When I was very little, my grandparents bought me a copy of “One Thousand and One Nights“, in a version that (at the time) seemed to me quite appropriate for my age (I must have been about 8). Among the stories that I enjoyed the most was that of Aladdin and his magic lamp. Said magic lamp housed a genie with special powers. The genie was able to grant wishes (traditionally, in Western cultures, a maximum of three). At the tender age of 8, I wished I was a genie able to grant more wishes, but I struggled to find EXACTLY which three wishes I should grant (or I should ask for, if I ever met a genie).
Well, recently I was kindly granted Genie status by the good folks of DreamBank. Along with my beautiful lamp, I was also given a $20 voucher that I can put towards a DreamBank dream. Just in the same way as I struggled when I was 8 years old on which wishes should I grant, I had been struggling for the past few days with which dreamer’s dream to support with my voucher, and even more so, which dream to go for (which is why this post is SO terribly late).
When I entered my PhD, I figured that the one wish I wanted would be to help save the environment through my research. That wish has, in a way, been granted already by the Powers-That-Be, since my research projects have helped environmental non-governmental organizations design better campaigns, local municipalities have benefited from my studies on wastewater governance and policy, and I’ve sat on numerous national and international committees on environmental policy, contributing whatever little I know about these issues.
So, in a way, I figured it was time to be slightly more self-centered and focus on which wish I wanted granted. And here is where DreamBank is a great opportunity to kill two hummingbirds with one stone (hat tips to John Biehler for the phrase).
There are several features that I really like about DreamBank (read more about how DreamBank works on their Frequently Asked Questions page):
– Your dream, however selfish it may sound, helps fund charitable causes.
– The notion of communities of dreamers helps also create relationships and bonds that may last for a very long time.
– Some of the fellow dreamers in Vancouver include good friends of mine, like Beth Snow and Rebecca Bollwitt, just to mention a couple (Editor’s note – I have the feeling that my mentor and friend DaveO might have also been granted genie status, I don’t know why but I have this feeling – he should be, as he is an inspiration to us bloggers in Vancouver).
– DreamBank is very transparent about their business model [DreamBank Accountability page] (yes, they are not a non-profit, but the side effect of funding a Dreamer’s dream does bring collateral benefits). As someone who does actually do research on accountability and transparency (I have a journal article forthcoming this year on this very topic), these are two elements I always watch for.
– The fine print is actually published as The Large Print (giggles).
I recently found out that DreamBank was chosen as a finalist in the New Ventures BC competition, and I was really happy to hear this, as the business model of DreamBank is an interesting one. I am particularly pleased with elements of DreamBank that are associated with pooling the money and with the interest, funding charitable causes, as well as avoiding costs of wrapping a gift (AND the associated environmental pollution – gift-wrapping, etc.)
You can check a list of the dreamers, and yes you will find me there. I just recently (as in, within the last 24 hours) decided what my dream would be. Despite the conversations I might have had with my fellow bloggers, no, my dream is not paying my student loans (which would be nice), and it’s not going to Paris for six months for a research stay (which would also be nice).
It’s a smaller dream and one that actually I think would benefit my readers, my fellow bloggers, the local Vancouver community and the environmental research community at large. I haven’t inserted it yet on my Dreamer page, but my dream is to buy a new laptop, actually a MacBook. . And since my birthday is coming up (September 19th), I think I got enough time to achieve my dream. At least, I surely hope so!
I still don’t know who I am going to send my $20 to, but at least, I have settled on my dream. I’ll be updating my DreamBank dreamer page soon to reflect my wish 🙂 If you are so inclined, feel free to donate towards the fulfillment of my dream of getting a new laptop (which I am sure will come handy for live-blogs, geeking out at coffee shops, and my own research!)
I read Jeff Pulver’s blog very frequently, not only because he is inspiring but also because I regret, day after day, having missed breakfast with him when he was recently in Vancouver.
For all the wonderful things I’m supposed to be able to do, I wasn’t able to make it to that breakfast. I regret it, I seriously do. Anyway, we were having a comments/online conversation about who we were and where we were going.
I commented on Jeff’s post that sometimes I didn’t know if I was the Raul I wanted to be, and given my recent experiences, I would really like to reassure myself that I am, indeed, the Raul I want to be. I am pretty sure that wherever I go, I will brighten people’s lives. Not being self-centered, it’s just the truth. I am a guy who can bring light and happiness to you, if you let me.
The problem is, how often do we reflect on who we are and where we are going? Very seldom, I would venture. Ask yourselves – how often do you think about yourselves and whether you are the person you want to be?
One of the privileges I have in my blog, and I have just recently discovered it again, is that this blog is about ME. If you want to know who I am (Raul the academic, Raul the blogger, Raul the volleyball player, Raul the professional salsa dancer, Raul the geek) you don’t need to go anywhere. Here I am, and here is my story. Where is YOURS?
I was having tea with Phaedra and we talked about the fact that I do 421 things in one day and how I manage to still have energy. But the truth is, I am not the hummingbird I once was. I still have many of the abilities that I have been blessed with throughout the years, but I get tired, more and more. Recently, Rebecca was emphasizing recently that I try really hard not to let anyone down and to participate in every event, every party, every gathering, even if that means having to bend over backwards.
I have to say that I’ve come to admire Duane, Tod and Tanya as three of the people I have known to take time for themselves, and who are not afraid to say no. I have a really hard time saying no to people or to things. I have tried really hard to learn how to do this (say no) in the academic realm, but to my friends, I always struggle.
Recently, I cancelled social engagements with several of my offline friends, and with many of my online friends. I felt guilty like you have no idea. But honestly, if I don’t do that, I’m going to run out of energy reserves faster than I will be able to replenish them. I’m just saying. So, if I cancel on you, do not take this personally. I just need me time, Raul time.
I almost didn’t make it to the Vancouver Sales Performance Meetup because of so many things that I am juggling right now, and to be perfectly honest, I am SO glad I made it, because quite honestly it was the best use of half an hour of my life in the most recent months. Fred Shadian is an extraordinary speaker, and I left the meeting feeling completely energized and pumped about what I need to do to accomplish my goals.
In a completely different fashion to what I would normally do (either live-blog, or write notes on my laptop and then upload a summary), this time I took notes by hand (thank you grade 3 handwriting courses!) which I’m summarizing here. If you weren’t there, you missed a great talk. But not to worry, because I got notes here.
