2010 in review / La jaro 2010

Ah, the good intentions of last March remained just good intentions and now the end of 2010 is upon us! Perhaps a brief review of the past year is in order: and to pay homage to the name and goals of this blog, I’ll make this a bilingual posting.
Mi intencis ke la afiŝaĵo de marto estu unu el multaj en 2010, sed la sorto tion ne permesis, do mi nun mallonge prezentos resumon de mia jaro 2010 (dulingve).

Work at Map Town continued in 2010 much as it did in 2009 : I receive (from the fax machine, by phone or by email), fill and ship most of the orders for Map Connection (our wholesale division), order and receive most of the travel guides, travel maps, and aeronautical publications for retail and wholesale, and spend several hours each day helping retail customers in our store.

Mia laboro ĉe Map Town daŭris en 2010 pli-malpli same kiel en 2009: mi ricevas (per fakso, telefono aŭ komputilo), plenigas kaj ekspedas la mendojn direktitaj al Map Connection (nia pogranda branĉo), mi mendas kaj ricevas la plimulton de la gvidlibroj, vojaĝomapoj, kaj aernavigaj eldonaĵoj por vendado pogrande kaj podetale, kaj mi pasigas kelkajn horojn tage helpante klientojn de nia podetala vendejo.

As a Quaker I am active on both a local and regional level. Locally, I am Clerk of Meeting for Ministry and Counsel of Calgary Monthly Meeting, which provides me with a number of opportunities for service, such as closing Meeting for Worship when I am able to attend, making an occasional reading in Meeting for Worship, and helping organize our annual retreat; for the past two years I have also prepared the statistical report on our meeting for CYM. In 2010 Maria and I attended Western Half-Yearly Meeting both in May (in Sorrento BC) and in October (in Water Valley AB); during both meetings I had service opportunities, in Sorrento as Assistant Registrar and in Water Valley as Registrar. In August, I also attended Canadian Yearly Meeting in session at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg.

Kiel kvakero mi estis activa dum 2010 kaj je loka kaj je regiona niveloj. Je la loka nivelo mi estas sekretario (t.e. prezidanto) de la komisiono por spirita nutrado kaj prizorgo de Kalgaria Monata Kunveno, kio donas al mi plurajn eblecojn servi al mia spirita komunumo: inter alie mi fermas adorkunvenojn kiam mi povas ilin ĉeesti, mi de tempo al tempo prezentas legaĵon dum adorkunvenoj, kaj mi kunorganizas nian ĉiujaran studsemajnfinon; dum la pasintaj du jaroj mi ankaŭ pretigis la statistikan raporton pri nia kunveno por la kanada nacia organizo de kvakeroj (Canadian Yearly Meeting). Dum 2010 Maria kaj mi partoprenis la duon-jarajn okcident-regionajn kunvenojn kaj en majo (en Sorrento BC) kaj en oktobro (en Water Valley AB); ambaŭ-foje mi povis plenumi gravan rolon, en Sorrento kiel vic-matrikulisto kaj en Water Valley kiel matrikulisto. Dum aŭgusto mi ankaŭ partoprenis la tut-semajnan jarkunvenon de la nacia (kanada) kvakera asocio; tio okazis en Vinipego ĉe la kampuso de la Kanada Menonita Universitato.


At the end of March, I took the last step towards full membership in the Schlaraffia: I became a Ritter – taking the Rittername Kanadano de Sproochmeeschter – and was shortly thereafter saddled with the position of Kantzler (secretary) of our local branch, the Schlaraffia Rocky Mountania. I also received my first (Voyageur der Klondike) and second (Flintenputzer von Fort Edmonton) titles from our mother association, the Prima Canadensis in Edmonton, and a house order from the Rocky Mountania in recognition of my diligent (if not always competent) service as house musician. Aside from our regular meetings in Calgary, I attended Schlaraffia meetings three times in Edmonton and twice in Kamloops in 2010.

Fine de marto mi prenis la lastan paŝon al plena membreco ĉe la ŝlarafoj : mi fariĝis kavaliero – mi alprenis la kavalier-nomon Kanadano de Sproochmeeschter – kaj baldaŭ poste ricevis la postenon de Kantzler (sekretario) de la kalgaria grupo, la Schlaraffia Rocky Mountania. Mi ankaŭ ricevis miajn unuan (Voyageur der Klondike) kaj duan (Flintenputzer von Fort Edmonton) titolojn de nia patrina asocio, la Prima Canadensis en Edmontono, kaj ordenon de la Rocky Mountania agnoske de mia diligenta (se ne ĉiam kompetenta) servado kiel muzikisto de la grupo. Krom la regulaj kunvenoj en Kalgario, mi dum 2010 partoprenis ŝlarafajn kunvenojn ankaŭ en Edmontono (trijoje) kaj Kamloops (dufoje).

On the family front, there was also much activity this year. Our daughter Agnieszka finalized her divorce from Chad and in July married Wojciech Wilczyński, an intelligent young man who moved to Canada from Poland (hometown: Nysa) two years ago. His parents were able to come to Canada to attend the wedding, and Maria and I got to know them, found them to be like-minded to ourselves in many ways, and had the pleasure of showing them some of Alberta for two weeks. Maria and I visited Dad in Victoria for a week in September, and he seemed to be very glad of our company. We saw brother Allan twice over the summer: in July we drove up to Devon Botanical Gardens with him and camped overnight in Devon on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River and then in late August Allan and I drove down to Lethbridge to see the beautiful Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden and then camped overnight at Henderson Lake campground; it was our intent to see the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in nearby Coaldale the next day, but as it was pouring rain we instead drove to Crowsnest and visited the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre. Over Christmas I was able to get a rental car at an excellent rate for five days and so we visited Agnieszka and Wojciech twice, brought Allan to our apartment for Christmas dinner before returning him home with a long detour to Big Springs Provincial Park, and visited sister Doreen and her family (husband Steve, who has just started a new job as project manager for an oil and gas company, and three daughters April, Michelle and Samantha).

