Seismic Twitch

When I get a chance, I’ll be doing some rearranging of things here on my blog. I just noticed that some of my graphics are gone and I don’t know where they are. I also don’t know where my old web site stuff is stored away. Damn.

I haven’t read much in the way of blogs, I haven’t been writing here either (duh). What I have been doing is lazy blogging on my Tumblr blog. Just reblogging other people’s stuff. Sure there have been a few independent posts, but they weren’t so much about my life as about me. They were about racism or feminism.

Let’s see. Other than being ultimately lazy in my blogging and remiss at attending to this blog, I’ve been working. Yeah, such an exciting life. Work is still quite excellent. We have more people residing at the half-way house than last year and that trend is not going to decrease, despite the new law that is going to have men and women serve longer times. We have several higher risk offenders. I don’t feel that I’m at risk…right now. The future will tell.

I’ve been spending time creating my “bible”. I’ve been writing either inspiration quotes or quotes that appear to be more real life than optimistic. I’ve got a lot of them gathered right now. I’ll be editing them down to a more manageable number with the distillation being how I feel about life, about relationships, and all that shit. However, I’m spending a lot of time on it. I don’t know quite the reason why it’s important right now, but it is and I’m learning to follow my needs.

I’ve been making a lot of friendship bracelets. I have 10 or 15 of various colours made. I’m making rainbow coloured ones right now. I want to make enough to supply one to each staff at AIDS Saskatoon and the Avenue Community Centre for Sexual Diversity for the next Pride week.

Bran and I went to the Pride parade again this year. I got to see a bunch of people that I’ve not seen for an age (or at least last year). I took a lot of photos. Sadly, I forgot to check the ISO on the camera and it was set at 3200. Being a fine, brightly sunny day having it set that high was something of a not good thing. The photos are somewhat grainy. I’m not as pleased with them as I was with last year’s photos.

I managed to get quite a sun burn on my forearms (I was wearing a t-shirt) and my face. My forehead nearly glowed. That’s the first sun of the year. Oddly enough, my legs didn’t show any sign of having been exposed to sunlight. Because of this exposure to sunlight, I picked up a straw hat with a wide brim. All I need to do is get a ribbon onto it so that I can tie it own.

My health is good. I had some kins of stomach thing a couple of weeks back that I donated to Bran for the week after my recovery. Otherwise we’re all healthy here.

I got a lovely vase and mug from VUBOQ some time back. The mug is used to hold my fountain pen (I love my fountain pen and it needs a nice place to be) and my reading glasses. The vase is used to hold other things that I need at my desk but that tend to fall about and be general in-the-way clutter. I <3 them a whole lot. Thanks, Steven!

We've been out on two out of town trips for photography. One trip was up to Batoche because I wanted to go to the Batoche graveyard. That’s where the memorial is for those Metis people who fell during the rebellion as well as later, and those around the community. Unfortunately, the park (run by Parks Canada) was only open 8-4, Monday to Friday. How stupid is that? We arrived after 4 pm and didn’t want to end up being locked inside the gates.

So we headed back to Rosthern and then home. We stopped at a small community graveyard on the way back to Rosthern. That area is generally seen as a German Mennonite area. As expected, there were lots of German surnames. However, there was one large grave marker dedicated to a Scottish family.

I got some nice photos at the Rosthern cemetery. There were old stones, and of course new stones. That’s where we found this:

Yeah, I bet you didn’t know that Fred was buried in Canada, or that he was married to Vera.

There were also some hand carved stones. The stones themselves appear to have been mail order types, but I could be wrong on that. The writing is definitely hand carved by someone of limited carving skills, probably with inadequate tools. They were both for the same family. Here they are:

The next trip was to Regina for Boy’s birthday. We went to the Saskatchewan Science Centre. It’s also the only place in Saskatchewan where there’s an IMAX theatre. We didn’t see a film. I was tempted but we didn’t. Instead we got a DVD (in which I was profoundly disappointed paying so much for a video that was less than 30 minutes long – I won’t be making the mistake of not checking time length again). Boy got a large, fluffy stuffed snake. It’s laying atop his two monitors. Then we came back and ate at Red Lobster.

