Fog, Fog and more Fog

Hello everyone! Well I do not have a lot to write this week. I have been on vacation since the last post and have been taking it pretty easy. Last Thursday night we went to Fredericton to take my sister out to supper for her birthday and it was great to see her. Then on Friday we left for P.E.I. to visit my family and my new 6 week old niece. We had a great time there as well. We came back Sunday night and I have been taking it pretty easy since with the exception of mowing the lawn yesterday. I have also had some sort of stomach flu and have been feeling pretty lousy for the past week as well. My stomach feels like it is on fire. I am back to work tomorrow for 2 days and then on vacation for another 10. I think I might go to P.E.I. again for an extended visit. Hopefully my parents do not read this blog because I am hoping it to be a surprise.

On another note there has been a couple things I have been thinking of lately. I am always thinking of ways to make extra income and I started thinking of something that is missing in Saint John. There is no amusement park. P.E.I., Moncton, Fredericton, Halifax, etc. all have a park where you can play mini-golf, ride go-carts, get some ice cream or play in a pool but we do not have one in Saint John that I am aware of? Why not? This would be great for all the children in the area. It was one of my favorite places to go growing up in P.E.I. Anyway, if you have any reason why we do not have this sort of attraction then please let me know.

The other thing I have been thinking of revolves around "community" (one definition: a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other). I feel certain areas of Saint John lack it. Well, at least where I live. I have lived here for almost 2 years now and know none of my neighbors. Friends and family in other cities think this is crazy. I agree, although I have only lived in Sackville and Charlottetown. In these cities I always knew my neighbors and often had visits and outings with them. This was normal and it felt like community. Is it just where I live? Any comments would be appreciated.

That's all for this week! Have a wonderful week!

The First Day of Summer

Happy Summer everyone! It was a great first day of summer, minus the fog earlier in the day. It is warm now. I just got in from walking the dog and then I went for a 5 km bike ride. Wow, I haven't been on a bike for awhile now. It was great exercise, my legs are feeling it.

It has been a busy week. As you know from my last post I found new employment. Now that it has been officially announced I can say that I am the new Coordinator of Vocational Training and Housing for Community Mental Health Services of the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation. I believe I will really enjoy this opportunity as it has many of the elements I enjoy in a job: helping a marginalized community, advocating for basic needs, working with a team to implement new programs and models, and working in the community. However, as I said before, I will miss my current co-workers and volunteers! Anyhow, I look forward to it and if you have any ideas and/or input I would love to hear it. Meanwhile I have been quite busy training my replacement and finishing up tasks in my current position.

My beautiful sister had her birthday yesterday. I am excited about going up to Fredericton tomorrow night to take her out to supper. This time in June is always filled with celebration for me as my sisters birthday, Fathers Day and my parents Anniversary occur within a 5 day period. I will be heading home this weekend to visit my parents and grandmother in P.E.I. so I am also excited about that. My family has always been very important to me as I believe is true for many people in this part of the country.

The Many Faces of Violence Awareness Project Coffee House was a huge success! I have taken part in many projects over the years but I think this has been one of my favorites to date. It was a powerful event in an intimate setting. We had a slideshow playing in the background with images and statistics around domestic violence while Kim Blue and Linda Boyle entertained with some moving lyrics. We had a new poster unveiled by a local youth artist, who came to the event with her parents and a cake that had the exact same image on it. At least 40 people showed up from around the province. All in all, a moving and very successful closing event for the project.

The weekend was spent doing more gardening and visiting with friends (I went to 2 BBQs this weekend). Some of you must be wondering if I will ever finish gardening...the pond is next.....well my partner and I were chatting the other day and figure that we will finish in a couple of years and by then will be selling the house so will never get to just sit back and enjoy all the beauty, ironic eh?

I began this week with a meeting around needle disposal in the Greater Saint John area. As you may have heard on the news there are needles being found all around the City. This is definitely a safety issue for everyone. However, like littering, it is hard to police in an efficient manner so a group of people got together to start to figure out solutions. It was agreed that there definitely has to be some sort of public education campaign, some sort of public disposal system and some education for those that are leaving their needles on the ground. We decided to meet again in the near future to see what resources each of us could bring to the table. In the meantime, if you find a needle, do not panic or touch the needle but simply call 648-3333 and they will come take care of it.

There many more meetings that I attended this week but I will report more on them at a later date as this post is getting long as it is. Enjoy the rest of the week!

