A special birthday greeting

I had a birthday a while ago, and received this lovely e-mail from my cousin Marlene, who was ~12 years old when I was born:

Hi Cindy. I couldn't let the day end without sending you birthday greetings! I hope you had a proper celebration, and wish you all the best for the year to come.

I was thinking tonight about how utterly adorable you were as a toddler in your red corduroy overalls -- how I loved looking after you!

Of course, you're still adorable, but I wouldn't recommend the red overalls at this stage in your life.

Cheers, and happy, happy birthday! Love, Marlene

Marlene, I haven't gotten back to you since, but it's a birthday greeting I will always treasure. :)

Quirkyalone

Another of the books that I currently have on the go is “Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics” by Sasha Cagen. It is a fun, witty look at single life that I picked up in the neighbourhood discount bookstore.

In one of its first pages, the book offers you a true/false quiz to determine your degree of “quirkyaloneness”:

You:

1. Display a talent for self-reflection.
2. Believe that life can be prosperous and great with or without a mate.
3. Create and maintain chosen families of friends.
4. Treat life as one big choose-your-own adventure; there is no single road map for adulthood.
5. Are not opposed to dating, but prefer not to date for social convention.
6. Would rather be alone than be in a relationship in which you have to hold back an essential part of yourself.
7. Generally feel a sense of compulsion to make a mark in culture and society, to express yourself, whether through art, writing, a small business, or activism.
8. Recognize the ways in which society prescribes happiness primarily through romantic love, and understand the failings of such an approach.
9. Have had a taste or a glimpse of a great love relationship (or encounter), which intensifies your desire to remain open to the possibility of finding a similar experience.
10. Possess a talent at deconstructing love songs equal only to your vulnerability to them.
    

So guess my score? To the “very quirkyalone” (that would be me), Cagen writes:

At long last. You have found your tribe, a brave breed to resist the tyranny of coupledom in famour of independent self-expression. Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may co-workers, but in your heart of hearts, you know that you are following your inner voice. You may or may not be participating in a conventional romance, but always you are romancing the world.

Hawk watching at Beamer Memorial

In the past year, I’ve realized two important and surprising things about myself:

1. while I had considered myself in general a serious and risk-adverse person, I still need "mini-adventures" to energize me and to buoy the enthusiasm I feel for life. Now I don’t mean bungie-jumping or treks across the Sahara desert – just getting outside my comfort zone and doing things outside the everyday routine.
2. while I had considered myself pretty much a city person, I am energized by being in natural surroundings (forest, beach, etc.).

So about a week ago, after seeing some hawks along the highway, I did a little research and found that there are a few places in Ontario that are particularly good places to view migrating hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey. I love seeing these birds because their freedom and power inspire me, and they’re also pretty easy to spot and identify. After reading about Beamer Memorial Conservation Area on the website for Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch, I decided that I should check it out. It was a beautiful day, I had the day off, and it would have been a shame to stay inside. So I packed my car with a few things and headed off, not entirely sure what I would see.

What I had not expected was this:

There was a tower. There were lots of cars and people. Most of the people were men. Since it was a weekday, there were several retired men. Most of them seemed to have known each other for years. They came supplied with binoculars and expensive-looking cameras with huge zoom lenses. They had packed lunches and thermoses and lawn chairs. They had their own vernacular (“TV” for turkey vulture, “shoulder” for red-shouldered hawk, "Gary" for a Cooper hawk, “gashawk” for airplane, etc.). When someone spotted a bird of prey, they called it out with the location so everyone else could see it, confirm it, and identify it. Counts were kept to track bird populations from year to year.

I hadn’t brought my own lawnchair, so I ended up sitting on a picnic table with a couple of greybeards. I listened in on their conversations, started asking a few questions here or there, and gradually they opened up and started sharing with me hints on books to read more on the subject (recommended were “A Year at the Cape” [not sure, but maybe they meant this book?], “The Wind Masters,” and “Hawks in Flight”), the best weather conditions in which to watch for raptors (overcast because the birds are easier to see against the clouds than against blue sky, cool so the thermals that lift the birds to higher altitudes are weaker), how to differentiate between the species, where to park my car so it wouldn’t be vandalized at the conservation area, etc. When they realized that I didn’t have binoculars, one of the gentlemen loaned me his extra set. They were exceptionally kind and willing to introduce a newcomer like me to the hobby they enjoyed with such passion.

As we sat in the sun and it became increasingly futile to look for the migrating birds (it was a warm day, and the thermals were lifting them to such heights that most could not be seen, even with binoculars), I sat listening to them talking about T-shirts they particularly liked (one where native Americans were depicted with bows and arrows, saying “Fighting terrorism since 1492”), about trends in nature (“Studies now show that the turkey vultures are moving further north while the ravens are moving further south.”), cars, current events, etc. They were intelligent, articulate, discussed a wide range of topics, and weren’t afraid to take a piss at each other (“Two loons above the tower!” “Six loons on the tower!”). They reminded me a great deal of the personalities I had worked and studied alongside when I was working on my biology degree.

And it was a really good day.

Patrizia at the AGO

A few weeks ago I met my lovely friend Patrizia and we went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario). The gallery is undergoing extensive renovations at the moment, so there actually wasn't much to see, but there was a kids' room where there were toys and an assortment of capes, bizarre hats, and tutus. Patrizia was unstoppable! :)

How to poach an egg

I paid over $40 for a pot specifically for poaching eggs, but this technique is far superior. Yummy!

(It's best to view that web page using IE; in Firefox the frames aren't properly spaced.)

El Convento Rico

My ears are still ringing, but I had a great time last night with my friends at El Convento Rico.

Going there was the brainchild of my friend Kevin (man, that guy can DANCE!), and I invited some friends that I’ve met recently through Two for the Show and the Toronto Ethnic Dining Adventure Club. So it was an eclectic group of people who mostly didn’t know each other before last night. However, thanks to some social lubricant (alcohol), the fact that I invited some truly awesome people, and the shamelessly silly antics of yours truly, the ice was broken and, I think, everyone had a great time! (Even though there were very few straight men in that bar … LOL)

The tranny (drag queen) show shortly after midnight was a lot of fun – wish I’d brought my camera!

Power of prayer overrated?

Kinda funny to my twisted mind:

In the largest scientific test of its kind, heart surgery patients showed no benefit when strangers prayed for their recovery.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.

Maid in Canada

This article by The Globe and Mail's Jan Wong is great. Yet another thing to think of when I think my own life is rough. :)

Gotta love Rick Mercer

Great videos for you to watch - go to the Mercer Report website, then click on the links (see left) for "Hand in My Pocket Spoof Ad" and "Rick's Rant for March 14, 2006".

