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I don’t know why, but this winter seems particularly, difficult.  Not only because of the snow and cold, but also the life events that have wrecked havoc on so many of our family and friends.

The Aliant layoff is over, and both Murray and I are thankfully unscathed.  Many of our friends, however, were not so lucky.  The company is now finding itself amidst this new economic landscape, and is drastically changing the way it does business.  There will be some “do more with less”, but also this time, we will be “doing less” in many cases.  As shareholders and employees, we are not yet sure what this will mean for us.  We are simply thankful that we have employment.

A dear friend of ours just passed away – Chloe Cameron.  She was a beautiful person inside and out, and leaves behind a saint of a husband, and three angelic children.  We miss you already Chloe.  If you are reading this, please take a moment to think about donating to end breast cancer.  Already, too many lives have been lost.

I will be glad when this winter is over.  It holds few fond memories for me.

Hi Family and friends.  As expected, winter arrived and although an unwelcome visitor, it makes its chilly presence known on a daily basis.  Temperatures in Mount Uniacke have been fluctuating wildly, from very cold (minus 30) to just above freezing, so as a result we have been enjoying snow storms, ice storms, rain; just about everything except sunshine.  I do believe that if this weather was experienced anywhere else in the world, it would be interpreted as a sign of the apocalypse!

As you may have heard, Aliant is in the middle of a difficult downsizing initiative, targeting 500 middle managers.  At this time, we do not know if we will be impacted, however we are hoping for the best – that both of us are unscathed at this time.  We are contingency planning however, just in case.

The kids are all doing well. Kathryn is in her 2^nd year at Acadia, and working hard to keep her President’s Scholarship.  She loves academia, and is enjoying university life to its fullest.  She works for one of the chemistry professors this year as a Teaching Assistant for spending money.

Jillian is still involved in volleyball, as you can probably tell from the local content portion of the web site – volleyball continues to monopolize our time throughout the year with school, club, and the indoor and beach provincial teams.  In March, I will be traveling to Switzerland and Italy with Jillian, and 30 of her closest friends from school :).

A good friend of mine retired from Aliant today.  For as long as I can remember, without fail, every Friday Tod would walk from desk to desk, offering Timbits to everyone in the office.  As we were reminiscing about his career, I asked him about this weekly habit of bringing Timbits to work.  Tod Shared the following:

“About 20 years ago, I got my own staff.  You may not know this, but I am naturally very shy and introverted, so spent most days alone in my office.  Finally, I decided I had to get up the courage to go talk to the group.  I bought a box of Timbits as a prop and it was a great ice breaker.  For some reason, with the box in front of me, I was no longer shy.  Instead, I had a conversation starter.  Each conversation eventually moved to what they were working on, if there were any issues, and how they were doing personally, so I at last, got to know the staff.

This plan worked so well, that the following week, I decided to do the same, and thus the tradition began.  Pretty soon, other employees saw me in the elevator and asked about the Timbits – they were a big hit.  Over the years, if I needed to see a decision maker or an executive, I had Timbits in hand… it opened many doors and started many conversations.  It also let me get to know people on a personal level.  With the Timbits, I could check in and make sure that they were OK – that they weren’t overworked and that everything was going well at home.  I was never nervous when I had my Timbits”.

Today, many, many people came out to wish Tod well.  Many of these people he met between a box of Timbits.  It was never about the Timbits though.  It was about the lasting friendships that were built.