I got some good photos at the Science Centre, but I was somewhat disappointed that there wasn’t more to do with the prairies and there wasn’t more oriented to adults. It was nearly exclusively devoted to children. Next trip I want to go to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. I originally knew it as the Natural History Museum when I went to it with my parents when I was a kid.

I’ve had some training through CSC. The latest was a two-day workshop on suicide prevention. It’s called the ASIST program (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training). While the training itself was quite good and the knowledge I got was quite useful, the workshop was somewhat sloppily run and the format too rigid. The people doing the workshop apologized for that stating that if they didn’t follow the format to the letter they could lose their accreditation for instructing. This meant that instead of having a table in front of us to put our coffee cups, to put our papers on so we could write, were like an audience in a proscenium theatre. It was less than comfortable, especially since we were encouraged to take notes and have refreshments nearby (which meant that there were unfortunate spills on the floor when feet knocked over cups of coffee). I fail to see the usefulness of such rigidity in the physical environment.

Regardless, I’d like to continue on with the next step of training for that. I’d also like to attend some kind of crisis intervention training. Considering the offenders we’re moving toward having reside at the half-way house (not just higher risk to reoffend, but also higher risk of acting out violently). That would give me invaluable information and skills. They have the potential to life-saving.

That’s my life. I’ll try to update more often, but I can’t guarantee anything. I still tend toward being lazy.

I know it’s already tomorrow, but working evenings shifts my day a bit and tomorrow won’t be until I get up in the morning/afternoon. I’ll do an entry after work tomorrow (therefore being Wednesday) because I’m tired right now and don’t want to type much. I need something to keep me awake tomorrow night. We leave to Calgary at about 5am on Wednesday morning and I have to have something to keep me awake.

Later.

That’s me. I’ve been going on trips to prisons with my bosses to recruit residents. So far we’ve been to Saskatchewan Penitentiary (medium and maximum security) and Riverbend (minimum security) in Prince Albert, Okimaw Ohci (pronounced okima ochi) on the Neekaneet First Nation near Maple Creek. Those ones are in Saskatchewan.

This past weekend I was in Manitoba. There we went to Stony Mountain Penitentiary (medium and maximum) and Rockwood (minimum) about 15 minutes north of Winnipeg. I worked evenings the night before we left so that meant I was up until about 2 am just trying to get tired enough to sleep. I had to be up and showered by 7:30 am to be at the airport for 8 for our flight at 9. The plane we were going to fly to Winnipeg in was coming from Winnipeg. Because the airport was fogged in there we had a delay to nearly 11 am.

So we sat around the airport and amused ourselves as best we could. My boss played on his IPad and I did crosswords and listened to music. When the plane finally arrived and deplaned all it’s passengers we loaded in. Keep in mind this is only my fourth ever flight and third landing. I got the window seat. I have to tell you, flying when it’s overcast doesn’t make for interesting viewing. Then again, winter snow cover on the prairies doesn’t either. I was expecting trouble with my ears. I’d been feeling the oncoming cold for a day or so. The ascent was ok. I chewed my gum and was able yawn away most of the pressure. The descent was another matter.

The flight to major cities in the province is actually more of an arc. There’s not much time spent at cruising altitude. This means that about 1/2 the flight is spent going up, a little bit of cruising at 31000 to 33000 feet, and then about 1/2 the flight is spent in the descent. In both directions the descent was hell on my inner ears, though the flight home was worse in terms of pain and total deafness. I’m going to take the advise of some Tweet people and take Sudafed before leaving on my flights and make sure I take them after to see if the discomfort can be at least eased if not negated.

The Saskatchewan trips were all made by car. Those were made with the Counsellor and she’s a she. This time I was with the Director and him being male meant I had a hotel room all to myself. Not that I got to revel in that much. We got to Winnipeg, quickly got to the car rental place then drove out to Stony Mountain. We were about an hour late but they were marvellous (I’ll get back to them later). We got back to the hotel and checked in. By that time it was 4 pm and I was exhausted (see above paragraph about my working until midnight). I fell asleep on the couch in my room. Apparently my boss tried calling me to go to supper but I was deaf and tired. A very lethal combination for me. I was woken by the front desk calling me to ask if my room was up to spec. Then I phoned my boss and we went out to eat. I had a marvellous prime rib with delicious potato and veg along with chopped up horseradish root. It’s the first time I had straight up horseradish that wasn’t processed and canned. It was quite delicious…and it cleared up my nose. By the time we finished supper it was about 8:15 pm or so and it was back to the room. I managed to stay awake until about 9. I was asleep shortly after. The next day I was up at 5:00 to meet my boss for 6:30 for breakfast before we had to be out of the hotel and at Rockwood for 8 am. So you see, I didn’t get to enjoy my hotel room much at all. Plus their pillows were too fluffy (short neck, short shoulders make for a sore neck) and I was worried about sleeping through my alarm. Being deaf and short on sleep will do that to a person.