Pink's rocking video - "Stupid Girls"

This video totally makes me want to go out and buy Pink's album, just to support a mainstream artist with this message. And it's pretty funny too!

Kevin's Photos

One of my most delightful co-workers is Kevin. He's smart and funny and caring - just a really great person. (I blogged about him almost a year ago here.) It's a busy environment, but usually we have time for a giggle or two. Something about Kevin makes me feel free to be silly and goofy - and isn't it your most amazing friends who make you feel accepted in all your ways and facets?

I was doing a bit of web-surfing this morning (procrastinating going to the gym, if you must know), and stumbled upon his online photography collection. Last summer, Kevin bought a seriously kick-a$$ digital camera and since then has indulged his hobby of nature and architectural photography. I love the sensitivity, balance, beauty, and detail in his photos, and expect that you will too. Enjoy!

U.S. soldier sees personal mission fade in Iraq

Hunh.

The Best Way to Get Over a Divorce

Truly, I've never heard of a better way to get over someone ... LOL

Find 11 Faces

Courtesy of my amazing and lovely friend Leslie-Ann:

Pierre

I’ve been sitting at home all day, nursing a sore throat and not really having much energy to do anything, so I finally finished reading the remarkable book, Pierre, edited by Nancy Southam. It is a memorable, entertaining, and moving compilation of memories of Canada’s most intriguing and charismatic prime minister. Southam, a close personal friend of Trudeau, asked former colleagues, staff, lovers, friends, and fellow heads of state to write about the man that they knew. The result is a portrait of an amazingly gifted, shy, feisty, complex man with an insatiable love and curiosity for the world, and a deep love and closeness with his children.

Some examples:

There is an amusing story of a dinner hosted by Trudeau as Prime Minister. His guests were all of the provincial premiers, with some of whom he had testy relationships. One of the premiers at that dinner recalled:

Mr. Trudeau taunted Mr. Levesque [premier of Quebec] … Mr. Levesque replied in kind. They began insulting each other in ever-more-rapid French. And then they looked about the table and realized the rest of us were not able to fully appreciate their verbal sallies. So they kindly switched to English, thereby allowing us to more fully comprehend the barbs being tossed.

There are wonderful stories of Trudeau’s devotion to his children, and how his world truly centered around them. Also accounts of his kindness to other children, and his ability to relate to them. One of his son’s childhood friends wrote:

Time spent in the company of Justin’s dad was almost always defined by physical and mental challenges: show me what you have learned. Show me what you can do. Show me how you live.

One hot summer day up at Harrington Lake, he came out to the floating dock and challenged six cocky preteens to a very simple exercise (or so it seemed). We were to push out from the dock and see how long we could stand on a thin Styrofoam surfboard. We all failed miserably. But when I close my eyes, I still see Justin’s dad balanced between earth and sky on that slowly sinking piece of Styrofoam, his face a mixture orf steely-eyed concentration and unabashed mirth. The air punctuated by the excited voices of children counting off second after unbelievable second. There was always an incredible intensity of feeling that he directed toward his sons, toward children in general. It radiated from him. It was what I loved most about him.

There are many references to the devastation Trudeau experienced when his youngest son was killed while skiing in British Columbia when an avalanche swept him and a friend into an icy lake. There is a profoundly moving account of how Trudeau comforted his son's friend who had managed to escape alive and was burdened by terrible guilt that he had survived when Michel had not.

There are all sorts of tributes to Trudeau. I find the one from the actor Christopher Plummer to uniquely sum up Trudeau’s greatness:

What [Canadian pianist and virtuoso] Glenn Gould was to Bach, Trudeau was to Canada. He interpreted it with a freshness that was bold and utterly original. Few could match him in intellect or sophistication. Few had the political savvy, or wisdom and timing, to use it sparingly and to great effect. Very few came close to his knowledge and understanding of the two cultures, and none possessed his mystique or his curious glamour. There was also enough old-fashioned gossip hovering around him to add spice to any cause he undertook. Suddenly, for the first time perhaps, Canada was in fashion. And Pierre Elliott had firmly placed it on the map.

Whether you’re Canadian or not, I promise you that you will enjoy reading this fascinating compilation of stories and thoughts about one of the most accomplished and intriguing people of the 20^th century.

Disposable?

Wow.

She raises an excellent point.

Autistic boy breaks through his own "Berlin Wall"

Check out the video - it's an amazing story.

Maya Angelou's eulogy to CSK on video!

Not very long ago, I blogged about seeing Maya Angelou's eulogy to Coretta Scott King on TV. Well, I finally found the video (where else but on The Hour's website?)! You can watch it too! I just did (for about the 3rd or 4th time), and I still got goosebumps!

There's something about this eulogy that revitalizes words like "freedom" and "peace" and "justice" for me. It's as though they've been worn and overused for tawdry things, or sullied by our hip cynicism, and by simply uttering them with a kind of spiritual authority and idealism, Angelou has made them fresh and pure again.

Amazing ads re. Meth

Did you know that the UN recently called methamphetamine use a "major drug problem pandemic"?

This past week I watched a piece on The Hour that showed several very powerful, gritty ads commissioned by a Montana millionaire in an effort to curb the use of meth in his state. They are extremely effective. You can check them out here.

Update: Also check out the before and after "game" on the website where you try to match the photo of a person before s/he became hooked on meth and afterward. It's chilling.

Brokeback Mountain

Wow. Finally went to see Brokeback Mountain tonight (just in time for the Oscars!). What a fantastic movie. I wasn’t completely engaged until the last half-hour of the movie, and then boom! The actors and the emotions were so compelling that I was in tears.

The acting was so much more than I expected. Heath Ledger gave an amazing portrayal of a man of few words and a granite expression – amazing because he was able to convey the intense conflict and emotion simmering under the surface. The women in this film (Michelle Williams in particular, but also Anne Hathaway and Kate Mara) also deliver expressive performances.

The cinematography is beautiful (with a location like the Albertan Rockies I guess you can’t go wrong) and so many scenes were beautifully framed by the camera. (I found the scene with the firecrackers to be very cool.)

There are some people (like Paul, my hairdresser of all people) who refuse to see the “gay cowboy movie”. Yes, it is about two men who fall in love. But more than that, it’s about two people who are passionately in love and cannot be together. It is a love story that transcends gay/straight. It’s about a love that is bigger than yourself, that brings you to your knees. And believe me, if you’ve ever been in love and in a doomed relationship, you will be able to relate to this.

