I play hockey, and I coach hockey (hopefully
my daughter Lois' novice girls team this fall), and one thing I HATE
about the game is the old school "boys will be boys" BS that masquerades
as a front for chauvinism, racism and bigotry in general.
Up until today, Warrior gear has been something I have purchased
because of its quality, but after reading this, I will be answering this writer's call to de-logo and post photos of all my un-Warrior gear to
make sure this company understands that advertising that objectifies and
condescends to women and laughs at rape is stupid and unacceptable.
I parent a boy who plays hockey, and two daughters that will grow up
playing the game we ALL love, and NO ONE will ever make it seem normal
for women to be anything but respected and esteemed on my watch.
Until Warrior changes their approach to advertising, I've purchased my
last item from them. The soul of the game, the confidence and
opportunity of my girls, and the power of my son to be an ally in gender
equality are all worth more than gear that subsidizes idiocy.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Backyard ice rink, 2012-2013 season
So my Dad came over yesterday to help me put up the frame for our backyard rink, and to install the new rink liner I purchased from rinkmaster.com. It was the quickest install of the past three attempts, and I was filling the rink with the garden hose via the basement laundry sink by 4:45 pm.
Still remaining on the to do list are to put up the netting my father in law gave me at both ends of the rink to prevent pucks from ending up in the woods or our neigbour's back yard, and to get some 1 x 3 strapping to install around the lip of the ice surface to protect the rink liner from skate/puck damage.
Really pleased with the liner- I was able to fill the rink to full by about 10:15 pm. So the pricier liner @ $99 (last year's tarp was about $45 dollars at Princess Auto) saved me a ton on water- running it out of our own tap saved probably at least $160 on a load of water (last year it was $215 for the water truck).
The lights are still up from last season and working. The weather is supposed to be very cold (below -10 C throughout the day tomorrow) for the next three or four days, so here's hoping we have a solid rink to skate on by the weekend!
Still remaining on the to do list are to put up the netting my father in law gave me at both ends of the rink to prevent pucks from ending up in the woods or our neigbour's back yard, and to get some 1 x 3 strapping to install around the lip of the ice surface to protect the rink liner from skate/puck damage.
Really pleased with the liner- I was able to fill the rink to full by about 10:15 pm. So the pricier liner @ $99 (last year's tarp was about $45 dollars at Princess Auto) saved me a ton on water- running it out of our own tap saved probably at least $160 on a load of water (last year it was $215 for the water truck).
The lights are still up from last season and working. The weather is supposed to be very cold (below -10 C throughout the day tomorrow) for the next three or four days, so here's hoping we have a solid rink to skate on by the weekend!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Super Sunday Research...
This is no joke. There is some SERIOUS research that goes into this, which often involves a week or so of active dialogue on message boards for the teams (no easy thing- posting as a non-fan and asking kindly for help to put on a great party) to discover authentic dishes, and then locating recipes to make them.
We usually start conducting preliminary research once the final four are determined after the conference semi-finals.
We are WICKED thrilled that our team, the Green Bay Packers, remain in the hunt for the title, not only because they're our team, but also because the food for the Packers kicks ass. Beer Broiled Brats on a bun with mustard and brine kraut, chicken booyah and some type of super rich bread pudding with rum sauce. That's a far better alternative to the Chicago slate from the NFC, although we will make it work if we have to.
So this is me, reaching out to the internet, asking for denizens of New York City, Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Chicago to post ideas for food that one would find at legit tailgating spots at home games as comments.
Thanks all- looking forward to your ideas!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Not the only one...
Yep, I love allusions to pop culture.
Now onto the main idea. I have often opined about the dinosaur-era public awareness strategy employed by the NSTU since I moved back to Halifax from Montreal in 2001.
