Why do we need a Federal Status of Women group?

After reading a number of blogs, and looking at the federal Status of Women site I have to ask myself what purpose they serve in this day and age? Now I understand that the general consensus will be that this is a funnel for radical feminists, and this may be true, but I am asking what rights (or lack thereof) Women in Canada are missing that men have.

SWC says on their site; "(SWC) is the federal government agency which promotes gender equality, and the full participation of women in the economic, social, cultural and political life of the country", but the last time I checked women had as many rights as men if they choose to take advantage of them. However there are those out there that choose a higher calling to better our social situation in Canada by staying home to raise their own children instead of leaving this vital task to strangers or creating more latchkey children. Our society has developed to value financial prosperity of the individual over a sound social structure with children raised with values passed on by their parents. Instead the value society is passing on to them is that they are not important unless they have lots of money, thereby perpetuating the cycle by reinforcing this in further generations. Ultimately this will be the downfall of society, because it favours the individual over what is best for society.

While I was reading the blogs and the website I pondered the Idea of true equality in the workplace, and instead of favouring minorities and women like now lets ad two simple questions to job applications. "Are you married?" and "Are you the primary wage earner in your family?" Let's start to put the jobs back where they belong, with the person that brings in the income to support themselves or their family. Let's start to see the people in need get the jobs they need instead of not being hired because a minority has applied for the same job (I include women in this because the need for such an organization must mean that they are in need of special attention for some reason or another). Or maybe we should encourage true equality by giving jobs to the most qualified individual, which would force applicants to have the appropriate high quality training for the job whether they be man OR woman (which lets face facts would only strengthen Canada's economy as a whole).

True equality would be seeing the value in the woman (or man) that stays home to raise their children, instead of valuing the amount of money or prestige a job or position might seem to hold. When we value the proper raising of children with morals and values, that's when we have a strong and productive society. Children ARE our future, they will be the ones running the Country when we are too old to do so.

I ask you to consider this; Are we raising your children in a manner that makes you comfortable with how they will be when they are in charge?
This is what the stay at home parents out there do. Your job may be important to you, but are you contributing anything to future generations like raising a proper child does?

We've forgotten how important "Mom" (or Dad in some unique cases) is, her job may not be glamorous or notable but it is more important than anyone else. She (He) is the one that passes on the most teaching to us at the most critical stage of our lives.

I had intended this to be a simple critique of what I see to be a useless Federal tax burden, but instead it turned into a commentary on the social ramification of the agenda they are promoting. I only hope the damage is reversible when it is finally realized. We need a return to family values, and that of caring about your neighbor. As I have stated before if we all followed one rule we would have a wonderful world to live in, and that is simply "love thy neighor as thyself".

Below is a list of blogs and the link to SWC. Make up your own mind on the situation, but be informed before you do.

Bob


Lifesite News service

Big Blue Wave

Relapsed catholic

Family Matters

Small dead animals

Angry in the Great White North

Status of Women Canada

"Our place in the Universe"

As I watched a program on TLC where scientists were presenting their theories of future events, one thought seemed to come to the forefront and that was what our role or place do we have in the universe. It may be true that "some" of the science fiction of today will become science fact for future generations, what and how remains to be seen. Do we really have any place in the universe as aggressive and violent as humans are? Scientists look into the future and don't see more intelligent life, but life forms they equate to prehistoric man (or less). This seems like a more inflated view of humanity than we should have, if there is life out there how do we know they are not avoiding us because of our violent and overly aggressive nature? Or might there not be a spectrum of life from bacteria or microbial right up to even more intelligent than us? But the question remains, what is our place in the universe.

So then what is our place in the universe? We have no way to travel through it (making it to the moon and back doesn't really count when you take into account how vast the universe is), we cannot affect or change anything in it. I will go even further to a truth that hits home: none of us can even change one other person, the only real power for change we have is to change ourselves, and most of the time people don't even use that. (This does not mean we can't be the catalyst for change in others, but it is not us that makes the change, it is that persons will and capacity that changes themselves.)