In the past few weeks, I have also seen the movies Transamerica and Crash, and both are amazing films as well. They also moved me to tears and their themes resonated with me. But "Brokeback Mountain" will linger with me.

Very cool to watch ....

... The Canadian women's hockey team getting their Olympic gold medals. So many of them bursting into tears upon receiving their medals. Way to go, ladies!!!

Great sign

It's almost certainly a doctored picture, which is too bad.

Less intense?

This week, in the interest of peak dental hygiene, I bought a bottle of mouthwash. This particular flavour has been marketed as "less intense".

Less intense than what? Than someone dropping a hair dryer in your bathtub? Than a Brazilian wax? Than treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay?

Please - inquiring minds would like to know!

Shopping soundtracks

In the past week, I’ve heard a song from the 70s by Christopher Cross in THREE different stores. I now consider myself advised that if I ever get caught between the moon and New York City, the best that I can do is to fall in love. (whatever that means) Now please play another song!!!!

Great posting on teaching

Natalia takes my breath away sometimes!

W orld's Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a girl asked a guy "Will you marry me?"
The guy said, "NO!"
And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook and farted whenever she wanted.

THE END

I love this one. Many thanks to my friend Aviva for passing it on. :)

The Great Plumbing Adventure

Lately I’ve noticed that my bathroom sink wasn’t draining very efficiently.

Being a proactive person, I decided I should do something about it today (even though I've been feeling slightly under the weather) rather than wait until it was completely blocked.

Also being a person who prefers to hug trees whenever possible, I decided I would try natural/environmentally-friendly solutions first.

So I looked on the Internet. First came the suggestions of pouring a lot of baking soda down the sink with a chaser of vinegar. I studied chemistry in university, so I know that there’s going to be a lot of bubbling and hydrogen gas formation, which happened. But the drain didn’t work any better. The same websites indicated that it might take a couple of tries for the soda/vinegar action to unclog the drain, so I tried it again. More baking soda, more vinegar, more bubbling and fizzing. Not much more happened except that a little bit of detritus – or “drain muck” rose from the plumbing to swirl around in the bowl of the sink. Hmmm. Sink isn’t draining very well at all now. Time to get out the plunger.

A minute or so of plunger action, and now the bottom of the sink is coated with drain muck. Who knew there was all that crap down there? Well, I guess I knew it was down there (I didn't think these clogs were the same clogs as dancing shoes, obviously), but I did not expect it to come rushing into daylight in order to defend itself and its drain-bound colony!!! And wouldn’t you know it, the sink now won’t drain at all!

%$^@***!

I’m still a tree-hugger at this point, and the Internet is still my friend. So I look up a product I’ve seen commercials for – it’s a can of compressed gas that you just apply to the drain, release the gas into the clog, and Presto! Your clog is pressurized away. I googled the Next Great Plumbing Hope (no, not its real name) and found some glowing testimonials (to which I will not link as they involve stories about massive poops, and I'd like to think this blog has just a little more class!), then I called my local hardware store to verify that they carried this apparent miracle in a can (hereafter called NGPH).

I forced myself out into the wintry day and to the hardware store. Once there, I engaged one of the sales clerks in a debate over which product I should use. The only concern I had about the NGPH was that the tap was right over the drain, and I wasn’t sure I could get a proper seal on the drain before the gas was released into it. But since my only other apparent option was highly-corrosive chemicals, I decided to try it anyway. (Sales guy was not about to argue with me, as NGPH is twice as expensive as the chemicals.) So, after grabbing a few groceries, including a chocolate croissant to treat myself for dealing with the stupid plumbing situation, I arrived home with my purchases.

I decided I would leave my coat and scarf on while I tried out the NGPH, just in case it didn’t work and I had to go back to the store for the chemicals. By this time there is a toxic soup of water, sink muck, and vinegar in the sink. Undaunted, I pressed the NGPH to the drain and tried to figure out how to release the compressed gas. I fumbled around for a minute, and then PUHSHWOOSH!!! There was sink soup everywhere!!!! (Yup, getting a proper seal on the drain IS a real bitch!) My winter coat, my scarf (which thankfully was covering my hair), my shoes, my jeans, the mirror, the toilet seat behind me, the floor, the vanity around the sink were all covered in dirty water!

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!

(Hmmm ... maybe massive poops and this blog have more in common than I'd like!)

Suddenly the environment just seemed less trouble than it’s worth. I’d done my part, I’d tried my hardest, and I’d just remembered that I had a half-used bottle of corrosive drain medicine in my utility closet. Woo-hoo!!!!!

Now the drain is cleared, the bathroom has been scrubbed from top to bottom, and my winter coat, scarf, and jeans are in the laundry. There must have been traces of the magic chemicals still left in the sink because when I cleaned it, the tips of my rubber gloves melted. I've opened a window to ensure that the fumes don't do the same thing to my lungs. Oh yes, and the chocolate croissant is history.

And that, my friends, is the Great Plumbing Adventure.

:0>

Eclecta

Maya Angelou's eulogy for Coretta Scott King

If you haven't heard poet Maya Angelou's powerful eulogy for her friend Coretta Scott King, click here. It is inspiring.

The Wedding Dress

Jennifer's wedding day was fast approaching. Nothing could dampen her excitement -- not even her parents' nasty divorce. Her mother had found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the best dressed mother-of-the-bride ever!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father's new young wife had bought the exact same dress! Jennifer asked her to exchange it, but she refused. "Absolutely not. I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I'm wearing it," she replied.

Jennifer told her mother who graciously said, "Never mind sweetheart. I'll get another dress. After all, it's your special day."

A few days later, they went shopping and did find another gorgeous dress. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "Aren't you going to return the other dress? You really don't have another occasion where you could wear it."

Her mother just smiled and replied, "Of course I do, dear. I'm wearing it to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding!"

NOW I ASK YOU ALL; IS THERE A WOMAN OUT THERE, ANYWHERE, WHO WOULDN'T ENJOY THIS STORY?

- Thanks to my fellow blogger Linda for this cute story!

Some cool video clips

Here are a couple of links to some great George Strombolopoulos/"The Hour" moments:

George on "Pope Benedict's Sex Tips"
George re. his mother's birthday
"This Hour Has 22 Minutes" makes fun of George - very funny

Okay, I confess: I've got a little crush going on here - but can you blame me????

Enjoy!

E.

Fire hazard

Thanks to Aviva for the chuckle.

