Isn’t it supposed to be spring? Looking out the window – or trying to take the dogs for a walk – today makes one wonder.

Hey, I’m Canadian. When we’re not talking about hockey ot Timmies Roll Up the Rim contest, we seem to fall back on complaining about the weather.

Of course all those semesters of Enviro Science classes make me less willing to jump on the “man made climate change” bandwagon. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that we humans haven’t had an impact on ozone levels and climate but I do think the level of human involvement in natual planetary cycles has been taken way out of proportion.

What’s the point of being self-aware if we can’t think that everything is all about us? To a certain extent, that’s what I think has helped make “climate change” the new sexy trend to blindly follow this century. Whether true or not, I think this sense of self-import plays a part in the public popularity of purported “climate change”.

Good thing most climate change fans haven’t had to suffer through semesters of Enviro Chem and Enviro Science classes and had to slogged their way through a number of dry textbooks before being authorized to spout off the opinions to the masses. If they had, they might find their response to the concept of “high impact man made actions” bearing the highest level of responsibility for weather patterns becoming more jaded with each class completed.

Any checks of the historical record will turn up freezing winters and hot summers over a hundred years ago. Before mass immigration to Canada, before the baby boom, and before the excavation of the oil sands.

Studies of ice cores and rock stratia show multi-year climate cycles going back thousands of years. What is now desert in Africa use to be lush and fertile valleys. Nature’s cycles have more influence than we’ve been giving them credit for of late.

Perhaps we need to re-learn that we cannot control everything in nature. Nor should we be able to. I think it would help keep us humble.

Maybe then we can focus our energies on things that we mere humans can control – like our treatment of those around us.

My parents were Credit Union members for ages. My mum still is. As a kid I had a credit union account. Drew had one too.

The only downside to Credit Unions – other than the MasterCard affiliation – is that they’re not national. Accounts would constantly need to be opened and closed with each move. Since Drew is military and we moved around a lot, we moved our accounts to a national bank well over a decade ago. Over the years they’ve held all our business – mortgage, payroll deposits, RRSP’s, etc.

Today I tried to deposit a bank draft from a Credit Union into a tax free savings account in my bank. Tried being the operative word. After making me wait 45 minutes while they “discussed” the situation, they refused the draft on the grounds that they thought it was fraudulent. Never have I been so mortified or angry in my life. If our accounts weren’t joint (or Drew had been home) I would have yanked every account and our mortgage from the bank immediately. Remember, we’ve been “customers” of this bank for over a decade. They have all our financial history stored in their computer system. They know what our income is, that we’ve never had a late payment, and anything else they could possibly want to know about us. We’ve paid their ever increasing “service fees” for years receiving little in return for the pleasure. Despite this record, apparently, I’m a sketchy character capable of trying to deposit a bad cheque.

Needless to say I left the bank fuming. And walked into the nearest Credit Union and opened a new bank account with cash. Oh, and they didn’t immediately assume the Credit Union bank draft was fraudulent. Go figure! I opened the tax free savings account while there as well.

We’re not planning on leaving the city anytime soon so I don’t think we need to have a national bank anymore. If this is how I’ll be treated after a decade I certainly want nothing to do with them anymore.

I’m not a number. And my business can and will go elsewhere. Slowly until Drew comes home. But certainly I’ll be moving my accounts away from the bank once Drew returns.

Chalk one up for the pissed off customer. I suggest banks start rethinking their treatment of customers or I won’t be the last customer they piss off and lose.

Drew included a few shirts in the package he sent me. You might remember the story. Package is delivered. Inside is coated in sticky goop because he sent pop cans home in the box. Frozen, exploded pop = me doing laundry AGAIN and trying to save a soggy letter so I can read it.

I was a little confused at the time since both of the shirts were a size smaller than I wear. Nothing in the letter about the shirts NOT being for me so I figured Drew was just trying to encourage me to wear more form fitting clothing instead of my usual “tents”.

Apparently I was wrong.

When Drew called me last night he informed me that the shirts are intended for him. Not me.

Whaaaa!

I think I’m going to fill his next care package with things for me and make him hold onto them and bring them home to give back to me. Seems fitting under the circumstances.

Yeah I know. I missed a day. Life intervenes on occasion.

Spent yesterday in a training class for a piece of software that I’ve been using for months. Didn’t learn anything new but certainly ended the day feeling dismissed, patronized, and condescended to by the Trainer. Checked with some other co-workers and found they felt the same way after the session. There was a clear bias (although, he categorization of people was unsupported by facts and based on his own unchecked assumptions) between the favoured group and the “others” and us “others” certainly noticed it.

Big storm blew through Edm last night and now I get to dig out. Oh joy. Where’s a snow shoveling fairy when you need one?

There’s an abandoned shopping cart on the sidewalk in front of my house. I am not amused. It makes shoveling difficult and looks like an eyesore. I have no idea who left it here. I didn’t check earlier but I’m going to see if the store name is listed on it so I can call tem to come retrieve their cart. I have no idea what I’m going to do if it doesn’t have any identifying marks on it or if the store refuses to come get it. All I know is that it can’t stay here.

Got multiple papers due Friday evening so it’s time to buckle down and write like a madwoman. Don’t expect to see or hear from me over the next few days.

I spent a bit of time this morning on the phone with an EI service representative. Apparently EI does not normally pay benefits to anyone who is not actively seeking full-time work. Attending school full-time would disqualify me from receiving benefits.

However, since I’ve spent the last few years attending part-time while holding down a full-time job, I should be able to continue attending part-time while receiving benefits. Then again, EI may choose to deny an application based on part-time university attendance being considered a potential hindrance to employment availability.

[Insert mental rant here]

Gee thanks government safety net that our family has been forced to pay into for decades. Some help you’re turning out to be.

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I don’t want (nor qualify for) a student loan in order to continue with the degree. So now I must search bursary and scholarship programs if I want to go to school full-time after the lay off. Seems far more likely that I’ll continue to be working full-time – if I can find a job – while I continue pursuing the degree part-time.

Back to the drawing board.  It appears I need a new fall back position plan.