As a newly permanent teacher with the English Montreal School Board, I felt like our union was militaristic- nothing happened that they didn't monitor or report in terms of respect our collective agreement. In some respects I felt like the tactics used by the MTA contributed to a relationship with administration (who were represented in collective bargaining by an entity complete other than the MTA, which is a whole other can of worms for another post), but then I discovered the joy of working in Nova Scotia under the popular myth that the Nova Scotia Teachers Union was the most powerful and feared union in the province (or so Brian Forbes and Mary Lou Donnelly, the two most recent past presidents, repeatedly told our membership).
Here, NO ONE monitored violations of the collective agreement. Principals wanted to have multiple, two hour staff meetings per month? Not a peep. Sure, we won an article in the last contract that stated that staff meetings had to conclude 90 minutes after the end of the instructional day. And then NSTU executive staff officer Gerard Cormier, whose office in the ivory tower one would assume meant proximity to intimate knowledge of recent wins, came as a guest and blew away that statute in a presentation that went 45 minutes past our agreement. Who needs admin to violate the contract when our own executive staff members, paid six figures to represent our interests in collective bargaining, are willing to do it for them?
And NO ONE talked to the press, pretty much ever, unless in reaction to an overnight controversy- no proactive presence, no strategy to leverage the power of local radio, TV or print media on a regular basis to get the issues facing education in our province into the public head space consistently through informed presentation and debate of teacher perspectives. In ten years, I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard our president on local talk radio, and those times have been limited to responding to requests by the host rather than the president reaching out and requesting air time, as other leaders have done (Peter Kelly, Darrell Dexter and assorted federal MPs, to name a few).
BUT, do we do smarmy nondescript holiday ads! Mary Lou and Alexis have perfected the 30 second, smiling president with babies and young children spots in the past five years. If any media presence is better than none, then I guess this one step would count as quantum improvement. However, as part of the first always on media-steeped generation, any coverage is NOT better coverage.
Yesterday, the Chignecto Regional School Board held a public meeting to outline their proposal to cut 21% of their budget over the next three years, as per the request of the Minister of Education. In TV coverage, Joan Jessome (head of the union that represents educational program assistants) was asked why the NSTU has maintained near radio silence with catastrophic cuts being bandied about rather than go on the offensive and make it clear to Nova Scotians what cuts of this magnitude would mean about the quality of education in our public schools.
Jessome, in what can only be described as a non-answer, essentially said that she can't fathom a 21% cut and what it would do.
It's disturbing that the NSTU can't recognize how feeble it has becoming in advocating for quality in education. Nova Scotia has languished near the very bottom of per capita funding for education for well over a decade, and until we launched a campaign called Save Grade 2 last year, you'd never know funding was an issue based on the the non-communication of the crisis to the public by the NSTU over that same period. When the Dexter government was elected, the NSTU collectively jumped for joy, fully expecting that an NDP government would finally give education its due. Then Community College faculty got a 1% pay raise in the first year of their new collected agreement and nothing for the remainder. Friendly indeed!
Now, with the same NDP government rumbling about cutting 21% (aside: I'm just waiting for someone to utter the phrase "read my lips" after hearing how this whole thing is just about getting information... Where there's smoke, I think the saying goes...), the best our president, earning 150% of her normal teaching/administrative salary to herald the cause of teachers to the public and government, can do is to talk about how stressed we are.
I wondered if this was only distressing to me, but the response from the meeting held by the Chignecto Regional School Board shows that not only are union members within the NSTU questioning the sanity of paying around $700 annually for such ineffective leadership and representation, but the public, fellow labour partners, school boards and others who have heard the NSTU spout longstanding rhetoric about being the stewards and leaders of public education are following suit too.
Perhaps I will come off as ageist, but I have said it before and I'll say it again. The fact that so many of our executive staff officers have spent a decade or more at the palace on Joe Howe DriveScotia since the Savage Liberals gutted education with cuts in the 90's that schools, students and teachers have never recovered from.
If I take any comfort in our present bumbling, it's that I finally have company on the wagon that recognizes that the NSTU stopped being relevant or effective a long time ago and is now a laughingstock without credibility to all the stakeholders we need support from to make our schools truly effective. To all the newcomers onboard? It's a disheartening ride with no end in sight. Wanna share a seat cushion?
