INTENSITY²
Start here => What's your crime? Basic Discussion => Topic started by: WolFish on March 12, 2015, 04:29:10 AM
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We are on the auto train. It's a mixed experience but the best so faris not having to dive all night in cold rain after packing and cleaning and not enough sleep. Slept 7 hours - that's twicd as much as normal for me. Have to have a hotspot but it's woking fine. Dinner was steakor chicken and the only downer was the rude car attendant who wanted us to go to bedearly so he could. We told him 10 and hevopened our curtain with no warning at 9:30 asking if we still wanted 10.
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Have a safe journey, the two of you.
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:indeed:
I like Montreal. It's a nice place to be.
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:indeed:
I like Montreal. It's a nice place to be.
I echo what the others have said...take care... :asthing:
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:indeed:
I like Montreal. It's a nice place to be.
It will be a lot better than Florida. The people are more polite so far. Since almost everyone speaks English I don't think I'm going to have issues. French has Latin roots so I think I will pick it up easily, though I do intend to take a class.
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Thanks.
We got here safe with only a slight hitch at the border. I knew what to expect so I played innocent and they let us go within an hour. They look for you to be nervous and they look for eye contact.
The eye contact was the hardest but I did it - actual eye contact instead of looking at his nose. And when they wanted Pyraxis car title I told her where to look and she found it - that convinced them that we had a long term relationship. I have to apply for permanent resident as soon as possible and I got a piece of paper that's nicer even than their paper money, that says I can be here for 6 months. I have to have the application by then or I have to leave and come back.
We drove from Washington DC to Plattsburgh (last big town before the border) in 12 hours with 2 stops and two detours to look for gas.
The only casualty was Phil and Phil Jr, our houseplants, which we forgot to bring into the hotel in Plattsburgh. They froze, but we're hoping to save them as Pyraxis had the foresight to leave them in their soil. Both have roots that are fair to good.
We have two more days at the extended stay. Then we will be in our permanent digs next door to the railroad tracks. The trains aren't loud and they are an obsession of mine. The apartment walls and ceilings have old track ties built in, and the kitchen hooks include spikes. It looks like we might have internet in time for my Monday night seminars.
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:indeed:
I like Montreal. It's a nice place to be.
It will be a lot better than Florida. The people are more polite so far. Since almost everyone speaks English I don't think I'm going to have issues. French has Latin roots so I think I will pick it up easily, though I do intend to take a class.
Yup, pretty much everyone speaks English. If you go into a store, you'll almost invariably be greeted with "Bonjour/hello" and, depending on your answer, the clerk will speak either English or French.
The few exceptions I came across include a McDonald's on St Catherine Street and a restaurant in Chinatown.
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The people are more polite so far.
They're just very sorry. :zoinks:
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What are they sorry about?
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What are they sorry about?
Everything, I guess. :dunno:
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What are they sorry about?
Everything, I guess. :dunno:
They shouldn't be. They have a nice city.
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:indeed:
I like Montreal. It's a nice place to be.
It will be a lot better than Florida. The people are more polite so far. Since almost everyone speaks English I don't think I'm going to have issues. French has Latin roots so I think I will pick it up easily, though I do intend to take a class.
We seem to have moved to a neighborhood where a lot of people speak English, as opposed to downtown, where most of the people spoke French.
The cable company sent an automated message to let me know that the cable guy was set to arrive soon. It was all in French and the most I caught was that he was going to arrive within the next 11 minutes.
The clerk in the dollar store spoke very little english but we managed.
Yup, pretty much everyone speaks English. If you go into a store, you'll almost invariably be greeted with "Bonjour/hello" and, depending on your answer, the clerk will speak either English or French.
The few exceptions I came across include a McDonald's on St Catherine Street and a restaurant in Chinatown.
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:-\
Whereabouts do you live?
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Is it a friendly neighbourhood, on first appearances?
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:-\
Whereabouts do you live?
The closest neighborhood is Westmount. We live south of that.
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Is it a friendly neighbourhood, on first appearances?
Not sure about friendly. No welcome wagon so far. It's a changing neighborhood so maybe people here are like they are in the States - just minding their own business and hoping that the brown guy is not a bad element.
Pyraxis caught some guys making a video across the street so maybe the neighborhood looks worse than it is. There are a lot of condos, many with indoor parking. A lot of people speak English and a good number look like college students. I haven't been out much - I have something like five times the regular Asperger's mess to get through and make manageable.
I am terrible at people, too. In five years in Florida I met no one.
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:-\
Whereabouts do you live?
The closest neighborhood is Westmount. We live south of that.
:thumbup:
It's a shame they moved the conference away from Montréal. I'd love to visit again.
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:-\
Whereabouts do you live?
The closest neighborhood is Westmount. We live south of that.
:thumbup:
It's a shame they moved the conference away from Montréal. I'd love to visit again.
yes, so far i'm liking it a lot. it's snowing again today. and i've lost 5 pounds of southern sloth fat in two weeks just by being here. looking forward to being able to go biking without frying to a crisp in the first quarter mile.
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Have you climbed up Mt Royal yet? It's well worth doing.
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Have you climbed up Mt Royal yet? It's well worth doing.
I haven't yet, but I might get Pyraxis to do it. I am anemic so it might not be a good idea.
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Have you climbed up Mt Royal yet? It's well worth doing.
I haven't yet, but I might get Pyraxis to do it. I am anemic so it might not be a good idea.
Well, be careful if you do. Take your time.
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I got a little way up today as the clinic I'm trying to get into is on the mountain. It was a long walk up in the rain but now I am looking forward to climbing to the top.