Ĉi-jare ni vidis nian familion plimulte ol kutime. Nia filino Agnieszka formale eksedziĝis de Chad kaj edziniĝis al Wojciech Wilczyński, inteligenta junulo kiu enmigris Kanadon de Polando (hejmurbo: Nysa) antaŭ du jaroj. Liaj gepatroj sukcesis veni al Kalgario (de Pollando) por ĉeesti la geedziĝan feston, kaj Maria kaj mi konatiĝis kun ili, trovis ke ni dividas multajn opiniojn kun ili kaj havis la plezuron montri al ili iom da Alberto dum du semajnoj. Maria kaj mi vizitis paĉjon en Victoria dum semajno en septembro, kaj ŝajne plaĉis al li la vizito. Ni vidis mian fraton Allan dufoje dum la somero : komence de julio ni kune kun li vizitis la Botanikan Ĝardenon de Devon kaj tendume tranoktis en Devon sur la bordoj de la rivero Nord-Saskaĉevana, kaj fine de aŭgusto Allan kaj mi veturis al Lethbridge por vidi la bela Japanan Ĝardenon Nikka Yuko kaj poste tranoktis en la apuda tendumejo de lago Henderson; ni intencis sekvatage viziti la Albertan Centro por Rabobirdoj en la proksima urbeto Coaldale, sed pluvegis do ni anstataŭe veturis al la valo Crowsnest kaj vizitis la Interpretan Centron de la lavango de Frank. Dum la Kristnaskofesta semajnfino mi sukcesis lui aŭton dum kvin tagoj je bona tarifo, kaj ni bone eluzis la aŭton por dufoje viziti Agnieszka-n kaj Wojciech-on, alporti Allan-on al nia loĝejo por Kristnaskofesta manĝo kaj poste reveturigi lin hejmen kun longa devojiĝo al Provinca Parko Big Springs, kaj viziti mian fratinon Doreen kaj ŝian familion (tio estas, ŝia edzo Steve, kiu lastatempe ricevis novan laborpostenon kiel projekt-manaĝero ĉe nafto- kaj gaz-firmao, kaj ŝiaj tri filinoj : April, Michelle kaj Samantha).

That’s enough for today – more in the new year 2011!
Sufiĉas por hodiaŭ – mi skribos pli multe en 2011!

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Well, so much for the good intentions of last August! I managed to post just one entry into this blog during the whole of 2009. Perhaps this year I'll do better.

There have been a number of changes in my life since last August: here's a brief summary. At work, Ami didn't return from maternity leave, so my status as Mr. Map Connection could be said to have changed from temporary to permanent, but this "promotion" has not come with any benefits. If anything, things have gotten worse, because the building administration decided it wanted to use the space where Map Town did its web administration, internet order processing, and packing, and Roger (Map Town owner) was happy to surrender the lease and save money, but that meant that new quarters had to be found for Ryan, our technician, and the powers that be decided that Map Connection had to "share" the back office, so out went desks, shelves, backstock, and packing supplies and in came shelves for web stuff (sparsely used), humming computers and a taciturn office mate with an attitude who insists on distracting me with music only occasionaly pleasant: fortunately, he arrives and leaves much earlier than I do, and a good part of my day is spent out front helping customers, so that I don't have to spend too much time in the same room with Ryan.

In Quaker life, Maria and I attended Western Half Yearly Meeting near Saskatoon over the Thanksgiving weekend 2009, and I was asked to serve as assistant registrar for Spring 2010 WHYM in Sorrento, registrar for Fall 2010 WHYM in Water Valley, and registrar for Spring 2011 WHYM in Sorrento: responsible positions indeed. I also continue my service as Clerk of Meeting for Ministry and Counsel of Calgary Monthly Meeting (as such, I helped organize CMM's annual retreat at Kamp Kiwanis near Bragg Creek the weekend before last) and put together this year's Statistical Report for CMM (to be sent to CYM for inclusion in the Canadian Statistical Report). I try to attend Meeting for Worship most Sundays, but don't have much success with this in the winter - it's so hard to resist the temptation to sleep in on a Sunday morning when the ground is covered with ice and snow...

Attending the Schlaraffia meetings continues to be a highpoint of my week throughout the winter. Succumbing to ill-deserved but generous praise, I have become the Rocky Mountania's musician: usually I manage to play the Abendlied, the Aufmunterungslied and the birthday song (gaudemus) with one hand on the piano, and then the more difficult Schlusslied on the flute. From time to time I also present other tunes on the flute or by singing - although I am no great musician, my talents in this area surpass those of the other Schlaraffen in our local meeting (or I am simply fool enough to stick my neck out and self-confident enough not to care about mistakes) and my attempts to entertain my fellow Schlaraffen have frequently been awarded with praise, Ahnen, and the Wochenwanderfechsungsorden. Having climbed the social ladder to the rank of Junker in the Fall of 2008, Al Kapusta and I are soon to make the next big step to becoming fully fledged Ritter: two weeks ago we had our Junkerexamen, a seamstress in preparing special cloaks and Helme for us, we are to read our Ritterarbeiten at next Tuesday's meeting (I've got to write mine during the coming weekend) and our Ritterschlag ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, March 20 (2010)!

Das waere's fuer heute! Mi petas pardonon, ke mi hodiau' skribis nur angle kaj sen fotoj - espereble ne dau'ros longe g'is kiam mi blogos denove - tiam ankau' germane kaj Esperante, kaj kun fotoj.

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.