Tinfoiling

Not here....

2007-02-26T11:30:00.001-08:00

After talking to a few people and trying out WP I decided to make the move. I've been here for 2 years and it has been great but WP has some interesting features that can't be passed up. See you over there www.tinfoiling.com

Moose Camp - Northern Voice 2007

2007-02-23T20:59:00.000-08:00

The Moose Camp was excellent. The day seemed to just disappear. Great speakers, great discussions, something for everbody and it is pretty certain that everyone left with a tired brain. Wikis seemed to be a major focal point. Drupal vs WordPress. Communities. Thank you to all who contributed.

Dunach School

2007-02-21T19:14:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 am the Dunach Elementary School PAC meets. This is the time of year the credit union I work for attends 3 PAC meetings of the 3 local schools. This is the first one. We've been going to these meetings for about 5 years now and are there for only 30 minutes or so. We meet with a few of the parents and the school principal is usually there. The three schools all have an enrollment around 100 pupils with Bradner Elementary School being the highest with maybe about 125 pupils. The reason we are there is to present the committee with a cheque. It is the same amount for each school. It is the same amount each year. That amount is $3,000.

Why do we do it? Because it is needed and it means that much less stress parents have in trying to make money for the school. There are other credit unions that put a small student run facility in the school. It is supposed to each kids about banking. I think it just gets the kids to open an account at that credit union which is in the school anyway. It is pretty crafty way to get members. There is a difference between advertising and donating. They aren't the same. People put up with advertising. They accept donations.

Balance

2007-02-19T11:55:00.001-08:00

There is a always discussion about how busy our lives are and that we need to have some balance. There is no strong definition of what this balance is and most sense it is similar to a scale, something like a measure of weighing that shows both sides are equal. But our lives are multi-dimensional, they do not consist of two areas that are in need of constant balance. My view is that life is like colours, sometimes a few, sometimes almost infinite, it just depends on the light and if you have your glasses on. It always is different as with each day.

We have obligations of work, family, friends. We view ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. And there is always the element of time. This seemingly is the most important because it is finite for all of us. How do we use, abuse or loose it? Taking these and other factors (emotions, age, culture, language, and more) and pretty soon we can just sit in a chair gazing out the window, overwhelmed by the variables that play and replay everyday in our lives. It seems with the attempt to make is simple (this balance) we end up realizing it’s complexity. Someone once told me at a seminar I attended in the ‘70s that no matter what you plan, no matter how hard you attempt to manage your life, you will never pick all the daisies.
The conclusion I have come to is that you can’t balance your life. Most decisions about what you want to do have passed through the priority channel. You end up doing what you at the moment thought best, sometimes those are wise decisions, most of the time they may not be that wise. You end up with consequences of those decisions and it seems you balance those consequences. Complete freedom to do what you want is impossible, but you still always have the complete freedom of will to decide.

If there was one thing that points to getting a sense of tranquility in your life it would be to make sure you take the time to rest. Keeping one day a week as free as possible gives you the time to reflect, to build, to heal and to think. We are meant to rest. And maybe the busyness we have is just a symptom of not resting.

The poster arrived

2007-02-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

The poster for sponsorship of Northern Voice 2007 arrived this weekend. And it is pretty good. Mt. Lehman Credit Union is one of the sponsors of the event and last year our marketing materials were posters and buttons. Our sponsorship was not viewed as the 'normal' marketing means to bring a lot of business to the credit union. It was more to assist the Northern Voice conference in establishing a tone for the conference. How to do that is sometimes difficult because you need to really understand the group or audience that participates. And really how does anyone really understand blogging? The 'culture' or 'tone' of the conference is really set by the participants and the interaction of the people. Reading the blogs of the people who are putting this together does give you a good idea of what Northern Voice is and why it is different than say Gnomedex.

NV is much smaller and tends to focus on what I would call relationship blogging and the blogging community as it evolves.

Blogging is relatively new and it does tend to change. There are some things that you do and somethings that you don't do. Kindness is appreciated. Openess to critiques is important. Acceptance of positive comments with humility goes a long way. Small graphics should always add to the discourse. Good writing comes from practice and is not a genetic condition. And blogging should always be fun.

When you put this all together blogging seems to be like graffitti or street art versus the paid old school media. Blogging tends to be honest enough to be disruptive. It is interesting that you can see 'tagging' on buildings and signs throughout the Lower Mainland. It is an identity for some. And the blogging community uses 'tags' to associate groups or ideas. Blogging allows for events, cultures and ideas to be 'interpreted' and discussed. The poster Basco5 did for us hopefully is like that. A piece of work that can be interpreted and discussed and is fun. So how does that fit with a Credit Union?

Banking has changed. You don't need to go into a branch all that much anymore. Technology has allowed this to happen. Some see this as increased revenue by decreasing staff (look what the Bank of Montreal announced last week). That seems to be a very short term position. What is needed in banking is the constant vigilance that banking needs to be established as a relationship. You trust me, I trust you. And you can only have relationships with people, not machines or technology. (see Jacques Ellul - The Technological Society). A lot of times banking is based on trust. An institution that ignores this has missed what people really want.

Sponsoring this event was really to say that the credit union is a 65 year old institution that supports relationships of trust. Northern Voice is a 3 year old conference that is doing exactly the same. We are not much different.

Can you remember....

2007-02-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

An old family friend scanned some old pictures and sent them to us today. It is scary to think that this picture was taken 35 years ago in Burnaby when I was dating Marjun. The darker haired woman on the left is my wife when she was 20 about 3 months before we were married. One look at this picture reminds me of why I left Canada to follow her back to Denmark. We were married 8 days after I landed there. We eloped. And she is as beautiful in this picture as she is now. The woman on the right is an old friend we don't see much. It is funny how 35 years change some things and then don't change anything.

Got invited to a bonspiel in Princeton this weekend. The last time I curled was at least 20 years ago. Now they have those push brooms instead of the straw type. Sorry if the curling lingo is wrong. What pain those blisters brought after playing all day. But this weekend we have 3 games guaranteed. We should be out of it after three.

This morning at about 7:00 am you could see the slight glimmer of light off in the east by Mt. Baker. Finally the sunlight is getting to us earlier and it is noticeable. You tend not to notice it with those constant days of rain we had. Now daylight savings time is earlier this year, I think it will start 3 weeks earlier on the March 3rd weekend. Our internal clocks will be upset again.

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-01-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

Went to this film tonight not really expecting anything other than something different. And something different it was. This is not for the squeamish or feint of heart. And the plot is woven again and again moving from reality to fantasy with the viewer sometimes wondering which is which. And because you need to read the subtitles (the film is in Spanish) you don't catch all of the scenes so it would be a very interesting film to see again. This film definitely is the type that you begin to wonder what you actually saw well after you are home. It would easily rate 9 out of 10, it should be in everyones DVD collection and it speaks volumes about blindly following anything without question.

