About half a year since my last post. Time flies.
Finance was a good placement and a good place to work. I enjoyed the subject matter of my position and the role of a Finance analyst. Above all, I think I enjoyed being in a department of economists, among whom I had many friends. Now that I am almost done the program and I am starting to look for a job, Finance is certainly high on my list.
I went to South Africa over the holidays. My father has some work there, and my mother was down there with him at the time, so I thought I might as well go enjoy some summer in the middle of the Ottawa winter. Cape Town - the city where my dad is staying - is absolutely beautiful. After arriving we went back to the apartment they were living in, which was right on the Atlantic Ocean with a view of several ships moored off shore and a large public swimming pool on the beach. The rest of the city is built in between the ocean, a set of mountains, and a bay which makes for beautiful views. It is also the only city I have been in that has wineries in the city and several wine regions (Stellenbosh, Franchoek, Robertson, Paarl) in the immediate surrounding area.
The time spent in South Africa was both interesting and enjoyable. I was surprised by how smoothly a vacation with my parents could be. It had been a while since I had traveled with them, and I was worried that I would be stuck in a small car with them for hours as they fought about stuff. Thankfully, the road trip was quite manageable, especially since we had regular stops for really wonderful meals paired with excellent wine (actually, the meals themselves might not have always been so good, but the wine certainly was...). |We made the trip from Cape Town, along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth, then up to a game reserve near Grahmstown, then on to East London and up to a township near Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape and then back to Cape Town. I took lots of pictures and put most of them up on facebook...
Upon my return, I started a new job with the Privy Council Office. PCO is the centre of government, and my secretariat could be considered the centre of the centre. The cool thing is that all Cabinet and Deputy Ministerial meetings are managed by my secretariat. It is a very interesting and informative view on government and the decision making process. My job its self is somewhat less interesting. It consists largely of putting together scenario notes out of information I chase around. Again, however, it is very cool to see the information and cool to see how the process works.
PCO has a reputation throughout government as being the site of long hours and intense days.
At first I didn't feel that this was so, and was a bit concerned that I was not getting the true experience. It didn't take long for it all to catch up to me. A few long, very busy days later and I now understand what it means to be hectic. It can be a lot like putting together a big call for briefs at DFAIT, but on a weekly, rather than semi-annual basis. Today, I left at 8pm. Tomorrow will likely be similar.
The coolest thing about the job is definitely the proximity to the centre. Last week, as sort of a birthday gift (more on the birthday below) I got to take notes at a Cabinet meeting. All I will say about that is that Harper knows how to chair a meeting well. I also got to hold the Olympic Torch last week because one of the Deputy Ministers brought it in to present it to other Deputy Ministers at their weekly breakfast. It is things like that which make getting to work at 7am on a Wednesday worthwhile.
With my time in the program coming to an end, I am looking for a new job. Maybe moving around so effortlessly over the last two years has made me somewhat complacent, but I am still rather short on leads. Today, I went to DFAIT for a series of talks (making up for the lost time was part of the reason I stayed at work so late) and gave my card out to a few people, but given the restrictive FS preference system in that department, I am not optimistic about my chances there... Finance is perhaps more promising as a department of economists and one in which I have quite a number of friends and associates. I suppose that would depend on being able to work on an interesting file... Maybe I'll end up somewhere completely different.
I moved since my last post. I am now living in Chinatown, about four blocks west of where I used to be. On the one hand, I am much closer to dim sum and pho than I was before, but on the other hand, I am farther from work and the homes of almost all of my friends. This being Ottawa, it is not a problem at all if I am able to ride my bike, but during the long cold winter that is just now over, my location was drawback. The positives of this house are many. It is larger, it has a wonderful kitchen and dining room, I only have one roommate, and it is less expensive to heat. The house is also a good space for large parties... or at least a space that my roommate and I are happy to throw large parties in.
