Recently, I have discovered myself talking A LOT about blogging and raving about my blogger friends to my non-blogging friends. Along the same lines, I’ve discovered that I do discuss a lot of my personal happenings with non-blogging friends on my blog. I was talking to JT about this on the way to Deep Cove, because I was mentioning that I really don’t give much detail on what I do with my friends or what I talk about simply because I think that’s just a tad too private.
While I was recently at Tanya’s, two topics came up that I’ve discussed with other people, particularly the local bloggers. The first one is privacy (which I won’t touch upon on here at the moment, we can talk about it later – the whole issue of “why isn’t Raul on Facebook?“). The second one is the misconception that civilians have of bloggers. A LOT of people seem to think that geeks, bloggers and in general, tech people are just attached to their computers and barely come out to see the sunlight. Nothing further from the truth.
Speaking as a blogger, I can tell you that blogging has just become an avenue for me to meet new, exciting and interesting people and to develop new friendships with them. Sure, I can talk geekspeak whenever I hang out with bloggers, but in general, we just simply hang out. For example, a few weeks ago, I was over at Tanya’s, and there were AT LEAST seven bloggers there (Corinna, Nancy, John, Rebecca, Colleen, Tanya and myself). At the Kingston (a Yaletown pub) we had NerdCamp Patio Edition with Trevor, Derek, Dave, Rebecca, John, Duane, John Biehler, Peter Andersen, Ianiv and Arieanna. All of us are bloggers.
That’s the reason for the title of my post, and that’s something I tell all of my civilian friends: Bloggers are people, we do what we do, and then we blog about it (a spin on the Gossip movie line made famous by James Marsden “people are people, we do what we do and then we gossip about it“). Not to say that blogging is gossip, it’s just a play on the phrase.
The Vancouver social media crowd can hardly wait to hear Darren Barefoot, one of Canada’s blog-fathers speak on May 20th on “Getting the Attention of the Web’s influencers“. This promises to be a really good Third Tuesday (all of the ones I have attended have been simply outstanding, and this one is co-organized as I understand by Monica Hamburg, Tanya Davis and Tod Maffin).
I have heard Darren speak before, at one of the NetTuesday events (which I live-blogged) and I like his work. I comment on his blog frequently and have chatted with him and exchanged emails a couple of times, although I wouldn’t say by any measure that I know him really well. But I do know his work and I really like his Web 2.0 savvy and knowledge. Plus, he has a really particular style of presenting his work. So, it should be interesting to learn more from one of the top bloggers. Besides, it does give me a great opportunity to meet in person other bloggers and readers of my own blog, and hang out with many great friends I’ve made through my blogging.
Miss604.com (Rebecca Bollwitt) will be providing excellent coverage of the event, AND she is also a media partner Rebecca will provide either live-blogging or recapping. Better yet, she will be giving prizes away!!! I haven’t yet decided whether I’ll live-blog or not, but I will also be most definitely posting a recap. Other local bloggers who are disseminating the news about Darren’s next speaking gig include Philip Jeffrey (aka tyfn, from Fade to Play fame), TechVibes and of course the Public Relations Meetup.com site.
When? Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 7:00 PM
Where? Century House Restaurant & Bar
432 Richards Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 3L5
604.633.2700
About 94 people have RSVP’d so I suggest that if you haven’t done your RSVP you do so REALLY SOON. I will be attending, and to make it easy for you to spot me, I’ll be wearing a name tag with my name and my blog’s address 🙂 No, I haven’t made business cards yet. Not sure if I want to 😉 But for sure, if you read my blog and we haven’t met in person, by all means come and say “hi“. I don’t bite (unless asked to, of course, hehehehe).
A view of Trout Lake. Photo credit: Me 😉
When Nancy asked me whether I’d like to check out the Farmers Market at Trout Lake, I jumped at the possibility and immediately said YES. We hadn’t had a chance to hang out in a while and I always enjoy our conversations, so I headed out to meet Nancy at The End Cafe and then we walked to the Farmers Market at Trout Lake.
I took lots of photos thinking that I could use them to write a review of the park for Miss604’s Park Series, but as it turns out, Rebecca has already written a thorough and comprehensive post on Trout Lake. So I’m just going to ask you to mosey over there and then come back. Done? Ok, now I can continue with my recap. Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of fun activities lately, but I just didn’t want to let this particular post stay in my archives for too long, as it fulfills several purposes.
First, it answers Chris’ question – YES, I *did* blog about it. As I mentioned before…”bloggers are people, we do what we do… and then we blog about it“.
Second, it allows YOU my dear readers to check the beautiful scenery I enjoyed this early afternoon.
Third, it allows ME to feel a bit less guilty about not providing content over the long weekend.
