Monday, December 26, 2005

Boxing Day

The joy of Boxing Day. Or maybe the most important aspect of today -- you made it through Christmas! Ah yes all that family dysfunction with unfufilled expectations, decision making at it finest and communication at its minimum. All of this along with major assumptions by all the players. It all adds up to the typical family Christmas we all wander through year after year. But wait there is some light at the end of the tunnel...only 364 days until the next episode. And you do have those New Year's resolutions to add even more guilt.

Here's hoping that everyone who did make it can at least point to a few good memories from this holiday season. We seem to always come away with enough memories to make Christmas that special and unique time in our lives.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

George A. MacDonald

MacDonald is a Scottish writer who inspired the likes of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and others. If there is one author that you should be acquainted with it is him. Gutenberg has a wonderful e-text collection.

His Diary of an Old Soul is a marvellous poem with an individual stanza for each day of the year. Here is the December 3rd entry.

This weariness of mine, may it not come
From something that doth need no setting right?
Shall fruit be blamed if it hang wearily
A day before it perfected drop plumb
To the sad earth from off its nursing tree?
Ripeness must always come with loss of might.
The weary evening fall before the resting night.

He speaks of thoughts we all have and paints them in a picture that expresses new meanings.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Sleeping in

Unbelievably I slept in until 10:30 am this morning. That never happens. Why? We went to see the recent Harry Potter movie last night but given the black theme of the movie I should have stayed awake all night. Maybe it was the Buffalo potato chips that induced the slumber.



Interesting site Rocketboom.

There is a Quicktime there interviewing people (in the Archives section) asking people about their preference between Internet Explorer and Firefox. And the winner is.....
There is a daily newscast which is new and fresh.



Started reading Moby Dick by Herman Mellville. The first page has this passage:

What do you see?--Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads;

The question is what does spiles mean? A Google search indicates that it is the metal spout used in collecting maple sugar for making maple syrup. But that doesn't seem to be the same thing that Melville is writing about. Interesting that Oxford doesn't publish a meaning that fits either. The wonder of our English language.

Moby Dick is an e-text that can be found at Project Gutenberg. By the way if you don't know about Project Gutenberg you should. There are a huge number of e-text books there. It has more writings of George A. MacDonald than any library I've encountered.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

It's that time of year

Yes boys and girls, Mr. Red Suit will soon be at a mall nearest you. I think my dear mother hauled us out to this guy once. There is probably some goofy looking shot of my brother and I somewhere in her bin of pictures. The best part of these pictures is when mothers bring them to work to show to their co-workers and the "isn't he/she/it cute" comments. I wonder if people take their pets up to get photographed, or better yet take some beloved object up and get a picture of the old guy with it. Can you image the picture -"Yes Larry this is a picture of your Dad's favourite lunch box and Santa, it was like a child to him." Let's get a picture of Mr. Martin or Mr. Harper with Santa. Santa will be able to tell us if they have been good this year. What we really want to know is if they will be good next year.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

'Tis the Season


Advent began on Sunday. Tomorrow is the first day of December. For me the Christmas Season begins. It would be very nice if the retailers kept all their Christmas decorations on hold until tomorrow instead of putting them up after Hallowe'en. The season would just appear! The credit union gets decorated on Friday morning with the staff putting everything up in the morning. The local nursery, Tanglebank, delivers a few dozen poinsettas and suddenly the place is Christmassy. (Is that a word?) And to top it all off this evening I managed to write two Christmas cards! Boy times are changing.

We are invited to attend the graduation ceremony of my cousin's son who is about to enter the police force. It should prove interesting. Don't know what to expect. The law and order types should feel very safe. The rest of us may feel guilty and a little paranoid. Shouldn't massive numbers of policemen-women make anyone feel paranoid?

Monday, November 28, 2005

Downtown


Today I was downtown at Birks picking up my old wedding ring. It had to be expanded by two sizes to get it back on my finger. They did an excellent job and it was pretty cheap. Nice place and nice people. So far they have the best Christmas tree I've seen this year.

So I am heading back to the car, which was parked on the street beside a non-expensive traffice meter. This young fellow shouts out "Sir do you have 25 cents or a dollar spare change? I need to catch a ferry and am $7 dollars short." What the heck, it is getting to be like Christmas and the guys looks like he could use some change. My hand comes out of my pocket with a few loonies and quarters. So I pick one of the loonies out and give it to him. He doesn't say thanks. He says "How about another one of those?" I am a little shocked --- How about another one of those? --- I told him "Not today" and got into the car. A little unerving to say the least.

So I stick the key in the car and am getting the faceplate for the CD player out of the glove box and putting the cell phone in the holder. Suddenly there's a car horn honking away. I look in the side mirror and somebody is blasting their horn wanting to get into the parking space. Now I am really upset. I pull out muttering to myself about the impatience and lack of civility of the downtown poplulace. It sure felt better when I was on the east side of the Georgia Viaduct.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Kill Bill's Browser


kill bills browser

Kill Bill's Browser - Switch to Firefox


And the games continue...

Not having used Explorer for well over a few years you wonder what all the fuss is about. Maybe the question that needs to be asked is why do people use Explorer. Any site that is so specific that it doesn't let you use anything but Explorer should be magnetized. It doesn't make sense with the underlying freedom of the web to let anything take that freedom away.




Thursday, November 10, 2005

Movies and Remembrance Day


I watched most of The Accidental Tourist tonight. It didn't meet the "very interesting" movie standard due to the number of times it made me fall asleep. It wasn't a bad movie, it just was the kind you wished maybe you should have done something else rather than watch this one. The plot of any movie can be weak but this one was just not understood. A movie should at least hold your interest. When you start wishing for commercials to move it along maybe it is time to take a walk.


Day off tomorrow due to Remembrance Day. Having not lived (or better yet not having any recollection) of a time in my life of war as a Canadian is sometimes difficult to fathom. Your view of war is pretty much what you have seen on a screen or read in a book. Those people that you have talked to over the years never really wanted to say much about it. It was too dark and not something to share. My father in law who was in the Danish underground never spoke of it openly. The one time I did hear something was with his brother in law speaking of the night the Allies had parachuted some supplies in a field and how they had just missed being caught by the Nazis. One fellow I worked with who was a bombadier for over 26 bombing missions said he still woke up at night in a sweat. Another who was in a tank throughout the war said that he was closer to that crew than any of his family. Those medals we see tomorrow on the chest of our vets probably represent more sentiments that we can imagine. War is hell and we should never forget that.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Sxip Identity

Had the pleasure of sitting through an excellent presentation by Dick Hardt today. It was about sxip identity. The whole concept is intriguing and puts some powerful elements into play that were seemingly "forgotten" when looking at the security aspect of other methods. First, the privacy issue is solved as the individual themselves allow the digital information to pass to those requesting it and secondly, which I think is the most important, it puts the individual into the picture as the ultimate controller and decision maker in every instance. This whole realm is really put back to the individual and that is really what gives it tremendous power as a unique idea. There is no place like home!

Thursday, October 27, 2005

The $55 million question

I was downtown today and saw a lot of people who didn't win the Loto 649. Everyone had that in common. Taking the public transit is always interesting. You can actually see so many people. When you are driving a vehicle you never get to see these people. Your eyes are always on the asphalt, which really has little in the way of changing. One young gentleman got on the bus with a skateboard and a North Face winter jacket. The jacket had fur trim. Neat looking garment but it looked expensive and given the temperature was only around 12 degrees he must have been cooking in the thing. The back of the buses are pretty well grafitied and sometimes the only place with a window open when the driver has got the heat cranked up to the level of the Sahara Desert. And sure enough after the required number of 5 stops someone comes on, sits right beside the window and proceeds to shut it. Well you had a gentle cool breeze for a few stops. Nothing like rolling down that car window though. And that maybe is the key to better public transit --- individual climate zones. The “one temperature fits all” really doesn’t work.