On the general social front, Ottawa continues to shrink for me. Part of it must be shifting jobs so often, and part of it must be my string of roommates. Now, it is hard to go to hartmans or goodlife without running into people I know. Truth be told, I quite enjoy this and will occasionally go to the gym when bored and in need of human interaction.
The Dinner Club is still going strong. Despite only having two founding members, and being down to five members in total, we still manage to get together for a tasty and interesting dinner almost every Sunday night. Last night, Nelson made steak wrapped in bacon with asparagus... mmm... The conversation at the dinners has also not changed that much. We still often revert to the "big three" and heated discussions and bets are still quite common. Despite repeated starts, we have still not managed to complete and ratify our constitution, although that may stem from a lack of desire to compromise on paper on some fundamental issues that we are quite happy to live with in practice.
Living in Ottawa no longer seems to be in doubt. I am more accepting of its many obvious shortcomings as a city in exchange for interesting work and my interactions with those who are also here for interesting work. When I do go elsewhere and am confronted by Ottawa's relative lack of urban amenities it is somewhat jarring, but I find myself defending my home (and adopted home) town. In the end, it is the meaningful work and still exciting career prospects that make me happy to live here. Also, a deepening recession makes moving elsewhere seem ever more precarious.
My birthday was last week. I turned 26. As has been the case with my last few birthdays (although perhaps less for this one), I don't really feel as if I am getting older. I am generally surrounded by people older than me, and don't often have meaningful contact with those younger than me. Ottawa (or at least the Ottawa I live in) is the type of city that people generally move to after finishing a graduate degree. That puts most people at about 25 on arrival. This makes me continue to feel young, even though I know that Marc from the not so distant past would have looked upon the current Marc as getting older...
The birthday its self was actually quite nice. I went out for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Ashley had prepared me a sign that said 生日快乐 which I found very sweet. Most of my better friends in Ottawa were also there, which is really what makes a nice birthday. It is actually quite striking how many old friends from Vancouver have made it out here... sometimes I think that there are more here than there are left in Vancouver...
Finance was a good placement and a good place to work. I enjoyed the subject matter of my position and the role of a Finance analyst. Above all, I think I enjoyed being in a department of economists, among whom I had many friends. Now that I am almost done the program and I am starting to look for a job, Finance is certainly high on my list.
I went to South Africa over the holidays. My father has some work there, and my mother was down there with him at the time, so I thought I might as well go enjoy some summer in the middle of the Ottawa winter. Cape Town - the city where my dad is staying - is absolutely beautiful. After arriving we went back to the apartment they were living in, which was right on the Atlantic Ocean with a view of several ships moored off shore and a large public swimming pool on the beach. The rest of the city is built in between the ocean, a set of mountains, and a bay which makes for beautiful views. It is also the only city I have been in that has wineries in the city and several wine regions (Stellenbosh, Franchoek, Robertson, Paarl) in the immediate surrounding area.
The time spent in South Africa was both interesting and enjoyable. I was surprised by how smoothly a vacation with my parents could be. It had been a while since I had traveled with them, and I was worried that I would be stuck in a small car with them for hours as they fought about stuff. Thankfully, the road trip was quite manageable, especially since we had regular stops for really wonderful meals paired with excellent wine (actually, the meals themselves might not have always been so good, but the wine certainly was...). |We made the trip from Cape Town, along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth, then up to a game reserve near Grahmstown, then on to East London and up to a township near Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape and then back to Cape Town. I took lots of pictures and put most of them up on facebook...
Upon my return, I started a new job with the Privy Council Office. PCO is the centre of government, and my secretariat could be considered the centre of the centre. The cool thing is that all Cabinet and Deputy Ministerial meetings are managed by my secretariat. It is a very interesting and informative view on government and the decision making process. My job its self is somewhat less interesting. It consists largely of putting together scenario notes out of information I chase around. Again, however, it is very cool to see the information and cool to see how the process works.
PCO has a reputation throughout government as being the site of long hours and intense days.
