Cankles / BeBeep the Road Runner(s)

My foot is much better. I haven't used crutches for two days now. On Tuesday when I went back to school, they were all teasing me about the silly things. I put my foot up on my desk during my break to keep it elevated so the swelling would go down. One girl said, "You have cankles!" when she saw my ankle. Naturally, we all wanted to know what that was, so she explained. When she was expecting her daughter, she retained an awful lot of water. Her ankles became so swollen that they were almost as thick as her calves - hence "cankles" (ca(lf)ankles).
We moved to another classroom, as our classes have split after the first 5-week segment. Just 16 weeks left till graduation, and so much we still have to learn! Our new classroom is really nice and roomy. We have big desks, with enough room for our computers, transcription machines, books, and working room. There are only seven women in the legal secretary program, so we almost rattle around in our "office." Our teacher, Lola, wants us to get a feel for what working in an office will be like, so we treat our classmates as colleagues and Lola as our boss. On the door is a sign with the name of our firm, Hill, Conners & Carleton. We will be taught how to do standard office work, such as filing and answering the phone, as well as a host of other things that I am afraid I can't remember off the top of my head. It's a little overwhelming at the moment, but I'm sure we'll all catch on. This afternoon we started with our transcription machines, typing sample letters. I'm not very fast - have to practice the typing a bit more.

Last night Alison and I went to a Road Runners game in Edmonton at Rexall Place. A client at Alison's shop couldn't go, but has season tickets, so he gave them to her. For the unenlightened, the Road Runners are a hockey team in the Alberta Hockey League. Because the NHL hasn't played this season, AHL hockey has become much more important in a way, sort of the replacement, but less money-centered. It was the first professional game I have ever seen, so I was really excited. Rexall Place is a huge stadium, and last night it was full of thousands of people making lots of noise. The game was fascinating to watch, as I've really only ever seen the kids of our church play before, and heard the play-by-plays on the radio. The Road Runners were playing the Chicago Wolves, and they beat them 4-1. Altogether, it was a very fun and satisfying evening.

Blessed Easter, everyone!

“Christ the Lord is risen today,”
Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say;
Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high;
Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens and earth reply.
Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King;
Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting?
Alleluia!
Once He died, our souls to save;
Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave?
Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done;
Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won;
Alleluia!
Death I vain forbids Him rise;
Alleluia!
Christ has opened Paradise.
Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led,
Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head;
Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise;
Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.
Alleluia!

This is my favourite Easter song. The last verse especially always stays in my head, with the triumphant ending, “Made like Him, like Him we rise; Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. Alleluia!” The harmony is very beautiful as well, especially now that I’ve mastered the alto. There are a good number of people who sing harmony in our church, which always kind of finishes the song nicely. We sang this one this morning.


I’m home for the weekend. I have Monday off too, so I will go back in the afternoon.
I had a clumsy moment yesterday. I opened the door of my car to get in, but slipped on the ice. About to slide under the car, I grabbed wildly at the roof and managed to stay upright. However, in the process, I whacked my right ankle really hard on the doorframe. I sat for a couple of minutes until it didn’t hurt so bad, and then went to work. It really only started to bother me when I was driving home after work. Because you have to use both feet driving a standard, I couldn’t really rest my right foot. Yesterday evening my ankle was really swollen, and pressure bandages and ice didn’t help, as it’s more of a bruise than a sprain. Today everyone at church asked why I was hobbling around (especially because I can’t fit into my Sunday shoes, so I had to wear my wooden and leather clogs). Hope it subsides a little before I have to drive back tomorrow.