Eclecta

Context for the cartoon protests

You may have caught this article in the Globe and Mail this past week. It really helped me to understand when I realized that there is more than just one cartoon (and they're all TERRIBLY offensive) that Muslims are reacting to:

Ahmed Akkari, a young Islamic scholar and Danish activist, was on a mission. Having failed to get the Prime Minister to take action over the cartoons' perceived slight to Islam, he had sought help from esteemed figures in the Muslim world, he says.

Over the next few weeks, he would hand copies of his green booklet to the grand mufti of Egypt, the chief cleric of the Sunni faith, leaders of the Arab League, the top official of the Lebanese Christian church and others.

They stared in amazement at the images in the book, he remembered during a lengthy interview yesterday, and vowed to take action to help him.

"They said to me, 'Do they really say this is the Prophet Mohammed? They must really have no respect for religion up there in Denmark.' And they said they would make it known."

Mr. Akkari now finds himself regretting the results of his brief journey, the somewhat distorted message of which flashed around the Muslim world by Internet, newspaper and text message, and caused millions of Muslims to believe that Denmark and the Nordic countries had become home to blasphemies.

While the Koran does not forbid depictions of Mohammed, the prohibition stems from concerns the Prophet expressed that even well-intentioned images could lead to idolatry or show disrespect for Islam's founder.

...

For his booklet contained not only the 12 depictions of the Prophet Mohammed that had appeared in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September. He also filled it with hideous, amateur images of the Prophet as a pig, a dog, a woman and a child-sodomizing madman.

Flipping through the book yesterday, he explained that these images had been items of hate mail sent to his colleagues by right-wing extremists who disapproved of their activism. These images, he insistently demonstrated, were separated from the newspaper cartoons by several pages of letters. "How could anyone mistake these for the newspaper images?" he asked. "It cannot be that anyone would make this mistake."

But protesters in Lebanon and elsewhere have cited these images in their actions. So have the organizers of a worldwide boycott campaign against Danish products, which is costing the country's economy.

Hey, I do not condone violence, and naturally those who have been violent or destructive to people/things have also damaged their own cause. BUT for those people who sputter at you that Islam is a religion of violence, here's some evidence you can dispassionately share with them to show them otherwise:

1. The Christian Crusades, where European Christians decided they would take over Palestine from the Muslims:

Some of our men cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the temple of Solomon, a place where religious services ware ordinarily chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth, it will exceed your powers of belief. So let it suffice to say this much at least, that in the temple and portico of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins.

2. The Holocaust

3. The Troubles

The Troubles refers to the period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland beginning with the Civil Rights marches in the late 1960s to the political resolution enshrined in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. During that time more than 3,000 people were killed, most of them civilians.

4. There are at least 700 million Muslims around the world. If their religion was one of violence, don't you think we would have seen a little more damage done by the protests about the cartoons?

5. Think about all the stupid controversy the past few years about whether there was a "war on Christmas". (I say "stupid" because there were holidays, feasts, and celebrations around this time of year long before anyone decided it would be Jesus' birthday.) Could you imagine the outcry, the protests, the way some stupid people would behave if someone went around to churches all over the southern U.S. (and Lethbridge, Alberta) with books containing cartoons of Jesus as a child-sodomizing madman?

Let's get a grip, people. What we have in common as human beings is far greater than religion.

EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION.

The distributed power model

Interesting (though not very well-written) column on the benefits of a distributed/decentralized energy-generation system (vs. a centralized system like nuclear). It also mentions that Germany is decommissioning their nuclear power plants!

Funny

I’m not a big fan of sexual innuendo. I’m not a prude (far from it!). I know that sex is inherently funny, and everyone thinks of sex. Even Shakespeare used sexual innuendo in his plays (notably in the tragedies, for comic relief).

It’s just that I usually find it boring. Often, it’s lazy, it’s monotonous, it requires no effort. It relies on the shock of broaching a taboo subject rather than being genuinely witty or funny. And I hate it someone keeps injecting innuendo when you're just trying to have a simple discussion.

But sometimes – say in a professional environment like a project meeting in a room full of managers – someone might innocently say something like “The Systems Engineering Team has been getting busy with the back end,” and you have to avert your gaze from your director, who is also trying desperately not to giggle. And it’s simply silly and funny and a moment to be enjoyed.

I dream in kittens

In general, I try very hard not to talk or write about my cats. I ardently want to avoid the “cat lady” title. However, I have to share this little discovery: I dream in kittens.

My happy dreams (well, the ones I can remember, anyway) all seem to involve kittens. Finding kittens, playing with kittens, petting kittens, watching kittens, introducing a kitten to my household (which always plays out far more favourably in my dreams than it would in real life), my oh my what to do with all these kittens?

Themes of my life before turning 23 (or so) were mostly anxiety, loneliness, depression, confusion, and the wonders of living on a farm with a barnful of cats (with, from time to time, horses and dogs). Kittens being found in the bales of hay and straw, kittens being tamed, kittens providing hours and hours of entertainment, cuddles, and comfort. So it doesn’t surprise me that I still dream of them. I welcome these dreams, because they are always joyful.

Why not use the Comments to tell me and the rest of the online community about your happy dreams? (but spare me the boring sexual innuendo! lol)

Update on life and living with sleep apnea

Part I – Fallout from the First Time I Blogged About This

Sometimes being a blogger is interesting, because you never know what people will really respond to, or the type of response is not at all what you expected.

Back in September, I blogged about being diagnosed with sleep apnea, and the fact that I had found my energy levels were increasing with the use of a CPAP device. I even included a picture of myself wearing the super-sexy mask and hose. I had felt very strongly that I needed to blog about this matter because I knew of people (mostly thinking older male relatives) who almost certainly had sleep apnea and yet weren’t seeking treatment. I wanted to demystify the CPAP machine and mask in order to eliminate any hesitation that someone might feel in getting help.

I certainly expected the light teasing from some girlfriends and the Darth Vader jokes from my buddy Jim (I know you meant them in love, man!). But what I didn’t expect was that several women my age would tell me that they suspected that they also might have the same condition, and that they intended to discuss it with their doctors. Or an e-mail from a gentleman friend: “Don’t worry about your dating career. You’re still pretty darned sexy!” (Even if it was just kindness on his part, it was lovely and very much appreciated!)

It’s a balancing act between sharing and being confessional (telling your life story to everyone you meet). But sometimes allowing oneself to be vulnerable yields some positive results.

Part II – Update on the Apnea/Energy/Life Thing

Looking back, getting the CPAP device and an improved quality of sleep has yielded some significant changes in my life. Where to start?