Before the movie (the last movie I saw at Silver City was Gladiator) I had never experienced that level of unadulterated hype and Hollywood in the gaudy viewings before the show. It made my head-ache with the colours, flashing images and just plain garbage advertising. And to think that you actually paid for this! I don't watch TV so am not used to the 176 images that come at you every minute but it must play some type of havoc for those that view this as a steady diet. One must appreciate those popcorn and hot dogs scenes. I swear I could almost smell them.

Father and Son

2007-01-29T16:15:00.001-08:00

Father and Son
Originally uploaded by aremac.

Two rainbows, two eagles and a coyote

2007-01-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

I work in Mt Lehman (Abbotsford) but live in Burnaby (Burnaby Mountain). The commute is exacly 50 km door to door. Sometimes people wonder if it isn’t too much. Sometimes you think it is (40 minutes) but it usually takes 30 minutes to go anywhere in town. There are only a few lights and stop signs on the way so it is steady driving.

But today on the way to work it was pretty unique. The total by the time I got to work I was able to see 2 rainbows, 2 bald headed eagles, 1 coyote and amazing views of Golden Ears and Mount Baker at sunrise. It does not get any better. It seemingly rains forever and the first bright day of sunshine nature makes such a wonderful statement. Later in the day after lunch I noticed this eagle in the tree from my office window and managed to get this quick shot. At the end of the day the sunset turned Mount Baker pink. The sun really brought out the best in everything today.

Northern Voice 2007

2007-01-20T22:23:00.000-08:00

The nicest blogging conference is being held at UBC this year. It is an incredible event because there are such interesting people to meet. You can expend a huge amount of energy keeping up with the speakers and events. And it is a lot of fun. The credit union I work for is helping to sponsor the event with others again this year. Of course it is going to be tough to beat the positive response we got from everyone for our buttons and poster but there are a few things in the works that will make it interesting.
Some would ask why would a small credit union in the Fraser Valley sponsor an event such as this? If it does anything is brings a quiet message to everyone that the credit union movement is alive and well, that it is paying attention to what is happening in the online world and that specifically this credit union has the understanding of what blogging is and what it should be. There is a relationship established in blogging between writers and readers that removes the filtering of any 3rd party influence. And because of this communication people can grasp the signfigance of the stories and ideas presented. It is a new medium, it is evolving, and business should pay closer attention to the voice of the citizen. The other benefit of being there is the creative influence of the attendees. The ideas just flow. If you get a chance (I don't know the status of the registration but it does fill up quick) consider going. You will not regret it.

Noble E. Young Skate Park Construction

2007-01-18T22:58:00.001-08:00

Noble E. Young Skate Park Construction
Originally uploaded by Chris Wigginton.

Yes another skateboard park somewhere in the USA.

Martin Luther King Jr.

2007-01-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

It is late morning and for the last 2 hours I have spent going through the daily visited URLs, reading blogs, archiving information and trying to drain any brain patterns into some type of text/visual inbox. That besides the small list of chores is the typical Monday.

It’s the anniversary of Martin Luther Kin Jr.’s birthday today. His assassination was the 2nd that stopped the world, again. Then 2 months later Robert Kennedy’s tragic end. Those 3 events coloured your world as a teenager. They were unbelievable when you first heard of them. You quickly wondered what kind of world you were living in. CBS had Walter every night bringing you the savage imagery of Vietnam. This was the social setting of the music you heard. Now that music sells diapers and cars. Not a strong social context there. Sure the music is remembered, but when it is heard now is really is a different tune. The nostalgia wanes while the loss waxes.

Your webbed feet are showing

2007-01-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Driving to work today should have been more like taking your boat out. Nothing on the freeway went faster than 80 kph. And there was a very simple reason - everyone had to have their windshield wipers on full speed so it was difficult to see, especially while hydroplaning every 100 metres. Along Interprovincial the creeks were small rivers and the fields were soggy. Yes Matilda , we live in a rain forest. And more on the way.

I was listening to CBC Radio 3 podcast and heard 3000 Flowers by Destroyer. Pretty good, really good, great! The tune just catches you and the use of reverberation makes this song an instant classic. Unique, haunting and Bejar comes from Vancouver. See what the rain does to people.

It seems that no matter what people say they are or what they sometimes seem to be it will always be difficult to understand their actions that seem to be so foreign to who they are and what they stand for. One becomes so puzzled and confused when involved in situations with people like that. It is like there is a line in the sand they keep pushing towards you to gain ground. Tomorrow another one appears, then another. You know how it is going to end. The stick they use to draw the sand is going to be politely taken away and broken. Or maybe you will just state the obvious to them "Go pound sand".

Got the Guns of Navarone on DVD from the library. Another fun night with the 20" colour Emerson!

Another year begins

2007-01-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

So this is the year that ends in 7 if that means anything. And those resolutions. They are down to 4 and will stay that way. Keep the list small and manageable and the disappointment will be lessened.
With that said the past posts have been infrequent and future posts should be regular.

Arts and Letters Daily is a site that is full of interesting articles and points of view that one tends to forget about visiting. This is really what the internet is about, good information readily available. Some pages do make you think.

Watched All the Kings Men. Good picture but should have read the book. It would have been better.

Sometimes too early

2006-10-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

This morning while it was still dark the call of the gym rang loudly in my little mind. Yes time to get over there and sweat. It was a difficult shaving at 5:17 am but nothing like a fresh face to look at while getting your heart rate up to 156. Things were looking great when you make all 3 of the stoplights, whistling through on the greens. And so it begins -- another vigourous and healthy physical hour. But wait something is seriously wrong. The, well lets call her older women who you haven't seen in a few months, is at the different stations and the total weights she is pushing look to be quite a bit. Doesn't matter. I'll be over there in a few minutes and will crank it up -- wrong! I have to crank the weight total down. Humiliating. And from there it went downhill. About mid morning I felt awful. Just overdid it, again. Sometimes it is just too early.

Maybe I should take up smoking outside Irish bars like the guy in the picture. Not to worry there is always tomorrow, or the day after......

Turtles

2006-10-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

The turtle face. A Mexican handicraft from Loreto made from a coconut shell. This little image sometimes speaks volumes on our lifestyles. Make sure the shell is secure and then retract. Whatever the pain, I am inside so leave me alone.

I found a book "Prayer and Modern Man" by Jacques Ellul which I had bought 30 years ago and had not read. He speaks of prayer in the following passages.

Commenting on why people do not pray - "We are concerned with ourselves, with the actual situation of contemporary man, in our technical, technicalized society, with the situation of the person who does not want to pray because nothing invites him to do so, for whom everything is a deterrent from it."

When speaking of Durer's Praying hands picture - "They express the cessation of activity, the composure of heart which goes with a morning of promise or an evening of work completed."

Speaking of prayer as some suggest "a telephone to heaven" - "Thus the device itself gives me assurance because a means is at hand and I can do something."

These are very powerful statements that speak to the culture we live in today. These were written before the advent of the personal computer. It is apparent that Ellul saw what technology, now maybe viewed in it's infancy, was and would become to the human condition. He says that everything is a deterrent from prayer. That our lives speak bluntly to that which we lack. That cessation of activity...when is that experienced these days? And doesn't a personal computer need an inscription stating that "it gives me assurance because a means is at hand and I can do something". Prophetic words to a silent and unlistening world.