Now onto the main idea. I have often opined about the dinosaur-era public awareness strategy employed by the NSTU since I moved back to Halifax from Montreal in 2001.
As a newly permanent teacher with the English Montreal School Board, I felt like our union was militaristic- nothing happened that they didn't monitor or report in terms of respect our collective agreement. In some respects I felt like the tactics used by the MTA contributed to a relationship with administration (who were represented in collective bargaining by an entity complete other than the MTA, which is a whole other can of worms for another post), but then I discovered the joy of working in Nova Scotia under the popular myth that the Nova Scotia Teachers Union was the most powerful and feared union in the province (or so Brian Forbes and Mary Lou Donnelly, the two most recent past presidents, repeatedly told our membership).
Here, NO ONE monitored violations of the collective agreement. Principals wanted to have multiple, two hour staff meetings per month? Not a peep. Sure, we won an article in the last contract that stated that staff meetings had to conclude 90 minutes after the end of the instructional day. And then NSTU executive staff officer Gerard Cormier, whose office in the ivory tower one would assume meant proximity to intimate knowledge of recent wins, came as a guest and blew away that statute in a presentation that went 45 minutes past our agreement. Who needs admin to violate the contract when our own executive staff members, paid six figures to represent our interests in collective bargaining, are willing to do it for them?
And NO ONE talked to the press, pretty much ever, unless in reaction to an overnight controversy- no proactive presence, no strategy to leverage the power of local radio, TV or print media on a regular basis to get the issues facing education in our province into the public head space consistently through informed presentation and debate of teacher perspectives. In ten years, I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard our president on local talk radio, and those times have been limited to responding to requests by the host rather than the president reaching out and requesting air time, as other leaders have done (Peter Kelly, Darrell Dexter and assorted federal MPs, to name a few).
BUT, do we do smarmy nondescript holiday ads! Mary Lou and Alexis have perfected the 30 second, smiling president with babies and young children spots in the past five years. If any media presence is better than none, then I guess this one step would count as quantum improvement. However, as part of the first always on media-steeped generation, any coverage is NOT better coverage.
Yesterday, the Chignecto Regional School Board held a public meeting to outline their proposal to cut 21% of their budget over the next three years, as per the request of the Minister of Education. In TV coverage, Joan Jessome (head of the union that represents educational program assistants) was asked why the NSTU has maintained near radio silence with catastrophic cuts being bandied about rather than go on the offensive and make it clear to Nova Scotians what cuts of this magnitude would mean about the quality of education in our public schools.
Jessome, in what can only be described as a non-answer, essentially said that she can't fathom a 21% cut and what it would do.
It's disturbing that the NSTU can't recognize how feeble it has becoming in advocating for quality in education. Nova Scotia has languished near the very bottom of per capita funding for education for well over a decade, and until we launched a campaign called Save Grade 2 last year, you'd never know funding was an issue based on the the non-communication of the crisis to the public by the NSTU over that same period. When the Dexter government was elected, the NSTU collectively jumped for joy, fully expecting that an NDP government would finally give education its due. Then Community College faculty got a 1% pay raise in the first year of their new collected agreement and nothing for the remainder. Friendly indeed!
Now, with the same NDP government rumbling about cutting 21% (aside: I'm just waiting for someone to utter the phrase "read my lips" after hearing how this whole thing is just about getting information... Where there's smoke, I think the saying goes...), the best our president, earning 150% of her normal teaching/administrative salary to herald the cause of teachers to the public and government, can do is to talk about how stressed we are.
I wondered if this was only distressing to me, but the response from the meeting held by the Chignecto Regional School Board shows that not only are union members within the NSTU questioning the sanity of paying around $700 annually for such ineffective leadership and representation, but the public, fellow labour partners, school boards and others who have heard the NSTU spout longstanding rhetoric about being the stewards and leaders of public education are following suit too.
