Being that my current job is coming to a close, I'm working on finding another position. To put things in context, I have several prospects: possible contract work, on lists for 3 government competitions and another position that is harder to describe anonymously.
Today, I went to write a test for a government competition. You know, the kind you get invited to about 4-5 months after applying through an external competition. This job is not particularly interesting to me. The starting salary is substantially lower than the jobs for which I'm currently on lists. But, with the economy in the shitter, I figured I shouldn't count any chickens before the eggs are hatched and agreed to write the test. There were two of us at the test. We had over 3 hours to answer 3 question.
Read question 1...didn't know the answer. Would have to undergo massive BSing to fill half a page.
Read question 2...write a briefing note on a boring topic that is unrelated to any of my knowledge. Ugh...seems like a lot of work. Particularly when I've never written a briefing note and I know nothing about the topic.
Read question 3...more related to my experience, annoyingly basic.
Worked on question 3 for a couple of minutes until I decided that my heart wasn't in it and walked out. Is this the ultimate of giving up?
Actually, based on my recent experiences with government testing, I'd have to say that the tests do a pretty poor job of assessing skills. It hardly seems useful to ask very specific questions that can easily be learned within the first week of working for a department. If anything, I think the focus should be on responding to material given during (or before the test). Use that information to determine if the candidate has the capacity to quickly pick up new information relevant to the job.
A few hours later, I still feel content with having walked out of the test. But, this may just be due to purchasing a new knitting pattern and wool.
I like the juxtaposition of the angry sign directed toward busdrivers and the sign advertizing adult toys and lube.
Several days into the transit strike, it feels like the initial raw shock of living without buses is subsiding. One positive perspective to the bus strike that I heard was that it may, over the longterm, increase carpooling since it's forcing ride sharing. Continuing with the ride sharing post-strike will be easy, which would hopefully reduce the number of cars on the road in the longterm.
Since moving to Ottawa six years ago, my support for unions has waivered. Living in a government town, talk about employees who should not be in their positions is a regular past time. You'd be hard-pressed to find people working for the government who don't face the frustration that comes with a lack of accountability and an inability to make changes based on poor performance. For everything good that unions do, they also enable incompetence.
Would I eliminate unions? Absolutely not. But I do feel that in times of economic instability, we all need to think of the greater good. At least temporarily, I would like to see unions hold off on fighting for wage increases. Sure, most people feel that they are entitled to more. But, when we're heading for/in a recession, where is this money supposed to come from?
I know that striking gives the union and it's members the power to make life difficult for others in order to reach their goals. But, aren't things difficult enough at this point? All of these issues create a domino effect. I think we all need to be heroes at this point and say, "despite the fact that I want to earn more, I am willing to wait until the economy is in better condition to fight further for this". I know OC Transpo's complaints go beyond wage increases. Frankly, I think their demands that would not create major financial strains should be met. But, the desire to earn more money needs to be put on hold.
Sure, my tune would change if this were happening 6 months ago. I'd say, yes - they should fight/strike for wage increases and better working conditions. But today, I think we all need to sacrifice for the sake of getting this country back up on its feet again. I would GLADLY have 2% added back on to the GST.
This is the CBC article, written ahead of time, describing what will happen in Ottawa tomorrow. Is that disturbing to anyone else? There are so many elements that I could talk about with regards to this strike. But, it's nothing that hasn't been said elsewhere, like here, here and here. Really, the overriding feeling is just fatigue. Between the economy and government, I'm not interested in any more drama right now.
I feel that we have been sufficiently exposed to drama and historical moments. So, let's move on to the business of just living our lives.
How does all of this affect me? I'm looking for a job and despite several months of trying and years of education, it has not been easy. Several leads, but no commitments. Things are in too much of a state of flux for anyone to think about progressing a company or making new hires.
Thankfully, I don't rely on driving for most of my daily activities. But, my SO does. We have a car, but the idea of struggling across the city after 15-20 cm of snow and freezing rain with everyone else in the city is not appealing. Actually, it's pretty scary.
I am really looking forward to being on the "other end" of the ways things are right now.
If you're looking for transportation options, here are some link:
With the temperature plunging to somewhere around -30 (with the windchill), I'm needing to remind myself why I haven't opted for early onset snowbirding.
One way I survive the winter is a weekly curling game. Want to know more about curling, here's a crash course:
Curling originated in Scotland around the 17th Century. Some great things about curling are that it's accessible to all ages, a sport that women and men can play together or separately and unlike most sports, women's curling is followed just as closely as men's curling. Oh..and it's also fun - both to play and watch on television.
