Year after year, for some reason, there’s something that gets in the way of me having a chance to wish my good friend Chris Walts (of The 49th Parallel fame) happy birthday in person. Either I am out of town with family, or I’m out of town on my own. But it’s almost a given that I’m going to have to wish him happy birthday a few days late. That’s ok, because in the geekiest of forms, here’s a blog post for him.
Chris, it’s always a pleasure to spend time with you and you’re one of the best friends anyone could ask for. Your honesty, directness and bubbly personality are just matched by your smarts. Much love as always and happy new year, and happy birthday!
January 1st, 2011 in
friends |
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While 2010 was challenging because I had to work insanely hard to manage all the four things that make up who I am professionally (consulting, research, teaching and social media), I had decided that I was going to try it out. I wanted to be an integrated person again and thus I came back to working out every single day (6 days a week, with cardio 6 days and weights 3 days). I also scheduled EVERY SINGLE HOUR of my life, and I worked hard at only accepting one, and to a maximum, three invitations to an event the same day. Admittedly, the number of people who follow me on Twitter and read my blog has increased exponentially. Of course I am happy.
But my online persona is not what makes me, it is what compliments me. I’m a former stage actor, a former competitive dancer, a former competitive volleyball player, a humanist who loves to volunteer and make a difference in the world. I’m again an integrated person again. I learned to dance a new dance again, I am back doing sports every day, I’ve volunteered and my academic work is blossoming again.
And more importantly, I’ve stayed faithful to my values and beliefs. Ultimately, my goal with Hummingbird604.com is to make a difference in the world. My goal is to be the one who can change the situation of a desperate cause and use the sheer power of the number of readers behind my blog to support that cause. My goal is to entertain and inform my readers while still blogging for myself.
My mantra in 2011 still stays the same: In 2011, I will take care of myself before I take care of others. But that doesn’t mean I won’t care about what happens in my world. I’ll still continue to try and be an agent of change. Exactly what my parents raised my brothers and I to be.
Happy New Year, everyone. May 2011 bring you as much success as I forecast it will bring me, and as much as 2010 brought me. And more importantly, may you be healthy and loved.
January 1st, 2011 in
Uncategorized |
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I don’t really have the time for a responsibly good recap of what my year looked like, so quick highlights include:
July 2010
– Isabella and I organized again Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2010, and helped with suggestions and feedback to Mental Health Camp Toronto. We were attacked online (as were some of the speakers) but as I said before, I would do it again. Stigma around mental health is still enormous and if MHC helped at least one person, I’m happy enough. If you want to read what I went through that month you can click here.
August 2010
– I made a conscious decision to cover Pride Vancouver 2010 (given that my blog is considered fairly mainstream, and that I feel a responsibility to the community) as well as the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (and I gave away tickets too. I met some fantastic folks in the GLBT community in Vancouver, without forgetting any I hope, the kids at V-Rag Magazine (Skipp and Cole), Homorazzi (Patrick and Tyrell), GayVancouver.net (Mark and David), Sean Horlor (Xtra West), Jay (who did the tweeting for VQFF), Brian Webb, and many more. I felt incredibly honored to share this time with all of these folks. Plus I got to be on the CiTR float thanks to Caroline McGillivray.
– I also covered and sponsored as media the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (thanks Veronica Heringer). I had been disconnected from the Latin American community and 2010 was the year when I reconnected. And very glad and proud I did.
– I was invited to the exclusive VIP reception for the end of filming Conviction Kitchen (thanks Alex Lee-Behan and Janis Behan). And of course I got to chat with several local Vancouver TV and film stars, including Sebastian Spence. And to hang out with my friends Erin Ireland and Dawn Chubai.
September 2010
– In addition to being the most important month of the year (it’s my birthday on the 19th), it was a fantastic month because for the first time, my birthday trended on Twitter in Canada (also, there were hundreds and hundreds of birthday wishes). It was very heartwarming.
– I got to be a Living Book at UBC, which was great. I got to showcase all of my facets. And the invite got to me not because I’m a faculty member at UBC, but because I’m popular on social media platforms. Go me.
– I also wrote a “this is what I accomplished in the past 12 months” post which was incomplete, because there’s always something I forgot to write.
October 2010
– I gave an actual academic talk on social networking and environmental transnational movements at Social Media Camp Victoria 2010. The reception was great and I’ve been asked to get involved with SMCV2011 so we’ll see what I’ll be speaking about in the 2011. What would you like me to talk about?
November 2010
– Along with a few other social media folks, I gave a speed-dating round series of short talks on Social Media 101 which were incredibly well received. I’m always flattered when people tell me that they look up to me for social media advice. Not because I am self-absorbed, but because it means that folks find my teachings useful. And I’m an educator, first and foremost. I do this for a living. Not social media, but educating people. So, that’s why I am so happy my insights are valuable.
– I spoke at WordCamp Fraser Valley 2010 on Building an Online Community. I organized a panel with the same topic at the Vancouver Blogger Meetup for November 2010 and I am grateful to my speakers Rebecca Bollwitt, Arieanna Schweber and Robert Ballantyne for sharing their insight. My own tips for building an online community are here.
– I considered shutting down Hummingbird604.com earlier in the year, but after careful consideration and assessment of my time, I decided to keep working on it. As I said, I wake up at 4:45am so that I can have a full time academic career with a full time teaching, research, consulting and social media life. And it’s challenging but I will manage in the 2011.
December 2010
I disconnected myself from the online realm for about a week in order to focus on writing my academic book, but I’ve continued to check Twitter occasionally. More importantly, this year I gave two workshops on social media in education and social media in academic research and reflected on something that allowed me to realize that any project I take on about social media will be in the non-profit, health/environment, public policy and politics and higher education realms. I will probably redirect any requests for projects that are not associated there to the appropriate consultants.
I also continue to be interested in speaking on topics of social media, technology in education, politics and public policy. It’ll be an interesting year. I’m sure I’ll get asked to speak more, but I’ll make my decisions and choices as to when/where to speak.
In short, 2010 has been an amazing year. And I’m grateful to all of you who day after day continue to read Hummingbird604.com. It’s because of you that I didn’t shut down my blog.