So I did land a job. I applied at about 20 different places, and then as a sort of after-thought, I applied at a small restaurant near Alison's work. And wouldn't you guess, the first (and only, so far) response was that after-thought. It's called Bad [bleep] Jacks (henceforward to be referred to as Jacks, Subs & Wraps or just plain Jacks, because of its questionable/objectionable name :-O ). Alison and I go there every Tuesday for lunch for their special, $2.50 rice bowls. They're delicious. Anyway, they called me in for an interview last night, which was interesting. I had submitted a resume, and when I got there, the boss lady, Michelle, sat down with me and asked me some questions. She threw me a few zingers, such as "What drives you? Ambition, money, power, family?" and "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" and "What do you understand by integrity?" That last one threw me for a bit. How do you define integrity? It's more of an idea, an intangible value I've been aware of without actual definition my whole life. Anyway, she must have gotten a good impression, because she asked me to come in for a trial shift this evening, after school from 5:00 - 9:30. It was fun to be on the other side of the counter for once, though I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually. It was busy for an evening, because it's Tuesday. People kept coming in until just before 9:00, when we closed. I mostly scrubbed frying pans because they were quite busy, but they did teach me how to make the rice bowls. Except for during the really busy part of Tuesday, they actually fry each portion of chicken or beef in an individual frying pan with vegetables and sauce (of which there are several choices). So there's a good many dishes to be done on the go. They told me to come back on Saturday, so I guess I'm on.
I just realized that was probably not as interesting to everyone else as it is to me, so I shall cease this strain.
School was great today. It was our teacher's 40th birthday and 1st year anniversary at the college today, so our class pooled our resources and made a cake and bought a gift. It was fun, and I think she enjoyed it too. I got both the last spelling test and the take-home English exam back today, and I am pleased with the marks. On Thursday we have an in-class English final and a computer exam. If the computer part is primarily practical, I'm sure I'll do good. Guess we'll see.
But I should really run along to bed -- my feet and back are quite tired (in a good way). So good night all.

I'm sorry I haven't written most of you regularly. I seem to have plenty to keep me busy :-)

random stuff...

I'm on my afternoon break right now. Today we are learning all about Internet Explorer and Outlook, so now we are allowed online. The school has high-speed ADSL (which I learned stands for Asymmetric Digital Sunscriber Line :-) ), and all the computers are networked to the main server, so we can go on whenever. So I figured I'd take advantage of this break.
Yesterday we went to church in St. Albert again, at the Canadian Reformed church. We also went to their Young Adults Biblestudy in the evening. They are very welcoming, and since most of them are college age, they are able to carry on a good discussion intelligently.
Alison was in Grande Prairie over the weekend, visiting Steve and the others. She took the Greyhound up and back, getting home pretty early this morning. We had lunch together today, the first I've seen her all weekend.
Today I finally finished my MS Word Level 1. The last assignment was to make an interactive table of contents for the financial document created in several of the exercises. It's really amazing what you can do with Word. I am planning to go on to the advanced Word levels also, but that won't count for my overall mark. They will issue a certificate when I am finished so I will be recognized as having completed Word.
We had our last Spelling test on Thursday, and I'm waiting impatiently to see what I got. This Thursday will be our English final and Computer final, and then start the actual Legal Secretary Program.

But this is the end of this post, because break is over.

Yes, this is Canada ( . . . where else?)

Since I’m looking for a part time job, Alison and I went out the other day and papered Spruce Grove with resumes. That evening, after working out, we went to Tim Horton’s, and I decided to apply there too. They had an application form for me to fill out, so we sat there while I worked on it. I had to read one section, headed Activities, a few times before I could believe it. Here, I’ll write it out so you can enjoy it too.

"Activities - civic, athletic, etc. (Please
exclude reference to any organization which could indicate race, religion,
marital status, age, colour, gender, ancestry, political beliefs, sexual
orientation, place of origin, physical disability, mental disability, or
handicap.)"

I read it out loud to Alison, and then we read it again and counted. There are thirteen categories of unmentionable activities; there was only one activity I could only write down (which won't come to mind at the moment - it was so random) that was not in one of those categories. I mean, if I were to say that I enjoyed walking, biking, or skiing, that falls under the categories age (I'm not so old that I can't walk anymore), physical disability, and handicap (I'm able to walk). And if I mentioned that I volunteered last summer as official agent for our local CHP candidate, that would indicate my political beliefs, whereas if I said that I like to read, they could conclude that I am not severely mentally handicapped.

Why don't they just skip that whole section and hire every idiot off the streets, regardless of their . . . ? Then they wouldn't have to draw any conclusions, or make any judgments (which by the way, indicate they are not mentally handicapped either).

Good. Now that's out of my system.

Wow!
I hadn't realized that that picture was quite so vibrant!

I'm on Alison's computer at her work, while she finishes for the day. I have to tell you all about the deals Alison and I hit in Walmart yesterday, but maybe we can do a combined post about that. I just have to tell you about today when I wore a new outfit to school. My teacher Lola is a self-proclaimed bargain hunter and second-hand shopper. This afternoon she called me up to the front of the classroom and told them, "This is the kind of outfit you can get for $7 if you have your eyes open." And she expanded on that theme at some length, aiming at the girls who come dressed in less-than proffessional looking ensembles. That was today's interesting moment.

Frog Prince in Person