Some Canada Day Photos

July 1st, 2009 Thomasso

When I first got up this morning I took some photos because the sun rise was just so incredible. Seeing the sun comming in through from my North facing window is rare because it only happens for about one month each year.

Then I took a walk over to the IGA, then around the block over to the Post Office to photograph some of the rose bushes and grapevines that are just starting to bud along side the road.

Fort Langley was full of people walking about this morning. Maybe a little too much “engery” if the day gets warmer.

The classic overhead rose bush shot.

Down town, metropolitan Fort Langley, BC. The flags are out, and so were some people.

The stuffed Scooby-Doo toy, and sofa-cover mother gave me this past winter holiday. Thanks Mom! Everyone loves Scooby-Doo, and they just can’t leave him alone.

Posted in Events, General, Humour, Photographs | No Comments »

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

July 1st, 2009 Thomasso

The weather is perfect. People are everywhere. Everywhere you look there are red and white flags. But best of all, the traffic is normal. Canada is now 142 years old, young by global standards, but not a bad milestone for country that seems to get along with its neighbours and the rest of world—war and conflict are very minor.

But most important: what a great excuse to have the day off from work—and get paid for it too!

The flag is from: http://3dflags.com/

Posted in Events, General, Photographs | No Comments »

The Institution called Work

June 30th, 2009 Thomasso

Today is sort of a milestone in some respects because when I left at the end of my shift, the big and inevitable change had finely come to past, and the end of an era and the dawn of a new age had begun. So much has happen in the last six months, from the economic meltdown caused by the US mortgage industry through much of 2008, then to the Bank and corporate collapses that started off 2009 that seemed like 1929 all over again, as no one escaped with their  money untouched, to where we are now, with downsizing, conservative spending and tight-ass Bank lending. My work has gone through so much to where we sit today that you would not recognize it now.

I am a bit of an anomaly because I have always being sort of that “behind the scenes” employee who works the odd hours and have kept my part time status through out. Prior to the US led economic meltdown, labour was in high demand and I had always faced the threat of moving into positions with full-time hours, or more, as the faux economy roared on. Remember that my goal was going through University at a full time level, and work was only secondary to support just the minimum requirements to get me through my degree program.

As the economy turned South, my value as a part-time employee took on a different turn as my labour was more desirable because the money to keep full-time labour was not in the budget. So, again, like the beginning of 2008, this year meant that I was valuable, but for different reasons. For the first time my skills were looked at more closely and seen as important with this same employer who took me on almost two years ago.

Anyone can work in a office, warehouse, or supervise. Most people today have the basic skills to do these tasks, but most could not do them professionally and willingly and do so with the integrity that is needed to work with other people. Now employees are being asked to do so much more to cover cost, work with less and multi-task like never before. This is where skills come in, because now everything is running against the clock.

The other issue is worth. Now that labour is no longer a hot commodity, people now need to work harder to keep their employment, and they must make sure that what they are doing will benefit the bottom line, or they and the company they work for will go down the tubes.

So this brings me to my point: some people can adapt to change while others cannot. My first example is purely based on adaptivity. The willingness to change your position in the workplace is crucial in economic downturns. One minute you are a “desk-jockey” then the next you are humping boxes from off of a Purolator truck. If you are not willing to adapt, then you go the way of the Dodo bird. Adaptation also means your wiliness to have skill-sets that you have, that have never being used before in the workplace, such as a degree in the Liberal Arts, and have it at the ready. These are untapped resources that employers are now keen on having from their employees.

And the critical aspect of adaptivity in the work place is wages. Are you willing to take a cut in pay, taking on reduced hours, have your perks and bonuses stopped? Most people are not, or they will not, or could not do it because of their lifestyle. This mostly stems from so many people having debt. The Mortgage is the killer one, followed by personal financing and credit debt. For the employer, cutting the fat is so common now that the unemployment rate in British Columbia is almost at six to seven percent, and welfare rates are doubling.