So what is our place in the universe? A better question may be "do we need a place in the universal community", or even to ask ourselves "why do we need to feel we have a place in the universe". The one little place we do have in the universe, earth, is a mess. Maybe we should stop looking out and start looking in at our own planet with everything that is happening and ask "Do we deserve a place in the universal community?".

If we can't get it right for everyone here on earth, do we really need to subject the universe to how wrong we have gotten it?

I'm going to give you one simple guideline, if everyone used it, it would change the world we live in now to a eutopia.

"Love thy neighbor as thyself". The Bible, Mark 12: verse 30.

We do have a guideline for life, change, and even happiness, the problem is that society has fostered an attitude of selfishness and when you couple this with the aggressive and violent tendencies of mankind you get the world we have today. What we need is to come back to a lifestyle that considers the next person before ourselves, and the satisfaction from those actions would be more rewarding than even getting your own way.

What is our place in the universe? Maybe it is to help and love our fellow man. That would be a truly noble place.

This was much longer than I planned, but I hope it makes you ponder your place in our world and how much better of we would all be if we followed the precepts of the Bible.
Bob

Cape Breton U vs Professor David Mullan.

Seems a little like David and Goliath doesn't it, but that's what we have to face now because homosexual activists are far more raucous than those of us who accept traditional morality. So I've written a letter to the University which I have posted below. (To see Professor Mullan's site go here; Professor David Mullan or his other site at Professor David Mulan.)

This has become a fight to save the freedom of speech, but why is there even a question? If it is allowable to have and speak the opinion that homosexuality is right, why is it not allowable to have and speak the opinion to the contrary? Well I will tell you why;
Homosexuals know their lifestyle is wrong and therefore need social acceptance to justify their immoral acts, and anyone who reminds them that they are wrong must be silenced so they can minimize the conviction they feel which nags them in their souls.

This is a very basic explanation, but it covers the base reasoning behind the homosexual mindset against free speech.

Here is my letter to Cape Breton University;

_______________________________________


Dear President of Cape Breton University,

I am writing in response to your actions against Professor Mullan, and I hope you will take the time to read and consider my views.

I feel that the most egregious error in this whole matter was that this was not in fact an issue concerning "Human rights", and therefore the University was unjust in their application of any penalties. The professor was not inciting a riot to take away a homosexual’s right to have unnatural sexual relations, he was merely stating his opinion that the act is immoral, unnatural and simply wrong. The University has instead succumbed to the pressure placed on them by proponents of this lifestyle, and obviously they felt it would be easier to quiet the professor rather than the militant homosexual activists. To take this action you are saying that it is wrong for Professor Mullan to even think this way, and are trying to force a strict framework of thought on him instead of allowing him to be an individual with the freedom for his own thoughts and beliefs.

It does not matter whether a few (or even every student on campus) disagree with Professor Mullan, the University should back up what is a human right (the freedom of thoughts, beliefs and speech), in the same way which this benefit is extended to homosexuals trying to foster support for their lifestyle! Homosexuals are calling foul and "intolerance" at the mention of anything that does not support their beliefs, but this itself has turned into intolerance for the freedom of the rest of society to think or speak anything contrary to them. This is a slippery slope that is especially dangerous for a public institution of higher learning to tread down, the ramifications to the institute’s ability to foster ideas and maintain open discussions on all topics is unknown but could be devastating.

To be fair the University must asses this matter based on what a human rights issue is, and not just because a few raucous activists have made an uncomfortable situation for it by crying wolf. To be a “Human Right” it must apply to ALL humanity, and not simply to one group or faction that perceives themselves persecuted. To allow homosexuals to say that there lifestyle is acceptable on campus, you must also allow the opposite opinion equally.


Sincerely,
Bob

Want a cheap rolex?

High quality replicas! Top quality brand watches!

