Three Days and Three Nights

(written on February 17, 2006)

That’s how long I’ll be home for during this so-called Reading Week. Sucks to be in CO-OP and not having a break, unless you ask for days off, which means no income. So I asked for one day off – Monday. I guess I could sacrifice some money for some TLC.

Anyway, I’m currently writing this on the train, but not in Blogger. I couldn’t access the wireless, so I decided to write this up first in MS Word and then paste it later to Blogger.

This past week at work has been quite good (for a change). Definitely one of my more productive weeks. I’m not saying that I haven’t been working my butt off for the past four weeks, but this past week, I’ve just been getting a lot done and asking for more work done. I even decided to start a mini-project by making operating instructions on one of the databases we have to use. The old instructions were so confusing to read and to learn from that I almost wanted to burn them. My bosses also held a mini-meeting with me and asked me how I was doing, so I said that I would welcome more work and more challenges. And so they agreed – agreed that I’m progressing at a fast pace and that I could learn more. So in the coming weeks, (hopefully) I’ll be learning how to do the DND 663s, which are accident reports and doing safety inspections at Pearkes. That should be quite interesting. Furthermore, I told them how much I enjoyed staying at the display booth our office had set up on Monday for Employee Assistance Programs Day. Not only did I get freebies from the other booths, but I also relished the opportunity to tell other employees what GSO does and what the different programs we offer. It was kind of like a mini-test – to see what I have learned so far and what the office does. That was one of the goals I had in mind when I came into work – to learn what the heck CFSU Ottawa General Safety Office does on a daily basis.

(Pulling out of Kingston Station – I hope this train arrives on time)

Today at work, it was a pretty interesting day. The morning started off on a bad note for Stan and Joanne, my bosses. They got in trouble from the Official Languages Department at DND for not translating some documents that went out to some people (although it wasn’t their fault, in whole, because they send the same e-mails out every year and they haven’t received any complaints). Felt bad for them. I feel like offering up my services. I mean, I don’t think I can translate an entire document into perfect French, but I could possibly do some translation. It takes about 2 weeks for documents to be translated at DND – a long wait for our office, since everything must be done quite fast. Maybe I will speak up (I’d rather do more work than to be bored – the office is short staffed as it is, so any time that I can help, I will).

(VIA is crap – the train manager just said we’re travelling 15 minutes late. For the numerous times that I’ve been on VIA, only once have I ever had a train arrive on time. Surely, they depart right on time, but can never arrive on time. GRRRR….)

I only took a half an hour lunch instead of my normal hour, because I wanted to leave at 3:30pm in order to catch the train. I brought my lunch (homemade chicken salad with tomatoes and onions) and proceeded to sit that the IRC Relocation Services waiting area to eat because they had a TV and the Olympics were on. I wasn’t too sure if I was able to sit there and eat, but I asked the receptionist if I could, and she said it’s alright! Wooot! Anyway, I watched the Sweden-US women’s hockey game. Quite interesting I must say. The US didn’t play too well but I think it was because Sweden was shutting them down in the neutral zone and making some good defensive plays. Too bad I had to return to work and missed the sudden death overtime and shootout. But I heard and later confirmed (from the CFSU(O) Operations Branch office) that Sweden won in the shootout! HAHAHA…US LOST! Canada will win another gold in Women’s hockey (they were winning 3-0 against Finland when I left the apt). Looks like the US-Canada dominance will now have to include Sweden. I think the Swedish and Finnish women’s hockey have been developing over the years into real contenders. I remember quite a few years ago that Canada and the US would beat them handily and overpower them. But now, Sweden and Finland are keeping the power teams at bay and holding them to close scores. Good signs for women’s hockey in the future.

Anyhow, my afternoon consisted of making photocopies and printing off PowerPoint slides for the Safety Compliance Course to be held on Tuesday. I kept messing up the printing jobs and had to redo them over and over again. To make matters worse, the printer located in my office is screwing up (prints black horizontal lines across everything we print) so I had to print at our alternative printer, which is located several feet away, which means I have to get up and run to the other side and run back. What a workout! LOL.

Anyway, at around 2:30, Stan received an e-mail from Capt. Toms to inform employees of “minimize manning”(?). It means that whenever the weather’s bad (such as today’s blistering cold in Ottawa – although I didn’t really find it THAT cold), employees can leave work early. WooT! And I get paid for that too! Wow, another government perk, I think.

On a hockey related note, I found out that for DND Night for the Ottawa Senators vs. Washington Capitals (The Battle of the Capitals), I will have to pay for the tickets. And they’re crappy seats too (300 level) and the discounts isn’t that great either. So it looks like I won’t be going then. The DND did get over 1,110 free tickets, but those went to the soldiers and personnel that served in, and have returned from, Afghanistan. I guess they deserve it. I mean, they did do an amazing job and made Canada really proud, even though we had several accidents and deaths. So I don’t feel bad anymore. At least the free tickets went to deserving people. So Leon, Mil, Anna, and Joyce – I won’t be going to the game then. DARN.

This post is 2 and a quarter pages long on MS Word. And typing on the train is giving me a headache.