22:07 - 13.07.05
Lightning
A phone call and two emails from Elections Canada last night meant I needed to follow up with them first thing this morning. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Madam the work you submitted in March - there is now only the name of the city and the polling divisions on each line - we have lost the street names." I thought my hearing had gone wonky. When I called upon arriving at my assignment here I asked if what was wanted was postal codes and the range of addresses for each of the 63 new streets. No, they really had "misplaced" the street names themselves. I'm not certain how one can lose one complete column - the only important one at that - and not call for three or four months about it, but whatever. I had checked last night to make certain I hadn't messed up by sending the wrong spreadsheet, but it was intact in my sent folder. The call reminded me I hadn't invoiced for that work yet so I guess I'd better get busy - the extra cash will help with some of the weird stuff occurring here. Then there was the email about the number two person in the organization moving on and the story in the national news about concerns of terrorist attacks being expected during the next election. Great more crazies to deal with, as if the fraudsters from the municipal election weren't enough.
Work was steady. Around noon an extended discussion with my supervisor about the budgetting process that generated those questions from the Texans on Tuesday. Having just gone through some of that discussion with the very nice guy I spoke with from Elections Canada this morning about similar issues, I sat and compared notes with her. I don't think she had realized - even having gone through my resume - that managing and accounting for a fairly large chunk of taxpayer dollars is part of my responsibilities too. When I had talked with the loud supervisor yesterday her comment to me was that the Texans had no business asking me questions beyond my experience or knowledge and that I wouldn't understand what they wanted or the business case process anyway. Yes well.
The other odd reaction was over the denim shirt I wore today. The one I won as a door prize when the one placement agency sent me to the workshop on network security at one of the local IT colleges about a year ago. It has the college logo over the chest pocket. You see the other comments that have been made are that I don't understand a lot about technology. In truth I don't understand nearly as much as I would like, but my abilities are on par with the loud supervisor's at the very least. I don't flaunt my skills or experience at work nor do I feel any need to compete with other staff. Normally I don't bother responding to put downs or digs. Not worth my time. I think the shirt conveyed a message I hadn't intended. I only grabbed it to wear this morning because it was clean, relatively unwrinkled and fit the Stampede theme of Western wear. Within half an hour of arriving thugh two staff had come by and were obviously staring at that littl bit of stitching just to be sure what it said. Whatever.
Noon hour yoga class was a welcome diversion today as a result. Leave the silliness and just go relax. The class was very small today as most of the group are from one department and it was their play day at the Stampede. The quiet slow pace allowed me to move deep in to a meditation from which I hcould hear and see what was being taught with perfect clarity - even with my eyes closed most of the session. Ahhhhhh. I will be very happy to see my chiropractor tomorrow though. Uh huh. The afternoon went quickly. Looked outside about 3 pm and realized we were in for a major thunder and lightning show. Yes! Given the muggy heat of the past week O can't think of anything I'd enjoy more.. Not only that it is a guarantee of the house being cooled down so sleeping is easier too. Looked more closely at those clouds about half an hour later and decided that although the storm was a blessing, maybe trying to travel home in it wasn't. I've been arriving a lot earlier at work since I've started taking transit everyday but have usually stayed to the same time each evening. Decided to break that pattern and see if I could outrun the storm on the train. Didn't, but I was just boarding it when the heavens burst so I could enjoy the drama all the way home without getting too wet. When I switched from train to bus that was bad. It was so cold I was shivering. Now I don't shiver much before -30C because I know how to dress for it. However, the difference in the temperature before and after, a good strong wind and rain suspiciously the consistency of sleet and hinting of hail had me trembling for a bit. Lucky the bus arrived within a few minutes of arriving at the station. By the time we arrived in my community the whole weather pattern had shifted again. Clean rain washed air but with that feel of a warm summer's night. Just right. Time for bed now though. Given the bolts out of the blue from all over the past couple of weeks I don't think I'm going to get too cocky and I do think anything I can do to keep up my strength and to keep my head together might be rather important - don't you?
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