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02:12 - 06.01.07
loose ends
Wednesday morning the phone rang at about 7:45 in the am. I wasn't expecting a call then and my youngest had taken the day off. Finally picked up the voicemail about 20 minutes later. It was the appliance company. "We've just loaded your new fridge on our truck and we'll be at your home within the hour". Oh my. The appliance place had written on my invoice that I would be given a call at least an hour ahead of time. They had also not started deliveries before 10 in the am on previous days. Decided to make the best of it and hauled my youngest out of bed. Together we hustled to get all the food out of the old fridge and to prepare the space for the new one. That meant removing the old subfloor as well, since it is part of the area that is to be tiled once all the old cupboards and fittings are finally removed from the kitchen. By the time the delivery truck arrived we had everything done, but both of us were also struggling with major asthma attacks. The subfloor is 29 years old and crumbled in our hands. It needed to go for certain. Bleagh.

The two young guys who came to do the delivery were very nice and professional in demeanor. They were also in a big hurry. The lead muscleman stated that they had 18 deliveries to complete that day. They hadn't been told to take the old fridge away, which was fine, but they also weren't willing, at first, to take it downstairs which is what I understood would happen. A lot of begging added in to the fact that it was obvious from our wheezing that neither my youngest nor I would be able to do it persuaded those young guys, along with an extra $50 cash, to get it to the basement before they left. By about 9:30 in the am the two of us had managed to install the inside of the fridge compartments using the manual and also replaced all the food we had pulled out of the other beastie. Not bad altogether. My youngest went back to bed, while I tried to clean up the residual mess. The change was immediate in that the noise of a freight train was gone, the new fridge is certified energy efficient reducing electricity use and the colour of the new appliance works much better with what is left of the furnishings in the upstairs. By noon I had crawled back into bed after reporting the delivery to number two son. He hadn't booked his dentist visit yet, so no time was set for going over to look after my grand-daughter. It turned out he couldn't get a booking this week so that's still up in the air. In the afternoon I felt a really strong need to get out of the house for a while. I talked my youngest into accompanying me since it seemed that both of us needed fresh air. Maybe it was the dust still in the air from the delivery activities. We headed for the post office, where I sent off a resume and we left our heavy duty "freezing in a minute" overcoats at the dry cleaners located in the same place. Intuition was the reason for that I think. Next up we stopped at the Tim Hortons two communities away for a very late lunch then headed for the big box store to see if there were any bargains left. Just a few children's videos for the Easter baskets of the grandbabies, but that was good enough. Arrived back home two hours after we started admiring the full "wolf moon" as we walked. That night I had a dream about a dragon eating the moon. Hmmm.

Thursday I was on the phone or email most of the time. Still searching those old election emails for answers to no avail. Cleaning up a bit more for breaks in the action. Most of the phone calls over the past week were like hugs and greatly appreciated. I didn't realize that so many people cared about my well being. The one Returning Officer, whose district was posted, said he wouldn't be reapplying and it was evident that he was deeply hurt by the way we had been treated. He has always been the type of person who, when treated poorly, will work very hard to do a kind act for the person who hurt him. His comment is that they need it because their aggression stems from their own pain. In this case he wrote letters to the people who had made the decision to post his riding, telling them the things he admired about the work they had done during their tenure. I truly admire his compassion and wish I had the inner strength to do the same but I'm not there yet. The best I have managed is to try and not say anything negative about them as persons and to avoid any futher contact. Even that is a struggle some days.

Today was odd in that it all seemed to be about Elections Canada. I received word from my Automation Co-ordinator that he has still not been paid for the training session he attended in Ottawa at the end of September. I sent his claim forms in with mine and my ARO's for our geography work together. I received acknowledgement of receipt from Ottawa for the arrival of that package of material on October 24, 2006. I was paid for that invoice on December 22, 2006. The person who is responsible for those payments is the same one who also hadn't yet paid those two suppliers for their services a year ago January. Sent her another email asking what was up with that. I also had an interesting call from Ottawa today. The person who left the voicemail sounded quite panicked, although usually they are calm, cool and collected, regardless of the problems they are troubleshooting. I called back as soon as I got the message and spoke with two of the staff there. The one person said that everyone at headquarters was really stressed, but wouldn't elaborate. The other person, after asking me some technical details about some work I had done in the fall, stated that there was a reorganization going on at headquarters and several departments were being amalgamated including theirs. They had that kicked in the gut sound that made me wonder if they were being let go. The odd thing is if there is no head of Elections Canada - one of the pieces of information offered in one of the conversations earlier, that the CEO had been dismissed as a result of his posting of over one third of all the ridings for bids - then who is doing the purge? It would seem that either the information offered about the CEO's dismissal was incorrect, although the source who offered the information is usually impeccable, or the person left in charge is still answering to the person who was dismissed. It is one of the reasons I have refrained from writing the past few days. Rumour and conjecture are very bad habits and I am trying to be more like the one Returning Officer who can act from a place of compassion - even when he is deeply wounded himself. I think I'm more concerned about him than any one else in this current soap opera.

Anyway my youngest is hungry - finally, he hasn't eaten anything for days - so I think I'd better go and keep him happy. Good night dear diary.

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