Dispatches from a happy Hullian

Add more Newtons

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:25:49 GMT

I was having bike seat issues lately, and took it in to get it looked at. The mechanic diagnosed it as needing more Newtons and cranked the relevant bolt hard with a longer Allen wrench than I possess. I hope that's it; if it doesn't do the trick he says it's a head-scratcher.

I did some keychain triage -- my keys had become an interconnected poly-ring affair and many people said they could hear me coming by my keys. I got it down to one generous ring; we'll see if I'm any stealthier.

I've put up a bunch of pictures and certificates, and got a portable AC to help mitigate the heatwave. Then The Ministry for the Future came in at the library. Started reading it and felt distinctly uncomfortable. Elizabeth has been putting books in boxes for me at the old place; I think she wants to claim it as much as I want to get settled here. I'm going to enlist my sister's help for a big push to get things (including all those books) where they need to be. On Canada Day, because we're both lifelong Québec residents.

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Hot Monday Morning

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 13:14:23 GMT

Going to the air-conditioned office and sending the kids to air-conditioned other place and the pool today for obvious reasons... stay cool out there if you're in this heat wave!

I did a flurry of picture-hanging and putting boxes a bit out of sight here. As we're settling in, my cousin is preparing to move north of Montreal, I brought the kids to a going-away street party by his place. It was fun to see some family, familiar faces and random strangers with the kids. Some knew about my separation and had supportive things to say, and some were just nice people to chat with. Found a union guy (now in LR) and talked shop, watched the younger ones sing their hearts out at the karaoke tent, and had a nice time.

Still feeling a mix of lightness and "what have I done?" on the separation front. Hoping the money actually works and the house I'm renting is good to us. Oscar asked if I was going to own a house again sometime and I didn't have a lot of answer — explained the benefits of renting and that we're living here for a year in any case. I didn't use the words "in this economy?" but they crossed my mind...

Have been booking things for Newfoundland with Ada — looks like we're going Economy on the train, all the berths were booked up. But we benefit from the Canada Strong pass! We'll sleep on soft beds in Halifax. I think it's going to be a blast of a trip.

Union-wise I am recently off 3.5 days of meetings — they were different levels of dense but we were meeting at the same time as basic training for 100 new stewards; we got to spend time with them in the evening and I got added to a few LinkedIns. In the meetings themselves we took a stronger stand on something than I was expecting. It's inside baseball and I should probably wait for the minutes to come out but it's stronger than I was expecting!

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A couple weeks in

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 14:32:56 GMT

Yesterday was Father's Day and also two weeks into me sleeping in the new place. It's shaping up — I keep chipping away at the move; there are still boxes and bags in the front room at the new place but all the rooms feel pretty homey. Father's Day included going to Ada's concert where she sang '22,' which involved more Communauto adventure than anticipated — Elizabeth couldn't unlock her booked car, then I grabbed one that turned out to have a flat, and walked to the replacement. Third time lucky! Also, the concert was running late so Ada got to sing despite our travails. Afterward, we hunted for a brunch place and found a spot at Alpina up in northern Aylmer. They were slammed but nice and the food was copious and tasty.

In the afternoon I found a couple of items from the dregs of garage sales to fill out the kitchen and back deck, and then Andrea and Morgen came over and we went to the nearby city pool all together and had supper. It was lovely to show them around and splash in the pool (I'm not a huge swimmer but it was mostly goofing around in the shallow end).

Things are still mostly cordial with Elizabeth — she got brunch for us, she's offering to help with stuff — but August scheduling is presenting some challenges — trips and plans and kid preferences on what to participate in. More discussion required, I guess.

Union-wise: it's likely real, I plan on handing over the presidency of the subgroup (the local committee) to a young, keen activist (votes permitting) as I've wanted to for a while. That gets me to the state I have wanted to be in for a while.

Lastly: car and ferry booked for adventure with Ada! Lots more to plan, but it's getting real!

