I’ve been doing this long enough now that I think I’m fairly well justified in wanting to look for something that doesn’t require I pull up the website in order to write a post. Not that I don’t like the WordPress interface, but sometimes, I don’t want to wait for the site to load up when I have the option of doing this locally. So, as I’ve been known to do, I took advantage of the fact I wasn’t doing anything overly constructive right now anyway, and started playing around with Windows Live Writer. I know, it’s a Microsoft program and I’m more than a little anti-Microsoft some days. But, unfortunately–yet again–they’re so far the most promising accessibility solution out there at the moment. It does take a tiny bit of creative work with the keyboard to get things set up in such a way that I won’t have to go into the website directly and clean up after it–at least, I’d better bloody well not, which is in my book of absolute lazy a definite +5. Beyond that, and for right at this very moment, with the slightest of tweeking here and there I suspect this may or may not end up being something I can use without pulling my hair out. Now, provided this thing doesn’t do about a hundred different kinds of breaking on me, I shouldn’t in theory need to try and convince Semagic that it really really really wants to play nice with the WordPress API. I’ve noticed LiveJournal clients/services tend to virtually implode on themselves when asked to do non-LJ things. And at the moment, I don’t particularly feel like tinkering with the internals of those protocols. I’m still recovering from the last time, after all.
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Testing out the Windows Live Writer.
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Why I should never check my email. Ever.
Bad things happen when I check my email. Like, for example, the loss of an ability to breathe. I blame my relatives.
Cough Syrup……….
The pharmacist walks into the store to find a guy leaning heavily Against a wall.
He asks the blonde clerk: “What’s with that guy over there by the wall?”
The blonde clerk responds: “Well, he came in here this morning to get something for his cough. I couldn’t find the cough syrup, so I gave him an entire bottle of Laxative.”
The pharmacist yells: “You idiot! You can’t treat a cough with a laxative!”
The blonde clerk responds, “Of course you can! Look at him, he’s afraid to cough”.
Clearly, family members of mine have way, way too much time on their hands. And now I hurt. Thanks, guys. For serious.
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The next best thing to a Canadians defeat? A Senators defeat.
I don’t get to stand in front of my TV screaming in victory yet–Montreal’s still in the playoffs. But, thank bloody God, Ottawa’s done. Their quest to choke in the Stanley cup finals died on Saturday. Yes, and I’m just now getting around to posting about it–I’ve been busy, okay?
In 2007, Ottawa sat tied at 3 games with the team formerly known as the Mighty Ducks in the Stanley cup finals. The city was freaking insane, to put it nicely–Ottawa in the finals just doesn’t happen. I called in sick to work that night just so I could watch the seventh and final game, but not for the same reason nearly everyone else who could have gotten out of work did. While they were seated in front of their TV’s screaming for a Sens victory, for the first time in my life, I cheered for the Ducks. And, in the dying minutes of overtime, I wasn’t disappointed. It’s sad, but true. Like the song says, the Stanley cup will never go to Ottawa. But, think positive, boys. The Leafs have your usual course reserved already.
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Employment resource centers plus small town living equals not much help.
So, as I hinted at in my last post, I dropped by an employment resource center today. Mostly out of general curiosity–they couldn’t do much worse for me than I have so far, but also because, well, I could. Turns out I might have been smart to keep looking outside of Pembroke–there really, as the guy who worked with me rather bluntly agreed, isn’t much here beyond fast food and/or retail which, while they may be make-work jobs for folks who like that kinda thing, isn’t my idea of a career choice. He did suggest I try yet again to apply to work at Online Support, a local call center in the west end of Pembroke, but seeing as my previous two attempts to get hired there ended up a rather impressive-sounding flop, I told him I wasn’t going to hold my breath on this one. Fortunately, he’s not the type that requires I constantly have my foot in his ass for results–at least, he doesn’t immediately appear to be. So, failing that, he said he’d try and get me into Ontario’s second career program–escentially, a government-sponsored program to fund going back to school to either gain more skills or enhance existing ones in order to make me a little more hireable. Or, in my case, in order to put the extent of my geekyness on paper. I’ll know how that goes within a few days, most likely. Beyond that, I only gained these from my experience this afternoon.
- My skills, were I not living in a technically dead place like Pembroke/Petawawa, or were Ottawa’s tech sector not currently on life support, would land me just about any kind of entry or second-level position–if they were on paper. Hence, trying to get into second career training.
- I got a free thumb drive out of the deal. I already had one, but hey, I’ll take a second. It’s got the logo of the Canadian armed forces on it, and it was free, so how could I say no? I have no idea on capacity, but again, it was free.