Fred’s topic, “Real Success – Breaking Through Performance Plateaus in Business and Life” actually couldn’t have come handier to me even if I had tried. I have often felt that I am in a plateau, in different stages of my life. When I was playing competitive volleyball, I frequently thought to myself that I was never going to be a better power hitter and that I had reached my plateau. I recently have been feeling as though I reached a plateau in my personal/professional life, surprisingly. But these are great tips that Fred offered and that I now share with you.
The first step is RECOGNIZING THAT YOU ARE IN A PLATEAU. The key is – if you’re happy with your plateau (in harmony with it) then it’s not a plateau. Think of one thing you’ve always wanted to do but you NEVER have done it. People focus constantly on the problem – that doesn’t really help you. Focus on TODAY – raise the vibration that happens (it only works if you are moving). [RAUL’S NOTE – Very interesting – keep moving, don’t be static).
If you want to move your cells, move forward. Fred talked about seven elements, but I missed one:
1. Environment
2. Behaviors
3. Capabilities
4. Beliefs
5. Values
6. Spirituality
7. …
And 5 addictions (failures – hinder your progression towards the future).
1. Food
2. Alcohol
3. Drugs
4. Gambling
5. Sex
Addictions pull back your progressions. Focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. Fred spoke about Pete Sampras’ lethal serve, indicating that you can’t block something you can’t see.
GET OUT OF PLATEAUING – Do little bits of momentum (moving forward) – gotta watch plateauing. Ask yourself:
– Who is in your industry/field?
– Who is the best of the best?
– What do you need to do, what has to happen for me to move forward from here to there (HAVE A CLEAR OBJECTIVE).
If you don’t feel like training, feed your brain with little snippets of stuff that will help you succeed in the long run. Do something that gets you closer to your goal. Constantly moving in the right momentum. As long as you acknowledge where you are going and you know where you are at you are NOT in a plateau.
Using different mentors helps as well. But it’s always important to ask yourself – does each one of your moves put you forward and get you closer to your goal?
ALWAYS MAKE A DECISION WHEN YOU ARE ON A HIGH, NOT ON A LOW. If I want to reach a goal, I need to reach the intermediate goals, so that’s important so that you can make a real calculation to reaching your goal.
ONE STEP AT A TIME – There is no unrealistic goals, just unrealistic planning. 20 mins everyday vs. one big chunk fo time – preferably continuous (20 mins every day) – continuous effort everyday.
When you start visualizing success, it starts happening.
— this is the end of Fred’s talk —
I have to say that he was excellent, and he mentioned many points that I know my PhD supervisor has always taught me, so I’ll have to concede that there is always something new I learn about my mentor, every day, even if he is not there physically (in the room where I was attending this presentation).
And if you haven’t signed up, you better get going on this! This is my very first BarCamp (I would have attended last year, but I had just recently begun to read more frequently Rebecca’s blog and I don’t think it registered in my brain that it would be an important event to attend).
Given that I am now in the tech world, and that I have A LOT of friends in tech/social media, it just makes sense for me to participate. This year, I’m part of the organizing committee and I promised to help (I haven’t yet been assigned any specific tasks, but since apparently I’m a master of schmoozing and social networking – not my words, Thomasso‘s! I guess I will be helping with venues or sponsorship or something along those lines).
Rebecca and Duane will be headlining WordCamp (a mini-camp on all things WordPress), which is kind of cool. I am of course sure that by then, I’ll be self-hosted and therefore, if the topic comes up, I can always talk about the transition from the WordPress.com-hosted to self-hosted (a topic that I told Kulpreet I would talk about if there is a BC WordCamp in the future).
So what is BarCamp and why should you attend?
BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.[BarCamp wiki]
So, save the date (it’s about a week after my birthday, so I will try to include some post-birthday celebrations in here (after the camp is over, of course!)
Everyone who knows me at least a little bit knows that I’m all about supporting local businesses, and sticking up for struggling small firms. Since my PhD dissertation examined firm closure, it would be just obvious that this is a topic near and dear to my heart. But there are other reasons why I am always all about the small businesses on Cambie. One of them is that the construction of the Canada Line, negatively affected numerous establishments along Cambie Street, forcing them to close.
John Bollwitt had previously written about the woes of the Cambie Street struggling establishments, particularly as they related to the construction of the Canada Line. Just because I am the way I am, I decided to launch my little personal campaign to support businesses on Cambie. At the time, my blog didn’t have the readership to really have any impact. Today, I think that my blog readers could really help alleviate the struggles of the Cambie Street merchants by going there more often for dinner, for a coffee, to the theatre or simply, a bite to eat.
However, despite the then small readership of my blog, my own personal actions did provide some businesses on Cambie with at least some support. Trixi’s, the crepe place on 17th and Cambie, has become “our place” for AF and myself. We hang out here with regularity, since it’s pretty much located right equidistant from each one of our places. The crepes here are extraordinary and they make mine without cheese, which I appreciate a lot.
Recently, AF took me and her mom to Trixi’s for lunch and we then did a quick walk around the Cambie Village (which technically still is somewhat part of Mount Pleasant). It was great to just spend time with AF and her Mom, particularly because my own mother is unable to come to Vancouver this summer, and I always have connected very well with the parents of my friends. And since AF and I treat each other as though we were brother and sister, I guess we all become one big extended family!
I asked Ernest (owner of Trixi’s) to give me a little video interview (thank you Flip camera!) on whether the businesses have coped and it was encouraging to hear that yes, business seems to be picking up on Cambie. Since I am not self-hosted yet, I can’t embed the Flickr video, but you can watch the mini-interview here.
I noticed the existence of “Mount Pleasant Cheese” right on the same block around Cambie and 19th, and we decided to engage in a little adventure and enter this store. MPC specializes in Canadian cheeses, and they have (oh sweet surprise!) wine jellies. Suffice it to say that you can now know what my next munchies contribution will be to any potluck – crackers and wine jelly.
We then went for a walk through 18th between Cambie and Main, and had a chance to see (again) my dream house on 18th and Columbia. *sigh* If only I had had enough money to buy this house, I would have retired and had my own little Mexican restaurant, coffee shop, dance studio or even my own consulting office. But alas, I didn’t have the cash to dish out for this house. But I can still walk around there and sigh any time I see it. It’s been recently renovated and the studio space is for rent.
All in all, good times. The walk and lunch and then lemonade at Liberty Bakery were definite highlights of my day, as it was having tea today with Phaedra (who kindly made bath salts for me, as I told her that I had recently discovered the marvels of baths!). While there are many virtues I appreciate of Phaedra, one of the ones that really touches me is her ability to speak honestly and directly with me. We were very, very tired and we admitted it to ourselves. We still had a great time, but we were also able to recognize that when our energy levels were low, it was time to go home.
