22:55 - 02.12.05
stationary direct
Well, the furnace worked last night and still seems to be ok. That is a good thing. The radio announcer stated that with the wind chill factor, it felt like -28C/-14F this morning. The roads were terrible. We took the back roads trying to avoid the worst of the construction area, because a major accident was also tying up more traffic there. I packed my broken printer/fax in the car with us, because I had agreed to meet the repairman at the office. I can't be in two places at once and now that the furnace is operating the election work takes that spot in my priorities.
Arrived at the office. We found the building manager at our door not long after. We spent over an hour with him going over all those picky details that make the diffeence between a good tenant/landlord relationship and a bad one. My assistant asked why it was so much more complicated this time. The difference is that this is the first time we have not been in a self contained site and we are also on the second floor of the building. The impact of our activities on our neighbours is going to be substantial. Discussions centered around garbage and recycling procedures, parking, access to the building in non-standard hours since it is a secured building, signage, emergency evacuation procedures, security issues and the need to do a thorough cleaning of the rugs and walls before we move staff in. I explained about my assistant and I both having breathing problems. The last request was the only one where I wasn't satisfied with the answer.
Next call was not a good one. The furniture supply place was not going to be able to provide our furniture until midweek next week. Now, I had just gotten off the phone with the computer specialist who is very determined to get us up and running this weekend. I want to be up and running too, since we have to start voter registration on Monday. Tough to do when all our data is loaded inside those little microchips. The best I could negotiate was that I would hire a truck and send the necessary porters if we could have it sooner. Still a no go until Monday, but that is better than nothing. As it stands, unless I get a flat no I am going to have to have the computers set up and left waiting on the floor if I want to have half a chance of meting my deadlines. We did attach the official Notice of Election to the wall when we first arrived, so the first statutory deadline has been met. More calls coming through from people who have received my number from that one politician. I can't take my frustration out with the callers, because it isn't their fault, but I am really getting tired of the lack of courtesy shown by that one candidate's staff. Got a couple of calls from one of the other candidates. He was a pleasure to deal with. He was just wanting to verify that what he had been told and what he was preparing for me was exactly the way I needed it. Tough to know for certain until he arrives with his paperwork, but he really sounded as though,he was on the ball.
Our finance officer arrived to check out the place and pick up her manuals at lunch. Our trainer arrived just after she left. Both are quite energized. That is good, because I have hit my first wall with respect to energy. Too many things going awry this first few days both at home and work. The neighbours were at it again this morning complaining because the old fence sections are piled in a corner of our yard. Their complaints about the unsighlty garbage bin one week before the fence was put up is why that wood wasn't immeidately hauled away to start with. So lets see. Unless one climbs that 6'5" fence one can't see anything. Still they had complained to the city that it was an eyesore. Those two men need to quit drinking and get jobs, I think. Don't think I'll be offering them employment though. I want people who focus on their own tasks and stay out of their co-workers business. Neither of them fits that profile do they? My second son was really annoyed with the two of them and said he felt what they were doing was harassment. I tend to agree. Don't know what I'm going to do about it though.
The afternoon was just very long, as we sat waiting for other partners in the election effort to follow through on their tasks, so we could proceed with the rest of ours. Midday one of the Elections Canada staff for communications called. Could I give him our new telephone and fax numbers? Well no, we have no service or even the hardware with us right now. To say that he was upset was an understatement. I explained about the call I had made to his team on Wednesday and that just upset him more. He made several other calls to me and in between, to the people responsible for the next few steps and assured me that by tomorrow we would at least be able to do that part of our job - receive enquiries from the public. I don't plan to hold my breath. Communication is ruled by Mr Mercury astrologically, and he's still in backward mode. Granted he stations and move direct sometime tomorrow, but I would guess that until the dear fellow is back in happy Mr Sagittarius that we still are going to have glitches. While I was discussing communication issues with the Ottawa team the local computer tech was calling every hour or so to tell us it would be very shortly that he would arrive to fix my printer/fax. He finally showed up around 3:30 pm and within five minutes declared the poor beast beyond redemption. He would have to have another unit flown in from Toronto. Uh huh. It will be delivered to me tomorrow. Double uh huh. We'll see.
Arrived home to await the arrival of one of my staff to pick up her manuals and for the grocery delivey driver so we could feed the cats. The staffer is one of my favorite people and I was very glad that she agreed to take on the job. One less stressor, if I know she's got my back. She and her hubby were off to their church Christmas dinner and she looked very festive. My assistant has a couple of events to attend too and she had asked if we could decorate our office the way the other tenants were. I think the answer will be no, but I will ask anyway. When the one election ran over Remembrance Day, I was reprimanded for having poppies available in the office for people to wear. "You are not allowed to show any political bias." Well personally, as a pacifist, I do not support choosing war. However I do support peace keeping or making missions and I am proud of my grandparents and great grand parents who followed their consciences even though we hold very different views that way. Or did we - they saw what they did as peace making in a round-about sense, I guess. Isn't that what democracy is all about anyway? The right to freely challenge and debate choices in the direction society grows or how it operates. "They also serve who stand and wait." Matthew 10:41-42.
Anyway some of the other tenants were obviously competing to be the most festive with delightful results. As we walked down the hall on the first floor, Christmas music sacred and secular pealed out as well. "Baby It's Cold Outside". Seemed to be the original Johnny Mercer version of Frank Loesser's score. I spent some time researching that on the web tonight for comic relief and was surprised by what I found. Came from the 1949 movie Neptune's Daughter with Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban - yum - starring - and singing that song. There is an echo in the plot and the secondary hero was played by Red Skelton. Now I recall Mr. Skelton with great affection as the clown on many of our televison nights when I was small. But a romantic lead? Anyway, after going through what seems like a hundred election related email, answering phones, calling staff and preparing materials I think I need to sleep so I can get through the work day tomorrow. Oh yes remember, dear diary, we have no days off now until the end of January. Merry Christmas to you too.
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