I've received two letters in the past two days pertaining to my teaching career.
1. My first "thanks, but no thanks" letter (Calgary Board of Education) - I wasn't holding my breath on this one
2. My very own Alberta Education interim professional certificate

Yesterday, I went to a birthday party disguised as a night out with friends hosted by two people, one a dental student (one year to go), another a chemical engineer (unemployed, but holding out for a better job). They went to the same high school that I did. I saw people I haven't seen for some two years. We ate at a Thai restaurant. We didn't order enough food. After some delicious frozen DQ ice cream cake, we went to Kinpark (at Kinsmen Park), where they have great slides and swinging equipment for schoolage children. It wasn't my idea.

Tomorrow morning, according to the schedule of events, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh will be strolling in Churchill Square. A memorandum was sent out to all city employees (that I originally typed out) letting them know they are allowed to take some time off to see the Royal couple. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

I sent off two more brown envelopes to unsuspecting school boards this afternoon, bringing the total of applications submitted to six (all public jurisdictions): Edmonton, Calgary, Black Gold, Lethbridge, Red Deer and Elk Island.
Total cost of postage to date: $5.60.

No, I don't have a clue. Please enlighten me.

Earlier this afternoon, there was a thunderstorm. That was noisy. A little over five minutes ago, I heard something that sounded like gunshots. That was noisier. Neighbours went outside to find out what's going on. I have no idea, but why would you want to stand outside at a moment like this. A few minutes before these noises, my heart was beating so heavily I couldn't breathe. Premonition?

I am at Knowledge Common at the moment, working on my applications once again. What does one need to do to get noticed by an employer? Excellent grades? Outstanding teacher evaluations? Strong reference letters? Neat handwriting? What?

Nowadays, finding a teaching position is best done electronically. I've created an account at District Office Online, which is free to register, but the account needs to be updated every fourteen days or else you need to pay a $25 reinstatement fee. And I guess you can't just create a new account, because some school boards use this system only to field aplications.

Work has been quiet so far. My co-workers tell me this is unusual. They're great to work with. Lots of free food, I can tell you that!

I'm sitting at Knowledge Common this morning, doing some computer work. I don't have a high-quality flatbed scanner at home (the one I have is about eight years old), so I came here to scan my documents that will make up my electronic teaching portfolio. Oh, and the reason why I'm not at work is because today is my earned day off (EDO, also known as Leave Without Pay, or LWOP).

Sometimes, people treat inanimate objects as their "baby". These objects are usually items such as their notebook computer, their car, or their cell phone. Well, I have my own today. Earlier this week, I bought a digital camera from the UofA Bookstore. I couldn't resist, at less than half the price of its replacement, the PowerShot SD300.
Here are the advantages of my baby:
- better quality pictures, because the camera lens is larger than the SD300.
- uses CompactFlash memory cards, as opposed to the proprietary Secure Digital cards, which is what the SD series uses.
- less noise than the S500, its five-megapixel big brother which can take larger pictures but has the same sensor as the S410 (therefore contributing to the noise).
- made in Japan; I don't think there's much of a difference, but Canon now manufactures its digital cameras in China.

It was the third day at my new assignment at the City of Edmonton. I am working in the human resources department for the summer on the 9th floor of Century Place. I have been meeting a lot of new faces, but of course, my memory is not that great so I can't remember them all.

I am still waiting for the 'CR' to show up for EDFX 450 (field experience) so that my official GPA will be calculated on the transcript. There are a couple of applications I should start (Fort McMurray, Elk Island) - but I am waiting for (yet) another reference letter before proceeding. This one is from my university facilitator for this term.

I called the IT Help Desk a few times today and told them about all of the persistent problems I have had with my account (in particular, Microsoft Outlook) for the past year. The guy was really nice and fixed all of them. Should have phoned him sooner! I finished creating a database project using Microsoft Access today. The interface is a little ugly, but hey, it does what it's supposed to.

Today was the day that I submitted a form for a criminal record check. I went to the downtown police headquarters, where it costs $30 and the wait is 2-4 weeks, rather than going to the Sherwood Park RCMP (where it is free and results are immediately available). See, it does pay to live outside the city!