Fourth, it is a nice link to my next post, which is a short summary of a conversation I had with Nancy (and that I have had with everybody who means something to me and with whom I’ve had a significant amount of time to talk about): my mantra of ALWAYS being amazed at something, EVERY single day.
More Trout Lake. Photo credit: Me 🙂
The sheer beauty of some of Vancouver’s inner city locations still blows me away. The most embarrassing thing is that I had to admit to my lovely friend Monica Hamburg that in 12 years, I had NEVER been to Trout Lake. However, I am glad I was able to walk around there with Nancy and that we bumped into Chris and Monica.
This little “jump, jump and take a poem” made my day 🙂
Is there anything better than spending a couple of hours sharing some good laughs and great interesting and intellectual conversations with people you care about? Or playing Rock Band? Or going out for dinner? Or just simply hanging out? I would say, very, very little.
Canada (at least some parts of the country) is considered one of the most progressive countries in the world in regard to gay/lesbian/bisexual/queer/trans issues. Being queer in Vancouver is seen almost as natural as having a beer on a sunny beautiful day on the patio. It’s not even an issue. Of course, I have read about gay bashings in the West End, and nonsensical gay slurs being blurted out, but generally speaking, I have the sense that queer folks feel relatively safe (I may be totally wrong on this one, so I’d welcome commentary on this particular topic).
Photo credit: jencinar on Flickr
However, being gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/ is still considered a crime in many countries. International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) is today, May 17th. This day is
In 75 countries being gay is still a crime. French activist Louis-Georges Tin, founder of the International Day Against Homophobia, hopes to change that by having the United Nations adopt a resolution calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide.
[IDAHO website]
Photo credit: Citius64 on Flickr. Translation – “Be careful who you hate. He/she may be someone you love”
Last year, I wrote about National Coming Out Day (October 11th). Many queer people are afraid of coming out for fear of retaliation and rejection. I have been a witness to some parents reject their own children because they do not conform to societal perceptions of “normal”. However, I have also seen a lot of public support for queer people. For example, VanCity, TD Canada Trust and KPMG have all implemented strong “diversity in the workplace” policies. This kind of progressive thinking should permeate all levels of society.
Therefore, please join me and stop to reflect for a moment on the need to realize that we are all human beings, that we all have rights and that homophobia should stop. Let’s celebrate diversity and International Day Against Homophobia.
My dear friend Phaedra just graduated, and I completed a really important project and phase in my life, so celebrations are most definitely in order. Since (as you can imagine) my weekend is absolutely insane, I have tried to keep a couple of spots free. So, my Saturday and Sunday morning look fairly free (Sunday night is booked, as all of you who read my blog will know) and so is tonight (as C, B and L are going to take me out for dinner). But if you guys happen to be free on Saturday or Sunday morning, either send me an email, send me a message on Twitter or simply drop a comment here, and maybe we could organize an impromptu Bloggers Brunch to celebrate, well, many things (the fact that we have decent weather for once, I would say is one good reason!).
Thanks also to Rebecca for organizing the impromptu Tweetup/dinner celebration last night at La Bodega, and to Ianiv, Arieanna, Gus and LM and MAG for joining. I did miss a lot of people but hey, celebration week is just beginning! I also suggested that maybe we could do a Monday day-trip. If you haven’t checked Rebecca’s series on Day Trips, I suggest you do that RIGHT NOW.
And to everyone who has Twittered “congratulations”, if I haven’t acknowledged it yet is because I’m just catching up 🙂
Have a wonderful Victoria weekend everyone!
Last night, after enjoying a wonderful celebration with my friends LM, MA, Rebecca, Ianiv and Arieanna, Duane and Gus, I was too exhausted (and having consumed a suitably appropriate amount of alcohol) so I decided to head home.
However, Duane, Rebecca, Ianiv and Arieanna headed to The Red Room to participate in one of the numerous New Music West showcases. I really appreciated that they took the time to come and join me in the celebration, and big thank you to Rebecca for organizing. Anyhow, I just heard this story about how the Red Room has a policy of “paying for your own water, even if it is tap”.
This is not only ridiculous but also an entirely nonsensical policy. I’ll tell you what Mexican bars do: if you are a designated driver, you get a bracelet (glowing green in some cases) that you show the bartenders. That bracelet entitles you to have at least one (in some bars, they even provide bottomless glasses) soda. It is a perfect win-win situation. You implement a positive-feedback mechanism:
“oh great, this bar is giving my friend – who is going to drive me home safely – lots of soda so that he/she can have a great time, and I can consume as much alcohol as I want – yay! this is therefore a great, progressive, cool bar – I shall consume more alcohol“
The designated driver wins – He/she can feel joy in protecting his/her friends from DUI.
The bar wins – They sell LOTS of alcohol.
The drinking person wins – He/she can buy as much alcohol as needed/wanted without worrying about DUI.
