Monday, February 23, 2009

Passport Expiration


While I don't often find faults with my country, there is one thing I would change in an instant if I were the PM or an MP or the GG (or whatever official has control over this issue); I would make Canadian passports valid for 10 years. Getting a new passport every five years is much too troublesome and, I suspect, simply a ridiculous money-making ploy. If Canadian passports only had to be renewed every 10 years instead of every five, my passport would not have expired today.

I guess I can be thankful that the new land and sea travel requirements between Canada and the U.S. have been postponed so many times in the past year. First, the new law was supposed to be in effect in January 2008. Then it was pushed back to June 2008, and finally, the Canadian and U.S. governments postponed the new rule until June 2009. So, luckily, I will be able to return to Canada once this semester is over. Hopefully, renewing my five-year passport will be done long before I need to come back to school in August. In any case, at the time of this posting, the law will change in only 96 days, 21 hours and 3 minutes. So, if you need to get a passport, or, if you're Canadian and your passport will expire soon, you should probably get that looked after. I'll be debating writing to my MP to see what can be done about the passport-that-expires-after-five-years situation.

If you've never read the intriguing story about my previous passport, and would like to, click here.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

PL Trail Exploration

Danielle has been waiting for this day since August. This afternoon, I finally agreed to explore PL Trail with her. Meet our fellow traveler.













If you ever find yourself hiking PL Trail, beware of HANDKIND!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Preparing to Meet the Firms

Yesterday was the last day of Preparing to Meet the Firms class and today our class and other Southern students gathered at the Collegedale Church for our chance to Meet the Firms. When I signed up for the class last semester I dreaded the idea, but I knew I needed to take it to ensure that I'll have enough upper division credits to graduate. (In reality, I should have used my time more wisely to dread Communication Research instead.) Now that Preparing to Meet the Firms is done, I can look back on the past seven weeks and see what I've learned:

-Using action verbs can drastically improve a resume.
-Waiting until the day before your portfolio is due to updated it and go through all your Southern Accent articles and Publication Tools and Technique designs is a very bad idea.
-Jump at every opportunity to have your writing published. It will greatly enhance your portfolio.
-Don't put too much stock in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. (Apparently I'm currently an ISTJ. In the past I've been an INTJ and I have a feeling that if I took the test again, I could go back to being an INTJ. My "S" and "N" values must be quite similar.)
-Despite what the Preparing to Meet the Firms teachers claim, it's not a good idea to try to talk to everyone at Meet the Firms. The medical-type companies don't care to waste their time talking to Communication majors.

Monday, February 02, 2009

Groundhog Day

No, not the movie (that was such a ridiculous movie), but the real, official day where rodents decide if winter will prevail for another six weeks or if spring will, for once, come early.


February 2 is my favourite non-statutory holiday (just one of those records Ty) and has been since I first found out about Groundhog Day in pre-school. Ever since, I've looked forward to the day and anxiously awaited the reports from the official groundhogs, Canadian Wiarton Willie (of Wiarton, ON) and American Punxsutawney Phil (of Gobbler's Knob, Pa).

Today, both official groundhogs, and a third, not so well known Canadian from Nova Scotia, Shubenacadie Sam, saw their shadows, predicting winter to extend for another six weeks.

I don't mind a bit, seeing as how I only had two weeks of good winter weather at home during break. My relatives, living in BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, are not so accepting of the verdict and I do feel for them. They've had a hard winter already, but, since the groundhogs unanimously agreed that winter will continue, there's not much anyone can do to change that fact.

(The Official Website of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club provides additional info on the U.S. weather-predicting rodent.)