Updating: Intro, Map Town, Quaker life

Hallo! Hi! Saluton!

It's been eight months since the last entry in this blog, and in case anyone is wondering, I'm still alive, and I do have got lots to talk about... it's just that during the past eight months life has been so full of adventures (ok, would you believe: work) that it's been really difficult finding time to share via this blog. Now before I start sharing thoughts about everyday events again, it seems sensible to bring readers up-to-date. I'm going to do this in three sections. First (today), I'm going to write a few paragraphs in English about what's been happening at MapTown and about my activities as a Quaker. Second (hopefully tomorrow), I will post a description of my Esperanto activities... in Esperanto, of course. Finally, I will attempt a description of my Schlaraffia activities in German.

Over the past eight months, my work at Map Town has become increasingly onerous. This is not so much because business has been booming - like most retail businesses in Canada, we have been affected by the recession so sales are down compared to last year. Slower sales, however, have resulted in staff reductions: part-timer Chris has laid off in October, continuing summer student Dean was laid off in November, and full time employee Dan was laid off in December. Furthermore, Ami, who has been looking after our wholesale division (Map Connection) for the past two years went on maternity leave in January (legally, she can demand her job back within a year of leaving, but it doesn't look like she's in a hurry to come back), and accounts supervisor Mona retired at the end of May. Ami's going on leave has had the biggest impact on my life, because I was tapped to fill Ami's boots ... while still doing a lot of my work for the retail side of the business, including ordering and receiving most of the travel maps and guide books. My new responsibilities include ordering and selling the Canadian aeronautical publications (new VNC and VTA editions as well as the cyclical IFR publications) as well as filling orders for all the wholesale customers - this includes filling enormous orders for Mountain Equipment Coop -, answering phone calls for Map Connection, and sifting through piles of spam coming to our email address for orders; this increased computer time is partly responsible for the silence on this blog - some people are apparently stimulated by computing at work to compute at home, but I'm not like that: the more computer interaction required at my workplace, the less inclined I am to mess around with a computer at home. Now don't me wrong: I still enjoy my work at Map Town, and taking on responsibility for Map Connection has presented new, interesting challenges. And I don't mind working hard: it's just that work has become more stressful, and working harder for the same pay isn't really very satisfying. Of course, I am grateful to still have a job - so many people I know have lots their jobs this past year, among them my wife Maria, my stepdaughter Agnieszka and my brother-in-law Steve.

Unlike my life as a Map Town employee, my life as a Quaker hasn't changed too much over the past year. As a conscientious member of Calgary Monthly Meeting, I try to come to Meeting for Worship as often as possible (lacking a car, this is not too often in winter when the sidewalk are covered in snow and ice) and make a concerted effort to attend all Meetings for Worship for Business). As clerk of the Meeting for Ministry and Counsel of Calgary Monthly Meeting, I lead meeting of our committee which tends to the spiritual life of the meeting: our most important tasks during 2009 have been organizing of the annual retreat - this year, at Kamp Kiwanis in Bragg Creek during the first weekend of March - and the writing of the State of the Society report. This spring, I additionally took on the task of compiling the Statistical Report for Calgary Monthly Meeting (forwarded to the Statistical Secretary of Canadian Yearly Meeting). In May, Maria and I attended the Spring Western Half-Yearly Meeting in Sorrento on Lake Shuswap as we have the past two years, and we plan to attend the Fall Western Half-Yearly Meeting near Saskatoon.

It's now one in the morning, and I need to be at work in eight hours. On this note, I will conclude this posting.

3 days, 3 parties

The weekend of December 12, 13, 14 was a very eventful one for me. Spite malsanecon – jam de la lasta semajno de novembro mi luktis kun malvarmumo – mi sukcesis partopreni tri jarfinajn festojn.

The first of the three parties, on Friday December 12, was our MapTown company party. Our manager, Kim, had arranged for a festive dinner at the musical theatre Jubilations. Unfortunately, a blizzard struck Calgary on that day, and so a number of those planning to attend were unable to come (or unwilling to drive). Nevertheless, eight of us managed to arrive at the theatre. Traffic was chaotic, so Kim had to walk six blocks before Nader could pick her up, while Sandi’s, Bryan, his girlfriend Stacy (sp?) and myself met up with Sandi’s partner Ralph two blocks from the store and Maria got a ride from the school with the father of a co-worker. Since the minimum reservation for a company party was twenty seats (and twenty people may well have come if the weather had cooperated), each of us got an extra dinner to take home, and the company paid for several drinks per person. The play, performed between courses, was a musical production based on the TV show CSI entitled “CSI: Little Murder on the Prairie”. It was great fun and the dinner very tasty (I had a chicken entrée, which I found a bit too spicy for my taste, and took a prime rib entrée home, which I had for dinner two days later and found delicious!)