There and here

I was in Winnipeg last week at a meeting about stewardship. It was one of the most intense and interesting 3 days I have had in a long time. We stayed at a Catholic retreat beside the Assiniboine River and with the mild weather it was beautiful. All the leaves were off the trees but there was a gentle mild warm wind that made it pleasant. One day it rained.
How do you define stewardship? A ten letter word that can mean a hundred things to various people. There is a monentary connotation but the broader meaning tends to put an emphasis on a lifestyle, what we do with the resources and gifts that God has given us. Are we proper stewards of the time and of our abilities. It pushes the question about what is important in our lives and what is our purpose. Why are we here and what should we be doing. And those questions never are fully answered. They are always questions that need constant answering if we are true to ourselves.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Collaboration and cooperation

Nancy White has an excellent blog on "Challenging the myths of distributed collaboration". She points to a critical issue --- that these efforts need to be based on a cooperative value set. There is the key challenge. Can collaboration be cooperative without that common value set? Or what value set do individuals have with any work that they collaborate on? There seems to be small groups that propose the end result of their code, and hence product, is for the greater good but we are seeing large dollar transactions occur when their idea (product) has a high commercial value and it is subsequently sold. The excitement of something unique and workable will always create the "buzz" necessary for it to become popular. Popularity tends to have a material side to it though. Aren't users part of the collaborative spirit? Maybe that is what they mean by free enterprise!

Monday, October 10, 2005

Trees 'r us

Riverview Arboretum

Today we drove out to Riverview (years ago it used to be called Essondale) to view a remarkable collection of non-native trees. In 1904 1,000 acres of land were set aside for two purposes:

  • A sanctuary and residential treatment facility for the mentally ill
  • A site for a B.C. Botanical Garden
Over the years 200 acres were sold to developers to create Riverview Heights and in the 1990's Colony Farm (600 acres) became a GVRD Park. There is only 244 acres left for the patients. In 1925 the botanical gardens were moved to UBC but the trees were left behind. These were cared for and are now an unknown legacy for everyone.

One can write and describe experiences one has. To truly understand the beauty and the heritage that is available to everyone you need to take a walk amongst these silent giants. There are leaves and barks of trees that you will never have seen before. They stand as stately giants on the gentle slopes of this sanctuary. It truly is a peaceful setting that is medicine to the soul.

For more information on how we can keep this pristine site for its orignial two purposes visit The Riverview Horticulture Centre Society.



Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Well it ain't football


Coming home from UBC a few Saturdays ago there was a rugby match between the Thunderbirds and Meralomas. We stopped to watch and saw some great plays and some solid running by the Lomas. Leaving at the half we didn't get to see who the winner was but I don't think the Thunderbirds were in their finest form. It was great to see the game. Rugby is the game a spectator almost becomes part of the action. You can feel the pain and sense the joy of a great kick or handoff. There is an ebb and flow so important to the game that just isn't found in to0 many sports. It never matters what the weather is like as a wet muddy field only adds to the excitement.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Much too long between posts


Now with fall and of course the rains upon us, summer is officially over. The Lions are back to normal hence the mass exodus off their bandwagon. The Canucks are now singing the praises of the Sedin twins. Isn't life wonderful out here in the Bannana belt?

I have been trying to implement my Getting Things Done components on OmniOutliner after turfing Entourage. It wasn't that Entourage didn't do a good job but with the size of everything it was taking longer and longer to move to the various sub-programs. Yesterday I came upon the Kinkless GTD System. (thank goodness for subscribing to mailing lists!). Well Ethan has produced a very basic system for GTD using OminOutliner and it works very well. In fact is works as close to GTD as anything I have seen. Check out his site. Very "Mac" like.

David Allan spoke at length about making sure the system you used was one that you could "trust". The Kinkless solution really has that going for it. For anyone using GTD try and get to one of David's seminars. There is lots there that is covered in the book but with a lot of aural background.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Barlett's and Bukowski


I was wondering where Bartlett's and those Bukowski books were in the house and finally found them in the basement bookshelves. Funny how so many books are like good friends and you end up missing them.

Barlett's is a book you either like and use or see no relevance in it. Even with the advent of the internet this is a great way to look up quotations. Just browsing one simple page can create a lot of brain cell activity. Here is what José Marti said about poetry "A grain of poetry suffices to season a century."

Which brings me to Charles Bukowski. (there are some great sites about the man). His poetry is habanero sauce for a few centuries. He brings that stark reality to everyday living. His feet were pretty well cemented in the real world and he made a lot of fun of those who had their heads in the clouds. We need that kind of realilty these days. Theory has its place but being pragmatic shouldn't be a crime.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Mt. Lehman Fall Fair



Was at the Mt. Lehman Fall Fair today. There certainly wasn't the number of people there that had been in the past. Even the number of displays seemed to be less. This was the 20th year it has been on and the remarkable thing about this fair is that it is a completely community driven event. There are not many country fairs left and this is certainly an oasis away from the commercially driven fairs.

There is going to be another Northern Voice in February 2006. This is really a neat conference for anyone interested in blogging. From beginner to advanced there is a real "people" feeling about it. You get to meet some of the people you have gotten to know through reading their blogs. You could call it Sociology and Blogging 101.

Fall is definitely in the air with the colour beginning to expand in the trees. When you start seeing that you know summer is just about gone and those short sleeve shirts aren't going to be worn without a jacket. The real bad part of this time of year is golfing. With all the leaves dropping, hitting a ball just off the fairway usually means a lost ball. As if golf isn't hard enough.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Bleak



Anything that could go sideways at work has gone sideways at work this week. It is just plain bleak. But I am very thankful for the people I work with as they have stuck together to get us through this "snowstorm". Have you every wondered why things happen in bunches? Is there a masterplan out there that we just aren't aware of?

The Burns bog fire is under control finally. We had some white ash on our patio (Burnaby Mountain) that had drifted from that fire. On Sunday night our house smelt like we had been huddled around a campfire for a few days. All the windows had to be shut. There is something that needs to be bottled, campfire smell for the livingroom.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Work


Tough day at work. Some internal stuff happened that needed fixing so most people stayed until 9 last night. Everyone was a wee bit tired today, not their usual fresh selves. And of course the new printer was jamming with the smaller paper. Every printer or photocopier seems to have a character all its own. You seem to be able to coax the best out of the older ones with the newer ones just not taking any direction. And it doesn’t matter what type of printer -- paper always gets jammed in the most remote and inaccessible areas of the print mechanism. Went to lunch too late today. You know you should have gotten there earlier when all the staff are sitting around eating and you are just finishing up. The only people left are you, the staff and those customers that don’t need to get back to a job right away. Work is such a joy. It really is a culture unto itself.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

A first...

Today I finally broke 90 on the golf course. Shot a 48 - 40 at Surrey GC. One of the fellows I was golfing with commented that my drive didn't have the tempo that the previous drive had. With that I began to think. These little rituals that you use sometimes are really important as they seemingly get you into a tempo. So those few rituals that I had started but used only occassionaly became important for the next holes. The shots started coming together, the drives (though not always perfect) were long with only one slice. The second shots were straight and the putting, well it was never better.

So was there a lesson to learn today? When golfing keep those silly rituals you have, don't deviate from them, and it does seem to help. By the way the course is going through some changes with the widening of the Fraser Highway. It was in good shape and the greens were good, not being tremendously fast. At the beginning of the game the smoke from the Burns Bog was irritating but by the turn the wind has come up a little and it was clearer.

Kelowna this last weeked was raining and raining. Just like the coast. In fact from Friday night to Sunday afternoon I saw little if any sunshine in Kelowna. Was I in Kelowna or Prince Rupert?

Friday, September 02, 2005

How can this be?

Hurricane Katrina is going to bring a massive amount of introspective. Just what type of society do we live in? Have we bought so far into the power of individuals that we have forgotten about our neighbours and the people we live with? Some of the news clippings on TV just devastate the soul. And what is the prime topic for discussion -- the increase in gasoline prices! Yes, this is the "me" society. We are all vicitims of ourselves.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Misc.



When you view what has taken place in New Orleans these last few days you begin to realize the horror of the situation. It is hard to image that a whole city, or most of it, is underwater. The most affected are the poor and those that did not have the means to leave when notified. Nature can sometimes only be viewed from a distance.