Perhaps I will come off as ageist, but I have said it before and I'll say it again. The fact that so many of our executive staff officers have spent a decade or more at the palace on Joe Howe DriveScotia since the Savage Liberals gutted education with cuts in the 90's that schools, students and teachers have never recovered from.
If I take any comfort in our present bumbling, it's that I finally have company on the wagon that recognizes that the NSTU stopped being relevant or effective a long time ago and is now a laughingstock without credibility to all the stakeholders we need support from to make our schools truly effective. To all the newcomers onboard? It's a disheartening ride with no end in sight. Wanna share a seat cushion?
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Snow days don't just bring snow...
...every year when we start to get snow and people postulate whether school will or won't be cancelled, there's the inevitable bevy of media banter about how too much time for learning is lost due to inclement weather in Nova Scotia and an ill ignored factor in low student performance overall in terms of academic basics (and, yes, I'm talking about the thankfully departed Andrew Krystal and the perpetually teacher-dogging Rick Howe).
I get that these guys are paid to get people riled up as a means to generate listenership and revenue, so, to a degree, their annual anti-school cancellation due to inclement weather campaign isn't that big a deal.
BUT, their everlasting griping about how teachers get days off at student expense goes uncontested by the highly overpaid president and executive directorship of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union. Because it's uncontested, it festers in the public mind as incontrovertible fact, and it makes doing a job that's already perceived as a glorified country club gig in modern media even tougher.
It's getting harder and harder to accept that Ms. Allen and company earn well over six figures to remain silent on this issue and fail to call the public and media to account on this, in addition to inaction and apathy on far more important issues in education besides snow days.
It's really tough to know that teachers agreed, knowing that school days lost to cancellations for inclement weather impact student learning negatively, to a longer instructional year in the 1990's to compensate for the days that might be lost within a year.
It's even harder to take when I know that Nova Scotia's teachers already teach more minutes per year than any other teachers in the country.
The arguments for banning school cancellation are idiotic- parents need their kids at schools so they can work. So let's put legal minors on buses on roads that no lesser authorities than the police and RCMP advise all drivers to stay off of for risk of severe injury or death to get to schools potentially hours late so Mom and Dad can go or not go to work that day? The fact that a student may not work on academic items for a day imperils their long term academic success and competence?
In Halifax Metro, we've had two or less days lost to inclement weather per year over the past five years, but we still have people complaining about the year we suffered more than two weeks of time lost due to Hurricane Juan and White Juan in the space of four months, and using that as justification for needing to ban school cancellations.
I appreciate that the debate is different in areas of Nova Scotia that are more rural and more days are lost annually because of road conditions, but it's disturbing that the people who rant about how this problem is crippling students so quickly forget that schools in rural areas are almost universally not located within the communities their students reside in and require students to be bused long distances each way daily- sometimes commutes are nearly an hour each way. How long would those commutes be in terrible winter conditions? Twenty years ago, schools were in communities with kids around the corner. The population has shifted dramatically in that time- fewer and fewer young families remain in rural communities, which makes consolidating rural schools a financial necessity in providing public education. However, this also means that busing becomes a logistical obstacle at times, and especially during winter months.
Most frustrating are those who posture that teachers decide to cancel school, as if the board higher ups that make the call to cancel or not cancel school survey teachers on their feeling about going or not going to work the next day as part of their decision. WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE MATTER, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER!
The decision is made by someone against the backdrop of whether it's safe to require children to walk or travel on roads to and from school. These same people have, in the past, requested that teachers able to get to school do so anyway, provided they are not risking life and safety to do so. I've done it, but I can tell you that more often than not I'm at home marking and preparing for classes for as much time as I would at school anyway. It's like people think teachers are downing hot toddies at 8 am and getting sauced and coming in hung over and late the day after a school closure... Seriously...