Further proof that I rock at resume-building–it’s not going to involve a major rewrite of the thing, thank god. I’ve already done that dance too often. So, we’ll roll the dice and see what the hell happens. Worst case, I keep applying for jobs outside Pembroke. Which I’ll probably keep doing anyway. Best case? It’s back to school for the geek in training. And if someone else is paying for it, there’s an increasing likelyhood of me actually focusing more on the learning and less on how I’m going to pay for next semester. Works out to win win for me. In the meantime, anyone have an opening for a techy? Let me know.
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Figures. I step away from the hockey world for a week, and miss an upset. Devils are gone.
I’ve been concentrating on other things besides hockey for the last several days, a trend that I think is gonna continue today–I have some employment resource thing to get to in a couple minutes. So it figures I miss seeing the Devils get their season handed to them along with their ass. I was kind of hoping Montreal would be the first on the golf course–my poor Leafs could use some lessons there. Ah well. At least I can take some comfort in the fact Ottawa’s gone. But, that gets its own post when I come back–if I don’t forget. I’m horrible for that these days.
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The Ontario government has just ruined grade 3.
How old were you when you first got the talk, from either parents or teachers, about the tiny little details of the typical sex act? Bet you anything you weren’t this old.
Sex education belongs in the province’s schools despite criticism from some people who oppose exposing students as early as Grade 3 to sexual content in the classroom, Premier Dalton McGuinty says.
“And I speak not just in my capacity as a premier but as a father,” McGuinty said Tuesday. “(Children) are going to get this information. Either we can provide it in a format and in a venue over which we have some control or they can just get it entirely on their own.”
And of course, in typical “this is what we’re doing and you can suck it up” fashion, his choices are simple.
Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky said parents who object to the topics taught in health can take their child out of class.
Consider it done. If and when I end up with kids, I’ll be looking for places to get them a proper grade 3 education. Probably out of Ontario, if this actually ends up happening. Let’s leave the sex education to the sexually active, shall we? Nah, I didn’t think so.
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Latest knock against my employment attempt: must have prior $company experience.
So. I mentioned before I very rarely lately find jobs worthy enough to apply for. And even more rarely do I find jobs that don’t throw a bilingualism requirement into the mix. Which means if I’m lucky, I fill out maybe two applications a month–hello, Ottawa’s much too overused bilingualism rules. How’s it going? I was working at one such application this morning, when I ran into a whole new reason to curse the existence of a potential employer. Upon clicking submit, I get a very polite message informing me that prior experience with that company is required. Say, um, what?
For the record, and the curious, the guilty party this time is Primus Canada. Their job description, what you might be able to call a job description, goes into great detail about exactly what the company expects to get out of a potential employee. Qualifications I easily meet. But, there’s nothing on their site stating that position–or any other, for that matter–requires prior experience with that company or group of companies. You don’t find that out until you hit the submit button on their application. And then you get the afore mentioned very politely worded dialogue box.
A gentle note to Primus. I have what you’re looking for. I worked for a company who could probably knock you around if the two of you competed in the industry. I know a thing or three about unbreaking internet connections the average user screws up beyond all recognition. And I also know a thing or three about things a company like yours doesn’t ordinarily support–including half your own hardware. You want me. So let me apply, dammit.
Also: those questions re: have you ever worked/interviewed with us before? Yeah, even from a company with apparently looser hiring standards they suck. Reconsider. Thank you.
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Braille is dead. Long live braille.
If you’re one of the few blind people on this side of the border that still actually uses braille, you may be looking to learn the inner workings of a new standard. Until recently, Canada’s been relying on the rules of braille as published by the Braille Authority of North America for its teachings to folks growing up learning braille. I was one of those brought up on that system, back when I didn’t have much choice but have everything in braille. There are rumours–albeit unsubstantiated ones, according to my google ability–that we’ll be switching in the near to immediate future to the adopting of Unified English Braille.
What the hell does that mean for anyone who actually still reads braille? Good question. Beyond having to relearn what goes where and when according to a new standard, I’m not exactly sure. I’ve not exactly been keeping up with current braille-related politics–largely due to the fact I don’t generally give a damn. I haven’t really actively used braille since college, and even that was only barely. I’ll be quite surprised if I land myself in a job wherein braille usage is going to be necessary. So, to me, it doesn’t really translate to a whole lot of anything. But to folks who still on a daily basis make use of it, you might be going back to school to relearn how to read. Of course, the CNIB would probably be all over this as something really and truely awesome for blind people everywhere. And why not–they stand to make a kkilling off fund raising to teach the poor lost souls who supposedly depend on them to breathe how to use this new system. But, beyond what it does if anything for CNIB’s publicity, I’d bet my next paycheck on it not having much in the way of significant advantages for anyone else. That is, if I had a next paycheck to bet.
Congrats go out to the industry, though. They ran out of reasons to make blind people in general come off as approximately this far from educated, so they went out and invented one. Ladies and gentlemen, braille is dead. Long live braille.
