Teh Madness! Teh Madness!

Some folks have been enquiring about my adventures in returning to school, and I've remained cautiously quiet on the topic as of late because I would hate to jinx it in any way. Well, 2/3 of the journey is completed, so I guess it's safe to talk about that. I did get into SFU, and the Band agreed to fund me for the year. BUT not without some trials.

I'll begin this story in the middle of the chronological timeline because it's by far the most important detail in this whole story:

The Mikisew Student Services application deadline for Funding in January is November 15th.

So, I sent in my application to SFU and the Social Policy Issues diploma program on October 11th because the deadline for the SFU application was October 13th. I worked hard on my SPI application, spending the greater part of a day filling it in on the computer rather then by hand because it was neater and allowed me to say more. I paid my fees, and it was time to wait. I had to wait for several key documents to make my application to Mikisew complete:

• A letter of Admission;
• A Tuition and Fee Assessment for the semesters I am planning to attend;
• A Statutory Declaration sworn before a Commissioner of Oaths;
• Rod's signature declaring he's employed, therefore not a dependent;
• the most recent copies of my U of A transcripts;
• A letter detailing my program plans to the MSS Committee.

Well, I waited. And waited. And waited. By the end of October, with no word from SFU, I was getting anxious. Really anxious. So I arranged to leave work early on November 6th, ready to run up the mount and start tap dancing or crying (which ever would be more effective in getting answers), and I called the Registrar's office. I got a very nice student services person who looked into my file and came back to me with this...my file had only been removed from the processing queue on October 28th, and it typically took 3-4 weeks for a decision to be made.

Colour me mortified. I explained that my Mikisew deadline was an absolute firm November 15th, non-negotiable. I was transferred to Admissions, where I explained my situation again, and was put on hold while another nice person looked into my file. I'm beginning to think my file is a mythical being at this point, floating about the SFU campus high on the mountain like a confused winged pegasus. Pulling me back to reality, the very nice Admissions person got back on the line to tell me that a decision would be made by morning.

I then called the program head for SPI to inquire about the status of my application with them, and when she called me back, she informed me that I was still missing a reference letter. Colour me aghast. I quickly emailed said reference and had to wait. And wait. And wait.

November 7th: an early check online...and I got in to SFU. Yay! Part I accomplished. Later in the day, the referee responded to my email and promised to get it out ASAP.

November 8th: I made an appointment with a Notary Public to get the Statutory Declaration out of the way, and had to leave work early. She was hesitant to sign it because the one thing missing was Rod's signature, but she did anyways, guessing that it wouldn't be an issue to have my husband sign something for me. I went home where I rolled up my sleeves and got to work on the phone. I called SFU about getting a copy of the Admission letter and a tuition/fee estimate, which Mikisew said they would accept in lieu of the official document for the time being. Neither of these were available, and I was advised to use my unofficial SFU transcripts (which at this point only stated I was admitted and that I was credited with having reading and comprehension skills enough to be in their school), and a very confused little guy at student services promised to do up an email with the estimates and send it to me. What a liar :p

November 9th: I called student services back and this time the lady on the phone actually directed me to Student Accounts, the department that actually does this stuff, not some guy wanting to shut me up with vague promises and dandelion dreams. I called Student Accounts, and after miserably failing to adequately explain the situation, I was told to fax a letter detailing my request. Also, it was unlikely that anything would happen until the 14th because of the holiday weekend. *heart palpitating* By this time, I'm a letter writing machine, so I am able to succinctly explain things, and off it goes.

November 10th: I called Student Accounts for an update, and was told my letter was not yet looked at by the manager. Okay, that's fine, I'm prepared to give them the MSS fax number to fax directly to the funding committee if it comes to that. About twenty minutes later, I got a call from a nice lady at Student Accounts who said my request for an estimate was so doable, and within a couple of hours, I had an email in hand. *HUGE sigh of relief*

During all of this activities, I was trying to get a copy of my U of A transcripts with the seal on them via fax. I asked for them to be couriered to me, but guess what. By Monday, November 14th, still no sign of them. It's lucky for me that I had copies of my transcripts at home, but they weren't sealed, so they weren't "official" even though they were. I took a chance. I went down to the Kinko's on our block and faxed off the Mikisew application, bloody mess of half-assed documents that it was, and then I wandered over to the Shopper's Drug Mart Post office and stood in line waiting for it to open (note here, that I'm missing yet another hour of work to do this) and couriered the actual application, on the understanding that copies of the official admission and tuition documents would be forwarded to MSS as they came available.

All I had to do was wait. I'm so not good at this.