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I like the city, but, the traffic was a tad hellish for us. Fortunately, we have friends who know their way around. Montreal airport is nicely located if you go exploring out to the west. Nice flights to Edmonton or Calgary. I am always amazed at the flatness of the countryside punctuated by the occasional Mount sticking out of the plains.
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When I saw the topic I thought "Oh no, we won't see them anymore!", and then I remembered they have internet in Montreal.
:P Hope you enjoy Canada!
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I like the city, but, the traffic was a tad hellish for us. Fortunately, we have friends who know their way around. Montreal airport is nicely located if you go exploring out to the west. Nice flights to Edmonton or Calgary. I am always amazed at the flatness of the countryside punctuated by the occasional Mount sticking out of the plains.
It's very good for me - I won't miss so much the great cloud formations from Florida (one of the very few good things).
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Canada is odd for stores. Not a lot of chain stores besides Wal-Mart and Dollarama, which has nearly nothing for a dollar.
The difference is made up by the other stores selling what you'd want from the big stores. Found my humidity meter in the local drug store (Jean Couteau)/Walgreens's equivalent. Farmaprix is the CVS equivalent. The JC also had bento and things I wouldn't expect in a pharmacy store.
The Dollarama carries siracha sauce - a testament to the diversity. It's impossible to predict who will come out of a house in our neighborhood. In that respect it's much better than the U.S.
So I guess I should not have been surprised to find that the local health food store (that an anomaly in itself) is also an Asian/Arab grocery store - no meats, but everything else. I bought kombucha and aloe juice. And seaweed at a reasonable price. $2.79 in the U.S., 0.97CDN here. They have an incredible selection of spices, grains and herbs. The supplement selection is limited, but the tea selection is vast. It made spending $74 at the JC ($10 was taxes) hurt less.
French is still an issue but now that grading is done I should have an easier time with the lessons.
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Farmaprix
:lol1:
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I like the city, but, the traffic was a tad hellish for us. Fortunately, we have friends who know their way around. Montreal airport is nicely located if you go exploring out to the west. Nice flights to Edmonton or Calgary. I am always amazed at the flatness of the countryside punctuated by the occasional Mount sticking out of the plains.
It's very good for me - I won't miss so much the great cloud formations from Florida (one of the very few good things).
No hurricanes up there. Just cold and snow. Montreal is far more egalitarian than Quebec. I remember a gentleman from Montreal saying that the weather was 10 months of winter and 2 months of not very good skiing. 8)
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:lol1:
Funny, though. It's always been hot as hell when I've been there.
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:lol1:
Funny, though. It's always been hot as hell when I've been there.
Mid-continental or thereabouts, summers can be broiling even in Montreal and vicinity. It probably feels even more so, because you don't expect it to get that way. Winter freeze your ass off, summer broil your ass off. :voodoo:
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Yes, true. I went there in early August, every time.
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:lol1:
Funny, though. It's always been hot as hell when I've been there.
It's hot as hell now. I can't tell the difference between here and Florida. Oh wait. I can - no central air here.
supposed to get to 29C here today AND rain. I've managed to get my room down to 26.
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Ouch. I remember my first time there. The heat and the humidity... :GA:
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29C isn't hot. Says the West Australian. ;)
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29C isn't hot. Says the West Australian. ;)
29ºC and humid is way harder than 35ºC and low humidity. I do not really mind the latter. The former I utterly hate.
The humidity takes away the cooling options via perspiration. The Australian temperatures above body temperature, I have no idea how I would be dealing with them, no matter what the humidity.
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Managed to get my room down to 28.3 last night. Humidity is up to 50%. One of the other issues is that there is a roof outside my window which I am sure is heating the air outside my window. Between that and the diesel fuel smell, it was kind of miserable in here last night.
I suspect I will not be able to stay in my room in August. I slept poorly last night.
I'll get you a sound bite of the trains now that I've located my Zoom. Foolishly I protected that and forgot about my college ring, which the packers stole. They stole a lot of stuff. They took two days to pack and now that we are nearly done unpacking, I understand why. They were going through my stuff. I "collect" new dollar bills since I have trouble spending them. I have trouble with any new or large bill so I still have Christmas money (I hope) from 2011. I hid it somewhere and forgot where it was. But the rest they took, including a $20, a $10 a $5 and two ones that I had folded into origami shirts. There was more tucked into the sides of drawers and all that is gone.
They took a camera that I had bought on Ebay so that will cost less to replace. The ring will cost $800 to replace. I was supposed to buy a safe yesterday but they're expensive. I'm thinking that I will just use my old one, for which I have lost the keys. I opened it before we left and took out everything to take with me so it was open when we got here.
I should wander in the direction of my grading.
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Today wolfish is having a bad French day. Bad language day, more like it.
Very glad I did not learn enough Japanese to speak it. So we have two mechanics across the street from us. One is a friendly Mexican fellow and the other is a jerk who puts cars where they block our driveway. Today I saw the jerk fighting with the sidewalk fixing people (which you NEVER should do), and I wondered if I could ask the Mexican guy to translate. I would have to ask him in Spanish but my Spanish is fairly good. Except I couldn't remember the word for "or." Brain got stuck on "oder." I minored in Spanish in college and to do that we had to take a second language. I took German. I learned just enough to get in trouble. So now when I am trying for a word in French and comparing in Spanish (a lot of words have the same root), German comes up instead?
"oder?" Spanish is actually easier - it's "o"
WTH?? :GA:
I did have my first conversation in French. Some guy on the street offering gluten laden samples. I said no thanks.
In other news, wolfish is not used to the changing weather and now has another cold. It went from sweltering to freezing overnight. Apparently this is common here.
