A Moment to Remember a Friend

August 21st, 2010 Thomasso

I was humbled today to find out that one of my friends from my very first intake at Corrections Canada had been sent off to the hospital and will likely never come out due to cancer.  Back in November of 2002 I did my very first week of volunteering work as a civilian counsellor working with inmates who were about to be released from the halfway house. I was very green and was full of energy back then. That time was a meaningful time for me, as what I saw, did and got out from it became imprinted in my mind, likely for the rest of my life. This is mainly why I kept up with doing so much volunteering as a student with Corrections.

Since then, I have kept in touch with only a hand full of those men that I have worked with over the years. Normally when the men go off into the world I rarely hear back from them. I assume that most go on with their lives and become successful at whatever they are doing. Most of the men that I worked with are none violent offenders, and are either dealing with drug addition or some sort of mental illness. They are the lucky ones who can leave the prison system and have a good chance to make it out in the world.

This particular individual is somewhat well known in the media, and has had to deal with the public stigma of his past offences for a very long time, which is why I will not mention his name on this blog-post.

When you work with people, you form bonds. This is natural. Even the most seasoned counsellors are effected by these tragic circumstance and loses. I will always remember my friend from over eight years ago. Regrettably he is in somewhere around Ontario, probably near Toronto, too far away for me to travel.

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Sleeping In Today

August 21st, 2010 Thomasso

Well the first of my marks came in. Not bad; not that great, but I can live with it. A letter grade of B+ was given to me for my efforts. My weakness: the presentations, and my thesis for my major paper. The argument was good, but the effort put into it was not, or at least worthy of a grade of A. So the total combined effort that course was rewarded with a B+.

[ADDED] My GPA seems to have only suffered a little bit. I lost a one hundredth of a point.

I am still waiting for more marks to trickle in. The term is not quite over yet. For my last course, the final paper just handed in last night, and is a group assignment, almost the equivalent of a final exam. So my heart is beating very lightly as the will marked this my Monday.

Today, this morning, I purposely slept in. It felt great not to worry about a starting time, and having responsibilities waiting for me when the alarm clock goes off. Though I did felt guilt when I opened my eyes, and forced myself back to sleep. It was cold, too. I had to grab another blanket to cover myself with. Could a early winter be around the corner waiting for us? No! Not so soon.

The Police came and dealt with my unruly neighbours last night. They were drinking, smoking drugs, acting like children with their loud voices and bad language. A car was damaged as it hit another car along the street. Everyone who was drinking was also driving. The police were vigorous this time around because there were little kids on the premisses while the drinking and drugs were being consumed. Not a very healthy atmosphere for children in a household to be in, eh?

[ADDED] It appears that I was not the only one who put their foot down and alerted the police about last night’s little episode. I now know of two others who did some phoning of their own. I guess I cannot take all the credit after all.

Am I the bad person for this? They seem to think so as I took away their fun. But what about the children, the safety of our roads, and my peace of mind? Maybe the drugs made them forget, or did they forget long before that?

My landlord is like an ostrich, who quickly buries its head in the sand hoping that the problem will work itself out and go away. I bypass them and deal with these issues myself. In the past I have sent the mounties over to their place too. Sad isn’t. They know, but they don’t care, only their reputations after the fact. If they actually thought about what they were doing before hand then all would be well today. That was a different story, told a long time ago.

The HST. I love how this roller coaster ride of a story is taking on a life of it own. I am a proud signer of the petition of the anti-HST protest. My argument is that it is not the tax itself, but the timing of it. Introducing a tax right in the middle of a recession has got to be one of the most sure ways of committing political suicide that there is. Canadian history is full of good examples of this. You don’t start taxing during rough times: you will loose your votes. Unless Prime Minister Harper and Premier Campbell decide that Canada should be a Fascist State and start running everything like Hitler did, then I will leave. They could start taxing all they want after that, I wouldn’t care. But in the mean time, I do not want them in power if they are going to crank up taxes to pay off the 2010 Olympics and Corporate Welfare pay-outs! Such apathy towards the people to feed only the big businesses at our expense —what happened to capitalism and the market economy? Yeah, it doesn’t work. I shake my head.

Well, time for that first cup of coffee, and then my morning surf for the news. Awh, to sleep in.

[ADDED] A cup of coffee turned into a full pot. I hit the coffee hard today, but sure got a lot done.

Until next time.

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Twenty-Two Weeks, Two Courses, Two Degrees

August 12th, 2010 Thomasso

Today is a very special day for me. The clock is counting down and time is speeding up as the last of the work is just but a few weeks away. This is like having all the planets lining up to form a very significant astronomical event, my life long ambition of having my degrees will come to past, and then my new life will start right after that.