I love this photo of me. It shows a mirror reflecting my image. And as I reflect on what the year has been in social media, I come back to the same thought: I’m in social media because I love building communities, and I’m good at it, not because I’m in love with myself. Trying to shut down my blog or my Twitter account would probably leave behind a big void, one I don’t have any interest in having. I prefer to work hard and schedule my time in order to maintain some degree of sanity.
May people stop requesting “please follow me”, sending automated direct messages, stop the passive-aggressive tweets and then having to eat their own words, and eschew drama. May the snake-oil social media salespeople stop doing that.
Here is a toast to 2011.
Why didn’t I say “Raul’s 2010 Year in Review”. Because I’m a snob, that’s why. No, I’m just kidding. Because in 2010 I made a purposeful decision to keep both identities separate, Raul the Hummingbird604 and Dr. Pacheco, the academic/educator. At any rate, 2010 was an amazing year for me in the academic, teaching and research world. Not only did I get involved in research projects with CIELAP, and complete some of my own but also I taught 2 completely new courses, revamped one of my previously taught courses (and implemented social platforms in my teaching).
My Mom and I got to work on the book we are co-authoring while she was here, I’m on a writing retreat to finish another book on water governance in Mexico (although by the looks of it, I’m only going to finish a first draft). I am working on 12 journal articles/conference papers/book chapters with colleagues and on my own (4 single-authored). I went to the Canadian National Water Strategy meetings. And overall, I feel better than I have felt ever. My home department at UBC has been fantastic to me, as has CIELAP. My 2011 is gearing to be highly productive in the academic realm, and surprise of all surprises, Twitter brought me great new academic friends.
Thanks to having met Dr. Janni Aragon through Twitter, I gave a research seminar on my wastewater policy research at University of Victoria. And thanks to Twitter again, I met Dr. Peter Newbury who is a Carl Wiemann colleague in the department of Physics and Astronomy. Plus I got to spend some time with Dr. Jo Van Every who is a consultant and coach to academics. All very interested in the scholarship of teaching. Other good friends that I met through Twitter include Christopher Parsons, who is doing his PhD in Political Science at UVic, Mary Churchill who is the Executive Director of University of Venus (HigherEd). The list gets longer.
And my students talk to me on Twitter! What else could I ask for? Oh yes, my books published in 2011, and all the conference travelling that I have planned will be fantastic.
I sometimes wish I didn’t write about so many things. Writing “Year In Review” blog posts is very tiring if I don’t start from the beginning accumulating my best blog posts. 2010 marked the year where I got myself more involved with the foodie community. Being the organizer of the Vancouver Blogger Meetup means I am connected to pretty much all the bloggers in Vancouver. But the foodie community is one that I had not been very well connected this year to. This was corrected in 2010. I got to hang out with great friends and tried lots of new restaurants. And sadly I don’t have the time to do a proper year in review, so here’s a few highlights.
January 2010.
January introduced me to Glowbal Grill and I fell in love with their linguini with giant prawns. Enough said.
I also tried a few new restaurants on Main Street, including Grub and re-tried Latitude (which has now become one of my favorites), with my good friend Nathan Tippe.
February 2010
February was another blur – with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics coverage, I rarely had any time to do anything else other than work in my consulting projects, prepare classes and teach and run around town covering events and visiting Olympic Houses. Insane. I did visit Timbre, Hakone Sushi and others, but for the most part, it’s hard for me to remember. But there’s one restaurant that stayed with me: The Well (on Main Street near 14th). I’ve been there for brunch several times, including this summer with my Mom. And they know how to do brunch, for sure.
March 2010
My highlight, other than Parksville Uncorked in Parksville that was amazing pairing of food and wine, was Bandidas, surprisingly, a little Mexican-themed vegan/vegetarian restaurant on Commercial Drive. Go figure. Oh, right! How could I forget the Tomahawk in North Vancouver? Artery-clogging goodness for brunch.
April 2010
Visited two of my favorite Glowbal Group restaurants: Italian Kitchen and Coast. Both with my best friend from Mexico, both incredibly important evenings for me, because we (CB and I) spent a lot of time talking about the important things that we share, amongst those, a wonderful friendship. I am so grateful to have him in my life, and having shared two great restaurants with him was incredibly relevant to me. Plus the salmon at Coast is to-die-for.
Other restaurants I loved: Hime Sushi (Mount Pleasant), Sitar (Gastown), Momo Sushi (Gastown). And of course, one of my best experiences (shared with Jason Sanders, who has since become a good friend of mine), dinner at r.t.l. yaletown (Regional Tasting Lounge).
May 2010
Kerkis Taverna in Kitsilano (on 4th Avenue) reminded me why I love Greek food.
June 2010
Wow, the more time I put into creating my year in review posts, the more I realize I don’t have time for it (I have to work on writing my book instead of these posts). So, quickly – Rogue Wetbar was good, and more importantly because I got to say goodbye to my good friend Karen Parker, who moved to Edmonton.
I also loved Les Faux Burgeoises (finally made it there for dinner with JT). Comfort food with Acme Cafe and Phnom Pen.
July 2010
I returned to Q4 Restaurant (formerly Quattro on Fourth) in Kitsilano, which was one of my absolute favorite. I adore their pastas. And you know what I like the most? That they treated me and my Mom like absolute royalty. And anybody who treats my mother extremely well is alright by me.
I took Mom and JT to Trattoria Italian Kitchen in Kitsilano (one of the restaurants of the Glowbal Group). Glowbal partnered this year with me to give away packages for Father’s Day and I am indebted to them. While I have eaten at and adored each and every other of their restaurants (in particular Glowbal Grill, Coast, Italian Kitchen and Society, although Sanafir is also a favorite), I wasn’t totally taken with Trattoria. But that’s ok. It’s out of my way so I’ll stick to my trusty Italian Kitchen downtown. Very good Italian food at Trattoria, nonetheless.
Absolutely delightful: Conviction Kitchen Delilah’s. Particularly because I got to enjoy it with my Mom, Minna and Jay.
And of course, Arms Reach Bistro in Deep Cove (North Vancouver) is and remains one of my absolute favorite restaurants.
Other honorable mentions include also my partner for Father’s Day: Refuel Bar and Restaurant in Kitsilano. I *loved it*. More importantly, because I went there with my friends Lisa and Greg to welcome Jenny and Thad to Vancouver (they were visiting from Chicago).
August 2010
Highlights in dining out in August 2010 include The Academic in the Broadway and Granville area.