This cold doesn't have the asthma component so unlikely to turn into pneumonia like the last one.
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Jack approves of Wolfish's use of third person.
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Jack approves of Wolfish's use of third person.
Wolfish used to talk like that all the time until he got out of school and discovered the world was a little different than the ivory tower. He was astonished to realize that almost no one said "we" when referring to self.
Go figure.
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Jack approves of Wolfish's use of third person.
Wolfish used to talk like that all the time until he got out of school and discovered the world was a little different than the ivory tower. He was astonished to realize that almost no one said "we" when referring to self.
Go figure.
Claire is the one who largely speaks in terms of we, but not a self of we. It's a we of belonging, we the family, we the organization, we the team with the common goal; she's a leader, a diplomatic peace keeper, negotiator and compromiser, all for the overall good of all of we.
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Now we are working on finding a doctor.
We had a recommendation but the guy's reviews went from good to bad. We went anyway and lots of red flags.
The phlebotomist thinks he's Harvard trained - she's been with him for at least 10 years. She tells me he's from America, he's 68 and did his residency at McGill (a Montreal med school and teaching hospital).
The doctor hears that I have lived and worked in MA and was treated in Boston and tells me that he went to Tufts (oops, what happened to Harvard?) but ended up in med school at McGill (he glosses over why). He misses the fact that for years I worked at a teaching hospital in MA as a psychiatric crisis clinician. He tells me he's from Albany - I say, oh, I went to schoo there. Ah, no, he's from Schenectady actually. I say, ah, I know Schenectady as well. He changes the subject, and when he hears that I was born in NYC tells me that most of his relatives live there (huh?)
Since he missed the clue he doesn't know that I know that the only reason to attend med school out of the U.S. is because your grades weren't good enough to get into a U.S. school. He recommends an antidepressant for my ADHD. He tells me that my ADHD is probably lifelong depression which came out as hyperactivity and forgetfulness, and that my strategies to manage it are instead symptoms of OCD. He fishes for depression in other members of my family and comes up dry. I say no worries, I will go to a psychiatrist for treatment.
Now he tells me that he has one year in psychiatry residency. He's missed my work experience so he doesn't know that I know that a one year psychiatry certificate is like a terminal Master's, which is what you get because you couldn't finish your PhD. The residency for psychiatry is two years. I ask why he didn't finish. He says it was boring.
He proceeds on a long discussion about how he has learned to tell character disordered people from people who can be helped (he also missed that I have a PhD in psychology), and then suddenly stops and says, "But you're not character disordered." (Pyraxis told me this - by that time I was thoroughly bored by his monologue and lost by the barrage of words.). He also turned to Pyraxis and tried to impress her with his stories, but that didn't work either.
They did an ECG which they can charge for but he didn't listen to my heart (I have a murmur). All kinds of blood tests but they didn't weigh me (I'm overweight). But the kicker is that he didn't ask how I was diagnosed with ADHD, so he's pitting his half residency against my psychiatrist in MA who spent two session diagnosing me, another few trying alternate medication (I didn't want to take a stimulant), and five years treating me.
So this guy is a fail as a GP. We'll have to look further. At least he didn't argue with the asthma diagnosis or the need for an epi-pen (though he says mine, which is expired, is good for "like a hundred years."
After writing this I'm thinking this guy actually meets the criteria for anti-social personality disorder.
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That is not red flags that's full blown alarm bells, whistles, and sirens saying. DO NOT HAVE THIS MAN AS YOUR GP! I spent an entire day talking to the Doctor and being tested with multiple tests by the intern in Portland Maine for my ADD. Then went back for the results interview/summation that took a couple of hours. ::) Though it was a few years ago, I still remember the details very clearly. Anywho, this guy does not sound safe.
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Nope, that guy is a death sentence waiting to happen.
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The store is building my bike. The inventory on the site went down by one yesterday. Hoping they will call me today to come get it.
I wonder if there is something in Canadian socialization that says, "I looked where it should be and it's not there so it's not there. That's good enough."
The store clerks were convinced that the bike wasn't there; they didn't find them because they didn't look hard enough. I went to the store manager and told him what happened, that the day before they told me they found them but couldn't build them, and the next day they couldn't find them. I did fudge a little so the clerk wouldn't get in trouble - I said it was a different one who'd found them the day before. It wasn't.
Pyraxis often stops looking for something too soon, resulting in what I call a "kin search," which means that I take a turn looking for it in the same places. This works in the reverse as well since I often overlook things even though I search longer and harder. I see her fighting against that "good enough" mentality in rock climbing - against the States view that if you're a girl you should give up on things that require strength. Yet when it comes to customer service she can articulate the Canadian mentality that you accept what happens (which seems more difficult to defeat). To me, that's giving up. I have never been able to do that - once to my detriment as I tried to run a marathon immediately after spraining my ankle at the starting line.
The idea of acceptance means that you're not really giving up, you're just accepting that you can't go further. There is a part of perseverance that it going on until success, and there is another part that is going on until it doesn't make sense to fight. I think this is confused here. It might explain the high numbers of young people with walking aids here. I've never seen so many in wheelchairs or with canes. I could not do this when I broke my sternum and a bunch of bones in my back and they wanted to give me a custom wheelchair - they actually said it was unlikely that I would walk again (2008). In my mentality that would be giving up. I walk with no aids at all now. Is there acceptance for this view in the States? What if I was just beating my head against a wall trying to walk again?
Within the Canadian mentality, it seems as though that in the continuum that goes between true perseverance and a useless effort, these folks have done what they consider persevering. But in mine, in a more generous continuum there is farther to go before wolfish is beating his head against a wall. That's the thing of it that I have learned. Sometimes you get a concussion, but sometimes when you beat your head against a wall, the wall comes down.
