Sightseeing

I wore myself out today traipsing around Ottawa. It is a really good-looking city, and I really appreciated how the combination of the Rideau Canal and the river really makes for a lot of green spaces. With Gatineau (formerly Hull) right across the river, there are some great Quebecois influences, including some really good boulangeries in the Byward Market area.

The Parliament buildings are more impressive in person than on all those postcards, news clips, and other pictures I've seen over my life. I took advantage of being here in Ottawa to take a tour of the centre block. 

I found it quite impressive to see the House of Commons up close and personal. Of course there was nothing going on today, but seeing the chamber in person reminded me that all those images that you see on television or the internet can't substitute for actually being in those spaces.

There's really no substitute for being there yourself. 

The Peace Tower itself offers a pretty amazing view of the city and Gatineau across the river, including at least one set of locks in addition to the ones on the Rideau Canal. I was disappointed to see that the stairs were only considered an emergency exit. I think it would've been neat to climb the tower and see the bells up closer than the quick glimpse through the elevator window that you get on the way up.

But the thing that I was most looking forward to seeing was the Parliamentary library. The structure was originally designed based on the British library (obviously the old one, not the spankin' new one) in 1872 and it is the only part of the building that survived the fire of 1916 because the head librarian had insisted on metal doors being installed, which protected it when the rest of the structure went up.  Quite impressive.

I had seen the Library of Parliament on a list of top ten most beautiful libraries in the world, so when the tour guide confirmed we would be going to the library, I was tickled. 

Yes, I'm a geek.

I actually had one of the security guards remind me that I needed to stay with the tour group because I lingered just a bit too long at the end, reluctant to leave! But it is an absolutely gorgeous library. Of course someone in the group said it looked like a Harry Potter library, which at first I found annoying since the films were based on real libraries, but then I realized that perhaps that was indeed the only context that person had to compare this library to. Regardless, I'd love to wander it unimpeded, but the public has not access to the stacks of this library.  Too bad.

My feet are well worn after trucking from the university to the Hill, through the market and back down Sparks street.  But it was still a good day!

Take off

Just about to take off for Ottawa. I've never been there before, and I've never flown Westjet, so we'll have to see what all the fuss is about. A lot of friends swear by Westjet and swear at Air Can, so I'll be interested in seeing how different the experience might be. Personally, I'd rather fly Air Can than some of the US carriers - I've got an intense hate on for at least one of them - so I'm curious to see how much better Westjet might be!

Past and Future

I'm not thinking of the present right now, since that always seems to consist of dissertation editing. Actually, editing doesn't seem the right word, since it's basically a complete rewrite - at least for the first chapter and introduction, which are the two places where I'm focusing right now.

So I give you the past and the future instead, since they're far more interesting!

Past: I had a good, long weekend, with just the right balance of work and play.

• The new Star Trek movie was good. Better than I thought it would be. Given the number of things the movie had to accomplish: cater to existing fan base, attract new, younger fan base, provide back story for existing characters without irrevocably damaging continuity with the older selves of those characters and plots, I think it pulled it off fairly well. I've seen the criticisms and the praise, and must say that I fall mostly on the side of praise for the flick.... But then again, I've always been more of a fan of Star Trek than Star Wars, so I wanted it to be good.
• I think I've finally really accepted that we own this house we're living in. I've rented for so terribly long that when we moved in, I left things pretty much as they were. We tended to use existing holes for hanging pictures, and I realized the other day that there's a poster on the garage wall that I really don't like - I just never took it down after the previous owners left it behind. This weekend, I felt like I was really starting to accept that it is ours to do with as we please when I dug out a bush that I've never liked, even when we first viewed the place. It feels good to have the horrid little thing gone!
• Went for the first hike of the season. There was still a lot of snow, though it was mostly manageable. In fact, it wasn't the snow that was the problem, it was the run-off that made our trekking difficult. Despite the hike actually only being a short one, all three of us who went are still sore two days later! But it was nice to get out there.
• I finally got to go to dinner with my dear friend from when we lived here before. Both of us have pretty busy lives, but hers is one that I do not envy in the least given all that she does. All the more reason to admire her grace in managing it. I know I could not pull it off as well as she does. But it does mean we don't hang out near as often as either of us would like to. After several weeks of not seeing each other, and several false starts, we finally met for a long and refreshing dinner on Sunday night. Good friends, like family, are one of those things that make all the other stuff in a week worthwhile!
  

Future: this week is a fairly busy one... but in a good way.

• I need to go to the school to talk to the department chair about my brand spankin' new full-time position that will begin in the fall! I'm excited enough to have done a little dance for the benefit of my family when I told them I'd been offered the position at the end of last week. It is just a 10 month term, but it comes with more opportunities and responsibilities than I have had to this point, so that's terribly exciting. I need to meet with the department chair to talk about the details this week.
• I fly off to a conference down east this weekend, so I have to do a final run-through of the paper to make sure it flows properly as spoken word. The argument seems to have shaped up quite well, though I could do with three more minutes of time in order to make it. But overall, it's ready to go. I'm trying out an idea I want to introduce in the second chapter of the dissertation, so I'm really hoping I get some good feedback from the audience about it.
  
• After the conference, I'm heading down to meet with my committee members about revision plans, where to go from here, and now that I've got this new gig, tips about the job I'll be expected to undertake. Heading to my doctoral institution means I have a list of books and resources I want to access that I can't get at here (or not inexpensively), and a short list of red tape to work through, which always goes so much faster in person!
• I also will get to see some people who I haven't seen for over a year, and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with them! I just about talked another far-flung member of our graduate student group into returning at the same time, but she's swamped with work, and thinks it's prudent to get the work done instead. I can't argue with that logic, though I'll miss getting to see her too.
  
