Done

December 15th, 2010 Thomasso

I just submitted very last piece of work for my degree. It is over. No more homework! No more long drives and painfully late nights in classrooms and libraries. Heck, no more endless hours of reading, typing and writing.  Although it is unofficial, I have now gone from undergraduate to graduate as of this point in time. I like saying that because it has been a long haul.

About fifteen minutes ago, I sent off my last paper by email. It was a take-home exam, the worst kind because they are critiqued as if they are a published books for the public market. I spent over ten hours on six double spaced pages of text answering just two little questions from a single source. Every letter of text had to count. You go over your allotted six pages, then it is not marked. You go under, you loose marks because of missing information.

The really weird thing is I am not that excited. Yes I am happy, but I am not throwing a party or buying myself that super dinner with friends, but in fact, I feel nothing special. I was just thinking, “what next?”

In the new year the real work begins. I put my higher education to good use. I start, hopefully, working in my field of expertise then!

But in the mean time, I have to go in for another eye examination. My eyes are getting worse. The glasses that I got six months ago do not work any more, and the headaches are worse too. I am far-sighted, and one eye is worse than the other. Perhaps this is my old age kicking in, but it sure kicked in with a vengeance.

So in the mean time I have about three weeks left with my current employer. They are nice people, but they are going through some pains of stress themselves with the way the economy is going. Running a business today must be sheer-hell!

Well, off to bed.

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Frustrated

December 13th, 2010 Thomasso

I’m frustrated right now with my take-home exam.

What happened was, I started doing the research for the paper when I figured out that I had gathered way too much information for what I needed. I realised that I wasted over five hours of time on it so far. The requirements are, three double spaced pages of text for each question, with a total of two questions for the exam. The total value of the exam from the whole course is thirty percent. So naturally I started gathering what I thought was, or would be, the equivalent of what a paper would be for a value of thirty percent. My premise was based on a third or fourth year paper, not a first year paper.

When I started compiling the date and then structured my arguments, I quickly ran out of room, reaching the three page limit. I tried condensing the information even further, but came to the conclusion that half of my research would need to be taken out to meet the requirements.

Frustrated, I took a time-out, and revisited the syllabus and then realised what error I made. The term “over kill” could literally describe the level of input I initially put into it at this point. Frustration was trying to choose what to keep and what to throw out.

Tomorrow I will spend another couple of hours reworking the data and dumb everything down. Hopefully this will give me enough time Wednesday to proof read the document and have it submitted for midnight Wednesday.

My only incentives right now are the dead-line and the weight of thirty percent of the overall course grade. Getting it finished and polished for presentation will be something that I will regrettably have to do up to the last minute.

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Finally

December 11th, 2010 Thomasso

When I was driving home last night from finals from my last class of the term, it hit me right around the intersection of HWY#10 and the Surrey, Langley border. This was my last trip to Richmond, my last class as an undergraduate, and hopefully, if I pass French, my last trip to Kwantlen. No more of this 17 hour a day crap and stressing out all of the time. I aged 10 years in the last six months because of this timetable I was on.

To all my friends and family, my life should have some normality back into it. I will start calling you once I get my scheduling back in order.  I know for some you have not heard back from me in the last ten weeks or so, but I can assure you that I will call and continue to keep in touch with you once I am back on track. Be patient.

I have one last bit of work to do before I can call this trim officially over.  I still have my take home exam to do for my Political Science class. It is basically two mini papers wrapped up into one large paper, worth about 20 percent of the course. Piece of cake really. Once that is done then I wait for the marks to come back, which will probably be around the 20th of December.

When I finished the exam last night at Richmond, I walked around and took some photos of the campus. This was something that I wanted to do for some time. I like the architecture of the building. It is unique.

It is funny, when I look back at the very first time I entered these halls at Richmond Campus, I remembered how big it was. Now, it is so small, and I see everything packed so tightly into one building. It is amazing how ones perspective is changed over time.

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The Final Week

December 5th, 2010 Thomasso

The fourteenth week of the semester will start tomorrow and my biggest concern is will I be ready for it. I’ve practised my French homework, and did most of the on-line activists for French. I’m psyching myself up for the Political Science final that is a take-home exam – those are often the toughest, so really it is sit down and go over everything again and again until I’m sick.

I spent more time doing my windows, putting plastic barriers up to help with the heating bill. I’ll have virtually no income for January and February, so I really have to pinch my pennies. So I’m doing everything I can to save money and live comfortable at the same time. It’s tough with inflation starting to ramp up.

