moving
we got the keys to our new apartment on september 15. that morning, janelle and i took a load of things over in the car. for the afternoon and evening, janelle's classmate, angela and her boyfriend, peter help us move most of our furniture and stuff. we were at it until about ten thirty that night but we got way more done than i had expected.
we spent that night in our new apartment, sleeping on our mattress, on the floor. the next day we got our telephone and internet connected and nathan brought over an apartment warming present: some pastries from the queen street bakery. janelle was at school all day so i took her parent's car, which they had loaned to us for the move, and went back to quinpool tower to get more stuff, especially our telephone. but the automobile broke down as i was trying to get out of my parking spot for the return trip. i walked over to janelle's parent's house at spring garden road but they weren't there-they'd gone to truro for the day. it was getting late in the afternoon and janelle and i had made dinner plans to meet the ronalds--missionaries from zambia who were visiting family in halifax--at darwin and karen's house where they were staying.
scott, janelle's parent's coworker was kind enough to let me use the office computer to send janelle an e-mail, so i advised her that i wouldn't be home for a long while and began to walk...
it took me a little over an hour to walk to the new apartment. janelle had gotten my e-mail and was waiting for me and darwin was on his way to pick us up. we had a tremendous meal but afterwards i felt sick, likely from not eating all day and then that long walk and then the heavy meal. so instead of going to meeting i went home and slept.
still no results on the job hunt, so janelle and i spent the balance of the week tidying up our new apartment. and on monday janelle's parents loaned us their second car, a lovely, energetic volkswagen golf from the eighties. our friend, rebecca offered to help and brought her car along and together we packed and moved just about everything else to the new place.
afterwards janelle and rebecca went out for some wine and cheese and i joined donald, keir, and nathan for some 'go fish'.
micro$oft sucks
we finally got janelle's computer all here, so i put it together and went about installing windows all on it. first of all, i couldn't find my windows xp disk. and then i thought i found it, but i had hastily misread the label and was trying to install windows xp from the microsoft office cd. so that wasted a good bit of time. i finally did find the windows xp cd and tried installing windows but couldn't get the computer to boot from the cd even after configuring cmos.
finally it worked and i'm not entirely sure why, but once i had it installed windows wouldn't recognize any of my hardware, not even the ones that are built right into the motherboard. so i tooled around with it for hours, trying to find the disks--most of them i didn't even have and the ones i did have were for the wrong hardware. on the verge of giving up, i opened up the box and looked at the motherboard to get the name and model off it and then i used my laptop to get on the internet and download the drivers. so i burned the drivers onto a cd and installed them. all of a sudden, windows began recognizing my hardware. network connectivity, sound, screen resolution and proper colour all magically appeared.
and then it asked me for my product identification key. the one that came with the cd didn't work. i did some looking around online and discovered that because i had rebuilt my computer, my product identification key was no longer valid. of course, microsoft wants me to buy a new one because it's technically a new computer.
maybe these frustrations seem trivial to you...but i've been working with ubuntu for the past three or four years. i only just discovered how foreign windows is to me now, and i used to be so familiar with it. i'd forgotten how frustrating and complicated working with windows is, all the cds you have to keep track of, all the hardware you have to install and find drivers for, all the additional things you have to download and install from all their own different websites...
of course, this is where i put a plug in for ubuntu. on installationg ubuntu automatically detects your hardware and installs the proper drivers for it. all the software you need, you can find in one place. and you don't need a product key! ubuntu is a free operating system! you just download it and install it and you're good to go.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Peasant Princess
Lately, Janelle and I have been watching televised sermons on the Song of Solomon by Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He titles the series, The Peasant Princess.
The sermons take a literal interpretation of the Song of Solomon to teach practical things about the marriage relationship. I strongly recommend them to everyone who's married and even some (mature) people who are single or planning on getting married.
You can find the sermons on the Mars Hill Church website at: http://www.marshillchurch.org; at the top right corner of the main page there is a button that says "browse media" when you click it, a drop down menu pops up and the second option on that menu is "sermons" click that. This will bring you to the sermons page and on the right hand side there is a menu with all the sermon series; near the top of this menu you will find The Peasant Princess; click on that and it will show you all the sermons in that series with the first one at the bottom and last one at the top. You can watch them as a video, which is really rewarding as Pastor Mark has a commanding presence that makes it easy to listen to or you can listen to it as audio if you have a slower internet connection.