At this time of the year I am always reminded of the Doors song about summer being almost gone. Suddenly you realize that school is starting and the regular grind of everyday life is just around the corner. Of course we enjoy the habitual routines don't we? Life would get very boring without some diversity. Yet at the same time every summer is different, no too being exactly alike. This Saturday one of my old schoolmates holds a BBQ and most of the old gang gets together. That BBQ really shows how much each of us has aged as not everyone shows up each year. Somewhat depressing.

And why this picture of wood? Someone has been making a bed in the garage for the past 6 months and these are the parts that soon will be assembled. The garage is filled with the beautiful scent of cut and sanded wood. That and the smell of fresh baked bread...some of lifes simple pleasures.

I had an e-mail from a distant family member in New Zealand. She had been searching the internet and came across my blog. That was a nice surprise. Sure makes the world a little smaller.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

The Unusual


Went to Osoyoos this last weekend for a great golf tournament held by Osoyoos Credit Union. 3 of us have been going for a few years now and enjoy the people who put it on and the course. This year we managed to get onto Fairview Mountain for a round of golf on Monday. We had arrived at the 10th tee when 3 deer strode out onto the green. Sometimes it just can't get any better.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005




If you miss CBC check out CBC Unplugged. There is a podcast there that was on the SFU radio station this morning. They had a number of CBC radio and TV types being interviewed and their impressions of the lockout. It was interesting to hear what they had to say because these points are not being made in the the mainstream media. I wonder why?

Was out at Burnaby Mountain today and shot a better round than Sunday's but still it was bad. How can you shoot a par at one hole and get a triple bogey the next? It doesn't seem natural. And why does one keep trying to hit the ball a mile knowing that if you just slowed down to a very controlled swing you would hit it straight and probably be only shorter by 20 yards? Maybe that is the difference between a good golfer and the rest of us, they relax and don't allow the testosterone to take over.

Gapingvoid has got one of the funniest "cards" I have ever seen.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Texada Island



We drove up to Powell River and then took the ferry across to Texada Island. It was the first time for me but Marjun and my mother-in-law had spent the summer there in 1957. The first thing they noticed was the paved roads. It certainly is not your typical Gulf Island. Large and not a lot of people. You sometimes feel that Saltspring, Gibsons, Sechelt, and other vacation spots really bring out the Coney Island feel in the summer. Texada is just laid back and natural. We spent the night at The Retreat just south of Gillies Bay. It was plain, simple and just what we wanted. We saw more small deer that cats or dogs. The Tree Frog restaurant at Gillies Bay is excellent, as good as any place I've eaten recently. We went fishing at Bob's Lake after getting a little lost the day before trying to find it and end up at Shingle Beach. If you want a quiet, rustic and not-a-lot-of-people type holiday this is the place. We certainly think it was worth the ferry rides and drive.


Monday, August 15, 2005

Style and pleats


There is a ongoing discussion on Darren's site on pleats. Seems most don't like them. Must be the times we live in because everyone's kids will probably like them. Style always seems to go in a cycle. The problem is that the style that you first grew up with was usually made much better. My grade 2 teacher always said it didn't matter what anyone wore as long as it was clean. Everyone needs a good mechanic, a good dentist, a good barber, and a good tailor.

After a phone call to the US Consulate to find out what my mother-in-law (Danish) and my wife (also Danish but a landed immigrant here in Canada) needed to spend 3 days in Washington state, we decided it wasn't worth the headache to visit the land of the free. I have never heard of supplying a bank statement and a day by day intinerary of your visit to name a few of the conditions. Boy it is getting a little strange. What was that Door's song - Strange Days? Just the melody speaks of how you feel after you hear of their conditions for a visit. Anyway we decided to head up to Powell River and take the trip over to Texada Island. Never been there so it will be more like an adventure. I mean how can you get lost when the only way back is by ferry?

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Home again


Got home Friday from the beach. The solitude for 3 days was refreshing. It is very interesting when you are completely by yourself and your days evolve to eating when you are hungry, sleeping when you are tired, reading and writing when you feel like it and spending time with your feet in the saltwater listening to the surf roll in. There is just something about salt water, tides and the clean fresh air.

I am just finnishing a book by Don Watson called Gobbledygook. This should be required ready for anybody in management or going to school to earn a business degree. Amazingly Margaret Wente wrote a column in Saturday's Globe & Mail about the book in which I had to agree with her (probably the first time). Here's an interesting quote from the book:

Businesses can be forgiven their neologisms, but not their technocratic sludge. If they can find the means to downsize, prioritize, and implement quality function deployment they can find better words to describe what they are doing. Their failure becomes most acute when they try to bend the language into an instrument of persuasion. The fact is, of course, it can't be bent. It is incapable of carrying mood or emotion. It can neither admonish or praise.

Yup, sometimes spin is spin and the shit of a bull is just that, bullshit. (please pardon the unsophisticated term but it does carry the mood).

Monday, August 08, 2005

The beach


This should have been my view today but there always seems a ton of stuff to get done. Canadian Tire, the Library, fill up the propane tanks, and before you know it the day is done. Tomorrow at this time I will be enjoying this view.

The plants outside needed a huge watering today. The leaves on a number of trees are turning yellow and falling off. It does look like the heat is taking its toll.

The news about the Cheakamaus River and the recent chemical spill by a railway car is probably the sickest news I have heard in a long time. They say 95% of the fish stock in the river was killed. This month the Pinks were to come back and there were signs that the run was just starting. If the river hasn't cleaned itself enough what will happen to that run? If there is a time that someone should pay, be it CN or some other corporate environmental misfit it is now. If a private citizen lets a litre of bleach spill into a fish bearing creek the repercussions are serious. The same must hold true of corporations that create similar problems but in a much larger scale. What is this going to cost us? What damage will be done that cannot be repaired? What ever happened to a watchful eye on the commons that belong to us all?

Friday, August 05, 2005

Blogs...by definition


This morning on the way to work I was considering exactly what a blog is and what types there are and why they are being read. There are various categories (here we go--the development of a program to categorize all the blogs out there!) that you tend to read regularily. I have about 15 technical web pages/blogs that are read each day, then a group of blogs from bloggers that I have met or have contact with from Northern Voice, then a group that are GTD specific, then the last large group of various bloggers who are interesting. Some of these I may have met at Gnomedex. All the groups are setup as tabbled bookmarks in Safari.

A blogger doesn't have to blog everyday. There are some that are so interesting that you go back for a few months even if they haven't updated. At about the 3rd month I move them over to a inactive blog list. The key ingredients for a readable blog seem to be pertinent information and/or a personable writing style that is honest and usually insightful. I may not agree with them but I understand their position.

A good blog is like a good letter to the editor. Our household reads the Globe and Mails letters to the editors everyday and they make up some interesting dinner table discussions. A good blog seems to follow the same idea.

Some blogs are not that great. They should defined as linklists. Lots of links to other places but no opinion about what the link is or what they really think of it. You know the kind:

Here is a great site you cant miss...lots of neat stuff.

There is usually about 10 of these neat sites listed. You gotta think what is THIS all about?

Blog lists are cconstantly being edited with more added and a few being culled. There isn't much you can't find now with the likes of Technorati. But everyone knew that already, right?

Monday, August 01, 2005

Old Friends


Yesterday we were down at the "cottage" to have a small get together with 3 old friends. All of us have known each other since 1966 (at least) so that is close to 40 years. As soon as we got together it was catch up time with old names and places, then just ramblings about everything such as old sayings, great movies, sports, and well, just about everything under the sun. We had a quick soccer game which showed us our diminished athletic ability. At one point in a conversation Skinny and I came to the conclusion that friends and family were the most inmportant things in life and that we had striven for so much else 20 and 30 years ago.
This morning I thought of two people who weren't there and imagined how their personalities would have added to our get together. But as you get older you tend to only be able to remember those you no longer can be with. Death is the final separation. That seems to add to how important life right now really is.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

It's Beachtime



Finally, just about a week of very good weather and today in the mid 20's.

I just finnished reading James Crumley's "The Mexican Tree Duck". It wasn't as good as his latest book and you could tell it was an earlier writing. What is interesting is to think if it ever became a movie who the cast would be. The main character would have to be Bruce Willis. Now most people can quickly see what kind of book it is.

