Monday, February 18, 2008

Bitter Sweet

Today is the new Ontario holiday, Family Day. It is a provincial statutory holiday. What am I doing on this government regulated day off?

I am at work. Presumably. I'm actually writing this two days ago. As of this writing there's supposed to be a major weather system heading through Ottawa causing a mixture of snow, rain, freezing rain, ice pellets, hail, fire, and brimstone - just like I predicted. I might not have made the trek in. For the purposes of this post, assume I'm at work.

For, you see, Family Day is an Ontario holiday. I work in Quebec. Furthermore, I work for the Federal government. Our statutory holidays are outlined in our collective agreement. It is possible that one day we may get another holiday. But today isn't that day.

There's something different about my work as of Wednesday, February 13, 2008. On Friday I signed my permanence contract with the government (effective the Wednesday before). All this really means is that there's no determined end date to my contract. It's as permanent as it gets with the feds.

As for today's title, the bitter part is that I have to go to work, when everyone around me (at home) gets the day off. The sweet part is that my work is now, for all intents and purposes, permanent.

Well, if you'll excuse me, it's time for another coffee break. And this sudoku puzzle isn't going to solve itself.


UPDATE: I droveslid out to the Park'n'Ride. After waiting for a while, the bus finally arrived. It turned in to the Park'n'Ride and instead of completing the turn to come and pick up us would-be riders, it slid into the snowbank. It spent the next few minutes trying, unsuccessfully to back out. It managed to rotate it's back end. At that point I decided I would take a Family Day too. If the weather is too bad for the buses, it's too bad for me.

Then I get home and read an article about a plane sliding off the runway at Ottawa's airport, and how part of the 417 was closed near where I live yesterday due to bad driving conditions due to the weather. And the radio said that school buses in Western Quebec (where I work) weren't running. I figure I'm in good company.

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