Confessions of a slob

This just in: messy people are more creative and successful than their neat-freak counterparts. Finally, a reason to feel good about my less-than-stellar housekeeping habits: successful creativity is at my fingertips. Would you believe there's a coffee table in that picture?

Today's Province reports on a study conducted by Cleveland-based PsyMax Solutions that analyzed the work styles of hundreds of top-level exectives. The study showed that those execs who were less organized were also more creative, and more likely to earn higher salaries than their tidy co-workers. In addition to creativity and innovation, sloppy CEOs also socred higher in risk-taking.

My apartment is still suffering some of the effects of the insane amount of work I was doing in the past month, all leading up to the Portfolio Show and graduation. I build little stacks of papers and textbooks and such when I'm working, and despite my best intentions, those little stacks always seem to get out of control. They merge and form rivers, then lakes, and before I know it, I am living in a virtual sea of paper. One one side of my apartment, at any rate. On the other side, mountains of clothes rise out of the sea as it gets close to laundry day. I live in a studio, so bed-area and living-area flow into each other too easily.

The various storm systems that sweep through here only add to the chaos: every assignment received is a force unto itself, and while it may necessetate the re-ordering of the paper sea back into stacks, it simply adds to the sea when those stacks inevitably flood the floor again. On top of regular hurricane Kat, there was a long feature flurry, a hail storm of communications plans, and a hurricane Portfolio, to name a few.

But those are past now, and even hurricane Kat is resigned to restoring order. So now, the recycling and the laundry are done, and the flood papers are slowly receding. One of my problems now is my file cabinet, which is really about as full as it can get. But that can be dealt with. Anyone up for a bonfire?

my online home, and suicide seeds will be the death of somebody... or something...

Well, I've finally put up my website. I should have done it at least a week ago, becuase I've received a number of hits since the online portfolio show (see previous message) hit the net and all my visitors had to greet them was a "coming soon" template. Ah, well. It's up, now, and you can visit me online at www.katcode.ca.

Now about those suicide seeds. Genetically modified seeds that produce sterile offspring. A ploy to get farmers to buy brand new seeds every year, instead of using what they can produce themselves. A threat to sustainable agriculture, these seeds drive up production costs and make the whole industry even less profitable, except for the people who stand to make millions selling these seeds while farmers go belly-up.

These seeds are banned in India and Brazil, two countries with a huge reliance on agriculture. Australia and New Zealand are backing calls for testing the seeds, and now Ottawa is jumping on that bandwagon after previously working with other UN countriesto impose a moratorium on the use of the seeds. Ahh, flip-floppin' politics. Oh, and did I mention that the U.S. government is a co-owner of this terminator technology?

Another chapter comes to a close

Yesterday my Print Futures: Professional Writing class celebrated our Portfolio Show. A celebration of all the hard work we have done over the past two years, the show gives us grads the opportunity to showcase our skills and accomplishments to friends and family, as well as prosepective employers. And so yet another chapter of my life comes to a close, and now I'm looking forward to moving to Victoria to complete a B.A. in Applied Communications at Royal Roads. Twelve more months to go, starting in January, and then my career as a student will be over.

Print Futures was fun, albeit a lot of hard work. I learned a lot, and gained confidence in strenghts I either never knew I had or wasn't sure about, such as document design and substantive editing. I had the pleasure of making friendships I hope will last for many years to come, and seeing my new-found friends grow and develop their talents, as well. The past two years have been a wonderful part of my journey, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter. But thank god for the three-month break, 'cause lord knows I need it.

Locked Lips

Here's a hot topic that I've ignored for far too long. Something that calls into question the democratic process. I'm writing, of course, about Kingsway Burnaby's MP David Emerson and the little walk he took across the floor two weeks after the federal election.


Kingsway Burnaby voted for a Liberal Emerson (pictured at left), but Emerson joined the ranks of Conservatives so that he could accept an appointment as the minister of international trade. In the outcry that followed, he has simply maintained that he did what he thought was best for his riding. In the wake of demonstrations that took place outside his Kingsway office over the last couple days, he is now saying that he believes more people in his riding support his move that are protesting it.

Not once has he addressed what his transition means to the people who voted for him with those people. Not once has he addressed the issues of trust, ethics, and morality that his jumping of ship has brought to the table. It's all just what he "believes."

As for Prime Minister Harper (bottom right), who asked him to switch parties and then handed him a ministry to minister... Last year, when former Conservative MP Belinda Stronach crossed the floor to become a Liberal cabinet minister, Harper was quoted as saying:

"We don't go out of our way to romance MPs to get them to cross the floor. Liberals will do anything to win.

"We are trying to create a principled party where people act in a principled way, and obviously we're fairly cautious about encouraging party jumping, because that's the kind of thing that generates cynicism.

"And frankly, when someone jumps, once you're not sure you can trust them the next time, so I would always handle that with an extraordinary degree of caution."

It's all a little bit too Animal Farm for my tastes.