September 2010
The most amazing restaurant this month and probably this year was Milestones Crossroads on West 8th and Cambie. Milestones Crossroads partnered with me for my birthday, which was hosted by my good friend Minna. The service was absolutely stellar, and my birthday trended on Twitter in Canada. Go me.
For my birthday, JT took me to one of the great restaurants I had never been to, Le Gavroche. And it was spectacular. More important than the food was the company, and I adore JT to the bottom of my heart, but the food was just fantastic.
October and November 2010
In October and November I shuttled so much between Victoria and Vancouver that it feels like I was never actually anywhere for long enough. In Vancouver, I visited Sanafir again, as well as Piato Estiatorio in Kitsilano. New favorites in Victoria include Brasserie L’Ecole and Pizzeria Prima Strada. Especially that last one. But I never forget Rosie’s Diner, particularly because JT and I celebrated his birthday there.
December 2010
December is a month of eating, and I’ve had fabulous dinners all around, including The Helm in downtown Vancouver. But since I don’t really have much time to recap all the restaurants I ate at, why don’t YOU read my Dining Out category? You’ll get plenty of suggestions.
December 31st, 2010 in
dining out |
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While I have been taking some great photos lately (or at least, I think so!), I think I need to improve my photography. If you take into account that the photo below was taken with my previous camera, and that it was about 2 years ago, and it’s not retouched, I really do want to get better at taking photos.
December 31st, 2010 in
personal life |
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Travelling used to be almost my day job when I was a graduate student and during my 2 year post-doctoral research. But in the past three years, I have travelled much less than I used to be. And then this year I made myself the promise I would go back to being in academia more-or-less full time, so that included having to travel for academic/research purposes. And then I got invited to cover events in different parts of our province. And then my Mom came around and we travelled all over BC and Alberta. And then I escaped to Toronto to do some water research meetings. So I do have a few blog posts in my travel section. Here is a brief recap.
February 2010
I covered the Parksville Uncorked Festival (which I will be covering next year too, in 2011) in Parksville, BC. Met the most amazing Luba Plotnikoff (@VanIslandMedia) as well as Jenn Houtby (Tigh-Na-Mara) and became friends with Dana Hutchings and Tanya Smith from CHEK News. Stayed at the fantastic Tigh-Na-Mara resort in Parksville, and discovered that doing travel writing and covering fun events is both a lot of work and a lot of fun. Amazing beginning of the year for my travel.
April 2010
I went to Nanaimo to do some research meetings and to Harrison Hot Springs to give a talk. At neither place I took any decent photos, so that’s why I decided to eschew that and just skip to the next month! Plus, I didn’t stay at either place, so I decided not to write about them as I didn’t get to really explore them.
May 2010
I was invited to stay at the Fairmont Empress Hotel when I went to speak at WordCamp Victoria 2010, again one of my best travel experiences. I have been invited back to Victoria a couple of times by Tourism Victoria, and I’m always happy to showcase the fantastic times I’ve had there.
And besides, who doesn’t love Victoria, our capital city. British Columbia is so beautiful, I never get tired of travelling around here. This is the view of the city from Craigdarroch Castle (which I visited in November 2010 when I took JT to Victoria for his birthday).
July 2010
Luckily, both my Mom and I are both travel junkies, and travelling with her is always a lot of fun. At the end of June, my Mom and I spent 5 weeks travelling around British Columbia and Alberta. We went to Victoria, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum Beach (all in British Columbia), Calgary (Alberta) and of course we toured the lovely Metro Vancouver (including of course my beloved North Vancouver, where my friends Ianiv and Arieanna Schweber live with their son Aiden, and Steveston and Richmond).
We spent time in Lost Lake in Whistler, British Columbia
Visited my friends Tanya and Barry Desrosiers in Calgary, Alberta
Had dinner at Pacific Prime at the Beach Club Resort in Parksville, British Columbia
August 2010
I went to Toronto for the Canadian National Water Strategy meetings. Highlights included meeting Kareem, Pamela, Ryan, and of course staying with my good friend Meghan Warby. Good times! I’ll be back in Toronto in February 2011 for a research trip and to work with my team at CIELAP.
December 2010
I’ve been doing a writing retreat (finishing a book) and visiting Victoria, Nanaimo, Courtenay/Comox, Parksville/Qualicum Beach and next year I’ll have a number of posts on this great trip. But for now, I have to get back to it! So, hope you had a wonderful 2010, because mine was fantastic!
This year, you may have noticed that I have pushed a lot harder to have my academic credentials recognized and to ensure that people don’t think of me just as “a popular blogger” (their words, not mine). I’m WAY more than just ‘a popular blogger’. I self-identify primarily, as I indicate in my About Me page, as a full-time academic, consultant and researcher. So, I find it funny sometimes when people ask me on Twitter “are you in higher education?” Everywhere on my bio (on Twitter, Facebook and on all my other social platforms) I explain what I do primarily (which is consulting, research and teaching). Sometimes I wonder if people actually read my bio before following me. But I digress…
Two times this year I have been asked to be an example of proper management of personal and professional digital identities (by Kristopher Hermkens, from SFU and by Dave MacDonald, from AvidTetra). While I have been honored to be asked to be this model of personal and professional identity management, I cannot generalize the strategy I use as the best one.
My students at UBC do know for the most part, that their strict and rigorous professor of public policy and environmental politics, has another, “secret” identity where he is a social media power user. At times, I blend both worlds, particularly when I see projects initiated by students, or job searches that could benefit from the larger community that Hummingbird604 enjoys.
I am both, one and the same. But I thoroughly enjoy that many colleagues and friends recognize how I want to keep them differentiated and interact with both identities differently. My students joke and share fun stuff with @hummingbird604, yet maintain an absolutely arms-length and professional relationship with @raulpacheco (and with me, in person, during office hours, on campus and in the classroom).
Appreciating that I can be both the academic and the social media maven is one of the best gifts you can give me. And knowing how to interact with each one is one of the qualities I appreciate the most in people. I recently praised my students on Twitter saying how proud I was that they understood that both identities are separate and how well they deal with each one.
I don’t have a particular piece of advice for you. But for me, keeping my personal and professional self separate has worked, and I’ll continue to do so during 2011.