Two days later, the MSS coordinator left a message on my machine, but she was going to be away until Tuesday, so I couldn't return her call until then. I was certain my half-assed application would hurt, and I'd be denied, but I'm pleased to say that I was approved. Yay! I'm going to school.

Still no word from the Social Policy Issues program.

Evidence-based Decision Making

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2006/11/20/injection-study.html

My spidey sense is tingling people...

There are just so many reasons why the current Conservative government is so unwilling to engage in the debate over North America's only safe-injection site, right here in Van City's down and out East side: moral disagreement with the premise of the site, distrust of Ivory Tower Intellectuals, dislike of Lobby Groups, and I suspect a health dose of misunderstanding of the fundamentals of the debate itself, to name the more prominent reasons.

The facts as we know them are this: the newest study claims that the centre has increased the chances of safer injection practices among users and the likelihood of users to seek services to end addictions, and simaltaneously decreased the chances of spreading infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. Even before this study, informal studies and anecdotal evidence already supported these claims.

The Conservative Government refused to sign off on the waiver that would permit the injection site to operate legally without reprecussions for users and staff onsite, despite the hard-won endorsements from various Law enforcement agencies involved in fighting the GVRD drug flow. Police agencies who were howling mad when the site first opened, claiming increased crime in the area would follow, came to see that it was far preferable to the uncertainty of dealing with needle sticks when dealing with high suspects. Instead, the government basically suspended the issue until 2007, putting the injection site in a precarious grey area of the law, just a nose hair's breadth away from being illegal until the full waiver is signed.

The same Conservative Government stated that more study was necessary to make the decision about the site's continued mandate, but cut the funding out from groups more than willing to conduct those studies, which is fishy...it leads one who is of a suspicious nature to suspect the Government of playing it's own pernicious game of Dodgeball following the Five D's...dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. If we don't fund studies, fewer will come out in favour of the site, and we can legitimately shut 'er down. Hmmm....

spidey sense a-tingling

In the absence of sense...

we are left with ab.

I would expect everyone who knows and reads me was wondering where the celebratory "REPUGNICANTS LOSE CONGRESS!!!!!!!!!!!" post was in the immediate aftermath of the US Midterm elections. Truth is, although I watched faithfully, and had a healthy run of commentary, I couldn't be bothered to blog about it because the pragmatist in me knew it was going to happen. I wasn't 100% sure on the Senate, but I knew the House was going Democrat and I knew the Senate would be super close. It didn't take a Political Science degree to figure out that Americans were pissed that the Repugs did nothing good for the national economy, let the government and its spending balloon so out of control that Pam Anderson Lee Rock (or whatever her nom de jour is) was instantly jealous that there were bigger ta-tas then hers in the world, and that the Bush Administration was no longer capable of selling Iraq to anyone but fools and party faithful.

I'm only sad that America still, after more than 200 years, has only two viable choices in terms of party politics. I certainly dislike the NDP and I heartily disagree with the premise for the existence of the Bloc Quebecois, but I very much appreciate that they are a necessary evil that allows for a wider variety of voices to be heard and more out-of-the-box thinking encouraged. In the States, you is or you isn't, and if you isn't you're crazy fringe.

Just watch and see though, fellow Canucks...are the Dems about to become the Protectionist Devils in a box? Will Geo Shrubya and his faithful wife Laura turn the White House upside down searching for his veto pen? Will Dick Cheney get fired too?...Err...resign too? Will the Harpertron 2000 continue to function without its Repug masters? Start the clock folks.

In other news, oh. my. gawd. SFU has got to be the school with the worst administration I have ever seen, and I'd know folks, I've been to a lot of schools.

It started on Monday the 6th, when I arranged to take the afternoon off of work so I could sort out this business of going back to school. My funding application deadline is November 15th, and I still hadn't heard anything from SFU about whether I was even admitted or not. Well, it turned out to be a super smart move because I learned that my application had only been processed on October 28th, and it was going to be another 3-4 weeks until I learned about my status. I explained my situation, and by 8:30 am on the 7th, I was admitted. Now, one would assume most of the work was over, but one would be wrong. For the past two days I've been struggling to get anyone at the school to give me just a simple note stating what my ESTIMATED tuition and fees will be for the year, which I need for my funding application. I'm so ready to cry like a baby. It's a combination of slow administration and a far-too-early funding application deadline, and it's making me lose wages, time, energy and morale. If I don't get funding, it will all be for nothing. Keeping my chin up, my nose to the grindstone, my heart in the fight for now though.

Finally, some birfday shoutouts...my girl Jette turned twenty-something, my pal Joe also a twenty-something, and my Mother-in-Law turns...uh...any year older tomorrow. HAPPY BIRFDAYS!