The Day The Music Died

I made a gut wrenching decision today.  I bought an iPod.  I really tried to avoid it.  I asked for a Sony Walkman for Christmas and got one.  However, my last Walkman was doomed because I couldn't get a protective case for it.  I was also bummed, because I couldn't get a sports armband for it.  That makes it hard to use at the gym.  I was having the same problem with the most recent iteration of the Walkman, so I had to go with the iPod Nano that has a built in clip.  Of course, there are also reams of after market cases, etcetera to go with it.

I don't specifically dislike iPods.  They are the most useful and innovative music product out there.  My problem is with the Apple business model.  Apple seeks to control digital content from start to finish.  When you become an iSheep, you are imprisoning yourself within the Apple world.  If you have an iPod, you MUST use iTunes.  If you use iTunes, you must have everything in the AAC format which is proprietary to Apple.  No matter what they say, iTunes really only likes downloads from the iTunes store.  Others seem to mysteriously disappear when you conduct an update of the software.  How convenient.  Since so many worldwide own iPods and therefore use iTunes, the iTunes store is the most convenient way to acquire media.  Thus, Apple is gaining a de facto control over the digital media industry.  While this business model is unquestionably brilliant and is working to perfection.  I think that the iSheep are so enamored of all of the iBling and iCoolness, that they do not see themselves being led to the slaughter.  If things go unabated, all the Windows haters will have to take a long look at the new monopoly on the block.  I am now in iPrison.

By the way, does anyone else think this whole "i" thing is getting a bit ridiculous?  I mean honestly, does every new product have to have a lower case i at the beginning?

Oh, and my wife is annoyed because I dislike iStuff and still end up with a newer, flashier Nano than she does.  I just can't win.

Drama and Christmas Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jam

What is Christmas without drama?  Why, it is like Easter without chocolate.  So far, the furnace conked out for the morning dipping the temperatures inside the house to an invigorating 13 degrees Celsius.  Admittedly it could have been worse since the temperature outside was around -18.  We spent the morning wearing toques, long johns and hoodies with the hoods up.  That was just enough to keep the worst of the chill off.

Then, after running down to Canadian Tire twice to get a new burner for the oven and hookups for it, the thermostat seems to have gone on the oven.  This just happens to be the same oven the we were going to cook the 24 lb turkey thawing in the washbasin downstairs in tomorrow.  Of course we did not come to this conclusion until every store that may have carried a replacement part for the oven was closed.  All of the appliance repair stores seem to be closed for the next four days.  Meanwhile, Jen can't seem to find info on our stove and has become convinced that we will need to purchase a new oven because it is too old to be fixed.  I do not subscribe to this theory, but I have to live with one who does.  And this is all just on Christmas Eve.  I shudder to think what Christmas day will bring.  If I believed in God, I'd be praying for strength.

The Case of the Disappearing Presents and Other Christmas Happenings

So, here's the deal.  A certain batch of on sale scrapbooking supplies had been pointed out to me in Michael's about a month ago by my wife. Jen indicated that these supplies would make excellent gifts. Being the dutiful (and smart) husband, I bought them.  I quickly stuck them under the seat of the car to avoid prying eyes.  After that I pretty much forgot about them.   A couple of weeks later I actually decided to bring in the presents and "hide" them in my man cave. 

This week I decided to wrap those gifts.  Only one thing stood in my way and that is the lack of gifts to wrap.  I could not find those gifts for a king's ransom.  I looked everywhere in our not overly large house.  No gifts were to be found, so I looked again.  Still nothing.  Things were becoming desperate as Christmas quickly approached.  Desperate times called for desperate measures, so I had to enlist the help of my wife (I told you I was desperate) and my in-laws (yes, that desperate).  Success was still elusive.

Today, I decided to make one last effort.  I figured that it would at least get me back into the basement and away from the throng of relatives upstairs.  I looked around in the cave one more time without a satisfactory result.  I was so damned frustrated, I decided to clean.  Things were clearly descending into madness.  I did some shredding that I had to date avoided.  I even started shuffling through all of the filing that was waiting for me to feel like doing.  That was when I got out the new file boxes I had bought a while back.  I pulled them apart and lo and behold, what is gazing back at me but my missing gifts.  I had not thought about taking apart the boxes.  I had only looked in the top one.  Mystery solved.  I am an idiot.  Though I think many had already solved that particular mystery.

I was going to write more, but my in-laws have informed they are ready to go out NOW.  Funny how you have to hop to with some people when they are ready and wait for them when you are ready.  I love Christmas time!

The Abnormal Becomes Normal

As I was plugging in my car the other morning I looked up the line of cars all plugged in and realized that I hadn't noticed how weird that scene was.  Once upon a time that scene would have had me shaking my head at the fact that the school and many other buildings have rails of outlets for plugging in cars. 