Well, the first thing I noticed was that I had more energy. I started working out more. It’s taken time and hard work, but I’m definitely more fit than I was before (not fit, exactly, but more fit). I’ve lost 8 – 10 problem pounds (which is a lot for a frame like mine, also considering the problem weight was in a very specific area, and also that I have more muscle today). I will likely have to go on a wardrobe overhaul shopping spree in the next month or so. Assisted by the fact that I’ve significantly reduced the amount of cheese I’ve been eating, my cholesterol has decreased by 50% (my doctor gaped at me when she saw the results - “How did you do that???”).

Increased energy levels and life events conspired together to make me stop and think about my goals and priorities in life. This took several months and a lot of reading. Finally, just in time for New Year’s, I had seven goals for 2006 covering my health, my finances, my work, my social life, my approach to life, my involvement in my community, and, overall, my commitment to be disciplined and to pursue the other six goals. I tried to make the goals specific, measurable, etc., and thought about how I would meet them. They’re pretty ambitious, particularly altogether, but at least I have things to aim for. Sometimes some of the goals have to take a backseat to one of the other ones (e.g., work or finance), but I think over time I’ll be able to strike the best balance I can humanly achieve.

Believe it or not, I generally don’t like talking about myself or my thoughts about my world. (That’s what blogging is for!) But over the last few months, my thoughts have had a distinct inward direction (navel-gazing?), so you may not have heard a lot of from me lately. Fortunately, this phase is wrapping up. Thank goodness!

Believe it or not, I am apparently also an inch taller than I was before! (According to my last physical, anyway.) What can I say? I’m working out, I have more energy, my job and my relationships continue to give me more confidence. Maybe the doctor’s measurements are wrong (but I made her check it twice! And wouldn’t other people have told her if the ruler was mounted on the wall improperly?), maybe I am holding myself differently these days. Who knows?

I still have days in which I’m dog-tired. But I’m doing more, achieving more, and starting to live more. And I never sleep without my CPAP!

Thoughts on the Crow/Armstrong breakup

Today when I read that rocker Sheryl Crow and cyclist Lance Armstrong have broken off their engagement, I was saddened but not so very surprised.

I read Armstrong’s first book, Its Not About The Bike: My Journey Back to Life, a few months ago (I highly recommend it!), and I have to say the thought occurred to me a few times that he would be a very difficult person to live with. He’s a great guy with integrity (and one of the most gorgeous men I have ever seen!!!), but I came to the conclusion that he’s fueled by anger, and is pretty stubborn to boot. Good qualities for racing the Tour de France, or battling cancer. Perhaps not so good when he’s retired from competition and your fiancé. Hey, just my perception – and I’m still a fan. This photo has been on my desktop for months:

But Crow and Armstrong had seemed to be very happy together, and in particular I’d been very happy for her. Crow has had her share of disappointments romantically, but she seemed to have found someone who inspired her and made her happy. I watched an interview with the two of them shortly after announcing their engagement, and I remember saying something to the effect that she had always hoped to be in a relationship that was “elevating and supportive” and that she had finally found it. I could relate to her in terms of what she had been looking for, and was really happy for her (after all, someone who has produced some really great albums* and provided a soundtrack for significant sections of one’s life deserves to be happy!).

Ah well, both of them are survivors - I know they'll both be all right.

* Great albums include Tuesday Night Music Club, Sheryl Crow, The Globe Sessions, and, to a lesser degree, Wildflower. C’mon C’mon was the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard; Crow's voice had a particularly grating whining tone - surely they could have mixed the sound better?

More on Ontario's energy choices

The Ontario Government has just announced extended consultations on the province's electricity options. They are in 12 different cities on Feb. 13th, 15th, and 17th. Check out the schedule here and if you have the time/ability, be sure to show up to show your interest and voice your concerns. This affects ALL of us!!!

Life is what you make of it

One man's inspiring story - click here for the video.

Modern advancements

Fellow blogger Linda forwarded me this e-mail (written by some unknown guy about my age), and it made me laugh. So I'm sharing:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways .. yadda, yadda, yadda...

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter ... with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! ! ;We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! .. Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up . we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Sometimes, no matter what you do ...

Oy, I feel for this teacher!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Tomorrow is the Lunar New Year - a very important feast (like Christmas, or so I'm told) for Chinese people. Rhe same holds true for many other nationalities/ethnicities such as Koreans, Japanese, etc.

Tonight my friend Brendon and I visited some of his Chinese friends who were hosting a New Year's dinner. There was a lot of great food (e.g., dumplings and hot pot), and everyone was really nice. I learned that when dumplings are made for the New Year, they hide a 1 - 3 peanuts inside a few, and the person who eats the dumpling with the peanuts is believed to have good luck. Tonight's entertainment was a charming 15-year-old girl who ate (conservatively) 30 dumplings because she wanted to find the one with the good luck. Of course, this did not stop her from sampling from the wide variety of other dishes, or from eating two slices of chocolate cake! I seriously expected her to throw up or explode! LOL

It was a great evening, and as I said it was a pleasure to meet Brendon's friends and their friends. All but a few of those in attendance were fairly recent Chinese immigrants, and they were all friendly, intelligent, decent people who make me feel very hopeful about Canada's future.

Time to Deliver

Hey, another cause dear to my heart: Did you know that the next big conference on HIV/AIDS will be here in Toronto? The dates are August 12 - 18. The theme is "Time to Deliver" (or, dare we say, "Get off your asses and do something, dammit!!!!"?) Click here to apply as a volunteer!

Say "No thanks!" to more nuclear power in Ontario

I haven't been reading a lot of news lately, but I have become aware that the Ontario Power Authority, a governmental agency, released a report last month saying that Ontario needs at least 12 more nuclear reactors to meet future energy demand. Apparently the report exaggerated the rates at which energy demand will increase (assumed annual 9% increase when it's been around 5% annually over the last several years), and basically completely discounted the viability of green, safe energy sources. (Norway uses wind power, for example, to generate 20% of its energy requirement; Ontario only gets 1% of its current energy from wind power - this is obviously an under-developed energy source!)

So here are a few links, in case you feel moved - as I did - to write our Premier asking him to ignore this OPA report and to explore safer alternatives, or for more information: here and here and here and here.

Getting Things Done

Last month I read a book that is changing my life. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re an extremely busy person who struggles to track/remember all the things you need to do, or if you feel overwhelmed by the work you have, then you might want to consider reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. This is an extremely practical approach to workload tracking/management and self-organization. Allen is a time management guru to many executives and CEOs. The book is well-written and easy to read as well. 12 stars out of 10!