These are the latest spam blitz I've been receiving, but instead of making think "Ooo I really need one of those", it made me think of those cheap street peddlers you see in movies trying to hawk junk to unsuspecting passersby.

Most of these spam messages are coming from China or Korea (third world internet providers with no real abuse policy enforcement, and more often than not are apt to take money to allow spammers to use them). So every time I see these spam I picture this shifty looking little Asian guy opening a trench coat saying "psst.. scuse please sir, you want to buy cheap rolex?". As funny as this picture is, it's disturbing to realize that there are people out there that actually fall for these scams. There are a couple of old adages that apply here, "A fool and his money are soon parted" or even more appropriately as PT Barnum was apt to say "There's a sucker born every minute!", and if this weren’t the case we wouldn't have all these fly-by-night scams to try to separate the fools from their money.

With that I leave you with a final encouragement to report the spam you get, it’s easy (http://www.spamcop.net) and maybe if we all do it they will get the message that we don’t want this crap. (Pardon the expletive, but it was the only one that seemed to fit).

Bob
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

People versus insects.

Some days are harder than others to tolerate the increasingly ignorant masses. It's not always that people don't have the capacity for intelligence or compassion; it is simply that as a society most people have become so complacent in their laziness that they choose not to think or act like a rational, intelligent, caring species should. As I was waking up this morning my mind looked back over the previous days’ events and I saw the general populous comparing in intelligence to a species we see as inferior to us, ants.

Simply my comparison came down to how both humans and ants scurry around on their own little missions without a care for or about their comrade. But it gets worse, if we were to continue to compare the two species humans would lose out in the end because we don’t seem to think of anyone but ourselves, where an ant colony’s goal is for the survival of the whole at the cost of the individual.

Now I’m not saying that we should all go out and sacrifice ourselves for each other, because let’s face it, most of humanity doesn’t have even a fraction of the integrity that an act like this would take, even in a scenario where it might be appropriate. What I am saying is that we need to leave our little cocoons of selfishness and laziness and start thinking about others. Where does this leave the individual you might ask (or the “what about me” mentality), when you consider that if we all were to start caring about their neighbors we would have more people than just ourselves looking out for us it would seem to be more to all of our benefits. Doesn’t it make more sense that we would be better off as a race if we didn’t just “look out for number one”?

This is by no means a new philosophy, if you look back to how people helped each other before we became such an “enlightened” society, you would realize that this premise from the past was the foundation for the society we have now but is being quickly eroded by attitudes of self centeredness. Before insurances, government aid and charities it was the church and communities that helped each other through tough times. If it had been the same then as it is now, I have a hard time imagining that we would be as technically advanced as we are. However I don’t think we needed to trade compassion and relationship with each other to gain technology, essentially we can have it all if we only stop thinking of ourselves as more important than anyone else!

Dr Martin Luther King Jr. once said "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Although we are technologically, medically and scientifically advanced, the masses are also becoming more sincerely ignorant and conscientiously stupid in their thoughts (or lack thereof) and actions (or inactions).


Bob

"Tolerance"

"Tolerance", the latest catchphrase for the intolerant.

Spam should be globally criminalized.

I just received my first spam from the comments on this blog. Well if you don't know my stand on spam and the offenders that send it, here it is.

1. Spammers deserve to go to jail for invasion of privacy. No one asked for the stuff they send, and they should be treated as criminals. These are drugs pushers and pimps coming into your home through your computer, selling something they would be jailed for on the street. Just because it is on the internet does not matter, a pimp is a pimp, and a pusher is a pusher and there is only one place for them.

2. Spam is a waste of time, especially for those that use e-mail for business purposes, and I propose that companies using spam as an advertising method be penalized with enormous fines to compensate for those wasted man hours. (But because we have people stupid enough to respond to them, why should they quit?)

3. And this one is for people who respond to spam... You are idiots! First if you believe them, and second if you buy from them you are a complete idiot for prolonging the problem for everyone else.

