It’s been almost 9 months since my internship has worn thin. My mood started as boredom, transitioned to anger, rapidly towards bitterness, then exasperation, and a few months ago slowly settled on apathy, where it currently remains, fermenting. I received a favourable performance review, not because I’m an exceptional worker, but because I do exactly what I’m told, nothing more and nothing less. I’m organized. I challenge the status quo every so often. I can’t help it. I need to. Some of it has to come out, and maybe they respect me for it.

I’m tired of the ridiculous rationale behind departmental decisions. I’m tired of doing things for the “greater good” of the project when the decisions make absolutely no sense. It’s all a game. Here’s $2 million, go play for a year and a half and see what you come up with. There are no hard performance limitations or real concern for the end user. It just has to “look” good and follow company protocol. You’ll be happy to know that the knowledge accumulated will result in a flawed product, a list of tips added to the “Lessons Learned” library, and more jargon to stuff in the corporation’s private research database. Useless knowledge is best kept to one’s self, I suppose.

Being in an apathetic state, however, outwardly I just let it all slide. I mean, four months and it doesn’t matter anyway; the apathy will soon turn to elation as the end draws closer. I tend to be conflict-averse even at the worst of times. Sometimes I’ll get frustrated and drop a comment or two, but it usually goes over everyone’s head unnoticed.

As Matthew Good put it so eloquently: Don’t make nothing. Just go get paid.

Tomorrow marks the 365th day of my internship.

I’d like to take a 90-degree turn and start a fishing lodge, get into the lumber industry, or something like that. Use my CS degree as a conversation piece about accomplishing things just for the sake of testing personal limitations & tenacity, and not as a tool to get the one-up on everyone else.

The new 40HP Suzuki and controls are mounted on the Walleye Whacker. We’ve been waiting on some clips to secure the throttle and shifter cables to the connectors on the motor, but they’ve since arrived. By the end of this week, we’ll be hauling the Whacker down to the Promenade and testing her (boats have lives, stories and souls; and they are feminine) on Lake Ontario. And there’s two weeks until Victoria Day Weekend. Two weeks until the beginning of the end at Lake Nipissing.

The lodge owner had a divorce a couple years ago, and now his previous better half wants to collect. In other words, the lodge where we have spend so many years growing up has been sold. That’s right, this is the last year we’ll be in Cabin #9 on the shores of Lake Nipissing.

I believe I wrote a post last year after our annual Thanksgiving Muskie Hunt about sensing that the tradition was coming to an end. I’m almost glad that this is how it will cease, as opposed to its members no longer showing up, dropping one by one. At least now there is a legitimate excuse, and with it, reasons to not start a tradition somewhere new. It would read like a laundry list: It just wouldn’t be the same, it’s more expensive, it’s unfamiliar, we’ve simply grown wary of doing this kind of thing, etc.

I’ve yet to dig out my tackle box and electronics bag. I’ve a host of new gadgets to play with this year: My relatively new Canon Powershot G10 (whose exquisitely-detailed 14.6MP photos will be displayed on this website, I promise, albeit in reduced resolution since my website host has a cap on that), Garmin eTrex Legend HCx complete with nautical maps of all major water bodies of Ontario, a rockin’ pair of Bolle Anaconda marine polarized sunglasses that sharpens my distance vision better than anything and will be great on the water, my new boat stereo (which won’t get installed until a little later in the season), and of course, my 40HP Suzuki outboard.

Last year I sent my reels in to Aikman’s Rod & Reel Repair in Mississauga for a clean-up and lube job. I also sent in my beloved Fenwick walleye rod that had lost an eye, second-last one to the tip; looking forward to setting the hook on some post-spawn pike using that.

I haven’t made a decision on when I’ll be heading north; I’m thinking that I’ll do a half-day on the Friday, but that depends on who is coming and who can or can’t get time off. I’ve learned to not make any commitments of this sort until the day of, maybe the night before.

I’ve discovered a sweet WordPress app that’ll display pictures in the best, most convenient way possible. Yes, more convenient than navigating an obtuse directory structure with useless file names. Watch out for it in the coming days.