It's harder to tell where to stop here. People seem locked into their roles, and if going above and beyond isn't part of the job description, they don't do it. I wonder what they think of me?
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So, what will happen, if they can't find the bike?
Will they build you a new one?
We left home with two art school books, that should have been handed in. They were in the list of books to hand in. But, the lady could not find the books in her system. So, the books did not exist for her. We got the list autographed for having handed in stuff properly.
Weird. Did not mind, they are cool books. But weird it is.
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The inventory in the store has gone down by one. I suspect that someone is hiding the bikes to get for themselves. At any rate, since they haven't called me I assume that they are assembling the bike. On their site it says they can build it in four hours and it's been two days now. Since tomorrow is a holiday I have to hope that they will call me on Thursday.
I put the bike on my U.S. credit card so there is no danger. If I don't get the bike they will do a chargeback.
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Now we are working on finding a doctor.
We had a recommendation but the guy's reviews went from good to bad. We went anyway and lots of red flags.
The phlebotomist thinks he's Harvard trained - she's been with him for at least 10 years. She tells me he's from America, he's 68 and did his residency at McGill (a Montreal med school and teaching hospital).
The doctor hears that I have lived and worked in MA and was treated in Boston and tells me that he went to Tufts (oops, what happened to Harvard?) but ended up in med school at McGill (he glosses over why). He misses the fact that for years I worked at a teaching hospital in MA as a psychiatric crisis clinician. He tells me he's from Albany - I say, oh, I went to schoo there. Ah, no, he's from Schenectady actually. I say, ah, I know Schenectady as well. He changes the subject, and when he hears that I was born in NYC tells me that most of his relatives live there (huh?)
Since he missed the clue he doesn't know that I know that the only reason to attend med school out of the U.S. is because your grades weren't good enough to get into a U.S. school. He recommends an antidepressant for my ADHD. He tells me that my ADHD is probably lifelong depression which came out as hyperactivity and forgetfulness, and that my strategies to manage it are instead symptoms of OCD. He fishes for depression in other members of my family and comes up dry. I say no worries, I will go to a psychiatrist for treatment.
Now he tells me that he has one year in psychiatry residency. He's missed my work experience so he doesn't know that I know that a one year psychiatry certificate is like a terminal Master's, which is what you get because you couldn't finish your PhD. The residency for psychiatry is two years. I ask why he didn't finish. He says it was boring.
He proceeds on a long discussion about how he has learned to tell character disordered people from people who can be helped (he also missed that I have a PhD in psychology), and then suddenly stops and says, "But you're not character disordered." (Pyraxis told me this - by that time I was thoroughly bored by his monologue and lost by the barrage of words.). He also turned to Pyraxis and tried to impress her with his stories, but that didn't work either.
They did an ECG which they can charge for but he didn't listen to my heart (I have a murmur). All kinds of blood tests but they didn't weigh me (I'm overweight). But the kicker is that he didn't ask how I was diagnosed with ADHD, so he's pitting his half residency against my psychiatrist in MA who spent two session diagnosing me, another few trying alternate medication (I didn't want to take a stimulant), and five years treating me.
So this guy is a fail as a GP. We'll have to look further. At least he didn't argue with the asthma diagnosis or the need for an epi-pen (though he says mine, which is expired, is good for "like a hundred years."
After writing this I'm thinking this guy actually meets the criteria for anti-social personality disorder.
He sounds character disordered. O_o
Also, should I bother registering offense at "a one year psychiatry certificate is like a terminal Master's, which is what you get because you couldn't finish your PhD"? :P
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^ I don't know. It wasn't meant to be offensive. When I was in school that was what it was. Sometimes the research required for the dissertation defeats people and they decide they don't need the PhD. I knew two people like that when I was in Northampton.
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The inventory in the store has gone down by one. I suspect that someone is hiding the bikes to get for themselves. At any rate, since they haven't called me I assume that they are assembling the bike. On their site it says they can build it in four hours and it's been two days now. Since tomorrow is a holiday I have to hope that they will call me on Thursday.
I put the bike on my U.S. credit card so there is no danger. If I don't get the bike they will do a chargeback.
Damnit.
They sold me the bike, their inventory went down, but all they have is the so called unisex bike which cannot possibly be a unisex bike because the average male would never fit on it. So even though the model number is different and they sold me the men's bike they assembled the women's bike? When I was in the store I saw that they had a bazillion of the unisex model. Gee, could that have something to do with their pushing this one on me? Did they think I wouldn't know the difference? Maybe they think that, like the average Canadian, I'm just going to accept it because that's the way it is?
I think not.
I think I am going to end up getting my money back. I think these guys are idiots.
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The inventory in the store has gone down by one. I suspect that someone is hiding the bikes to get for themselves. At any rate, since they haven't called me I assume that they are assembling the bike. On their site it says they can build it in four hours and it's been two days now. Since tomorrow is a holiday I have to hope that they will call me on Thursday.
I put the bike on my U.S. credit card so there is no danger. If I don't get the bike they will do a chargeback.
Damnit.
They sold me the bike, their inventory went down, but all they have is the so called unisex bike which cannot possibly be a unisex bike because the average male would never fit on it. So even though the model number is different and they sold me the men's bike they assembled the women's bike? When I was in the store I saw that they had a bazillion of the unisex model. Gee, could that have something to do with their pushing this one on me? Did they think I wouldn't know the difference? Maybe they think that, like the average Canadian, I'm just going to accept it because that's the way it is?
