13 posts tagged “work”
..at least, that's what I thought the t-shirt at the University of British Columbia bookstore said. What it actually said was, My daughter and my MONEY go to UBC. Not nearly as funny.
I'm just back. Vancouver was a blast. After Saturday the weather turned horrid: raw, windy, wet and grey. The amazing thing about West Coast rain is that you look outside, and there don't appear to be any actual raindrops falling, but you step out and you're soaked, because the air itself is wet--like a steam bath, except cold. The trade show went well, as did the breakfast panel on climate change I co-organized. I met some really cool colleagues. I have also never eaten so well on a business trip. I didn't have any "organized event" dinners, so I was pretty much free to eat wherever I wanted in the evenings.
Vancouver is foodie heaven. Oolong tea-smoked arctic char, anybody? What about Malaysian seafood stew? Or tiny salmon and avocado crepes with wasabi mayonnaise? Or bananas foster with home-made banana ice cream? Or completely addictive sweet potato tempura "fries" with spicy soy dipping sauce? Or lamb carpaccio with Asian slaw? Or organic smoked Cornish hen with wild mushrooms picked in the forest the same day? and to wash it all down, how about a "amante picante": tequila with muddled cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno and agave nectar? All I'm saying is it's a good thing I was running around all day from 8 in the morning until midnight, or I would have gained 10 pounds in the past week.
Things have been so crazy, I totally forgot to mention that I'm in Vancouver! I flew in Friday and I'm headed back Wednesday. I'm here for a conference; my organization has a booth at the trade show. Today was pretty quiet, but things are going to pick up tomorrow. The weather has been spectacular--clear blue skies and views of the snow-capped Rockies and blue waters of the Georgia Straight. I'll post more when I get home. Kthxbai!
So, today was the annual Employee Recognition Awards. My entire program team (18 people) collectively received the "highly coveted" award for extraordinary acheivement. We've been dealing with launching three huge, ultra high profile new government initiatiatives under crazy deadlines while shortstaffed/training new hires (like me). I'm still fresh here, but I'm amazed some of my colleagues haven't collapsed.
Anyway, each team member got a very nice framed certificate with our individual name, and a beautiful framed print by a Native artist--all different. Mine is by a famous Ojibway artist named Benjamin Chee Chee, who committed suicide just as he was starting to gain renown:
I don't know who chose this for me, but I love swallows so it's perfect.
Oh, we also each got a packet of notecards, also with Aboriginal art, and a cool soft briefcase thingy with like a built-in digital calculator... and graph paper, lol! I obviously work with way too many engineering types!
Oh, hai!
Well, I'm back from the Land of Living Skies, aka Saskatoon. The event I was there for, which I co-planned with our hosts, went off very well. The weather was beautiful, too.
It started off horribly, but then took a turn for the fantastic. First, on the plane, I got stuck sitting in front of the exit row, which meant I couldn't put my seat back. Then I realized that I had packed my noise-cancelling headphones, but had left my iPod sitting on the kitchen table. Dammit. Oh well, I watched The Golden Compass on my little personal entertainment unit. It made the time go by more quickly.
When I got to my hotel (the Delta), I found out they had booked me in a smoking room by mistake. Honestly, I hadn't even double checked the reservation because it's so automatic and I can't even remember the last time I stayed in a hotel that HAD smoking rooms. Anyway, Delta didn't have a single non-smoking room available. So I asked them to call the Radisson across the street--not my preferred hotel, but whatever. They had a non-smoking room and it's way cheaper than the Delta--bonus.
I trudge around the block with my little rolly bag to the Radisson. I check in. I'm tired and hungry, it's late, and all I want is a hot bath and maybe some room service. I get up to the 5th floor. The elevator doors open... and there's my room, right opposite the elevators. Sigh. This will not do at all. So I head back down to the lobby and ask nicely if they can move me to another room, one that's further away from the elevators. The guy starts checking, then says, "well, I hope you don't mind, you'll be getting a bit of an upgrade." Turns out the only other room they had available was the biggest suite in the hotel! And they were letting me have it for the same price (cheap!). How awesome is that?