And now, back to the grind…
Continuing on my research-related posts, I have previously talked about my research on wastewater governance, on environmental NGO mobilization, and now I’ll briefly talk about what I have studied on water supply governance.
I was going to leave this post all the way until Blogathon, but Arieanna’s recent post on “Canada, the water” reminded me of the relevance of understanding how water supplies and water management works (great post Arieanna by the way). Arieanna’s post calls attention to the fact that the bottled water being sold at Whole Foods was pretty much targeted towards tourist buyers.
Photo credit: Ianiv and Arieanna on Flickr
What worries me a bit more is not so much the privatization and commodification of water, but the misconceptions of water availability on this planet. According to the 2nd. United Nations Word Water Report, between 25 and 40% of the world’s drinking water comes from ground sources (groundwater).
This fact should be scary to people, but I’m not sure that people who live in Canada and particularly British Columbia (since we are so well served by our watersheds and local reservoirs) realize the degree of water scarcity that pervades the world, even if there is a generalized perception that . Therefore, it’s not hard to think that many people have a reason to be rightfully annoyed by the increasing privatization of water supplies.
Given the investment and capital costs that need to be covered in order to provide groundwater for drinking purposes, I would imagine that people would be cognizant of water scarcity and avoid increasing demand on water reserves, both by conserving water and by recycling grey water. In one of my research projects, I have looked at the use of common pool resource (CPR) theory to try and understand the conflicts amongst two communities who share and access the same aquifer (in Mexico).
The nature of public accessibility of aquifers makes them an excellent laboratory to study the behavior of communities who have to share a common resource that can be depleted if inappropriately managed. The purpose of my post was (as subtly suggested in the header) to indicate that in order to appropriately manage or govern water, we need to first learn to govern ourselves and control our natural consumptive instinct, in order to avoid depletion of our water reserves. Will we be able to do that? And how can we increase the visibility of the challenges of governing water when we can clearly see that other issues (such as climate change) are so high up in the environmental agenda in Canada?
More resources and materials for reading:
– The World Water Assessment Project page – Provides lots of information and good statistics. The UNESCO International Hydrological Programme is currently putting together the 3rd World Water Report.
– CBC Series on Water – While I am VERY weary of pointing people out to media sources instead of academic sources, I kind of liked this series.
– The National Water Research Institute of Environment Canada – Basically focuses on freshwater, but a good resource nonetheless.
– The International Water Resources Association (IWRA).
July 22nd, 2008 in
academic life,
environment,
public policy issues,
sustainability,
urbanization,
water,
water policy | tags:
common pool resource theory,
environmental policy,
public policy,
water policy |
8 Comments
I had always been curious about Goldfish Pacific Kitchen, more and more recently since I have been spending more time in Yaletown (and I have noticed the increase in eye candy!). Also, I rarely consume seafood as I am more of a meat eater (and somewhat vegetarian, I’d say I’m like 40% meat eater and 60% vegetarian). I was recently invited as a guest to GoldFish Pacific Kitchen and couldn’t resist the temptation. An invitation to such a good restaurant is not something you can pass on, so I decided to take one of my closest friends with me.
JT is usually one of my most frequent dining companions and therefore, it was just appropriate that he shared this experience with me. I didn’t read any restaurant reviews nor listen to any commentary about Goldfish so that I could go and have a unique experience on my own. We both decided to go for the Prixe Fixe (what Goldfish calls ‘Le Sharp Deal’), a three-course meal that is served from 5:00pm to 5:55pm (and yes, you can order at 5:54pm for sure!). For $ 25.00, this is one great value for your meal, since the mains are usually about that price. My photos don’t really do justice to the meal, so you’ll have to forgive the quality. But the food is simply great.
We both ordered the mustard greens for starters, then I chose a salmon dish and JT ordered the ling cod. We complemented our meal with some bacon rice. The salmon was most definitely to die for, delicate and flavorful. The bacon fried rice blew me away, as it seems like such a simple dish yet I found it delicious. Finally, for dessert JT ordered the creme brule (of which I had to have the caramel crust) and I ordered the gelato.The dessert was extraordinary. I have to say that Goldfish’s creme brule is definitely my favorite, so far.
I had a chance to go back a second time as Steve Jagger invited Rebecca Bollwitt and myself to come join him for lunch. Same great experience, prompt service, great food (and awesome company, of course). This time, I ordered the maple soy chicken (really, really good) and also a side of fried bacon rice. Really good (although I think I ate a tad too much, hehe).
Without a doubt, these two have to be some of the best experiences I’ve had with customer service. Our server (in both cases, lunch and dinner) was simply outstanding, very knowledgeable, prompt, friendly and not pushy at all. Albert was also paying attention to every detail. Given my recent string of bad luck with restaurants’ customer service, I was quite happy to find Goldfish’s high level of service.
Another element that I really liked was finding out that Goldfish Pacific Kitchen is so interested in issues of sustainability. Goldfish is an associate of the OceanWise program AND the Green Table network. As I have mentioned before on my blog, I’m always interested in issues of greening restaurants.
Would I go back to Goldfish? Absolutely. While they are very different concepts, I would be willing to substitute my beloved Water Street Cafe for Goldfish for a celebration. This has to speak volumes to how much I liked Goldfish, because the Water Street Cafe is the location where I have celebrated Valentine’s Day and my birthday for the past few years (with JT, no less!). I am sure we’ll be celebrating either his birthday or mine at Goldfish in the near future. And to Goldfish, keep up the good work, you guys!
It’s amazing how soon things can change in a person’s life. I struggled with the decision whether I would participate in Blogathon or not after a meeting this Friday where I have to finish some stuff before July 31st, 2008. Therefore, I was in risk of dropping from Blogathon. However, I had a conversation with my Mom on Thursday and she reminded me that her sister is currently afflicted with metastatic cancer.
Therefore, I have decided that I’m not dropping from Blogathon 2008, and I’ll have to be extremely efficient with my time. I have also decided to implement a great suggestion that Rebecca got on her blog (hat tips to Shane Gibson) – if you are a business enterprise, you could pledge to donate $50 towards my cause (the BC Cancer Agency) and I could either write a blog post about your business or simply add a footer indicating “This post was sponsored by Company X“.
I am also trying to harness the fact that I’m currently Vancouver UrbanSpoon’s top restaurant review blogger (see my sidebar). I’m not 100% sure of how to do that, but I’m also accepting suggestions. And speaking of accepting, I’m currently wondering if people would be willing and able to write guest posts on my blog as part of Blogathon. I will also be e-mailing some close friends of mine who are also bloggers to request their help specifically (but also, feel free to drop a comment and say that you’re willing/able to write a guest post!)