My workplace, come next Thursday, is going to be like working in a air-traffic control tower with just 5 people running it, guiding less than 15 people around with hopefully near precision accuracy.

From being just the “Part Timer” person, or, the lowest rung on the ladder, it is almost amusing in a sick and twisted way that because of this, along with my skill-sets, I am still a hot commodity in the work place. And there are some who are very “peeved” a this arrangement I must add. The bitterness is there because some see this as unjustified and backwards. I am still employed, albeit part-time, and I have being given somewhat of a promotion. How weird is that?

Posted in Bitching about work, Diatribe, General, Social economics | 2 Comments »

To Dabble into Cablevision Land

June 28th, 2009 Thomasso

I had a major upgrade done to my residential cable, and for the first time not one channel was diminished with static, snow, ghosting and interruptions.

The “problem” came from having inherited 15 year old cable lines that ran in the ground with no conduits or the proper burial protective cable needed for underground use. It was so bad that the signal required for Intranet service would cut out at random, and when it was tested the technician told me that having such a large drop in signle was very bad for the cable modem to work properly.

So it was up to the park owner to do the digging. Actually the labour was not so bad, only requiring a shallow trench that was less than 40 cm deep. He laid the proper conduit and inserted pull strings for future use if he needed to run more lines.

Once the initial cable was connected I tried out the television. The commercials never looked so good before. But the primary goal, my Internet connection, was met with flying colours. For the first time I actually maxed out my “up to” bandwidth speed. Connectivity now takes only a few seconds from a cold start as compared to the several minutes it took before.

Hindsight being 20/20, I should have gotten on everyone’s butts a long time ago, but of course that did not happen, so I can only say, “chock one up for experience.”

Posted in Blog and Web Tech, Diatribe, General | 2 Comments »

River Me This, River Me That, Only Fish know where it is at.

June 27th, 2009 Thomasso

I was walking across the bridge today going toward the Albion Ferry  when I looked over to my left and saw several people playing along the shore. The only bad thing about this time of year for people who want to do some serious sun tanning and bathing is that the river is high. June and July are the common months when the Fraser River floods. I saw some kids swimming, but just as I looked harder I noticed one of them panicking and the kids nearest to her started screaming. The under toe of the water was pulling the kid down and away from the shore.

All I could do was stand there and watch. I notice that some of the adults started running towards the shoreline when they heard the screams. They were sitting up on the riverbank and one of them started yelling at the remaining people who were still up on the bank to come down. As I looked over the railing from the bridge another pedestrian stopped by me and he looked towards the noise. I told him that a child was getting sucked into the current.

After about 30 seconds one of the adults jumped in and started swimming towards the child. He caught up to the thrashing child and grabbed her arm then started doing a side-stroke back to the shore. When he got to shallow water one of the adults from shore jumped in and grabbed the child and lifted her up onto dry land.

What was interesting was once the child was safe, the father and mother came running towards her and   took her away up to the parking lot of the camp ground. I started walking again, but as I approached the parking lot, which was on my way to where I was going, I saw the reunited family standing by their car getting ready to leave. What was puzzling for me was seeing the father scolding the little girl because of her near miss drowning. The girl could have being somewhere around seven or eight years of age, so quite young to be swimming in a fast moving river. So why was the father scolding her?

My only guess as to why the father was punishing the little girl could be due to his lack of control, or embarrassment of having a bystander rescuing his child from an all most certain death while he left her unattended. Or perhaps he was really punishing her for swimming in the first place; however, her siblings were also swimming too, though they were not much older.

Either way, I felt disgusted seeing this spectacle after the horrific event. The trauma that the child had gone through moments before could only be amplified by being yelled and shaken by her own father afterwords, especially in front of strangers who seem to just stand there as spectators. Maybe the father was doing the right thing? My gut feeling was telling me that this was way out of line for any parent. When I got close enough to hear them, the doors of their car slammed shut and they sped out of the parking lot.

The image of the little girl in the river is still in my mind. She was one lucky kid to have a good Samaritan rescue her in the icy cold Fraser River.