More Vacation Time on the Horizon

The job search is officially over! I have found new employment and am very excited about the new challenges and opportunities. However, I will miss the employees and clients at St. Joseph's Community Health Centre. I will write more on this in a later post as I am still in the process of notifying some close friends and because it doesn't officially begin until July 17th. In the meantime I have use up my vacation time in my current position. That should be easy to do!

Last week was an odd week and full of change, besides the new employment offer. My hairdresser and investment advisor both called me on the same day to say they were finished. One is pregnant and the other is moving onto other opportunities. I will miss them. I have had the same hairdresser since I arrived in Saint John in 2000. My first roommate in Saint John and good friend also announced she is moving to Ontario. Why? Because her educated partner could not find work in this City. This further speaks to an issue I have be ranting about for a couple of years now! We need to address this problem in a better way with new ideas.

I did get a nice surprise though when a high school friend from Charlottetown arrived on Friday night. She is now living in Ottawa and the engineering firm she works for was asked to do some work on the N.B. Legislature so she slipped down from Fredericton to visit. We had a great evening full of chat and laughter. It was great to see her again! She is a wonderful person. The next time I see her will be our 10 year high school reunion in August.

On Saturday we attended Tim Isaac's auction in Quispamsis. It was a very rainy day and an indoor auction was a nice place to be. We didn't buy anything but were interested and bid on an old Moosehead charcoal drawing collection of N.B. cities. Perhaps we will have more luck next time!

On Monday and Tuesday of this week I was in Moncton for a Primary Health Care Conference for the Atlantic region. It was an okay conference and one session was particularly interesting to me. It was about cultural diversity in the Primary Health Care setting. It raises many interesting and ethical questions. Nova Scotia has already implemented guidelines and educational programs and I hope N.B. will follow suit soon. However there are questions around when certain cultural norms should not be allowed or tolerated under Canada's value system. Think about it.

Well tonight was my last French class until the next level which is not being offered until September. While I am learning a lot, I look forward to having my Wednesday nights back for the summer. The exam was okay.

Finally a reminder to all of the Many Faces of Violence Coffee House this Friday. It should be a fun and educational wrap-up event for the project!

Oh, I quit smoking again tonight so if you see me around please offer praise, every amount helps! Have a great week!

My mouth is sore!

This week started out with a molar being pulled out of my poor little mouth on Tuesday morning. Over the past year the dentist had done a $1200 root canal but in the end it did not work and the tooth had to be pulled. The worst thing is that it never even hurt until I went to the dentist to have check up and the dentist drilled into it! Anyway, it is still very sore but tomorrow will be the one week mark and I am hoping it starts getting better. I spent the rest of last Tuesday in bed recovering.

On Wednesday I had a job interview (yes with a sore tooth) and it went well. In fact I am going for my second interview tomorrow. I also spent some time with a co-worker designing the electronic invitation for our Final Many Faces of Violence Event. It should be a great event and I invite anyone who is interested to attend. The invitation can be viewed here. The project has been very successful and we have had over 5000 hits on our website!

On Thursday, I had a Sex Trade Action Committee meeting. We discussed many things but the one thing I am concentrating on is a design and public awareness approach for street level sharps containers for needle disposal. I think it is very important that these be placed around the City as it helps keep sharp needles off the streets and playgrounds for that matter. Many other urban cities already have a similar program. In fact, in Calgary they use recycled Canada Post mail bins after adding some more reinforcement. Anyway, I will keep you posted on any progress.

And then it started to rain and rain and rain.............Hopefully no one reading this had any troubles with the enormous amount of water. The only trouble I had was getting to Dairy Queen on Sunday night :-)

Actually, I took part in the Greater Saint John Community Foundation's Annual Harbour Passage Gardening Party on Saturday morning. It began just as the rain did. However, roughly 150 dedicated community members made it out and had a great time. I must say the weeds were pretty out of control in some gardens but not as bad as last year. I got plenty wet but had a good time and it was great to see all the youth out for the event. Kudos to them for their dedication and hard work! The remainder of the weekend I relaxed and nursed my tooth.

Well I better go and do some preparation for the 2 job interviews I have this week. Keep your fingers crossed! I will be late writing in the blog next week as I will be in Moncton for work conference on Monday and Tuesday, but I may be able to get on the net at the hotel. It should be a good conference on Primary Health Care in the Maritimes. I will let you know all about it in my next post.

Have a great week!