Speaking about inflation, I cannot believe how expensive everything is getting? All my bills, including rent and electric have jump by about 4 percent. I was going to buy a new jacket for the winter, but I might have to stock with the one I got now and fix the zipper on it. This is a sign if how tight this season is going to be, so spending is going to be controlled even more. Last year I went through several cost cutting measures, but now I’m seeing that I have to go further, and back then, those were though cut-backs. Ultimately too these means cutting back on income-tax going to the government – sorry Gordon and Steven – you guys are going to have to find another sucker to support your lifestyle with. Snicker. The poor starving student does have some perks.

I have to raise a glass up to the founder and whistle blower of WikiLeaks. This guys has got some serious balls. But this has also made the government of Canada that much more accountable. Yes, I have found that once the leaks started surfacing, people who normally were passive about their government became active, and that I think is very healthy for a democracy. This now gives each and everyone of us a look at big brother , although most will forget about it by next week, just the few moments of reading WikiLeaks, getting people talking, was very healthy. I hope there is more. I therefore give my “stamp of approve” for WikeLeaks just on the bases of merit and truthfulness that is has brought to the public.

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Work pluss Home Equals No Fun at All

November 29th, 2010 Thomasso

Yes, I’m still cranking out this term paper for my Political Science class. It is 95 percent done now. Just need a pretty cover page and a good proof read, then it is off to the printers.

Work is going well, I guess. I can feel the stress in my “trainee’s” voice as I pass all of my knowledge onto her. Sadly, they thought that what I did at the old warehouse was just a walk in the park. They had no idea the width and breadth that is involved in such an operation, let alone the riggers of keeping on top of everything, including the manual labour.  Oh, did I say manual labour – yes I did. In fact, that seems to be the missing part of the whole equation for running a warehouse, the lifting, moving and operation of mobile equipment. It is one thing to work behind a desk, but quite another concept when the actual operations of the warehouse are carried out. Awh, the labourer. Fun stuff.

I can feel the end nearing now. The classes are really winding down. I have to pinch myself just thinking that this is it – soon no more classes. Oh Gods, I have done 40 courses – and it will be over soon – in 10 days, 4 hours and 24 minutes. Give or take a few seconds.

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The Twilight of a Semester

November 27th, 2010 Thomasso

I’m taking the time to type out a little post here becuase I wanted to somehow record this weekend as I move into the last week of the semester marking the very end of my undergraduate life as a student. A lot has happened in the last final weeks leading up to this moment. Some were memorable, while other events, well,  I just want to forget that they ever happened. I have many people who support me, while there are others who wish I would not move on – as change seem to be a real issue for them, but as they say in French: C’est la vie. Change will happen no matter what.

I have only three final assignments left before I am done this term. In each class there is a final, and I have a major paper that is due by next Wednesday. December 2nd 9th will mark the end to my classes while I have the exam (take home) that needs to be done in the following week. I have four more trips out to Richmond, and two in Langley, and then I can hang up my gas key with the SUV.

Speaking of the SUV, that saved my day having the 4X4 option. I was able to easily manoeuvre around on the roads covered with snow from the snow storm last Thursday, making my trip out to Richmond a breeze. Sadly, and with anger, the campus was open, but my prof cancelled the class and only communicated to everyone by email. As I came directly from work, there was no time or means for me to check my email, so I made the trip for nothing. Yes, anger.

For the next 24 hours, it is hunker down time and crank out this paper for my Political Science class, then read and memorise like crazy for the two finals thereafter. Yes, the very end is when you do the most work during the semester, so no rest for this poor soul.

Correction: My last regular week of classes will end on the week of December 2nd, however, December 9th is really the last week of classes and when the entire semester is finished. It is confusing becuase the academic week starts on Mondays and ends on Thursdays, with a three day long weekend. We truly live in a different world indeed  -  from the rest of society.

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Write What?

November 24th, 2010 Thomasso

OK, I want to write, but I can’t. I’m burnt out. My mind can’t stay focused on anything right now. Is this a bad sign? I don’t know.

The semester is almost in its final few weeks, just days away from completion. This means so much for me, but as you may know from past entries on this blog that I feel unworthy right now. I feel unworthy because of my low grade with one of my classes. But besides that point of a low overall mark in a class that I struggle with, there is the twilight of a chapter in my life coming to an end. I will graduate.

I asked myself this question last week while I was neck deep in fear and stress from my study-overload and class assignments list coming due all at once: What will I become once I graduate?

I decided to put that off until I finally do, graduate, meaning that I don’t want to bury my thoughts into something that will pull me down even further than I already am. Yes, I value my graduation, and that is why I am doing all of this, as I want to be recognized for all of my hard work and effort, but I remembered way back when I started going to university that I wanted to become so much more with my education. So much more? But what?