Non-typical

2006-09-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

It is getting a little scary right now with the weather. You know the rain is coming, you can expect to no longer see the sun for a few days or weeks and yet everyday it is just beautiful. This is so un-Vancouver like.

So the Omni people are going to produce a GTD program called OmniFocus.
Given the success of their programs OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle they will have a winner. GTD has really taken off and it has some defnite merits. The basic concepts of one in box, sorting into next actions and the 43 folders idea are very worthwhile. Has it helped get things done? Yes. Does it always work? No and anyone that says it does, well does anyone have that much self-discipline.

Sometimes you get an album, CD, whatever and play it a couple of dozen times and that is it. Memory bin. In April I picked up the new Calexico - Garden Ruin. I am still listening to it. My play count is double digits, possibly closing in on 3 digits. Absolutely a first class musical session with variations of Mexican-alternative-rock music. We saw them live a few months ago. High energy musicians that have the complete passion for good music.

Today I was downtown spending most of the day looking a a new banking system. Summit iSpectrum is a great product built right. The big question though is at what price$?

The picture is of Thornton Park and what used to be the CN train station. They were putting up some large stage platform there on Sunday. Looked like another movie shot was about to happen.

Normalcy

2006-09-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Seems that when one takes a longer holiday it also takes longer to get back into some sort of cycle that you are comfortable with. You expect it to just happen within a few days of work but you have gotten so used to holidays you can't escape that mode overnight. Why are we such creatures of habit?

Mac Powerbook shutdowns. There has been some information on these and it has been stated that it is the Intel MacPro but recently I have had a number of sudden shutdowns. The only way to start up again has been to disconnect the battery, push the start button to drain all power, insert the battery and startup. This would suggest an OS problem, right?

Jan Karsbjerg has some info on Wednesday's Weblogger Meetup. Always want to get to one but never can fit it in.

This is a picture of a small village just east of the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland. It is called Ballintoy. It is one of those wonderful small places, just off the beaten track, that make travelling in Europe such a surprise and a delight.

Home!

2006-08-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

Home after one month. And is it good to be back. We spent time in Ireland, England, passed through Holland and Germany unexpectedly, and finally Denmark. Europe is changing, it is busy, and in some ways it is loosing its old magic. It is becoming more and more anglicized with ever more words creeping into its languages which originate from the larger Amercan culture.

This is a picture of a window at the train station in Hvalsø in Zealand, Denmark. We visited relatives here. It is a small town about 40 minutes from Copenhagen. There is not a lot to see in town as it is pretty small. The library has great internet access and there is a lot of choice of magazines and newspapers. We ate in a small pizza place. Interesting that as we ate the postman came in and proceeded to tell the owner that he tried to deliver items at noon but the place was closed. The owners comment was that they didn't open until 12:03 pm as they had a family emergency. But the postman had to continue to express his concern that this was the second time he had to come to this place to deliver mail. You could sense he was not pleased. We then watched him walk across the street to put his bags and bicycle in the shed. His day was over and he was heading home. And this second delivery must have cost him and extra 2 minutes. Maybe he wasn't happy that the owners of the pizza place were Danes. Yes the Janteloven is still alive and well!

Kinvara

2006-08-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

After close to 1,300 km we arrived in Port Rush this afternoon. This is the town we left this morning, Kinvara, which was a total delight. There is a pub at the foot of this street, O'Connors, which we visited last night. The people were friendly and it had to be the ultimate place to talk and have a Smithwick. Wish we could have stayed here a few more days.

Ireland is a country of seemingly endless contrasts. It is unique and charming. Ulster definitely has the British influence which is noticeable. The south in contrast is growing, developing and hanging on to what Ireland was and is. I hope they can keep it but you can sense the changes and the erosions that will come. There is too much Western influence creeping in. But as one person we spoke with said "When we left school in the 80's the counselling was to get a ticket out of here if you wanted a job." That is no longer the case. Ireland needs people now. But it seems the housing market is the same as at home, too expensive for young people.

Only another few days left until we head off for London. Lots of pictures and great memories here.

Europa!

2006-07-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

This is our Java programmer after hiting the ATM (man with a pocket full of money)---and we are all off to A.N.A.F. Unit #315 for a pizza and beer! Work is over and the holidays have begun. 5 weeks across the pond. Ireland, London, Denmark.

I haven't been back for 14 years so am really, really looking forward to this. We'll meetup with a cousin I've never met in Kilkenny, auto around Ireland, stay in London with Marjun's cousin and wife (a fellow Canadian), up to Norfolk to visit a favourite uncle & aunt, and then onto Denmark and our home for a number of years, Nakskov. Some old school friends are planning a get together so I get to see them in their family life instead of the student life. That should be interesting.

Everything is assembled to be packed. Now the proverbial 'change of mind' at the last minute. I figure for that going away for that long there is no way I can take what is planned and should just travel light knowing you are going to have to buy something you forgot.

I should be updating this blog whenever I can get internet access. At the same time some of the pictures will get uploaded to Flickr.

It is hot today. I've been in the basement most of the time and it hasn't cooled off yet. Upstairs is an oven. Gotta get to the store, the fridge is empty! It's ice cream time. At London Drugs today it was empty and the salesman said "The only thing we've done lately is answer the phone and tell people - Sorry we are sold out of airconditioners!"

Dentists, garagedoors and mechanics

2006-07-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today I was back in the chair slated for a 60 minute session. Two inlays to put in and I'm out of there. But the temporaries wouldn't come out so easily, then the rubber dam (does anyone like those things?) and on and on. If something could go sideways today in that chair it did. That's when, all said and done, you need a good dentist you can trust. My dentist is the best. That's why it wasn't that bad.

Garage doors. Doorworks came out to look over this creaking, intermittent up an down double garage door we have. Complete overhaul. You have to appreciate craftsman who take time, do it right and explain everything to you. It works great now. You can hardly hear it.

And finally got the SUV tuned up. First major tuneup with a change of plugs in 3 years and 114,000 km. Everytime I thought it needed a tune-up our mechanic would say no way it is still good. Something to do with platinum plugs. Anyway the thing is ticking like a dream.

When your day gets filled with good people you can trust and do good work for you then I think it is a pretty good day. Because most of the time it is completely the opposite. The one thing that stands out with these guys --- they all have a lot of pride in what they do and they do it right the first time.

Old recipes

2006-07-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

When my mother passed away a few years ago we were given all the cookbooks and recipes cut out from magazines and newspapers that she had. They were safely put away in the basement as we didn't have any other place to put them. When we built some shelving in the kitchen for cookbooks last year we got them out and placed them on the shelves. Over that last year we've found some real treasures.

In the early 50's when Kentucky Fried chicken started with Colonel Saunders, they opened a restaurant in Vancouver featuring this chicken. I remember my mom once saying that she met the Colonel and I never thought anything of it. In amongst all the recipes is a small booklet describing this "new" Kentucky Fried chicken. Neat. But then on the cover in very fine handwriting is a small note and signature of the Colonel. She must have met him to get his autograph.