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Things I could use

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 18:10:29 GMT

As promised, here are a few things that I'd put to good use if you aren't using them:

~~Muffin tin(s)~~
~~Mixing bowl~~
Small plates (bread/side plate sized)
~~Saucepan (small or medium~~
~~Pitcher (1.5 L or so)~~
~~Chef's knife~~
~~Comforter for queen-sized bed~~
Patio stones (4)
Recipe box (index-card sized)
Salad bowl

Please don't go to too much trouble — these are less-urgent things that I'll get if they aren't floating around my local friends, but I'm hoping I can help you clear things out and round out the house for the kids and me!

Edit: Updated the list. Thanks ironphoenix, Simon and neighbours with "à donner" stuff at the end of their driveways!

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Thu, 05 Jun 2025 03:36:13 GMT

I'm writing this from the kitchen table in my new place — I am in the process of moving out from the home I shared with Elizabeth since 2008. We got to a place where we had a big gulf between what each of us thought our relationship should be and I decided I needed some space and concordance between what our relationship had become and what the infrastructure looked like. So here I am, a kilometer and a half away in a little 1940s house with a bedroom for me and each kid, a woodstove (landlords promise to inspect and clean it before it gets cold) and a certain amount of distance. The kids seem pretty positive and practical about moving in; they'll be in on a supply run on the weekend to kit out their rooms while Elizabeth and Doug go to Toronto for a gig. Unless things go terribly, they'll have their first night here then, and then I'll get Vivien to the bus really early for her school trip to Quebec City.

What this all looks like emotionally going forward... is still up in the air. I was pretty unhappy with where things were going. Elizabeth seems to want to go straight to friends and I'm feeling more like getting the practicalities of co-parenting down, being fair while standing up for myself, setting some clear boundaries. I'm lucky to have a broad circle of support and some really good people close to me. Andrea says I'm brave, and has been there for me all through this. My parents are understanding. My peer group is proud I'm taking concrete action. Lots of people are offering help, even the kids (I'll make sure they get some choices about their space and also carry some boxes). It feels weird but maybe I do need to assemble some kind of separation registry and insist that people only contribute things they have doubles of or don't use -- partly to help get over the hump of expenses (and in to paying rents of the current era and child support) and partly so I don't just say "come to the housewarming" when they ask what they can do.

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In the long run

Tue, 28 May 2024 02:53:27 GMT

I ran the marathon on the weekend and finished nearly half an hour faster than last time — the next personal best is going to be considerably harder to achieve! The weather cooperated and I have been working on my speed — my consistency wasn't there all the way to the end but I was pretty solid for the first 36 km or so and the drop-off in the end wasn't nearly as precipitous as last time!

In other endurance events, our kitchen and bathroom are now both done. Waiting for the final invoice and anything else, but we've put most of the stuff back and are living in them. The space and brightness and lack of impending plumbing failure are all very nice.

This week is going to involve a lot of union stuff; I hope my team doesn't miss me too much...

Tomorrow is Ada's actual birthday: nine years old! She wants to go out to supper for her birthday meal, so off to our local bistro for moderately fancy burgers and fries we go.

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Body, basement lair, bathroom, (sugar) bush

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 02:48:37 GMT

My back is sadly hurting quite a bit, but I think it's on the mend. No long run for me this weekend; maybe I'll sneak in a few short/medium ones over the week. Marathon minus six weeks!

I think it got that way because last week was a bit of a doozy. Some hard conversations, plus my union is having a bit of a week, and our living room/dishwashing/cooking setup is not exactly ergonomic during the renovations. With any luck this week will be less bonkers.

I'm writing from a new-to-me desk in my basement lair. The old one was a converted sewing table with duct tape over the sharp edges; the new one is from my meta-metamour who was moving house and wanted a home for some stuff that wasn't coming with him (or anyone else in his soon to be reconfigured household). Vivien got a new bedside table, there's an improved bed coming to some kid (possibly Vivien as well) and we may turn around and rehome the wardrobe that was part of the package deal. The desk is from the era of tower desktop computers but I the setup feels pretty good. Elizabeth was kind of appalled by all the (quality) chipboard coming into the house but I feel it was an improvement over the stuff it's replacing and none of it will wind up where she has to look at it. I think the initial shock has blown over. Over a year ago I did a Year Compass and wrote that I wanted to make myself cozy with a new desk. I'm late but here it is. Maybe I'll take another look at what I was promising myself as 2022 was turning into 2023 and see what still resonates and whether there are some low-hanging fruit there.