January 2010
In early 2010, I made a conscious decision about my digital identity: I kept my professional (academic) and personal (social media/consulting) identities separate. This was an important decision as it allowed me to focus more on increasing the number of people who identified me primarily as an academic. Guided by my 2010 manifesto, I decided to try to re-integrate myself. In doing so, I sought to present the world a bit more with my academic world. I started sharing stuff on my Twitter stream that was directly associated with my academic activities, and I think it has paid off. People seem to have stopped thinking I’m *just* a blogger, for the most part, and assuming that I do the event-circuit “professionally”. I also had the pleasure of meeting Julien Smith, co-author of a best-seller with Chris Brogan (Trust Agents). Good times.
February 2010
I struggled and shed tears over my initial decision NOT to cover the Vancouver and Whistler 2010 Olympic Winter Games. I had already realized that if I was going to do justice to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, I needed to do A LOT of coverage, and I wasn’t prepared to do that. Teaching 2 completely new courses, doing 3 consulting projects, coaching 3 clients and on top of that, covering the Olympics wasn’t in the cards. But then Jose Gonzalez (then with Tourism BC) started approaching me with access to several venues, events and Olympic houses. I could not say no, at least not to Jose, who has always been kind to me. Also, representatives from the Government of British Columbia invited me to numerous events associated with the Pride House (the first time ever GLBT athletes had had a safe haven to socialize, etc. in the normally-too-straight-for-coverage Olympics – as of 2010, the only openly gay top Olympic athlete was, to the best of my knowledge, Olympic diving champion Matt Micham. I am proud to say that I think was the only mainstream blogger who covered the Pride House and associated events. I did also cover numerous Houses and other events. In hindsight, I am proud I rose to the challenge and covered what I did cover of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, even under the amount of pressure I had of my day job(s).
March 2010
2010 was the year where I decided that I wanted to further the field of social media. I became tired of the “social media snake oil” and began thinking about the areas of social media where I would focus solely. I write about food, travel, theatre, dance, arts, environment, politics and public policy, non-profits. But I don’t do projects in all those fields. My social media consulting is limited to non-profits, technology in education, and social media applications to environment and public policy. Two of my best posts to date were those where I thought in-depth about the future of friendships within social networking platforms and whether they eroded friendships and whether our collective social mind-melding was more detrimental than positive.
I became a volunteer with the Social Media Club Vancouver, as I indicated above, because I wanted to further the field. I am no longer a volunteer because my time commitments are too many, but I love this group and I will do whatever I can to help its growth. I also had to remind the eternal social media “strategists” that strategy is totally different from tactics. I was also invited by my good friend Tris Hussey to give a talk on Social Media in Politics and Public Policy at BCIT. Good times.
April 2010
I liveblogged my first wedding, that of Tanya and Barry Desrosiers. I have liveblogged MANY events, but the most important of them all has been Tanya and Barry’s wedding. Why? Because I helped them share this wonderful milestone with the world. And more importantly, because I was a part of it. My blog also turned 4 years old in April of 2010 and my party was hosted by my good friends at The Network Hub. I am already planning the big party for my blog’s fifth anniversary. I also had the opportunity to go head-to-head against Malcolm Gladwell after his F5Expo keynote and rebuke his arguments with empirical evidence (Gladwell argues that social media doesn’t cause revolutions and is rather critical of it, despite not actually using the tools). Good times. I spoke with him afterward and found out he doesn’t even know who is managing his Twitter account (he said probably his publicist). Not surprised.
May 2010
I finally did it. I finally got not only one but TWO panels accepted at Northern Voice 2010 (and I also live-blogged part of the conference). Both panels (one on social media and politics/public policy and one in social media in higher education) were well received. Thanks so much to Andrea Reimer, Ian Capstick, Tanya Twynstra, David Eaves, André Malan and Tris Hussey for being in my panels and speaking along with me. Thanks to Brian Lamb for pushing me forward to submit a proposal despite the fact that I was reluctant to pitch Northern Voice again. I participated in the first-ever Freelance Camp Vancouver (organized superbly by the team at The Network Hub: John, Minna, Yvonne, Jay and myself). I also spoke at WordCamp Victoria 2010 on blogging on WordPress for professional and personal purposes.
June 2010
June 2010 was a blur to me, in all the different ways a month can be a blur. Teaching, grading and submitting grades for 2 entirely new courses was really exhausting. But luckily, my Mom finally accepted my invite to come to Vancouver and we had a phenomenal time for a solid five weeks. We travelled, wined, dined and talked as much as we had never had a chance to do. She also got to meet many of my social media community friends. I reached the 2 year mark as the organizer of the Vancouver Blogger Meetup. I also continued to ponder about the future of social networking platforms, particularly Facebook and the constant struggle to protect our privacy.
So this is what half a year in social media looks like for me. I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what I have done in travel, arts/dance/theatre and food! But you will read those posts, eventually, I promise!
Last year, I attempted (quite unsuccessfully I might add) to completely disconnect from the world. No email, no Twitter, no Facebook. While I know that my good friend Gillian Shaw, the digital editor of the Vancouver Sun did, indeed, manage to break the umbilical cord with the social networking platforms, I have had a rough time. So rough that even if I said I wouldn’t check Twitter, I’ve had to deal with a couple of things (mostly, contests and stuff I had already prescheduled and needed to get done or edits to posts I had written), so in the end I have (though very, very infrequently) checked briefly my email, peeked a couple of times on my Twitter stream and gave a quick visit to Facebook.
For the most part, disconnecting is going about 80% well, I would say. I’ve gotten SO MUCH WORK done. I’ve been able to say “no, you don’t need to check Twitter/Facebook/email for the next 6 hours” and in fact, do it. But I am still blogging. Mostly, because I want to make sure all my posts are scheduled for the 10 days that I plan to completely, totally disconnect.
I think the fact that it’s taken me a solid 3 days to wean myself out from checking Twitter (which, admittedly, I checked four times over the course of the past 3 days) is a testament to how strongly embedded Twitter is in my personal life. But the thing is, I’ve already done this. I’ve disconnected for a full 24, 48 and 72 hours. All I need to do is refocus. Don’t let the curiosity get the best of me.