First, twenty-two weeks left of classes, and just two course left to complete. It will be part time as far as the workload goes, but I am sure I will keep busy with the work. Once done, I will have two pieces of paper to show for everything done since 2004, and 2006.

Second, planning has started. My applications have started getting replies and my current employment has been notified–officially.

Last, I have kicked my networking into super-fast mode. Just today I landed two very important employment opportunities that are right within my dream career path. The names and references fell on my lap, (speaking figuratively).

Today also marks the very last time I will have to travel for a class at the Surrey Campus. I will miss the place, but I am sure I will visit it in the near future for whatever reason.

My head is spinning. I never knew it would move this fast. I feel chaotic, but I am in control.

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With Just One More Assignment to Go, the Final Goodbyes for CMNS3100 –S10

August 11th, 2010 Thomasso

At the end it was a job well done. Sitting with the group members from my Business Communications class, we looked somber as the physical part of the course came to a close. The last portion of the course had been met. Yes! It was a good job. In fact, I believed it was a job well done, but the fruits of our labour will be recognized with our final mark still to come.

Just one segment of the course remains, and then the summer semester of 2010 will be closed. Next, and lastly, the group will write what is called a final recommendation report from our group project. All of this will be done by email, and then it is goodbye.

Before the actual presentation the entire group, except me, embarked on what is now a class tradition—a shot of hard alcohol before presentations. We went to one of the bistros that sit adjacent to the university and had our pre-dinner and ceremonial shots—any hard drink taken in a shot-glass. I of course do not drink alcohol, so I sat and watched. We also ate too, but I was not that hungry.

Watching four twenty something women swish down their tiny one ounce shot classes was weird, as from my perspective it was like watching four kids in a bar—I am getting old—OMG!  But they puckered up and drank. Once the drinks settled, and we talked for a couple of minutes, it was up to class.

We missed getting a closer time sought at the beginning of the class, as we all like getting it over with as soon as possible, but instead we were the third last group to present.  Everyone in the class looked their best. Men in dress shirts, and the women in their smart business attire, the class looked like a fashion convention of the latest Sears summer dress catalogue: it was breath taking! One day I will write about the clothing option from this day, but not now.

This was the last time that we would be together as a group. It is hard to say goodbye after fourteen weeks of pure stress and hard work. It is times like this that makes team work almost unbearable because once you have formed these alliances, breaking them up like this is twice as hard as it was in creating them.  Perhaps this was the final lesson from the class on business communication?

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When You Hang Your Underwear (Personal Affairs) in Public, It Becomes a Messy Deal if Your Motives Fail

August 10th, 2010 Thomasso

For about a couple of weeks now I had known of a college buddy who was head over heals about his one true love, (R.B.), and when he popped the question, it was worse than an atomic bomb going off.  The whole campus knew about it in a matter of minutes. He went and asked his girl friend out on a date. I my opinion, this was an extremely tacky affair because when he announced that he was going to do this by a combination of text-messaging and Twitter, I shook my head in disbelief. RB did it, and it got ugly real fast.

The background.

For months RB was obsessed with her. He told only three people that I know of, of how he felt about her. He mingled with her, walked with her as much as possible, and even switched majors and so he could take classes with her so that he could spend more time with with her together. on campus We joked that he was fast approaching “stocker Status,” something that everyone is more concerned with these days as date-rape, sexual assaults and nuisance cases flood the media. But the lure of love gripped him—tightly.

At the beginning of the month he popped the question and announced it on Twitter, and then sent out a text message announcing “Will you go out with me.” Within minutes he got his answer, but not from her, but from her close circle of friends. It was brutal. They had no mercy. He got his answer with a barrage of text messages back that spanned from calling him a “animal,” to a being a criminal, in other words, a resounding, “NO!” There was no doubt that she did not want anything to do with him after that announcement. Even today she is shy and embarrassed when walking among the other students on campus, never bring that episode up with her as she will become very upset.

What went wrong?

Today, serenading, flowers and love notes are fine, but not in public. Public also includes text-messaging, twitter and email. Blogging and posting on Face Book are bad too. The Damage is far too great, even if she accepted, to have everybody including the guys next door, know  that you tried and asked your girl out on a date.

My friend forgot the two basic principles of human nature in romance. First, everyone has feelings, and embarrassment is one of them. Second, no two people share identical emotions at any one time, especially courtship emotions and other sexual based feelings. To assume that the person of whom you have a crush on thinks likewise requires a lot of research and field testing. The first rule would be to test whether the person you fancy has any feelings about you in the same manner, in a positive light. Remember that “love is blind,” as the saying goes, but today, in our society, you must be discreet and cautious as the storybook romances are just that, stuff of storybooks. So posting your announcement on Twitter, and text-messaging that person so that everyone can see it is not a good thing. Networking is a powerful tool, but it is viral, and stuff that you did not want aired in public seems to spread even faster through the network than the boring stuff.