Am nächsten Tag war das Uhubaum-fest der Schlaraffen (mit Burgfrauen). Ritter Niemand (Allan) holte mich und Maria um halb sechs mit dem Auto von Meredith ab, die leider die dabei sein konnte, da sie zu der Zeit in Hawaii war. Als wir in der Burg ankamen, waren fast alle schon da, und das Abendessen – von Junker Ulli vorbereitet – wurde danach serviert. Um halb acht fing die Sitzung an, und es wurde wie immer lustig gespielt. Ich spielte das Abendlied und die Aufmunterung auf dem Klavier (nicht besonders gut, denn die viele Zuschauer in der Nähe beunruhigten mich) und das Schlußlied und eine musikalische Fechsung (zwei Weihnachts= lieder) auf der Flöte, wofür ich mit dem Wochenwanderfechsungsorden belohnt wurde. Maria und ich erhielten vom Weihnachtsmann (Ritter Bar-Bar) nette Geschenke: Maria einen Engel aus Kristall und ich eine kleine Flasche Likör (Bailey’s Mint Chocolate).

Dimanĉon estis la vico de la esperantistoj. Dum la frua posttagmezo mi ordigis iom la loĝejon, forĵetis reciklotaĵojn, kaj polvosuĉis. Je la 15h30 alvenis Milan, bedaŭrinde sen Jacqueline kiu devis resti en Drumheller pro laboroj farotaj ĉe ŝia ateliero dum sekvaj tagoj, kaj baldaŭ poste alvenis Allan kun Nicholas, juna esperantisto el Aŭstralio kiu nuntempe faras esplorojn kiel komputilsciencisto ĉe la Universitato. Iom post la kvara alvenis ankoraŭ Dafinka. Dum iom pli ol horo ni babilis, manĝetis, fotiĝis kaj kantis Zambanajn kantojn. Je la kvina la gastoj iris hejmen, kaj ni kontentis pro sukcesa Zamenhof-taga festo : raporto pri ĝi aperos en baldaŭ aperonta numero 2008/02 de Lumo kaj ĉe la kluba blogejo.

Urodziny Marysi

Marysia ma dzisiaj urodziny. Rano śpiewałem jej “Sto lat” i po prace spotkaliśmy się w japońskiej restoracje Sumo z Agnieszką. Dałem Marysie krótko przedtem w centrum handlowym Eau Claire kupione prezenty (restoracja Sumo też jest w centrum Eau Claire), i my trzej mieliśmy fajną kolację razem.

Reconnecting with my "Doktormutter"

I get many phone calls at work, but yesterday afternoon I got a call that was at once most surprising and at the same time most pleasurable. Who was on the line but my dear "Doktormutter" Ewa Czaykowska! (I love the German term "Doktorvater", which hints at a connection between supervisor and supervisee that is totally lacking in the cold English term "doctoral supervisor", but to use the term with respect to Ewa would do violence to her identity as a woman so I prefer the term "Doktormutter".) Now I must confess that I have not been in contact with Ewa since giving up hope of ever getting a permanent university position some four years ago - I may be wrong (and today's chat with Ewa has strenghtened this doubt), but in the back of my mind there is a nagging thought that Ewa must be at least a little disappointed that her first sucessful doctoral candidate has failed to find a position appropriate to his education and her efforts have been for naught - but I have kept going to the conferences of the Canadian Linguistic Association, and at this spring's CLA meeting in Vancouver I saw Leslie Saxon, my former syntax prof and Ewa's colleague at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria, and gave her my business card. So when a publisher recently wrote to Ewa enquiring about the possibility of publishing my dissertation (a possiblity I had never seriously entertained until now) she was able to get my work number from Leslie and call me.