Fianlly I have taken off comment capability because I feel even one abuse warrants it, which means that spammers have silenced your freedom of speech on my site.

Time to wake up and start taking action against these invaders, and if you would like an easy method of reporting them go to:
SpamCop

http://www.SpamCop.net if that link did not work for you.

Homosexuals are trying to force their religion on us.

Homosexual activists claim that Christians are forcing our religion on them when we disagree with gay marriage, but aren't they trying to force their religion of homosexuality on us? The truth is obviously YES, they are.

Religion is not just whether you belive in God or not, it is defined as: "a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices", and simply stated that means what you believe and practice is your religion. So then why is the homosexual religion so much more accepted than a moral one like Christianity? Again I see this as having a simple explination which goes like this: Christianity has a set of moral guidelines that it expects people to follow, this goes against the selfish nature of human beings and it becomes unpalatable for those only concerned only with what they want, therefore they choose whatever religion suits their moral deviance.

Rainbow my eye, Morality is black and white.

Personal Update

I guess it's time to set aside bashing the government for their egregious stupidity, and actually do a personal update.

There was a plan in place for me to take a disability management course from Dalhousie University (I was accepted and waiting to register), and then go on with a specialized degree of Psychology.

However this all did not pan out, how it all worked out went like this.
After applying to Dalhousie I was sent for an interview with a Vocational Rehab Cousellor, and this was to see what was involved in the position I was about to undertake training for. This meeting led to an vocational assessment and market analysis for the path I was about to take. The Market Analysis came back with a determination that VRC was to physically demanding for my limitations, and then went on to give some alternate occupations. The problem with the Alternate occupations was that they were even more physically demanding than the original occupation of Vocational Counsellor, which was not only disturbing but disheartening. So the outcome was that taking the Disability Management course was no longer a feasible option.
We met with my Vocational CSR from Worker's Comp, and discussed the positives and negatives brought up in the Feasibility Report. We will be looking into my taking a Psychology course at present and see how it goes. It's all a matter of taking my limitations into full account, which in itself causes so many problems.

Keeping my chin up though.

Internet pharmacies, 21st Century "Cyber" Pushers

"Onl|ne Ph4rm4cy", "\/icoddin, CodI1ne,V1aagrra,Xanaa,", "No perscription required"

How do I feel about these Pushers coming into my home daily trying to pedal there drugs, well to be honest it makes me SICK! Let's face the facts they are NOT here to save me money, it is an entirely selfish venture exactly the same as a dealer from the street.

Now the most intolerable thing about this is not that they will sell prescription meds without a prescription (although this in itself is completely illegal), it is that they are preying on people at some of their most vulnerable times! They perpetuate addiction, the same as any street pusher would, and they make it so easy with "Next day shipping worldwide" or "Buy in bulk and save" and most heinously "No prescription required". These are not advertising strategies focussed toward the legitimate user of prescription meds, they are tactics designed to intice the illicit user (and a cheap way for actual street pushers to restock designer drugs). The easier it is for an addict to obtain their drugs , the more difficult it will be for them to break the habit.

Are we coming to a place where most of society is going to be "whacked out" on drugs because they "can't handle life? And what does that in itself say about society's parenting skills?

I don't put all the blame on the illegal practices of these online pharmacies. Another simple fact is that we all have the freedom to choose to take drugs or not, and as long as there is a market for them to exploit, they will. However these companies are so brazen that they publically advertise how they are breaking the law yet there is nothing being done about it! But what I see as the worst offense is that they are coming into our homes uninvited, and we have no available means to stop them! With a street pusher we would calls the police, but who do we call to stop "Cyber" pushers? The only resource that I see we have is to address them as spammers and report them that way. ( A good site for this is SPAMCOP). As long as we all actually do this, we might eventually get them out of our inboxes.

