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Last weekend was interesting as Hurricane Jeanne blew through Florida. Ironically it hit land only a few miles from Ivan three weeks earlier. The weather quickly deteriorated throughout Saturday from when I did my chinups in the morning to that night. I watched the county press conferences about the impending storm at noon and that's when it reality set in. I packed some things and drove to Darcy's. The politicians and media reiterated the annoying phrase of *that's the price we pay for living in a tropical paradise*. Whatever...It's not a paradise but we are paying a high price for living here!

We ended up watching the local WSVN channel 7 news that night and tracked the path of the storm. A few reporters got blown around and one was in the eye of the hurricane! Southeast Florida was spared, again, due to the 120 mile an hour winds rotating to the north of the eye once the storm hit land. So the state has had four hurricanes in six weeks. No state has had that many since Texas in 1886. The weather people said there were about 30 named storms in the ocean over the past couple of years but none hit land. So we are making up for lost time I guess. I think people get complacent living in this *tropical paradise*. The news interviewed one person whose trailer home got damaged and he joked he'd rather go through a hurricane than experience snow! Give me a blizzard any day over a hurricane. FPL (Florida Light and Power) has used up its emergency fund and there is talk that our power rates will increase as a result.

Fourth, and likely last, season of Enterprise debuts next week. I will tape the episodes and then hopefully bode farewell to the rather lacklustre show. Last bit of news, actually big news, is that Darcy's rings are finally ready. She will pick them up tomorrow!

posted by Michael at 6:51 PM

 
It seems I start every posting talking about work and this ocassion is no exception. I wish it didn't seem to rule my life so much! I've spent about five hours the last two days with colleagues butchering our standing orders list. We've cut many titles that are either out of scope or tremendously expensive. The frustrating thing is cutting $30,000 in a few weeks (don't ask why the insane deadline because we can't get a straight answer) and not doing it with all reference librarians to reach departmental consensus. The titles our small group is looking at are reference standing orders. Anyway it's been a learning experience and is a turning point for how my library's administration has handled collection development. Things will get better now that we have numbers to work with. I'm trying to be diplomatic about this in light of looking at the readings for my leadership course. Our main text is Leadership Challenge. Not bad and the theories are interesting. I fly out tomorrow for Tampa for the monthly meeting - joy! At least I will be leaving an hour later compared to last month but it still makes up for a long day.

I have a a slew of books that I'm making little progress in reading. I've started reading Paris 1919 and it's a great book. Plus I've always loved that topic. I've only read a few pages from the New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnie. Then there's How to be a Canadian, Salt: A World History, Mosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe, and Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel. The last book I got free at the ALA Summer Conference in Orlando. We walked by a sciene publisher's booth and he was beginning to pack up his stuff and needed to get of things. So he said each of us could pick one book!

I've been so busy that I've had to save this posting as a draft. Since I first began writing, Hurricane Jeanne has finally begun its move west towards Florida and may hit us this weekend. It's a category two with 105 mph winds. Since I'll be out tomorrow and the library is closed Saturday for Yom Kipur I decided to back up my computer. Other news is that Darcy's ring is STILL not ready. The guy said the engraver is behind with four orders including a couple that is getting married very soon. That is unfortunate but we've been waiting siz weeks! It had better be ready September 30 like he said. NHL lockout continues with no end in sight. Luckily I'm not living in Canada as the pain would be felt much more, especially on Saturday nights! That's it for now - I need to wrap things up and head out to my drumming class...

posted by Michael at 7:02 PM

 
I should be sleeping at this hour but I figured this is a good time to post an entry. I will be swamped with work once I return to work and won't have time left for blogging. Hurricane Frances missed Broward County by about 60 miles so we were lucky (again). There was no major flooding where I live, power was knocked out for three quarters of a day and top wind was only 60 mph. I felt better knowing that my roommate was there and looked after the place. However, Hurricane Ivan is approaching Barbados and is already a category 4 storm! Officials don't know if its current path will hit Florida or not. This has been a very active hurricane season.