Although the purpose of Ewa's call was to find an email address to which she could forward the message from the publisher (she could have found it on the web page "E-mail addresses of Canadian Linguists", but I am glad she found it by calling me), we also had a nice chat about our respective families, about some common acquantainces now infirm, and about my situation here in Calgary. I mentioned my recent visit to Victoria, found out that not visiting UVic two weeks ago was no loss (it was reading break) and promised to connect when I next come to Victoria. In all, talking with Ewa was a very uplifting experience and has strengthened my resolve to complete the modifications to the digital copy of my dissertation so that it can be shared as a pdf file, to finish off my Esperanto translation of the Lushootseed Reader, and to attend next summer's International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages: in 2009 it will have priority over Canadian Yearly Meeting in session!

Junkerprüfung

Schon seit fünf Tagen leide ich an einer Erkältung, und von Samstag bis Dienstag mußte ich den besten Teil des Tages im Bett verbringen, aber gestern um 5 Uhr nachmittags habe ich mich auf den Weg gebracht, denn es sollte diesen Abend an der Burg Stampedia ein wichtiges Ereignis geschehen: die Junkerprufung des Knappen 59 (und des Knappen 58)! Wie immer bei den Schlaraffen, fing die Sippung damit an, daß der (in Vertretung fungierende) Reychsmarschall den Tamtam schlug, die Sassen das Abendlied sangen (mit Begleitung am Klavier vom Knappen 59), jemand die blaue Kerze anzündete, und der Kanzler seine Berichten machte. Erst dann konnte die Junkersprüfung anfangen. Natürlich mußte alles gemäß Ceremonie gemacht worden: zuerst mußten die Knappen – zusammen mit Junkermeister und Junker Ulli – in die Vorburg gehen und dann, schrittend und beugend sich der Oberherrlichkeit nähern. Der Junker Ulli durfte dann seinen Platz am Junkertisch nehmen, während die Knappen (mit Junkermeister zwischen ihnen) sich auf Stühle vor der Oberherrlichkeit und gegenüber vom Schulrat setzten. Der Schulrat (Ritter Uerige) stellte nun mehrere Fragen, erst dem Knappen 58, dann dem Knappen 59, zurück zum Knappen 58, und wieder dem Knappen 59. Man fragte welchen Titel habe der, der die Fragen stellte (Schulrat), welche Farben habe das Reych Fort Okanagan (blau und rot), wie alt das Reych Rocky Mountania sei (38 Jahre alt), wie man den Junkermeister anspricht (Ihr Gestrenger) und so weiter. Manchmal wußten wir die richtigen Antworte, manchmal mußte man uns etwas helfen (oft konnte der Junker Ulli, der hinter uns saß, sich hilflicherweise nicht zurückhalten). Endlich war die Prüfung zuende. Also marschierten wir hinaus in die Vorburg, damit die Herrlichkeiten in aller Ruhe sich entscheiden konnten, und nach wenigen Minuten mußten wir zurück in die Burg marschieren, wo die Oberherrlichkeit uns Bescheid gab, daß wir die Prüfung bestanden haben. Natürlich seien unsere Kenntnisse der Schlaraffentum noch mangelhaft, aber der gute Junkermeister werde uns alles beibringen, was wir noch lernen müßten. Nächste Woche werden wir als Junker Paul und Junker Al eingekleidet. Und die Sippung ging weiter: viele Fechsungen zum Thema „meine Geburtstadt“ sind vorgestellt worden (ich erhielt einen Ahnen in der Form einer Wasserjungfer für eine kurze Fechsung über meine Geburtstadt Victoria, mein guter Freund und erster Pate, der Ritter Niemand, bekam den Wochenwanderorden für eine Fechsung über seine Geburtstadt Kopenhagen), der Styx Ritter Albertaner gab uns eine schmackhafte Atzung in Form einer Bohnensuppe, die Sassen sangen das Aufmunterungslied (nach der Atzung), das Geburtstagslied (fur Ritter Wiss), und das Schlußlied – allemal mit Begleitung von Knappe 59, einmal am Klavier, zweimal mit der Querflöte. Am Ende durften die Knappen 58 und 59 zusammen die blaue Kerze erlöschen.

