The job quest continues...

A few weeks ago I blogged/vented about my unsuccessful application as a high school Basic French teacher. Well, yesterday I interviewed for a position as a Middle Years French Immersion teacher with the Louis Riel School Division where I am currently employed. The Division is trying a new hiring strategy for the first time, and that meant that all teachers presently holding a term contract were invited to throw their CV into the ring and the successful candidates would be placed following the interview process. My turn was yesterday at 3 pm, and for the first time in my life, adult or otherwise, I prepared for it. I had notes, a mnemonic device to help me remember everything I had to say about the climat in my classroom, I consulted colleagues and practiced my delivery while riding my bike home. In other words, I managed to get myself in quite a lather! AND, it was thirty degrees yesterday afternoon, which made putting on form fitting underpinnings a real honest to goodness struggle and during which I may have pulled a muscle. I'll do anything to look good in a suit. I was in and out of the interview in thirty minutes, and managed not to commit any blunders, serious or otherwise. I've done my part, and it is now my turn to practice what I preach to my students, the art of being patient.

In the spirit of hockey playoffs (Go Habs !) I am posting a photo of Scott Rees who is Kelly McKeag's eldest son. Scott is assisstant manager at Winnipeg's brand-new Apple store. When Norm and I were in there, the place was hopping; Scott was deeply entrenched in an intense tutorial session with a kid who had brought his laptop in for a look-see. It was pretty cool to see Scott take such good care of this little customer. Here he is, long past the (NHL) drafting age, but in his beer-league prime. THANKS FOR THE PHOTO SCOTT! (That means one more post without a photo of the Châtel boys or my dog.)

Charaty's (Scott's finacée) brother Derrick, Scott & Charaty's other-brother Darren

celebrating the Buzzard's league championship victory.

Before concluding this post, I must correct some of the info I posted about our cousin Dean Campbell. He and his partners are accountants, not lawyers; but Dean, were you ever a lawyer? Our cousin Doug Campbell in Calgary once was a lawyer and he switched teams and became an architect, so you can understand why a person might slip up periodically... This is how Dean so diplomatically let me off the hook when I mistakenly identified him as lawyer

"...although after Enron and Worldcom in the mind of the general public that may be a distinction without a difference".

Who said accountants don't have a sense of humour? I posted a photo of Angelica, who would have been Grandma and Grandpa's first great-great grandchild. I haven't asked Dean his permission to post this next part, but it is a perfect illustration of how when some place is truly home one tends to overlook its shortcomings...

Regarding May in Winnipeg (my last post was mostly about Winnipeg weather), the last time I was there was May 1st 2002(?), I was at a large family gathering at the former home of Uncle Scott and Aunt Sonya on Wellington Crescent, and it was snowing in the afternoon! Roy Drewitt asked me just how hot it could get in El Paso in the summer, and I replied the highs could exceed 100 degrees F. Roy exclaimed that a person would have to be crazy to live there. I mumbled something or other in response and glanced out the window as the snow flakes fell ever faster, all the while wondering how many El Pasoans would regard living in Winnipeg as crazy. To each his own, but I prefer hot and dry to cold and damp. Dean Campbell, El Paso Texas

Happy long weekend everybody,
wherever you may be,
I hope the sun shines brightly.