Archive for February, 2004

Hart runs his mouth…Helmer writes back

February 3rd, 2004

Jonathon Hart is running for Arts Regular councillor. I've some comments on his statement on feds.ca.

He writes:

In previous elections voter turnout and student apathy, related to FEDs, have played a major factor in the quality of representation from every faculty, and especially the Arts faculty. It has become apparent to me that it is time to put strength and leadership back into the FEDs so that the council and executive can do the best job possible for the constituents of arts and for every student at the University of Waterloo.

Where is your evidence? Apparently, you don't have any. You are probably correct but your rhetoric needs a foundation.

I want to get YOU involved. I want to be the person that speaks on behalf of YOUR views and direction for the faculty of arts. It is critical for everyone in the faculty to feel that they have the opportunity to contribute to their education and post secondary experience through FEDs.

The position you are running for is called councillor, not conduit. CAPs are dumb; use bold instead.

Accountability is critical for an effective council. I want you to know what I'm doing to make your education better. The lack of interest and commitment from the councilors in past years is appalling. Councilors who don't show up and when they do show up leave early, aren't there to work for you. You deserve better. I can promise you that I will be dedicated to being YOUR voice to the executive and the first step to that is being physically at meetings. The next step is being prepared and involved at meetings. At every meeting the voice of arts students will be heard.

This year's arts councillors have been very good, relative to the rest of council. You sound like you've got lots of enthusiasm. Here's hoping you can do some good on council. You've got one of my four votes.

UW blogger get together, tonight!

February 3rd, 2004

Tonight: Grad House, 8 p.m. Be there or beware.

A vision of Students’ Council

February 2nd, 2004

Listening to the media forum, I started thinking about council and attendance. The common refrain is that council is overpopulated with résumé builders who just don't show up to meetings. I think attendance has something to do with timing of meetings and the business considered at those meetings. Consider the following table of data.

» Read more: A vision of Students’ Council

buying a power adapter from a US company

February 1st, 2004

I just ordered a power adapter for my Fuji Finepix 2800 (AC-5VH). It wasn't included in my order from Henry's.com. I checked the Henry's site for price and availability. They sell the adapter for $79.99 plus tax and shipping. That seemed fairly expensive, so I searched for the adapter on froogle.com and found a advertisement for etronics.com. They sell the same adapter for $US 14.99, or $CA 20.51. With shipping, tax, etc, the total came to $49.50. So I ordered it. etronics has partnered with Canada Post Borderfree to provide guaranteed Canadian pricing. Their web store was very good. It took me very little time to order what I wanted, even though I was an international customer.

Travelling to Ottawa, recapitulation

February 1st, 2004

Dinner at Le Metro was outstanding. I had shrimp tempura to begin my meal, which went very well with two glasses of the house red wine. The shrimp were served with a tasty oil for dipping and sesame seeds for rolling. A small garnish of wasabi, enough to wake up an elephant, rounded out the presentation. For the main course, I had grilled Atlantic salmon with vegetables. It is the best salmon I've ever eaten. And for dessert, I had an oven-baked raspberry cheesecake. The meal was very good. The bill was $135 for the two of us. I highly recommend Le Metro to any omnivores in Ottawa with enough money and interest for good food.

In the evening of the third day, I dropped my boss off at the airport and then drove, in the rented Oldsmobile Alero, to my aunt's home in the south end of Ottawa. It was great to see my young cousins, Jack and Luke. I enjoyed my visit so much, I ended up returning the next day.

You know on your boarding pass, how it says to show up an hour before your flight? Hahaha. So I missed my flight by arriving at registration only 23 minutes before it was scheduled to depart. I went back to my aunt's home for Friday night, excited about flying out at 7:05 Saturday morning.

Friday night, my aunt, my uncle and I watched two episodes of the first season of The West Wing. "Celestial Navigation" was hilarious. "Woo canall!"

The flight back to Hamilton was better than the flight to Ottawa. I had a south-facing window seat and the sun was just rising over the eastern horizon, so I had a great view of the GTA, particularly Toronto.

Travel summary:

  • 3 taxi rides
  • 2 flights on a Boeing 737
  • 1 1994 Aerostar
  • 1 2004 Alero
  • 2 hotels
  • 4 days outside of K-W
  • 2 missed classes

nothing new at Feds?

February 1st, 2004

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a new mailing list called fedsnews. Unfortunately, the most recent message to the list, from Feds President Chris Edey, was sent on 16 January 2004. A list that isn't used frequently isn't much better than no list at all. Dave and John should use the list, too.