So, it all starts off with 8 players, 4 per team. You play on a sheet of ice in a curling rink that usually houses between 4-6 sheets.
This is one of the "houses" on the sheet. On each end of the sheet of ice, there is a separate house. This allows you to shoot all of the rocks in one direction and then play them back to the other house.
Each "end" (of which there are a maximum of 8/game) consists of "throwing" (or what would more accurately described as sliding) 16 rocks. A player from each team alternates throwing 8 rocks. Each player throws 2 rocks per end. If, however, a player is missing and a spare is not available, you can play with 3 people and the first two shooters throw 3 rocks each and the last shooter throws 2.
Each person has an order of shooting, which goes lead, 2nd, 3rd and skip (although very rarely, a 3rd will throw last rocks). The skip is the one who makes decisions about the type of shot to be made by "calling line" (which I'll explain later) and the other players (minus the shooter) focus on sweeping.
The traditional image of curling is the witch style broom.
But with more recent advancements in curling, the only time you may see that type of broom is when someone is throwing the rock. Today, brooms look more like the one below.
You can also see the slider in the above picture. The slider is the piece on the bottom of one of your shoes that you slide out of "the hack" (shooting area) when shooting. The shoe with the slider is the opposite of the hand with which you throw. So, since I'm right-handed, the slider is on my left foot. The black shoe cover on the ground covers my slider when I'm not shooting. However, it it quite common for people to leave the rubber off when playing, but I personally would probably end up falling on my ass and "burning" (touching a rock that is in play -- a bad thing) the rocks if I did that.
In terms of actual game play, the goal of the game is to get as many points for your team as possible. You win by having more points at the end of the game than the other team. Sometimes the end of the game comes early if one team is getting slaughtered and decides to "shake hands".
The skip, as I was saying, gives directions to the shooter about where to throw the rock and the weight. The skip will hold his or her broom in a location to indicate where to aim the rock. This can be a tricky job because the idea of curling (and hence the name) is that when the rock is slowing down it will veer in one direction or another. The direction depends on how you turn (in turn or out turn) the rock while shooting. You may see a skip raise his/her right or left arm and this indicates the rotations of the rock (it's not necessary information since it's pretty obvious which way you want the rock to rotate). You can rotate the rock to the right or left. The positioning of the broom is based on a number of factors: 1. The ice - if rocks are "curling" a lot, the skip needs to give the shooter "more ice" (allow more space for curling), 2. the type of shot (draw - which refers to a slow paced rock that will come to a stop somewhere at the other end of the sheet without hitting another rock; take out - a rock that is meant to take out another rock). A take out is obviously thrown harder, so less curling will occur. With less curling, the skip does not need to give as much ice, 3. the throwing idiocyncracies of each player (some people prefer certain turns, tend to be off the broom in predictable ways, or tend to throw the rock harder/lighter), 4. where you want the rock to end up (this is the most important factor).
In the video above, you see an excellent raise, triple take-out. The shooter (yellow) is hit on to a red guard (rock that is guarding other rocks). The guard is then raised and takes out 3 red rocks from play. Granted, the red rock at the bottom right isn't going to have a big impact on anything because it is well outside of the "rings" (the bull's eye area). Rocks are taken out of play if they pass that line behind the blue ring or if a rock touches the line (or side boards) that divides the sheets.
As I was saying earlier, the skip's job (and the shooter's after he/she has released the rock) is to "call the line". This is why you hear people yelling "hard" like lunatics.
The shooter also watches the line of the rock and will yell "yes", "sweep", "hard", "hard line", etc.
This lady likes to sit on the ice after shooting which is a big no-no.
You do not want to put your body heat on the ice because it will create unevenness that can really affect the rock. You also want to keep an eye out for lint on the ice because the rock can "pick" on that stuff and it'll completely affect the rock.
"Hard" means, sweep fast because the rock is overcurling. Overcurling means that the rock is going to end up rotating past the desired point and will either hit the rock in the wrong location, not hit the rock at all, not draw to the proper location, etc. So, why sweep? Sweeping creates heat on the ice that will form a slick layer and gets rid of a fair amount of natural friction on the ice. The other reason sweepers may sweep is if the shooter's weight is down (rock not thrown hard enough). Again, the slick layer will allow the rock to go faster and, therefore, further.
Sweepers have different ways of determining whether to sweep. You may see several players with stop watches.
Sweepers will time the rock (how long the rock takes to get from one line to the next) and then infer how far the rock will slide. Based on the ice, you know how long it should take the rock to travel between these two lines. So, if the throw is light (even by milliseconds) you start sweeping. Personally, I don't use a timer. R does and I sometimes listen to him. But, after a few shots, you can usually tell whether you need to sweep. Professionals will have all of this stuff figured out down to the millisecond.
