02:03 - 30.08.07
Discovery
The Dalai Lama is coming for a visit to our city. Yay!!! Not until 2009, but at least that's something exciting to look forward to. His team approached our university to act as hosts and that is most appropriate too.
I spent today working on the training modules for the piece work job I've signed on to try. The material was interesting to me, so it was an enjoyable bit of research and planning. The pay - when the training and execution is added in together - isn't all that great, but one chooses one's own assignments and timing. That is something that I like about the work. What was synchronous was the information that came up in my e-newsletters to support that choice for me. There were several articles on where and how to research information on the internet. I have still been feeling down about that last interview, so this piece quoting Merrill Lynch and Standard and Poors really boosted my mood. If those two economic analysts state unequivocally that there is no labour shortage and that the low wages being offered by businesses is the reason that companies can't find workers, then what I've been experiencing for the past few months in my job search is not that unusual. The assessment was that many workers have given up trying to find work so don't show up in the unemployment statistics. It is very debilitating to see and experience one thing in real time only to have it insisted by a small, irresponsible segment of the media that the opposite is true. One begins to question both one's sanity as well as one's worth when that happens. That was part of the answer I received from that Maltese article I posted yesterday. One's true value has nothing to do with what one earns or owns. The bits that were missing from the essay was that there was no reference to the Dalai Lama or Aung San Suu Kyi, but I'm guessing that the author was focussing on the points he was trying to make and so narrowed down the field of spiritual leaders so as not to distract his readers.
The new router that had been promised by our internet service provider arrived around noon today, with a knock on the door. I had just stepped out of the shower, so it was a bit of a struggle to make certain I was decent before I opened that door. Didn't want to have to travel to one of the post offices to claim it otherwise, you see. The driver must be relatively used to such things since he just gazed off into the distance as I signed for the package. My youngest did the set-up when he arrived home from work grumbling a bit, but also pleased with the speed of the delivery. We also went shopping for groceries after he arrived home from work. Nothing too fancy as there is still no cash flow into my bank account. He did buy new toy mice for the cats though. They were suitably impressed.
Facebook played a role in my day today too. There seems to be an awful lot of fear from employers and schools about the type of comments made by users about them. To some degree I can understand concerns about confidentiality and harassment, but at the same time, freedom of speech is guaranteed by our Charter of Rights with the proviso that it not incite harm to others or disrupt public order. There isn't that much difference between television, books, newspapers and the internet, except the range of influence and who controls the message. At times it might give those with little temporal power a chance to provide their perspective on what is going on in their communities or in their lives without having it reframed (lied about) by those who have claimed power over them without their consent. That is a key reason the massacre at Tiananmen Square unfolded as it did. The young protesters used the internet to get their story out to the rest of the world. The governing officials had very little knowledge, and even less control, over that one advanced technology. It was the students' most effective weapon at that time. I think that companies and government entities who boast of transparent processes, but do the opposite, are the only ones really threatened by the advent of social networking on-line. Networking has always been part of society by its' very nature and isn't going to go away anytime soon, I don't think. Anyway, one niece and one nephew did sign in on my account. Called one sister as a result, to encourage her to join up. Talked to the niece in question first. Social networking can be a postive thing for parenting, as well as for stimulating vigorous public dialogue about issues arising. Some of my sons have already joined social action groups. That is a good thing after all. Turned out my number three son was arriving at their door, as my sister took the phone from her daughter. He had arranged to take my niece and her buddies to a movie through said Facebook. It was an odd synchronicity that everyone ended up in a single conversation as a result, isn't it?
My sister and I continued on setting tentative times for a number of activities together. Her hubby injured his back a few weeks ago, so I offered to share my walking stick with him. I used to use it when I hiked in the mountains a lot, when I was still an at-home-mom. It was more of a rudimentary weapon of self-defense from lions and bears back then. The way things are going locally now though it might be needed for walking within city limits. Three different bears in the past week roaming our streets along with a cougar trying to break down someone's balcony doors to get at them, stalking - pacing in front of same, when the first assault didn't work. That is unusual and scary too. Wild animal aggression isn't that common here. The problem seems to be a lack of food to prepare for winter hibernation/survival. Either that or those animals may be sensing a much longer time between growing seasons because of an extended frigid winter or a long, rainy spring. Don't know.
Anyway I need to go check the perimeter of my home. No bears or cougars, but someone has smoked two very stinky, acrid cigarettes of some description very close to the window that is in this room. There was an altercation out in the back alley about an hour ago, so maybe one of the male neighbours is still watching in case those vandals - they were throwing rocks at something - return. Too much anger in the atmosphere these days. Good night dear diary.
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