The Love Affair with Reading Continues

Current reads:

Trusting Yourself, by M.J. Ryan

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

Pierre: Colleagues and Friends Talk About the Trudeau They Knew, edited by Nancy Southam

Self-Discipline in 10 Days: How to Go from Thinking to Doing, by Theodore Bryant

Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir, by Franz Wisner (Just so you don’t think this is a totally messed up book for me to be reading, it’s an account of how Wisner got dumped right before his wedding, and ended up traveling the world with his brother for the next two years instead)

Never Eat Alone, and Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, by Keith Ferrazzi with Tahl Raz

Much-anticipated next reads:

The Poetry Home Repair Manual, by Ted Kooser

The Coward's Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for Those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight, Tim Ursiny (for work - enough said)

Healing The Heart Of Conflict: 8 Crucial Steps To Making Peace With Yourself And Others, Marc Gopin (for work - enough said)

Tickleberrys

My boss gave me some Tickleberries for Xmas - just got into 'em. Yummy!!!

Quote

I love this quote:

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lines within us."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Poem snippet

"What I would do for wisdom,"
I cried out as a young man.
Evidently not much. Or so it seems.
Even on walks I follow the dog.

- 

Untitled
by Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison

People-watching

I love to people-watch while I work out at my gym. I can work out on a treadmill and look out the window at the constant pedestrian traffic on the street below.

For instance, today a woman was waiting outside a popular shop with a Great Dane-like dog (I don't know whether it actually was a Great Dane, as its colouring was grey rather than the buff-brown colour I would associate with a Great Dane). Although the dog was very tall, it was quite evident that she had a very sweet nature, and people were continually approaching the woman to ask her about the dog and to pet the dog.

Last weekend, I noticed an older woman on the sidewalk with a child of about 3 years. She would tell the little girl to stay put, then run a short distance ahead, turn back to the little girl, and hold her arms out. The girl would run into her arms, get a big hug, and then stand in place while the woman ran ahead again and started the whole process. It was pure joy to watch.

It kind of renews your faith in your fellow human beings. :)

Going to the Creepy Basement

So if I disappear, look there first. Also, my dentist is Dr. Simpson on Bayview.

Update at 8:39 PM: I made it back!!!! Boy, that basement is creepy!!!

Did Santa forget that purse you wanted?

This is pretty cool:

Basura Bags are made by a women’s co-op in the Philippines. They use recycled foil juice packs that are purchased through a network of local school children. Indestructible by nature, these foil packs could clog landfills for thousands of years.

Another great movie to recommend ...

... is Good Night, and Good Luck. Exceedingly timely, well-crafted, and compelling, with an impeccable lead actor. Directed by George Clooney!

Side note: my buddy Hawkeye and I joked that cigarette smoke should be listed in the credits among the actors in this film; it was like a supporting character. After the movie, I felt I should almost go have a shower to wash away the cigarette smell I was sure would be in my hair!

Nonetheless, an excellent film - two very enthusiastic thumbs up!!!

Some people just should not be allowed to use technology

From the IT publication Baseline Monthly:

Megachurches like the 25,000-member World Changers of Atlanta can teach corporations the true meaning of customer relationship management. How? They can look at their data and identify members, determine who could be volunteering more, contribute how much in donations, and track who's becoming discontent and may abandon ship.

Entire article here.

Ugh.

Run, don't walk to see "Walk the Line"

Tonight my friend Brendon and I went to see the movie, "Walk the Line", which is about country music stars Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. I'm not a country music fan, and I don't know if the portrayals of the characters and the facts is accurate, but I really enjoyed this film. The story and acting were compelling, and Joachim Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are highly gifted actors. To my surprise, they can also sing! (They sounded great - perhaps even better than the real John and June.) I would definitely recommend this film.

The real reason MP3s are so popular ...

... is because the shrink-wrap is so stupidly difficult to get off brand-new CDs.

Yup.

E.

My latest addiction

Several months ago my sister-in-law introduced me to herbed flatbreads served with tabooli/tabouleh/however you spell it. It is deadly. I just gorge myself on this stuff. I particularly like Santa Fe's Rosemary Sesame Flatbread. It's salty and crisp and crunchy and flavourful and I should buy it by the case!

Why Abortion Must Remain Legal

Excellent blog by Maha. Summary: making abortion illegal won't stop abortions, but protect women from unsafe basement abortions that sometimes cause serious health complications or even death.

About one-third of women undergoing unsafe abortions experience serious complications, but fewer than half of these women receive hospital treatment.

Of the estimated 600,000 annual pregnancy-related deaths worldwide, about 13% (or 78,000) are related to complications of unsafe abortion.

78,000 women!!!! That's insane!!! That's roughly the number of people who were killed in the first week after the Pakistani earthquake. That is approximately 173 jetliners of women killed each year!

I know that there are intelligent, compassionate people who believe that abortion is murder and desperately want it to be outlawed everywhere and in North America in particular. There are also those (to whom I cannot give the benefit of the doubt concerning their intelligence and compassion) who also want to make birth control - even condoms! - illegal. To these people, I say: what alternatives do you think many of these people have? What alternatives are YOU providing them?

That's my rant for today.

Eclecta

Bullying in the Workplace

I won't get into why I was looking at this website (it's not really my story anyway), but just in case you need it, here is an excellent site re. bullying in the workplace.

See how helpful I am??? ;->

Eclecta

Damn "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" ...

... makes me cry every episode.

(Now that's great TV! LOL)

My heroine Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were rumored to be planning their wedding for this weekend. But what they did instead was way more cool.

Jolie is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. In case you think that this is just some meaningless title, I'd invite you to look at her extensive travel history to places of incredible pain, suffering, and poverty. I'd also invite you to read some of her travel diaries. She's an intelligent, compassionate woman who does what she can to help people who have nothing (sometimes not even a country).

My girl Angelina took her boyfriend Brad to Pakistan to tour the earthquake-devastated area:

Guterres, Jolie pledge support for Pakistan "in time of suffering"

ISLAMABAD, November 25 (UNHCR) – UNHCR chief António Guterres and Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie today shared their shock at the scale of earthquake destruction in northern Pakistan and pledged support for the country that has generously hosted millions of Afghan refugees for over 25 years.

...

Goodwill Ambassador Jolie added, "Nobody watching TV at home has any idea what this really looks like. It's just unbelievable. You fly in a helicopter and you see house after house, just rubble, nothing standing."