I think not.
I think I am going to end up getting my money back. I think these guys are idiots.
I think you are right.
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Maybe they think that, like the average Canadian, I'm just going to accept it because that's the way it is?
I think not.
Maybe they think you'll apologize. :lol1:
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Maybe they think that, like the average Canadian, I'm just going to accept it because that's the way it is?
I think not.
Maybe they think you'll apologize. :lol1:
Or surrender.
Wait, that's just French Canada
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^ I don't know. It wasn't meant to be offensive. When I was in school that was what it was. Sometimes the research required for the dissertation defeats people and they decide they don't need the PhD. I knew two people like that when I was in Northampton.
No worries. :P
I actually couldn't have gone for my Ph.D. or Psy.D. (the latter being what a lot of my classmates went on to, which makes me think less of it, lol) because finances were getting very scary at the end of my Master's, so I can't know if, in a perfect world, I'd have preferred to get further education or not. I know at the time I was eager anyway to start full-time work in the field and already very frustrated with the disconnect between theory and practice, and I'd done a thesis at the bachelor's level and had no fucking interest in doing that again (interested in research though I am as a result of doing that thesis, it was extremely stressful and not something I wanted to take on again unless I had to). I always meant for my MA to be a terminal degree and am still OK with the fact that it was (tbh my main regret is doing psych and not social work; LICSW would be more marketable than LMHC, but LMHC still isn't bad).
God only knows if I'd have been able to get into a doctoral program (other than the Psy.D. program I mentioned before that I'm pretty sure almost never rejects anyone) or if I'd have been able to hack it. I know I could not do school on top of my current workload, and, while my financial situation is better than it was, it's not "I can just work part time for several years while I pursue further higher education" good, even if you discount debt.
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^ I don't know. It wasn't meant to be offensive. When I was in school that was what it was. Sometimes the research required for the dissertation defeats people and they decide they don't need the PhD. I knew two people like that when I was in Northampton.
No worries. :P
I actually couldn't have gone for my Ph.D. or Psy.D. (the latter being what a lot of my classmates went on to, which makes me think less of it, lol) because finances were getting very scary at the end of my Master's, so I can't know if, in a perfect world, I'd have preferred to get further education or not. I know at the time I was eager anyway to start full-time work in the field and already very frustrated with the disconnect between theory and practice, and I'd done a thesis at the bachelor's level and had no fucking interest in doing that again (interested in research though I am as a result of doing that thesis, it was extremely stressful and not something I wanted to take on again unless I had to). I always meant for my MA to be a terminal degree and am still OK with the fact that it was (tbh my main regret is doing psych and not social work; LICSW would be more marketable than LMHC, but LMHC still isn't bad).
God only knows if I'd have been able to get into a doctoral program (other than the Psy.D. program I mentioned before that I'm pretty sure almost never rejects anyone) or if I'd have been able to hack it. I know I could not do school on top of my current workload, and, while my financial situation is better than it was, it's not "I can just work part time for several years while I pursue further higher education" good, even if you discount debt.
I thought you had a PhD ::) You certainly carry yourself as well as one. PhDs are expensive unless you are a minority group member - they don't count women as minority anymore since the field is filled with them.
I'm unmarketable because the PhD is kind of worthless without a license and you have to get people to supervise you for it. I've failed at that at least twice due to my lack of social skills. Teaching is a lot easier since it's online and I offend less that way.
My cousin got her MSW first and then the PhD in psychology - she is some kind of director of a homeless mental health place in Boston. She did it that way because the income from the MSW allowed her to afford the PhD program.
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In psychology, PhD programs are more often than not covered by the university with a stipend (as long as you complete the program in a timely manner). Depends on the university, but when I was applying that was the general structure....the idea being that you are 'paid' to do research that benefits society in some way.
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When I went I did have a stipend of $10,000 a year plus tuition paid. It wasn't enough. The amount of the stipend never changed so I had to get a job by the end of it. The internship was a little better because it was in a town where costs could be managed and I was more free to get a better part time job.
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Yeah, I had graduate assistantships during my Master's which were explained the same way as "stipends"... they nowhere near cut the cost of living. I'm in a lot of debt. :P Not a crippling amount, especially for my level of education, but... a lot.
I don't have interest in teaching (at least not full-time) and have a lot of disillusionment around research, and around academia in general. A Ph.D. wouldn't really add much to the range of things I'm able to do AND actually WANT to do.... other than make more money. (Seeing how much my insurance company would dish out for 10 billed hours of neuropsych testing was the best advertisement I've yet seen for getting a Ph.D., lol.) But if I reach the point where if I'm doing more education to make more money, I'd rather try for something like tech than keep doing this same career track.
I thought you had a PhD ::) You certainly carry yourself as well as one. PhDs are expensive unless you are a minority group member - they don't count women as minority anymore since the field is filled with them.
I'm unmarketable because the PhD is kind of worthless without a license and you have to get people to supervise you for it. I've failed at that at least twice due to my lack of social skills. Teaching is a lot easier since it's online and I offend less that way.
My cousin got her MSW first and then the PhD in psychology - she is some kind of director of a homeless mental health place in Boston. She did it that way because the income from the MSW allowed her to afford the PhD program.
TY for that- and I was mostly giving you shit; not really offended. Even if your attitude was snobbily in favor of "more education means you're a better, smarter person," that's not something I agree with and not a standard I therefore feel the need to hold myself to, if that makes sense. I hit an economic barrier that may have held me back from my "true academic potential," but I still got my Master's, and that's more than a lot of people are able to do. I'm blessed I was able to get as far as I did.
