Weekly Report

Weekly Report: June 24th - June 30th 2024

Good Morning Magpie

30 Jun 2024 — 3 min read

The Week in Summary:

Since school programs ended last week, work was certainly different this week. On Monday, we had a staff celebration of all our hard work over the past year. For most of the working week, I was helping with cleaning up and starting some educational programming tasks. On Friday, I had my my first work-from-home day ever and it honestly went better than I expected for getting stuff done, though I disliked not having folks to collaborate with.
Despite the fact that neither Taylor or I watch hockey, we went to support the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup final on Monday night. It's been a long time since an Albertan team was in the finals (last century) and the Oilers have definitely clawed their way back from the first three games they lost. We went down to the Watchman's Pub with our friend to watch and cheer them on, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Florida sucks.
With all repairs on the water feeder main being completed, it is possible that the water crisis is nearing its end soon. That being said, folks need to be careful not to get prematurely excited. We need to maintain water conservation efforts until everything is operational again.
On Saturday, Taylor and I took those e-scooters along the Bow River Pathway (which was new for them) to Inglewood to meet up with our friends. We went down to Pearce Estate Park to spend the afternoon at Harvie Passage. Afterwards we went to Vegan Street for dinner, then went home to chat and relax for the night.
On Sunday, I hung out at home read a few chapters of a book and listened to some music. Very quiet, just how I like my Sundays.
Despite the fact that Elden Ring released their new expansion last week, I've been playing a lot of Victoria 3 this week. Recently Paradox Interactive released the Sphere of Influence and it has completely overhauled diplomacy. I played a Brazil campaign that I was really proud of, until it all fell apart. I had worked to pace major liberal reforms throughout the 19th century and expanded my influence across the Western Hemisphere (challenging the United States often), but between 1900-1911, the nation fell into waves of revolutionary activity and civil war with technocrats and socialists fighting for political power (my economy never recovered).

Recommendations:

Smaller, Diverse, United: Greens after the European Elections by Filipe Henriques (Article): A summary of the recent European Parliament election and what it means for European Greens going into the next term.
Rat Saw God by Wednesday (Album): This is some fantastic noisy indie rock with a bit of shoegaze thrown in some tracks. I really like how much this album creates a sense of space for where the band grew up in rural North Carolina. Throughout the album, you can feel the dirt and decay, but still, this is their home. That's how I feel about Grande Prairie. And I'm sure that's how John K. Samson feels when he sings about Winnipeg. Personal highlights from the album include songs like: Bath Country, Quarry, Bull Believer, and Chosen to Deserve.