Enjoy.
The sermons take a literal interpretation of the Song of Solomon to teach practical things about the marriage relationship. I strongly recommend them to everyone who's married and even some (mature) people who are single or planning on getting married.
You can find the sermons on the Mars Hill Church website at: http://www.marshillchurch.org; at the top right corner of the main page there is a button that says "browse media" when you click it, a drop down menu pops up and the second option on that menu is "sermons" click that. This will bring you to the sermons page and on the right hand side there is a menu with all the sermon series; near the top of this menu you will find The Peasant Princess; click on that and it will show you all the sermons in that series with the first one at the bottom and last one at the top. You can watch them as a video, which is really rewarding as Pastor Mark has a commanding presence that makes it easy to listen to or you can listen to it as audio if you have a slower internet connection.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
It's Not About Me by Max Lucado
This book wasn't what I was expecting. In some ways I was disappointed and in other ways it exceeded my expectations.
I was disappointed that the book didn't go any deeper than it did. In many of his other books, Max Lucado writes in a way that draws the reader into deeper and deeper understanding or inspiration by using simple illustrations and examples, so those books are deep but they're not complicated. I'm talking about titles like No Wonder they Call Him Savior and Six Hours One Friday and Just Like Jesus. It's Not About Me isn't complicated.
The book is divided into two parts: God-Pondering and God-Promoting; the first part talks about what God is like and the second part explains how everything we can make out to be about us is actually about Him and how everything that happens to us, whether good or bad, can bring glory to God. And that's really what it's all about: our lives are about bringing glory to God.
I don't disagree with that. Not at all. But--and before I go into this, let me just say that my expectations are a little unfair; I mean, I was expecting something else and I was disappointed that I didn't get it. Big deal, right. It doesn't make Max Lucado a bad writer--what I was wishing for was a book that showed God and His grand scheme. The kind of book that isn't about me and how I can fit myself into God's grand scheme and finding God's will for me and all that. I wanted a book that really just says, "Look, what God is up to is so much greater than what is going on in your life" and totally skips over all the parts that talk about what that has to do with me and focusses on what God's plan is. Because God is up to something! Anyways.
Instead I found that the book was a little me-focussed. I mean, for a book called It's Not About Me ... it was about my message is about Him; my salvation is about Him; my body is about Him; my struggles are about Him; my success is about Him ... and these are all important things to realize, don't get me wrong, these are things that we need to be taught. I just think that they could have taken up a lot less space in the book. Because, when it comes right down to it, God doesn't need us to promote His glory! It's something we do because it's the only thing we can do; also, God asks us to.
So, enough of my opinions. The book did what it set out to do: it teaches that it's not about me and about my glory, it's about God's glory; my job is to reflect God's glory. It did it in typical Max Lucado fashion: with uncomplicated illustrations and easily understood examples. Great job. And the writing was exactly what I've come to expect from Max Lucado: it's what will keep me reading his books for some time to come. The book was just a little fluffy for my taste; that's all.
I was disappointed that the book didn't go any deeper than it did. In many of his other books, Max Lucado writes in a way that draws the reader into deeper and deeper understanding or inspiration by using simple illustrations and examples, so those books are deep but they're not complicated. I'm talking about titles like No Wonder they Call Him Savior and Six Hours One Friday and Just Like Jesus. It's Not About Me isn't complicated.
The book is divided into two parts: God-Pondering and God-Promoting; the first part talks about what God is like and the second part explains how everything we can make out to be about us is actually about Him and how everything that happens to us, whether good or bad, can bring glory to God. And that's really what it's all about: our lives are about bringing glory to God.
I don't disagree with that. Not at all. But--and before I go into this, let me just say that my expectations are a little unfair; I mean, I was expecting something else and I was disappointed that I didn't get it. Big deal, right. It doesn't make Max Lucado a bad writer--what I was wishing for was a book that showed God and His grand scheme. The kind of book that isn't about me and how I can fit myself into God's grand scheme and finding God's will for me and all that. I wanted a book that really just says, "Look, what God is up to is so much greater than what is going on in your life" and totally skips over all the parts that talk about what that has to do with me and focusses on what God's plan is. Because God is up to something! Anyways.