I've been in situations where I realized I had a better grasp of clients and what to do with them than their psychiatrists or the physiologists who tested them. Education in this field really doesn't apply very well to practice IMO; experience matters more. And neither can compensate for an outright lack of common sense (or just plain being an asshole, which is also a problem I've seen people with higher education and higher pay than me have problems with).
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Maybe they think that, like the average Canadian, I'm just going to accept it because that's the way it is?
I think not.
Maybe they think you'll apologize. :lol1:
Or surrender.
Wait, that's just French Canada
Now they are saying they don't have the bike at all. Yesterday they had a bike and said it was unisex. Since the Hydra has an odd shape I thought it might be the right bike after all. Today I couldn't even get them to check the number on the bike (since obviously they can't tell by looking at it).
I won't be surrendering. This time I got the manager's name and regardless of what happens I will be contacting someone somewhere because here they seem to think it's a bad deal to engage in false advertising here. If I cry fraud I suspect things will get resolved quickly. Really glad that I put this on my U.S. credit card. If they don't come up with a bike by Wednesday I will be getting my money back. I suspect that these guys couldn't fix it if they wanted to.
Pyraxis grew up in this system and hated it because no one is allowed to shine. Everyone has to adhere to the same level of dumb since average intelligence on this continent actually is below average. I had the same issue growing up. The nuns did their level best to convince me that I was unintelligent, but they couldn't ever fix the test scores. So they made excuses instead. Oh, other students could have gotten those scores if they had taken the test. They must have been cut to the quick when I got into the high school for the gifted (minimum IQ - 140).
Here it seems like people are dumbed down and then the government has to protect them - for example I can't work here on my visa because I might be taking a job away from all the Canadians who have PhDs. Not. I've met very few people who are able to step outside of their job description. Or worse: here's the initial conversation I had when calling to find out about my bike:
Me: "Hello, I'm calling about the bike they are building for me."
Clerk: "What department?"
If Canadians had to compete with people from the U.S. many of them would fail. On the other hand, if they did, wouldn't that raise the standard and encourage people to do their best? I see nothing in the culture here that encourages people to do their best. But unlike, them, I won't give up. To their shame there is also William Shatner, but one bad apple and all that. It's got to be here somewhere. They have Charles deLint. They have Joe Shuster. They have Alexander Graham Bell.
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Yeah, I had graduate assistantships during my Master's which were explained the same way as "stipends"... they nowhere near cut the cost of living. I'm in a lot of debt. :P Not a crippling amount, especially for my level of education, but... a lot.
I don't have interest in teaching (at least not full-time) and have a lot of disillusionment around research, and around academia in general. A Ph.D. wouldn't really add much to the range of things I'm able to do AND actually WANT to do.... other than make more money. (Seeing how much my insurance company would dish out for 10 billed hours of neuropsych testing was the best advertisement I've yet seen for getting a Ph.D., lol.) But if I reach the point where if I'm doing more education to make more money, I'd rather try for something like tech than keep doing this same career track.
I thought you had a PhD ::) You certainly carry yourself as well as one. PhDs are expensive unless you are a minority group member - they don't count women as minority anymore since the field is filled with them.
I'm unmarketable because the PhD is kind of worthless without a license and you have to get people to supervise you for it. I've failed at that at least twice due to my lack of social skills. Teaching is a lot easier since it's online and I offend less that way.
My cousin got her MSW first and then the PhD in psychology - she is some kind of director of a homeless mental health place in Boston. She did it that way because the income from the MSW allowed her to afford the PhD program.
TY for that- and I was mostly giving you shit; not really offended. Even if your attitude was snobbily in favor of "more education means you're a better, smarter person," that's not something I agree with and not a standard I therefore feel the need to hold myself to, if that makes sense. I hit an economic barrier that may have held me back from my "true academic potential," but I still got my Master's, and that's more than a lot of people are able to do. I'm blessed I was able to get as far as I did.
I've been in situations where I realized I had a better grasp of clients and what to do with them than their psychiatrists or the physiologists who tested them. Education in this field really doesn't apply very well to practice IMO; experience matters more. And neither can compensate for an outright lack of common sense (or just plain being an asshole, which is also a problem I've seen people with higher education and higher pay than me have problems with).
Dang. The shit went right over my head. Dang aspergers.
I am of the opinion that to get a PhD all that's needed in terms of intelligence is a high school diploma. The PhD means nothing in terms of intelligence. The best education I got in psychology was working at the crisis service in Springfield. There's not really any way that I could prove I'm not an education snob. But that was the point I was making about the doctor. He failed his residency yet was trying to convince me that having the terminal certificate meant something.
The same sort of thing happened to me at the crisis service - we had something we called "doctoring" them. If someone was being snobbish or downright stupid, they would put me on the phone and I would say "This is doctor ..." It was a lot of fun. The insurance companies look for the doctor too, which to me was weird given that many of the other folks I worked with had far more experience than me.
The psychologists were the worst - entitled and stupid. They didn't expect to encounter another psychologist because all crisis workers are MAs.
"This is doctor so and so and I want my client put in the hospital"
"Well, this is doctor .... and your client has to have a crisis evaluation after which we will see what happens." They shut up when they realize they're talking to another PhD.
I got in a lot of trouble for not respecting the hierarchy. In fact, I got fired for that back in 2006. But I don't mind because I saved a life, and now that I am gone from there it's the best thing that could have happened to me.
