We've had the pleasure of entertaining company a few times in the last while. My mom came over for supper a few weekends ago, and Sofi cooked a fabulous supper for us. This past Saturday was my parents' 29th wedding anniversary, so we went to the Fireside Bistro (which was amazing, as usual). Afterwards my parents and all the gang came over to my place to watch the Riders kick some ass in their season opener. It was actually a pretty boring game since they won by so much, but it was great to visit with everybody since we haven't been hanging out with anyone too much lately.
A whole bunch of people at work got offered early retirement packages, so I've been attending a lot of gatherings to send them off. I had supper last Thursday catered by Memories, which was nice, and yesterday we went to New Yorx for lunch. After work we went to Earl's, which was good times even though I had to leave early to catch up on some homework.
Speaking of work, earlier I made references to potential job opportunities, and now that the smoke has cleared I can fill you in. I got a call out of the blue from a company in Calgary looking for a senior programmer/architect to join their firm, so I went through the motions with them. I was pretty excited about the opportunity but after pretty much bombing the technical interview I don't expect a call back from them. Based on their questions they were looking for a hardcore Java developer but that's just not me - I'm too "big picture" to waste my time memorizing APIs or care about writing hash functions. The experience did give me the impetus to talk with my manager at work about my salary, though, so I'm hopeful that things will pick up soon in that department to the tune of a big fat promotion/raise.
I also applied for the Chair opening at URSU, but I haven't heard anything from them and don't expect to. I gave up my position a year ago when I had to move to the States for work and I guess they don't want me back. My primarily goal was to put my name forward in case they couldn't find anybody, because when push comes to shove there is simply no one more qualified for that position than me, given my (now) long history with the organization and the incredible job flexibility my current employer provides me. I heard through the grapevine (hey, Regina is a small town, that should be Lesson #1 to anybody who likes to shoot their mouth off - I wish I had learned that lesson much earlier in life) that my two years of service there is considered by the recently-elected administration to be a period of time filled with bias, where my personal feelings interfered with my job on a regular basis. I have a pretty good idea who put that idea in their heads, but I digress.
The whole situation is actually pretty funny to me when you get past the hate, especially when you consider how far URSU has come since I was in office. When I started, our Chair was not only abusing his "power" (or, rather, the power he had created for himself) by trying to run the show, he had actually forged his contract and was stealing from the company. By the time I had left office and volunteered to Chair, I had learned from previous mistakes. I made it clear that I was an employee of the Board and made a point of not signing a contract. I had no interest in being there if I wasn't wanted, so I did away with the very notion of a contract. I understood that while I was an employee, I was an employee of a political organization and that means things can change with each new regime.
It's hilarious and sad at the same time to think that I tried to move the position as far away as possible from its former history of manipulation and deceit, and yet I am looked at by some as no better. I should have known better, because in the past I myself made the same mistakes. I am confident I said many hurtful things about Sean McEachern's administration(s) during my original URSU campaign, only to find out later that all the improvement initiatives that I wanted to see carried out were all things that he had tried but that had been lost under the sea of immature and unproductive student political rhetoric. I'm sure my unprovoked and uninformed orations are the reason why he pretends I'm not there when I see him at functions and I know it's the reason I can't get up the nerve to say more than hello even if I'm sitting across the table from him.
The bottom line is that I am human and like it or not I do have a "bias" in everything I do, so if it's their perception that I let it affect my job that's fine with me. I know it's just that, perception. Besides the obvious fact that I did not have any input at all into the direction of the organization beyond offering advice to the Board, the Board itself voted me as the best chairman ever! :)
Even though I left voluntarily, not being asked back still feels like I got thrown out with the trash after making a big contribution (like what has happened to others in that organization of late). While it hurts to think that anybody out there might think that my job performance was anything but fair and impartial, it hurts even more to see that some people still have to learn lessons the hard way that I have already learned (and am still learning). Watching the constant cycle of re-inventing the wheel and making the same mistakes over and over again is the most frustrating part of being involved in student politics for any length of time. I have no idea how Dale put up with that environment for so long, because in that respect I'm relieved to be no longer associated with the whole business. On the other hand, I do regret not being given the opportunity to impart some of my wisdom on the younger generation.
In other news, since we got back from our honeymoon, we've had a variety of things go wrong with the car. While everything has been fixed, we still have a bunch of recommended fluid changes, etc. to go through. By the time all is said and done, I will have spent more than $1500 on it in less than three months :(
This weekend we are leaving on Thursday night for the cabin and returning on Sunday sometime. Other than getting new tires on my car (add another $500 to my aforementioned car woes), I'm planning on taking it easy at the lake. Next weekend the forecast calls for camping!