And learn to make people wait until I respond. Because I’m always the hummingbird. Always the fast. Always the one who has a response RIGHT THERE AND THEN. Truth is, nobody needs me to respond immediately. And even *I* can (and am supposed to) take holidays. But it’s sooooo hard to disconnect. All of the above said, since I announced my digital holidays on Wednesday, my community on Twitter and on my blog have been incredibly respectful of my time and know that I am actually not checking my social streams. In fact, every tweet you’ve seen on my stream except for one on Christmas Day were fully pre-scheduled. And I cross-posted a couple of photos iPhone -> Flickr -> Twitter.
But I’ve managed to stop myself from checking! And it’s incredibly re-invigorating. I am indeed blogging, but for the most part, the content you’re reading is stuff I had pre-written and pre-scheduled. There IS value for taking a digital holiday. And I am enjoying it to the fullest.
I was unsure whether I should post this on my research blog or on my personal one, but as I am thinking and reflecting on what 2010 brought to me, I must point out to a recent story that indicates Canadians rank the BP oil spill as the top news item of 2010. But I couldn’t help but feel somewhat vindicated (even though it saddens me enormously and I’m still outraged at the fact that the spill occurred). For the past 10 years of my life, I have spent countless hours trying to understand the behavior of individuals, firms and governments in hopes to help them design mechanisms to reduce and control pollution. Also, for the past 10 years, I have eschewed studying the politics of climate change policy. I read about it and keep my finger on the pulse of the literature, but I firmly believe that we have other pressing problems that are more immediate than climate change.
My intention of learning ways of minimizing the negative environmental impact of pollutants in water is what first brought me to an undergraduate in chemical engineering and then to a doctorate in environmental studies. While I now research more the politics and policy making of environmental pollution that the actual engineering, I’m reasonably knowledgeable in both fields. So, I do champion, research and analyze policies around water management, pollution prevention and waste minimization. Yes, I do, and proudly so.
I have been witness to a surge in interest around the topic of climate change in the past decade, and I have remained focused in the environmental problems that have interested me from the beginning. Instead of jumping on the bandwagon, I’ve kept looking at ways to improve water governance and bring wastewater to the forefront of the academic social science discourse. And while I may be an outsider, I’m glad that climate change politics is not my major research focus.
The BP oil spill, while completely despicable from a corporate social responsibility perspective and horrifying in terms of the ecological impacts it had, served to remind people that we, humans, are WAY more incompetent at protecting our environment than we give ourselves credit for. That we need to shift our energy consumption paradigms as much as we need to learn better ways to save water. That we are WAY further from the reality of a cleaner environment than we think. And that pollution is still a very grave, imperious and important environmental problem that we must never forget, even if climate change is now much more of a popular topic.
Because we only have ONE planet.
There are few things I love more than shopping. I know. I’m a rampant consumerist. An ethical and green consumerist too, because I am a champion of zero waste and recycling/reducing/reusing. Being a specialist in waste management and the politics of environmental policy means that my own behaviour is under scrutiny. And I’ll be fully honest: I do love buying myself stuff, which I am 100% sure will end up at some point in a vintage/recycling facility. I’m a fan of retail therapy. Given my very tight budget constraints, spoiling others usually has taken precedence over the idea of spoiling myself.
But in 2010, I promised myself it was going to be a year where I focused on my own growth, and in 2011 I am promising to take better care of myself and be my own priority. So I figured the best way to do that was to buy myself something nice for the 2011 year. I needed a new wardrobe because I felt that my undergraduate students had seen most if not all of my fashionable attire. And therefore I went to Richmond Centre and did a quick shopping trip. I think you’ll like what I acquired (in terms of my new clothes).
Richmond Centre is very well conveniently located at the end of the Canada Line (Richmond-Brighouse). To cross from Vancouver you will need an AddFare to your regular fare, as crossing from Vancouver to Richmond is considered two zones. But it’s great to have such a great shopping mall within scarce 25 minutes from downtown!
December 27th, 2010 in
Richmond |
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I have written guest posts on several parks in Metro Vancouver (Burnaby, New Westminster and Vancouver) but I rarely write about parks here on my blog. But as I was browsing my Flickr account looking for my hummingbird logo, I came across this photo of the relaxing wooden sculpture that is located in the middle of Guelph Park (in Mount Pleasant, very close to Kingsway and Main).
This park is a smaller, urban park located near Guelph and 7th Avenue, close by an elementary school. I have enjoyed some nice walks around there, and it’s so close to my apartment, it’s a very nice and relaxing walk during the summer time.
I have always led a very privileged life, and I’m the first one to admit it. I have travelled the world, I know a lot more of British Columbia than many people who were born here, and I am a fan of the countries that I have lived in, in particular Mexico (my parents said, you have to know your country first before you go abroad to learn about other countries). And so we did. My parents, my brothers and I travelled together many times all over (domestically and internationally), and in particular, within Mexico itself. We have attended my brothers’ weddings and the way in which we schedule our flights makes some people crazy. For one of our brothers, I flew into Phoenix from Vancouver, via Portland and Denver.
The rest of my family had crazy flight schedules too.
The one thing I always fought to NOT do is now my problem – since I don’t like overpacking (as I’ve done before, for example, when I visited Victoria last time), I now travel a tad too light. So light that sometimes I forget to bring socks, my contact lenses, etc. My Mom had a rule – pack a bag and put together all the money you have budgeted. Then remove 50% of the packed stuff and add 50% more money. It’s worked like a charm.
I have also learned that:
- Check-out time always comes faster than you can actually get yourself organized, irregardless of how early you wake up.
- You don’t always have the time to check ALL the amazing amenities and facilities hotels have. Or at least, I don’t seem to.
- If you are to forget something, it’s always a good thing NOT to forget your glasses or contact lenses.
- A data plan and a smart phone can be absolute saviors.
- It’s a bad idea to forget warm clothing if you are visiting cold climates.
I could go on, but since I plan to continue travelling towards the end of the year and in 2011, I guess I need to learn my own lessons and get on with the packing!
December 25th, 2010 in
travel |
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In the Mexican and Spaniard traditions, Christmas is celebrated on the Eve rather than on Christmas Day. That’s something I have never gotten used to, in all the years I have lived in an Anglo-Saxon country. This time, while I am sad I did not get to spend Christmas with my actual blood family (my parents are in Mexico right now, two of my brothers are there, and two are in the US and I’m here in Canada, and given that we all have very busy schedules, a family reunion is both impractical and impossible, financially and logistically speaking). Living in a foreign country for more than half of my life has meant that I have a very loose sense of home.