The last straw for them was an MD complaining that I had nixed his diagnosis of substance abuse/DTs for a woman who said that she was maintaining her sobriety. She came in saying that she was hearing things. She was having some other symptoms that the MD diagnosed as intoxication. They were going to send her home. On questioning her I found that she was hearing what sounded like voices coming from her counter. What was opposite the counter? Her gas stove. I asked how long since the stove had been inspected. It had not since she'd moved in. How long ago? 20 years. I told the doc I thought that she had carbon monoxide poisoning. He said, "She'd have a headache. She doesn't have a headache." I went back and asked the woman if her head felt funny at all. She said that she had what felt like a tight band around her head. I went back to the doc and said, "She does have a headache." He questioned her, did a blood test for carbon monoxide. It was off the charts - so high that they sent the fire department to her house to shut off the gas because of the risk of explosion.
The woman thanked me, but later I heard that the MD had called to complain about me. Later that week they fired me for arriving late to the crisis assessment. I'd had to pick up my car from the shop (they knew this) before the assessment, and that made me about 15 minutes later than I had said I would be there.
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Yeah, I had graduate assistantships during my Master's which were explained the same way as "stipends"... they nowhere near cut the cost of living. I'm in a lot of debt. :P Not a crippling amount, especially for my level of education, but... a lot.
I don't have interest in teaching (at least not full-time) and have a lot of disillusionment around research, and around academia in general. A Ph.D. wouldn't really add much to the range of things I'm able to do AND actually WANT to do.... other than make more money. (Seeing how much my insurance company would dish out for 10 billed hours of neuropsych testing was the best advertisement I've yet seen for getting a Ph.D., lol.) But if I reach the point where if I'm doing more education to make more money, I'd rather try for something like tech than keep doing this same career track.
I thought you had a PhD ::) You certainly carry yourself as well as one. PhDs are expensive unless you are a minority group member - they don't count women as minority anymore since the field is filled with them.
I'm unmarketable because the PhD is kind of worthless without a license and you have to get people to supervise you for it. I've failed at that at least twice due to my lack of social skills. Teaching is a lot easier since it's online and I offend less that way.
My cousin got her MSW first and then the PhD in psychology - she is some kind of director of a homeless mental health place in Boston. She did it that way because the income from the MSW allowed her to afford the PhD program.
TY for that- and I was mostly giving you shit; not really offended. Even if your attitude was snobbily in favor of "more education means you're a better, smarter person," that's not something I agree with and not a standard I therefore feel the need to hold myself to, if that makes sense. I hit an economic barrier that may have held me back from my "true academic potential," but I still got my Master's, and that's more than a lot of people are able to do. I'm blessed I was able to get as far as I did.
I've been in situations where I realized I had a better grasp of clients and what to do with them than their psychiatrists or the physiologists who tested them. Education in this field really doesn't apply very well to practice IMO; experience matters more. And neither can compensate for an outright lack of common sense (or just plain being an asshole, which is also a problem I've seen people with higher education and higher pay than me have problems with).
Dang. The shit went right over my head. Dang aspergers.
I am of the opinion that to get a PhD all that's needed in terms of intelligence is a high school diploma. The PhD means nothing in terms of intelligence. The best education I got in psychology was working at the crisis service in Springfield. There's not really any way that I could prove I'm not an education snob. But that was the point I was making about the doctor. He failed his residency yet was trying to convince me that having the terminal certificate meant something.
The same sort of thing happened to me at the crisis service - we had something we called "doctoring" them. If someone was being snobbish or downright stupid, they would put me on the phone and I would say "This is doctor ..." It was a lot of fun. The insurance companies look for the doctor too, which to me was weird given that many of the other folks I worked with had far more experience than me.
The psychologists were the worst - entitled and stupid. They didn't expect to encounter another psychologist because all crisis workers are MAs.
"This is doctor so and so and I want my client put in the hospital"
"Well, this is doctor .... and your client has to have a crisis evaluation after which we will see what happens." They shut up when they realize they're talking to another PhD.
I got in a lot of trouble for not respecting the hierarchy. In fact, I got fired for that back in 2006. But I don't mind because I saved a life, and now that I am gone from there it's the best thing that could have happened to me.
The last straw for them was an MD complaining that I had nixed his diagnosis of substance abuse/DTs for a woman who said that she was maintaining her sobriety. She came in saying that she was hearing things. She was having some other symptoms that the MD diagnosed as intoxication. They were going to send her home. On questioning her I found that she was hearing what sounded like voices coming from her counter. What was opposite the counter? Her gas stove. I asked how long since the stove had been inspected. It had not since she'd moved in. How long ago? 20 years. I told the doc I thought that she had carbon monoxide poisoning. He said, "She'd have a headache. She doesn't have a headache." I went back and asked the woman if her head felt funny at all. She said that she had what felt like a tight band around her head. I went back to the doc and said, "She does have a headache." He questioned her, did a blood test for carbon monoxide. It was off the charts - so high that they sent the fire department to her house to shut off the gas because of the risk of explosion.
The woman thanked me, but later I heard that the MD had called to complain about me. Later that week they fired me for arriving late to the crisis assessment. I'd had to pick up my car from the shop (they knew this) before the assessment, and that made me about 15 minutes later than I had said I would be there.
...didn't they test her BAC? Don't they drug test basically *everyone* in the ER, anyway?
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They did test her - but when she came up zero they said that it was DTs or that she was withdrawing.
It's a good example of flawed hypothesis testing - they had a hypothesis but only wanted to confirm it so they were only looking for evidence in that direction.
The fatal flaw of my life is that I always ask the question "What if?" which in all my crisis cases was, "What if the client is telling the truth?"
I've been that way since childhood and reading Oliver Sacks (who in person looks totally autistic) convinced me that I should always hear the other person's truth no matter how bizarre. It gave me some great adventures, many of which happened in downtown Northampton.
