Cam I Am

Today, I had my final appeal hearing with the Worker’s Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT). This all stems from me re-injuring my back in July 2007.

To make a very long story short, I hurt myself at work, but failed to report it to anyone for 6 weeks.. Once I did, there was obvious doubt from my employer and WorksafeBC about the validity of my claim. After they denied my claim, it submitted it to the Review Division. Naturally, they upheld the decision, and at this time, Shaw (my employer!) agreed with their decision. After this, I submitted the claim to WCAT, which is part of WorksafeBC, but not.

Yesterday’s hearing went as well as expected. I managed to clarify some points that I think had been missed/overlooked up to this point and I feel as if someone (who can correct things) has listened to me.. I know that the chances of a decision ultimately going in my favour are slim, but I think that they have all the facts that I needed them to know.

So, now I wait. The latest I should recieve an answer is January 19, 2009, but I think I’ll have an answer before then.

Overall, I’m glad that this chapter of my life is over. The last 3 1/2 years have not been easy, but I have my health, my family, and I’m able to do all the things that I want too..

It’s all good…

After several years of going to this building, I’ve finally decided to take a picture of something that has always confused me about the parking situation. As you will see below, I parked in what is clearly marked as “Visitors Parking”. The confusing part is the sign that is posted there.

Umm.. what?   No Parking In This Area?   How can this be called Visitors Parking if I can’t park there? 

A couple of months ago, I got a Garmin Nuvi 250 GPS unit.  A number of friends and co-workers have this units and rave about them, so I was excited when I got mine.

So far, it’s worked great.  When I was working in an area that I was not very familiar with, it showed me all sorts of routes that I never would have thought of, even when looking at a map. 

Now, there are a couple drawbacks to having the GPS unit.  First, I’ve discovered that the maps aren’t always accurate.  For example, streets have been created in reality, that are not reflected in the maps of the unit.  This is easy to get around.   The other issue is spelling of some street names..

Now, Garmin does warn about this.  In fact, here is exactly  what they say..

One of the goals of Garmin is to provide customers with the most complete and accurate cartography that is available to us at a reasonable cost.  We use a combination of governmental and private data sources, which we identify in product literature and copyright messages displayed to the consumer.  Virtually all data sources contain some inaccurate or incomplete data.  In some countries, complete and accurate map information is either not available or is prohibitively expensive.

I can understand and respect that.  While in Vancouver, it seems to be very accurate, aside from newer streets missing, the spelling of the street names is fine.   While I was in Abbotsford (an area with less population), it was fairly good.  Some streets were misspelled, but overall it was good..

This weekend, my family and I drove up to Penticton for Thanksgiving.  We were heading up Highway 3, when I looked at the Garmin and noticed the next street that we would intersect, a few kilometers ahead. 

I couldn’t believe what I was reading..  I asked my wife to look, and she burst out laughing.  How had we missed this street, in all the years of us driving up and down the highway?

What?!?!?  Asshole River Rd? 

It turns out that the actual street name is Ashnola River Road.   It did provide us with plenty of entertainment for the weekend, with my wife and I occasionally calling each other an ashnola…