Daily Bulletin

It's Water Under the Bridge

I admit to having had something to do with the book; as it's stated on the cover, Simon's narrative is "as told to" me. And it took some editing, as I explain in the Introduction:

From the index Air quality 70, 106 Airport, for president 115 Albert Street 4, 13, 20, 23, 98 Albertasaurus 122 All-nighter 44 Alumni 74, 112, 135, 139, 143, 151, 164 Alzheimer research 162 American professors 65, 78 Anarchist Party 109 Anatomy school 94 Annex I and II 25, 53, 57 Anniversary, 25th 116, 120 Anthes, Ray 39 Anti-Imperialist Alliance 88, 90, 96

"Occasionally I had a little doubt about some of Simon's memories, and spent many hours consulting the archives and other resources through 1997 and early 1998 to verify what he was telling me. (The series appeared in the Gazette weekly, with a few gaps, through March 1998, and has been collected in this volume with only modest editing.) . . .

"I was often amazed at the variety and completeness of Simon's reminiscences as he whispered, grumbled and ranted away. My own direct experience of Waterloo began in 1972, save for a few weeks in the muddy summer of 1970, and so I was unable to compare the Troll's memories of the university's first fifteen years with any of my own. For the subsequent decades, however, his recollections and mine were almost entirely consistent. More than once, I think, we must have walked the same hallway within seconds of one another, or sat in the same audience for a speech that seemed, at the time, to be of some importance."

The book takes UW's history from "roots and tributaries" -- St. Jerome's College (1864), Waterloo College (1911) and the College of Optometry (1925) -- through UW's founding in 1957 and the developments of the decades that followed. Simon winds up his story-telling with 1993, the year James Downey became president. "The essentials are clear," says Simon in an early chapter. "Bulls gave way to bulldozers, and the next thing you know, the biggest product of the place is bull of a whole new kind." He's not a troll to mince words.

Water Under the Bridge is published by UW through the publications office in information and public affairs.

Now that's a big web site

David Yach, vice-president and chief architect of Sybase Inc., will discuss the various systems that were needed, including the design process involved in creating a high-performance Web site for the world's most popular sporting event. His talk begins at 2:30 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1302. Admission is free, but pre-registering to reserve a seat is recommended (call ext. 5611).

In September, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized the official Web site of the France 98 World Cup as the new record holder in four Internet categories: the most visited site during a specific block of time, site registering the most hits in one day (73 million on June 30, 1998), site registering the most hits in one hour and site registering the most hits in one minute.

Sybase software powered the entire France 98 operation, including the Web site, providing up-to-the-minute scores and tournament news to more than one billion fans in about 170 countries throughout the month-long tournament. Headquartered in California, Sybase is one of the 10 largest global independent software companies. The company supports extensive research and development activities at Sybase Waterloo, a global leader in software development and a major Canadian exporter of software. Sybase Waterloo is the former Watcom International Corp., a UW spin-off company. The Waterloo office employs 240 people, with 95 per cent of its research and development team made up of UW graduates.

Based in Sybase's Waterloo office, Yach started as a software developer for Watcom, becoming vice-president of operations before the company was acquired by Sybase. He holds a BMath in computer science from UW and a MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

End of extra pension contributions

Effective January, 1999, it will no longer be possible to make Additional Voluntary Contributions to the UW Pension Plan under Section 4.03 of the Plan text. Only a few Plan members have been making use of these AVCs, which are limited to $1,000 per year, and have to be accommodated within the contributor's RRSP room.

The discontinuation of the AVCs was recommended by the Pension and Benefits Committee and approved by the Board of Governors Executive Committee on November 18, 1998. There will be no change in the treatment of AVCs made prior to January 1, 1999.

Members of the UW Pension Plan will still be able to make additional tax-deductible pension contributions under the recently approved Flexible Pension Plan amendment. These contributions do not affect RRSP room. Flex contributions for 1998 must be submitted to Human Resources by December 1, 1998.

So here we are in December

Another place to shop, today only, will be the "first annual" Christmas craft and bake sale held by the UW Apartments Community Life Association. Tables will be set up today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the common areas at 159 University Avenue (remember, the UW Apartments are the complex formerly known as Married Students). "Come and browse through the handicrafts our tenants are offering for sale," writes Debbie English, one of the organizers of the association, which was founded last spring. "A portion of all sales will be donated to the Community Life Association."

Two showings remain in the Films for Awareness series at Conrad Grebel College. Today at 12 noon it's "Food Without Fear", a 20-minute film about "the vegetarian society". Thursday at noon, it's "After the Montreal Massacre". Both films will be shown in Grebel room 267.

People who helped run the successful United Way campaign on campus this fall have been invited to a "Wrap Up Party" at 12 noon in the Davis Centre library conference room.

This note from the Student Ambassador Association: "Final Exam Survival Kits will be available for distribution from Tuesday, December 1, to Thursday, December 3, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Student Life Centre multipurpose room. This campaign is sponsored annually by the UW Student Ambassador Association and Zehrs Markets. Students can find out if they're on the recipient list by checking the November 27 Imprint."

And . . . my thanks to the folks in the Mature Student Services office for a few kind words about this Daily Bulletin in their December newsletter, along with this information:

If you wish to search the Daily Bulletin for a particular news item, a new electronic search engine will do it for you. At the top of each page, look for the link to the search form and type in the appropriate word or phrase for a list of Daily Bulletins which contain the reference. How many times has Mature Student Services been mentioned in 1998? Ten times altogether, and so what if most of the references were about eating. Perhaps if someone correctly guesses the combined pre-Christmas weight of the Mature Student Services staff, we'll extend our references to eleven before the year is out!

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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