Bob

Religion VS Christianity

I caught an article on the news last night about how this older "religious" couple didn't see a problem condoning gay marriages, and this caused me to ponder what religion they believed in. Let's call a duck a duck here, not all religions are Christianity, and even different denominations do not believe the same thing. HOWEVER, to tell me you are a Christian and do not see anything wrong with gay marriage tells me that you either don't read the Bible, or you really don't have a clue what you really believe in.
Let's take the United denomination for an example, here is a group of people that are supposed to be dedicated to teaching the uncompromised word of God, and then they ordain homosexual ministers? Even worse yet they elect a homosexual bishop! Have they been reading the same Bible I do, because mine says that homosexuality is immoral and wrong according to God. Now I must be quick to point out at this point that I do NOT harbor ill will to gay PEOPLE, it is the ACT of homosexuality I have a problem with. On the same note it is not nature that makes you gay, it is upbringing (or nurture).
I guess my point here is that there is no middle ground on this issue as a Christian. Homosexuality is unequivocally wrong, and if you believe otherwise you are NOT a true Christian. You may be a person of faith, but like I said religion is NOT Christianity! So who do you really believe in?

Remember that this is my opinion, and I'm not out to convict or condemn anyone (and I'll point out here that God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves). I'm only pointing out the truth as I see it in the Bible.

I quote:
"Why can't they get the picture, why don't they understand? We're not dealing with the planet of apes, we're talking about the modern man... Here's your sign!"
Bill Engvall

Murder is not a crime.

At least not according to the law of man, that's what the courts in Florida (Judge Greer in particular) are telling us. What makes walking up to a mentally retarded person and shooting them any different from pulling the feeding tube from Terri's body, not a whole heck of a lot! Is this what we've condemned society to become? We have become so selfish that we can't be bothered with taking care of the infirm, it gets in the way of what WE want! How convenient for us all, no more of those nasty disabled people to bother us! Yes I have a disability, not nearly as severe as Terri's but are we next on the hit list? It would be FAR more convenient for my family if I wasn't around at times, and I'm sure most caregivers and families could say the same thing about the ones they care for. And after that who's head would be on the chopping block, homeless people? Drug addicts? Alcoholics? Smokers? Maybe people that lie to us? Where do we eventually draw the line? Let's face it morality doesn't take a break just to make things easier for us!
Now forgive my rant, I just feel very passionately that we have allowed governmental bodies to rule so much of our life that we can no longer do without their so called "guidance". Remember these people lie to use to get into office (just so you know campaign promises are not legally binding, so once they are in they don't have to follow through with them), break their promises once they get in, and then we let them rule our Countries! I know the US has a system in place to "impeach" a president for misconduct, and I think we need to institute a system like this for all government positions thereby making them accountable to their employers' (THE CITIZENS) for their actions while in office or else they are OUT OF THERE (and in case of the current ADSCAM fiasco, Out of office and into a jail cell)! I'm not saying it would be a perfect system, but we could be assured that we would hear the truth from then on! These are the people that make the laws, spend our tax dollars, and represent our Country in other Nations, shouldn't our politicians make DANG sure that they are above reproach? Infidelity and corruption in Government is INTOLERABLE, and we need to let them know it is NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE!

God help us all, because the way things are run here on earth we sure need the help!

One of those days

Sometimes pain is good, it reminds you that you're alive. Then there are time times when pain makes you wish you were dead, for chronic pain sufferers those are tough days. Things go wrong and you feel like you're not only fighting things in the world around you, but you also have this battle with something you have no control over within yourself. I know most people don't have a clue as to what I deal with, and knowing this makes it a little easier to forgive people's attitudes.... To a point! It's hard not to want to pack it in, give up, just walk away from everything on "Those Days", and even staying sane take an incredible effort. Sometime you need to walk away and leave things for a bit, and then there are also times to give these people a kick in the rear. Distinguishing between these becomes even more difficult when what you're dealing with invokes enormous amounts of anger and frustration in the first place. This is the type of day I'm having today, I don't know whether I'm coming or going.

Assesments, meetings and PROGRESS.