Instead I found that the book was a little me-focussed. I mean, for a book called It's Not About Me ... it was about my message is about Him; my salvation is about Him; my body is about Him; my struggles are about Him; my success is about Him ... and these are all important things to realize, don't get me wrong, these are things that we need to be taught. I just think that they could have taken up a lot less space in the book. Because, when it comes right down to it, God doesn't need us to promote His glory! It's something we do because it's the only thing we can do; also, God asks us to.
So, enough of my opinions. The book did what it set out to do: it teaches that it's not about me and about my glory, it's about God's glory; my job is to reflect God's glory. It did it in typical Max Lucado fashion: with uncomplicated illustrations and easily understood examples. Great job. And the writing was exactly what I've come to expect from Max Lucado: it's what will keep me reading his books for some time to come. The book was just a little fluffy for my taste; that's all.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Fired.
So, Janelle and I were fired from our job today.
I have to say, I'm really relieved. We've been considering quitting for a few months now and, to our employer's credit, we've received a much better severance deal this way than if we had quit. Thankfully, it wasn't entirely a surprise and we were prepared for it. We've already found potential new jobs and a new place to live and we don't have to go to work until we start our new jobs.
There are plenty of reasons why they may have fired us. We weren't told exactly why we were fired, but we have our suspicions. Most recently being things that occurred during the September first move-out, move-in rush.
Unrelated funny story: I was doing a move-in inspection with a new tenant and his father. The father was particularly picky and wanted to make sure everything worked and was okay. So he turned the oven all the way on and stuck his hand inside. "This doesn't work," he said. I was like, "What?" And reached down to stick my hand in and see for myself. As I reached for the lower oven element, my arm brushed along the upper 'broil' element. I jerked my arm away with a sharp, "Ow!" as I felt my skin burn. "Um, I think it's set to broil," I told the father.
Anyways, here are some of the things that may or may not have led to the termination of our employment:
Most recently, I was doing a move-in inspection in an apartment that had been recently cleaned and saw a cockroach behind the refrigerator. This was the second or third apartment I had seen a cockroach in. The tenants may or may not have seen it, and if they did see it, I'm not entirely sure they knew what it was but I wrote on their inspection form that there was a cockroach in the apartment. When our manager learned of this, she was furious that I had essentially told the tenants that they had cockroaches in their apartment and told me to never do that again. This upset Janelle who confronted our manager and asked her if we were expected to lie to our tenants. Our manager refused to speak to Janelle, and all three of us went home upset. (As a side note, if I was moving into an apartment and there was a cockroach there I would want it to go onto my inspection report because that would serve as proof that the cockroaches were there before I moved in so that my landlord could not justifiably pass the cost of removing the cockroaches to me. If my superintendent put it on the inspection report, I would be grateful to him or her, feeling confident that they intended to take care of the problem.) The next day, Janelle apologized to our manager for speaking out of turn, but was ignored. Our manager gave Janelle and I the 'silent treatment' for the next two days before having us fired.
Another incident that upset our manager: I did a move-out inspection in one of our apartments. It was obvious that the tenants had worked hard to clean the apartment, but they had missed certain things. For example, the stove required some cleaning, and a few other things weren't in perfect condition. Our company's standards require that a tenant pay for the cleaning of the apartment, if any is required, out of their damage deposit, which amounts to half a month's rent. I charged $10 for cleaning the oven and that was it. Later, our manager called me back to the apartment and picked out all the things that were dirty, telling me that the charge of $10 was ridiculously low and that I should have charged more and she had me clean the apartment thoroughly. I believe that I should have and could have charged more for the cleaning of the apartment. I also believe that my manager was right to make me clean the apartment. Nevertheless, I still believe that $10 is a not unreasonable amount to charge for the cleaning of that particular apartment. We, as superintendents were paid to clean apartments at a rate of $25 per apartment if the cleaning charges applied amounted to $25 or more. If the charges were lower, we got nothing, but still had to clean the apartments. So, what it costs our company to clean the apartment is pretty much $25, I might add another $10 to cover the cost of cleaning supplies but $10 in cleaning supplies per apartment is a very generous estimate. So, in my defense, $10 is about one third of what the company would pay to clean even the most dirty apartment. This apartment was far less than one third as dirty as the dirtiest apartment I'd cleaned for $25. Therefore, I maintain that my charge of $10 was reasonable. I also believe that the usual amounts our company charged tenants--and here is a quick breakdown of costs from our company's guidelines: full clean of the stove = $65; partial clean = $35; full clean of the fridge = $35; garbage removal = $25 minimum; and so on, so immediately you can see that the charges against the tenant outweigh the actual cost of cleaning the apartment and that while we were telling the tenants that we were taking their money (and it is their money, being held in trust by the company) to cover the cost of cleaning the apartment, most of the money was actually going into the company's pocket--this is theft, plain and simple.