Renovation: walls sanded, and this week should be a flurry of activities: painting, cabinet delivery, probably not a restored bathroom just yet but close. We did get to see my parents in law, all use their shower, and then go out to a very springtime sugar shack lunch and hike. Lunch was delicious and the hike was very muddy — I didn't quite keep up with my household with my back hurting, but in trying to keep up with them my parents in law were going at their own pace behind me. So kind of a short solo hike.

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Spring Miscellany

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 21:07:48 GMT

My rear wheel has a bit of wobble on my bike but I don't think it's the rims or spokes — maybe tire's a bit off?

Got out to see high school friends and parents last weekend — nice to see them all, the kids had fun and I don't think we overwhelmed anyone. The kids are travelling better so long as they can dictate the podcast audio for at least part of the trip.

I've had a few kind of big feelings talks with some of my people lately. I'm really happy to have them, but feeling a bit wrung out as well.

Renovations are going — drywall up and all the right things (plumbing, electrical, fresh insulation) behind it. Plaster on Tuesday! Barbecued for lunch (not the first time this year) but ate it out there (first time this year). Also, did dishes at the garden tap. At least it's nice camping weather now!

We finished our D&D campaign with polycule and kids last week — they defeated a dragon, improved the world, and called it done. It was a flagging game, but it was a fun final battle and they earned the win. Dragon was full of hot air, seemingly — she recharged her breath weapon twice, roasting party members three rounds in a row, fortunately they had divided into clusters out of range from each other!

Looking forward to reports of a mostly-open Gatineau Parkway to Champlain Lookout. Maybe I should line up people for a run at it next Sunday, after this week's forecast weather! Got in some good runs Monday, Friday and yesterday -- 31, 6, and 15 km mostly on trails. I think I'll have a pretty good spring marathon but I'm thinking I should sign up for a fall one too...

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Friday Five (on Wednesday) of Food

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 02:19:04 GMT

1. Rice or potatoes?
I like both, but I think I can get more excited about potatoes — homemade fries, new potatoes, mashed potato cheese balls from Judith...

2. Fish or red meat?
Hard decision but I think the median fish I eat is better than the median red meat. The top end of both is great!

3. Salad or cooked vegetables?
In general I think a salad is more likely to be interesting than cooked vegetables — might be related to the fact that in many restaurants a salad is an item on its own and cooked vegetables ride along with another dish.

4. Cake or ice cream?
Hard decision, but I think I'm going with cake — it's a special occasion treat more than ice cream is for me.

5. Water, soft drink, wine, beer, or hard alcohol?
Definitely beer — maybe I would appreciate the subtleties of all the other options but I have a sense vocabulary and accumulated delight in trying all sorts of beer.

From here.

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Into the renovation breach

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 01:23:23 GMT

We have emptied out the kitchen and bathroom downstairs in anticipation of the renovation crew arriving early tomorrow to demolish anything left in there. It's going to be a bit like camping at home for several weeks, but when it's all done we'll have normal-height counters, a built-in dishwasher, better plumbing and a kitchen arrangement that gives us a bit more room to swing a cat (put the cat down, kids). Meantime, our place is feeling pretty small, and a bit like we're moving.

I was at three days of national union meetings Thursday through Saturday, and we're trying to tighten up a lot of things internally while processing the latest budget and rumblings from Parliament Hill. With Liberals like this, who needs Conservatives? I really like enough people in the union to make it still fun, but this is going to be a hard stretch.

I also replaced my beaten-up road running shoes with this year's version of the old model, and have been putting them through their paces. Almost 24km at a run in and out of Aylmer. Wanted to do more, but I was kind of flagging on the way back and walked the last three.

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Keeping on keeping on

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 03:23:39 GMT

So, it's been about a month since Elizabeth's surgery. It was delayed to the following Tuesday, then I got to pick her up on the Saturday. Recovery has been a bit rough — it took a few tries for docs and pharmacist to get her meds just so, and she's still taking naps most days, but the dressings and stitches are gone and she's healing up well. Her nerves are still in oversensitive mode, and she is far from "live long and prosper" or giving people the finger on that side. The med-figuring-out phase wasn't great for either of our sleeps, but things are pretty much better now. Now when I miss sleep it's due to puttering, brain squirrels or stressing about work :P

I was catching up at work a bit after the disruption of all the health stuff, and it was a bit easier because a number of clients weren't getting their acts together with approvals and budgets, but now they all have. It may be a bit of a grind in the next little while. I'm going to try and refocus my extracurriculars — I think a subset of union things plus maybe a mentoring assignment if someone wants one. If I put this here, maybe one of you will remind me I did in a couple of months — I want to delegate out things right, but I don't want to start the new fiscal year with all the things on my plate now still on my plate.

The school system is on strike today to Thursday. Kids are home and not burning the place down yet. I'm WFHing tomorrow to hold the fort while Elizabeth takes a kid to the doctor.

I've been pretty good at keeping up the weekly social runs but the solo long runs have been a bit sparse. I'm signed up for a marathon next may so if I'm smart I'll ramp up a bit now so I hit winter training in good shape. I've also found myself part of a D&D game as a player! Antonio the fighter is likely going to be the grownup in the party — still deciding between sword and board or grappler; I have time before I need to line up the features and feats one way or the other. It's fun pondering and fun playing with a group that is largely new to the game. Also, I might be invited to a one-off of "The Witch is Dead" with a different group where we get to play newly unemployed familiars (due to reasons above). Which sounds delightful.

In a last bit of news, Andrea surprised me by measuring me for a sweater and talking yarn and pattern. Given marriage is not in the cards for us, I feel like measuring for a sweater one is going to knit for a partner is pretty close to an engagement ;) In any case, I am honoured and lucky and quietly over the moon. My Elizabeth sweater is holding up pretty well too!

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It's really September

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 01:42:27 GMT

My whole reading page is full of people with respiratory stuff, including catching up on years of cold all at once. I hope you all get better soon and also don't breathe on me.

September is on us; the peer camping was a bit smaller than anticipated. One of our number got eaten by family stuff, another is a humanitarian worker and got dispatched to Edmonton to catch people evacuated from Yellowknife and area. Canoeing to the campsite was easier than I was expecting, and canoes can carry a lot of stuff. We three of us who made it spent all of Saturday doing nothing pretty hard, talking, tending the fire (it was chilly) and basically disconnecting. It makes me want to do it again!

Labour Day weekend we went to visit my parents Saturday and Sunday; it was short as recent visits tend to be and we didn't manage to do much visiting elsewhere in the area but we did get to explore the town garage sale and do our usual sitting around and catching up. Labour Day proper I took the kids to the parade in Ottawa. It was very hot which I think kept some of the people I usually catch up with home, but it was still a fun activity — the little ones got balloon animals, everyone got the barbecue lunch and we did loose bikes with one grownup supervising pretty well there and back.

I've got a bunch of teaching (technical and Positive Space) and writing (same) coming up, and I'm also trying to wrangle work for my team. It's busy! Union meetings the next couple of Fridays and this Saturday. Trying to decide what else I can take on or punt, and a bit down on the level of interest for Positive Space, but if I push some offerings back I can widen the net a bit. I feel like a few of my union people are a bit worn and I might lose some volunteers soon, might have to start reducing expectations or trying to develop some new people...

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Hunker down

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:40:55 GMT

The wildfire smoke is back as the kids finish school; it means things are feeling a bit cooped up here. We had some board games from the library to keep us amused but I was looking forward to getting outside more.

Oscar has finished elementary school and is diving into their supplies list for high school: USB key! Lots of looseleaf! They got a grad shirt and certificate and photo book and some nice words from their teacher — best tech support in the class :)

I am now a Group President in my union — the liaison and point of contact for 2700 or so core public servants in research occupations. The hand-over is going to take a little while, but I'm scheduling the first meeting of the new term and going over the files to transfer. The previous president will stay on as Treasurer so I will have plenty of opportunities for perspective over time! I feel like it's a big transition but also I have some extra energy to move forward.

Speaking of moving forward, I ran the marathon! The day before, I ran a fast and fun 10k, and then the first half of the marathon was very good -- I followed a 4:20 pacer and ran my fastest half. I ran out of juice at around 20k and slowed down, with hamstring cramps at 36k, and finished in just over five hours. It was hot, I made some rookie pacing mistakes... and I still made it :)

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Top up the coffee: we're going in!

Thu, 25 May 2023 02:55:00 GMT

I went to my parents' place for a visit on the weekend with the household. Saw some cute critters, walked, talked, ate, and took a side trip to visit a couple of high school friends who stayed in the region — this much was planned! I also caught my brother and his kid leaving (late) for Up North, and then it turned out that some beef (a share of one of my dad's steers) was in my sister's freezer, so we took a bonus side trip to her place and saw her, her partner and both her kids. That probably makes the first 24-hour period where I've seen my whole set of parents, siblings and niephlings since 2019. Some of it was a bit rushed, but I hope we'll be inspired to get together at slower speed soon.

Monday I got together with some people I knew from Peer Support in university. Maybe unsurprisingly we were two therapists and two not-therapists. We had affogatos and talked life, real and potential kids, chicken husbandry, therapy, absent Peers… three afternoon went by really fast; I hope we'll manage to get together again.

Elizabeth had her thyroid surgery today; Doug got get there and back while I was in bargaining and she went to bed early tonight. No complications so far; the kids seem to want her to wear a scarf until the surgical site heals and her stitches are out. We have a "care and feeding" sheet, a full fridge and a few calm days (at least for her) — Oscar is on a school trip to Toronto so there's one less kid to feed and get where they need to be for a couple more days.

Bargaining is going — we got a comprehensive offer from the employer this time, which we'll have to fix but we're optimistic we can get something that will be good for members and justify the trust put in the Central Table team by the bargaining units. It'll be strange — "done" for us just means handing language off to other tables. Last time I was on my group table and Central took until we were almost ready to sign but this time our group is way back from the front runners so a tentative agreement might be months away.

The Ottawa Marathon is on Sunday. Tapering is weird, but I trust that my body will be able to do the thing! I might be finding comrades out there on the day of; Anne had doubts about whether she was going to do the marathon after all. It's going to start comfortably cool but get pretty hot by the end. My 42km in my 42nd year is likely going to happen, though!

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Friday Five on Monday

Mon, 08 May 2023 13:56:53 GMT

1. What is your work/school commute like?: Summer: by bike in my work clothes — Strava on, maybe do an errand on the way.

Winter: by express bus after dropping the kids at school. Sometimes with an ambition to read a book but often just noodling around on phone news, Wordle and e-mail.
2. What did you want to be when you grew up? Has it changed?: I had astronaut, engineer, architect, web designer, propagandist and science journalist in my sights over my career. Now I design algorithms and explain statistical processes and methods to people (including statistical laypeople). So different, but not shockingly so, aside from how far it is from astronaut.
3. What is your weirdest work/school/project related story?: Might be the time I flew up to the Lower North Shore to teach Web basics? Or went to a transgenic goat farm to take pictures for a website? I had to wear clinic booties over my shoes, touch nothing and wash my hands obsessively on the way in and out.
4. What is something you're closely familiar with that media always gets wrong?: The media's understanding of contract expiry dates and real pay has been perhaps deliberately wrong in many cases, but really, even friendly sources often flub details.
5. Describe the stuff on your desk/workspace.: Foreground: cables, coffee cup, phone, two laptops, bullet journal, pen. Background: union stuff storage, binders, basement laundry hanging area.

From thefridayfive questions of last week :)

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Holding the fort and keeping busy

Mon, 08 May 2023 03:11:40 GMT

It's the Sunday after the Wednesday Elizabeth and Vivien took off for Europe. My general strategy is to keep myself and the kids here busy. We rode the Cycle for CHEO (15 km edition, to keep it manageable for Ada on a one-speed kid BMX bike) and it went pretty well — Oscar zipped off ahead despite my admonition to stick together but we didn't have too much trouble finding them. We took some time to hang out with Simon (who had done the 35 km on their own), chowed down on the included BBQ and wandered the activities — Ada sat in the driver's seat of the OC Transpo EV bus while Oscar assembled a cardboard O-Train and double-decker bus in one of the passenger seats (and took some prompting to dislodge).