There are things, actions, still today that must be kept closed off from the public sphere and given a high level of discreetness. The outcome could have been a lot different had my friend used the old school from of asking his girl friend to embark on a more intimate relationship. This is a very good example of how not to use social networking as your way of communicating your needs.

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Social Media and Personal Connectiveness: The Old Boy’s Network In A Beatdown

August 7th, 2010 Thomasso

I was inspired when I first was this video just a few weeks ago in my business  communications class. What took me by surprise were some of the stats that streamed out as the shock effect of the video’s content flowed out at me with lighting speed. Of course, that was the intent of the video’s creators, to jam you with data, making the point of just how fast this revolution of social media is growing.

This video piece demonstrates to me the “new” direction that we are heading into as opposed to the desired, controlled, predestined direction that a few special interests elites would like us to go in, adding that if anyone feels that they have any control of it, then they are a fool. This direction is a total change in the way we socially interact. This includes everything from shopping, voting, communication and information gathering.

After 2010 the baby-boomers will not matter anymore as far as their influences on the world stage (Stats Canada). The effect on this change will be profound as this revolution from the digital age will impact all aspects of our world. The boundaries of political ideologies will blur and shift as voting demographics will be inspired by on-line content and digital communities. Capitalism will evolve into something never seen before as the new forces of on-line, social networking, consumerism will reshape it.

The rapid extinction of religions, cultures and languages is occurring at an unprecedented rate. The Internet will continue grow, even as governments grapple with the fear of new ideas and freedoms as they try and find ways to control and contain it. It is inevitable: the Net now can start wars, bring down government and decimate economies. Now that is power and a force to be reckon with.

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My Day Told in Pictures

August 3rd, 2010 Thomasso

I don’t know why, I just had the camera with me the whole day. I wasn’t the best of days, the weather was sunny, then stormy, then sunny again, and the attitude from everyone was one of “I want to go home and continue with the long weekend.”

Anyway, we all got through it.

So, here are some photos of my day, so far, as it is not over yet.

Life at 5:00am. It is weird that the sun is still getting up the same time I do. In fact, this whole picture is weird because the I only see the sun this early for less that two months our of the year–I’m not used to this. I’m usually long gone, and  off to work, before the sun starts to shine along the horizon.

The mid morning Moon shot. I was originally taking photos of the clouds because a storm system was rolling in, but this shot took my fancy. The Moon looks really cool in this image, I think, so I thought it was worthy of being posted here in the blog. Note: from my course in astronomy, on the Solar System, I know that this phase of the moon is the third quarter, soon we will have the new moon.

And then there is the library at the Surrey campus. I just took this one as I was typing this out (about 2:45pm). The architecture looks really cool, especially when there is little light outside (like late at night) and all the flood lights are on, but this only happens during the winter months when it gets much darker earlier in the day. In the summer, the sun turns everything a gold colour inside the walk-through area. You literally walk in from 30C super humid heat, into 20C super dry cool air from the A/C.

Next was the two group meetings that I had, which took me from 3:00pm until 6:30pm, just before my 7:00pm evening class. So, eight solid hours of campus! My butt was sore from sitting for so long, and when we took our breaks it was like walking on glass my legs hurt so much.

There is still so much work to do until the very end of the semester. Less than ten days to go! Oh we need more time to polish these presentations.

From the above image you can see that our energy levels are running out from the input on these brain storming session. This is our last presentation we have for our communications class, where each of us gets only 2:30 minutes to speak. Every second counts in these presentations!

After class, on the way out from the Admissions Building I took this shot(s). I was there so late! I want to curl up on the bench and stay the evening–I didn’t want to move.

I watched the fountain at the turtle pond – it was hypnotizing. It was peaceful. The flash had a nice effect on the water too.

Here we go – the end to a perfect day. OK, it wasn’t that perfect, but it sure felt like when I sat down and took this photo. I could have slept on the bench I was so tired.

Good night.

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Stopping an Idea with Rent-a-Cops: A Warrning About Freedom of Speech

July 31st, 2010 Thomasso

Last Thursday I saw something that embarrassed me while I was sitting in my CRIM4301 class, a class on Human Rights. A fellow classmate who was supposed to be in the class with us was hurriedly walking past the classroom with two campus rent-a-cops in tow.   We all jumped up looked out the window from our second story view point when one of the students notice that he was outside in the parking lot being lured off of the campus grounds by four rent-a-cops, or campus security guards.