However, with their policy, The Red Room just committed the cardinal sin: Don’t mess with Web 2.0. That was an absolute mistake. Anyhow, hope this post will help them re-think their policies.
UPDATE – Ianiv and Arieanna also describe the evening. I fully support my friends – I mean, seriously!
I always knew that some day, someone would finally clue in and decide to host more environmentally-oriented events in my neighbourhood. Of course, I am pretty sure that almost 90% of you don’t know that throughout the month, Rhizome Cafe plays host to a LOT of events, many of which are focused on social justice and sustainability. But it’s only one venue. There should be MANY events in other venues. Main Street/Mount Pleasant has LOTS to offer in terms of great spaces for socially responsible happenings.
Well, it turns out that someone realized that the concept of the Philosopher Cafe could be applied now as a Climate Cafe, so via Stephen Rees, I found out about the Climate Cafe that will take place on May 20th at Bean Around the World on Main and almost Broadway. Living Car Free is the theme of this month’s Climate Cafe.
I kind of feel guilty that with all the stuff that has been happening around me, I haven’t been paying much attention to upcoming events and thus might have kept you my dear readers a bit out of the loop. I promise to be more “on the ball” next time 🙂 Hat tips to Stephen Rees for always reminding me of stuff that I probably should know about but have been insanely busy to remember. His blog is awesome!
One of the highlights of this past week was a chance to sit down with Rastin and Teresa. Rastin is a programmer and most definitely, a full-blown geek, he describes himself as a Web Application Architect. We were having a really fun conversation on the geekification process, a conversation that I am sure I have previously had with Rebecca. Sometimes I need stuff to be translated from geek-speak to plain English.
This reminds me from the Fantastic Four movie line (Sue Storm, The Thing and Mr. Fantastic).
Mr. Fantastic – “Ben, we need to analyze how the radiation changed your molecular structure”
The Thing – “Huh?”
Sue Storm – “We need to check you out to know what got zapped”
The Thing – “Ahhh!”
There are a couple of interesting insights I gained from this conversation. First, writing your own HTML is not exactly coding. I want to be able to understand the platform (I use WordPress, which is written in PHP and backed in MySQL). I don’t want to learn PHP, although I do know SQL to some extent. Teresa really wants to learn more programming and coding, and be able to control and manage the content on her blog. And while we are having these exchanges, Rastin indicated that coding and programming was much more than just knowing how to use the tags and HTML. This is most definitely true.
Nowhere did this statement ring more true than at DrupalCamp ’08. I *really* wanted to go, because I want to be able to know all the geeks and coders and social media folks on a first name basis, hang out, share ideas, etc. But the thing is, even if I had had the time to go (which I don’t) it would have been a waste of my time to some extent. Why? Because I am not fully educated yet. I don’t speak geekspeak *just* yet. I’m *learning*, however.
I was very proud of myself when I could start writing my own HTML tags. I was also proud when I bought my own domain and cleaned the URLs (which I wouldn’t have been able to do without JT and the outstanding and patient step-by-step guidance of Rebecca Bollwitt). However, I am not yet fully geekspeak-educated. Why do I think it is important? I’ll tell you why… that’s the second insight I gained from my recent conversation with Rastin and Teresa.
A little bit of background – amongst my academic qualifications, I have the equivalent of an MBA, and I’m also an engineer. The reason why I did the Masters degree that I did is to be able to “speak business to engineers” and viceversa. Well, just the same… there *needs* to be someone to speak geekspeak with the developers AND speek plain-English to non-geeks. That’s why I see the role of people who work in social media AND are good writers/communicators as key. Those of you (and you know who you am referring to) that are able to translate the needs of users into geekspeak AND viceversa, will be VERY successful, that’s my prognosis.
Now, these insights may look insignificant to many of you who have been fully immersed in social media. However, for me, realizing this was a really big deal! It has taken me many months, lots of writing and the help of numerous bloggers to be able to manipulate the platforms (first Blogger now WordPress) to make my blog what it is now. And I’ve also come to the realization that, whether for a career or just to improve my own blogging, I DO want to be able to speak geek. So, the next opportunity I have, I will FOR SURE go to DrupalCamp. Or whatever event where I can learn more about Drupal. And WordPress. And PHP. And MySQL. Geekification, FTW!
Were you thinking that with the amount of work I have right now I was going to do a full-fledged, photo comparison? Not happening. Not tonight. Maybe over the weekend. So, just a brief teaser. I own “green bags” (e.g. reusable, mostly recycled) bags from just about every store:
1 bag from Starbucks (Earth Day)
3 bags from Superstore
1 bag from Buy Low
3 bags from Safeway
Here is a quick rundown:
Best bag to carry over your shoulder and not feel stupid – Safeway
Best bag to carry an insane amount of groceries – Buy Low
Best bag to carry a small amount of stuff – Superstore
One thing, though. Most certainly the largest and sturdiest is the Buy Low one but the color, OMG it is HORRENDOUS. It’s a yellow that should be banned for life. Well, now I have to run. Okthxbai.