Leider wurden keine Aufnahmen bei der Junkerprüfung gemacht, aber ich füge zwei Lichtbilder hinzu, die das Ereignis versinnbildlichen können: im ersten Bild sieht man (links) den Ritter Bar-Bar, der fungierende Oberherrlichkeit bei meiner Junkerprüfung, (recht) den Ritter Rohrbruch, meinen zweiten Paten, und vor ihnen die blaue Kerze; im zweiten Bild sieht man mich, den Knappen 59, so gekleidet wie ich bei der Junkerprüfung war.

LUMO nun legebla rete ĉe La Esperanta Gazetejo

Pasintan dimanĉon mi finrealigis projekton, kiu atendas jam de kelkaj jaroj: tiun tagon mi enretigis ĉe La Esperanta Gazetejo en la dum pasinta semajno kreita spaco por Lumo ĉiujn kvar numerojn de mi redaktitaj dum la pasintaj tri jaroj, kune kun listigo de la artikoloj (titoloj, aŭtoroj, kaj paĝnumeroj).

Oni povas nun deŝuti numerojn de Lumo, en pdf-formato, de la sekva retejo: http://www.gazetejo.org/node/1620

Visit to Victoria

The past long weekend (extra long because I took the workday between the weekend and Remembrance Day off) was spent in Victoria. The main reason for the visit was to spend some time with Dad and help him with yardwork, in particular with sweeping the roof and clearing the gutters, before winter sets in.

The trip started out early Saturday morning. Getting up at 4:30 am was a challenge, but with Maria's help I got out of the apartment by 5 and was able to catch the 5:32 train at Southland Station with about 5 minutes to spare. Because of a misleading sign at Marlborough Station I just barely caught the Airport bus (#57), and long lines to check in baggage and get through security left me only half an hour to compose myself at the gate before we were seated. The flight went well in spite of a bit of turbulence coming into Victoria Airport, and after picking up my suitcase called Enterprise Rent-a-Car, from whom I had earlier reserved a car. Soon I was on my way and reached Dad's house by eleven. We had agreed to go out for brunch, and while waiting for Dad to get ready I took a little walk outside, where I saw a cheeky deer walk through the front garden of 713, along the drive of 711, and then through the back garden where I took its picture.

Dad and I had brunch at Royal Roads Cafe and then drove down to Esquimalt Lagoon where some beautiful scenery enticed me to take some pictures.

On Sunday I had intended to go to Quaker meeting, but feeling rather tired I allowed the viewing of Sunday morning funnies on TV to delay my departure to the extent that it would have had to arrive at meeting indecently late, so I stayed home. When Dad came home from church we drove downtown to Beacon Hill Park, where after some 30-40 minutes playing on the putting green (until Dad got a hole-in-one) we walked around the park, accompanied at times by squirrels.

Afterwards we drove along the seaboard, to Clover Point where I took some nice pictures, up through Saanich (looping through the university along Ring Road), and ended up in Langford where we had dinner at the Checkered Flag. My how Langford has grown! Just ten years ago the Checkered Flag seemed at the edge of civilization, and now there is a solid wall of big box stores, condominiums, police stations, restaurants etc all the way from there to Goldstream Avenue!

Lunde mi veturis al Norda Saanich, al la domo de Wally kaj Olga du Temple, kie ĉiun lundan tagmezon esperantistoj de la Duoninsulo Saanich kunvenas por babili kaj progresigi sian scion de nia lingvo. Estis tre agrable denove vidi geamikojn kiujn mi konas jam de tiel multaj jaroj ; Wally du Temple kaj Myra Larsen, ekzemple, mi konas jam de 1978, kiam mi ekuzis nian lingvon konversacie. Post la kunveno mi haltis en la parkejo de golfludejo Ardmore, kiu apartenas al gesamideanoj du Temple (kaj aliaj familianoj) kaj kie iam estis arbareto oficiale nomita « Esperanto ».

Tuesday was a work day for me: I spent over an hour on the edge of the roof, cleaning out the gutters on my hands and knees. To celebrate a job well done, Dad and I went out to My-Chosen Cafe for a fish-and-chip supper.

Wednesday was a quiet day. In the morning I looked through my remaining books at 713 and chose a suitcase full to take back to Calgary. Then, after watching Roger Federer defeat his opponent in the Masters Tennis Tournament in Shanghai, Dad and I went out for lunch, and then I headed for the airport, stopping on the way to deposit a cheque, tank up the car, and visit Mom's gravesite. The flight home was uneventful, and I arrived back home shortly after midnight.