I had another client who was psychotic and the staff on the psych unit knew her as a substance abuser - they wouldn't even come down to look at her but somehow I convinced them. She was going on about how she had to leave, she had to get to the library because she was about to have a baby, and it was an emergency, she couldn't have it in the hospital, it had to be the library. They took one look at her labs (not a thing in her system) and admitted her.
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They did test her - but when she came up zero they said that it was DTs or that she was withdrawing.
It's a good example of flawed hypothesis testing - they had a hypothesis but only wanted to confirm it so they were only looking for evidence in that direction.
The fatal flaw of my life is that I always ask the question "What if?" which in all my crisis cases was, "What if the client is telling the truth?"
I've been that way since childhood and reading Oliver Sacks (who in person looks totally autistic) convinced me that I should always hear the other person's truth no matter how bizarre. It gave me some great adventures, many of which happened in downtown Northampton.
I had another client who was psychotic and the staff on the psych unit knew her as a substance abuser - they wouldn't even come down to look at her but somehow I convinced them. She was going on about how she had to leave, she had to get to the library because she was about to have a baby, and it was an emergency, she couldn't have it in the hospital, it had to be the library. They took one look at her labs (not a thing in her system) and admitted her.
One of the best questions there is.
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I guess the best thing to do is laugh.
Sent an email to their corporate office and a day later (one day before their self imposed deadline of "less than a week") I get an email from some kind of assistant manager who tells me that he got the bike from another store (what would they have told me this time since they never ordered the bike??) but that it was ready to be picked up and for my trouble they are giving me a $35 gift card.
So today I pick it up and they aren't sure that I am me (sigh). The gift card turns out to be a note written by the manager in French that says it's only good at their store for $25, not $35. It's written and signed by another manager.
By the time I got home there was an ominous clacking noise from one side of the bike - it's either the pedal or the crank. It might be under warranty, but nonetheless I will do the repair myself. The last thing I want to do is leave my bike there.
It's one more thing off the list.
We still have to find a primary care doc, a dentist and do the immigration stuff.
And trap the very bold mouse that's behind my bookcase again.
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Priority mail in Canada means that it gets from the US to the Canadian border in two days and another four days to a week to arrive here.
In related news, apparently if you buy something from Amazon Canada, you might get a mysterious looking package in the mail that's been relabeled several times and looks like it might contain a bomb. Inside, the invoice says nothing about Amazon, just has the seller's address.
Not to mention that they have me under two email addys (I only gave them one) such that my purchase shows up if I click "track package" but not if I click on "my orders," which defaults to the original address I gave them.
It's no wonder the Canadian dollar is worth so little - 75 cents against the US dollar.
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Priority mail in Canada means that it gets from the US to the Canadian border in two days and another four days to a week to arrive here.
In related news, apparently if you buy something from Amazon Canada, you might get a mysterious looking package in the mail that's been relabeled several times and looks like it might contain a bomb. Inside, the invoice says nothing about Amazon, just has the seller's address.
Not to mention that they have me under two email addys (I only gave them one) such that my purchase shows up if I click "track package" but not if I click on "my orders," which defaults to the original address I gave them.
It's no wonder the Canadian dollar is worth so little - 75 cents against the US dollar.
Is that really the going rate atm? If so, our next trip to Alberta is going to be very soon!!!!!!
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That's the online rate; it's down from this morning's high of 1.31777. 1.311103 right now. The currency exchange at the bank is giving $1.28 CDN and selling at $1.34 for USD. I'm hoping it will hold up until later this month when I can deposit a big check in US funds.
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So when my work permit was declined on the basis of us not having submitted a permanent resident application, Py's job ordered up a lawyer to help. About 3 weeks ago she sent an inquiry to them which probably went something like this:
Lawyer: these folks sent in a permanent resident application and sent you proof of same. Could you explain why that was used as a basis for denial? I'm sure this is an error that is easily remedied.
And this probably is what happened over at the office, which is in a different part of the country than the immigration/permanent resident office and probably never called them or heard from them:
Supervisor to clerk: Hey, can you check this application that you denied on March 21? There's a lawyer saying we made a mistake and I want to be sure of it before I send her any materials.
Clerk: Oh, crap! We forgot to issue them a refund! (see below for another possibility)
Supervisor: No worries, just process the refund and send them a back dated letter - they'll think the original got lost in their spam or something.
Clerk (thinking): O.K., back date the letter, that means it has to be before the 21st, guess I'll make it - not March 7, they'll be suspicious of that. I'll make it March 8!
So we get a letter saying that a refund has been requested and will be sent to the person who paid the application fee.
Py did not receive anything, nor did I, at any time in the past couple of months.
I misread the letter and suffered an hour of stress until Py looked at the date.
So now they have compounded the error. I am hoping that the other possible reason for back dating the letter is the actual truth: that they called over to the other office, where the clerk said, "Oh, yeah, we opened it but we haven't processed it yet. It has a date stamp of March 9th"
Clerk to supervisor: Oh crap, we should have checked!
Supervisor: No worries. Just find some correspondence we could have sent them and date it March 8th. That way we can be telling the truth when we said there was no application.
Clerk: Hm, what can I send them - oh, I know! The refund letter - they will think that they heard from us and asked for a refund!
If the immigration office told the work permit office that the application was in queue for the "we are processing your application" letter, they may also be hoping that we will get it and drop the whole thing, since one of the reasons for getting the work permit is to get the national health insurance. They don't realize I want both. If they process a refund, we will have to start from square one and that would give immigration 4 months to send us the "we are processing your application" letter.
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Did they say they were sorry? :zoinks:
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Of course not. :sheep: