Dispatches from a happy Hullian

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 :)

I'm run pretty ragged lately… the constellation of stuff around work is exciting and chaotic.

I attended my union's annual general meeting a couple of weekends back and may have gotten a little famous for questioning the exaggerated bar graphs in our electronic voting system. I also had a chance to meet some neat people, speak on the Professionals Canada question that was in the news lately, and vote on things of substance and things deep down the procedural rabbit hole. It was enlightening, sometimes maddening, and worthwhile.

Last week I did even more standing up and speaking in front of people — I chaired one AGM and delivered the Treasurer's report and ran the elections in another. At the end of the week a bunch of scrambling around resulted in a good talk on statistics on gender under the Positive Space umbrella.

I was fairly convinced that something was going to go down in flames last week, and it didn't! Between good help and my grinding away at managing things, we got things done.

This weekend marked 14 years of Elizabeth and me kissing. Heather and Andrea took charge of the kids and we got to go treat ourselves to the nearby spa — baths and saunas and tasty food in among the carefully placed oaks and rocks :) The kids got to go sliding (Morgen got to slide while snoozing on Andrea… that totally counts) and drink hot chocolate, so they were only a little jealous.

I'm starting this week with delivering a pilot Positive Space orientation and then heading off to bargain for three days. In December I'm teaching the record linkage course for the last time, then a first teaching experience on data access and confidentiality in my new portfolio. Somewhere in there I put my name in for a promotion — the process is a little different each time and this one feels a little more streamlined than recent ones. I'm looking forward to things settling down a little before Christmas is really upon us. I suspect it won't, completely, but I think the most intense parts are behind me for now.