This year for Mother's Day I bought my wife 3 hanging baskets from Tangelbank Nurseries in Abbotsford. These things are unreal. I have never seen hanging baskets that keep growing with the amount of flowering. One is in the sunlight and the other two are in the shade. All three are thriving which is a rarity in our household. Besides the bees the hummingbirds seems to like them.


There seems to be more and more talk about blogging these days and the startup numbers are unreal. Anyone who reads blogs probably does so for a variety of reasons. I have 4 sets of blogs I look at daily.
1. The first group is about technlogy and Macs. It includes some websites and the blogs really add the personal expressions that you need to round out some of the company hype (or as Dan Watson puts it "management talk").
2. The 2nd set are a group of blogs from people I met or heard at the Northern Voice conference. It is interesting to see what they are doing and you do get to keep the contact up.
3. The 3rd set are blogs from here, there, and everywhere. This group gets gleaned on occassion.
4. The last set has anything to do with GTD.
It is interesting that you tend to go back to these sites for long periods of time even if they are not updated because you enjoy reading the blog. That seems to be the key for me--the enjoyment of the writing and the perspective the person brings.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Unbelievable


Yesterday I attended a meeting close to Granville Island. It was an all day event, dry at times but interesting. At lunch the surprise was a BBQ on the patio of the 9th floor of the building. The landscape picture above doesn't really give the view it's full reward. It was incredible! When you have lived here for a lot of years you pretty well have seen everything and it gets a bit boring. This view was totally unique. It is made up of 3 separate pictures put together. Yaletown, the Burrard Street Bridge, Granville Island and the full Granville Street Bridge all in one view. Then the fishing boats and pleasure craft. Personally all of these have a number of stories attached to them. Granville Island was were my mother and aunt worked during World War II. There was a dry cleaning shop on Granville Island underneath where the new bridge is now. (Everyone does know that there was an old bridge at ground level at one time, right?) An older fellow who used to work with them would say someday there is going to be a huge bridge above where the shop was and all of these buildings will disappear. Mom said they always laughed at him and thought him crazy. Most visionairies are considered crazy in their time though. I believe the name of the dry cleaning company was Granville Bros.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Trains and things


Here is an interesting concept. Put the cigarette ashtray at the exit door. That way people can smoke in the building and make sure they put it out when they get outside. Or could it be that to disuade smokers you put their ashtray at a doorway they can't get back in? Why are smokers being treated with such disregard? Recently in Seattle I was in a restaurant eating and suddenly smelt tobbaco smoke. Just like old times. And have you noticed no one carries matches anymore? I haven't seen a packet a paper matches for ages.



While down in the area of Granville Island today I noticed this train signal light on Fir Street just north of Broadway. Looks pretty standard, same as most others. So what train comes through there? If you look at the tracks it looks like the last train left Clarksville a long time ago. You can't see the tracks for the overgrowth. Someone should put up a for sale sign on this set track alarm lights.








..

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Just a regular day at the office



This is the office that I reside in most of the hours of the week. Those plants are the only living things that seem to appreciate my infrequent waterings. After close to 6 years they are hanging in there. Maybe something with a little colour would help. Though you can't see it, the window at the top of the image has an unbelievable view of Mt. Baker. It is definitely best in winter---no smog.

We are making some remarkable headway with our IT setup at work. We have installed Java on the banking server which has allowed us to further install some interesting backup software. This software will mirror certain files on a production machine that will allow us real time (well a 3 minute window) SQL queries. Besides queries to the banking system we can also query the Sybase products database which includes binaries (graphics). With a few more completed paths to finalize the reporting system we have talked about for a few years will be available. We will move from combining datum from various reports and dbs to calling for a completed report with any type of information from a variety of sources. In any business the quicker you can retrieve specific information that you need to make a decision the better your business can be. The problem has always been how to accumulate this information so that various workgroups can garner the information they need without having to wade through moutains of peripheral information. It has been a long time coming but then it is just a regular day at the office.

Friday, July 22, 2005

iTunes

Some people have stated that iTunes is clunky with a difficult interface to use. Maybe it isn't the easiest program to operate but if you have used it for any length of time you can move around it pretty quickly. There aren't too many features that are a surprise. It works pretty good.

The search feature is very good. It is quick and allows you to find the song that is so often rumbling inside your head. When you have a sizeable number of songs it is very easy to assemble a decent playlist. Right now I typed in 'summer' and have 23 songs for 1.8 hours in the play list. Everything from Lisa Brokop to the Young gods. Why summer? Well have you looked outside lately?

Here's the list:

Summer Rain - Alphaville
Summer In The Circus - Bourne And MacLeod
The Last Rose of Summer - British Columbia Boys Choir
Summer Of '69 - Bryan Adams
Red Summer Sun - Bryan Potvin
Thirty Summers - Cowboy Junkies
Sleep All Summer - Crooked Fingers
The Boys of Summer - Don Henley
Indian Summer - The Doors
Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran
Summertime Rolls - Jane's Addiction
Summertime - Jane's Addiction
That Summer - Lisa Brokop
Die In The Summertime - Manic Street Preachers
A Night in Summer Long Ago - Mark Knopfler
Starless Summer Sky - Marshall Crenshaw
The Last Rose Of Summer - Nina Simone
The Last Rose Of Summer - Nina Simone
In The Summertime (You Don't Want My Love) - Prairie Oyster
High Summer - Van Morrison
Summertime - Will Smith
Action- Streetheart Summer Dock Party
Summer Eyes - The Young Gods

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

A fresh coast of paint

There really isn't anything so inexpensive that changes one's living space so much as a fresh coat of paint. I have officially given up on white and moved to any other colour but white. Our living room is now a two colour room, one large wall of a strong yellow and the rest a reddish brown. I forget what colour the yellow was (its too strong for Canary and more like Amber Light or Canadian Draft) but the brown is called Georgian Brick. You have to love the names of some of these colours. Our kitchen is light green - Pistachio. As painting doesn't rank as the all time favourite of pastimes anything to make it easier helps. Here buying the best really helps. We have been using Benjamin Moore and though it is costs a bit more it just rolls on so nicely and you don't get that roller spray. A good brush is important. When you are cutting those tight corners a brush that has all its bristles together is nice. Now I can sit back in this "new" room and count the little mistakes that no one except my painting friends will ever know.

Here is a question but no bets please – has summer finally arrived here in the Lower Mainland?

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Powerwashers on Sunday

Nothing is more relaxing than spending your Sunday afternoon on your deck, good book and all, with the cacophony of the Sunday power washers. Their undying mantra - "must clean, must clean" is spoken throughout the neighbourhood. Suburbia at its finest. Now if tomorrow morning at about 6:36 a.m. I start to play Bach's Christmas Cantata "Sehet, welch eine Liebe" at about 150 decibels do you think they will understand?

Summer seems to have arrived in Vancouver. “Seems” is the key word here as the weatherman has been fooled on numerous occasions recently. This next few weeks look like scorchers. Great time to be ending your holidays huh. It should change back to a normal wet summer in three weeks when I begin my next batch of non-working days.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

A dead language

Something interesting occurs when you begin to write, be it blogs, letters, books or whatever. You sense the power of language and all of its interesting attributes. But there is a language that is used by many that is devoid of human expression and feelings -- the languge of business, the PR language, the language that we hear so often that leaves us confused as to what is it that is really being expressed. This is the dead language that seems to continue in our society. Toni Morrison describes a dead language as "...a dead language is not only one no longer spoken or written, it is unyielding language content to admire its own paralysis." How can expressions like "bottom line, change drivers, strategic implementation, empowered..." be considered anything other than words that seemingly are written and spoken to admire themselves? They have a shine of saying something but with further exploration their meanings are conceptually lacking any human experience. But their constant use tends to make us look upon them as key to understanding some remote concept. They are like a plastic veneer. Maybe we should use the minds God gave us and express what we really mean, in 25 words or less.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

PR at its best - Spam

Gnomedex had an interesting session with Steve Rubel and his client Weatherbug. During the session you got the funny feeling this was a prepared pitch and had little to do with PR and blogging. Darren Barefoot questioned out loud what a lot of us were thinking. His point didn't make much of an impact in the answer he got back from Steve.
Russell Beattie has posted some interesting post events concerning Steve. Like how Spam originates in this instance.