Posted in Diatribe, General | No Comments »

The Squirrel Relocation and Witness Protection Program

June 25th, 2009 Thomasso

The Squirrel Relocation and Witness Protection program was started to help protect squirrel victims and the relocation criminal squirrels from the community and send them to remote areas for rehabilitation.

In this particular case, Mr. Fur Face, was apprehended for grand larceny of a free-standing bird feeder that is privately owned and run in the Fort Langley area. Mr. Face was relocated to a unknown secret location about 15 kilometres outside of town today just after his capture. He was only in custody for less than one hour after the crime took place, and witnesses say he acted without remorse.

Posted in General, Video | 2 Comments »

Smoking to Dresses: We are Twisted

June 24th, 2009 Thomasso

The Langley driver who was smoking a fag with his thirteen year old daughter inside the car got a fine yesterday, under the recently created law in British Columbia that prohibits smoking around minors while inside a vehicle. I have heard a lot of arguments on this “tough on crime” approach that people see as an infringement of their personal space and general rights. However, I think that the spirit of the law is primarily targeting the cost and health effects of the child, and that the vehicle is not the same as the home where various rights are under the Charter of Rights and freedoms.

The weakest argument I have heard is how the government can step inside our personal space and prohibit what it is we can do, or not do, inside our vehicles. The argument that we should have full unquestioned autonomy of our vehicles is a baseless one. The vehicle is not entirely our personal space, and we are required to adhere to standards that are required by law, such as a licence to operate it, which is a very good method of controlling its uses and operation.

Because of this requirement to obtain a licence, this means that in general, laws, rules and policies can be establish to ensure that everyone who is in control of the vehicle does so with the best interests of the public and their personal safety in mind. A licence controls the use of the vehicle, and those who cause harm, or violate the operational requirements of driving, will have their privileges taken away and be asked to pay fines or face suspensions and then need to re-qualify.

Stronger yet, laws are starting to recognize that our actions cause harms to innocent bystanders and therefore those bystanders should be protected from the harms that we inflict upon ourselves. Second-hand cigarette smoke is by far one of the most recognized forms of harms to the public, and over the last decade numerous laws have being enacted to eliminate it from the workplace and public areas. It would only make sense that this push would creep into the private sphere, so prohibiting smoking inside a motor vehicle with children present, while on the roads, seems like the next logical evolution of public health and safety.

For adults, we must ensure that our children must be given every opportunity of protection from these unnecessary harms that we may inflict do to our personal and long-term bad habits. Overall, the health benefits to our children for the future makes perfect sense, even if it means we as adults must give up our bad habits, or at the very least comply with the prohibition of driving while smoking with minors present. I would argue that our children must come first, over and beyond our foolish indulgences because it is them who will have to pay for us as we start to use the health care system to repair the damage we caused on ourselves. Personally, I am in full favour of this law and fully support it.

Fashion blogs or just a heavy dose of female narcissism?

While I was listening to SPARK, a program from CBC Radio One, of which they looked at one of the latest blog trends that allows the author to post what it is that they are wearing and then giving you the opportunity to comment on their daily garb ensembles. This is just weird that someone is asking people to comment on what it is they are wearing from day to day, or that they are even taking the time to photograph themselves and then posting them on-line so that you can give them your opinion. The two examples from Episode 83 of SPARK from June 24: Jessica Schroeder’s What I Wore, and What I Wore Today.

Of course, all of the blogs that are listed on the radio program are by women, and they are, in essence, just fashion blogs. However, there was one exception, the journalist Dan Misener whose web site, called What Dan Wore, who reported the story created his own daily personal fashion blog, and clearly it did not have the same impact. Talk about how stereotypical I am—but that was the lesson and point that he was making.

Posted in Criminology, General, Law and Order, Social Justice | No Comments »

It is Only Fate that Hangs in the Balance: Don’t Worry.

June 23rd, 2009 Thomasso

The saga of my work, my employment, the job, continues. Lets see, where did I leave off from my last post on this subject? Awh—yes, how I thought my job was saved.