Now onto the prisons. The both of them were much more pleasant (as pleasant as prisons can be) than the ones in Saskatchewan. The staff were friendlier and more accommodating. We were an hour late to Stoney Mountain Penitentiary. The IPOs (institutional parole officers) delayed their meeting because of our delay. We met all of them as well. At Sask Pen there were no IPOs to meet. They didn’t announce that we were there to the population so we had no one to meet. We had an excellent meeting with the staff and there were around 12 men who came to see what we had to say. Sure they probably wanted to break up the monotony of their stay, but the IPOs made sure they knew we were there and made sure they were able to meet with us. We had a lovely tour of the place and we were off back to Winnipeg.

The next day we were on our way to Rockwood while a blizzard was beginning to make it’s presence known. The trip out wasn’t bad, though it was hard to see the turn off well. Again we met with all the APOs of the institution and also one of the CXs (correctional officers) who runs the duty office. They all listened and asked questions and then we met with about 15 men. There would have been more but with the blizzard that was happening they other guys didn’t want to leave their houses (I’ll bring in definitions in a bit). While we were on the tour we definitely saw why they didn’t want to. The blizzard was in full blow. Snow was falling hard and being blown all over the place.

After the tour my boss and I drove back to the city. I’m glad he was driving. Visibility was less than 50 metres and the road was sometimes buried. Were it not for the tracks heavier vehicles made we might have ended up in the ditch. The day before the trip out to Stony Mountain took 5 minutes. The next day, in the blizzard, the trip back was over an hour. That’s how bad it was.

We ate lunch and then went out to the airport. Our flight didn’t actually leave for 4 more hours but we figured that way we’d know far enough in advance if the flight was cancelled and be able to book rooms quickly. Did you know that Winnipeg international airport (no idea what the name is other than that) has no free wireless internet? No, it doesn’t. That’s so sad. Saskatoon’s Diefenbaker Airport does and it’s way smaller and has way fewer international travellers. Sad. Anyway it turned out that our flight was not only not cancelled, it was leaving on time. I was ever so relieved to be home and to sleep in my own bed.

Onto a few definitions. In prison, the maximum and medium sorts here, a prisoner’s cell is called their “house”. The minimum prisons are different in their set up. The prisoners aren’t in a large building. They’re in large houses. Each house has 6 to 8 bedrooms, a common living area and a kitchen where the men cook their own meals. The men pool their stipend they get for living expenses from CSC (Correctional Services Canada) and buy their own groceries from the in-prison store). Then they cook their meals according to a menu plan they created. The more men who pool their money the better they eat. There are 25 houses in Rockwood with rec buildings, the chaplain’s house where the chapel is, the elder’s building for Aboriginal cultural programs, and the admin building where there is a very large, well used gymnasium, pool tables and other indoor recreational activity spaces. There is also a baseball field and hockey rink.

Stony Mountain is significantly different because of the heightened need for security. Since the ban on tobacco and smoking in prisons they found they had a lot of throw overs (where people throw tobacco and other contraband) over the wire fences. Because of this they had to put up another fence. Instead of going outside the old perimeter wall, they went inside. Now Stony Mountain has no baseball field because of the fence. There are several ranges where prisoners are held. Movement is strictly controlled so as not to have more than one range moving in the same common area. Everything is timed so that inmates can go where they need to but aren’t in contact with “enemies”. This is because of gang activity. Gang activity is quite bad there and rivalry creates significant issues in terms of safety both of inmates and CSC personnel. Some gangs can be housed together and co-exist peacefully. Each of the gang wards have a general population of inmates who are not gang members. Note: the link I provided lists Native Syndicate as an active gang in Stony Mountain. This is no longer so. They created a “disturbance” (read riot) and were sent out to other maximum security facilities. There are no more Native Syndicate gang members at Stony Mountain.