Then there is the booklet on BC Home Canning put together by the sales agents of the BC Tree Fruits Ltd in Kelowna. This is filled with more information about canning fruit than anything I have ever seen. Jars, methods of canning, fruits with a chart of when they are available and their peak season, every fruit with varieties mentioned and then the recipes.

There is a book put out by the Daily Province (newspaper) called Cooking Clinc. On the last page it says "Just phone PA 4211 and we'll be pleased to send you The Province immediately." PA was the old Pacific exchange. Remember the other exchanges?

Then there is something put out by the B.C. Electric Home Service Centre at 970 Burrard Street. B.C. Electric and recipe books? That would now be B.C. Hydro and recipe books.

Amongst all of these pages is the occasional note about an adjusted measurement or "good recipe!" in my mother's handwriting. She would never have realized what these old recipes mean to us now.

CN, what's up?

2006-07-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

There was a report of yet another derailment by CN, this time leaving two men dead and one in the hospital. Last year the Cheakamaus River was destroyed by a CN derailment. And there are others. I understand that after last year's mishap they were to keep the number of cars down to a minimum but subsequently applied to have that order lifted.

Now most of us are not train people. The closest we have come to operating a train is the HO gauge in our childhood bedroom. But it doesn't take an expert to realize something here. BC Rail when it operated the line didn't have this problem. Now with the new operator there has been nothing but problems. Why does it take the destruction of a river and people loosing their lives to make the authorities wake up? Is the company "too big" to regulate? Or maybe admonishment is the only course some care to choose.

This is not a political process we are talking about. This is the government, who are to be the public's watchdog in these circumstances, doing what most people would ask-- make those that are responsible accountable for their lack of proper judgement. Someone wake up and do something before more mayhem is inflicted.

Stuff

2006-06-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Globe and Mail Business section had an article by Mathew Ingram on Web 2.0 applications. He mentioned dabble db, a Vancouver entry into this ever growing group of web applications.

PopChar has a new version out that seems to finally have made the grade. It is one of those products that never seems to quite make it. You can always find that one character some other way. This must be one of the oldest Mac utility programs around.

Comming home on the freeway tonight the line up into the city was backed up at 176th Avenue. The other side, going east, was packed with everyone getting a head start on the long weekend. Just when you are coming down the hill to the bridge you could see an accident on the other side. Some guy, with an older stationwagon, loaded up completely with travel stuff and pulling a trailer and boat on top, rear ended a Jeep. He was on the cell phone. The woman was in the passenger seat, hands folded, glaring out the window. "Well honey, there goes the holiday!"

Flickr

2006-06-26T01:02:00.000-07:00

Today I upgraded my flickr account to pro. After spending some time with the menus and what you can do it definitely is worth it. IF you are into digital photography to any great degree this program will allow you to share those pictures that you think are shareable. With the bandwidth they give you there is ample space to fill their storage area with whatever you want. You can see the stuff I've downloaded at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinfoiling/

#9 Boundary

2006-06-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

Had to go to the dentist today for a 2 hour session. To get there I take the Skytrain to Commercial Drive then the #9 along Broadway to MacDonald. Great route for seeing cosmopolitan Vancouver. This afternoon when coming back the bus was about half full. At Kingsway this fellow gets on with a liquor store bag and a backpack. You can see he is a roofer with dirt and sweat just caked all over him. He had a red bandanna on and looked like he had worked hard all day. So he sits down near the back. There is another guy next to me and a lady by the other window, all of us watching as he packs the 2 six packs of beer into the knapsack. When he is finished he looks up and says "one 6 pack for the game, the other 6 pack when the Oilers win!" Everybody at starts laughing and the conversations begin. I am pretty sure if the law allowed it there could have been a bunch of people at the back of that bus starting a pre-Stanley Cup party. The guy in the bandana was the type to pass around a few of those beers without any hesitation.

Peace Arch

2006-06-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend we spent it down at the seaside retreat at White Rock. The weather was great and there was hardly anyone down there so it was quiet and peaceful. On Saturday we walked over to the Peace Arch and milled around the "Hands Across the Border" event. They say there was 12,000 people participating, mostly Girl Guides and Boy Scouts from the US and Canada. It was pretty neat to see so many young kids having fun. They have this event every year and this year they celebrated the Peace Arch's 85th year.

It was interesting to walk about and feel that you were no different than the citizens of this country you were in. In some ways it is amazing how at home you feel. And in other ways how different the two systems are.

Today the tide at noon was extremely low and we made it out to the 49th parallel marker in the bay. There were a lot of starfish and anemones surrounding the cement marker and an eaglet in a nest at the top. There were a bunch of people harvesting crabs and clams. Given the size of the buckets they were over their limits.

Yes down to the States both days without going through customs!

Google Reader

2006-06-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Just came across a very good link by Jason Toal on a screencast of Google Reader. This really points out some great benefits of using this tool. RRS feeds are best appreciated when you have a lot to read and only want to look a information without the noise.

Everywhere and everything

2006-05-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

Seems that May is ending and most hadn't realized it just started. With the longer days of sunlight you just get busy with everything. It's like you have finally come out of hibernation.

Everything is set for our summer vacation. Marjun leaves the beginning of July for 2 months. She'll be in Denmark until the 25th were she will meet up with me in Dublin for the WOCCU conference. This is a 4 day conference with credit unions from all over the world. The last one we were at was Nashville, Tennessee and it was amazing to meet so many different people. The Irish will be putting out the red carpet to make this memorable. After the conference we tour Ireland by car for 5 days, then onto London and Norfolk to spend some time with relatives. The final weeks will be back in Denmark with family and old friends. There are a few old school mates that are planning to get together. I haven't been back for 14 years so there will be some changes for sure. One looks forward to seeing the people, tasting the food and seeing all of those familiar haunts as well as something new. What always intrigues me is the different fragrances. There are smells that just bring back a flood of memories that can only be found in some unique corner of the globe.

Today it's off to the passport office. That is a high priced product that seems to take longer to apply for, longer to get, and last a shorter time. If nothing changes why can't you just append your passport with a new photograph? or better yet just get your Flickr account updated with a few pictures so they can always see what you look like.

The Nikon D-50 continues to amaze me. The clarity of the images is the best I have seen in a digital camera. With a true SLR lens you begin to notice the lack of limitations in taking any photograph. We were over at a friends place last week and took some pictures outside at about 10:00 pm with the flash. Clear, brilliant and simple to take. The optics on the lens makes a huge difference. The picture below was taken in a gymnasium from the far side of the door in the background. Cropping out the noise brings in the focus of people milling about chatting and enjoying a school reunion.

It is fun taking pictures, again.

2006-05-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

This new camera continues to amaze me with its functions and possibilities. Since using small "automatic" digitals that really didn't allow you to manage the variables to any great extent, you tend to just point and shoot. If you adjusted the aperture there was usually not enough light to take the picture you wanted. Not enough light meant the blinding flash would saturate your image with light creating those glaring shadows. With the return of the SLR controls you have to begin to "construct" your pictures thinking in terms of depth of field, control of the light, etc. With this camera you can bracket your white balancing, automatically. It only does that with JPGs not with the RAW files. Now the variances when you view what you have taken are just incredible. It seems like painting at times.