My home is Vancouver, for anyone who asks. This city is where I have grown up, thrived, fallen in love, been heartbroken, faced my life’s most difficult challenges and survived them. So, while I am not spending Christmas “at home”, I am lucky to be part of the family Christmas of good friends here in Victoria, who follow the Latin American tradition of Christmas Eve dinner.
I was raised Catholic, and in the Catholic tradition, Christmas Eve is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. While I have never discussed religion on this blog, nor do I plan to, it’s always interesting to me to see how towards the end of the year, during the holidays (whether secular or religious), people tend to be way more generous. I myself have found that it’s easier for me to give stuff away during this period. Not because I am rich or have a lot of money. Simply because it’s Christmas.
Being on holidays is also meaning that I’m working on a book that I have been trying to finish since 2008, a book on wastewater governance in Mexico. Yes, I know. Not much of a holiday. But at least, I get to do what I love doing: my academic work.
To those of you who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas, and to those of you who don’t, enjoy these couple of days anyways.
Much love from me.
December 24th, 2010 in
personal life |
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My very good friend Minna Van (one of the cofounders of The Network Hub, the coworking space where my consultancy studio has an office) and I have a number of characteristics that make us very compatible as friends and very similar in our behaviours and attitudes. First, we both work insanely hard. Second, we are both very caring and focus a lot on our personal relationships. But third, we both like making things happen. Minna and I have a standing joke: whenever see each other and talk about a project, we both flail our arms and wave our hands in unison, while saying “let’s make it happen“.
And we do.
We have the ability to make things happen.
And that’s something I just can’t let go of.
Whenever I think back about what has happened to me in 2010 (perhaps one of my absolute best years), and in fact in the past couple of years, I think about all the wonderful things I have made happen. I ponder about whether I would have been able to co-organize Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2009 and 2010 if I didn’t have the support system I have. If I would have had the support for the BC Cancer Foundation that I did during my Blogathon in 2009. I wonder if I could have been able to face all the challenges and make all the things that I (in collaboration with a number of people, because nobody achieves things only on their own) made possible this year.
I am successful here not only because I work really hard but because I have the infrastructure, the framework, the relationships, the collaborative network, the friendships and love of the people who support my work. Moving back to Mexico (or moving elsewhere in the world) would mean starting all over again.
And I don’t know if I can or want to do that.
Maybe the hummingbird is not a migratory bird after all.
Some of my best memories have been in Las Vegas, to be quite honest. And yes, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Except for this one, which was my very first international conference. I organized a panel at the Annual Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association and it was my very first successful international panel. And guess where it was? In Las Vegas. And despite my predictions, all of my panelists did show up to their panels. But we all were thrilled to have a chance to visit iconic places there, including the Caesars’ Palace.
Many of my good friends in Vancouver tend to go to Las Vegas for their holidays, and it’s almost a sure fact that they end up visiting the Caesars’ Palace. My own brother got married in Las Vegas! So it’s not a surprise that Caesars Entertainment (formerly Harrah’s Entertainment) decided to open a new sales and marketing office in Yaletown Vancouver. It does make perfect sense. And Caesars Entertainment hired an absolute pro to run things – my good friend Alex Lee-Behan.
To kick off the launch of the new office Caesars threw a big bash for their clients and VIP at Joe Fortes. Ten executives traveled up in a jet to attend. Caesars has now opened new offices in Chicago, New York, Dallas and now Vancouver, BC. I totally love Joe Fortes, even if I’m not a big fan of oysters. It was funny to hear that 800 oysters were shucked. I did get an in on one of the 9 giant seafood towers. Also, the champagne flowed and I got a chance to enjoy many of the appetizers (since almost none of them had cheese, yay!).
As I’ve said before, Alex Lee-Behan always throws the best parties, I have to admit. She is “in the know”, and has an amazing ability to ensure that the events she organizes are well covered. It was a great evening to hang out with a few select Vancouver media personalities, many of whom you may recognize (amongst them Dawn Chubai, Catherine Barr, and of course my lovely Plus One for the evening Yvonne Yuen)
I asked Alex about why did Caesars decide to open an office in Vancouver, although as I mentioned above, it does make perfect sense to me. Alex said to me
Caesars Entertainment is about the experience. We want our customers to get the best of everything; service, food, casinos and hotel amenities. We would love the opportunity to plan people’s next getaway to Las Vegas, Tahoe or even New Orleans. We’re bringing a more personal host approach to Vancouver.
If you’d like to stay at a Caesars Entertainment property, such as Caesars Palace, Paris and Planet Hollywood, you can call the Caesars Entertainment Vancouver Office at 604.568.9288 or email Alex Lee Behan at abehan@caesars.com.
White Spot has been really community minded, from what I have experienced. Recent donations to the Vancouver Food Bank and last year’s recycling projects really stuck with me. So I was really excited when I learned that White Spot has a Christmas Lunch for Charity. I didn’t even know it had been going for so long! White Spot sent me some information on the Christmas Lunch for Charity.
A holiday tradition for more than a decade, the Richmond Centre and Kingsway Vancouver White Spot locations will open their doors on December 25th to serve up delicious White Spot favourites and raise the spirits of those in need.
White Spot understands the importance of giving back to the community during the holiday season and employees will volunteer their Christmas Day to generate much-needed funds for this year’s charity partners: Richmond General Hospital Foundation and Variety – The Children’s Charity. All staff and management will generously donate their time, tips and all net proceeds from the sale of food.
WHAT: White Spot Christmas Lunch for Charity
WHEN: Saturday, December 25, 2010
TIME: 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: The following White Spot locations will be open on Christmas Day to support Richmond General Hospital Foundation and Variety – The Children’s Charity:
Richmond Centre
Unit 1902 – 6551 No. 3 Road
Richmond, B.C.
Kingsway and Knight
1467 Kingsway
Vancouver, B.C.
It’s heartwarming that corporations put their money where their mouth is and continue organizing this type of community events. I look forward to hearing how it went (since I am on holidays, as you read this post).