I could fill this post solely with links to other Vancouver bloggers who have discussed the idea of Twitter over the past few weeks (including but not limited to John Biehler, Rebecca Bollwitt, Lisa Bettany, Darren Barefoot, Michael Kwan to name but a few). I won’t do it right here as I need some shut-eye (aka sleep – this post was created last night at 2 am and queued for publication) and I will create another post with lots of link love in a couple of days. However, this is just another semi-explored thought because there is one thing that I’ve noticed on Twitter. Our followers are undervalued. Let me explain.
I joke that I am Twitter-spam, and I know for a fact some people have unfollowed me for that very reason. To my surprise, an equally large number of new followers have started to follow what I’m up to, which is extremely flattering and very nice because, even if I don’t follow them reciprocally, I DO interact with them. Which is the point of my post.
I haven’t created any specific rules of how I Tweet (and whether or not I use the verb Tweet or Twitter – I use them interchangeably). However, I have some semi-formal rules that have somehow managed to follow the positive hints offered by Remarkablogger’s Eight Mistakes Bloggers Make While Using Twitter.
There are some people who follow me whom I don’t follow reciprocally. That’s not because I don’t think they don’t add value. Much to the contrary, I do find their thoughts very valuable. However (and particularly at this point in my life when I am under so much pressure) right now I have a very limited capacity to process how many people I can follow and give them proper attention. Sorry, I am just a human being.
However, I *do* make a point to have conversations with my followers, and sometimes with people who neither follow me nor do I follow, simply because I think they have great perspectives. Sometimes, I’ve had a follower send me an “@” response that simply is outstanding. What can I say? All I want to say is that, if you (like me) are having problems following too many people, then by all means, try to interact with your followers nevertheless. That’s what I try to do, and I’ve had some very pleasant chats with my followers. I’m just saying…
And if you’re interested in following me you can find me at @hummingbird604 on Twitter.
Having met so many new great folks in Vancouver has also meant that I’ve had to share pretty much my personal history time and again. Every time I say “I live around Main Street, in the Mount Pleasant area”, EVERYBODY tells me something like “oh that is such a great neighbourhood, it’s so lively, it’s a very happening part of town, Main is so great“. True, Main is a great area, I will not deny it.
Photo credit: CanadaPenguin on Flickr.
Many people seem to think that Main is also a hotbed for hipsters and artsy folks. I won’t deny that either. With trendy, awesome galleries like Jem Gallery, Blim and Little Mountain Studios, it’s kind of hard not to see Main as a happening, artsy, trendy, chic area.
That’s the reason why I was so incredibly taken aback when I heard numerous people tell me that “they never go as far east as Cambie“. EXCUSE ME? There IS a world beyond Cambie, you know? I will confess that when I lived in Point Grey, Fairview Slopes and South Granville, I rarely ventured beyond Cambie. But denying that there is much more to explore beyond Cambie is kind of ridiculous.
*SIGH* Don’t get me wrong. I love Cambie, and I’ve had great times around there. But I have fully embraced my condition of East Van boy (well, technically not that much of a boy as much as a young man), and I’m fully happy with it. Funny how it goes, a lot of people tell me “you’re not really East Van. You’re *barely* East Van, you’re pretty much West Side”. Hmmm. No, I don’t think so. And I’m proud of living in East Vancouver, having a little cute apartment around Main and being a Mount Pleasant/Riley Park resident. So there.
One of the things I have admired in my fellow bloggers is the capacity to stop themselves on their tracks, do a substantial amount of research and write a carefully-worded, impeccably-written, well-thought-out post and THEN publish the post. I really do honor to my name. Very frequently, I just blurt out my thoughts, type them as fast as a hummingbird can (hehehe couldn’t resist) and then wait for the response.
Nevertheless, the more I read other blogs, the more I realize that sometimes, I do need to stop, take a breath, and write a more substantial post. For example, some of my most popular posts include those where I have put a lot of thought into choosing the wording.
I recognize that sometimes I’m not able to be as funny as I would like to be, and my sense of humor is very different to that of other people. However, it seems as though I’m able to extract laughs from my readers even when I “sulk” (hehe, no I didn’t!).
My event recaps and live-blogs (both on my own blog and when I’m honored to be invited to guest-blog for Miss604.com) also seem quite popular. Normally, when I live-blog, I try to capture exactly what the speaker is saying. However, when I do a recap, I try to summarize what I learned. As though I was doing a literature review 😀 Yes, I’m an academic-geek! In these cases, the well-thought-out post usually comes after I’ve had some time to digest what I have learned.
