Adrien Michaud | |
| Things I do to enjoy life: |
| My enjoyment of life have been due to AMATEUR RADIO and METROLOGY and PHOTOGRAPHY. I'm from French Acadian and Micmac Heritage. Born in New Brunswick in 1942. I completed my schooling in Victoria County, NB. Starting with Carlingford Elementary, then Andover (Southern Victoria Regional High School), and finished in Plaster Rock (Tobique Valley Regional High School). I then joined the RCAF and ended in a trade called Armament System Technician. When I got out, I went to Canadian Westinghouse in Hamilton ON for 10 month doing everything ( wireman, inspector, tester and repairman). I then moved to Canadian Marconi as a avonics technician and a year later moved into the calibration of test equipment. In 1974, after a 6 week stint looking after the TACAN site in Sept Isle, moved into the Electrical Standards Laboratory and since 1980 have been the Chief Metrologist. Metrology is the science of measurement. |
| In school, I was interested in tract & field, drama, Air Cadets, sciences, electronics, photography. I lived either 4 (Andover) or 8 (Plaster Rock) miles from school and in often meant walking home from school if I wanted to do any after school activities, so I started to run home - this was also brought on by the rude remarks by other students about my physical shape. My coordination was never good ever since my having Infant Paralysis when I was 4. These combined things started me running and weight training. By 14, I was the fastest in my class on the longer runs of 440 feet or more and the only student who could press the 165 pounds of the weight set we had in school. In 1960 I participated in provincial tract & field completion and ran a 5 minute mile (good for 3rd place) and shotput were I also placed 3rd) |
| By 14, I was in the Air Cadets at school (594 Tobique Valley Squadron). The following year I got involved with photography in Air Cadets and quickly moved into the role of school & squadron photographer. I had a bunch of my photos published by the Telegraph Journal of Saint John and a few in the local paper from Grand Falls. |
| I participated in drama club for 4 years, acting in only The Winslow Boy as the old man. I liked the technical part of drama in the use of lights and sound effects. I played records for school dances, projected movies (certified projectionist). I also projected movies at the militia, were I trained for two years while at high school (pocket money). The rifle shooting in the Royal NB Regiment (Militia) helped me place 1st at Air Cadet competition. With the Air Cadets, I attended a Junior NCO camp in Greenwood NS. (My first multi-engine airplane ride - Northstar.) I was also head of the Student Police at high school. I was in the Science Club, were we got involved with trying to launch a rocket using saltpeter and sugar as fuel but had an accident in that the fuel ignited when pouring it into the rocket. It shinged the hair off my eyebrow and the front of my forehead. |
| In the RCAF, I spent too much of my money on photography and electronics. I didn't go for the 'car' like most, but went for a few cameras - Yashica 44, Minolta Autocord, Mimayaflex C2, and stereo components like amplifier, tape recorder, turntable, speakers (making my own enclosure) and lots of LP's & film (mostly 2 1/4" slides). Access to my family photos and vacation photos In the RCAF, I started going to church (Roman Catholic) that I still do to this day, well almost every Sunday. I help out at the church when I can. I also support the church activities as much as possible. |
| In 1967, I started talking to Joyce Collins (The Love Of My Life), a lady who lived in the same apartment building, and in January 1970, we got married and still are together. We come from two very different cultures (City-Jamaica-high standing in the community-Black (not really) VS country-New Brunswick- no standing in the community-White (not really)) but we enjoy a lot of the same things (music, ambitions, way of living, and the most important love). In 1975, our daughter Anne came into our life and so many things changed. |
| When Anne started school, I started on the school committee and within a few months started attending "Comité de Parents" meetings until Anne got to final year in high school. I also for years represented the Ste. Croix School Board (CSSC) at the Fedération de Comité de Parents de L'Ile de Montréal (FCPIM) and represented the English schools at the FCPPQ Fedération de Comités de Parents de la Province de Québec and became directeur aux affaires anglophones of FCPPQ. I also represented the CSSC at the Education Services of the English Speaking Catholic Schools. |
| After leaving the ranks of the school committee, I joined up with the Canadair Air Cadets as a director for 588 Canadair Air Cadet Squadron. The following year as Vice-President for 588 and then since then, the photographer and public relations director for both squadrons (Now 588 Eric Simms Squadron and Escadron 621 St Laurent)- a role I'm still doing. |
| In September 2002 I retired from CMC Electronics, went to my church and asked the priest, Fr. Russell Schultz if he had anything that I could help out with - his reply was to show me what had to be done with the church registers.
A month later when I was finished that he told me that the Holy Face Association was in need of some help to maintain their web site.
So I went and talked to Gordon Deery - couple of doors done the hall from Fr. Schultz in the rectory.
Gordon explained that the fellow who had been doing the site had moved away and was unable to maintain the site. So a couple of days latter I got an email from Enrico giving me access to the web site.
The site had perl shopping cart at nearly the maximum items it could handle. The orders from MAC computer failed and orders were routinely loss.
The french side version was on another server and didn't have a shopping cart but forwarded the customer to the english site.
First I got all the info from the sites - I didn't have access to the french site, so I copied and printed out those pages I could.
Then I got Gordon to move the site to a shared web-hosting with a shopping cart on the same Interland servers.
I then put all the pages on that server, learnt how to put all the items into a Miva shopping cart, complete with images of most of the items.
By April of 2003 most was done. Since then it is just a matter of updating and adding more material were in 2007 we now have 144 items in the cart.
The french pages have edited and corrected with a total of 46 pages and the english has 68 pages.
Not all is apparent to web browsers as many pages are meant for entry point from previously stored pages as well as the current directories in English and French.
In 2009 Enrico took over the site again and it has moved to a new server and an unsecure shopping cart. |
| In 2002 I was elected as a church warden at Our Lady of Fatima and with the change of priest to Father Ron Calhoun - the wardens ask me to over see the refurnbishing the circulating pumps and change of the control system. When Fr. Brian Moon came along we cleaned and painted the rectory quarters for Fr. Moon and followed that fixing quarters for Fr. Ward followed with doing the dining and office & hallway with volunteers. They were Wendell Leitner, Vince Dupuis, Ed Goodfellow, Conrad Pineada and a few others that sometimes helped. We got a firm to repair the church windows, doors, and paint them. Another firm replaced the heating in the parking door entrance. Had the stone exterior fixed and things like under the choir loft that was falling apart repaired, the ladies washroom cleaned and refinished with new sink. |