Anyway, here's to another winter season of complete and total radio silence on the NSTU's part while they figure out a way to pay for prime time ad space to air TV commercials where Alexis Allen kisses babies with the head of the nurses union that do NOTHING to show the public what teachers do to contribute to the health and vitality of our province. I guess NSTU members, who can't call these shows themselves because they happen to be WORKING while they're on, will just have to send emails the day after that Rick Howe won't read because it doesn't support his agenda.
And yes, I pay almost $700 per year for this quality of leadership and public representation. Think of all the snow that could clear!
I get that these guys are paid to get people riled up as a means to generate listenership and revenue, so, to a degree, their annual anti-school cancellation due to inclement weather campaign isn't that big a deal.
BUT, their everlasting griping about how teachers get days off at student expense goes uncontested by the highly overpaid president and executive directorship of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union. Because it's uncontested, it festers in the public mind as incontrovertible fact, and it makes doing a job that's already perceived as a glorified country club gig in modern media even tougher.
It's getting harder and harder to accept that Ms. Allen and company earn well over six figures to remain silent on this issue and fail to call the public and media to account on this, in addition to inaction and apathy on far more important issues in education besides snow days.
It's really tough to know that teachers agreed, knowing that school days lost to cancellations for inclement weather impact student learning negatively, to a longer instructional year in the 1990's to compensate for the days that might be lost within a year.
It's even harder to take when I know that Nova Scotia's teachers already teach more minutes per year than any other teachers in the country.
The arguments for banning school cancellation are idiotic- parents need their kids at schools so they can work. So let's put legal minors on buses on roads that no lesser authorities than the police and RCMP advise all drivers to stay off of for risk of severe injury or death to get to schools potentially hours late so Mom and Dad can go or not go to work that day? The fact that a student may not work on academic items for a day imperils their long term academic success and competence?
In Halifax Metro, we've had two or less days lost to inclement weather per year over the past five years, but we still have people complaining about the year we suffered more than two weeks of time lost due to Hurricane Juan and White Juan in the space of four months, and using that as justification for needing to ban school cancellations.
I appreciate that the debate is different in areas of Nova Scotia that are more rural and more days are lost annually because of road conditions, but it's disturbing that the people who rant about how this problem is crippling students so quickly forget that schools in rural areas are almost universally not located within the communities their students reside in and require students to be bused long distances each way daily- sometimes commutes are nearly an hour each way. How long would those commutes be in terrible winter conditions? Twenty years ago, schools were in communities with kids around the corner. The population has shifted dramatically in that time- fewer and fewer young families remain in rural communities, which makes consolidating rural schools a financial necessity in providing public education. However, this also means that busing becomes a logistical obstacle at times, and especially during winter months.
Most frustrating are those who posture that teachers decide to cancel school, as if the board higher ups that make the call to cancel or not cancel school survey teachers on their feeling about going or not going to work the next day as part of their decision. WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE MATTER, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER!
The decision is made by someone against the backdrop of whether it's safe to require children to walk or travel on roads to and from school. These same people have, in the past, requested that teachers able to get to school do so anyway, provided they are not risking life and safety to do so. I've done it, but I can tell you that more often than not I'm at home marking and preparing for classes for as much time as I would at school anyway. It's like people think teachers are downing hot toddies at 8 am and getting sauced and coming in hung over and late the day after a school closure... Seriously...
Anyway, here's to another winter season of complete and total radio silence on the NSTU's part while they figure out a way to pay for prime time ad space to air TV commercials where Alexis Allen kisses babies with the head of the nurses union that do NOTHING to show the public what teachers do to contribute to the health and vitality of our province. I guess NSTU members, who can't call these shows themselves because they happen to be WORKING while they're on, will just have to send emails the day after that Rick Howe won't read because it doesn't support his agenda.
And yes, I pay almost $700 per year for this quality of leadership and public representation. Think of all the snow that could clear!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
OOOOHHHHH!..... Canada.....
So the Canadian government, knowing we'd be hosting the games and wanting to put up the best performance ever by a Canadian Winter Olympic team, puts $CDN 120 million into amateur sport so the Canadians can "own the podium."
