Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Woof!

About a year or two ago, I received an email at work. It was an excerpt from a book by Dave Grossman, a retired Lt. Col, I believe, from the US Military. He has written extensively on the psychology of combat and killing and how it relates to soldiers and law enforcement. The email described three types of people, categorized as "sheep", "wolves" and "sheepdogs". I wanted to read it again, but no longer having the email, I had to turn to the Web. I found the passage quoted within another article, which can be read here. I thought it was a good read....so if you're interested, follow the link.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Seven Days Later

Ironically, about 1 hour after my last entry, I got a phone call. From work. They wanted me to work that night on the NDP. All night long and then into my dayshift the next day. I had no desire to work....but it's hard to turn down that overtime, y'know? So I said yes, and went to try and get some sleep. About an hour into my peaceful slumber, I was roused to take another call. Turns out they don't need me to come in. I was mildly relieved, but somewhat frustrated in that I wasn't going to make any extra coin, and that I'd wasted some of my day "preparing" for work. Ah well. So...I stayed up to watch Harper and the Conservatives win a minority government, and then went to bed.

Work was....well....there. No VIP's coming in, so things were pretty quiet in the office. I was fighting a killer cold that reared it's head on Sunday morning in Windsor. But I made it through.

Wednesday morning, I felt worse. I called in sick. Caught up on some sleep. In the evening, we decided to bite the bullet and go get our new t.v. to replace the one that died. Again. So now I have my dream t.v. A Sony Bravia 40" LCD/HD flat panel. (insert Homer-esque drool). Woohoo!

Back to work on Thursday and Friday. Ever see Office Space? You know when the Bob's ask Peter to go through his average day of work. Yeah.

I was asked Friday to work a midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning, so I got to go home early to get some sleep. Thanks to phone calls, roaring snowmobiles, and other distractions, that worked out to be about 1 hour of sleep. Turned out to be a long night.

The rest of the weekend was pretty tame. The biggest news is that I got a haircut, so pretty darn exciting.

And now it's Monday....a week since my last post. It's surprising that I'm even writing this now, since it seems that a lot of people thought the world was going to end when the Conservatives won on Monday night. But......we're still here. The sky hasn't fallen yet. I guess Harper's dragon is still in the closet.

Maybe he'll destroy the country next week. Someone call Michael Moore. He'll know what to do.

Monday, January 23, 2006

It's Over!

The election is over!

At least, as far as I'm concerned. The actual results don't roll in until tonight, but I voted at an advance poll, and I don't have to travel around with the party leaders anymore.

I just got back from a long stretch with the Conservatives last night. Last weekend I had gotten a call from work telling me we'd be working 4 days, with 1 overnight for certain. In London.

It ended up being 6 days. 5 overnights. No London.

Such is the nature of the political beast. We plan and plan and make sure everything is in place.....and then you're told things are changing and your plans are by and large out the window.

So....I'm going to try and enjoy my 1 day off....watch some election coverage (you'd think I'd have gotten enough), and head to the office tomorrow to put in my meal/hotel/overtime claims.

Woohoo.

Monday, January 16, 2006

On the road again....

Summary: My Last 4 Days

Innisfil - Newmarket - Toronto - Oakville - Innisfil - Oakville - Barrie - Huntsville - North Bay - Pembroke - North Bay - Newmarket - Innisfil.

I have tomorrow off....then it looks like I may be on the road again from Tuesday to Saturday. Fun fun fun.

So basically....probably no posts of substance for a little while.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Hmm. It's been a while, hasn't it? I bet you all have been anxiously awaiting a new entry, checking my site religiously. Hoping. Waiting.

Or maybe not. But if you were....get over it. I've been busy. Living out of a suitcase isn't all it's cracked up to be. Been on the road with the NDP and Liberals this past week, as Federal Election 2006 continues. Later this week, the Conservatives will be fortunate enough to have me.

So Tam and I went out to dinner tonight. Applebee's, courtesy of a gift certificate for my birthday (thanks Uncle Gary!). The meal was alright...but my steak was a bit undercooked. As usual. Twice while we were there, the waitresses came out clapping in a procession to sing Happy Birthday to someone in the restaurant. You see this at a lot of places now. Who's brainchild was that? I'm going to wager that it wasn't one of the poor schmucks who has to got out and sing it 8 times a shift, and pretend like it's their favourite thing to do in the world. And who really enjoys having that done, anyway? Just give them their free slice of cake and be done with it already. (Granted, it can be kind of fun when you're out to dinner with a group of Mounties and you tell the servers that it's the birthday of one of the guys at your table when it really isn't and then watch him turn red and uncomfortable as the eyes of the whole restaurant turn on him as he is serenaded by a course of "The Old Gray Mare..." and made to wear the fuzzy viking hat........hypothetically speaking, of course).

And in conclusion.....THE END.