Both Guterres and Jolie were visibly shaken by the devastation they saw in quake-hit areas yesterday.

...The people in Batungi village told Jolie they had received some assistance, but were worried about the coming winter. "Another disaster could happen very soon, if money and aid are not on the ground by then," said Jolie. "There are so many wonderful pledges of money that could come in the next few years, but winter is in the next few weeks."

Fog + Flying Standby Do Not Mix

Well, here I am, sitting in the SeaTac airport (Seattle). Had a really lovely weekend with my brother Joe and sister-in-law Lisa, and am now trying to get to Vancouver to meet my boss (and his daughter who’s going to university in Vancouver) before our business meetings tomorrow.

Since my brother works for an airline, he was able to share a guest pass with me so I could fly from Vancouver to Seattle at about half-price (maybe less). The problem with guest passes is you’re flying on standby, so if there’s a customer paying full price who wants your seat, s/he gets it. With the flight loads as they were, it didn’t look as though it would be a problem. Getting to Seattle wasn’t too bad, but flying out of Seattle – at least at a reasonable time – is looking dicey. There’s enough fog to make flying conditions “marginal”, so a couple of flights have been cancelled. This, of course, pushes all the paying customers into the seats that were only claimed by l’il ol’ me. So … when I arrived at the airport, I thought I could fly out at 11:30, but was told that the next available flight is at 4:30. That’s IF the weather holds. So thanks to wireless Internet in the waiting area, I have been able to locate a shuttle bus that will take me from the SeaTac airport to Vancouver! The travel time will be longer, of course, but I’ll be leaving at 1:00, my seat is assured, and I’m more certain to arrive in Vancouver at a decent hour. :) This is important to me after some late nights in the past week. :)

So now that I’ve got THAT out of my system, how has the trip been so far? Excellent!!! As I’ve said, it was great to spend more time with Joe and Lisa (Lisa is also a terrific cook, and Joe’s French toast is amazing!). Also, Lisa and I went out with Monika and Tracy, who seriously rock!!!!

Well, it might be time to forage for some snacky things (or at least escape the tired, frustrated parents and their tired, noisy, restless children who are sitting in this waiting area) and then catch my shuttle.

Ciao!

U.S. Using Chemical Weapons in Iraq?

[Note: See update below]

And burning babies????

See article on the BBC website
Then read more about the effects of white phosphorus
Then read this brilliant blog entry

Impossible? It wouldn't be the first time children have been caught in the chemical crossfire by the U.S. military ...

Sorry if this blog entry sounds shrill - there's something about child abuse that raises my ire.

Eclecta

UPDATE 11/14/05 7:01 AM - I’ve been thinking about this post overnight (yes, I actually woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this), and I would like to make one thing clear: I do not blame the rank and file of the U.S. military if Iraqi children have indeed been burned or killed by the use of white phosphorus. I blame their leaders who got them into such an untenable, indefensible situation in the first place by ordering an invasion of choice into an urban society.

When I was teaching English in South Korea, my fellow expatriate teachers and I would often go to the cities of Osan or Kunsan. There were U.S. military bases (or “stations” or some other term I forget now for the Air Force camps) near these cities, and so enterprising Koreans set up many businesses outside the bases appealing to Westerners (bars, tailors, restaurants, craft shops with amazing pirated cross-stitch patterns for sale). So we would go shopping and/or dancing, and meet up with quite a few American servicemen (and a few servicewomen). Some of us were single, but these poor U.S. soldiers were so lonely for female company that they were thrilled just to have some conversation, mild flirtation, and maybe a dance or two. I expected them to be jerks (cultural bias, I guess), and was quite surprised at how decent and polite the large majority of them were. Some were even gallant. They joked, they teased each other, they spoke of missing their families back home. Most of them seemed very young to my 27-year-old self.

Now I think of those faces, those people. I know many of them got out of the Air Force long before the Iraqi War. But maybe there were a few who thought they’d make a career out of it, and ended up in Iraq. Or, more likely, their replacements are very much like them. And I think of them in this urban war, ordered into places they’re not sure from which they’ll get out alive. I think of the “mental conditioning” that must take place to ensure that they will do the job they’ve been sent to do. And I think of veterans of other wars, who years after their service become broken men as, in a time of peace, they were able to consider the horrors they committed in a time when they felt vulnerable and targeted by the enemy.

And I feel grief for so many lives ruined by a war of choice built on lies.

Don't tell Mr. Covey this, but ...

Stephen R. Covey was another one of the speakers at the leadership conference I mentioned in the post below. He's the one who wrote the popular book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" (which I obtained during last weekend's orgy of book purchases).

As a speaker, I found him kind of distracting for two reasons. First, he kind of looks like Yoda:


Covey's picture here doesn't really portray how much the tops of his ears point out from his head. You might have to take my word on this.

Secondly, Covey has such a measured, solemn delivery when speaking that I kept expecting him to say, "Let us pray."

Not that I have anything against priest-like pointy-eared men; all I'm saying is that it was distracting ... Does that make me a horrible person????

Carly Fiorina on Leadership

The other day, my employer paid for me (and group of colleagues) to attend a day-long leadership conference. It featured several well-known CEOs and other figures, such as Richard Branson (owner and CEO of various companies under the Virgin banner), Jack Welch (retired CEO of General Electric [GE]), and Rudy Guiliani. All the speakers were somewhere in the U.S., and the satellite feed was beamed to hundreds of locations around the world to thousands of participants like me.

Some of the sessions were interesting and thought-provoking. One of the speakers was ridiculous, others were inspiring. To me and everyone I spoke to, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, was the best of the whole day. I don’t know if anyone out there reading this blog will find my thoughts on this day of interest, but I’d like to summarize some of the notes I made myself while I was there, and this is just as good a place as any to keep them. Besides, you’re all free agents and can scroll down to the next post if you find this one boring. :-> So, without further ado:

• Leadership, as she defined it, has nothing to do with power; it is a choice to make a positive difference. It is the courage to take risks, to see what others might not see (or want to see), to do what others might not do (or want to do). It is unlocking potential in others.
• In college, she studied medieval history and philosophy. But once she graduated, she needed a job, so she worked as a receptionist. From this she learned that there is dignity in all work, anyone can make a difference in an organization, and what can happen when someone takes a chance on you. There were people at her first job who believed she had the potential to do more, and asked her to take on more responsibility, and allowed her to explore more of her potential.
• No matter what job she had, she focused all her energy learning as much as possible from those around her, doing the best job she could, and pouring her passion into her work. She said that over time she's become convinced that it’s vital to focus on what you’re doing at the time, rather than fixing your sights on the next promotion/step (She said something to the effect that people who are always thinking of the next advancement don’t usually do their current job very well.)
• There are two ways to look at every job: 1) to see its limitations, or 2) to see its possibilities. Those who focus on the possibilities always achieve more than those who don’t.
• She compared leaders and managers: Leaders create something new, see possibilities and make them happen, take risks; managers mitigate risk, operate within a set of boundaries, and ensure that what’s currently in place continues to work.
• She said that as we’ve entered the 21^st Century, we’ve entered unchartered territory. Up to and including the 20^th Century, leadership was vertical, or “mechanical. Information went up the vertical chain of command, and orders went back down it. This was inefficient, because it meant that the leader was responsible for knowing everything that was going on among the rank and file, and for arranging for the transfer of information between groups that eventually reported up to him/her.
• In academia today, the greatest innovations and breakthroughs now come through collaboration between different departments (I forget the example she used, but it was something like biology and mechanical physics). Today’s problems are more complex, and therefore horizontal collaboration (vs. vertical chain of command) is more important.
• Important questions yet to be answered in the 21^st Century: How do we share information/power? How do we enforce accountability?
• We now have a “biology” (I think the word “ecology” would have been better) of a complex network of relationships
• Eventually, every physical/static/mechanical/manual process will become digital/mobile/virtual/personal. Example: photography … At one time, very few people had cameras; now camera-phones are ubiquitous
• The ordinary person has become far more enabled/empowered than in the past
• Information is no longer power, as with the Internet, we all have access to information. Neither is authority the source of power, as authority can now be questioned.
• Technology can unlock human potential; the barriers of time, distance, power, and wealth are falling. Anyone can choose to lead.
• Leadership requires going beyond subject matter expertise. It requires the understanding that common sense and asking the right questions will make up for expertise. Leadership requires the courage to believe you can probably figure it out, or find others to help you figure it out. Rely on others to help; people like to talk about themselves and their area of expertise, and they like to help others.
• It is not enough to identify a problem; a leader always provides a solution or a positive alternative. Criticizing solutions is easy, but a leader must overcome fear, take risks, “put yourself out there, stand behind the bet that you make”
• Leadership requires TRUST. People must trust you, but you must also trust them. If you can’t trust others, you can’t lead.
• Leadership requires balance between optimism and realism. You must believe that positive change is possible, yet have a clear-eyed understanding of the barriers and weaknesses facing you.
• Leadership requires balance between consistency and flexibility. Consistency allows others to anticipate how you will react, or what you want. Consistency in goals is essential so that everyone can work toward something and achieve it. However, things happen, and you have to work around them and be flexible. Yet your end goal should always be the same. She compared it to sailing – you zigzag (instead of going in a straight line) across the water to get to and end destination.
• Do NOT surround yourself with people like yourself; today’s problems and enterprises require a diversity of perspectives and approaches.
• Balance strategy and execution (big picture and details).
• Whenever she is asked for the one piece of advice she would give to anyone in leadership, she says never to give up one’s internal compass: “Never sell your soul, because no one can pay you back.” There are many things that can throw a leader off course. A leader gets lots of advice. But the most important decisions a leader will make is when s/he is alone. “Don’t make choices that don’t feel right to you.”
• Ultimately, leadership is about authenticity, not style. You can’t fake it. It requires you to bring all of yourself to the job (your head, gut, all of your capabilities).
• The best leaders ask their people to bring all of themselves to the task as well
• Leadership is not power, title, number of people reporting to you
• Leadership is raising people’s sights regarding themselves, the possibilities of their organization, and helping them to achieve more than they thought possible.

Travel Update + J&L Wedding Photos!

So you may have read this blog entry a couple of weeks ago, and started to wonder, “Why hasn’t she written about Calgary or Banff?” Well, the truth of the matter is that the trip has been postponed for a couple of weeks, and Vancouver has been added to the itinerary. We’re supposed to be in Vancouver on Monday, the 21^st, then in Calgary on the Tuesday, and back to Toronto Tuesday night. This means that there won’t be time to go to Banff. :-( However, since I’ll be in Vancouver for Monday, and my brother and sister-in-law (and Tracy and Monika!) live in Seattle, I’m taking a couple of vacation days next week and visiting them before meeting up with my boss in Vancouver. So it’s all good, and I’m very excited!

Speaking of my brother and his wife, they’ve finally shared their online wedding pictures! (They were shamed into it by virtue of the fact that I’d posted some of Tracy and Dave’s wedding photos, and I hadn’t even attended their ceremony! ;->) Here are just a few … I’m selecting those that don’t make me feel uncomfortable as Joe’s sister (i.e., none of the kissy ones – eww! LOL)

"Tickle tickle tickle!"


Damn fine photo.


Cute and sweet.


Joe's trying very very hard not to cry here:


"Bwah ha ha! Take that, U.S. Government! Try to deport him now that we have THIS!"


Lisa with her lovely mom/matron of honour:


"Yes! This party is finally about me! ME!!!!" I look very pale in this photo (more so than usual), but so does Lisa's sister Lori, so I will blame it on the lighting rather than the sinking feeling that now my relatives are going to start asking me when it's MY turn to get married. LOL


I love this photo. Lisa's twin nieces, Elizabeth and Victoria (Lisa has 6 brothers and sisters, and thereby nieces/nephews galore), Joe's parents (and mine) along the wall, and Joe's best friend/man and his wife across the table. All kind of homey and chaotic - none of that formal head table crap. :)

Watching "Someone Like You" on TV and ...

... Hugh Jackman is HOT!!!!!!!!! Whoa!

... but that's because of his intelligence and personality. Uh hunh ...

It's too late for me ...

… but you can still save yourself!

1. Do NOT buy – or even sample – President’s Choice Chocolate Fudge Crackle Vanilla ice cream. This product should come with the following label: “WARNING, DANGER: This substance is irresistible and highly addictive. This product is not directed for anyone without amazing willpower.” It will call to you from your freezer. It is an expert manipulator. Trust the voice of experience here.
2. Do NOT go to the World’s Biggest Bookstore this weekend. They’re having an anniversary sale in which all books are 25% off. If you have one of those membership cards, you get 35% off. You will spend hundreds to save money. You will wander for hours through the store looking for just one more bargain or item to slash of the list of books that have been on your wish list. Your hands will chafe and blister as the basket of books you’re carrying becomes heavier and heavier. You will even consider inviting the flirty store manager home with you just so he will carry all your new books for you. Again, this is the voice of experience. You have been warned.