• I need to meet with my new boss at the e-learning company. The structure and focus of the organization have changed over the last month, and coupled with a new full-time position - even if it is temporary - will require some adjusting. I'd like to have an idea of what that would look like before I leave town for a week and a half.
  

So that's my life right now. In between the past and the future, I continue to revise the dissertation while trying to complete other writing projects that I've committed to and enjoy my life beyond work. So far, the rain (and snow!) this spring have made it easy to stay in and work...!

Wow, just wow

From one of my favorite diversions (The customer is) Not Always Right when I'm in the throes of hard revision.

I didn't come to college to learn anything!

RBOC: Spring version

I have a few blogs posts floating around my head, but instead of coherent posts, I will provide bulleted snippets of thoughts until they coalesce into something worthy of a single blog post.

• spent the last few days in the mountains, driving in and out for a faculty retreat, and it made me realize spring in the mountains is a very different creature from spring on the prairies
• heard a great presentation by a politician (I know! a politician who was interesting to listen to... rare bird!) on the connection between education and politics - it wasn't just about policy but about the philosophical connection between the two, which actually gave me some things to think about. This might be a future blog post if I can put my thoughts to paper (so to speak)
• youngest daughter's drama production last night was intelligent and fun - the students had actually written parts of the play, and frankly, their parts were the best ones!
• even though I have very clear ideas of how this dissertation draft needs to change before it gets resubmitted for additional revisions suggestions, putting those ideas into practice is proving even harder than I expected (and I had expected it to be hard!)
  
• I had a lot of great conversations at the faculty retreat - a couple of not so interesting ones as well, but mostly, really stimulating and interesting conversations! I'm really glad I made the hour and a half trek out to the site each of the last two days because it was worth it!

That's all I got now folks. Here's hoping I can pull together a better blog post over the next few days.

Milk... does a body good!

Reviews of milk. Not "Milk" but milk.

I especially like the poetic ones...

Well, that's over, whether for better or worse

So the interview went fine. There was a question from the HR rep that I hadn't anticipated, so I answered a variant, which unfortunately ended up being the answer that I should've given to the next question.

Dang.

And I of course thought of a wonderful, brilliant answer a half hour after walking out of the room.

Darn.

Oh well. The teaching demo went better than I thought from my end - I actually found it fairly easy to "teach" to people I knew had already mastered the material. I did discover that the examples I used were less-than-useful because they did pose a bit of a challenge to the "students". That could be a bad thing if it made them feel confused or frustrated by those examples. I think that could actually sink the interview.

The good news I learned after the interview was that they should have some part-time work for me in fall, which is good to hear because I didn't get anything in the first go-round of course assignments in April. So I will be working there in fall - the question is just whether it will be full-time (with all the other tasks/responsibilities that go with that) or adjuncting again.

The weirdest part of the whole thing is that I walked out of the interview over to the department office to mark a deferred exam from last term. Weird to interview and then be reminded that you already work for them at the same time!

More nervous than I have a right to be

On Friday I got a phone call for a job interview, and since then I've been trying to decide if I even mention it here. You see, I've got this fear that if I mention the interview, I'll jinx it, not get the job, and then feel like a big loser for not getting it.

But it's also been consuming much of my waking thoughts over the last several days. Perhaps just because something is consuming all my thoughts isn't enough reason to blog. But then again, blogging is a slightly narcissistic activity, so why isn't all-consuming-thought a good reason for a post?

Anyway, it's a one-year teaching job here in town. The thing that's freaking me out is the teaching demo. I have to prepare a 10-12 minute lesson on transitions for a first year writing class.

Sounds simple.

It is.

But I'm still a little weirded out by it. It's not like I'm nervous about the idea of teaching - I'm not. Nor is it that I don't know how to teach such a lesson - I do. I've actually planned out the lesson for within the allotted time. I'm just nervous about trying to do it in front of an audience who I KNOW aren't students. Particularly since it will be an interactive activity. I just know that the killer for the teaching demo will be if I allow myself to dwell on the fact that the "students" for this demo are the people judging whether I'm a good teacher or not!

I know students evaluate our classes, but they don't really know anything about pedagogy and, really, for all the groaning we as adjuncts might do about student evals, there isn't that much riding on them (or at least, not JUST on them).

But it's hard to teach to people who you know already know the material. Especially if you suspect they actually know the material BETTER than you do! I've done workplace training before where I've known some of the trainees already knew the material - it's an awkward experience at best.

I tell myself it doesn't matter if I don't get the job (though it would be nice). I tell myself that the interview and demo itself are great experience, since this certainly won't be the last time I do either.

But that doesn't make me any less nervous.

All I can do is keep practicing the demo and answers to sample questions. And try not too think about how much I really would like this job!

Poor confused bunnies

The rabbits that frequent our neighborhood are in the process of changing colour from white to brown. So they're sort of mottled right now.

They are starting to blend into the browns of not-yet-awakened spring vegetation.

But since most of our precipitation this month has been in the form of snow,* the poor bunnies must be awfully confused about what colour they need to be!

*the snow isn't terribly cold, and it doesn't really stay long on the ground, but seeing white flakes coming down day after day has sure made it seem like spring is far away!