Sex offenders are housed everywhere in the prison. That is as long as their offence remains unknown to the other inmates. Once their offence is known they get transferred to another range until they have to be moved to segregation for their own safety. Yeah, you can kill numerous people (including women) but if you rape a woman or child you’re a target in a prison. The logic is amazing.

While on the tour of Stony we weren’t taken through any of the ranges (neither medium nor maximum) and we also missed out on Pegasus House. Pegasus house is a sort of club house for lifers where they can go to get away from the noise and hubbub created by younger inmates. Our tour guide said it was because she didn’t arrange to have a CX or two with us on our tour and because the place was out of the way and sort of “out of sight” of help she didn’t want to go there. All in all though it was very interesting and quite informative.

My next trip will be to Alberta with the Director again. This time we’re driving (yay for my ears!) to Bowden and Drumheller Institutions. Hopefully this time I’ll be able to enjoy the hotel room more, but somehow I doubt it.

The final trip will be to Edmonton Institution for Women (EIFW) and Grand Cache I hear that the scenery around Grand Cache is spectacular. It’s set in the Rocky Mountains. That trip will be made with the Counsellor (a woman) so we’ll likely be sharing a room. I hope she doesn’t mind snoring, because I snore. We’ll be flying so that might aggravate things.

Interestingly there are a few institutions that we’re not going to and I don’t know why. But I’m merely an employee who’s making the boss’s lives easier by allowing them to do only 1/2 of the trips they would normally do together.

I bet you learned a whole lot more about Canadian prisons than you otherwise would have. You can thank me later.

I made a bunch of jewelry, earrings, a few bracelets and some anklets for a sale that was being held today. The prices were more than reasonable. Most of the earrings were only $5 a pair with a max of $10. That’s damned good for hypoallergenic earrings. Bran said that people looking at the stuff said they were very pretty and such. Yet nearly nothing sold.

I can’t price things that low for the internet and make any kind of profit because of shipping. If I price them higher and charge the real cost of shipping (and yes, it’s ugly expensive to ship anything more than ground rates) I don’t make any money. I’m not talking profit here. I’m talking base level to replace the supplies I use.

I don’t know what to do. I bought a shit pile of stuff at the end of summer and now I feel like I’ve done nothing but waste my family’s money.

Fuck.

Bran (Thomas) phoned while I was in the shower. He told Boy that he’s feeling much better now. He’s not up to jumping out of 3rd floor windows into snow drifts, but much better regardless.

I shall be going to visit him in a little while. I’ll let you all know what rules CCU has around visiting and which room he’s in. I’m sure that he’ll enjoy getting visitors.

Now I’m off to pack up some toiletries and such for him. I don’t know how long they’re going to hold onto him, so I have to plan for a bit of a stay.

Thank you, friends, for your concern and such. I’ll be sure to let him know.

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Stole this from a friend (originally wrote fiend) who mostly blogs for friends only, so I won’t mention who she is. She’ll know when she sees this that I snagged it to her.

The sun conure, Bodie, who lived at work, died today under mysterious circumstances. He was fine yesterday when I left work and today was found on the floor acting out of character. He had a viscid orange substance on his beak. Sadly, he died later in the day. I asked staff to look at the camera to see if someone had maltreated him before her arrival. He was under 5 (they live 15-20 years) and the orange unknown substance on his beak is suspicious. He wasn’t one to take food if it wasn’t fresh fruit or nut meat.

In honour of Bodie (I liked him even if few others did) I put this comic from xkcd. He’s appreciate the humour, if only he understood.

Joyous Yule to my Pagan friends, (I’m late, but better late than never, right?)

Merry Christmas to my Christian friends.

Happy Friday to my friends who are neither.

Bran has started a new blog. He’ll be posting daily photos. Today was the first one.

It appears that I’m taking one without announcing it. I’ll be back when I feel I have something to say. I’ll also be taking a break from reading blogs. I’ll still tweet once in a while.

In the meantime, CONGRATULATIONS VUBOQ!!! I hope your new job is as fabulous as you are!