We've been eating things that Elizabeth and/or Vivien don't (sushi! pancakes! meat sausages!) and on the PD day Oscar went off to the library after the bunch of us had sushi with Andrea. Yesterday Ada and I met up with Andrea and Morgen for a visit to the Ottawa Art Gallery at the speed of four-year-old attention span (we can get away with that because admission is free!) followed by Byward Market ice cream and a community barbecue at the Children's Garden.

One unsettling thing that happened on Thursday night was that someone was skulking around the yard and went into our garage, smoked in there, moved things around and, as far as I can tell, didn’t take anything — might have borrowed Elizabeth's bike helmet for a bit, and I thought they stole the digging fork but then it turned up inside the garage (it had been leaning against the fence). I think I saw the guy putting back the bike helmet. Odd — at first I thought Elizabeth had left her bike and helmet somewhere and the guy (not a familiar one, but I'm not at every open mic…) was bringing them back? They also moved the chicken feeding station out of their coop and unplugged the light in there. It wasn't hard to put things back and the garage smoke smell has dissipated but it was pretty unsettling.

This coming week I deliver the presentation on our unit's specialty to the recruits at work — I've delivered it last decade but it's been a while so I've spruced it up and am looking forward to it. I think, with me responsible for the kids in the evening, I might book a morning off for a second 32ish km run before tapering to Race Weekend.

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Five things

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 01:58:37 GMT

Bargaining meetings with the employer start tomorrow — two days of staking out our positions and interests and getting a feel for each other. All us on the bargaining team have been asked to do some brief introductions including what their constituency has been doing for the public in These Exceptional Times. As the Researcher rep... we're a real grab bag; it's been fun crafting a list for maximum entropy.

Heather and I decided to de-escalate out of romantic partnership in December. We're still planning to be in each other's lives in the long term, we enjoy each other's kids and still have a partner in common, but if things are a little weird, we're not in the same place at the same time as much or we're a little glum or emotional, that might be related.

The Ottawa marathon is less than 18 weeks away. I've been running with the work group and did a half in the snow a couple weeks ago, which might've been overdoing it a bit. Feeling better now (and have been doing 3-5km lunch runs in the interim) but next long run might be more like 15-16 km.

Andrea and I celebrated six years together on Sunday — we wandered the Ottawa Art Gallery and took a look at the Rideau Canal (no skating allowed yet) and had a nice supper at The Albion Rooms. Our server seemed to be holding down the whole place alone and had a bit of an anxious vibe, but the food was uniformly delicious. With everything that's happened over the past six years it's hard to say if six years feels accurate, but I know I'm still filled with delight in and admiration of her. We're safe harbours for each other and I hope we'll keep being that and more for each other for many years to come.

Work involves more tinkering with budgets and juggling tasks than I'd like, due to budget tightening, and there are still many rough patches in the return to the office — local management is showing some willingness to fix or roll back things that aren't working, though. I attended a Lean skills seminar last week and one of the things that struck me was the value of actually zeroing your task list from time to time. I'm not sure if I can manage that, but maybe a month where at the very least I don't re-migrate any tasks I migrated the previous month would be attainable.

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Not the headlines

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 04:39:29 GMT

But the year turned over.

I filled out a YearCompass which prompted me to look over my paper journal. I did and got through a lot; I think the less-obvious things I'm happy about are a pinecone maze while camping, delivering some training last winter to lay the ground for a returning employee post-transition, and inserting a couple of long bike rides into a camping trip.

I signed up for the Ottawa Marathon this year. It'll be a feat, and it also lets me develop a little network of running friends at work. I can use that kind of community and I like who I've found. I've also been going to a masculine-folk peer group all year more or less, which has been really good practice on talking and thinking about feelings. And a little odd being the lone parent in the group while not being the lone polyamorous person (in a group not targeted at queer/polyamorous folks).

After all fall getting ready and trying to get a date, we might see the employer's bargaining team at the end of this month. I'm looking forward to the central table process (and know it's going to be full of solidarity and exasperation)!