This page explains pretty much everything you might want to know about my Blogathon 2008 efforts. Pleas spread the word, and thank you all in advance.
Last week, I had a conversation with Nancy Zimmerman on her post regarding the ticketing of homeless people who were sleeping in Oppenheimer Park (at 4:30am on Thursday I think), in the Downtown East Side. As I have mentioned before, the realities of the Downtown East Side (DTES) are very complex, and homelessness is not an easy issue to tackle. If it were, Vancouver wouldn’t have any problems of homelessness.
One of the most debilitating and dis-empowering feelings I have ever had in my life is the feeling of not having where to sleep. The most recent time I moved to Canada, I simply didn’t have a place to stay nor had I secured housing at the university. Therefore, for like three weeks, I *had* to stay at a friends’ place. While her apartment was very nice, living out of a set of luggage bags is NOT really nice.
Now, I have adapted to Canada and to Vancouver, but those feelings of disempowerment are not easy to let go. I hope I never get to experience them, ever again.
I am also keenly aware of how much Nancy loves her neighbourhood and how committed she is to social change. I think that we ought to take a holistic view to the homelessness issue and more than anything, be compassionate. We never know when we can end up there. Fate has a way of turning out in unexpected ways.
Ever wonder what drives environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) to undertake campaigns to protect the oceans, protest forests’ clear-cutting and fight to have bis-phenol A banned from all plastic bottles? This is one of the questions that has driven another side research project I have conducted throughout the past decade.
I’ve always been puzzled as to why would numerous individuals of different backgrounds decide to come together and volunteer their time to engage in environmental activism. Putting pressure on government is an activity that has taken place for a long time, and with the recent increase in media exposure to problems such as climate change and pollution, we have witnessed a spiraling growth of ENGO mobilizations.
Global warming protest outside Washington Park (Photo: Pembleton/Flickr)
You may or may not know that one of the most famous environmental groups (Greenpeace International) was initially founded in 1971 here in Vancouver.
In 1971, motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists, the founders of Greenpeace, believed a few individuals could make a difference.
Their mission was to “bear witness” to US underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, a tiny island off the West Coast of Alaska, which is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions.[Greenpeace website]
My research on ENGOs has focused less on understanding the motivations behind environmental groups’ (a topic that, while interesting, provides in my opinion less insight on potential public policy options) and more on the strategies that ENGOs use to put pressure both on industrial polluters and on governments at different scales (local, regional, transnational).
Moreover, I have been interested in gathering empirical evidence of the formation of transnational coalitions of ENGOs and how these coalitions use their collective knowledge to engage in strategic behavior and put pressure on national governments. Interestingly enough, there are many cases where ENGOs have been successful in pressuring polluters and shaming governments.
However, one of the most interesting insights that I have found in my research is that, for an issue to really galvanize public opinion, it has to be notorious and affect the population in a deep way (that is, it must be scary enough to make people put words into action). As I mentioned in my previous post on the governance of wastewater, it irks me to know that other pressing problems, such as dwindling supplies of water and increasing wasteful behavior on the part of urban populations are being overlooked in favor of climate change.
While it appears as though environment (and climate change) are two of the issues that Canadians indicate as public policy priorities, I am still surprised that there are not more environmental group protests on issues of pollution, and still place so much emphasis on climatic change issues.
My hope is that, in the coming years, people will continue to mobilize and try to change how environmental policy is shaped and implemented, but hopefully by then, we’ll have a much more holistic view and not only one shaped by excessive press coverage of environmental issues that, while pressing, are not the only ones we need to look at.
July 18th, 2008 in
academic life,
climate change,
environment,
environmental NGOs,
food for thought,
public policy issues,
sustainability,
water | tags:
environmental NGOs,
public policy,
research |
6 Comments
So last week, Trevor O, Matthew Carriere, Rebecca, Duane, John, Karen Parker and her boyfriend D, another friend of Trevor’s and myself met at Jimmy’s, after a successful beer/nacho gathering at The Kingston.
The first thing is that we loved the idea of sitting on a patio, and the location was nice (Homer and Hamilton). However, I have to say that we were faced with horrible service, even if the beer was good.
The waitress was not really friendly and it took AGES to get our stuff to the table. I really wouldn’t recommend Jimmy’s to anyone who is looking for service. Karen and D did have something to eat, but I am not 100% sure of how it was. The yam fries were ok, but as far as I am concerned, I wouldn’t really have had dinner here, and next time, I won’t do Jimmy’s (even if my geeky friends and myself were all excited about the fact that Duane had a new 3G iPhone).
Quite frankly, I won’t be going back to Jimmy’s any time soon, even if it has wi-fi and a great patio, and even if we saw women rappelling from the top of the Vancouver Public Library.
My ignorance of the hype surrounding the Dr. Horrible movie is probably going to have the Powers That Be ask me to hand in my Geek-In-Training card, but why are people so gun-ho about this movie? Insight much appreciated.
At the beginning of our IRL (in real life) friendship, Rebecca and I had a really long conversation about how much of a pet peeve we had with people who don’t tag their photos on Flickr. I am now making a really big effort of tagging my photos appropriately. One of the issues I often have is to find exactly what tag to use.
Many of my friends’ tags I know already. For example, for Rebecca I often use miss604 and also, her full name (although I recognize that often I use rebeccabollwitt instead of “Rebecca Bollwitt”). For Tanya, same thing. It’s easy to tag with ‘netchick’. For David Drucker, I tag ‘loudmurmurs. For Corinna, I tag ‘gusgreeper’ although when I take photos of both Adam and Corinna, I tag “TheCarlsons”. For Gus, I tag “GusF” although I guess I could use gusdigital.
The problem that sometimes arises is when people don’t actually have aliases. For example, Monica Hamburg uses her full name on Twitter and her blog. I do tag her photos monicahamburg. Same with Ianiv and Arieanna (using their full names). But I kind of prefer when I have an alias to associate the photo with (e.g. John Bollwitt and audihertz, John Biehler and retrocactus, Derek Miller with penmachine, Airdrie with talkingtoair or myself and hummingbird604).
So if you have any particular preference on how you’d like me to tag any photos I take of you, this is your chance to tell me 🙂 And, the question is … does it bother you when people don’t tag properly? How do you tag your photos?
After a really long and exhausting day (I had only 3.5 hours of sleep), I am at home, it’s past midnight on Thursday already and I really shouldn’t be blogging, but I should be sleeping. However, I think I need to take a few minutes to take stock of WordCamp, and ask my readers and the participants to give us feedback. Normally, I would also take some time to mention all the wonderful people I met and send them some link love (I did indeed lose the bet to Jodi), but I am really exhausted, so you’ll have to forgive me for that.