The biggest question to begin with is what type of file to take the picture in. RAW allows you to bring the file into an editing enviroment that gives you wonderful control. It really is like being in the darkroom again. But the files size! And because you can just click away , the total download is usually over 1G. You tend to become somewhat ruthless with trashing those images that are the least bit out of focus or no amount of cropping will help. It does bring some new excitement into an old hobby.

Season of meetings

2006-05-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

Sooner than later this 'season of meetings' should be over. I don't know what has been happening in everyone elses life but for the last few months the calendar is full of meetings. Never ending meetings. Meetings with and meetings without purpose. What is it? The new way to make social contact? Sorry but sitting in a boring meeting is sometimes worse than a root canal. The root canal has a knowledgeable end. Meetings take on lives of their own and go on and on and on. Long live the simple freedom to sit by yourself and think!

My last purchase of a good camera (SLR) was in 1979 with a Canon A-1. It doesn't get used much anymore, is heavier than a kitchen sink, but was one of the best 35mm cameras made. It still feels good to hold and shoot. Last week after a number of months researching Lens and Shutter got a sale. I chose a Nikon digital D50 but not with the kit lens. I upgraded to the same lens as the D70s. And after hundreds of pictures this camera is impressive. It does everything the A-1 does with just new dimensions in taking pictures. It is fast, very fast. The RAW images are a joy to work with, and the ability to compensate with all the tools of the camera to take a good picture is at times unbelievable. I picked up the SB600 Speedlight flash which is a gem. No more flash picture with the black curtain ending the visual. Great bounce flash AND fast! I am sure there will be further comments about this apparatus in the future but the most striking thing about this camera is it's usability. If you have a medium knowledge of photography everything that makes up this camera is understandable and very usable. Just a joy to use with some great results (as you can see).

Old pictures

2006-04-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

When I got home from work tonight my wife, daughter-in-law and a friend were doing scrapbooking at the kitchen table. They had a pile of old pictures strewn across the table, sorting them into little black boxes. This is a serious hobby. Why? Where else can you see a dozen different types of siscors, 50 types of gel pens, corner cutters, hole punchers of every shape and size, different types of papers and stickers, stickers, stickers. This is heavy duty. Nostalgia at its finest. Cut, paste, scribble, print. Sort of like grade one except you can't eat this glue.

So I went through a batch of old pictures. Amazing. There was one there of my wife when she was 20 years old. Funny how all those old first love memories come flooding back. We could even remember the day the picture was taken (she was mad at me for something). There is still a box of them to view, enough for a lifetime of memories to live again.

Cold April

2006-04-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was at the University Golf Club for a golf tournament. It was supposed to rain and didn't even try. But man was it cold! It felt like a round in November. And then when you skull the ball the vibration up the shaft hits your hands and OUCH! The wind seemed to just go through you. We have all had cold rounds but most everyone agreed that was close to number one. All the suppliers had nice buckets of ice with water and pop. Sorry, wrong temperature. No one had a hot drink. Our foresome didn't do so bad but at the dinner and prize draw I came home with a red and yellow Taylormade golf bag. Very nice way to end a memorable day even if my better half has laid claim on the bag.

The story of the fridge

2006-04-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

or "Men creating order out of chaos, women creating chaos out of order"

Men will always put items back in the fridge where they originally found them. It is much easier to find them then. But women sabotage us. They move stuff around. Then when we ask for help finding stuff they always say men can never find anything. They seem to want to prove their superiority by confusing us. And sometimes women think we are confused, which of course is not the case. If women would only put things back where they found them, the fridge would be a much happier place.

Conceptualizing

2006-04-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am reading 'The Stewardship of Life in the Kingdom of Death' by Douglas John Hall. In it he writes:

'It is the same with our conceptualizing of the totality the whole of reality. We can give so much loyalty to our own intellectual-spritual pre-understanding of the world that the world as it acutually is has a hard time getting through to us. In fact, we use our ideas about the world to shield ourselves from the real world.'

This seems to be the normal behaviour of most. By our pre-defining the world, and to such a large extent as we grow older this pre-definition grows, we loose sight of what that real world is. Is that why when we encounter a 4 year old we are overwhelmed by the innocence and wonderful view of the world that they have to offer? That they have yet to define it and as such can just see the world through a fresh set of eyes? After reading this I can see the challenge of constant re-definitions or even getting to the point of existing at times without any definitions. We also seem to create ideas that perform their duty to keep reality at bay.

There is a word that is becoming popular these days - lenses. That says something about the way we view things.

Have a blessed Easter!

A hockey game

2006-04-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight it is off to the hockey game against the Ducks. It seems they are going to have to win the next games in order to make the playoffs. When you have grown up here you take your sports seriously at times but tend not to go overboard. Why? Because Vancouver teams always tend to disappoint the fans (BC Lions, Grizzlies, need more be said?). Tonight could be a very good game with Burke and Carlyle there. The biggest surprise may be the grin on their faces if they win.

And Mikelson wins the Masters. Another point for us lefthanders. Someone I know had Mikelson's as their pick in a pool at their golf club. The win will probably be worth $800 for him. Mikelson wins $1.25 million or so.

I am reading Douglas Adams - The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. Is this book funny. There is some unique humour here that just makes you laugh out loud. Imagine Thor the god of thunder being glued to the floor by his father Odin and asking a woman for help in removing the floor pieces from his back. See--- you really are going to have to read it to understand this plot.

Income tax filed. Refund coming back. Thought I would owe them money this year so hesitated doing the return. Was wrong. They have had my money and now it needs to come back. But if you do the return early and owe them money then you just stress out that they are owed more. In the final analysis if it has anything to do with taxes it just is going to be an annoyance you have to live with.

Choices

2006-04-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Globe and Mail has some interesting letters concerning the women who does not want her child to receive a form that would allow her to receive a bible. It isn't the fact that she receives a bible it is only that she has a choice to receive a bible.

Now in this day and age when someone asks a question, you do have a choice. In most instances an elevated society would then state that the person questioned would then answer. It seems a bit backwards to ask someone not to ask the question, at all. I was wondering how advertising in schools is then viewed. There you don't get a chance, it just sits in your face. But then that is all about money which is always more important than theology. Money will always carry you through any of life's crises, right?

A full day...

2006-04-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

I was out at Currency early this morning having a meeting about our upcoming campaign. As always they have come up with exactly the approach that fits perfectly with us. You get a sense when working on these things that there is a synergy that really moves ideas and thoughts exactly to the place they need to be. When we look back over the past few years at what we have had done and see where we are going it still all fits together with nothing out on the limb. I am pretty excited about this as once again we are going to be doing something that makes our difference a key element on what we do and how we are viewed. It took a few months to get there but creativity is not something you can turn on or off. It is like jello, it has to set a while.