One apartment that we cleaned was so dirty that our co-workers, Joy and Jane each spent two hours removing garbage, our maintenance man, Henry spent four hours removing garbage, and Janelle and I spent eight hours each removing garbage and cleaning the apartment. Joy and Jane got nothing, Henry got nothing, Janelle got nothing, and I was paid the $25 that the company promised me for cleaning the apartment. This, I have no problem with; the company told me what it would pay me and paid me that much. I do believe, however, that the others would be right in feeling cheated by this deal, because they received nothing. What I do have a problem with is that the company pocketed the very large amount of money that was left of the damage deposit, letting the tenant believe that it was supposed to cover the cost of cleaning the apartment.
Furthermore, when we were hired, we were told that we would not have to clean apartments at all and that our responsibilities were restricted to the maintenance and cleanliness of the building. This was one of the reasons why we accepted the job. Not having to clean apartments, that's pretty attractive. Well, that didn't last a very long time. Nevertheless, new recruits are still being told that they don't have to clean apartments. What a nasty surprise on your first day of work.
In addition to that, our manager could argue that I was slothful in performing my duties at this job. Two complaints that I know she had were that I didn't work as fast as my co-worker, Joy. Also, she complained that I often "disappeared" on what she assumed to be extra long breaks. To these complaints, I can say that I know I didn't work as fast as Joy, but I was thorough and the work I performed was generally good quality work. I took pride in my work and made sure that I gave it my best and it showed. As for my disappearances, I have three defenses, firstly, I did most of my work in areas where my manager could not easily see me. She would try to keep tabs on us by watching the security cameras. However, there are no security cameras in the hallways and stairwells. So, the most time-consuming tasks, including vacuuming the hallways and sweeping and mopping the three thirteen-flight stairwells, occurred off-camera and for the hours I spent cleaning in those areas, I was invisible to my manager. As for the extra long breaks, I took my lead from my immediate supervisor, Joy who treated the job as a 24 hour job, which it was. We worked around the clock. Certain things had to be cleaned daily and we cleaned them regularly but most other things we worked on throughout the day without a real schedule. Our manager wanted it to be an eight hours a day job, with us working during the hours she was present in the building. But we often ended up working as late as seven or eight o'clock in the evening and on some occasions, we had to get up during the night and work for several hours because of some sort of emergency; and this additional work, we felt, went largely ignored by our manager. So, yes, I did take the occasional extra break or added an hour or half hour to my lunch but I generally made sure that my day's work was completed, which is the important thing. Also, my immediate supervisor took a lot of the same breaks as I did, (like I said, I took my lead from her) but our manager never--to my knowledge--confronted her about it, just me. Which seems a little unfair.
I could go on with some personal complaints about the job, but I think I've already gone on too long about this. I don't intend to sound grouchy or sound as though I'm complaining about my job, and about being fired, I'm not. It was a good job while it lasted. I gained plenty of experience and I'm happy I did it. Whatever reasons I was fired for, I don't really care. Our life is going to change now and I'm happy and excited about that.
I have to say, I'm really relieved. We've been considering quitting for a few months now and, to our employer's credit, we've received a much better severance deal this way than if we had quit. Thankfully, it wasn't entirely a surprise and we were prepared for it. We've already found potential new jobs and a new place to live and we don't have to go to work until we start our new jobs.
There are plenty of reasons why they may have fired us. We weren't told exactly why we were fired, but we have our suspicions. Most recently being things that occurred during the September first move-out, move-in rush.