I seem to have forgotten what it was that I wanted when I first stepped onto the hallowed ground of university and started down that path of the brain expansion and then classed into nerds of geektom. I remembered, jokingly, that I was going to seek out the answer from the age old question, “why”? But that wasn’t it either.

Well, I guess I will ponder that question after the term is over – in three weeks. Wish me luck.

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A 1000 Words of a Picture

November 21st, 2010 Thomasso

If you have ever had an image that you have seen that you could not get out of your mind because it was stuck inside your head so bad that you needed to have a copy of it for yourself so you could look at it at will, then this is what happened to me. Art is one of these weird and wonderful things that toys with your emotions, and for whatever reason it seems to work in different ways for different people who are captivated by it.

In my French class, there are many posters that are thumb-tacked to the walls. There are maps of foreign countries, and travel posters that show far off lands that are completely different from our own, but there some that are random images of life in those far off lands, and some are from the past in a time when life was so much simpler. There are a group of three posters that captured my eye when I first walked into the classroom back in September. When the prof lectured, my eyes would sometime wonder over to these posters and I would find myself staring into them. I peer into them trying to live in that moment when the photographer pushed the shutter button on the camera. “What was going on in these people’s minds at that point in time,” I would think to myself.

These images are “good,” for lack of a better word, in my humble opinion. They of French culture, and they seem to have set stereotype for me of what French culture should be in my opinion. If this is a good or bad thing, then time will tell, but I will try and keep my mind open as much as possible however. Each image, as I see it, tells a whole story that only the viewer can read and understand. Of this image, this one stands out the most for me because I see it as being so complex, yet so simple, and I find something new each time I look at it. It is so very interesting, the people in them, the buildings, and the entire symmetry of the picture. This one really has a unique feel of its own.

Children in Place Hébert Paris 18C 1957, by Robert Doisneau, courtesy of art.com

It took me all but of 2 minutes on my favourite search engine to find this print, and the artist, on the World Wide Web. Robert Doisneau took this photograph in 1957 in a place called, “Place Hébert” in Paris, France. Below is what the Website, Art.Com has quoted about Robert Doisneau:

“Emulating the romance and allure of Parisian culture, it’s a great irony that French photographer, Robert Doisneau learned his skills in pharmaceutical advertising. But his talent shined through to grace the pages of Life magazine and Paris Vogue. As a Resistance soldier and photographer in WWII, he forged papers and photo-documented the Occupation and Liberation of Paris. Doisneau photographed many French artists including Picasso. His awards include the Prix Kodak and the Prix Niepce and he has been the subject of major retrospectives throughout Europe and US. A short film was made about his fascinating life in 1973.” (Art.Com, visited on November 21, 2010)

Judge for yourself what you think of this image, and other images from the photographer that can be found on the link from art.com. I am sure you will find some of them very interesting. Hey I bought this one, a full size 1 metre print if it? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the image too.

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Where is Tom?

November 18th, 2010 Thomasso

Well, the real question is, what have I been up to since my last blog entry?  The short answer: I have being working like a mad man, trying to keep up with all my commitments, keeping up with the changing world around me and exploring the new world of criminology, the new career path that I have chosen.

This week is my last major round of midterms for the rest of the semester until finals. Monday was work, then the second interview for one of the employers that I would like to work for. Tuesday was French class, then writing my exam with the Justice institute. Yesterday was work/training my replacement, then the Political Science exam/midterm. Today, Major French midterm and work, but need to do several trips while in Vancouver for my applications. Tomorrow, I have planned two more interviews, and the onsite evaluation with Corrections Canada.

Over the weekend I got to play advocate for a School yard bullying incident that took place several months ago with two grade eight students in the Lower Mainland. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for me as I got to coordinate the whole process from start to finish – solo. The members for each party were on hand, and I got to interview each of the youth who were involved before the hearing took place. A settlement was reached and the application was sent to the adjudicator on Monday and she signed it off. This is a major accomplishment for me as both the accused and victim were satisfied that the matter is now closed and the healing process can start.

My current state of employment is now in the final phases of winding down. The company is taking my departure as an opportunity to implement their austerity measures due to the poor economic climate that Canada is in right now.  The work is barely keeping them afloat, and letting go of bad accounts is causing all sorts of anxiety throughout the staff and office personnel.  Yes, there will be layoffs as we head into December. I found out that I will not be replaced. In fact, my last days of employment will be dismantling some of our infrastructure and relocating it to a smaller sized location. As I look back, my employment would have been in jeopardy anyways, so I do not feel that bad for choosing the time that I did.  I served my notice, tendering my resignation, over six months ago.

OK, must go. All my time is used up for the Blog. Until next time!