What a difference an hour makes! I was out for a quick walk tonight. It was sunset. And everyone and everyone's dog was out for a walk. Kids were out with their basketballs, little kids in their designer buggies ( they must call these things something else and definitely not baby buggies) dogs leashed and unleashed and just that new vibrant green that seems to be oozing out everywhere. Spring has sprung!

Sunday, Sunday

2006-04-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

Was out for a walk this afternoon. At 14 degrees it was actually warm. We don't have to have many reasons as to why we live here when you can see this everywhere.

This is a good one (from goddess spiral)
Book Meme
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 161.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of this sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.
As noted on goddess spiral my results from Douglas Adams' - the Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul was: "Huh?'
Things can never cease to amaze us huh?

Guy Kawasaki has a great write up on how to remain sane. We all need that! He also describes a blogger: Blogger. n. Someone with nothing to say writing for someone with nothing to do.

2006-03-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the last day of March and this weekend the time change to daylight savings time. This really puts spring at the forefront and tells me winter is over. Yes dear, the snowtires are off and stored in the garage. Now everyone should be coming out of their grey winter moods. I don’t know what it was this winter, maybe all the rain and lack of sunshine, but everyone seemed to either be overly tired or fighting the flu bug these last few months. We need some springtime jolt to get us going. Those long shadows of winter need to be made shorter.

Today, while having lunch, I had a great view of English Bay and out towards UBC. It was from the 9th floor of the BC Central Credit Union building. I had never noticed that Spanish Banks at low tide appears like a strip of land out into Burrard Inlet. It goes out quite a way looking from the Burrard Street Bridge. You can see the pylons and warning lights at Locarno Beach and west but it never seems that the stretch of sand at low tide really goes out that far. That view is a favourite with the north shore mountains looming over the mass of downtown buildings.

The Concerts in China

2006-03-30T20:55:00.000-08:00

After moving books and CDs around in a number of bookcases, 2 CDs finally appeared; Joni Mitchell's - Both Sides Now (which is about 2 years overdue at the New Westminster Public Library) and Jean-Michel Jarre's - The Concerts in China. Joni's CD is going back immediately. I refused to pay the $27 they wanted as a replacement cost. Now I am wondering what the overdue fine will amount to. I will probably be banned for life from that library!

The Jarre CD is compilation of concerts that he gave in 1982. They were given in Peking and Shanghai (that line should date them immediately). They were the first performances of rock or contemporary music ever given in the People's Republic of China. There are no lyrics. It is a very interesting and melodic CD. Funny thing is that we bought it on the island of Crete and it still has this cryptic Greek music center tag on the front.

Too long between posts

2006-03-25T16:49:00.000-08:00

This has been the longest time between posts. Why? Enough is happening at the moment to fill 1.5 lives.

Rob Cottingham had a very interesting post on March 16th. The summation is:

“Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn’t place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.”

You can guess what the topic is. Great antimetabole.

More Web 2.0

2006-03-05T21:22:00.000-08:00

After exploring even more Web 2.0 applications today my head finally hurts. There is an absolute ton of stuff out there. A good place to start is TechCrunch with their index. There are 441 different applications here. That doesn't mean everyone is different.

There are lots of Flickr type applications. But here are some very different & neat ones.

remember the milk. A great, simple to-do list application. What makes this one different? Its simplicity. You don't get lost, the concepts are understandable, everything works, and it has every feature you can use. There is not much "dreamware" here --stuff that look great that you would never use. It allows you to tag your entries!

Nuvvo. It may sound a little lame but this application allows you to construct a way to teach on the web. If you want to teach someone something, this is an interesting example of how you could do this. You devise all aspects about teaching any subject matter. Very interesting and you can begin to see the possibilities for groups and small businesses.

Squidoo. This has an "educational" flavour to it but is more a depository of references that allows you to use a number of built in modules in development. Let's say you love Chevelles. In fact you spend most of your non-working and waking hours with these cars. So with all that specialized knowledge that you want to share how would you do it? Voila! Just click on this link and you get the idea.

There will be some fallout with some of the sites. It doesn't seem possible that all will exist in a year from now. They all need enough of a following to make them continue. Some are possibly hoping for something to happen to them like Flickr--purchased for $30M+ by Yahoo. The important point is this shows what is happening with the internet technologies. The hardware and tools needed to put ideas into action is now possible for just about anyone. And there are enough users to view, use and critique whatever is put on the internet. 10 years ago you would only have been able to deliver the idea in a stand alone program, then you would have had to put it into enough peoples hands to get some idea on usefulness. Now the production and delivery are the same vehicle. Another barrier has been obliterated. Interesting that the technology got faster, and the people that have the ideas got a lot smarter.

Web 2.0 apps

2006-03-02T23:47:00.000-08:00

There are some extremely interesting web applications that are surfacing daily. I have been trying ma.gnolia as a tagging process and find it a little different and maybe easier to use than del.icio.us. Ma.gnolia supports some applets that fit in with Camino which makes tagging a snap. Del.icio.us does the same thing on Safari.

Tagging is a concept that in simplest of terms is the next dimension for organizing. It goes beyond the classic bookmark idea. With tagging you can create a multi-dimensional view (mulitple tags) of any web page. And your tagging category name can be anything you choose. Ma.gnolia lets you use single words or phrases for tagging categories and you separate your tags by a comma. You could call tagging the web based concept for keywords. It then takes another step by allowing your to share your tags with others. These tags can then become part of a group which is just a networked method of sharing with others a common interested topic. You need to try it to appreciate how it works.

I can only guess at how this and other Web 2.0 applications will evolve. But the creativity that is being shown by so many sites is phenomonal.

Home offices

2006-02-28T00:24:00.000-08:00

This weekend was spent getting the basement prepared for painting and moving everything down into this new area for my desk and stuff. Of course everyone has a good idea on what they want their home office to look like but in the end there is a lot of give and take. The advantage of this new space is that it is out of the way and well lit. And it should be much cooler in the summer. Looks like I will need another gallon (whoops 3.67 litres) of paint to finnish the other side of this room.

On Saturday Fleming and I attended a 6 hour workshop at Lee Valley Tools on the Leigh jig. This is a tool, when used with a router, that will produce beautiful dovetail joints. We spent some time learning about the setup and had a little project to complete. To my amazement the project turned out beautifully. Woodworking is pretty good therapy, nothing like making something with your hands. The smell of fresh cut wood also helps!

The Olympics

2006-02-18T08:08:00.000-08:00

Haven't paid much attention other than the medal winnings of Canada. Funny that when we get a great womens hockey team that is head and shoulders above the competition, then someone wants to change the rules. Can anyone say summer Olympics - Mens basketball? The most interesting thing to date is the gold medal winner from Australia, mogul skier Dale Begg-Smith. One really can't disagree with the view on this site. And it is very humorous that the Globe & Mail this week published a front page photo of this guy. Given they are a business oriented newspapers he probably cost most of their company business readers a lot of time and money.

Once upon a time...