Unrelated funny story: I was doing a move-in inspection with a new tenant and his father. The father was particularly picky and wanted to make sure everything worked and was okay. So he turned the oven all the way on and stuck his hand inside. "This doesn't work," he said. I was like, "What?" And reached down to stick my hand in and see for myself. As I reached for the lower oven element, my arm brushed along the upper 'broil' element. I jerked my arm away with a sharp, "Ow!" as I felt my skin burn. "Um, I think it's set to broil," I told the father.
Anyways, here are some of the things that may or may not have led to the termination of our employment:
Most recently, I was doing a move-in inspection in an apartment that had been recently cleaned and saw a cockroach behind the refrigerator. This was the second or third apartment I had seen a cockroach in. The tenants may or may not have seen it, and if they did see it, I'm not entirely sure they knew what it was but I wrote on their inspection form that there was a cockroach in the apartment. When our manager learned of this, she was furious that I had essentially told the tenants that they had cockroaches in their apartment and told me to never do that again. This upset Janelle who confronted our manager and asked her if we were expected to lie to our tenants. Our manager refused to speak to Janelle, and all three of us went home upset. (As a side note, if I was moving into an apartment and there was a cockroach there I would want it to go onto my inspection report because that would serve as proof that the cockroaches were there before I moved in so that my landlord could not justifiably pass the cost of removing the cockroaches to me. If my superintendent put it on the inspection report, I would be grateful to him or her, feeling confident that they intended to take care of the problem.) The next day, Janelle apologized to our manager for speaking out of turn, but was ignored. Our manager gave Janelle and I the 'silent treatment' for the next two days before having us fired.
Another incident that upset our manager: I did a move-out inspection in one of our apartments. It was obvious that the tenants had worked hard to clean the apartment, but they had missed certain things. For example, the stove required some cleaning, and a few other things weren't in perfect condition. Our company's standards require that a tenant pay for the cleaning of the apartment, if any is required, out of their damage deposit, which amounts to half a month's rent. I charged $10 for cleaning the oven and that was it. Later, our manager called me back to the apartment and picked out all the things that were dirty, telling me that the charge of $10 was ridiculously low and that I should have charged more and she had me clean the apartment thoroughly. I believe that I should have and could have charged more for the cleaning of the apartment. I also believe that my manager was right to make me clean the apartment. Nevertheless, I still believe that $10 is a not unreasonable amount to charge for the cleaning of that particular apartment. We, as superintendents were paid to clean apartments at a rate of $25 per apartment if the cleaning charges applied amounted to $25 or more. If the charges were lower, we got nothing, but still had to clean the apartments. So, what it costs our company to clean the apartment is pretty much $25, I might add another $10 to cover the cost of cleaning supplies but $10 in cleaning supplies per apartment is a very generous estimate. So, in my defense, $10 is about one third of what the company would pay to clean even the most dirty apartment. This apartment was far less than one third as dirty as the dirtiest apartment I'd cleaned for $25. Therefore, I maintain that my charge of $10 was reasonable. I also believe that the usual amounts our company charged tenants--and here is a quick breakdown of costs from our company's guidelines: full clean of the stove = $65; partial clean = $35; full clean of the fridge = $35; garbage removal = $25 minimum; and so on, so immediately you can see that the charges against the tenant outweigh the actual cost of cleaning the apartment and that while we were telling the tenants that we were taking their money (and it is their money, being held in trust by the company) to cover the cost of cleaning the apartment, most of the money was actually going into the company's pocket--this is theft, plain and simple.
One apartment that we cleaned was so dirty that our co-workers, Joy and Jane each spent two hours removing garbage, our maintenance man, Henry spent four hours removing garbage, and Janelle and I spent eight hours each removing garbage and cleaning the apartment. Joy and Jane got nothing, Henry got nothing, Janelle got nothing, and I was paid the $25 that the company promised me for cleaning the apartment. This, I have no problem with; the company told me what it would pay me and paid me that much. I do believe, however, that the others would be right in feeling cheated by this deal, because they received nothing. What I do have a problem with is that the company pocketed the very large amount of money that was left of the damage deposit, letting the tenant believe that it was supposed to cover the cost of cleaning the apartment.