We need to begin to find some means to protect our inboxes because if you are like me I get over 100+ Spam that need wading through everyday. There are the tricks of the trade like getting a few more "secretive" e-mail address but if you have had e-mail for over 10 years and have handed out your address to a ton of people you are going to miss that attempt at contact by that person you would love to hear from. There is no algorithm to speak of that will fully keep the drawbridge manned.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

First day of holidays

Finally, 10 full days off with no real time set for meetings, project planning, HR, business e-mails, telephone calls and general work issues. Maybe it is the age because holidays this year were something I actually looked forward to. At the end of these 10 days I will be roaring to get back to work. What does that say for one's view of "retirement"?

Stil waiting for the sunshine here. The forecast looks good. Maybe just maybe summer is about to arrive.

There is an extemely interesting article in today's Globe and Mail (Saturday issue) the Review section - Citzens of the world, report! It discusses the role of role of bloggers and citizen journalists as complementing main stream media on stories like the recent tragedy in London. Here is how Meil McIntosh assistant editor of Guardian Unlimited put it "...It's very complementary in that I think the blogs look to us to get immediate news and we maybe look to them to get a little bit of the flavour of how people are reacting outside the four walls of our office." They also discuss the difference between this with the news media in the U.S.

But if you read between the lines there is still a hesitation on the part of the major media to accept that a person's view of any event is as valid as that of a newspaper article. They seem to deem only themselves as the official voice. And it is worrisome that there stamp of approval is all that is needed to make any viewpoint valid. Things change, ever so slowly.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Music

Listening to Glen Gould playing Bach is always refreshing and when it comes to music these thoughts seem to unfold.
- music always captures a mood.
- it can present a memory as concise as a forgotten scent.
- music evokes an emotional response, sometimes quite rapidly.
- some music can be disliked or maybe that should read not appreciated as much as other music.
- it is sometimes quickly liked or it can be liked in greater amounts with prolonged listening.

With every generation music changes on the "outside" but it always remains the same "inside".

Friday, July 01, 2005

Please, Tom

So Tom Cruise is now an expert on depression. What happens with these guys in Hollywood? Do their egos inflate to a size of a Zepplin? Why do they think making movies makes them that much smarter than the general poplulace? There is an overwhelming amount of ignorance about depression and some solid research is now beginning to augment and broaden what we already are aware of. Tom's "expertise" only diminishes the discussion.

Tom--stick to the movies.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Gnomedex 5.0 - Impressions

This is the second conference I have been at that is filled with technical people and laptops. The big difference is that they are all connected to the internet. (Well not everyone was connected until the bandwidth got increased.) They need to come up with a name for this type of conference as it is unique in the sense that all the information that is presented is documented by the listening audience on a real time basis. Text, pictures, audio, comments, etc. is available during and within minutes of the closing of each presenter. You begin to see differences in how various individuals present information. It seems we all have these "filters" that create our own perceptions of what has taken place. Your own view of what has been stated is appreciably enhanced by viewing the posts of others. It really is amazing, like reading 20 newspapers about an event that you participated in. No two are completely alike and yet each adds to your own experience of what happened. Couple that with a podcast (audio) and the dimension grows further. A novus dimension conference?

Next - some of the topics...

Monday, June 20, 2005

Summer already?

I just finished a blog entry and lost it when trying the spell checker. Sometimes you forget what a word processor should be used for.

Our 3 hanging baskets are growing like weeds. We never had trouble growing weeds before just growing flowers. This year we purchased 2 shady and 1 sunny moss type hanging baskets. They need water everyday but they really are much better than the manufactured plastic pail fuschia buckets. The buckets seems to last all of 2 weeks before the flowers start dropping off. It pays to get something so you can enjoy it ALL summer.

Supper time. What to make? It really doesn't matter because the younger set in the household will always prepare their late afternoon snack at the same time you make supper because they are starving and probably won't make it to the mealtime which is only 45 minutes away. Funny how the definition of starving has changed over the years.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Public Transit

Yesterday I took the Skytrain and bus down to BC Central (South-west end of the Burrard Street bridge) instead of driving through the nightmare on Broadway. With 12th closed between Nanaimo and Fraser, Broadway is a parking lot.

The trip was enjoyable. Of course there was the solicitation for change and the standing due to no seats but you could really feel part of the city that you don't when you are stuck in traffic in a car. And the people were so varied and different. It is a pretty remarkable system to get from A to B. The only complaint was the Skytrain. Why don't people at least make an effort to move away from the doors so that people can get off the Skytrain instead of standing in front of the door when it opens? You are forced to push through with all the grace of a 300 pound gorilla just to disembark. A big suitcase would be handy to use as a wedge to get through the crowd.

Monday, June 13, 2005

A recovered Monday

Yesterday when we went shopping there was a large choice of hot sauces on the shelf. A hot sauce company located in Salmon Arm, Denzels, seemed to have the right ingredients. So we picked up Gourmet Habanero. Well last night I had the biggest heart burn for the longest time because of this bottle of dynamite! This stuff is HOT and not for the weak tongued. They have it rated 6 out of 8 on their heat level. This morning went back to get something a little less tangy - Lil' Smokehouse (2 out of 8) made from smoked red jalapeno peppers. Excellent! Even mixed just a smidgen of the Habanero with it to bring it up the spice ladder. This product is as good as it gets. Take a look at Denzels site.

Monday, June 06, 2005

What is with golf?

Today I was all prepared to have a great game after the 93 last week. Should have known better. At the clubhouse the cashier had an opening "If you can get out there right now". So you hurry up to the teebox looking for the glove, ball, tees, etc., tee up the ball and away you go. But you didn't even have time to find out what kind of ball you hit! From there it got worse with the low point being the marshall telling us to hurry up. Sure buddy. We are a walking foursome and the two guys in front of us have a cart. No problem in keeping up with them. Well with the back nine I finally settled down and got a few nice pars in but the final score was a disasterous 103. Yuck! The good part, and that is what really makes the game, is playing with 3 pretty nice people. You always get to meet people you would never meet otherwise. Now if I could just get to meet my golf ball sometimes!

Saturday, June 04, 2005

The Saga of the pick-up trucks

Seems these posts get fewer and farther between.

In the last few weeks it has become apparent that there is a new type of driver hitting the asphalt. Last week a large pickup truck passed me on the freeway. Yessirree passed me on the freeway. I was in the slow lane, a car was coming up in the fast lane and the pickup track passed on the right hand side using the shoulder as the driveable highway. That is the second time that has happened in over 10 years of daily freeway drving. I wonder what driving school he went to.

Today was a typical incident. Driving in the slow lane with a number of vehicles coming onto the freeway. You can't move into the fast lane due to traffic so you keep you speed constant allowing those coming onto the freeway to adjust either a faster or slower speed to merge. Typically the pickup truck must have expected me to stop to let him on the freeway because he had to slow down instead of me. Looking in the rear view mirror was the proverbial finger. Then the fast approach on the left hand side with the wife-beater T-shirted passenger shouting obscenties, leaning out the window with his arm and middle finger held high, sort of a salute to the gods of ignorance. What do you do? Shake your head and wonder. Yes these young bucks own the road, they have paid their fair share of taxes (like about 2.43 years) and they drive a leased and certainly not fully paid for truck. Pillars of the transportation elite. Oh to be a law enforcement officer for 5 minutes!

Monday, May 23, 2005

Old Vinyl

On Saturday went up to Apollo Records on Austin in Coquitlam. They were having their semi-annual "lets sell everything in the store" sale. There wasn't much in the CD bins. My friend was bound and determined to go through them all so I looked through the LP bins. Unbelievable! Everything there was for $1.00. After 45 minutes there was the grand total of $17 spent. That is less than the cost of a new CD. Do you remember?

Leon Russell and the Shelter People
Al Stewart - Time Passages
The Mason Williams Phonograph Record
The Lilac Time - Paradise Circus * been looking for that one for years
Elvin Bishop
Dan Reed Network - Slam * another rarity
Jeff Healy Band - See the Light
and 10 more - Genesis, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, The Grapes of Wrath....