2006-02-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

So Mr. Moore launches his lawsuit against Bertuzzi for $15 million plus. Right in the middle of the Olympics. Great for the game isn't it. Could have done it a few weeks earlier but waited for the last day. By doing this he sure makes a huge wave in the hockey world and we get to relive the moment once again. Though what TB did was wrong, when does this thing end? Maybe Moore is suing for so much because he would never have ever made close to that amount as a hockey player and this is his one shot at it. So when is enough enough. I remember attending that game and that pool of blood that was left on the ice is a pretty haunting memory. Before they started playing for the final minutes the referees were trying to scrape the blood colour out of the ice like the goalies do before the games starts. No matter how hard they tried it just didn't go away. Seems this event will just never go away for TB, Canuck fans and now all hockey fans.

Our view

2006-02-14T20:38:00.000-08:00

I was reading the blog entry at Posthegemony for October 5, 2005 titled speed. He opens with the typical depiction of Latin America as a place of languor and lassitude and goes on to refute this perception. In fact it is exactly the opposite. But why have we viewed it so differently? What gives our culture such exclusivity that it can define any other culture in such absolute and sometimes senseless terms? What arrogance we maintain and the horror is that we don’t even view it as that. We in North America sometimes can only view the world through a T.V. set, no matter which channel is picked.

Northern Voice Day 2

2006-02-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

A very different day than the first. Quieter and less energy maybe due to the difference in the attendees. There were more neophyte bloggers and a much larger crowd.

I thought Julie Leung's opening keynote was good. It was powerful and full of imagery. There was a full exploration of the theme "storytelling" which is essential to any good blog. It brought much of the human element into the sometimes purely technical world of blogs.

Dave Sifry and Tim Bray were good. Dave will really churn out ideas and has a passion for blogging and his business. Tim always has a unique point to bring forward. They would be great as a podcast team.

I thought Nancy White's - Snow White and the Seven Competencies of Online Interaction was the highlight presentation of the day. If you ever have a chance to see Nancy run, don't walk to her presentation. It was excellent and touched on some wonderful ideas and issues. She has posted the presentation on Flickr.

The afternoon sessions were much easier to fathom. You have to remember your brain can only work at 100% for only so long. Blogging in Education was very academic, Geek Out has some great tips and technology presentations and last but not least Five Ways Your Blog can Change the World with only Rob Cottingham (the other 3 presenters weren't there for various reasons) was pretty good considering. I felt sorry for Rob. Can you imagine being part of a group of 4 for an hour presentation and ending up doing the whole thing yourself. They did make a connection with a cell phone to one of the other presenters for some of the time.

Was it as good as last year? Yes but in a different fashion. Blogging has a bit more age and depth to it now. It is taking a different form that was not apparent before. And having moved into a maturer methodology/technology it becomes less vibrant for some. It hasn't lost it's excitement, it has just become more common. The venue is great even if it was crowded at times and it is close to some great eating spots for lunch. The people who put in on really do a fantastic job. Most of them get little time to attend the events making sure everything in the background is running smoothly. The big difference was seeing the people and meeting the individuals. For over a year now I have read numerous blogs and really started to understand various peoples points of view and events in their lives. You get to "know" people in a way that is really very different. (someone is going to have to come up with a word to describe that kind of relationship) And so when you finally get to meet them it is pretty special. Northern Voice really sets the stage to encounter the person behind the blog. I don't know how it does it but it works for me. And that is why I'll be there again next year.

PS Only one suggestion - have a quick closing with everyone gathered. It puts a proper closure to the event.

Northern Voice 2006 - 1st day

2006-02-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

Just getting my head together after an event-full day at this blogging conference. Today was the MooseCamp. Excellent speakers and dialogue with not one dull moment. You have to prepare for an event like this by keeping your brain prepared for the plethora of ideas that are presented.

The DabbleDB demo with Avi Bryant and Andrew Catton was very good. This is going to be a very sought after web app by individuals and business. Simple and elegant. And definitely fills a need.

Michael Tippett spoke on NowPublic. Interesting how the real time reporting by anyone can also be an agent of change. Interesting question to ask-- Isn't anyones perception of any news event just as valid as anyone elses?

David Sifry gave a great presentation on Leadership Hacks with some thought provoking input by a lot of the attendees. This says a lot about how the conference has a strong sharing attitude by everyone.

More tomorrow.

Northern Voice 2006

Stoplights and accidents

2006-02-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday when we were moving the kids to their new place there was a power outage in the area of Costco in Burnaby. In fact Costco was closed when we drove by at noon. The stoplights in the area were out. Now if there is anything I remember when taking the driver's test it was the question on what to do when you come to an intersection with traffic lights that aren't working --- it becomes a four way stop. Simple. Takes time but works. Always a few that forget the rule but what the heck.
After a few trips back and forth we noticed that the first light off the Gaglardi exchange was not working and it was the most dangerous. Most of the traffic off the freeway was not stopping. They just drove right on through. We all were pretty sure that there was going to be an accident. Sure enough on our final trip home there was. Someone must have been cruising through just off the freeway and broadsided the car making a left hand turn. Ambulance, Fire Deparment, the whole works. It didn't look too good.
Once again the question to ask -- how do some of these people get their drivers licence? from a cereal package or what? Driving is a privilege not a right but it seems most don't even bother to think in those terms.

Northern Voice

2006-02-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

Jan brings up a good point about coasting. Stepping out of the comfort zone and taking on new challenges. But after spending your daylight hours at work doing just that, how does one get the energy to do anything but coasting? In fact it isn't coasting that is the problem. Everyone needs a little coasting. It's habitual coasting---that is not a good thing. And of course in our lives we meet those that are perma-coasting. So indulge yourself a little, coasting in small doses isn't all that bad.

This Friday is Northern Voice. And I am even more excited than last year about going. There are quite a few people who were there last year so it should be fun meeting up with them again. When one reads what has been happening in various peoples lives over the year you really look forward to seeing them and having that one on one conversation. Bloggers are a very different group of people. Expressive, passionate, very quick, genuine, just a great bunch to be with for a few days. The credit union I work for is co-sponsoring this event (with 12 others) and though our budget doesn't allow us to give some expensive schwag I think what we are giving out will be different and appreciated.

Tomorrow is moving day for my son and daughter-in-law. There should be a lot of people helping and they don't have a mansion's worth of stuff to move so it should be more fun than work. It is a big step and one that you always know is coming when you have kids. It is just that you didn't expect it to be so bittersweet.

At the Art Show

2006-01-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight my wife and I went to our son's one-man art show at the Downtown Eastside Gallery. This is a very small eclectic gallery whose sole reason is to show art in whatever fashion to those whose interest is art. Period. No politics or seeing what is in vogue or "in". It is a labour of love by 3 individuals who own the gallery and just want to see art and all of its benefits presented to the public at large. One of the co-owners said she pours money into it because to her it is important. When you meet people who are ardent in what they do and believe what they do is important you realize you have come to the right place.

