Reasons why I love my new iPhone

1. I no longer have to experience youth with whom I work laughing when I pull out my ancient flip phone,
2. I've discovered that I can connect to the web portal for my work's e-mail (new and old work site) from my iPhone, making it as useful as any senior manger's Blackberry, and
3. My sweetie and I can text each other to our hearts' content. Don't laugh, this firmly propels the technological age of our relationship into the late 1990s.

Excuse the last post...

Now, as I was saying, before my iPhone figured out that it didn't want to finish composing the below post, I have what I've been hoping for. On September 8th, I have a new job. After 15 years with the same department, I'm off to graze in a different pasture for a year.

This is something I've been preparing towards since last December and I am pleased. Very pleased..

Technically, it's only until next July but I fully intend to go for a permanent position (unless I hate it there- which I don't expect to be the case).

The "new" position is actually a maternity leave. It's also a level higher than my current position.

What else can I say, except maybe... :-)

B.

Sent from my iPhone

What I had been hoping for...

Its a good week...

I'll post later with some details but I'm having the kind of week where I'm taking responsibility for my own destiny and happiness. The girls are great and we are having a wonderful summer.

B.

But...

All of that belly-aching aside, things are looking up, I think. Basically I have the choice between staying somewhere I've been for the vast majority of my adult life or getting something else, somewhere else (a task that has not been going well so far).

For someone who values loyalty and commitment, this is a tough one. Scary, too. That said, there have been minor changes in the organization with which I'm pleased. My bottom line is trying to take responsibility for my own happiness and satisfaction. That can't be a bad thing...

B.

To continue on from my last entry, its been a period of really painful soul searching. I'm not pleased with where my career has taken me over the past fifteen years and its a lot easier to regret decisions I've made or not made than it is to sort the present out.

B.

Looking Back.... But not fondly...

The last six months have been tough. I think its fair to say that its been the toughest stretch I've ever had at work. Work is not something I feel I can take pride in like I used to do, its more something I need to get through.

That said, things are better and I really hope to get back to a point where I can feel better about my job and and how well I do at it.

More tonight,
B.

The house is full of nine year-old girls... They are loudly playing games in the basement. Action Girl turns 10 on Monday! I cannot imagine a nicer bunch of girls... That said given the amount of screaming, I believe it may be a long night.

6:15PM They're eating now... The joke of the hour is to say "Do you like pepperoni?" with a Jamaican accent...

chapters.indigo.ca: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: Seth Grahame-smith: Books

What I'm reading:

chapters.indigo.ca: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: Seth Grahame-smith: Books

- A Re-Launch of Sorts -

Now that we've moved and are getting very settled I should finally have some time to write. We moved on December 28 and 29 and are now fairly settled in our new-to-us, bigger, urban, house.



For the record, its a 2000 sq. ft. spilt level, which at 38 years is actually older but 800 sq. ft. bigger than our previous house. Its been unoccupied for about two years, some of which time the then-owners used to renovate to "flip" it. We are up a bathroom, having only one before and both of the girls' bedrooms are bigger than before. They are both downstairs, we (and the spare bedroom) are upstairs. Instead of an en-suite bathroom, we have a "cheater" with a door from our bedroom that opens to the bathroom which also has a door to the hall.

I'm really proud of how well the four of us (plus the cat) have dealt with the move. It should prove to be a rich source of many more entries in this blog.

B.

A VERY ZOMBIE HOLIDAY (Instructional video)

When did basic human values become un-Chinese? - The Globe and Mail

When did basic human values become un-Chinese? - The Globe and Mail

Are gadgets ruining our kids' brains? - The Globe and Mail

Are gadgets ruining our kids' brains? - The Globe and Mail

A product for our times: caffeinated popcorn - Healthzone.ca

I may have to get some of this:

A product for our times: caffeinated popcorn - Healthzone.ca

Repost: John Daley, My Great-Great Uncle, R.I.P.

Private John Daley, Kings County, Prince Edward Island
Born March 23, 1891 Died in combat Nov. 6, 1918, age 27 years.

John Daley was my maternal grandmother's uncle. He was killed five days before the end of the Great War. The army he fought as part of was ending the period known as "Canada's Hundred Days," a period during which it was at the forefront of some of the most decisive, important victories of the war. He's buried along with 881 other Commonwealth soldiers in the Valenciennes (St. Roch) Communal Cemetery in Northern France, close to the Belgian frontier.

He was killed 2-3 days after the Canadian Corps took the area from the German Army, who had held the area from the war's early days. Uncle John' s unit is listed is listed as the Nova Scotia Highlanders (or the 85th Battalion) although they may have been attached to the Manitoba Regiment at the time of his death. Many young men from Eastern Prince Edward Island had gone to Nova Scotia to enlist.

The tragedy in his death itself, in his death at 27, and in his death in the war's last days are obvious. Other suffering caused by his death is not so obvious. In 1917, his brother Abram drowned after falling from a vessel in the Northumberland Strait, leaving his widow and two daughters. They were my grandmother and her older sister (who had been blind from birth). The family's understanding has always been (in my life time) that John would have supported them after the war and they would have been spared the poverty that they had faced. In the end, my grandmother and her sister had full, happy lives. This was despite the poverty they faced as children- poverty they overcame but with some price. Specifically, the costs of school for the blind for my great aunt, meant less money for education and medical (dental) care for my grandmother. The math was that simple. These were not life-threatening deficits, but certainly life-shaping.

Save for the effect of a single shell or bullet in the cold November of 1918, I believe John Daley would have helped as he could.

B.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Link for John Daley:

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=577383

Canadian Department of Veteran's Affairs Link for John Daley:

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=577383

Guest Post: The Blobs from Outer Space

By Action Girl (age 9):

Psychology and Social Work: the venn diagram

This is a venn diagram I wrote for a recent presentation I made to a group of undergraduate psychology students. The focus of my presentation was on social work as a career option. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

B.

Super Girl's (age 6.5) Jack O' Lantern 2010

Action Girl's (age 9.5) Jack O' Lantern 2010