For this unprecedented investment, we got ZERO medals from the reigning world champion in men's 1000m short track speedskating to date. We got ZERO medals from our combined alpine ski team, several members of which grew up skiing the very mountain the Olympic races are being held on. Zero medals from figure skating, even after four years of being spoon fed Patrick "why would I do a quad jump" Chan by the media and several McDonald's commercials.
My favourite quote demonstrating the loser attitude of these athletes to date comes from Britt Janyk, female downhill skier who placed 5th or 6th, who in essence said that she was thrilled with her finish and that her gold medal was hearing the roar of the home crowd.
Frankly, as a taxpayer, I don't have an issue with funding amateur sport in our country. I do have an issue with how the vast majority of that funding goes to parts of the country that have already received tens or even hundreds of millions in infrastructure spending (Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver), while other regions seeking to put opportunities in front of their young people get a nice pat on the head from the federal government, whether our token national politician is Liberal (Geoff Regan) or Conservative (Peter MacKay). I also have an issue with giving millions to athletes and programs that fail to produce results repeatedly.
If our ski team can't get past 2nd tier results and medal with millions of dollars in government funding above and beyond their significant corporate sponsors, then get a new ski team and some better coaching. We have world class courses across the country, access to the same gear and equipment as the top alpine teams in the world. This isn't a matter of someone not winning a gold on a $35 per week stipend and cutting them loose to starve. These are highly remunerated, well supported athletes, and they're NOT producing medals.
The athlete I have the most respect for after not winning a medal when it was clearly in her reach was Melissa Hollingsworth, female skeleton racer. When she blew a medal with a couple of obvious mistakes on her fourth of four runs, she, in TEARS, apologized to the entire country for letting a medal get away, knowing how much support she'd received from government, taxpayers, sponsors and that it was within her power to bring a medal home to validate that support. She said she felt like she let the entire country down.
Note to any Canadian athlete who whiffs or mucks up a chance to bring home a medal when it's clearly within your power to do so- watch Melissa Hollingsworth's interview and take a lesson. Please don't tell the country that shelled out hundreds of millions so you could compete on home soil that we should be satisfied with your enjoyment of hearing the crowd cheer for you to NOT win. If you're OK with that, please stop making such ineffective use of the money hardworking Canadians are putting on the table for you to train, retire and let another young Canadian who's willing to do what it takes to be the champion of their respective sport have their shot.
I'm only one person, but I have to think that there are plenty more Canadians out there tired of supporting athletes who lead the world in moral victories. I want to see Canada well represented on the podium, because we've got one of the very greatest countries in the world- that should show up when we compete in any arena...
For this unprecedented investment, we got ZERO medals from the reigning world champion in men's 1000m short track speedskating to date. We got ZERO medals from our combined alpine ski team, several members of which grew up skiing the very mountain the Olympic races are being held on. Zero medals from figure skating, even after four years of being spoon fed Patrick "why would I do a quad jump" Chan by the media and several McDonald's commercials.
My favourite quote demonstrating the loser attitude of these athletes to date comes from Britt Janyk, female downhill skier who placed 5th or 6th, who in essence said that she was thrilled with her finish and that her gold medal was hearing the roar of the home crowd.
Frankly, as a taxpayer, I don't have an issue with funding amateur sport in our country. I do have an issue with how the vast majority of that funding goes to parts of the country that have already received tens or even hundreds of millions in infrastructure spending (Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver), while other regions seeking to put opportunities in front of their young people get a nice pat on the head from the federal government, whether our token national politician is Liberal (Geoff Regan) or Conservative (Peter MacKay). I also have an issue with giving millions to athletes and programs that fail to produce results repeatedly.
If our ski team can't get past 2nd tier results and medal with millions of dollars in government funding above and beyond their significant corporate sponsors, then get a new ski team and some better coaching. We have world class courses across the country, access to the same gear and equipment as the top alpine teams in the world. This isn't a matter of someone not winning a gold on a $35 per week stipend and cutting them loose to starve. These are highly remunerated, well supported athletes, and they're NOT producing medals.
