I hate Solitaire

December 08, 2008

I hate Solitaire

The beautiful Northern Skies

Well friends, it's been long overdue. Since the last post of braving the Northern frontier, I have returned to the South, did the school thing, and then moved to the gross valley of Ottawa/Hull for another work term.

I'm working for the Federal Government (Indian and Northern Affairs)... so it's been really challenging beating my high score in Solitaire and keeping up on all the internet news and gossip. I've even taken up smoking because the job is just too stressful. Seriously, I need to take a ten minute smoke break every hour just to handle the stress of sitting for 7.5 hours a day!

Okay, all kidding aside (and no, I haven't taken up smoking, so for those who are already half done writing me a 'why you should quit smoking' email... you can stop), there are groups of the government who actually work hard. I have to say that I admire certain members of my group for their hard work. As for me, I was left with a stack of papers, the internet, and the task of writing a paper. So to be fair, it has actually been challenging. Some days have been extremely boring and the bureaucracy that comes along with being a "public servant" makes me shake my head. I wanted this blog post to be about the ridiculousness of the government (moreso working for the government) and of Ottawa in general.

1. My lights in my little closet of an office would shut off automatically sometimes, so I went to ask our admin. dude who I should call to get my lights working again. He handed me a paper with a 1-800 number on it!! I called this 1-800 number and got some lady who was probably at some call center in another city. She asked me what my name was, where I was calling from, the address I was at, and what exactly the problem was. I was like "Umm, yeah, my lights dont work, just tell me where I can find another bulb and I'll do it myself!" She asked me if I wanted a confirmation number for this 'service request'...I felt like saying "Listen lady, I dont understand why I need to call a call-centre in India just to get my bulb changed...so no, I dont need a confirmation number, I just need a light bulb"!

2. The great thing about the government being prorogued is that now we're all on vacation! Just kidding. Yeah, that puts a bit of a damper on things seeing as no one is willing to sign anything, and no one is able to plead for more money, because again... no one will sign the dotted line. And apparently budget is tight... as in, some departments have zero money left, that they're literally counting pennies. I heard they even discussed that they wouldn't be able to serve muffins at this conference while discussing the budget because they needed to save all the nickels and pennies they could!

3. Ottawa is a gross place. I know, I know, you'll tell me I'm crazy and wonder how I possibly can't love this city. Well... it's possible! As you know, there are about 5 or 6 bridges that cross over between Ottawa and the Quebec side. One of the smallest bridges was said to be unsafe so they recently closed it down for an indeterminate amount of time. Well, well, well... I'd have to say that there was CHAOS in the Ottawa area that first morning, and even for the first few days afterwards. It was amazing how people couldn't function because one bridge was out of use. There were police officers trying to control traffic and pedestrians who got so impatient, that they just walked. Herds of people all rushing to their jobs, probably rushing to that cushy government office of theirs. It is ridiculous.

4. The most popular thing to do in Ottawa I'd have to say (from what I see) is get a tattoo and eat a shwarma and possibly even get arrested at the Rideau Centre bus stop.

Well friends, the list will end there. I will try and keep blogging some more :)

The pictures from the Northwest Territories. I went up in October again to do some research and remediate an old gold mine that is leaking diesel everywhere.