We are our worst critics and I think some of us who presented felt that we could have done a better job. Let me say that this is completely natural. With the exception of John Chow, who seems like he’s done dozens of these presentations and he is a natural, I think that we all thought we did an ok job but we wish we had done better. The funny thing is that the feedback that we all got was that our presentations were great. And you know, since the people who told us that were actually the audience, we should pat ourselves in the back.
I want to take a minute to thank Gary AND his team for superb organization (I saw Brady Valentino there as well, I am assuming as a volunteer). It was a real delight to share this experience with all of you, and the chocolates were definitely a very nice and classy touch. You guys did a great job. All of this work as well as that of Rastin, Jenn, Ash and Teresa when the first WordCamp Vancouver happened, only comes to show that we are indeed a great WordPress community. Gary and his team put together WordCamp Fraser Valley, Rastin and his team put together WordCamp Vancouver, now who is going to take the baton and organize WordCamp British Columbia or WordCamp Canada? Inquiring minds want to know… 😀
Thanks to a wonderful audience as well. You guys were simply awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. Everyone was supportive, friendly and I am delighted that people came and introduced themselves to me.
Those of you who attended but did not have a chance to talk to us, I would really appreciate it if you left a comment on my blog regarding what you thought of the presentations. I’m going to speak to you as I would to my own students – just when you provide your feedback, be constructive and remember that we are human beings with feelings and that we did all of this in a total volunteer manner and we are not making money out of this.
We came and spoke because we are passionate about blogging, about the WordPress platform, and about sharing this with the larger community. I think I can speak for my fellow presenters when I say that this, same as WordCamp Vancouver, was a really wonderful experience. Thank you all. To my fellow presenters: Rebecca, Kulpreet, John, Gary – your work inspires me and I’m grateful to have shared this experience.
Also, thanks are due to Andy for recording pretty much all of my talk on my Flip camera and being such a good sport taking photos and videos (while I was busy giving my presentations). Thanks to Gregg for saving me with the battieries! Tyler, Gregg, Liam, Jodi, Dale, Lorraine, Ryan, Tom, and everyone whom I might have missed but I saw at WordCamp, thank you all.
I gave my presentation at the very beginning (Rebecca is being her usual awesome self and live-blogging – she even has video of my talk!) and even though I was nervous with my first non-academic talk in about a decade, people seemed to have a positive reception. Andy was kind enough to take photos and video with my cameras, since, well, it would be kind of hard to do it for myself while speaking 🙂 (thanks Andy!)
I did lose my bet to Jodi but I’m glad that she thinks her husband should go directly to WordPress. I got a chance to hang out and meet Tyler, Jeremy, Gregg, John Berr, and other friends whom I have been talking to for a long while (Ryan, Jodi, Liam, Lorraine).
My laptop has been acting up but all I want is to have a chance to liveblog Rebecca’s talk, since I know that she will have notes on everyone else who is presenting. So, please, laptop, be kind and stay working (everyone laughs at the fact that it has so much hardware failure, but oh well – I don’t have the cash yet to shell out implement an upgrade to MacBook (or MacBook Pro)
REBECCA BOLLWITT – CUSTOMIZED PAGES AND SIDEBARS – TEMPLATES 101
Rebecca has used WP since 2006. An intermediate presentation – how to customize your theme. This doesn’t apply if you’re on WP.com.
Why would you want a custom page? If you want a custom sidebar, you can link to a new page. Rebecca has links on her sidebars. If you want to customize your sidebar, then this presentation is for you.
Say you want your “About” page to be blue.
How much code do you need to learn? Not a heck of a lot.
Page.php Code
THE LOOP – Displays your page and content
Header
Sidebar
Footer
You tell WP which sidebar to get. If you want the WordCamp page to have different things, she takes her Page.php.
She copied it and renamed it to WordCamp page (template Name: wordcamp-page)
For sidebar – she took the standard one and renamed it, so that WP will look for this sidebar instead of the other sidebar.
They show up now as WordCamp page templates on the Dashboard. It now has what Rebecca specified in the WordCamp Page PHP.
You don’t need to know a lot of PHP, but basically it’s easily customizable. You take what comes with the theme, copy them over, add the specific elements that you want and you can have custom pages and sidebars on WordPress.
John Bollwitt is showing something he coded. NoBoundaries.org
GARY – How does Miss604 get so out there and have so much exposure on media? Rebecca says that SEO is great for that, and she puts keywords in her posts and so on so that Google picks on that. WordPress does work great for that.
RAUL (me) – question – Themes and CSS – Rebecca explains that themes are the overall view of the blog, and the CSS is the style/appearance. She shows now different themes (the Theme Viewer). And how you can change your theme on WordPress.com, you can change your theme any way you want.
She showcases with the Brave Bull site. She is showing how the previews work.
TWITTER – Now Rebecca is showing Twitter. I’ll throw a Tweet back at her.
GARY – Are you finding that people go online more to talk about local stuff? Now Facebook – the blogosphere – what is your opinion on that. Rebecca – yes, Vancouver is becoming more of a hub for all these online things (we’re close to Silicon Valley). We’re known as TechCouver. There’s a lot of businesses in Vancouver who hit all these technologies.
How much time of the day do you spend blogging – 8 to 10 hours – now I am a social media consultant, so I write on my own site, an author on MetroBlogging (50 hyperlocal blogs). A few freelance gigs, an entertainment blog, a technology blog. I do dedicate time to
You can post-date posts. Time-stamping rocks!
Question – How long does it take for you to get your own WordPress installed, if you want to set your own design and so on (if you’ve never done it).
John is blogging on his site and on Sixty4Media, which is very cool.
Rebecca is now showing the WordPress CODEX, which is something everyone who wants need to learn about WordPress needs to check. Andy clarifies that the Codex is a wiki, so people can add to it. Wiki – website that everyone can add stuff to.
And I request that we plug Blogathon 2008.
After this, is John Chow and I am sure Rebecca will live-blog it so I can now stop worrying about my laptop dying.
One of the things that has struck me a lot throughout the past five years that I have studied water policy is the absolute disconnect that exists between our understanding of the different elements of the hydrological cycle and their interconnectedness. The social sciences literature has examined in great detail issues of water scarcity, but water quality and wastewater treatment are, for the most part, absent from the discussion.