Why was this all happening? Emery Warner, who is also a student of Criminology, was doing a project similar to a project that I am doing in my Communications class, where he is brining to the attention of the students. facts and issues about the new company, Sodexo, who had just started taking over the cafeteria on all Kwantlen campuses. The issues range from Sodexo’s past and present job practises, and the quality of food they serve, not to mention the way they treat their employees.

Anyway, please read the on-line copy of the story that was posted in today’s Vancouver Sun news paper about Emery’s ordeal.

Kwantlen student cooks up a storm over cafeteria operators: Emery Warner says security guards barred him from campus for handing out protest pamphlets.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, Events, General, Law and Order, Social Justice, University classes | 1 Comment »

Putting the Blog Up on the Pedestal-Social Networking and My New Employer

July 25th, 2010 Thomasso

Graduation is less than twenty weeks away, and the countdown between no more classes and the search and choice of who my future employer are starting to gain momentum. Time is flying by now. At last check, I have three weeks left this term and 14 for the next, plus the couple of weeks in between semesters called the breaks and finals. I am writing this post to tell you all that I have embarked on a huge social Networking plan, at the request of a few agencies who are very interested in having me on board their teams. That last phrase was code for employers are asking me to come in for job interviews and a job market looks very promising with them–but they want more.

This networking blitz gives me a chance to show off my technical skills and all the lovely education that I have amassed over the last six years. Added to this that I have a fully functional web site and active social networking do-dads all over it now, I think I am on the right path.

With over 1250 posts to view, anyone who reads this will see that I am very active in the community and with networking.

This is a graphical representation of what I think the shiny new blog looks like now, the golden “T” is the new look behind the scenes.

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Is It Time to Revamp the Vancouver Police Department?

July 25th, 2010 Thomasso

Lets start off with a woman named Sandy. When we talked about this after class on back Thursday, which was fittingly a class about human rights, I was applauded, shocked and embarrassed from both watching and hearing the news about the women in the Vancouver Downtown East Side who was pushed to the ground by a Vancouver Police Officer because she walked into him. The embarrassment escalated when it was discovered that the women has cerebral palsy, and because of this she has difficulty walking at the best of times.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties (BCCL) are an organization of lawyers who volunteer their time that fight for the rights of those who otherwise could not, or challenges our legal and moral values that have being corrupted and that treat people unfairly. They released the video from a street cam that takes video for the purposes of surveillance along Hastings Street where there is no doubt a high concentration of the poor and homeless, and where drug addicts and malcontents gather. Ironically, that same video is what brought justice, the public’s view as in this case, to the forefront.

The public outcry has been deafening in my circles of friends. I have not heard so much outrage about the police since the Robert Dziekanski Tasering murder at the Vancouver Airport back in October 14, 2007 by four RCMP Officers.

The impact that video has is immediate and stands on it own in the public’s mind. Unlike paper that can be censored by government, special organizations and the courts, or testimony that is based on memory that is tainted with objective spin and well rehearsed lines, video is the ultimate eye witness, even when there is no audio to accompany it. It is very difficult for the pubic to see the extenuating circumstances, and to allow legal ambiguous speak to interfere with the actors’ case who is trying to change public’s opinion as the legal system is constantly under attack by the public from all angles.

Does the moral compass of the VPD and other police forces need to be fixed? This was one of the questions that we debated back on Thursday. With the riggers of police training, one would assume that police would be more attuned to the area that they are serving. As one colleague put it, “all it takes is one bad apple…”

Here is the email I sent after class:

Things That Make Canada Questionable in its Stance on Human Rights and the treatment of the Weak and Disabled.

Last night in one of my classes we debated the aspects of what transpired from an incident that occurred along Hasting street in Vancouver, BC on about July 1st 2010. We focused on the communication by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), not what the media is saying. At present, the VPD is saying very little as it seems that the department is still reviewing the case; however, they are satisfied that the officer did apologies, but the three officers have not comment on their conduct before, during and after the incident occurred.

Have an opened mind when viewing this video. Reflect upon it, and then ask yourself these questions, what would you do if you were the police officer, and the person with the disability? How would you react? If you were a bystander, what would you do? There were Good Samaritan’s along the sidewalk, but would you look the other way, or would intervene regardless that it was police offers who started the action?

Courtesy of CBC NEWS

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/22/bc-civil-liberties-police-push-ms-woman-video.html

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/22/bc-woman-shoved-sandy-police-downtown-eastside.html

Just blowing off of some steam when I see imbalances in power and misuses of authority.

Please go to these links:

CBC New Website -

“Police Shoving Woman On Video Raises Questions.”

“Woman Shoved By Police Says, ‘He Has No Right.‘”

You can watch the video for yourself, and you be the judge, “was it provoked, or a bad move on the officer’s part?”

Sincerly

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