December 23rd, 2010 in
charities |
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I will be away on holidays, and my plan is to not check email, Twitter, social media in general. I’ve been pondering of what to post in my auto-responder that will be well taken by clients yet it’s witty. The draft one I was planning to use is
Thank you for your email. I will be away from December 23rd to January 3rd inclusive. During that period and in the interest of my own sanity, I will not be checking emails, nor Twitter/Facebook. If you are a current or prospective client (I NEED TO ADD SOMETHING SPECIFIC FOR MY UNIVERSITY EMAIL), and it’s an urgent matter, I will have your messages forwarded to my cell. Otherwise, please enjoy your holidays because I plan to enjoy mine by not stressing out about how many emails I need to read, tweets I need to respond to and Facebook messages to comment on! All the best in the New Year!
Too snarky? Not witty enough?
Yesterday, as I was on the 99 B-Line enroute to Richmond, I saw a familiar face on the bus: Diana Ericson, widow to the late Dr. Richard Ericson, a well-renowned scholar of criminology. As soon as I saw her, the words she spoke at her husband’s eulogy in 2007 came back to me immediately. Actually, they almost never leave me. During the eulogy program, Diana gave a beautiful speech where she talked about the need for academics and scholars to take care of themselves.
In 2007, I wrote:
Academia, as many other professions, can really take a toll on individuals. Professors are expected to do research, teach, write, participate in academic life, train and mentor graduate students, write grants to fund their research, sometimes even manage the funds for those research projects, and volunteer their time in many ways, shapes and forms.
Burnout in academia takes many shapes and forms. Often times, doctoral candidates and tenure-track assistant professors take on so much work that their stress overpowers them. One strategy to cope with academic burnout, I would argue, is to cultivate friendships and relationships.
It was thus very fitting to hear Diana emphasize that young scholars (and also seasoned professors) should be careful and have a balanced life. Often times academic fatigue leads promising researchers and teachers in a downward spiral. That’s true for many other professions, but I seriously believe that academia is greatly undervalued.
As I wrote recently, I wake up every morning at 4:45am to ensure I get enough exercise, to go to the gym and put in enough effort to build cardiovascular strength and resistance and maintain the energy levels I need to do four things simultaneously (teaching, research, consulting and social media, juggling and attending events). While I think I’ve been reasonably good at taking care of myself and not burn out, in 2011 my promise to myself is to put myself first before I put anyone else.
For all the self-absorbedness that my online personality may portray (which I hope is not that much), I’m actually much more focused on doing good for others than on taking care of myself. I volunteer my time, organize charitable and community events, try to build community and I’m always keen to help other people. Since I was a child, I was used to thinking of the wellbeing of others before I worried about myself. My parents thought I was on the way to becoming a medical doctor precisely for that reason.
But I recognize (and even more so now) that I am no use to anybody if I’m sick or overwhelmed or exhausted. So, while in 2010 I promised to focus on my own growth, in 2011 I promise myself to take care of myself first before I take care of others. Which means, as I indicated before, saying NO substantially more often.
And thanks, Diana Ericson for reminding me that, as an academic, I need to take care of myself. That my own priority should be me, not anyone else.
December 22nd, 2010 in
personal life |
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2010 has been a pretty good year. In April I started to write about Vancouver’s restaurant scene in a new blog that I thought no one would ever read. Luckily, yet at the same time inexplicably, people have been reading it, some even subscribing to it. I recently contacted Raul Pacheco of Hummingbird604.com and inquired about writing a guest blog and it occurred to me that I really wasn’t sure how I had ended up writing as much as I do.
Food is my passion, it brings people together like nothing else and that makes it easy to write about. People have to eat and reading about great food with an empty stomach can be a dangerous thing. The idea to start What’s For Lunch BC came from a former coworker named Dylan Redekop. I hadn’t seen or spoken to Dylan for a few years since we both found other jobs and then I noticed on Facebook that he had started a music blog called More Than A Feeling Music. I read his first few posts and was very impressed, it didn’t hurt that we are both into the same type of music. I thought that it was pretty cool that you could go to WordPress.com and in a few short minutes you had a great looking blog with mobile functionality and features that most budget web designers can’t offer, and it’s free!
Writing for me has become an outlet for creativity that I had buried under layers of responsibility and forgotten about. Writing about food has opened up a whole new world of people to meet and places to go with my wife and new daughter and has been a therapeutic way for me to deal with the grind of everyday life. I don’t consider myself a “Writer” as I do not have a formal background in it other than some Literature courses in High School and I feel that professional writers have earned that title. I am very proud to be called a Blogger and if you are a Blogger you should be proud too. It takes guts to put your thoughts and feelings out into the world and have people tell you if they like them or not. The most important thing that I have learned through reading other blogs and reading comments on my own blog is that if you write from the heart and add your own personality to your posts you will get a far better response than just writing an article.
Make every word count, don’t sweat it if people don’t agree with what you’re saying and take the time to respond to your readers comments, if it was important enough for them to comment on then it’s important enough for you to acknowledge their comment. Vancouver has some great bloggers and new bloggers such as myself have a responsibility to uphold the foundation they have built for us. Embrace social media for the amazing tool it is and don’t be afraid to try something new.
This guest post was contributed by Scott Graham from What’s For Lunch BC. In his own words…
Scott Graham is a blue collar hero by day, food lover and family man by night. Originally from Edmonton with a brief stopover in Toronto, Scott has lived in Greater Vancouver for over 20 years and wouldn’t have it any other way. When Scott is not eating great food you can find him toiling away in the elevator shafts of our fair city making sure you don’t have to take the stairs. You can read his blog at http://whatsforlunchbc.com/ or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WhatsForLunchBC
December 21st, 2010 in
guest post |
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Anybody who has read my blog before knows that I’ve been extremely critical of the regional transit authority and their online behaviour. I have never been shy about it. But in the past few months, and specially in the past few weeks, I’ve been witnessing (as have most of my friend in the Metro Vancouver region who are on Twitter) an increasing level of interactivity with the @Translink account.
[UPDATE – In my original post, I had intended to praise Jennifer Siddon, the fantastic woman behind @SkytrainLady and in my humble opinion, the model of interactivity and customer service that the rest of Translink’s staff followed. You may remember how on top of things Jennifer was while the 2010 Winter Olympics were taking place, and she’s kept that same pace, at times checking her Blackberry on the go and answering customer inquiries outside what you could consider normal hours – Jennifer DOES deserve a lot of kudos, and I have said so publicly as well, as shown on the tweet below]
Staffed by a multiplicity of folks who work for the communications area of Translink, the Twitter account has worked hard at keeping up with mentions of “Skytrain”, “Canada Line” and other services. In fact, sometimes they go back in the conversation and track it to the point where they can find what the problem was. This happened to me recently when an 8 Fraser didn’t stop where it should have dropped me off. I didn’t complain, but the folks behind the @Translink Twitter account tracked down the conversation up to the point where they realized what happened.