Photo credit: The Joy of the Mundane
I know that I have always chosen difficult and non-explored questions for my own research, and in this regard, I have created some sort of a niche because very few people study the governance of wastewater. Amongst those very few Canadian scholars who have done work in wastewater and that I know of are Dr. Arn Keeling (whose PhD dissertation was an environmental history of wastewater in Vancouver) and Dr. Jaimie Benidickson (whose book, “The Culture of Flushing“, is a great environmental and social history of flushing in Canada, the United States and Great Britain).
My own work hasn’t dealt with Canadian wastewater, but I do have a fairly solid understanding of the way things work here. I am sure you’ll find it appalling that the city of Victoria, the capital of the province of British Columbia, does NOT have a wastewater treatment plant. The effluent comes straight into the ocean (with some preliminary screening).
A recent post by Matt Collinge about water quality in False Creek reminded me of how little do people in Vancouver AND in Canada think about wastewater. This is something that is prevalent at the larger scale. Professor Dickinson indicates that this is part of “the culture of flushing”, or what I often call, the OOSOOM phenomenon (out of sight, out of mind).
One of my personal pet peeves is that both scholars and non-academics in Canada are SO focused on climate change issues that sometimes they forget other environmental problems that have NOT been solved, including solid waste management (Vancouver’s landfill is about to be entirely full) and wastewater management (we are nowhere near some of the developing countries’ technologies for wastewater treatment, hard to believe as that may be).
My research focus in the area of water policy (I’ve done research in other areas) has examined primarily the role of institutions and the types of rules found in wastewater governance, and the role of watershed councils in strengthening sanitation policy. I found, after that presentation, and having had discussions with other scholars, that I will have to pursue two separate agendas in the future: one on wastewater governance itself and one on watershed councils, and I am very excited about this.
I am curious to know if my readers do think about water scarcity more than they think about what happens once they flush the toilet. Or does even water come into their minds, with so much focus on climate change issues? What do you think?
Apologies everyone. My very best friend from Mexico’s birthday is today, so this morning I am not posting in English. Perhaps she’d prefer that I did just for the sake of practice, but there are many subtleties that don’t come across when I write in English, so this one is going to be in Spanish. ICTM and I have been pretty much BFFs since we were teenagers, and the distance has never separated us, even though she is married now, her husband is also a very close friend of mine, and she has an adorable son whom I love dearly. So, the rest of this entry will be in Spanish. Happy birthday, ICTM!
Parece como si fuera hubiera sido ayer que me organizaste una fiesta de despedida allá en la ciudad donde está nuestra alma mater. Recuerdas lo que me dijiste? “Aunque me duela que te vayas, persigue tu sueño, que siempre contarás conmigo“. Eso pasó hace ya más de una década, y nuestra amistad y cariño sigue siendo el mismo.
Espero que sepas lo mucho que te quiero, lo mucho que te admiro y lo importante que eres y que es tu amistad para mÃ. Siempre has estado conmigo en las buenas, en las malas y en las pésimas, y eso es algo que nunca podré pagarte. Cada que regreso a México, tu presencia me calma y me hace sumamente feliz.
Estoy realmente orgulloso de todos los logros que has tenido y de lo mucho que has logrado, no solamente como individuo sino también en pareja, y estoy sumamente contento de que tu sueño de ser mamá se ha cristalizado y ha sido tan exitoso. Tú sabes lo mucho que los quiero a los tres y lo importante que son en mi vida.
Hoy y siempre, recuerda que te quiero MUCHISIMO, y que siempre estás en mi mente y en mi corazón. Diviértete mucho, pásatela bonito y recuerda que a pesar de que estemos a más de 5,000 km de distancia, hoy y siempre estoy contigo y te quiero. Feliz cumpleaños!
Rebecca is liveblogging, but both our laptops have very little power, so I am not exactly sure how long this liveblog will be. I’ll try for as long as I can.
SIDE NOTES – Dinner and drinks with Rebecca, Duane, Ianiv, Arieanna, David Drucker, Tris, Tanya, Marco, John Biehler, Monica and Nadia was awesome. I really have to update Granville Room restaurant review because I think they really enjoyed the food (I’ve already had dinner, so I didn’t try anything).
I’ve just spent a few minutes with Gus who kindly got me a beer (you know me all too well, my friend!).
JEFF IS STARTING HIS TALK.
Just because you can mail something to yourself, doesn’t show that you’re the creator of something.
Things that can be protected – mere ideas have no intellectual property protection attached to them. If the idea is attached/manifested into a logo – trademark. The mere idea has no protection.
Privacy agreements – infringement of copyright – breach of contract.
If the idea doesn’t become an actual tangible thing, or embedded in a tangible manner, it’s not subject to copyright.
Permissions to use this photograph (Duane had a bad issue recently happen to him). The right of privacy and publicity. It’s completely different jurisdiction for privacy, publicity and copyright.
Copyright – federal law
Infringement – provincial law
Every single province have different laws in regards to rights of publicity and privacy.
Let’s start off with a case – one specific area of law.
UPDATE –
UPDATE – Jeff is starting his liveblog. Legal Hack Unlimited — bloggers’ liability for defamation. The stuff that caused the defamation is probably less sensational than you think. How much (or little) do we have free speech.
The first time we talked included about
– Copyright
– Trademark
– Publicity and privacy
– Misunderstandings in terms of law
News article of the case study – decision was taken around early 2007. Northern Lights Expeditions were very upset Sewid for creating a blog in a website that talked about the competitive world of kayaking. A problem that worked like this – originally some working together – Sewid gets the company upset – he creates a website that creates a kayak trip in the jurisdiction and starts something like “the best way to kayak”.
Emails are written evidence and can be produced in court and used as evidence [RAUL’S NOTE – Ouch.]
To make a claim about defamation – balance of evidence has to show that the actual – if you compliment somebody (if you say nice things even if it’s not true then it’s not defamation). What’s more important – recognize that any publishing on the internet is considered publishing, so we are all publishers for legal publishers.
The defense of truth – if you’re absolutely sure it’s true and you’re able that you have enough evidence that you are saying the truth, then you’re fine.
Except if confidentiality agreements lead to learning about the truth.
Balance of probabilities – Probably. You can win/lose the balance of probability.
51% – statements have a tendency to lower the reputation of the plaintiff.
Interesting – if more than one person is involved – all participants are liable. You work with a team, everyone is JOINTLY RESPONSIBLE. If you got 4 guys creating the site, they’re all liable for the whole thing.
[SIDE NOTE – Great question, Nancy – re: iPhone and website]
The defamatory comments were done maliciously. – So, if you’re doing things prudently,
We’re getting to commenting on blogs. Who is liable (if the blogger says “these comments are not my responsibility”)
Liable and slander used to be separated. Liable – more serious than slander, at the time.