Yesterday I met with the Career counsellor and my Vocational Rehab councellor, and there were some good things that came from it. First was the acceptance of assistive equipment recommended by the Neil Squire foundation, so I have a fair bit of "shopping" to do. Thank goodness the Assistive specialist at Neil Squire is able to help me contact the appropriate suppliers, and therby set up shipping and billing. The Lady I'm dealing with through them has been a God send, supportive, uplifting and encouraging. But then I have to say that recently I have been thoroughly blessed with some very helpful professionals, and they are willing to do what it takes to make this process a possibility!

We also came to the conclusion that college prep courses would be a good idea as well, after all it's been a long time since I've had to attend school! Even after attending SIAST (career college) to take my meat cutting certificate, It didn't include papers and essays like my upcoming endevour. So this should be starting in February, I only hope I will have learned about and set up all the equipment by then!

I finally come to Today, where we received a call from an organization called "Independant Living". This group has yet more assistive products to help with the more mundane day to day living, such as shower support bars and electric adjustable beds (Gee who would have imagined that might help? I only bought one 2 and a half years ago....). There are other things that they'll be recommending like an electric recliner, and single handle hot/cold taps. Things that we would have eventually done, but it all cost so much and we're on a fixed income. I can't even remember everything we've done or bought on our own to help make life a little easier, but after seven years of fighting with them for even basic coverage we are finally getting some help and understanding.

Now for the future, we have one more assessment to come. This one is specifically to evaluate the level of personal care I need, that has to do with how much (and what type of) regular life items are required to be done for me. Simple things like cutting my own meat, washing my hair in the shower, clipping my toenails or fingernails. These are things that a normal person wouldn't even think about, yet they cause me excruciating pain were I to attempt them myself. So it has been very enlightening to have all these assessments done, I'm just amazed (and appalled) that none of this was even considered sooner by WCB. There are a lot of problems at WCB that need to be addressed and most of it has to do with treatment of injured workers, but that's a WHOLE different post. (Maybe one that will come sooner rather than later, keep an eye out for it!).

Patience is a virtue.

11 days into the new year, and as much as I would like to get moving on things I still have to wait on others. I understand that I have nothing else pressing to work on like they do, so I find no fault with the people doing the things that need to be done no metter how long they take. The problem is in myself, being so anxious to start moving and feeling productive again that it feels like it's taking forever to come together. After 7 years of dealing with loss, trying to cope with pain, dealing with medications and their side effects and ultimately the wiening off of them, and then trying to figure out how to handle life with this pain and no medication, I need to feel useful again.
I meet again with the Rehab CSR from WCB on the 13th, for what I'm not sure (The career counsellor and CSR set up the meeting) but I will be able to give her the quotes I have for the things I'll need and the report from Neil Squire. We'll see what happens at this meeting, and I'll post an update then.

Assistive Technologies are incredible!

I had an assessment today (more like a meeting but she did assess my needs, so I'll keep it as assessment) with an assistive technology specialist, and I was amazed at the items they have out there to help disabled individuals! I have adapted most things I already have to accomodate my needs, but today I found products specifically designed to make life easier. For example I found out that there are mice available that would keep my wrist in a natural position allowing more time that I could use it. Then of course there is a mouse that you don't even have to touch, it's called "Tracker" and works by watching the movement of a reflective disc on a headset or front frame of your glasses. I was blown away! I also found that they have a portable adjustable arm rest, it attatches to tables and/or chairs for proper support!
This was all preformed by an employee of the Neil Squire Foundation (their website can be found in my previous post), which I set up but Worker's Comp approved and will now pay for the necessary equipment. I have to admit that seeing some of these things like the armrest made me a little emotional, you see I've been trying to adapt everyday items to fit my needs but it never seems to work as well as planned or hoped for. So when she was showing me things that I knew would help me deal with my condition better, I have to say I got a little damp in the eyes. It hasn't been very often in the past 7 years that I've had any kind of real from Worker's Comp, and it's a little overwhelming at times.
Now I have to wait for a report from the specialist, and then I will submit to Comp the quotes I got for some of the equipment and software that is readily available to me. Then it's a matter of getting everything, setting up my workstation and I'm ready to go. Meanwhile I still need to work on getting my transcript, as well as getting ready to apply for University. There is still some work to be done in the area of school, but it's amazing how God is really in control.