And at this point no noticeable scratches. You seem to appreciate the music when you have to get up every 20 minutes to either change the LP or turn it over.

Monday, May 16, 2005

The odd bits

Came across a real neat comic book program. www.plasq.com Comic Life. It is so simple and the results are pretty neat. I sent a quick creation to my kids and they were impressed. Mac only though.

Darren Barefoot
had a very interesting post about blogs being defined as advertising, campaign that is. What a wonderful world we live in huh.

With all this recent rain you have to think of the positives with all the water we get. Of course everything is green and we tend to have mild weather because of it. The water out of the tap is usually as good as what you buy in a bottle (there could be some disagreement here) and much cheaper. And those that travel will notice the lack of soap suds in the shower in most other places. Living here does give rise to fewer sundances though.

Fountain pens. I have been writing with a fountain pen occasionally for the last 15 years. The people in a previous workplace bought me a beautiful Waterman Lemans which is just a joy to write with. So I happened upon the Vancouver Pen Company on Hastings across from the SFU campus which has a fantastic selection of pens. They have a new Lamy graphite fountain pen (comes in 4 colours including black) and a variety of nibs that are just a pleasure to use. Writing is effortless and isn't as fast as typing but it gives you a chance to use that right side of the brain when "drawing" each character. You really can't go wrong with one of these. Inks are for another post.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

What you loose going faster

For the past few months I have purposely been slowing down on my drive to work. You know you are going slow when EVERBODY is passing you. It seems one begins to notice the environment and world around them much more. The people in the cars passing become interesting. The trees and buildings on the roadways seem to become much more real. When you begin to focus on the world around you, going faster isn't important. When you focus on yourself...speed becomes a priority.

Monday, May 02, 2005

It works!

Our SMS/e-mail messaging product (MemberNote) is really taking off. I just noticed that our transaction counts for the month have climbed. It would seem that people will use their cards more if they feel secure. The other interesting comment from users is they love the messages because now if they loose their slips they still have a record. Taking it one step farther think of the paper that could be saved if you didn't need that slip.

What is also interesting in the feedback are the ideas for added features.
- balances. What if you could push a message, for example just call a number, and have a text message with you current balance. We had thought about this but didn't realize people REALLY want this.
- payroll deposits. Checking with the staff they say on certain paydays there are a lot of calls asking if their paycheques have been deposited. Why not just get noticed by SMS when it was deposited?
- postive option. It is something that larger institutions demand, the ability to accept any items that are attempting to clear their accounts. They want the final say. It is more a risk management thing to prevent fraud. But what if that was available to anyone when they wrote a cheque? You could be notified of the item and asked to authenticate it within a certain time frame with a unique passcode.

At this years meeting of all the credit unions in the province there were a number of credit unions asking about MemberNote. I work for one of the smallest credit unions in the province so having these humongous ones take notice of something like this is pretty nice. Hopefully others can get involved in using something like this. More than anything it needs to be a vehicle for creating what people want with technology they have.

The Vancouver Sun had a colour banner across the business section on Wednesday April 13th. That was a huge surprise. We were expecting nothing to be picked up by the press and if anything two small sentences on page 83 lower left hand corner.

To anyone with a Mac, the Tiger upgrade is well worth it. Spotlight finds everything you lost.

EOBR - end of business report

Sunday, May 01, 2005

May 1st - Labour Day

Well not here in North America, in Europe. I remember getting this day off when working over there. The interesting part was that it was only for half of the day, the afternoon. You couldn't get the morning off. It always seemed strange. This was the day those red labour flags were noticeable.

April is gone and May is upon us. Am listening to the Crooked Fingers "Dignity and Shame" CD. Excellent melodies, especially the piano playing. It isn't classic rock and could definied more along the Indpendent rock them.

Mac OS 10.4 Tiger is installed and working well. When I bought the system disk yesterday in Vancouver the computer shop had two tigers (real big tigers) at the back of the store for promotion. These were definitley alive and well. The salesperson asked if I wanted my picture taken with these large cats. Given my inability to have any relationships with cats I declined. Over the years cats have not liked me, at all, and the feeling is mutal. It seemed very probable that these two large tigers might possibly clue into my lack of a having any type of bond with cats and take it upon themselves to show me the error of my ways. Thanks but it was too close to lunchtime.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

The Atlantic article

The Atlantic Monthly has a very interesting article America in Foreign Eyes by Bernard-Henry Levy. As this year marks the bicentennial of Alexis de Tocquerville's birth, the magazine has asked a French philosopher/writer to retrace the route and comment.

He has some wonderful insights into the American culture.

On the "living" museums -
The whole idea is not to preserve but to reconsitute a false truth and celebrate it as such. Defeat of the archive. Triumph of kitsch.
...and...
The self-generation of culture that wants to be descended from its own handiwork and, accordingly, rewrites its great and small genealogies. An American neurosis?

There are some remarkable statements in the article, that as a Canadian, bring to light a newly defined perspective. When you live by a country such as the US your own perception of American culture gets clouded by the huge amount of American influence. This European challenges these old ideas.

There are to be a number of articles by this individual in the next months. The article is worth the price of the magazine.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Generous people...

Today it was actually hot out in the Fraser Valley. The fragrance of the blooming flowers was fantastic. It looks like all week will be like this. A nice time to take a weeks holiday.

My oldest son is garnering pledges for this weekend's 8 hour skateboard-a-thon. He is one of the leaders of a local church skateboard club and the money goes to getting all the kids to a week long camp this summer. He was going over his pledges (now over $500) and it was remarkable the number of people who have donated. I am pleasantly surprised by their generousity. The youngest son was interviewed and published in a local grafitti magazine. He's happy. What did I get today? The MasterCard bill with the payment due on April 30th. I guess it just depends on who you are as to what you get.

Monday, April 18, 2005

Conspiracy of Fools

I am reading Kurt Eichenwald's book on what happened at Enron. After 169 pages it is pretty clear what happened, some people got very greedy and lied. Pretty simple plot but complicated storylines. As you read the book you can Google the names and get images of these people. They don't look like crooks. It is amazing that there were a number of people that understood something was wrong but the chain of command or the normal business practice stopped their concern from being brought to a larger majorities view. So where does that put the school of thought that businesses can be ethical? How can an entity with no moral compass be ethical? Its like a virtual Ten Commandments that is there but really isn't.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Gnomedex

Reading the list of people that will be speaking at Gnomedex (where did that word come from anyway?) in Seattle this June is impressive. When I first learned about it being in Seattle it sounded interesting so I signed up. As the weeks have past, the speakers list keeps growing and it looks like an event that is going to be remembered.

Energy usage in Iraq
The recent edition of The Atlantic (May 2005) has an interesting article on the U. S. military. Seems that everyday 2,000 trucks involving 20,000 Amercian soldiers and private contractors are leaving Kuwait everyday carrying fuel to Iraq. The M1 Abrams tank get less than one mile per gallon! This must be getting to be a problem and it seems to spell "inefficiency". But the article concludes that the prevailing wisdom in the Pentagon is that "fuel efficiency is for sissies." I must have missed something here.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Pocketwatches

Jan mentioned pocketwatches in his blog.
http://www.jankarlsbjerg.com/blog
which brings up an interesting story, since it involves Denmark.
My first job required a suit, everyday. Having the bodyshape that a suit off the rack would never fit I needed to get them tailor made. Of course the tailor talked me into always buying a vest with every new suit. Always wanting a pocket watch, when the time came I bought an 18K gold Waltham with chain. It was a beautiful timepiece. You can't find them anymore. This was the watch that you pass onto your kids. Excellent watch and you begin to see there are always rituals with getting the time and popping the case open to view the face, winding the large dial at the same time everyday, making sure the chain is fastened correctly, etc. It was like have something to do that you enjoyed, all the time. With all these new vests it was a perfect fit. An old friend even gave me a small ivory elephant to attach to the chain. Then I met my wife who was here visiting from Denmark. To make a long story short I ended up marrying this wonderful lady 11 months later in Denmark. I got there by selling the watch.