Anyway I've immensely enjoyed the last few days of my vacation. Darcy's aunt and uncle have been wonderful hosts. On September 2 we visited the Mackenzie King Estate at Kingsmere in the Gatineau Park. The former Prime Minister generously donated his estate to the federal government after his death in 1950. The following day we drove southwest to Merrickville that was voted as Canada's prettiest town. A very pleasant place situated on the famed Rideau Canal that had many restored old buildings. We had dinner at the Dickens' Gad's Hill Place restaurant. On the 5th we drove south to the Upper Canada Village near the town of Morrisburg. It's a wonderful working village of a few dozen buildings that display life in Upper Canada (present day Ontario in the mid 19th century. The construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway in mid 1950s doomed the existence of a few old villages that had been there for over one hundred years. Massive flooding would have destroyed the buildings so the Federal government decided to move the dwellings to higher ground and recreate one village.

On September 5th we made the short drive to Meech Lake and relaxed at O'Brien beach. Darcy's uncle Jacques and I walked up the hill to catch a glimpse of the famed Willson House. That is where former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all ten premiers signed the ill fated Meech Lake Accord in 1987. There is another house that is owned by the federal government that overlooks the lake. But the buildings have seldom been used since Mulroney and it is a shame since taxpayer's money is being used to maintain these beautiful but expensive places. The PM's official summer house is at the other end of the lake.

The following day, Labor Day, we drove to Montreal. A wonderful city with much history! Jacques was born there so he was our tour guide. I was amazed at the great condition of many of the old buildings in Old Montreal. We capped the day off with having a filling dinner outside at the Restaurant Du Vieux Port. The drive to Montreal is barely two hours from Ottawa - shorter than from Edmonton to Calgary! So we know have only one full day left in Ottawa. I better get to bed so good night...

posted by Michael at 1:36 AM

 
I'm sitting in Darcy's aunt's and uncle's comfy apartment in downtown Ottawa. I just got caught up on my Yahoo emails as I hadn't checked them in days due to all my travelling. I left for Spokane on August 24 and had a hellish flight that was ten hours late arriving in Spokane. To make a long story short the delays were due to human errors and weather. I left Fort Lauderdale at 9:00 pm EST and arrived in Spokane the following day at 1:00 pm EST. I had drafted a letter to America West on the plane outlining the problems with the flights and vowing not to fly their airline again.

My brief stay in Spokane was nice as I walked around Riverfront Park the first day. My time living there seems ages ago now! I went to the public library there and ran into an old colleague that I had worked with at Gonzaga University. I spent two nights at the Rodeway Inn in downtown and then the remaining time at my Grandmother's new place called the Waterford on the South hill. My Mom and StepDad arrived on August 27 and I stayed with my StepDad Rick in a unit at the Waterford. Very posh place - my Grandmother is paying $3,000 a month for her two bedroom place. But she can afford it and deserves it. She seemed in good spirits and looked better compared to last year. It was tough driving by 1411 (the old house) and not pulling up the driveway. I was fortunate to have spent much time there with my grandparents while I lived in Spokane from 1994 to 1998.

I went to Coeur d'Alene (CDA)three times (once by myself, once with my cousin, and once with my Mom and Stepdad. My cousin Eric is driving now and drove us out to CDA - he's grown up now! I also saw my two aunts so I had a great time. They will likely come to the wedding next summer. I left Spokane early on the 31st and returned home that evening only to turn around and fly out the next morning with Darcy to Ottawa.

The sobering news though was that she finally got a reply from our contact at the UAE University Library. The search committee has selected two individuals for the two reference positions. We're both in shock not so much that we weren't selected but in how it was done. The lady told us in our informal phone interview in July that formal telephone interviews weren't going to be held until September. So somehow people were selected during that time frame! If Darcy hadn't emailed the lady in August about Saskatchewan job thing then we'd likely still be anxiously waiting for a response fromt the search committee. We are obviously disappointed with not even getting an interview. This changes our plans dramatically with settling down somewhere. We're stuck in south Florida for at least another year with no job prospects in sight.

But the good news is that we can finally start making wedding plans! We can take charge of our lives in that regard. Read our wedding blog for updates. What I've seen so far of Ottawa is fantastic. The downtown core is very sophisticated with shops, and restaurants and all the government buildings. There are many places for rent that seems to be cheaper than in Florida! The drawback is jobs are scarce - surprise! Last bit of news is that Hurricane Frances is approaching the east coast of south-central Florida. It is a powerful storm the size of Texas and near a category 4 in strength! We're closely following it and nervous about how much damage it will inflict. My fingers are getting tired so I will sign off...

posted by Michael at 1:59 AM