Furthermore, when we were hired, we were told that we would not have to clean apartments at all and that our responsibilities were restricted to the maintenance and cleanliness of the building. This was one of the reasons why we accepted the job. Not having to clean apartments, that's pretty attractive. Well, that didn't last a very long time. Nevertheless, new recruits are still being told that they don't have to clean apartments. What a nasty surprise on your first day of work.
In addition to that, our manager could argue that I was slothful in performing my duties at this job. Two complaints that I know she had were that I didn't work as fast as my co-worker, Joy. Also, she complained that I often "disappeared" on what she assumed to be extra long breaks. To these complaints, I can say that I know I didn't work as fast as Joy, but I was thorough and the work I performed was generally good quality work. I took pride in my work and made sure that I gave it my best and it showed. As for my disappearances, I have three defenses, firstly, I did most of my work in areas where my manager could not easily see me. She would try to keep tabs on us by watching the security cameras. However, there are no security cameras in the hallways and stairwells. So, the most time-consuming tasks, including vacuuming the hallways and sweeping and mopping the three thirteen-flight stairwells, occurred off-camera and for the hours I spent cleaning in those areas, I was invisible to my manager. As for the extra long breaks, I took my lead from my immediate supervisor, Joy who treated the job as a 24 hour job, which it was. We worked around the clock. Certain things had to be cleaned daily and we cleaned them regularly but most other things we worked on throughout the day without a real schedule. Our manager wanted it to be an eight hours a day job, with us working during the hours she was present in the building. But we often ended up working as late as seven or eight o'clock in the evening and on some occasions, we had to get up during the night and work for several hours because of some sort of emergency; and this additional work, we felt, went largely ignored by our manager. So, yes, I did take the occasional extra break or added an hour or half hour to my lunch but I generally made sure that my day's work was completed, which is the important thing. Also, my immediate supervisor took a lot of the same breaks as I did, (like I said, I took my lead from her) but our manager never--to my knowledge--confronted her about it, just me. Which seems a little unfair.
I could go on with some personal complaints about the job, but I think I've already gone on too long about this. I don't intend to sound grouchy or sound as though I'm complaining about my job, and about being fired, I'm not. It was a good job while it lasted. I gained plenty of experience and I'm happy I did it. Whatever reasons I was fired for, I don't really care. Our life is going to change now and I'm happy and excited about that.
Scarlet by Stephen R. Lawhead
The first thing I should say about this book is that it's very remarkably well done. It's narrated in the first person by Will Scarlet, a Saxon-Englishman who has been removed from his position as chief forester to King Aelred, when that king is evicted and his lands placed under forest law. Scarlet finds his way into the greenwood forest of Wales where he finds Rhi Bran and his band of merry men and becomes a valued member, accompanying them on many adventures (and misadventures).
The first person narration is astoundingly well done. Reading it, I could hear Scarlet's voice in my head, with his charming brogue and unique words. It made it much more realistic, that it was written in Scarlet's voice. I appreciate the hard work that went into that aspect of it.
One thing that I found a little difficult was the way the narration switched between first and third person throughout the book. Even so, there was enough change in the voice--from Will Scarlet's beautiful narrating voice to the distant, omniscient, third person narrator--that it was easy enough to adjust to. It just felt a little disjointed at first.
The story itself was well told. The characters were colourful and well made. This novel made a good continuation to the story begun in Hood. Also, the ending was very compelling. It makes me really want to buy the next book.
So, here's my verdict: it's well worth the time it takes to read it.
The first person narration is astoundingly well done. Reading it, I could hear Scarlet's voice in my head, with his charming brogue and unique words. It made it much more realistic, that it was written in Scarlet's voice. I appreciate the hard work that went into that aspect of it.
One thing that I found a little difficult was the way the narration switched between first and third person throughout the book. Even so, there was enough change in the voice--from Will Scarlet's beautiful narrating voice to the distant, omniscient, third person narrator--that it was easy enough to adjust to. It just felt a little disjointed at first.
The story itself was well told. The characters were colourful and well made. This novel made a good continuation to the story begun in Hood. Also, the ending was very compelling. It makes me really want to buy the next book.
So, here's my verdict: it's well worth the time it takes to read it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)