Over the course of the day, I was noticing other things that used to bewilder me or annoy me when we first moved up here.  The first was the fact that until well after 9:00 am in the morning it is still pitch black.  I have to wait to ask my students what the weather is like, because they can't see if it's sunny or cloudy outside (they sure know the temperature though - COLD).  I don't notice that too much anymore, I've just adapted.  The next would be the condition of the roads.  For some reason they don't plow down to the road up here.  When we first moved here, we kept waiting for them to finish plowing the roads because they were leaving about an inch of snow on the road.  In addition, in town, they leave about 2 or more inches of snow on the roads and all of the traffic pushes it around and makes it very lumpy and bumpy on the town roads.  A consequence of all of the snow on the road is that it gets compacted at intersections and becomes ice.  Ice is not good when you're trying to drive.

The ice and snow on the road led me to think about another thing I don't think about much and that is the web of cracks on my windshield.  Actually, almost everyone in this town has at least one chip or crack in their windshield.  Why, you may ask?  Well, when you leave that much snow on the road, you have to find some way to add some grip.  The answer they have come up with is to put tons of gravel on the roads.  If you take tons of gravel and add lots of large trucks, you get flying gravel that smashes windshields on a regular basis.  Our windshield was ruined just over a month after being replaced this year.

One thing I still notice however, is the bitter cold.  I don't think I'll ever not notice that one.

Christmas Concert Sucks

Don't get me wrong.  I like Christmas.  But I really do not like Christmas concert.  Christmas concert at an elementary school involves practicing a lame song or poem for weeks prior during time you should be teaching the kids something like, well math or reading.  Then when the day comes, everyone marches down to the gym to watch the whole thing.  In previous years at Prespatou this could be up to 3 hours long!  Then, to sweeten the deal for the teachers, you get to come back to school that evening.  To watch it again you ask?  Why no, but to provide free babysitting for the kids you usually get paid to take care of all day.  So, we sit in a room with 20 kids that are completely hyped for the concert and sometimes hopped up on sugar for an hour or more.  Then, after the deal is over, hopefully the parents come by in a timely manner to pick up their kids instead of chatting with their friends for an hour.  So, when you get home at 10:00 at night, you're pretty tired from that day.  That is when you realize the some bone head at your school has cited some lame ass reason why the concert had to be held on a Wednesday night, so you still have two days of work left.  Don't forget that the kids were up late too, so they are going to be a treat for the next two days as well.

What a magical time of year.

Happy Halloween

Well, Jen and I finally get to hand out Halloween candy this year.  Ever since we've been together (5 years now), there has always been a reason that we couldn't entertain all of the Trick or Treaters in the neighbourhood.  At first we lived on the third floor of a very small apartment building in Ottawa and the front door was locked.  It was a bit of a rough neighbourhood.

Next, when we first moved to Fort St. John, we lived in another apartment building, so no Trick or Treaters.
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Then we moved out to Prespatou and we were surrounded by the very dour Mennonites.  Halloween was seen as sacraligous and a pagan ritual.  Needless to say, having a Jack 'o Lantern outside our teacherage was probably not a wise career or social move.  We generally made ourselves scarce on Halloween night, because there were a healthy amount of hypocrites in the Prespatou community.  There were families that would go out Trick or Treating and not bother to dress up.  I don't play that game.  So, in order to avoid having me make a scene, Jen always made sure we were away from home.

Now this year, we live in town and we are in our own house.  Our steps are lined with the Jack 'o Lanterns that our classes carved.  We have had between 60-70 kids of varying ages come to our door asking (politely for the most part) for candy.  The best part is that the little beggars don't have to wear their snow boots or winter jackets this year.  There is usually snow on the ground at this time of the year, but we got lucky and our first big dump melted over the last couple of days. 

Am I a grumpy old man if after two hours of beggars coming to my door, the novelty is wearing off?

The Byzantine World of Labour Relations

I went to a professional development committee meeting this past week and received a copy of our current collective agreement.  It was nicely bound and in a compact format.  I really should have nothing to complain about, except that our current contract expires this coming June.  That's right.  I finally got a copy of a contract that I've been working under for the past three years this week and it it expires in eight months.

When Jen and I first started in this school district we were given a copy of the last collective agreement that had already expired.  When I chased down our union rep to get a copy of the current contract I was told that we couldn't have those because the parties were still working on finalizing a few of the side agreements.  I found this very disturbing that my union would not allow me to see the contract that it had bargained for on my behalf.  However, I was new to the profession and organized labour, so I didn't push too hard.

I have also realized that the only part that most teachers (and maybe most workers in general) care about is the page that shows their wage scale.  While I'll agree that it's important, I like to know what the obligations of the employer and my self to each other are while I'm working (i.e. why and when can I get in trouble).  Of course, that's probably the former lawyer in me poking his seldom seen head out.

Finally, British Columbia teachers collectively bargain as a whole group with the provincial government.  The extent of our collective bargaining rights are set out in provincial legislation.  At the current time, teachers are classified as an essential service, much like fire fighters and ambulance drivers.  This makes it illegal for us to strike.  However, the current government is definitely not pro-union or pro-education and is in penny pinching mode.  To make matters worse, the British Columbia Teachers Federation is highly militant and seems to get off on baiting a government that it seems to me it would be wise to find a working relationship with.  There is a common saying that says don't bite the hand that feeds you.  The BCTF gnaws on that hand very regularly.

Bargaining for the new contract starts in March.  It could be an interesting year.