I’m cool if you want to do some sweat-drenched conniving

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/07/2015 (3347 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New Red River College president Paul Vogt was telling me how much he appreciated it that I leave him alone at the Reh-Fit Centre.

There’s an unwritten rule about talking business at Reh-Fit, said Vogt.

Not that I’ve noticed, at least not in the men’s change room.

But I don’t bug people when we’re in the gym, I don’t go over and chat up and commit journalism with the many education people I see working out there, though neither will I turn them away if they want to talk to me and to be the ones to initiate it. I should qualify that — if you’re coming over to tell me I’m the scum of the earth, then call me at the office when I’m on company time. But you want to talk education and politics and stuff, come and see me.

Moving right along. I’ll be back to work Aug. 10, leaving you anonymous trolls with nothing to occupy your time for more than two weeks. Off to hike and kayak and swim, and try to read a book a day, and then to Victoria to visit child the elder and partner.

Meanwhile, I was reading Academica Top Ten, and there was a job posting for an executive director of marketing communications at UM. So what, thought I, does this mean for the job’s current occupant John Danakas? But Danakas, henceforth the executive director of public affairs, soon responded: “We’ve had a vacant director position for about a year here in the department so decided that rather than fill it I’d move to what we’re referring to as exclusively a public affairs role, in other words not covering marketing/advertising etc. but focusing just on strategic communications, dealing with matters that emerge in the media, communicating initiatives like the budget and labour relations, that sort of thing. So the job posting is for someone to fill the marketing/advertising/publications role, which is a huge undertaking in and of itself, responsible essentially for building the brand/reputation of the U. I expect I will continue to be your contact person.”

So there you have that nugget of news.

Switching gears, Ron Weston will be officially retiring this summer as superintendent of St. James-Assiniboia School Division. Weston has always been a no-nonsense guy who’ll tell you straight-up what’s going on, a very decent guy to whom it was always a pleasure to talk — since, unlike certain ultralarge divisions, I didn’t seem to %^^$ SJA off all that often.

All the best in your retirement, Ron.

And seguing seamlessly….

We were hiking the McGillivray Falls trail, one of our favourite things to do in the Whiteshell, and there was a far bigger crowd than usual. We got to the rocks overlooking the lake where everyone has a picnic lunch (taking out all litter with them again, it goes without saying), and there was a big bunch of young people touring all over Manitoba with a couple of hosts. They said they were a 4-H Club and that Heritage Canada was footing the bill for their trip, which would include the human rights museum, the Mennonite village in Steinbach, all the prehistoric stuff in Morden, the zoo, though, alas, not enough to get them in Churchill. Very nice of Heritage Canada to do this for these kids who said they were from Central Nova.

Moving alo — hmm, wait a second, something vaguely tickling the back of my mind. Central Nova, who’s the MP again, let’s Google…(pause of less than one light-second)…oh, it’s some fellow named Peter MacKay. No worries then, I’d been thinking these kids’ trip was somehow politically-connected.

And speaking of the McGillivray Trail, not only is anyone who puts a cigarette butt on this magnificant trail a total pig, but seriously, has tobacco addled your brain so much that you don’t recognize you could burn down the forest?

Sigh.

And I do want to apologize to all those drivers crossing double yellows at 20 k/h over the limit for my driving to the speed limit, and for my slowing down on blind curves and in heavy rain. I know, it’s unconscionable, and speaks to how annoying it is that old people are still allowed to drive.

And finally, we’re getting roof rack attachments so we can take our kayaks to other lakes. This should be really neat.