“What is bugging you, Raul?” you might ask. Well, here’s the thing. Last year, controversies arose around a specific blog post that danah boyd wrote on class divides amongst those who use MySpace and those who use Facebook. She got a lot of flack (and media exposure) because of that half-baked post (her words, not mine). So what I’m pondering is – do I risk publishing a post that I just have begun to think about, without having done substantial research? Or do I just simply wait for the feedback? So, now the question goes to you… what would YOU do? If you are a blogger, would you publish an idea even if it is half-baked? If you are a blog reader, do you mind that the idea is not fully formed or do you prefer to have the concepts and argument and everything very well laid out before you? All comments much appreciated, as this particular post is precisely, half-baked.
You know how people frequently say the phrase “oh those two are a power couple“? Well, I’ve been mulling over a few ideas as to how to bring fresh new content to my blog, and one of the things that I’ve thought about (being as I am hopelessly single) was to profile blogger couples (not power couples).
I have made several friends on the blogosphere who are in relationships, and they are both bloggers and I thought it would be nice to see their perspectives on blogging, kind of like “He said – She said” in the case of male-female couples or “He said-He said“/”She said-She said” in same-sex couples. I haven’t yet contacted them, but it was just an idea I was having.
I am also going to start profiling local socially responsible entrepreneurs and their endeavours. I started a series (do you remember the ill-fated “Question Period“?) but it kind of faded. So now that I’m on WordPress and it looks like my Google Juice is going up, I’m thinking I might bring the Question Period back.
And yes, I know I promised to write AT LEAST ONE Vancouver-centric post a week. If I write recaps of Green Drinks, Launch Party IV and Third Tuesday, do those count as Vancouver-centric or not? 🙂
Ok, back to work for me!
Photo credit: youngdoo on Flickr.
The only thing I really absolutely enjoyed about India Bistro was the people I went with. After an evening of Delhi2Dublin, JH, HZ and myself met up with BS for a drink and dinner. One of the reasons why I feel so incredibly blessed is that my friends (and particularly this set of friends) are always very conscious of my dietary restrictions. We rarely eat pizza, Chinese food or sushi. That being said, we all enjoy Indian food and thus we figured India Bistro would be the best place, as it is near by to BS’s place.
While the menu is broad, and it’s not really all that expensive, I was pretty taken aback by the fact that we had to order (and pay for) naan/roti and rice. Given that I eat out a lot, and that Indian food is close to my favorite food, I know A LOT of places and this is the first one where I’ve had to deal with this issue. The food is great, don’t get me wrong. But my dish wasn’t particularly tasty. Maybe I just chose wrong.
If confronted with the question of where to go for Indian food (dinner) on Davie Street I wouldn’t place my first bet on India Bistro. Not a bad restaurant, it’s tasty, but not very abundant and definitely I would go for Swagaat Tandoori before I went to IB. I’d say maybe 2.5 or 3 stars out of 5. This should not discourage potential customers, though. I just may have been there on an off day.
I have been keeping this post bottled inside because there has been a lot of turmoil around me. People I love and care for have been facing tough times and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I can do to help. That frustrates me to no end. Why, with all the amazing abilities the Powers-That-Be have given me, why can’t I sometimes help the people I love the most? I just don’t understand. Sometimes I wonder if it is a blessing or a curse to have the gifts I have.
And it seems that the heavy hearts are a dime a dozen… A few weeks ago, while I was on the bus, I started reading a story about a professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Dr. Randy Pausch (a computer sciences professor at Carnegie Mellon University). Dr. Pausch’s “Last Lecture” is, in summary, his response to the question “if you only could give ONE last lecture before you died, what would it be?”
In the lecture, he talks about his childhood dreams, about enabling the dreams of others, and what lets you achieve your dreams. The lecture is in itself, very fun and amusing (as he is a computer science, so all of you Mac geeks will love it!). But the part that really got me (and still keeps me welling tears and with a lump in my throat) was the inspiration behind the book and the lecture itself. Apparently, he wanted his kids to see him in his element, working as a professor and delivering a lecture. Hence the title of my post “… and so I lectured“.
A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we were to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave—“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”—wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.[From The Last Lecture’s website]
I can’t help it but grieve because I have lost people I have loved a lot to cancer.
I can’t stop the tears because I have people (one of my aunts and one of my blogosphere friends) who are currently fighting this disease.
I can’t stop thinking about all those other people whose stories haven’t been told and who have lost their lives not only to cancer but to other diseases.
And I can’t help but think about professors who were denied the chance to deliver one last lecture.