I get to my suite. It's on the 19th floor. It's completely ridiculous for just little me: a separate bedroom, a living room, a dining area, sweeping views of the river and city and two, count 'em, TWO bathrooms, one with a big-ass whirlpool tub. Sweeeeet! And while the decor was kind of dingy and faded, at least the bed was one of those new "sleep number" beds. I had fun experimenting with the different degrees of firmness. In the end, I adjusted the two mattress sides to different levels and then slept on the diagonal. Ah, the bliss of sleeping alone!
In Saskatoon, I got private guided tours of two of the most important research institutes in the country. One was the Canadian Light Source, one of the world's biggest synchrotrons. What is a synchrotron, you ask?
"A synchrotron is a source of brilliant light that enables scientists to study the microstructure and chemical properties of materials. Extremely bright synchrotron light is produced by using radio frequency waves and powerful magnets to accelerate electrons close to the speed of light. The light—spanning the spectrum from infrared light to high energy X-rays--is shone down beamlines to laboratory endstations where researchers select specific wavelengths of light to observe matter down to the atomic level."
It's basically a big ring--think of a particle accelerator--about the size of a hockey rink. It was actually offline for maintenance, so I got to walk around right next to the actual "tube" they shine the beam of electrons through. It was very, very cool. My colleague joked that there was going to be a horrible malfunction and we were all going to wind up with superpowers.
I also got a tour of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization labs. They showed me what they call the mouse Hilton, where they keep all the special transgenic mice they experiment on. They're teeny little white mice with pink tails and eyes. Very, very cute. It's sad to think that they are bred for one purpose only. But at least they are treated as humanely as possible: they have comfy, clean houses, no more than two to a cage, with lots of fresh bedding, and the technicians give them little toys to play with and paper napkins to shred. I also saw two albino guinea pigs--they all seemed pretty happy and well cared for, considering. I don't believe in testing cosmetics on animals, because there are so many alternatives. But with life-saving vaccines and drugs, there still is really is no other way around it yet. At some point, you have to test on living organisms. I think as long as it's done ethically, I can accept it. Not like it, but accept it.
I flew back this afternoon, just in time for another swanky black tie arts gala we were attending tonight. Mr. BrownA picked me up, and barely an hour later I was all gussied up, sipping champagne and hobnobbing with Eugene Levy, the Tragically Hip and Martin Short. We left early, though, because I'm pooped. I'll try to get around to posting pics of my trip tomorrow.
I'm heading to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (try saying that fast a few times) later this afternoon for work. It's a small city--fewer than 200,000 people--with not a whole lot to do. But in the right weather it can be quite pretty. It's on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River, which actually flows north from the US border. There are all these walking paths and parks along the banks. As you can see, Saskatchewan is flatter than one of Bobavey's pancakes.
My hotel is the turretted building to the left.
I'm busy from dawn until dusk tomorrow, and am flying back Saturday morning, so I'll probably be off Vox for a couple of days. Be good, kiddies!
Hai peeps!
Just a very quick hello from Vancouver. Today is my birfday, and I get to spend it in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Working, yes, but still. The setting of mountains and ocean is truly spectacular.
I've been here since Monday night. Mr. BrownA had a beautiful bouquet of yellow tulips delivered to my room on Tuesday, so I could enjoy my birthday flowers all week.
Last night, I went out by myself to an excellent seafood supper. It cost twice as much as what my dinner per diem allows, but whatever, I don't mind covering the rest, it was so good. I sat at the bar (as I always do). The bartender is from Ottawa, and when he learned it was my birthday-- w00t! I can has free drinkz!
I'll post more details this weekend when I get home.
Kthxbai!
Still at work.
I'm just done dealing with a &%**#@ crazy last minute request for a speech, news release and whatnot, now. So I'm finally outta here!
Good thing I don't have a commute, or I'd kill myself.
