Shopping for Sorrels in Southwestern Ontario

As many of you know, I started working for a federal Member of Parliament last December. Following this week's vote of non-confidence and subsequent disolution of Parliament, I have been in Kitchener, Ontario, preparing for the campaign. My boss and candidate, Karen Redman, is the Liberal Government Whip, and has been the MP for Kitchener Centre since 1997. She is a great representative, tireless worker, and one of the most honest people I know. For those of you who watched Jon Stewart on Tuesday night (November 30), she was the lady in red, standing behind the Prime Minister in the pictures used to introduce the Daily Show's Canadian confidence segment.

In spite of the expectation of a long (56 days), cold (first winter campaign in my lifetime), and negative campaign, I'm very much looking forward to the experience of being on the front lines of a federal election campaign. It is the stuff that political science graduates and federalist geeks dream of, and I can't wait to get this fight off the ground! Sad though I am to be missing out on holiday parties in Ottawa, this is exactly where I need to be.

So now to the purpose of this little note - while I may have been somehow jumpy and distracted for oh, the past month, I'm now MIA, and basically out of commission until January 23.

For those of you in Calgary, I'll still be coming home for my planned Christmas trip - December 23 until January 2, so count on a holiday invitation or two to the ship... For anyone in and around Waterloo region - visits, restaurant recommendations, and the occasional care package of earmuffs and warm socks are most welcome!