I had the pleasure of reading some of the work of Dr. Alex Farrell (a professor who recently passed away) as part of my PhD training. This was perhaps one of the best articles I’ve read in years:
Farrell, A.E., S. VanDeveer, and J. Jäger (2001) Environmental Assessment: Four Under-Appreciated Elements of Design. Global Environmental Change. 11(4): 311-333.
I am sure he inspired many of his students to excel because I have the privilege of knowing one of his former students. I wish that I had seen at the very least, one of his lectures. It would have been a great honor.
Which brings me to closing this post.
I admire those who are currently fighting cancer, and I admire their partners and families for sticking together. I am proud of calling them my friends and I wish there was something I could do to help although I know for certain there’s nothing I can do.
I admire those who struggle with their day to day lives and still keep going no matter what, even when depression hits hard.
I admire those who are fighting to overcome the cards they were dealt and have emerged triumphant.
I admire those who have left a legacy of students who will then go on to become great professors, artists, engineers, singers, computer geeks, counselors and many other professionals.
And at some point, I aspire to be like all of you…
There are many reasons why I love the Main Street area (from 2nd Avenue to 41st is the area I know best). You can find almost anything you want, you can do anything you want (although outdoorsy activities are somewhat limited to the pocket parks). One of the best assets that Main Street has is its restaurant scene.
You can find almost anything you want (Ethiopian, with Nyala – Indian, with East is East, Chinese – with Sun Sui Wah). In my case, I was craving burgers. Hat tips to Matt Collinge who pointed me to Splitz Grill. I *needed* another solid, reliable burger joint, since the demise of Sodas Diner. Plus, The Red Onion is not precisely very close to me.
Located almost at 28th Avenue and Main St., Splitz offers what I would say are the best if not some of the best (competing with The Red Onion) burgers in town. Inexpensive, large burgers, great service, the Splitz sauce is to-die-for, family-friendly. My only complaint is that you get to order in line, so it becomes slightly fast-food-ish. But the food is OUTSTANDING. I would definitely go back! And next time I do so, I’ll be very happy if I’m joined by fellow readers/bloggers.
I have scheduled this post around lunch time so that people can get hungry, hehehe.
PS – Hat tips to Michael Kwan for spotting typo!
I was treated to an extraordinary performance of High School Musical (Broadway Across Canada). However, I’ve already written four posts that are queued and I just don’t have the time to post a full review. However, I hope you enjoy the song I loved the most.
First, the video that has the cast of the movie (Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and two others I can’t recall their names). This video doesn’t have the highest sound quality though they sing in the studio, so it kinda looks cute.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT-_t4mbbho&hl=en]
Secondly, the video I found has the best audio. So if you want, you can listen to this one instead:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmHnwZV91TI&hl=en]
I know, these songs and HSM are totally teen-oriented, but what can I say? I have two adorable teen nieces and both of them like HSM … so there 😉
Holy smokes, it’s 3.23 am and I’m awake. I’ve wanted to highlight some local happenings and provide a bit of link love but I’ve been so insanely busy (and yeah I know I said I wouldn’t blog and here I am!)
– Nancy Zimmerman is engaging in social activism to stop the condos slated for 58 West Hastings. I know Nancy very well, she’s a good friend of mine and she is very socially conscious. So go to her blog and see what you can do.
– The always adorable and knowledgeable Monica Hamburg tells you that indeed, we’re all in this together.
– I need a new hairdo. I really do, and I’m not going to cut my hair between now and Friday. But if I had to, I’d check Tris Hussey’s Manscaping 101 (although no, I’m not dying my hair green).
– Green Drinks is happening again on Wednesday May 21st. I *might* show up but it is not looking entirely good. I have Launch Party 4 that same night and I’m torn. I am an enviro-geek but now my world includes social media and I want to meet cool peeps like Jordan Behan and Maura Rodgers from Strutta. And also I want to see my usual crowd. But if I do to Green Drinks, I’ll be wearing a dark green, short sleeve shirt with my name in big letters (Raul) and I’ll be doing my job of “Green Greeter”. So you better be prepared for some aggressively friendly approaches from me 😉
– The Tyee.ca is one of the best news source online, particularly if you’re Vancouver/British Columbia-focused. I almost woke up my neighbour laughing at their “Should I Friend my Mom on Facebook” story.
– Miss604 always manages to come up with great content, but this is perhaps one of Rebecca’s best entries IMHO. Blogging for hire? How much is your content worth? She poses the question in a very well-thought-out manner and it’s up to you to answer. I have my response prepared but that’ll wait until after Friday.
– Mostly Lisa asks her readers about the value of university education. I am not ready to answer that question yet, but I’ve been amused by some of her commentator’s utterances. What is the value of education for you? You can double-dip (e.g. drop a comment on Lisa’s blog AND the same comment on mine). Actually some people hate the double dips in academia (e.g. that you publish the same book chapter in two different books). I’m not a big double-dipper, but I will repeat a comment in two blogs if need be. Just because I read over 70 blogs a day and I just can’t keep up with everyone.