The athlete I have the most respect for after not winning a medal when it was clearly in her reach was Melissa Hollingsworth, female skeleton racer. When she blew a medal with a couple of obvious mistakes on her fourth of four runs, she, in TEARS, apologized to the entire country for letting a medal get away, knowing how much support she'd received from government, taxpayers, sponsors and that it was within her power to bring a medal home to validate that support. She said she felt like she let the entire country down.
Note to any Canadian athlete who whiffs or mucks up a chance to bring home a medal when it's clearly within your power to do so- watch Melissa Hollingsworth's interview and take a lesson. Please don't tell the country that shelled out hundreds of millions so you could compete on home soil that we should be satisfied with your enjoyment of hearing the crowd cheer for you to NOT win. If you're OK with that, please stop making such ineffective use of the money hardworking Canadians are putting on the table for you to train, retire and let another young Canadian who's willing to do what it takes to be the champion of their respective sport have their shot.
I'm only one person, but I have to think that there are plenty more Canadians out there tired of supporting athletes who lead the world in moral victories. I want to see Canada well represented on the podium, because we've got one of the very greatest countries in the world- that should show up when we compete in any arena...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Mount Saint Vexation University
I'm taking a masters in education degree at Mount Saint Vincent University through a cohort program. In essences, it's a fast track arrangement where a part-time degree gets completed within two calendar years instead of it taking 3 or more if you register and select courses independently.
That's about where the pluses end. The list of annoyances and hassles is legend.
There's the closure of the cafeteria in the building my classes take place in by 7 pm in the evening, so that if the prof loses track of time you're stuck trying to buy junk food from perpetually sold out vending machines with change you can't get from the perpetually empty change machine with money you can't get from an ATM that's a half kilometer walk up a mountain to get to (not to mention the lady who begins to stand by the entrance and starts glaring students down at 6:45 sharp as they go in to make sure they know to get the heck out because she's not sticking around one second longer).
There's the seven different user IDs (none of which are identical to the ID code on your student ID card, which makes TOTAL sense) you need to log into the student information management portal, the library services log in that's buried 8 clicks deep in the library website and the inability to use your student ID to pay for printing on campus (gotta love those honour system donation cans next to laser printers all throughout Seton Academic Centre), and the student webmail interface where your email address has NOTHING to do with your login ID.
But what I love most of all? The parking Nazis at MSVU. The office where parking passes can be purchased is conveniently located ALL the way at the top of a massive hill a 5 minute hike from ANY parking lot close to the main academic building where my classes are held. A pass to park in lots that are 85% void of vehicles after 4:30 pm is $7... There's always the pay to park option, although by looking at the signage around the payment kiosques it would seem to the naked eye that there are 4 total spots you can use this service in that are never empty (and the webpage where parking rates are listed doesn't tell you how you can pay, but like everything else on campus, it's cash only, and if you don't have cash, you can walk 10 minutes up the mountain to the ATM, try and get change out of one of the perpetually empty change machines, and then walk 10 minutes back to the pay and display kiosque, then back to your car and THEN go to class).
The parking meters closest to the building I take classes in are routinely full when I arrive for class, so getting a pass is an enormous hassle that generally means I would be 10-15 minutes late for class to get one.
So when I walk out at night and see a sea of parking tickets on car windows that belong largely to full time teachers taking night classes, my blood boils.
The kicker? The parking tickets, issued on PRIVATE PROPERTY owned exclusively by MSVU, aren't MSVU tickets payable to the Mount- they're Halifax Regional Police tickets that ensure that you're out $32 and potentially points on your licence if you don't pay within the 4 nanosecond limit before you're summoned to court to explain why, as a full time teacher who can't leave their workplace until 55 minutes before class starts, then travel home by car pool to get the one family vehicle in time to rush to class while driving through the biggest construction project in recent memory on the highway right before the exit to get to the university and take 30 minutes to go to one building and the ATM that only dispenses $20 bills that ensure you'll get 2 kg of change from the pay and display kiosk or change machine, or then the building with the security desk where you can buy the pass, and THEN drive to the lot that isn't a 10 minute hike from the building your class is in, you didn't have a valid parking pass.