Now who would attend a small gallery on the edge of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside on Powell and Victoria Drive? Young unpretenious people who make viewing art part of their social life. They want to be together and share. There is a vibrancy in what they see, in what they discuss and their lack of inhibition in discussing art. This is the new generation that is becoming part of the world of many. They are not leaving the culture we live in but in many way creating it in a fashion that at times is foreign to us who are children of the 60's. In some small way it does remind you of that time. But the war we saw and heard about (Vietnam) is now invisible and unknown. It is the quiet world of the powerful that they want to be different from. They show a concern for all and not a concern for a few. It was an interesting and refreshing experience.

Telephone banking...

2006-01-28T16:56:00.001-08:00

This week we finally finnished installing the new telephone banking product. To the project team go all the thanks. They pulled it off without any major hitches. And the programmers at SmartSolution and TelTek were great. We just kept plowing through the bits and pieces that needed small fixes. The product is much easier to use and managing the system is simple with a lot of options.

The first option, and probably the most difficult, was implementing bill payments via voice. Once you get to that sub-menu of paying bills you can do everything via voice. No more buttons. It is really strange to pay Telus just by speaking to a telephone handset. The next step is to have all the menus activated by and chosen by voice.

And now we begin implementing a new internet banking system, compliments of Credit Union Central of B.C. We basically clone our current system and then work at developing various products and services i.e. electronic bill presentment with payment, delivery and archiving our monthly statements in PDF format, secure messaging, and the list goes on. Our major goal is to develop products that gives the user the ability to choose delivery and product variables through the internet banking product. For example if you don't want your statement mailed then you should be able to choose to turn that function off. You should be able to choose an electronic delivery method instead. And you should be able to do that anytime. Want to be notified when your payroll deposit comes into your account via e-mail or text messaging? (We have our MemberNote doing that now but just for ATM and Interac transactions). Again you should be able to choose that through an internet banking program. We hope in some small way we can begin to develop some creative ways of banking. And with today's technology, why not?

Election Day tomorrow

2006-01-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

So we get out and vote tomorrow. And the question most of us have in our mind -- Who to vote for? Liberal - do they deserve a vote given the scandals. Conservative - who knows what Harper is going to do. NDP - they won't get elected in but are they to become the king makers. I haven't heard anything from any of them other than the typical election promises which in 6 months are so conveniently forgotten.
So we vote and wait. Maybe it will all be decided by the rest of Canada. The election could be over by 8:01 p.m. Monday night. So what else is new?

Rain?

2006-01-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

Who really wants to be around for a new record of consecutive days raining? Only the locals!

Apple released there new Intel based powerbook this last week. Looks like a new cycle of upgrades for both software and hardware. The Classic operating system is unofficially dead.

Bad manners. It would seem to me that much of what we encounter on any given day can only be attributed to bad manners. If you try to figure out why a person has done something you can only end up confused. Never mind trying to understand their actions. In the final analysis it was just bad manners = rudeness.

Northern Voice published their speakers list. Julie Leung, Nancy White, Tim Bray will interview Technorati founder/CEO David Sifry, exploring the current state of the blogosphere and what might be next on the Net's agenda, etc. etc. Mt. Lehman Credit Union is one of the sponsors this year. The ideas and discussions at this blogging gathering are unbelievable.

Meetings uh?

2006-01-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

Today I had to go to a meeting. It was a day off and there was a meeting to go to. Luckily it was raining, raining very hard.

It was a good meeting as meetings go. There was an agenda, someone was taking minutes, the coffee and cookies were pretty good and there was a time when the meeting should end. The discussions were pretty lively and we came to some conclusions by consensus.

But for the life of me I don't know what number the meeting would be if all meetings attended had been given a number. 2,500? more? So what is the deal with meetings anyway. Sometimes we have to realize that we are social animals. We live in the world of digital and analogue communications. Today the meeting was with real people and sometimes that is what we really need — seeing, communicating and laughing with a group of people. That is what life is about at times, not feeling alone and part of a group of people. Not a bad outcome of any meeting.

The order of interesting sites

2006-01-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

CBC Radio3 - Very interesting radio. Just when you thought that there was no "new" music this radio broadcast starts bringing Canadian bands to light.

CBC Radio1 - From this site you can choose which part of the country you are in. Then listen. For everyone in Vancouver you can listen to programs up to 3 hours before they air here.

PigPog - An interesting site with the title line "PigPog is all about being creative - anywhere - and sharing what you create with others." It is filled with interesting links about something we can all use.

D*I*Y Planner - Paper, productivity & passion - A site dedicated to people who see the value of paper as a medium for planning, productivity, creative expression, and exploring ideas. This is the home of the D*I*Y Planner kit. It brings a fresh perspective into the question "Does everything have to be digital?"

Moleskinerie - One of my favourite sites. Everything and anything to do with the little journal called a Moleskine. If you aren't aware of these little books this will tell you a bit about them and what people are using them for.

To be continued...

New Years

2006-01-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

So an end to another year. Does this mean another list of resolutions that have a feint hope of being realized? This year's list did not seem minished. Such a personal list rarely is shared and usually forgotten.
After resolutions we have the futurists who describe in some convoluted manner something either preposterous or something we already know. These are usually funny.
And finally the "previous year at a glance". This is sometimes photographs, always headline news stories, obituaries (which usually bring on the thought "I didn't know he/she died!") and the best of books/CDs/DVDs/whatever.
Years change but our process of closing a year and beginning a new one is usually the same.

Hey - have a happy new year!

Boxing Day

2005-12-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

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.

George A. MacDonald

2005-12-15T01:26:00.000-08:00

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.

Sleeping in

2005-12-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

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.

It's that time of year

2005-12-03T03:20:00.000-08:00

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.

'Tis the Season

2005-11-30T22:00:00.000-08:00

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?

Downtown

2005-11-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

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.

Kill Bill's Browser

2005-11-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Movies and Remembrance Day

2005-11-10T23:20:00.000-08:00

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.

Sxip Identity

2005-11-09T21:16:00.000-08:00

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!

The $55 million question

2005-10-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-27T01:42:00.000-07:00

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.

Collaboration and cooperation

2005-10-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

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!

Trees 'r us

2005-10-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Well it ain't football

2005-10-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Much too long between posts

2005-10-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

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.

Barlett's and Bukowski

2005-09-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

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.

Mt. Lehman Fall Fair

2005-09-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Bleak

2005-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

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.

Work

2005-09-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

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.

A first...

2005-09-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

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?

How can this be?

2005-09-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Misc.

2005-09-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

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.

The Unusual

2005-08-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

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.

2005-08-23T19:08:00.001-07:00

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.

Texada Island

2005-08-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Style and pleats

2005-08-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

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?

Home again

2005-08-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

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).

The beach

2005-08-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

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?

Blogs...by definition

2005-08-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

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?

Old Friends

2005-08-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

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.

It's Beachtime

2005-07-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Unbelievable

2005-07-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Trains and things

2005-07-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

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.

..

Just a regular day at the office

2005-07-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

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.

iTunes

2005-07-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

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

A fresh coast of paint

2005-07-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

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?

Powerwashers on Sunday

2005-07-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

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.

A dead language

2005-07-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

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.

PR at its best - Spam

2005-07-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

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.

First day of holidays

2005-07-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

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.