I embarked in academia because I was puzzled by questions and liked the answers. I also started an academic career because I figured it would lead me to the world of international environmental affairs (after all, I did want a job with the United Nations). Finally, I dabbled in academia because that’s the family business. My Mom is a professor, a couple of my brothers are professors, I’ve been a professor, etc. These past few months, I have given serious consideration to leaving academia altogether (which is regrettable because I do love teaching and I think I’m very good at it – ok, lack of modesty here, but I am indeed a very good instructor).
Today I was reflecting on how different the models of feedback are in the two worlds where I now live. In academia, the feedback tends to be both on the process and the final product, more than the process. In blogging, I find that the feedback I’ve received is on the content. Let me try to give one example. Whenever I receive feedback on my blog, it usually comes in the form of “oh, I love your blog” (so far, nobody seems to hate it) or “I find your content funny/interesting/refreshing“. I have never heard anybody say “oh you should structure your posts as follows – first, an introduction – then offer the main body of the post – close with a summary“).
In academia, I’ve been subjected to extreme duress. My seminars/talks/papers have been torn/ripped/picked apart/criticized all the time. I have seen my papers covered in red ink. In the blogosphere, this has never happened (yet). I wouldn’t say that my posts may not receive criticisms (so far I don’t think I’ve received any, but I am sure that the longer I blog, the more I’ll be criticized). I may have been criticized as Twitter-Spam, but those comments have never really reached me in person (nobody has told me to my face “you are Twitter-spam“.
There is one other Vancouver blogger that I know (and that I had the pleasure of having coffee with today) who can relate very well to the questions I ask myself. Our lives are somewhat parallel (I’m talking about the lovely Dr. Beth Snow). We both lead academic lives and we both lead blogger lives. Our blogs are both personal. In both cases, her students and my students have read each one of our blogs, and have found them refreshing.
While this idea of comparing the models of feedback didn’t occur to me until very late tonight, I figure that this is one of the reasons why I am addicted to blogging, to social media and to my blogospheric friends: within this crowd, I am just me and nobody is judging the outcomes of my work. I can just go and have a beer at the Kingston (NerdCamp Patio Edition) or play Rock Band, or have a post-Third Tuesday drink at Steamworks. But I don’t feel judged, neither on the quality of my posts nor on the relevance.
The more I blog, the freer I feel. Most of the time, I find myself in a virtuous circle: I get a lot of positive feedback on my blog, and I try to also be reciprocal and provide encouragement and positive reinforcements. I don’t sugarcoat things, if I tell you that I like your blog or I loved a particular post, I mean it. I am a very, very, very diplomatic man and I can weasel my way out of having to pay a “fake” compliment or be “kinda sweet”. My sweetness comes to me naturally, and if I provide you with feedback, it will ALWAYS be having what I think is your best interest at heart.
I have to say that the more academic friends I have, the better I feel whenever any of my papers/talks/seminars receive harsh criticisms. None of those harsh criticisms come from the academics who care for me. My academic friends always try to provide their feedback in a positive, nice and kind way. But not everybody is my friend in academia and thus sometimes I do receive rough treatment. However, in the blogosphere, 99.999% of the feedback I’ve received is positive, and I think that’s the nature of social media. Hence why I am addicted to the social media model of feedback: it’s much kinder on my soul.
Reading blogs inspires me. Reading great blogs inspires me greatly. The past few weeks, I’ve been amazed at the great content I’ve been consuming on a daily basis. Fellow bloggers, thank you for offering your amazing stuff and posting it so that we can all enjoy. I hope that in a way, I am able to translate some ideas into well-thought-out posts that contribute to the blogosphere and the world.
This week will be particularly tough, and while I have made a previous attempt at not blogging while I deal with my stuff, I wasn’t very successful. However, the next few days will prove very challenging if I don’t focus, so I thought I would say “I’ll be right back”. I am going to take the mantra of one of my heroes (the awesome DaveO, in a Northern Voice 2008 talk nicely liveblogged by Rebecca) and forget about the stats and how this may affect my readership, but it’s time for me to go and make art (well, in this case… not precisely art but science).
I’ll be back in less than a week with good content, I hope. If I can’t manage to stay away from my blog, you’ll hear from me. But that’s unlikely, as I don’t want to have useless posts without any substantially good content. Read you all soon! 😀 Shoot me some love Tweets every so often, that one I’ll be checking frequently.
And no, I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about my neighbors, and specifically, my neighbor’s kid. I arrived home to quickly shower as I had to head out again, and bumped into my neighbor’s little kid (3.5 yrs old). If you’ve read my blog for long enough, you’ll know that my basement apartment gets a lot of noise because the kid runs and stomps on his floor (e.g. my ceiling). My next-door neighbor is thus forced (and sometimes I do the same) to hit the ceiling with our fists and scream “stop stomping!”.
