Todd's Old Blog

Tag: essay

  • Escape Depression Without Meds

    My evidence is anecdotal, but some anecdotal evidence is more sound than others.  You be the judge. I’m a licensed social worker, mental health specialist, and a depression survivor. My experience in the profession has taught me to both appreciate and loathe drugs. If you’re experiencing depression, or know someone who is, understand that meds…

  • The Bargain Basement Home Gym

    The plan is this: No health club membership. Other than free-pass visits to friends’ gyms or 1-week promotional specials, you will work at home. Why? Pick a reason. You don’t want to spend entirely too much money each month paying to access a dirty, poorly-maintained club where the profits go straight into building more locations…

  • Dr. Govlove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blog

    (or even: Why you should join Twitter or start a blog immediately) Note: This post contains GCPEDIA links only accessible within the Government of Canada network. Not long ago, I made the acquaintance of a young, energized public servant.  I was impressed by their1 enthusiasm, imagination, expression and boundless drive to create.  I encouraged this…

  • Goodbye Facebook

    So, it’s a month to the day since I posted my most recent tirade against Facebook, but this time I’m writing to report that I finally kicked Mark Zuckerberg’s travesty to the curb.  Granted, there wasn’t much left there to delete… And that was the aspect that made it more difficult, actually. I didn’t have much…

  • I can be led, so lead me.

    I’ve lost count of the number of times over the last decade that I’ve watched presentations that make reference to the generational differences in workplace motivation between the Baby Boomers and the younger generations of X (~1961 to ~1981) and Y (~1982 to ~1999). For the most part, they all tend to focus on the…

  • On Parental Leave

    When my wife became pregnant with our third child, I’d just ‘officially’ graduated with my Master’s degree and was working on casual contract for the Government of Canada.  A few months later, I became a permanent (‘indeterminate’) and among the benefits I was eligible to receive was Parental Leave Without Pay.  Admittedly, this sounds like…

  • On My Transformation from Social Worker to Public Servant

    I read somewhere that the (median) average age of entry into the Canadian federal public service is 34 years old.  That fits me reasonably well; this is my second career.  For my first 10 years of “professional” employment I was a social worker, and my speciality was child and adolescent mental health.  It was the…

  • Embracing Serendipity

    I came to work for the Government by accident, or so it would seem. Failure to earn a livable wage as a social worker with a growing family was what drove me from full-time employment and part-time Master’s courses (whenever I could balance them), and into full-time education and voluntary unemployment.  Leaving employment had obvious repercussions,…