Google: (n.) a useful internet tool that allows you to not ask dumb questions.

Due to popular demand (from my brother), I will inform you that MRJC means the Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre of Edmonton of which I am a member and volunteer mediator. Our role is to reduce conflict in the community and keep people from
A) Clogging up small claims court.
B) Annoying the Bylaw officers.
C) Slashing each other's tires, and
D) Poisoning each other's pets.

Fun getting ready

We had fun getting ready for Rosella's after-wedding-party this weekend. Us three girls tried out different styles of Make-up and dress than we normally don, but it was fun. I am still very tired though. My weekend was way too busy and now I am back in school taking french five hours a day for the next three and a half weeks. Yuck.

How high's the water, Martha?

Friday morning, I arrive at the in-laws place to work the garage sale for the weekend, only to see a bleary-eyed sister in-law pop her head out of the doorway saying, "The basement is flooding."

Crisis.

I am the ranking adult.

What fun.

I hate being a grownup.

Almost immediately, however, the grandparents show up, and we embark on a mission to stop new water from coming into the house.

We check the pool: not leaking.
We check the hot water tank: not leaking.
We check the water outlets: not leaking.
We check the pipes: not leaking.
We step in the overflowing sump water.
Whoomp, there it is.

We bail out the sump until we can see the pump outlet, which is not attached. I get to manually hold the pump outlet on the outlet pipe until my hands freeze and we are able to re-attach the clamp that would normally hold the pipes together, and the sump drains. Cleanup begins. Total damage: remarkably little.

So that was my weekend. Flood damage and haggling about whether my garbage is worth $0.50 or $0.25. Plus we had company on Saturday night (and out at a wedding reception until 2:30) and Sunday night. Jenn started her French class this morning, and I am back to the old grindstone. Tonight I am an observer at an MRJC mediation, so that should be educational. Anyway, I'm off to put some caselaw in a binder and read it before I finish this section of my thesis. Then one more brief section and I hand this draft in.

Grill Grill Grill, Grill Grill Grill.

I bought some propane
and a bunch of ribeye steak
they grilled up real nice.

Job Interview

Today I had my first serious job interview in three years at Alberta Human Resources and Employment for the position of FOIP coordinator for a three ministry service sharing arrangement. Happily, I had reviewed the FOIP act and the Practices and Guidelines binder prior to the interview so I didn't look like a complete twit, and was able to actually answer pretty much all the questions that they asked regarding Access to Information and Privacy issues. Hopefully nobody better applies and my references are nice to me, because I would really quite like to do this particular job. Even if I don't stay on after the contract period, it would give me an inside look into the application of privacy legislation in government which would help me as part of my academic future, while at the same time keeping us from starving. Keep your fingers crossed for me, in my first (and in all likelihood not last) job interview of the current job search.

Starting to feel like home

Well, we have been in our new place about a week and a half and it's starting to feel like home. We are just about finished unpacking and settling in and there are only a few things left to finish doing before we are officially finished unpacking. I have been in school all week from 9-4:30 though, so the last little bit has taken a lot longer than it really should have. I have been having a lot of fun in my course though. I am taking a jazz education course and it's been a blast! We sit around all day and talk about jazz and then we play jazz music in a jazz band setting. I have been playing baritone and alto saxophone as well as doing some conducting. The course is over tomorrow :( It's been a great way to get three credits, plus I am receiving credit for this course at the graduate student or 500 level (SWEET!). So that's what I have been up to all week.

My thesis

Holy wow. I just finished the substantive part of the latest iteration of my thesis. Now all I need to do before I hand it in is to fix up the footnotes and the bibliography and hand it in to my advisor, hopefully before I go to Saskatchewan for the weekend. Woo. This is not likely to be the final draft, but it is a lot closer than the draft that I handed in over the Christmas break. It is currently running to about 140 pages on the topic of privacy and the Lawful Access proposals (among them the last government's bill C-74) If you want to read my thesis, I suggest that you click here!

1226 Square Feet of Bliss

Our new place is great. Firstly, it is huge, compared to our last place. Jenn and I will just sit and zone out in a room and say stupid things like, "Wow, this room is really big! I can't believe that we are both in here and we aren't touching!" Essentially, this place replicates our last apartment, with the addition of such useful things as "floor not covered with furniture", "Dishwasher" and "deck".

For those of you who helped us move, I must inform you that we will be having a Cinco de Mayo celebration on Friday night, working in the morning be damned. The menu will include:

Fresh homemade salsa, homemade corn tortillas, being made into beef and chicken tacos, homemade refried beans, and, of course, lime, mango, and peach margaritas.

I fully expect it to be glorious, if you are coming, you can bring either corona or pacifico lager, and make sure it is cold.