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Apparently, my neighbour’s cat is broken. Badly.
I haven’t been spending a whole lot of time in this apartment, particularly when compared to how long I’ve been paying rent on it. But, there’s one very noticeable thing that always seems to be present every time I am. A very bad-sounding, apparently constantly in heat, cat. I didn’t pay it much mind when I first moved in, mostly because I had no idea what it was and, well, was home even less than I am lately. The cat and its owner live right across the hall from me, so anyone who happens to be dropping buy, or standing close enough to this side of the outer door of the apartment, gets treated to a very entertaining meow.
We initially thought the cat might have been sick and/or left alone–particularly considering it’d been keeping it up for almost the entire time Jessica was here after Christmas. So I had little to no choice but to get the landlord over to have a look and make sure. Shortly thereafter, we discovered a note posted to she who shall be officially dubbed Catwoman’s door explaining the cat hadn’t been abandoned/starved/what have you, just that it was in heat. A week, two weeks, three weeks later, and it seemed the cat was still doing that. There might have been small breaks in between, but it seemed every time I left or came back to my apartment, that cat was always in heat. And, sure enough, to this day the note still remains stuck to her door. And I thought I heard it go off again this afternoon.
If I had some kind of decent recording equipment handy I’d post a sample of this cat’s vocalisations up here, mostly because it tries very hard to sound pathetic and instead comes off more slightly amusing. Still, Catwoman maintains the thing’s just in heat–I don’t even know how long a cat’s supposed to be in heat. And, since I can’t prove otherwise, all I can do right now is be highly amused. And try to get a halfway decent recording. Anyone wanna loan me something portable that does MP3 recording? Anyone?
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MCSS finally responds, tells me to look at the big picture.
the below is pretty much a deconstruction attempt of the Ministry of Community and Social Services’s response to inquiries re: status of welfare/ODSP payments, and how changes to those payments are likely to affect us, if they change at all. You can read my take on it, or skip to the letter.
I’ve been involved in trying to open something vaguely resembling a dialogue with the Ontario government for the better part of the last month or so, with what pretty much amounts to three basic questions. What’s with the ripping off of ODSP/welfare recipients, why are you trying to rip us off even more, and when is it expected to change? It took nearly exactly a month for the minister’s printed letter–nice environmental initiative, Madeleine Meilleur–to finally make it into my hands, and I’m not entirely sure it actually answers any of the questions I set out to ask.
For starters, the letter points out in rather broad scope the various planned initiatives/improvements/what have you the government will, eventually, get around to implementing. It includes the review of social services’s current offerings, something the NDP’s supposedly been pushing for for some time. It doesn’t give a timeline though for when we can expect the said review to actually be completed. It includes a sort of blanket promise for more increases here, a little more there, but doesn’t go into any particular details on how this is supposed to help those currently receiving ODSP/welfare payments. As an example, Meilleur takes this stand regarding currently implemented ODSP increases.
In addition, our government’s 2009 Budget included a two per cent increase to social assistance rates, which provides recipients with an additional $40 million in 2009-10 and an extra 100 million in 2010-11. This is the fifth increase made to the rates since 2005, bringing the total increase to 11 per cent.
Impressive, if you’re looking at it from the government’s standpoint. Of course, anything measured in millions of dollars is impressive. Here’s where that logic runs into a brick wall, however. That 100 million dollars over the course of the next fiscal year, by the time it makes it into the hands of the people who’ll actually be using it, amounts to the tiniest of drops in the bucket. Translated to monthly payments, it equates to an extra 20 dollars maximum. Broken down even farther, it equates to an extra cab fare to get yourself to the grocery store, an extra loaf of bread and/or bag of milk upon arival at the grocery store, or an extra month paid on the lowest of electricity rates. It doesn’t translate to all three, but rather just one of those three. And that only if you can manage to come across a halfway decent sale. And I haven’t even bothered to address the fact that the 11 percent increase over the last 5 years is microscopic compared to the amount minimum wage has gone up in the same timeframe–a very impressive, unless you don’t make minimum wage, 43 percent approximately.
Let’s take it a step further, and look at what she’s planning for the upcoming year. Apparently, nothing. The letter makes no mention of any plans within the next 12 months to make any additional changes to welfare/ODSP payments. I would even argue Meilleur doesn’t even take the 30 seconds required to pat herself on the back for the additional 1 percent increase we’ll be seeing to the said payments in November of this year–I wonder why.