Heading toward the mark.

After meeting with the disability office at the UofR, I was given the name of a foundation specifically set up to assist disabled individuals with proper equipment to return to as normal a life as possible. For me this means ergonomic specialty equipment to accommodate keeping my pain down, thereby making it feasible and possible for me to return to school and work towards employment. The name of the organization is The Neil Squire Foundation, their website is Neil Squire Foundation. The foundation called me back today regarding their ergonomic specialist coming out and assessing my needs for this upcoming endeavor, I'm looking forward to this as it is a chance to learn what's available out there to assist me.
Last week I also met with the career counselor I've been working with, and she helped with the decision about what I should take. She did this by telling me that some of the things I want to do are only available with certain credentials. We also came up with a plan that would let us start anytime now, which involved taking a disability management course and transferring those credits into a B.A. in psychology. The major two factors that delay the start date are, first I need to have all the equipment in place and ready to go by the time I submit the application and secondly I need to get my transcripts for the application. I see the former being the largest challenge at present, mostly because I don't know what's available out there to help.... YET... However that is being taken care of very smoothly on both ends, that of the assessor and of the insurer! (As much as I dislike shopping for the most part, I have to get quotes for a lot of the equipment myself *ugh*)
That pretty much covers what's going on for now, assessment, shopping, getting transcripts and then submitting the application. I have no idea if it's going to get interesting yet or keep running this smoothly, but I'm trusting God to keep things smoo-ooth! *Grin*

December 1st - Career Options.

I met with my Vocational Rehab CSR from WCB yesterday, and once again it was an enlightening and productive meeting. This lady is incredibly supportive and helpful, it's like the complete opposite of what I had to deal with at the beginning of this ordeal and I thank God for it! She is letting me put together my own program specifically designed to assist injured workers! I see this being a combination of things like Disability Management, Occupational Health and some Rehabilitation Services. I do want to be careful not to duplicate materials from the individual programs, and at the same time I want to be thorough and complete for the best opportunities for employment.
I was very surprised at one point, when she said that she would not be opposed to my taking a BA in Psychology. A BACHELOR'S IN PSYCHOLOGY!!!! This is 3-4 years of full time studies, and she is well aware that I may be only be able to work at it a MAXIMUM of part time! The most exciting part about all this is the limitless opportunities that are being presented. I do understand that some of the things in a Psych degree would be unnecessary to do the particular job that I'm working towards, but there are other avenues I can explore that may reduce the "fluff"(as my Voc CSR called it, and she should know as she has a Psych degree) information.
So I'll be meeting with the Career counselor again next week, as we had a mix up in this weeks meeting when I missed a message to reschedule. The meeting yesterday was actually meant to be with the Voc CSR and the Career counselor, but it was most likely Divine intervention as we got to discuss much more than just career objectives. And the extras we discussed were very important, they involved things like personal care as well as what they cover for medical equipment (some of which we've bought ourselves because they were needed, but didn't claim for them).
Needless to say these are very exciting times in my life. I'm really enjoying it even through the added pain levels, which is very cool! I would really love to help injured and disabled people like myself and that looks to be the way things will work out. It's just a matter of collecting appropriate information from employers on employment requirements, then finding the right courses and creating a program to encompass it all. There is still a fair bit of work to do, but it's getting closer every day!!

Not an easy task.