Monday, April 11, 2005

The car is in the repair shop

I am just waiting for a call from my mechanic to pick up my vehicle. It is in for brakes and a tune-up which hopefully won't prove costly. It is the first time anything has been done to it after the warranty period. The people we got the vehicle from wanted to get the brakes done 6 months ago and they kept bugging me, but everyone (and you know everyone is a "mechanic" when you ask them for advice) said to wait. Rob, the mechanic we used to go to, said the same thing. When the warranty was over that was it for those dealership guys, back to Rob who has always been good.

CBC Radio had some audio clips on Terry Fox, on the eve of the start of his Canadian marathon, it being 25 years old. On one of the audios he mentions how cancer has touched to lives of people we know. Now 25 years later my mind reels at the number of people who have had cancer, some making it, others not. Even now there are friends fighting it. I would have to say it is the disease that has affected our family the most. There is a Danish saying that people abhor when they hear it, as it is a curse. It translates "May cancer eat you". It has to be the most disgusting phrase I have ever heard and no one has to be told why.

Terry Fox is a true hero. He made sure we would have and keep hope in our hearts. That is what cancer can never take away.

Friday, April 08, 2005

Podcasts eh?

I was listening to a series of podcasts while on my way to and from work today. What seems to be happening regularly now is that I download a massive number of podcasts and then burn the MP3s onto a CD that is playable on the car stereo. It seems to work quite well as the player controls are easier to use and the titles appear on the LCD. It gets to be a little difficult reading iPod screens when driving.
There are some interesting podcasts and the list is ever growing. So were do these verbal files fit into the whole scheme of things? First and foremost is that my listening of radio or TV rarely includes any commercials. IF someone wants to pay me to listen to this then ok. There is very little worth listening to in these 30 or 60 second attacks on my senses that try to sell me something rarely needed. That leaves CBC as a prime listening station and let’s face it not everything said on that network is everyone’s cup of tea. One can listen to music but one needs a change and this is where podcasts fit in. They are usually specialized, which makes choosing various casts in the chosen genre very easy. Listening to a series of speakers with some interesting and unique insights is interesting. I have a 40-minute commute to and from work each day and being able to have choices to listen to, as well as a cell phone to communicate with the world, makes the time spent in the vehicle not totally wasted. Most of my drive is going against traffic on the freeway. With cruise control set at just below 100 kmh, most mornings are pretty easy. Listening to something that you want makes it that much easier, almost close to enjoyable.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Tulips?

I had a call from a business colleague back in Toronto this week. She described the Saturday they had in Toronto with about 6 inches of wet snow and the problem her husband had removing it as the snowblower was useless. I listened intently, waited for the pause and then stated that it was also difficult out here with the daffodils just about finished and 3 beautiful tulips just opening up in our container by the garage. There was silence on the other end and we both started laughing. Where else but in Canada?

Saturday, April 02, 2005

The day before daylight savings

Darren Barefoot has some interesting points about podcasting. The whole area is new and just beginning and will probably evolve in aspects that we don't realize at this point. Podcasting points to becoming aural content on demand. Until now this was the domain of spoken books and taped radio shows. The podcaster is a layman's attempt to create some aural context. Some of it works and some of it doesn't. But a good story will always have willing ears to listen. Bad stories...well you usually find something else to do. The nice thing right now is that there are more sources of choices to hear.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

The Common Good

This morning while in the Post Office I overheard two men, one in his early 30’s, the other in his 60’s, discussing the increasing amount of traffic that was flowing through the neighbourhood. They commented on the noise and the road wear and had heard that someone was going to present like concerns to the local council. As the conversation grew older the conclusion was that there should be a toll on the road to keep the traffic to a minimum and hopefully the road would be for locals only.
It was somewhat hard to believe what I was hearing, a public road with restricted access. There wasn’t much discussion about the common good of the road being accessible to everyone. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Middle Ages with drawbridges and tollbooths. I am sure the hospital that either of these gentlemen may attend in the future would have to have free and open access! There are some in our society that just don’t seem to understand what the common good means anymore.

Monday, March 28, 2005

The principles of society...yeah sure...

Greed. Are greed and the acquiring of material goods the engine of growth in our society? It seems that we are no longer supposed to feel badly about being greedy. Sacrfice is a foreign word and there is no limit to the number of expensive items we are expected to have in order to have the lifestyle we so “richly” deserve. Nothing should be free or even done for free. This seems to be the central organizing theme of our society.

But do we really understand the road we are on and where this path will take us? How can we individually look out for only ourselves and expect there to be any social good in the context of our neighbours and our communities. We are not the centre of the universe and the first time we slip and see the necessity of help from others there will be a tremendous amount of upheaval in what we have thought our world to be. Our ability to make meaning in our lives from “things” is limited. And yet the world and the communication apparatuses around us keep churning out that mantra.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Easter Sunday

This morning 4 of us prepared a Sunday morning breakfast at church for about 50 people. The interesting things was that we actually received compliments for the meal. When you are in the middle of preparing 14 pounds of sausages or 8 pounds of pancake batter you really aren't thinking about how people will appreciate it. You just want to finish doing this and getting the dishes done. In a typical household this morning is what you would prepare for at least 10 breakfasts, or 10 weeks of Sunday household breakfasts. And there were a lot of helping hands to cleanup.

Friday, March 25, 2005

A new project

At work we are in the final stages this weekend of testing something we call MemberNote. It should be released in April and as it is the first version of the product it is pretty basic. We don't know of anyone else anywhere having a similar product. Here is what it does:
1. Whenever you use your debit/bank card for an electronic transaction be it an ATM or Interac purchase, an SMS (text message) will be created of information from that transaction and sent to
your cell phone as a text message and/or an e-mail address you choose.
2. From the time the transaction is accepted by the merchant you should be noticed in about 5 seconds with the information.

Very simple so if you get a text message and haven't been using your card guess what - someone else is using your card!

There has been a lot of talk about debit card fraud with a lot of information making the end user aware of the risks. We thought it would be best to find a working solution so this is what we have come up with. We don't know what the competition will do but we hope that it will prod others for solutions or even build on what we have developed.

From some people we have talked about this we have received some great ideas. One was a suggestion to customize notifications based on transactions. [Remember this is for debit cards. Credit cards are the Visa, MasterCard, AmericanExpress cards you carry which is a very different product.] We could notify one of any transactions greater than a certain dollar amount. Or we could move into notification of any items that cleared an account. One that quickly comes to mind is payroll. There are a lot of people that like to know when their payroll deposit has been credit to their account. Or what about a cheque that you wrote that you want to know immediately when it clears. Maybe you post dated it for the end of the month and it now is clearing 5 days early....a big no-no.

All of the suggestions point to a next version. The key strategy at some point has to be that the variables that manage notification would be set by the card holder. That done through a web site would be ideal.

On Thursday I was at a meeting with Xerox discussing print solutions. The showed me their DocuColor 3535 printer/copier and the Creo Spire Color Server as well as a few other software solutions. There were all very impressive products. Xerox seems to be focussing on some great software stuff they have developed. Remember they gave us Parc.
http://www.parc.xerox.com/about/history/default.html
The colour printing world is getting pretty good and for small print jobs the benchmark is pretty high.

End of business report.

Good Friday. Probably one of the most difficult days to try to understand and realize within the context of one's Christian faith what transpired over 2,000 years ago. Peace be with you.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

And it's only Tuesday

Was able to pickup two tins of Altoids at London Drugs yesterday for just over $4.00. The Wintergreen "Simulated Flavour" is pretty good but doesn't beat the Sour Tangerine. Great candies and they seem to last forever. You'll never buy LifeSavers again. There sure are going to be a lot of Altoid tins lying around my office at home. Now one needs to figure out what to do with them after they are filled with pins, paper clips and thumbtacks.
www.altoids.com

Dave Winer has a great podcast - A new Morning Coffee Notes about ocean swimming, podcasting as art, Terry Shiavo, my software project, and of course, philosophy.
http://static2.podcatch.com/blogs/gems/snedit/cnMar21.mp3
As always he brings up some very valid points.