This was my conversation with the kid as he said hi and I approached my doorstep.
Kid – “Hi”
Me – “Hi”
Kid – “I stomp on the floor”
Me – “Yes, I know you do”
Kid – “But that’s ok, because I’m a little kid and little kids do that sometimes”.
Me – [At this point, I am both upset and shocked that his parents would teach him that it’s ok to stomp on my ceiling EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK AT EXACTLY 6.00 AM, and then at 6.15, 6.30, 6.40, 6.50, 7… 9.45 AM. Obviously, at 9.45 am my patience disappears] “Hmmm… actually no, that’s not ok. It would be better if you didn’t stomp on the floor. It would be better for me and it would be better for YOU”.
Kid – [Wanting to engage in conversation] “….”
Me – [Having to rush] “Ok, bye”
I am really shocked, I have to admit. I mean, it’s not like I’m a monster who doesn’t like kids. I *love* kids. But I do find his behavior unacceptable AND the fact that his parents say that it’s ok only teaches him that it’s not necessary to respect the quiet time of other people. I am just not sure how to proceed from here.
No, it’s not really that I want to be sued. But the expression in English is such a demonstration (or a cry for freedom). I have been heard saying “I’m not on Facebook, so sue me.” It does become an empowering utterance. We don’t have the same expression in Spanish, and even if we did, I don’t think my parents (who are both lawyers) would appreciate me saying “yeah, feel free to sue me – since I’ve got lawyer parents and they’re going to win the case“. But there’s such a relief to saying that 🙂
And you might ask yourselves “why did he think of such random idea”? Well, I read it on Michael Yurechko’s blog (he switched from WordPress to Chyrp-Chyrp). Even though I *love* WordPress, I don’t plan to sue Michael 🙂
From The Green Pages, and by request of Rex Turgano, a good friend of mine,
“By saving the woodland caribou’s remaining Boreal Forest habitat, we’ll also help protect one of the world’s largest natural carbon reserves and slow the effects of climate change.”
thegreenpages.ca network is working with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society to help gather signatures to convince the Federal Government to identify and protect Woodland caribou habitat under the Species at Risk Act.
Let us know what you think and sign the petition to help protect the Woodland caribou habitat under the Species at Risk Act.
Helping out and showing your support is really easy to do. For more information, visit www.caribouandyou.ca
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From thegreenpages.ca network – search only Canadian environmental web sites using www.thegreensearch.ca
Hat tips to Dr. Beth Snow for recommending Flock. I found out that Flock (an enhanced version of FireFox) has an eco-friendly version, so I’m going to try it. It may be a bit hard to let go of FireFox but I definitely have to try it. It took me a while to abandon IE, but once I adopted FireFox, I never looked back. I’ll keep you posted! Beth also recommended Blog Desk, but I have to go out and I can’t really link to it right now.
I was going to write my Mother’s Day entry on Friday to make sure that my Mom would read it on Saturday (the day when Mother’s Day is celebrated in Mexico) but I’ve been so insanely busy AND tired I just couldn’t bring myself to write something coherent. My brain wasn’t really working well on Saturday so I just called her last night and told her live how much she means to me.
There are a gazillion reasons why I feel fortunate to have Mom in my life, but these are just a few reasons why I admire her so much. I’m hoping my brothers will translate these thought for her as I don’t think I could read them out loud in Spanish without shedding tears.
I’m grateful to my Mom because
– She taught me the value of hard work and has always been a role model for me. My Mom has been, at the same time, mother, wife, professional, sister, daughter and she has been outstanding in each and every one of these roles. She has always worked extremely hard (and she still does, as she is a university professor).
– She taught me that no matter how difficult the current situation may seem, there’s always a way out and that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
– She has supported me emotionally and financially in each one of my endeavours. Never in my life has my Mom said “no, you can’t do that because we don’t have the money” or “no, you shouldn’t do that“.
– She always given me the opportunity to make my own choices. My Mom has never forced me to do (or avoid doing) anything just because she thought I was about to make a mistake (or that I should embark in any particular adventure).
– She gave me the best gift any parent could give – lots and lots of love. She instilled in me self-confidence, self-awareness and the moral duty to be a good person in this world. I am who I am in many ways because of my Mom. And I am so much like her.
I miss not having my Mom here for Mother’s Day, but I know that she had a good celebration nonetheless, and I’ll be spoiling her when she comes visit.
I haven’t had the opportunity to meet many of my friends’ Moms. However, even if I haven’t met their mothers, just by virtue of knowing how great my friends are, I can tell that their moms must be amazing. So, in celebration of that, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