At first I didn't feel that this was so, and was a bit concerned that I was not getting the true experience. It didn't take long for it all to catch up to me. A few long, very busy days later and I now understand what it means to be hectic. It can be a lot like putting together a big call for briefs at DFAIT, but on a weekly, rather than semi-annual basis. Today, I left at 8pm. Tomorrow will likely be similar.
The coolest thing about the job is definitely the proximity to the centre. Last week, as sort of a birthday gift (more on the birthday below) I got to take notes at a Cabinet meeting. All I will say about that is that Harper knows how to chair a meeting well. I also got to hold the Olympic Torch last week because one of the Deputy Ministers brought it in to present it to other Deputy Ministers at their weekly breakfast. It is things like that which make getting to work at 7am on a Wednesday worthwhile.
With my time in the program coming to an end, I am looking for a new job. Maybe moving around so effortlessly over the last two years has made me somewhat complacent, but I am still rather short on leads. Today, I went to DFAIT for a series of talks (making up for the lost time was part of the reason I stayed at work so late) and gave my card out to a few people, but given the restrictive FS preference system in that department, I am not optimistic about my chances there... Finance is perhaps more promising as a department of economists and one in which I have quite a number of friends and associates. I suppose that would depend on being able to work on an interesting file... Maybe I'll end up somewhere completely different.
I moved since my last post. I am now living in Chinatown, about four blocks west of where I used to be. On the one hand, I am much closer to dim sum and pho than I was before, but on the other hand, I am farther from work and the homes of almost all of my friends. This being Ottawa, it is not a problem at all if I am able to ride my bike, but during the long cold winter that is just now over, my location was drawback. The positives of this house are many. It is larger, it has a wonderful kitchen and dining room, I only have one roommate, and it is less expensive to heat. The house is also a good space for large parties... or at least a space that my roommate and I are happy to throw large parties in.
On the general social front, Ottawa continues to shrink for me. Part of it must be shifting jobs so often, and part of it must be my string of roommates. Now, it is hard to go to hartmans or goodlife without running into people I know. Truth be told, I quite enjoy this and will occasionally go to the gym when bored and in need of human interaction.
The Dinner Club is still going strong. Despite only having two founding members, and being down to five members in total, we still manage to get together for a tasty and interesting dinner almost every Sunday night. Last night, Nelson made steak wrapped in bacon with asparagus... mmm... The conversation at the dinners has also not changed that much. We still often revert to the "big three" and heated discussions and bets are still quite common. Despite repeated starts, we have still not managed to complete and ratify our constitution, although that may stem from a lack of desire to compromise on paper on some fundamental issues that we are quite happy to live with in practice.
Living in Ottawa no longer seems to be in doubt. I am more accepting of its many obvious shortcomings as a city in exchange for interesting work and my interactions with those who are also here for interesting work. When I do go elsewhere and am confronted by Ottawa's relative lack of urban amenities it is somewhat jarring, but I find myself defending my home (and adopted home) town. In the end, it is the meaningful work and still exciting career prospects that make me happy to live here. Also, a deepening recession makes moving elsewhere seem ever more precarious.
My birthday was last week. I turned 26. As has been the case with my last few birthdays (although perhaps less for this one), I don't really feel as if I am getting older. I am generally surrounded by people older than me, and don't often have meaningful contact with those younger than me. Ottawa (or at least the Ottawa I live in) is the type of city that people generally move to after finishing a graduate degree. That puts most people at about 25 on arrival. This makes me continue to feel young, even though I know that Marc from the not so distant past would have looked upon the current Marc as getting older...
The birthday its self was actually quite nice. I went out for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Ashley had prepared me a sign that said 生日快乐 which I found very sweet. Most of my better friends in Ottawa were also there, which is really what makes a nice birthday. It is actually quite striking how many old friends from Vancouver have made it out here... sometimes I think that there are more here than there are left in Vancouver...