That's the sound of me, coming up for air.
Work has been CRIZZAZY. No time for Voxin'. I've even been neglecting my horse--I had to cancel my ride yesterday when my boss asked me to attend a dinner after work in his stead. Got home around 9:30, then had to do an interview for my newspaper gig at 10 p.m. wanted to get to bed early, but Mr. BrownA was up working until midnight. Then up retardedly early for a 7:30 breakfast meeting this morning, which led straight into an intense, brain-hurting peer review meeting that lasted until 3:30 with only a short break for lunch. Also, I stepped out to a building across the street to pick up something from another office. What should have been a five-minute errand turned into a half-hour nightmare when I inadvertently found myself in the middle of a building evacuation, after the fire alarm went off. Oy.
I would happily sit home catatonic on the couch tonight, but I haven't ridden since Wednesday of last week. So I'm just waiting for Mr. BrownA to get home and off I go to the barn.
*slump*
(Cool photo from Fib's Flikr.)
Bye, peeps! I'm off to Halifax until Sunday for an arthritis research conference--the host is one of the scientific organizations my new employer funds.
I've only been to Halifax once, about 10 years ago, to visit my friend in medical school. As you can see, it's very pretty, with a beautiful natural harbour. The big star-shaped structure up on the hill is the Halifax Citadel, a National Historic Site. The British built a fort there in 1749 and it became on of their four key overseas naval defense structures. The fort that stands today was completed in 1858 to protect against a feared land-based invasion by the U.S. I believe President Buchanan was going to call that exercise "Operation Moose Freedom".
My hotel is right on the water. I won't have much time to sightsee, but I'll try to get a little shopping in (of course).
See you Sunday!
Yesterday was the last day of my contract with the Public Health Agency of Canada. Tuesday I start my new permanent position with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
Although I'm obviously looking forward to my new job (especially the fact that it's four blocks from my house--no more commute!), I was actually sad to go. Although I was just a short-term consultant, my colleagues always treated me like one of the team. When I announced that I wouldn't be renewing at the end of my contract because I had received a permanent offer, they were all, "please don't leave us, we need you!" Yesterday, they took me out to lunch and gave me a lovely card signed by everybody. All summer long, everyone has seemed genuinely appreciative and very complementary of my work. Plus, everyone there was super nice and extremely professional and respectful to each other. We had some high-stress situations with a couple of urgent files, but everybody kept their sense of humour. After the unpleasant, negative experience I had at my last job, it was both a relief and a much-needed boost to my confidence. Plus, I got to work on some incredibly interesting medical/public health files, and my knowledge is vastly expanded.
Who knows what this new job will hold? I can only hope that my new co-workers are as easy to get along with as the ones I've just left behind. I like that this job is starting in September; it feels very much like back-to-school. Over the long weekend, I'm going to go shopping for some new work outfits (Yay!), and I've booked some spa treatments tomorrow.
My first day of work is actually our staff retreat, so that should be, umm, interesting. Everybody had to do that Myers-Briggs personality type test, and I take it we'll be doing team-building exercises based on that. I found out what I already knew: I'm an ENTJ. We're the ambitious pains-in-the-asses who make sure deadlines are met, mistakes are corrected and goals are achieved. We're driven, focused and impatient. We're enthusiastic and encouraging, but when faced with stupidity or indecisiveness, we're not known for our tact or diplomacy. It's not that we can't sense other people's feelings or emotions; we just don't care. The ENTJ's philosophy is basically, "We can't let emotions get in the way of results, so put on your big girl panties and deal with it." Apparently, fewer than 1% of women have this type.
I share Redzilla's skepticism about these team-building exercises. I believe she posted last year about her experience with Myers-Briggs and staff retreats, but I couldn't find the post to link to. I think she said she was an INTJ (I believe she compared herself to Goebbels...), which is basically a more misanthropic version of the ENTJ. We boss people around because we want them to improve and fulfill their potential. The Is just want to destroy their Tokyo.