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October

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 03:47:48 GMT

Fall isn't so bad, so long as you stay warm, says Elizabeth.

I just finished migrating my to-dos from September — I got a lot done, procrastinated on a bunch, and picked up a bunch of new responsibilities. I'd do well to make out > in this month, though! My page was full. I see themes emerging, though, maybe it's time to organized them into collections (or farm some out!).

I celebrated a birthday since last entry, kind of quietly. Oscar did too, and now Elizabeth's is coming up. A friend of mine asked if I was in the best shape of my life (with all the exercise I'm getting) — I figure I definitely was at some point in the pandemic; I'm a bit off my peak but still feeling pretty good. I signed up for the full marathon in May (early bird discount!) so I hope to hit a new peak in the spring!

Last weekend I spent Friday and Saturday with union folks — my first long meeting with that crew in person in a while. Got a few of those to-dos done there, wrapping up treasurer loose ends and picking up some good news to spread at other tables about improved gender-inclusive languages in our contract. Things are getting off the ground with negotiations; I just gave something like six months of availability to our negotiator for him to set up training, planning and bargaining meetings.

I went to the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation events last Friday, the mood was a bit odd but Andrea pointed out that not every culture's sense of how serious or sombre you need to be at a memorial event is the same. The Hon. Murray Sinclair compared the day to Remembrance Day but between weather and maybe a lack of shared understanding, it felt more like a typical demonstration. Maybe it will change with time. The sheer physical scale of the banner listing names of the dead in the residential school system was striking, and the event felt well-resourced and organized. There were a couple of convoy-esque people wandering in at the Parliament Hill part wrapped in Canadian flags; it looked to me like they were informed they had missed the memo and then they wandered off. I have a some aspects of my work that interact with Indigenous sovereignty (including data sovereignty), I hope I can do right by Indigenous folks in the scope of my projects.

This week my supervisor and one of my employees are coming back from long leaves, and I've got a couple of days of in-person union meetings with my CLC comrades. I'm going to need to be disciplined and get the right things done in the right contexts.

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Back from the woods and through the woods

Sun, 07 Aug 2022 15:59:09 GMT

This summer's season of tents is wound down — dagrim's cottage, Taylor Lake, Kaleidoscope. This year it feels like the parenting responsibilities are less total — I was able to read in various outdoor chairs and hammocks at every campsite, and my KG involved going to workshops and rituals daily, for the first time in years (probably since about 2009). It still takes a lot of energy to prepare and camp, but it was pretty satisfying!

After coming home, though, we managed to test positive for COVID, four of five in our household, one by one from Monday to yesterday. Elizabeth must be lucky and/or have lingering immunity from the spring, but the rest of us are getting through it. The little ones seem mostly better, Oscar and I are still in bad cold territory but are on the mend — we'll probably resume normal life this coming week. I'm feeling a bit touch starved and wanderlust-y so that will be good! Also, I got the bed and Elizabeth got the couch mattress this time, I look forward to sharing the bed again.

My switch-over to the new position was a bit bumpy with the usual IT permissions/compatibility issues, some staff turnover and the unexpected drag of a household COVID outbreak, but I still feel like it was a good move. We have a two-week window to piggy-back on another project in a way that tests one of our creations, and I feel like the new colleagues and clients are going to be easy to get along with and fun to work with.

I'm looking at the volume of stuff — work and union — on the horizon and hoping I'll be smart enough to delegate/trim as new stuff comes in and things get inevitably complicated. I keep trying to filter my projects and ambitions through my Bullet Journal and talking with people and I think I'm making progress... but it's a significant project. Maybe one for my next year of life (after I turn 42 on Tuesday) but probably not so time-bounded as that.

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Quick observation

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 21:06:39 GMT

Facebook thinks I might want to buy an orchidometer ("the endocrinologist's rosary!") or maybe a pack of 100 smell-proof bags. I'm posting this fact here so that it doesn't get more evidence supporting that hunch.

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Appreciation

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 13:01:52 GMT

It's National Public Service Week; yesterday they used the voice broadcast system to announce treats after lunch served by management on yummy lawn… I thought for a moment it was a fire drill in the middle of my lunch union meeting.