It's been about a month now since I did the testing with the career counsellor, and in 2 weeks I meet with her and my Vocational CSR from Comp (Worker's Compensation Board) to evaluate where we are at. However things have not gone as smoothly as they might have hoped, and I just hope that the Voc. CSR understands that this isn't as cut and dried as a normal case. With all the restrictions I have, finding an appropriate course to fit the strict criteria from my assessment team is tough going! I have an idea of the areas I'd like to move into, it's just hard finding suitable educational options. But even though there have been disappointments (wanting to do a certain course and then finding it unavailable to me), the level of it and stress has been minimal. I thank God for the way this has all been working out because I'm usually FAR more high strung concerning things like this, but that's not the case this time! So I'll update further on this subject when I know more.
But stay tuned for more "Stupid Politician Tricks", a week doesn't seem to go by without them doing something ridiculous!

Test results

I went today to find out the results of the CTBS tests, and the combination of it with the Myers -Briggs Type indicator and Strong Interest inventory. And to be completely honest some of the results really surprised me, and then gave clarification to my personality.
The Myers-Briggs really nailed down my personality (which at first I doubted it would do), and the career counsellor helped explain how to use these traits to choose a profession to compliment and capitalize on my strengths.
The Myers-Briggs type indicator showed me to be an ENTJ (which is an acronym for: Extroverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging) personality. A short explaination of ENTJ is: "The Executive" externally focused, rational and logical, natural born leaders, quick and decisive judgements, easily take charge, dislikes seeing mistakes repeated and having no patience with inefficiency. This is of course far from complete, but I was surprised at how I saw myself in the descriptions. For more about ENTJ you can see ENTJ personality , which goes into much (MUCH) more detail, and even includes relationships, strengths, weaknesses as friends, lovers and parents.
The combination report (Strong Interest Inventory and "MBTI" or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) gave some suggestions for employments that were based those and Holland's RIASEC theory of careers. Holland's theory classifies 6 occupation themes, R-Realistic, I-Investigative, A-Artistic, S-Social, E-Enterprising and C-Conventional. These traits are placed the points of a hexagonal pattern, and the closer the two traits are along the lines of the hexagon, are our stronger traits which will help us locate a more satisfying career. We have the all the traits from around the hexagon, it's how they work together that is hard to describe here. There is obviously far more to this as well, and it's how I understood things from speaking with the career counsellor. My occupational suggestions went like this:
Occupational Therapist, Dentist (this one really surprised me), Photographer, College Professor, Engineer, Biologist, Psychologist, Audiologist, Chiropractor, Flight Attendant, Housekeeping and Maintenance Supervisor, Military Enlisted personnel, Nursing Home Administrator, Paralegal, Reporter, Science Teacher and finally Sociologist. However my choice of career possibilities is not limited to just this list, but it gives me an idea of possibilities to look into further.
And lastly came the CTBS (Canadian Test of Basic Skills), this is the same test you probably took throughout high school. However something I never realized was that it is far more complex in it's depth than we imagine. It bases your Grade level on the percent correct, and goes on past simply grade 12. I completely expected to need upgrading in certain areas (I don't care for math, and my Capitalization and Punctuation leave a bit to be desired and I thought I totally messed up with Sources of information!), however the tests threw me for a loop! Out of the total 6 tests, my average grade level is grade 15 and 6 months. THAT INCLUDED MATH AND WRITTEN! (Am I shocked and amazed, yes! but it was a nice boost to my moral!) A breakdown of grade levels went like this:
Vocabulary, grade 18 and 5 months
Reading and Comprehension, grade 14 and 6 months
Written Language, grade 14 and 9 months
Sources of Information, grade 15 and 8 months
Quantive Thinking (Math), grade 14 and 4 months
Science, grade 16 and 2 months
And what all this means is that I could walk into a college level course TODAY without any type of upgrading! I was very pleased with the results, especially since I was sick as a dog when I took the tests.
Now comes the decision, what do I think I'll be able to do long term, and remembering to factor in all the intricacies of my disability. It's exciting (and scary at the same time) to go through this procedure, but it's worth it to take the time and do it right.

And as I go along I gather support from the people, today I got another vote for the "Vote Bob" campaign from my career counsellor! *grin*