Here's hoping Alexa McDonough gets wind of the genius logistics of this university and does something about it. I can tell you I won't be attending the school again, and neither will my kids, and anyone I meet considering spending money there will get a comprehensive picture of how frustrating a place it is to go to class and get stuck with idiotic municipal tickets because you parked in a parking lot at a school where ALL offices are closed before you ever parked your car.
The Canadian university to offer a masters degree for teachers in an entirely online format will be getting heavy consideration from me for my next qualification upgrade.
That's about where the pluses end. The list of annoyances and hassles is legend.
There's the closure of the cafeteria in the building my classes take place in by 7 pm in the evening, so that if the prof loses track of time you're stuck trying to buy junk food from perpetually sold out vending machines with change you can't get from the perpetually empty change machine with money you can't get from an ATM that's a half kilometer walk up a mountain to get to (not to mention the lady who begins to stand by the entrance and starts glaring students down at 6:45 sharp as they go in to make sure they know to get the heck out because she's not sticking around one second longer).
There's the seven different user IDs (none of which are identical to the ID code on your student ID card, which makes TOTAL sense) you need to log into the student information management portal, the library services log in that's buried 8 clicks deep in the library website and the inability to use your student ID to pay for printing on campus (gotta love those honour system donation cans next to laser printers all throughout Seton Academic Centre), and the student webmail interface where your email address has NOTHING to do with your login ID.
But what I love most of all? The parking Nazis at MSVU. The office where parking passes can be purchased is conveniently located ALL the way at the top of a massive hill a 5 minute hike from ANY parking lot close to the main academic building where my classes are held. A pass to park in lots that are 85% void of vehicles after 4:30 pm is $7... There's always the pay to park option, although by looking at the signage around the payment kiosques it would seem to the naked eye that there are 4 total spots you can use this service in that are never empty (and the webpage where parking rates are listed doesn't tell you how you can pay, but like everything else on campus, it's cash only, and if you don't have cash, you can walk 10 minutes up the mountain to the ATM, try and get change out of one of the perpetually empty change machines, and then walk 10 minutes back to the pay and display kiosque, then back to your car and THEN go to class).
The parking meters closest to the building I take classes in are routinely full when I arrive for class, so getting a pass is an enormous hassle that generally means I would be 10-15 minutes late for class to get one.
So when I walk out at night and see a sea of parking tickets on car windows that belong largely to full time teachers taking night classes, my blood boils.
The kicker? The parking tickets, issued on PRIVATE PROPERTY owned exclusively by MSVU, aren't MSVU tickets payable to the Mount- they're Halifax Regional Police tickets that ensure that you're out $32 and potentially points on your licence if you don't pay within the 4 nanosecond limit before you're summoned to court to explain why, as a full time teacher who can't leave their workplace until 55 minutes before class starts, then travel home by car pool to get the one family vehicle in time to rush to class while driving through the biggest construction project in recent memory on the highway right before the exit to get to the university and take 30 minutes to go to one building and the ATM that only dispenses $20 bills that ensure you'll get 2 kg of change from the pay and display kiosk or change machine, or then the building with the security desk where you can buy the pass, and THEN drive to the lot that isn't a 10 minute hike from the building your class is in, you didn't have a valid parking pass.
Here's hoping Alexa McDonough gets wind of the genius logistics of this university and does something about it. I can tell you I won't be attending the school again, and neither will my kids, and anyone I meet considering spending money there will get a comprehensive picture of how frustrating a place it is to go to class and get stuck with idiotic municipal tickets because you parked in a parking lot at a school where ALL offices are closed before you ever parked your car.
The Canadian university to offer a masters degree for teachers in an entirely online format will be getting heavy consideration from me for my next qualification upgrade.
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