs, in that the information "self-destructs" after a given period of time. If we buy it too soon we may not have it for the entire event. What is this "Mission Impossible"? She had been called by Ottawa that morning telling her some of the data she sent for the last assignment was incomplete. I walked her through the software features, still editing away.
While discussing that she noted she had just received our next assignment from Ottawa - what did I think of it? What assignment? Checked my mailbox and sure enough - another entire binder of instructions. First April Fool joke was the timeline for completion - no later than April fourth, oh yeah, that is this year right? Two point five days of prep time. Uh huh. Next April Fool joke? I opened that binder to assess the damage, most of the tabs had sheets of paper inserted stating "material to come later". Ok fine. After getting finished with the Returning Officer and her software I was back on the phone once more calling Ottawa. Where is the data? Oh it's just being packaged up now and should be in the mail this afternoon. Well lets see - the average delivery time is about oh, two point five days but tomorrow is the last work day this week. How much do we want to wager that that material doesn't arrive until Monday - April the fifth. So if we receive this after the deadline could someone explain how we are supposed meet those "non-negotiable" timelines? "Do the best we can". Fine.
Finished re-writing my resume and e-mailed it to my supervisor. Now I remember why I like working with him so much. He's sane. He protects me from employers who like Elections Canada who are rife in the industry I work in - maybe they're competing with the government to see who can be the most irrational. Not only that he's usually pretty approachable too - I don't have to beg to be heard or to be paid. That's his job. I'll have to remember to say extra prayers of thanks for that I think.
Went to my meeting after lunch. I had booked some time with a representative of my own bank. The reason being is that we MUST set up a chequing account for Elections Canada for the duration of an election. Last time we were hassled about every detail fo the transaction and it took several days to iron things out. EC won't forward our cheques to us until the election is called but I thought I'd go and introduce myself beforehand and try to get some of the prep work out of the way now when I have more time and less pressures to deal with. Took the old bank book and some identification to prove who I was. As I've noted I've had an account with this particular bank for about 20 years as well as having used their services for two prior elections. It's not as though they can't check the history of our relationship. Did it make any difference? Nope - same old run around. How do we know you are who you say you are. How do we know that the cheque you deposit is good? Well if a cheque from the Receiver General of Canada bounces, then the whole country is bankrupt and everything else becomes a moot point doesn't it. I still left there feeling as though they thought I was a criminal. One shouldn't have to beg to use a bank for the purpose for which it is incorporated. Oh well.
Came home and worked on a number of elections tasks and read my e-mail. There was a judgement handed down by our courts about downloading music from the internet. The judge denied the application of the recording industry to find and prosecute downloaders. He deemed that it was the same as photocopying material from a book in a library. It has always puzzled me too that producers of television programs have never objected to their viewers recording their favorite shows so that they can watch them when they have time. I'm not certian I understand what the difference could be. P2Ps. There were two very disturbing stories that illustrate the how deeply embedded organized crime has become in certain areas of Canadian society. Because Indian reserves are tax and duty free, a number of gangs use them as staging areas for smuggling and concealment of their activities. Mohawks and from the proceeds of their crimes those same gangs have infiltrated key industries so that they can launder their money where there is less scrutiny from the legislation that is meant to stop those activities. Moneylaundering. Three more books written about social issues in Canada were mentioned in this story about the awards they received, that is when I get paid of course Fact. Maybe I should just apply for a job at my favorite bookstore - or invest in shares or something.
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