So far, we know what they’ve done 5 years ago. We know what they’ve done 2 years ago. She’s even told us what they’ve done a year ago. And, we know none of that has really helped anything altogether too significantly–in that 5 years, the major increases the ministry’s been trumpetting have amounted to an increase, on a per-cheque basis, of 100 dollars. And that’s where her promises/explanations stop. Okay. So, you know it’s not enough–your letter has escentially said as much. I’ve written to tell you what needs to happen in order to make it enough. You’ve written to escentially say “this is what we’ve done”. Wonderful. Now, let’s translate that into conversation. Let’s get this from a self-congratulatory note to open and honest dialogue about how best to help people who, under the current system, are quite literally unable to help themselves. At the moment, no one in the Ontario legislature’s feeling too up to the task. Instead of telling me to look at the big picture, how about we try improving the quality of the smaller one. Because, quite simply, everything looks better when you’re a thousand feet above it.
Instead of measuring efforts in millions of dollars, let’s start measuring it in millions of people. As in, the millions currently forced to live below the poverty line because, for any number of reasons from disability to lack of marketable skills–something that could be corrected if people could aford to, they can’t grab onto something and pull themselves above it. Now, let’s look at ways we can make this system less hostile to those who actually want to help themselves so they might be able to get off social services, therefore freeing up more funds for those who are as yet unable to. Madeleine Meilleur and the MCSS effectively tell me in the letter below to look at the big picture. I would submit, just for curiosity’s sake, she and her people might want to take a closer look at the smaller one.
Ministry of Community and Social Services
Minister’s OfficeMinistere des Services sociaux et communautaires
Bureau de la ministre– Ontario
Hepburn Block Queen’s Park Toronto ON M7A 1E9 Tel.: (416) 325-5225 Fax: (416) 325-3347
Edifice Hepburn
Queen’s Park
Toronto (Ontario) M7A 1E9 Tel. : 416 325-5225
Telac. : 416 325-3347MAR 25 2010
Mr. James Homuth
(Contact information removed from this version–I hate spam).
Dear Mr. Homuth:Thank you for your e-mail regarding social assistance. I appreciate the time you have taken to write and I welcome the opportunity to respond.
I am pleased to say our government has developed a Poverty Reduction Strategy that will make a positive difference in people’s lives. We want all Ontarians to have the opportunities and necessary tools to reach their full potential.
As a part of the strategy, we are going to undertake a review of social assistance with the goal of removing barriers and increasing opportunity. The review will seek to better align social assistance with other supports that clients may access, better communicate program rules and ensure programs work collectively. This complements the commitment we have made to work with our municipal partners to simplify and modernize social assistance, better integrate employment services and harmonize housing supports.
A group of highly experienced and committed community leaders, chaired by Gail Nyberg, Executive Director of the Daily Bread Food Bank, has been selected to help facilitate the review. The Social Assistance Review Advisory Council will help shape a review of the social assistance system and suggest ways to better support vulnerable Ontarians as they transition to greater independence. I have asked the council to advise me on:
. possible short-term changes to social assistance rules; and
. a recommended scope and terms of reference for a review of Ontario’s social assistance system.You can learn more about the council’s work and give them your feedback on my ministry’s website at www.ontario.ca/mcss.
In addition, our government’s 2009 Budget included a two per cent increase to social assistance rates, which provides recipients with an additional $40 million in 2009-10 and an extra 100 million in 2010-11. This is the fifth increase made to the rates since 2005, bringing the total increase to 11 per cent.
In July 2008, our government introduced the Ontario Child Benefit (OCB), providing assistance to all low-income families. This benefit will gradually increase, providing 1.3 million children in low-income families with up to $1,310 per year, when it is fully implemented in 2013. As part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, we announced an annual increase of$230 million to the OCB, which brings the total to $1.3 billion annually.
Through the OCB, our government is helping to provide vulnerable children with the opportunities they deserve. I am pleased to announce the 2009 Budget accelerated the phase-in of the OCB by two years. As of July 2009, the OCB has been raised to an annual maximum of $1,100, an increase of 83 per cent.
These changes provide a single-parent family, receiving Ontario Works with two children under the age of 12, $1,110 more than in 2008. This represents an increase of$5,670, or 33 per cent from 2003.
Our government has made several other improvements to help social assistance recipients pursue educational opportunities and receive the supports they need to achieve employment goals. We have:
.fully exempted as income, the earnings of social assistance recipients who are enrolled full time, in postsecondary education;
ended the deduction of the National Child Benefit Supplement from social assistance payments;
introduced an exemption rate of 50 per cent on earned income for social assistance recipients who are not enrolled in secondary or postsecondary education to provide a better incentive to work and earn more;
increased the employment start-up benefit to $500 to help recipients pay for job-related expenses;
increased the maximum deduction from earned income for informal child care costs to $600 per month, per child, to provide working parents with other child care options; and extended health benefits for people leaving social assistance for employment.…..While we know we still have more work to do, our government is committed to making positive changes and I assure you we will keep your suggestions in mind as we move forward.
Sincerely,
Madeleine Meilleur Minister