UPDATE – 2 separate companies against a blogger.
Ianiv is asking a question about opinions about a coffee shop. Jeff says – if your website is fully focused on bringing the business down and shut them down, that’s when it starts to be a problem. If it is a legitimate coffee cost comparison, then you’re fine. If you have one specific agenda against, for example, Starbucks, then you’re not fine. If commenters are saying the same, then it doesn’t work.
Cease and desist – this is just consumer lingo. Literally, STOP.
Normal protocol, and the reason you would get a cease and desist letter – we as lawyers don’t start lawsuit right away – you have to give people a chance to stop on their own.
Giving 48 hours to take off stuff online (instead of a week) – Jeff only gives this little time because it takes very little time to take stuff off.
QUESTION – The onus (restaurant reviews) is on us to have the actual appropriate language. A bit of the responsibility is on us to be professional. Jeff – taking that attitude takes you a really long way. There are protocols – and also, do a lot of disclaimers. You can’t take your opinion into an intentional act of defamation.
QUESTION – Branding agency – for our clients – content supplied by client – if the content is defamation or wrong or whatever, if we have the signed contract – can we still be brought into a lawsuit?
Jeff – You should be more practical than that. You can deliver everything …
If we have been malicious, is because something is bugging the crap out of us. Lately, Jeff has been more sensitive to the realities of life. Play half-psychiatrist – “they ripped me off”, etc.
JUST BE OBJECTIVE.
Do we all know whether we’ve crossed all boundaries?
Trademark infringement – The test is whether something is confusingly similar. Not identical, but confusingly similar.
However, while it is contextual – Remember, it’s not about MY opinion or YOUR opinion. It’s what the judge thinks. You have got to take the time to look at cases, and see whether things were confusing or not.
The challenge is that people in this room are involved in technology.
We’re not talking about technology (patent law) – things that are covered by trademark law (art, etc.) – creating brand.
If you are JUST creating art, for art’s sake for display, those things are not being used as brands. You’re out of trademark law and into copyright law and the tests are different.
You have to get the right area of law before you start getting into this. If you have an invention and you want to trademark it, then you’re doing the wrong thing (it has to be PATENTED).
A patent has a 20 year life, you can’t renew it. A trademark lasts forever as long as you remember to renew it.
Great example. LEGO.
How does Epinions survive – you are allowed to have opinions, and they are moderated.
The trademark is PERPETUALLY RENEWABLE.
QUESTION – Defamation – by association – being paid by someone.
You can’t go “Small Claims” for defamation, just so you know.
QUESTION – Before there was blogging – Jeremy Cooperstock – Untied.com – crappy service he got from United Airlines – got a cease-and-desist. If you had a really crappy experience, where you would write that up, and maybe get other people to link to it and drive it up to the top of Google – don’t recall hearing something about this.
Jeff – When you get yourself sued, you don’t talk about it.
QUESTION FROM DUANE – Flickr photos – licensing (Creative Commons)
Duane makes his photos available licensed through CC (see my post on the topic). He had an issue (you can read Duane’s post here).
Jeff – Letter asking for damages – infringement of copyright lawsuit. There was clear license infringement.
In Canada there is no concept of “fair use” – it’s only prevalent in the US.
BUNCH OF QUESTIONS
W/defamation – does out of country protect you? Answer – no, it doesn’t because you’re here.
The World Intellectual Property Organization can help solve issues of cyber-squatting – the domain can go back to you.
Domain name law is NONE OF THE ABOVE.
QUESTION – Should I trademark a domain name? It’s tricky.
Anti-Cyber Squatting Protection Act.
[SIDE NOTE – I still have battery but I’m kind of tired, so I suggest you go back to Rebecca’s awesome liveblog and read it. She did such a wonderful job!]
I’m a bit of a keener (surprise, surprise!). I had my PowerPoint slides for Word Camp Fraser Valley (which is taking place tomorrow, Wednesday July 16th, from 6-9pm) prepared since last week. I know what you’re going to say and yes, I always sat at the front of the class, and yes my notes were written in very neat handwriting, and my distillation towers were designed with different color pens, and I was probably the only chemical engineer in my undergrad who chose to do his homework instead of going out and drink heavily (actually, I did my homework in between dance classes, language classes, going out with my friends, training for competitive volleyball, and martial arts).
But I digress… so the point is, even though I’ve already written my presentation, I would like to ask – if you are considering WordPress as a blogging platform, and/or are considering a switch from Blogger or (dare I say) Movable Type to WP – what kind of things would YOU be interested in hearing about?
In my presentation, basically, I’m going to tell you how I switched from Blogger to WordPress (after MUCH peer pressure) and the results I got from the platform switch-over. But I’m sure you have LOTS of questions that could help me prepare (this is like preparing for a final exam!), and I’d love to hear from you.
I have a standing bet with Jodi, and I have promised her that I will buy her a Dr. Pepper if, after hearing all the presentations at WordCamp, she is not convinced of switching from Movable Type to WordPress. I’m bringing the Dr. Pepper just in case. I have faith in my abilities and those of the fabulous team of bloggers and techies who will be presenting tomorrow, but JUST in case, I’m going to err on the side of caution 😀
July 15th, 2008 in
blogosphere,
geekifying myself,
random thoughts,
wcfv,
WordCamp,
WordCamp Fraser Valley,
wordpress | tags:
faq,
geeky,
switching platforms,
wordpress |
5 Comments
So, last Friday was quite the social, off-line gathering of online geeks. I started off meeting Rebecca for a beer at Delicados, where we were joined by Beth Snow. We then parted ways and Beth and I ran around downtown trying to find the free 7-11 Slurpees. No luck. At that point, we headed to the Kingston to meet up with Duane, a couple of his friends, John and Rebecca.
I had never done a review of the Kingston even though we had been there a few times already, but the real reason was that I had never actually eaten there. This time, we ordered nachos (are you surprised?) The nachos were really good but I had to remind the waitress to actually add meat. The service was pretty minor, I wouldn’t say it was good. But nothing compared to Jimmy’s, whose service is REALLY BAD. And Tanya was saying that Dix’s service was just equally bad (I got to witness how their waitress treated them – I would have just called the shots there, but…)
Anyway, the Kingston is reliable for having a nice patio and it’s a destination I would go to just for the fun of hanging out with my friends. As I mentioned, the nachos are good and the service can be sometimes great, sometimes kinda so-so. This past Friday it was just ok, nothing to write home about. As it often happens with these places, it’s all about the good friends who join you rather than the actual place itself.
Review of Jimmy’s forthcoming.