In other news, Cabinet has decided that unvaccinated people aren't a danger to the workplace working from home (for now). I get it, everyone should get vaccinated but if they're not breathing on other union members or the public as part of their jobs and are helping keep my workload down then they can have their strange religious beliefs (whether or not a panel of managers who mostly aren't experts in evaluating religious beliefs like them) and help mitigate labour shortages a bit.

Off duty I had a nice run last night — my June 10k — but twisted my foot/ankle on the gravel path up by P3 so I'm down to walking gingerly and biking for a few days.

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Work thoughts

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 03:07:19 GMT

I cleared out a bunch of union stuff, certificates, training materials and reference books from my office today; everyone is going to get moved around as floors are remodelled and the square footage is reduced to reflect the large number of folks gone remote and hybrid. Some nice memories bound up in some certificates and reports I was shuffling through...

Also, just now I my mind wandered on to the cafeteria at work. It's big, it's in the basement (with little high windows), it's pretty bland... but I've had lots of good games of cards, mentoring talks, coffees, and even meetings down there pre-pandemic. And between secondment and pandemic, I last had a meal there in 2019 (maybe I popped in once or twice in very early 2020, maybe?) But I remembered it with its green paint, dark wood and stainless steel, and kind of missed it.

I've got a bit over a month before I switch to my new position, I'm looking forward to it, maybe mourning the things I won't do in this one a bit.

In other news, I ran the Ottawa Half Marathon a week and a half ago, and then a miserable (but generic) cold swept through our household. Glad I timed that right.

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Reporting from the basement lair about stuff outside the basement lair

Fri, 06 May 2022 15:28:16 GMT

I have tried a Bullet Journal rite of passage — breaking out a topic into a collection (okay, I did one for Christmas prep, but I still want to mention this one): "Wrap up [old team]." I'm technically thinking over my options over the weekend but odds are very high that I'll be moving to a new division in July, under my old supervisor (who has been promoted in the interim). It's stuff I know well and like, and a team that's maybe a bit bigger than what I was hoping for, but by all accounts I'll have good lieutenants. I hope it'll be a good fit and let me develop as a manager while knowing that the technical stuff is familiar enough that I'm not playing catch-up all the time.

I've been back at the office for a few weeks after isolating due to Elizabeth having COVID. Biking in is good for me, I think, and many lunch hours I go for a run in the neighbourhood. It's not a panacea — I can still get thrown by chaotic days or other stuff — but it does help my focus and productivity. There's a reorganization of everything coming, to clear out materials so that the agency can consolidate into fewer buildings, and I'm not quite sure how I'll be affected, being a mostly-onsite person. Also, who knows what a change of position will do or not do to where I sit now...

My shoulder has been acting up again — once from falling over in a broken chair, and yesterday a couple of times, one just wiping cat pee off the floor (boo) and then again just stretching wrong. Often it's more likely to pop out when I'm stressed, so I'll take that as a sign. For now, naproxen, taking it a little easier, trying not to be excessively cranky.

Last weekend I went to in-person union meetings for the first time since 2019. We were in a huge room and people were still being mostly careful. It was good to physically go somewhere (even if it was on the edge of the Convoy 2.0 zone) and be a union person for full days. Learned some useful stuff about family status accommodations and the union's next steps on COVID attestation grievances, too.

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Sleep, think, connect

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 21:55:37 GMT

From thefridayfive:

1. How many hours a day/night do you usually sleep?

I'd say an average of seven… but with a range of six to maybe nine?

2. What do you do when you can't sleep?

Often reading, on paper if I'm smart.

3. How often do you devote time to just thinking about something?
I think I can go into that state when walking… I don't do it deliberately that much, though. Maybe every few weeks?

4. If you had to choose one person to never talk to again, who would you choose?

There are so many people in the world I talk to only once. And nobody that I would want to inoculate myself against ever talking to again.

5. If you had to choose one person, NOT a significant other, who you would speak to every day for the rest of your life, who would you choose?

There could be some gaming of the system here so long as my natural lifespan extends theirs… one would be a hard choice.

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