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Looking Back and Forth

November 11th, 2010 Thomasso

So much for today done, but still so much left to do.

The emails from my interviews back in October are still rolling in. Every place that I have had interviews with are still asking me to make appointments and schedule further times for more meetings, and I have two short-list interviews coming up very shortly.  Remember that this is on top of my existing work schedule, and I am entering into the last round of midterms for this semester.

I have nine more trips to make into Richmond for my French class then the commute into hell is finished. I am nearing the $150.00 mark in cost of fuel, and have logged 21 hours in travel time because of this stupid class. My anger towards Kwantlen Polytechnic University is quite high right now because of this, but all I can do is bite my tongue. There is less than five weeks left, so I will make it, but at great cost. They could have had this class in Surrey instead of Richmond where most of the students go. But Richmond does have one huge plus: It has lots of parking!

I am not going to complain about homework in this post. I will spare you this time.

Banking Hell:

I had a very interesting adventure with cashing a cheque at the R* Bank in Langley City yesterday. The teller was down right snotty when I asked to cash it. I did not have an account with them, but I do this quite regularly with lots of other Banks, so I am an old pro with cashing out cheques. I listen to her spew for ten minutes before I finally asked if she could just exchange it for legal tender. All I said was, “please, can I have my money,” and she went ballistic. The amount for the cheque was $840.94, and was dated for that day.

Here is some of what the teller said to me:

Thomasso: “I would like to cash this cheque; I do not have an account here; I have I.D.; the cheque is from this location.”

R* Bank Teller: “Do you have an account with us?”

Thomasso: “No. I would like to cash this cheque.”

R* Bank Teller: “you have to have an account with us, or I can’t give you money.”

Thomasso: “I would like to cash this cheque; I do not have an account here; I have I.D.; the cheque is from this location.”

R* Bank Teller: “You don’t talk to me like that! You are not a member here and you do not have the right to make demands here. We don’t don’t clear cheques at this branch”

Thomasso: “Well, hum, this is cheque is made from this branch, and your member banks here.”

R* Bank Teller: “I don’t like your tone. You don’t talk to me like that!”

Thomasso: “ All I asked for was my money – I don’t want to open an account here…”

R* Bank Teller: “You know you are costing us a lot of money, and by not opening up an account with us, you may not get all of your money – I have the right to limit the amount of money you can get here you know?”

Thomasso: “Well, then it is your member who will bear the cost, as I will pass any costs back to him. And if his cheque is no good then he is in trouble. He does have this amount of money in his account to cover this cheque”?

R* Bank Teller: “You open an account right now!”

Thomasso: “Are you going to honour this cheque?”

R* Bank Teller: “We don’t give out cash for cheques, there is a clearing process, we hold it for five business days – and there is a service charge for all of this.”

Thomasso: “Really, then my friend’s cheque is no good?”

R* Bank Teller: “O.K., I will do this just this once, but from now one you will need to open an account with us if you want your cheques cashed. And I am charging you five dollars too!”

She starts writing on the paper and then heads to the rear of the room to get the cash. She is also telling her coworkers and gives me the odd glance, and they all seem to be giggling and shacking their heads.

R* Bank Teller: “Here’s your money.” And she starts counting really loud, smacking the bills hard on the counter.

All this time I was worried if the Bank actually had any cash at all in it. With the credit crunch and debt so high, I heard rumours that most Banks were only carrying small amounts of money in their vaults. Dealing with this Bank really made me start to think. Of course, I will, ever, Bank at a R* Bank after this! This is just bad business. And this tells me that this Bank is hard-up, and could be in trouble, if its employees are to go this length to hassle people.

A lesson for a Bank who wants people to bank with them would be to really open up and be nice to people, then maybe they will see more good people come back to them as customers?  I will not wipe my feet with this Bank, unless I have to cash another cheque with them, again.

Addendum:

Of course, today is one of Canada’s true holidays, well, at least in some provinces. I thought today was a national holiday but my friend in Ontario told me yesterday that it is a regular work day for him, so I may have to do some further investigating on whether this is true or not. I call today Canada’s true holiday because it does not have anything to do with any one religion, or customs, from an outside group or culture, or that it predates events beyond Canada’s creation from 1867. This is a truly Canadian holiday, even though it spawned from our early days as a byproduct of British colonialism, each man that fought in the first world war did so as a Canadian. Yes, we share this date with all those who also fought from their respected lands, but for Canada, Remembrance Day is a Canadian icon of who we are and our identity as a free and independent nation.

Posted in Diatribe, General, Homework and deadlines, Humour, Social economics, Social Justice, University classes | 2 Comments »