While my blog is pretty personal, I rarely post about things that really eat me up. Primarily, because I think that those are very intimate details of my life that I don’t really feel like I should reveal. However, these past few months, I’ve had a nagging feeling that there was something I hadn’t discussed that kept bugging me, and I just spoke about it in the past couple of weeks.
I talked about this with Tanya as I was walking her back to her place. While reminiscing, I can clearly remember that I had already had some hints of having something bottled inside when my friend LCB and I had brunch at Sunshine Diner and we touched upon the subject. Then I mused about it with Rebecca. I even mentioned something about it with my friend CC who is doing her PhD there now. At some point, I had discussed this in detail with my PhD advisor. And this past Sunday, I discussed it with my good friend JT. Since the list of people with whom I’ve started to share how I have been feeling is growing so I figured this was the right time to put it out on the blogosphere, in an effort perhaps, to let go.
What did I leave unsaid, you ask? Well, for background purposes, the program where I did my PhD is very interdisciplinary and intermingled. Therefore, there’s LOTS of people doing a heck of a lot of different stuff, and it has historically had problems with issues of cliques and cohesiveness. I volunteered for my program, A LOT. I organized workshops, events, seminars. I offered my analytical skills and critical advice to my peers in an entirely self-less manner. I read theses, papers, drafts, critiqued them (constructively all the time) and engaged in scholarship.
However, I think it’s fair to admit that I was disappointed with (some of) my peers, and with their engagement with me (as a person and as a scholar). A number of them, I do consider good and close friends. But in general, I have been keeping bottled inside a feeling that I never got back from my scholarly community what I gave. It’s not that I was (explicitly) expecting something in return. But I do feel somewhat neglected. This may sound entirely self-absorbed and selfish, but I think that, if you are in a community (whichever community, be it scholars, bloggers, etc.), you can (somewhat) expect something in return. In my case, what went around (care and interest in everyone’s well-being) did not come around.
The blogging community has been IMMENSELY more welcoming to me than my graduate program. I have received LOTS and LOTS of help, advice, I’ve been embraced and nurtured by a community of people with whom I’ve become friends, and that’s something I am very happy and grateful for. I already had a great circle of off-campus friends, whom I adore, and who devote their time and friendship to me (in considering off-campus friends, I would include some of the friends I made throughout my graduate program and faculty at the university, simply because we are now closer friends and not only peers)
Instead of dwelling on the pain that my peers’ behavior inflicted on me, I prefer now to move forward and look at the broad array of possibilities that are in front of me. Grad school is now a chapter of my life that, in my mind, I have closed, and I am happy to move on. I just thought I had to say this, publicly, openly, and honestly.
Thanks to a tweet from my friend Duane, I came across the Eco-Shield for the iPhone. Damn, is it ever a sweet case! I do not own an iPhone, as you can imagine from my recent posts on the iPhone and why I couldn’t afford to get one (even if I wanted to – which, truth be told, I do – only if I didn’t have such a limited budget!)
The Eco-Shield for iPhone (Image source: Apple Store)
EcoShield is made of a hard-plastic derived from recycled plastic bottles, even the package is made of recycled paper and easily recyclable plastic. And though the EcoShield is one of the thinnest cases around, it offers protection second to none. With interior pads to protect the iPhone 3G, this case is the perfect choice for life on the go. It also includes an Agent 18 dock adapter, so you can dock your iPhone in any Universal Docking device without taking it out of the case.[Apple Store]
Duane and I have lots in common, we’ve both had some brushes with the academic life, and we are very open in regards to what we discuss in our blogs. And we both love nachos and geekery 🙂 (although truth be told, I don’t think I could ever reach his Geek Master level – he could write the entire WordPress platform if he wanted to!)
One of the many things that I appreciate in Duane that I don’t think I tell him often enough is his interest in environmental issues. Just browse through his environment category and you’ll find a lot of awesome tidbits. And he’s implemented lots of energy-saving features in his own home. As I told him in a recent tweet, he just got himself 500 Green Points 🙂
And if Duane decides to blog about the Eco-Shield, you’ll find a link back to his blog here. Hat tips to Duane for getting an Eco-Shield for his iPhone and for providing me with fertile ground for yet another blog post 🙂
EDIT – Rebecca reminded me of her post in her comment below, a post that I actually had read, but overlooked the bit on the Eco-Shield…. oopsies 😀 Nevertheless, just look at the Juicy Couture case for the iPhone and you’ll fall in love … And while I’m going back on posts, Tanya had done a review of BodyGuardz too]
Thanks to Rebecca, I was reminded that the Vancouver Folk Festival is happening this coming weekend. I know for a fact that I’m feeling really overwhelmed right now because I don’t even look at event calendars, given that I’m trying to sort out my own (and in a not-so-surprising turn of events, I’m fully booked all week, including evenings and weekend).
With little time to write a coherent blog post (I got like 12 drafts that will be time-stamped at some point tonight), I should highlight that there are at least four bands that you should see during VFF:
– Michael Franti and Spearhead
– Ozomatli
– Delhi 2 Dublin
– Spirit of the West
Some good news – one of my very best friends, HZ, is back in town this week after an extended absence (he was in Europe for a while). And his girlfriend, who is also a very good friend of mine, is back on Saturday evening (good times!). HZ and I both really like Michael Franti and Spearhead and Delhi2Dublin, so we’ll have to see if we can squeeze some time to see these bands (although by the looks of how my weekend has shaped up, that looks like a very unlikely event – and he probably won’t have time either).
Anyways, worth checking the performances at Vancouver Folk Festival. Hat tips to Rebecca for the reminder. [And incredible coincidence – one of the band members of Ozomatli has the same name as me. He is the reason why I don’t appear in the first page of Google!]
I had a fun weekend, albeit it wasn’t as relaxing as I wish it had been. But at any rate, I figured that instead of taking a sabbatical or a holiday from blogging, I’d just ask you – what did YOU do this weekend? My brief summary (detailed reviews forthcoming during the week). Friday – beers, lots of beers. Met with Rebecca at Delicados, then hung out with Beth Snow, then we both met up at the Kingston with Duane, Rebecca and John, then Beth went to meet a friend and we all migrated to meet Trevor O and Matthew Carriere at Jimmy’s, and we ended having a night cap at Trevor’s, but before I went to meet Tanya and walked her home from DIX. [EDIT – That was ONLY Friday – Saturday and Sunday warrant full recaps too – Saturday brunch with C, B, L and T, and then the beach with the gang in the afternoon, then I basically slept for the rest of the evening – Sunday my usual routine]
So, how about you – what did YOU get up to this weekend?