One image that is synonymous with curling is the slide curlers use when throwing the rock.
There are a lot of details that go into throwing the rock, but the basic reason for this slide to have a good visual of the line of your rock. Since you want to aim the rock at the skip's broom, it's a lot easier to do that if you can get close to eye level with the rock. But, you don't have to be a good slider to make a good shot.
Another issue with the ice is that each sheet, each curling rink, each game, etc. the ice changes. As you play on the ice, it changes as well. So, reading the ice is a bit of an art. So is taking care of the ice. Between each game an ice caretaker will spray little water droplets (pebble) the ice and scrape it. I'm not an expert on how this works, but ice maintenance is just as important (if not more so) in curling as it is in hockey.
Now...the most important part - getting points. After each end, the 3rds (from both teams) look at the rocks to determine how many points were won. Points are determined by seeing how many rocks of the same colour are closer to the button (centre of the bull's eye) than the other team's rocks.
So, in this picture, it looks like the red team has 4 points. The red rock that is on the left is not "out counting" the blue rock at the back. You'll notice the skip's broom (from the red team) by the blue rock because they want to get rid of this rock. If they get rid of the rock and the shooter stays in position, they will increase their score to 6 points because they will have six red rocks that are closer to the button that the one blue rock at the back of the house.
Sometimes the rocks are so close together you can't tell which is outcounting. There is a special contraption that you use to measure minute (less than millimeter) distances.
After each end, the 3rd of the team that scored goes and puts up the points. The scoring system is a little bit counter intuitive. The cards indicate the end and the permanent number indicate points.
In this picture, you can see that in the first end, the red team scored one point (not a good end for them because when you score, you lose the "hammer". The hammer is the last rock and it's nice to have the hammer because you get to make the last throw. Last throw is like the final decision, when you don't have to worry about your opponent's next move. If you are going to lose the hammer, you want to have lost it because you scored many points, not just one). The second end, the blue team scored two points. Then, in the third end, the red team scored 4 points. I think that was the 4 red you see in the picture just above this one. Then, in the fourth end, the blue team 4 points. In the end (not depicted here), the blue team (the good guys) won.
Depending on the traditions of the ice rink, the winners will sometimes buy the losers a drink. After the game, everyone sits around and socializes, which usually consists of carrying on some sort of bs conversation about different shots throughout the game.
Of course there are many other aspects of the game (strategy, technique, etc.) but if you've gotten this far into the post, you're probably on information overload anyway.
I shouldn't even be blogging about this. Winter camping in Gatineau Park is getting more and more popular and, therefore, competitive. I'll just think short term and rest in the confidence that no one reads my blog.
If you like cross-country skiing or snowshoeing and a bit of roughing it, Winter Camping in Gatineau Park may be of interest to you. You can choose between spending the night in a cabin or yurt equipped with a woodburning oven.
Aside from trips to the out house, the oven keeps you quite warm and offers some flexibility in food options.
Or, if you're even more hardcore, you can spend a night in a quinzee:
It's a nice way of breaking up the winter, enjoying the fresh air and spending some time with friends. Of course, you're not restricted in bringing food that is warmed up by the oven alone.
I guess this blog is the attempt to deal with all of that. After spending the past cagillion years in school, it is finally coming to an end.
A little bit about me. I moved to Ottawa about 6 years ago. I spent most of my life in another large Canadian city. I am a pretty average person with too much time to think. Blogging is good for putting words to a jumble of unproductive thoughts.
I'm trying to live my life to the fullest by continuing to learn new things, see new places and be the best person I can be. I also love documenting life. Not surprisingly, this love guides my professional life too.
I have several years of pictures of Ottawa that I've kept on my laptop. Since my previous blogs have been more anonymous, I haven't really had the opportunity to share them. I think it's time to change that. In fact, I was going to post some of my favourite pictures of Ottawa, but then political drama struck and it seems far more timely to share picturs from the pro-coalition rally today.
Here are some snippets of speeches given by Dion, Duceppe and Layton.
I really wish Dion was a better communicator. I don't think it's fully a language issue, because Jean Chretien wasn't really a great communicator in English or French. But, the message got across. Granted, the economy was more stable. To be honest, it was Layton that did the best job of being coherent and straightforward. I think Dion gets caught up in strange word choice....
"Don't you think your members of parliament were right to say no to the plan that Stephen Harper was proposing to Canada?"
I'm sure there's a clearer way of saying that. People do not grasp on to the words as required and the message is lost.
I like the juxtaposition of the angry sign directed toward busdrivers and the sign advertizing adult toys and lube.