In spite of me being very fortunate and persevering, my luck sometimes plays double jeopardy with me when lady luck plays her hand, or the forces of the powers that will me push me in directions that I least expect.  The law of uncertainty is a strange little law.

I have known now for the last week that my job position will change. This, in spite of my co-worker who is going through Hell with his job changes, is causing a lot of tension for me because he is going through a massive downturn while I sit and watch. I know that I have a job, albeit in a different location, with different rules and a different position, but I know less than anyone else does. No one is talking to me. While I listen to my co-worker go through his waxing and waning of the continuous streams of bad news after more bad news, I feel left out. I know that the cut backs are inevitable, and that my employer is somewhere between cardiac arrest and the morgue, and because of this I know full well that my future hangs in the balance, and worse, I have no control over it.

I told my friend, “what is worse, knowing that you are getting screwed, or not knowing when and how, but that you will eventually get screwed, and all around you, everywhere, is silence… not a damn peep!”

So, I have a job right now. I am working and getting a pay cheque. As far as I know the money is good, i.e., their Bank will cash their promissory notes. Still, I am faced with more silence as I hear the rumours, and we talk about the “what ifs” and logic of what could happen.

In a nut-shell, my co-worker has gone through two revisions of his contract, a contract that he really has no choice but to follow through because it is either take the job, or face unemployment. The first contract stated that he will take a decrease in wages, about a dollar per hour, but the second version sought to eliminate his bonus. In other words, a cut of almost $4,000.00 per year. Added to the carnage of the demotion, his position will turn into a general labourers position, and much of the administration duties that he enjoys now are gone as of the end of this month.

So, the question now that I am asking myself is, “what is in store for little old me once it is my turn to go through the economic blender?” Will they be gentle with me and spare me the blood-letting?

I guess I will find out after the long weekend as my fate hangs in the balance.

Posted in Bitching about work, Diatribe, General | 3 Comments »

The Solstice Celebrations

June 21st, 2009 Thomasso

The first day of summer is just another blip on the calender, like the religious holidays, these events go by hardly unnoticed, unless the stores are heavily marketing them. Fortunately the marketers haven’t commercialized this summer Solstice event, and for the most part they have kept quiet for this astrological significance.

I built a makeshift Sundial so I could watch the Sun reach its apex in the sky which would mark the longest daylight period of the year, when it reaches the highest point, but the cloud cover was so bad that I gave up on it and took it inside. I wanted to capture the shadow with my camera but the threat of rain and overcast sky conditions kept me inside for most of the morning when it took place. So what can you do? Weather is so unpredictable…

I have a neighbour who really took a interest in my Sundial. She asked what I was building, and I told her. She wanted me to get her when the sun reached the highest point so she could see it for herself. Of course that never happened because of the weather. So, it is interesting that some people do take a notice in these things, and that they seem to have a special interest with “old school technology” like my sundial. Perhaps in her own particular way she was celebrating the longest day of the year too?

The only down side to the summer Solstice is that from now on the days start to get shorter until the winter Solstice. However, I being the “back yard” astronomer that I am, I do know that there is this thing called the seasonal lag, which is when the Sun regulates daylight and the changing temperatures of the seasons, so there is always a lag from after the Sun changes from its Northern track then back down to its Southern track, or lowest point in the sky. The time it takes for each hemisphere to warm up, or cool down, is usually about three months. Therefore, the days maybe getting shorter, but the average temperature overall will increase for the next few months.

There are still some good days ahead for Sun worshipping—don’t worry.

Posted in Astronomy, Events, General | No Comments »

Happy Summer Time!

June 21st, 2009 Thomasso

Yes, finally, it is Summer! As of (proximately) 10:00am this morning, the Sun will have reached its maximum point in the sky for the Northern Hemisphere, and from now, until Winter, the days will gradually get shorter. But in the mean time, we have four months of Summer! Enjoy!

I’m sure glad I can spend today at home, and today being the first day of summer, it should be a national holiday.

Posted in Astronomy, Events, General | No Comments »