I asked Erin McConnell from Translink to comment on how they feel about the response from the public and the rationale behind this expanded effort to provide real-time updates and how successful it has been. Below is her response.
I believe the pilot has been a remarkable success for two reasons: customer support and the team running @translink. TransLink customers on Twitter have been tremendous. They have helped us improve the type of information we share by engaging with us directly and have been instrumental in growing our Twitter community by sharing transit and service updates with their followers, allowing us to reach more people across the system. We are thrilled that customers have sent us more commendations for our work on Twitter than for any other project to date. The Customer Information team tweeting from our @translink account has done an outstanding job at providing passengers with real-time, personalized service information. In addition to being extremely dedicated, they were Twitter naturals and truly love engaging with customers through @translink.
In the same way I have criticized Translink before on what I think they’ve done wrong, I have to praise them on what they’ve done right. And I want to give them kudos. Not surprising, most people are feeling the same way!
Disclosure: I don’t get any special treatment from Translink, this post isn’t paid by them and I am not obligated to write it either. My only internal connection with Translink is with Erin McConnell who works there and is a good friend of mine, but that doesn’t affect at all my assessments of Translink (for previous, very critical posts click here). I just think it’s fantastic that Translink has pushed forward in trying to set a model/standard for public service delivery and interactivity in British Columbia.
Despite the fact that I teach at UBC, and that I was a graduate student there for my MBA/MEng and PhD degrees, I rarely come down to the intersection of Broadway and Alma (which used to be my local haunts). I’m either downtown, Mount Pleasant or some version of the southern hemisphere of Vancouver (aka Marpole, South Cambie, South Main). But since I hadn’t seen my good friend Lisa Thomas-Tench for a while, we decided to try My Local Cafe on 10th Avenue near Alma (between Alma and Highbury, not sure if that counts as Kitsilano, but for the sake of urban geography, let’s say it does). We just thought we should try it out.
Since it was near the university campus and I had to get back to grading, My Local Cafe seemed like the best option for a light lunch before going back to marking. Lisa ordered a large leek and potato soup and I ordered a portobello mushroom with aioli and hummus sandwich with a side of minestrone soup (which was a bit too dry, and that looked a bit strange).
I found out via my good friend Janni Aragon that My Local Cafe offers a great variety of vegan and gluten-free options. While my lunch was extremely good (that sandwich was to-die-for) I was hoping that I’d have the energy to continue working – I couldn’t. I had to take a 30 minute nap at my office, because the sandwich was SO filling.
I’d strongly endorse My Local Cafe (and thanks Lisa for taking me there for lunch!). It’s a great option particularly for people who are vegan, vegetarian, love organic and gluten-free.
December 20th, 2010 in
lunch |
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There’s a number of people in my life who may or may not know the special role they play in my lives. One of them is my friend Jen Watkiss, who blogs at Worldwide Water Cooler. Jen’s mind is incredibly inquisitive, she is witty, smart, has a lovely personality, and she often keeps me on the “straight and narrow” by providing a devil’s advocate to my (sometimes rather strong and controversial) opinions. Having someone who can lovingly yet directly give you feedback about the way you think is a blessing. And I’m blessed to have Jen in my life, for the reasons above and many more. It had been too long since we hung out so I took Jen for lunch in Richmond, where she works.
You may remember I recently asked about restaurants in Richmond along the Canada Line (I don’t own a car, but I travel by transit everywhere). This was the reason. I wanted to find a restaurant where I could have lunch with Jen and that would be easily accessible. And I did. Thanks to all of you for suggesting Charcoal. It was GREAT.
For lunch, both Jen and I ordered a lunch special (Charcoal has several combos, but the one I ordered was vegetarian curry over steamed rice and a California roll, for $8.95). Absolutely reasonably priced, very flavourful and accompanied by a really nice Miso soup, I’ll say that I will definitely come back to Charcoal to have a chance to eat more of their varied fusion Japanese menu. I’m so glad Jen came and joined me for lunch, as I rarely venture outside of Vancouver.
Heck, sometimes I rarely venture outside of downtown Vancouver (hence why I asked about restaurants outside the downtown Vancouver core). I’ll have to organize a Tweetup expedition to one of those.
Disclosure: I paid for our lunches out of my own pocket. As usual, I am neither obligated nor paid to do this review. I just wanted to let people know about a really nice Japanese restaurant in Richmond that where my friend and I enjoyed lunch.
December 20th, 2010 in
dining out,
Richmond |
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2010 was a year that saw me battle the popular perception that all I did was blogging and social media, when the truth is, I’m an academic. I am happy to say that I feel I have won the battle. For the most part, whenever I attend any event ‘in the circuit‘, like it happened at the opening of Q4 al Centro, people ask me about my academic activities.
Most often, particularly, my teaching at UBC, although some people do ask about what I do for research). While I really feel that I’ve been lucky to balance and juggle everything I do (mostly by waking up at the ungodly hour of 4:45 am), I completely realize that, as an academic, I can’t master a field if I don’t read the literature.
So my goal for 2011 is to make more time for reading. Right now I am cranking out publications like there’s no tomorrow (and grading final research papers that my students submitted recently), editing the syllabi of the two courses I’ll be teaching next term, and preparing to go on a writing retreat, but I have already established that in 2011, come hell or high water, I’ll be scheduling time to just do that, read. I do schedule one full day of research a week, where I don’t do any social media (or at least I try to), but this coming 2011 it will be just time to read.
I’m very lucky to speed-read and have a photographic memory, but I think I’ve depended too much and I’ve gotten people used to my speed. And that’s not healthy. Because as time goes by and I get older, I most likely won’t be able to keep up the work pace I have right now. So it’s better if I just schedule time to read, to master the literature, to find and identify the gaps I need to explore in my field. And of course, I hope people don’t think I’m planning to shut down this blog!
So that’s my first goal for 2011: More time for reading.
December 19th, 2010 in
academic life |
1 Comment