Why is there this sudden challenge to podcasting and blogging by some in the news media? Are they upset that there are some alternate sources of information and opinion? Is it because this new view is available fairly easily? I find the opinions, in most cases, are more in tune to everyday thinking. The blogging/podcasting point of view fits better with what I have been thinking and isn't such a foreign concept to understand. That's not to say that what anyone says is always agreeable. The best part is that you can debate as much as you like. There is something important about the nature of who is writing/broadcasting - they are doing it because they LIKE TO DO IT. There is some joy in what they are offering. It isn't a Monday to Friday paid job. The form they take is much freer and not so compressed into a specific format. And it is much more direct and to the point. The pre-ambles are not necessary. It really seems to be an experience of a our culture with a strong connection to people and their thoughts and what their lives are focussed on. It makes one feel a bit more human.

there...finito. Listening to Elliot Smith. Sure miss his music.

Monday, March 21, 2005

First day of spring

Officially, the first day of spring (and daylight savings time soon!)

At the green grocer today they had horseradish root. It isn’t always available but today there was plenty. Freshly grated on just about anything is delicious. There were also beets so a favourite dish of beets, sour cream and freshly grated horseradish will soon be devoured.

The speed and quietness of the new Mac mini that was received last week is very impressive. It is a 1.42 mhz with SuperDrive, 1 Gb RAM, Airport and Bluetooth.. One assumes that something that small will have it limits but it is a very responsive machine. And it seems to be absolutely quiet. Apple has really put together something very good here. If PC users are switching based on this machine they are in for a very nice surprise. The size and price is going to bode well for businesses also. Dedicated machines for specific purposes beyond a server have always been a headache. They take a lot of room. The minis solve this dilemna.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Lazy Sundays

Last night we went to visit some old family friends. We were able to see some new babies and visit with their parents. The fathers of the kids, who are twins themselves, live in Edmonton and Norway. It is amazing to be with people who you have known all their lives that have changed in some ways and not in others. People seem to always remain the same. It is like there is this core personality and that is who the person is, period. They get older, have different interests, get married, whatever--- but their sense of humour, their mannerisms, their articulation remains the same. You can't put a finger on what it is exactly but you know it is them. And no two people are the same.

The rain has finally arrived in the amounts we are used to. And with any rainy Sunday afternoon the household seems to just shut down. It is re-charging time for the upcoming week, which is shorter than usual because of Easter.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Fishing--again

We spent a great morning yesterday on the Chilliwack River fly fishing for steelhead. The weather is warming up and spring is just starting out there. It was absolutely spectacular. We fished for about 3 hours and didn't get a bite. One bait caster came by and said no one was having any luck. There was a duck that flew right up the middle of the river going up river at about eye level. It was multi-coloured with a mid-brown head. I have never seen a duck with so much vivid colour. About 10 minutes later it flew back down the river at eye level. Saw one bald eagle hovering over the river. Maybe the duck was flying in the middle of the river to keep out of harms way.

I don't know of too many things that soothe the spirit as much as fly fishing. There is something so peaceful about pulling that fly out of the water and placing it back in the water with one fell motion. No mechanical sounds just the swish of the line as it moves out over the water.

Today I was at a meeting of trustees of an education foundation. One of the trustees is leaving after serving for 9 years. We will all miss him. He always came to the meeting with so much valuable input. His perception of any situation added so much to any final decision. Just a great person. It is always amazing to see how people interact and work together.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Life's Circles

Everyone that you come into contact with has his or her own circle of life. Let me explain. We all live within a realm of people, places and time. There really isn't much else in the day. But each of us exist in a truly unique environment not only by what we think and what our senses appreciate but also our individual perception of all those components. And this fluidity that is "us" is constant. Our family, friends and passing acquaintances each move themselves into our circle to create that experience. We can disengage from people to consider that static world around us, be it man-made or natural. Time always is moving no matter what.

I think therefore I am. I think therefore time moves. I think-- so what happens when I don't? Sometimes your brain hurts from all the thinking. In this day and age the appreciation of silence and stillness isn't such a bad idea.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Teenagers and fishing

I just had an interesting meeting with an old neighbour of ours who moved outside the area. His kids are getting bigger and much older than I had thought and he is seeing the teenage years for them fast approaching. Someone once said about teenagers – “They become aliens and leave the planet around 13 or 14 years of age. But don’t worry they usually return to earth 5 or 6 years later.” At times that is what one had to think in order to get through it. Anyway he is beginning to look for something to do outside the home and as golf is not his sport, and sitting at the Legion would probably not help any marriage, he was thinking about fly-fishing. Voila! Another person to accompany on those fishing expeditions, that time when you just need to get out and get some fresh air. Nothing is a better than being beside or in a river.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Sushi time

Had a very interesting lunch today with my favourite ad agency, Currency. The account manager and I talked about blogs and what businesses were about to venture into with this new form of communication. The relevancy of the blog is going to be different for each business as the "wall of silence" begins to erode. Some interesting times are ahead for businesses that don't or won't change or use this process.

We also discussed the need for a new type of conference centre, one that isn't part of a hotel with the typical white table cloth setup for food and beverages. We could really use the American model here. Last year at the Seattle Conference for GTD the venue was fantastic. If you took a break, outside of the meeting room was a good counter (not table) that would have bowls of different types of candies and just great snack stuff. And the bowls never went empty! The other neat thing was you took your own break (except for lunch) so when you got a bit drowsy you could go out and grab a drink and snack. It sure came in handy at about 4:09 p.m. when the eyelids got heavy. Now wouldn't that setting be a little better than heading out for stale pastries or giant cookies at exactly 3:15 pm. Lots of possibilities here.

Two more meetings today. Gotta luv those meetings. There should declare one weekday a year as non-meeting day. We sometimes need less human interaction to complete our workloads.

Sunny and warm. Wonder what its like on the Prairies?

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Yes it is March

Even though by the calendar spring is a few weeks away I am sure everyone has there own personal signs as to when spring begins. When the cherry blossoms (or Japanese plum tree) blossoms appear, when the daffodils begin to show some signs of aging and the robins are chirping away in the morning to wake you up...well those seems to be the internal signs for me anyway that spring has un-officially arrived.

This bloggin needs some personal discipline. Getting busy with life seems to get in its way. Thank you Gillian for reminding me not to give up.

Yesterday I had lunch with a fellow who has been living in Tokoyo for the last 7 years. It was great to see him (he usually brings me some neat thing from over there). His question, and one that every Canadian thinks about when out of Canada for a few years, is what is a Canadian. Who knows? The only thing that seemed to be very different for Canadians for me is their perception of geographic distance. We tend to think in terms of the number of days it takes to drive somewhere. Most nationalities don't see geography in those terms.

Another question comes to mind. How does the randomness and chaos of the nature around us make meaning for each indvidual. When I look at a tree there are so many lines and paterns it is amazing. Look at a man made object and it just seems to be straight lines. But the mind seems to be much more soothed by the natural pattern.

And its raining again.

Monday, February 28, 2005

Last day of Feburary

Should have gone fishing today but there was a ton of chores backed up that needed to be done. And the sunshine ended.

Yesterday was the day of the 2 hour walk. It is always interesting to walk with the iPod as the music sometimes brings what you are walking into a very different focus. Passing all those giant trees on Burnaby Mountain you have to wonder why every single one of these once magnificent trees had to be cut down. Think about it. In all the Lower Mainland where are all those ancient trees? We just see the stumps. Couldn't those "pioneers" just kept a few for following generations? We've been left a legacy of stumps.

Politics is in the air. The signs are up just like the dandelions. We ran into our local NDP candidate and had an interesting talk. He has some interesting ideas. It should be an interesting election.

Finally found a place that sold Callard & Bowser Altoids - Citrus Sours. These are the best sour candies made. The label state "Curiously Strong'. There's even an expiry date on the side of the tin. Yes tin. After all the citrus sours our gone you have a neat little metal tin for storage of you every increasing stuff!

Was down at Memphis Blues on Commercial for lunch today . Just amazing food that you can't taste anywhere else but the deep south. And the blues music playing is great. There goes the cholesterol.

Sunday, February 27, 2005

First and foremost a name...

First and foremost about blogging with Blogger is trying to find a name that is unique, understood and easily remembered. But guess what. Most of the names you come up with have already been taken. So looking at the kitchen counter there was some tinfoil. Why not? But someone had taken that. Why not add "today". There must be some sort of science to making this up.