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This is technical but really neat!

Blog Action Day 2007

October 15th Get Ready - One Issue. One Day. Thousands of Voices.

I'm back from Scouting Heaven

I returned on 4 August from two weeks in northern Quebec at the 11th Canadian Scout Jamboree. It was a wonderful way to spend two weeks of vacation, the country was beautiful, lushly forested with lots of new plants and wildlife. The local people I had opportunity to interact with were friendly and helpful. There were 8600 Scouts and Scouters on site from across the globe. Canada was well represented, from shore to shore and from the north as well. Represented were: United States of America, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia, Thailand and Switzerland.

Interestingly, even with all the heat, dust and walking I slept reasonably well (sometimes it was a little noisy or hot). I rose refreshed and ready to enjoy my days. I didn't have any of the 'sluggishness' that I have experienced at home. I didn't have any migraines or sore feet (I have flat-foot and wear orthotics), I even avoided blisters! I spent one day with a friend on the way home walking around Ottawa (and it was a fair bit of walking) and I was really sore - open ground vs. concrete maybe, makes one wonder.

LM and I estimated that we were putting in some 10k each day just moving around the campsite doing our work. That's probably more than I put in in a week normally.

I missed kiddo and S lots. Homecoming is mentioned in some of the Celtic Christianity books that I've been reading recently. This was my first long trip away from my family by myself and I've discovered that going away is good but coming home is great!

Evan

p.s. Thanks to all the other scouts and scouters that made my CJ experience a memory to treasure.

Inside the Blogger’s Studio

From a post on darrenbarefoot.com
Based on the Actors Studio...

1. What is your favorite word? Knowledge
   
2. What is your least favorite word? Failure
   
3. What turns you on? New Things
   
4. What turns you off? Others 'Managing' me
   
5. What sound or noise do you love? Loons on a misty lake
   
6. What sound or noise do you hate? Snowmobiles, Harley Bikes etc.
   
7. What is your favorite curse word? Farg
   
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Information Broker
   
9. What profession would you not like to do? Food Services (I like to eat not cook!)
   
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? 'Welcome Home' (The Scouts say that a leader that has passed on has 'Gone Home')

Photo Credit: archival http://www.flickr.com/photos/archivalproject/314538852/

California Decertifies Flawed Election Equipment

Cool note from the EFF - after a detailed review the State of California has decertifed several electronic voting system vendors. This is great news! Canadians use paper ballots that are counted by hand, this simple system is very difficult to defraud and the counts are quick and easy, all managed by an independent central federal voting authority. In the US votes are managed by hundreds of individual authorities (counties, states etc.) and they are not independent - the returning officers have political affiliations. The more that this kind of technology is called into question in the US the less likely that some policy wonk in Canada will get an idea that it would be good for us! See more at: EFF: DeepLinks

Photo Credit: midbach http://www.flickr.com/photos/sevenapril/90460159/

resistance was futile...

resistance was futile...
Originally uploaded by Zadi Diaz.

Arggg This photo is titled 'Resistance was futile..." and I'm beginning to think they're right.

I subscribe to several RSS Feeds and I think that I've had iPhone stuff in ALL of them - can someone develop a filter to get rid of this thing - PLEASE!

miniHome

This is from darrenbarefoot.com but I thought it was a cool piece - I heard an article on CBC the other day about this home as well.

A Cool, Canadian, Sustainable Mobile Home

As regular readers know, sooner or later we’re planning on building on our property on Pender Island. Our eventual plan is to also build a separate, small guest cabin. We like our family and friends, but we also like our personal space, if you get my meaning.

We’re not opposed to the guest cabin being some kind of mobile home, assuming it’s comfortable and kind of cool. This one, from Sustain miniHome might fit the bill:

All for about CAN $120,000 at the base price. And, importantly, there would be not duty costs because it’s a Canadian company. They seem to be based in Toronto–how much does it cost to ship a tiny house across the country?

Thanks to Metaefficient for the link.

On a related note, why is it that every architect I hear about is an ‘award-winning’ one? Is it as easy to win awards in architecture as it is in the technology industry? Because of its over-use, the phrase seems totally hollow. Maybe I want to work with an architect who’s won no awards and is proud of it?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at 1:29 am and is filed under Building Our House. Tag Testing Project: Canada, mobile home, modern, pender island, sustainable housing. You can skip to the end and leave a response, or trackback from your own site. If you don't see your comment within a day or so, drop me an email. Sometimes my comment spam filter gets overly zealous.

Summer Colds Suck

I've had this really annoying summer 'cold' for the better part of a week. It started with feeling run down and tired last Sunday night (the Sunday of a long weekend I'll have you note). I woke up at 3 am on Monday with a 38.5 fever. I downed some cold meds and lay in bed for the rest of Monday with a massive migraine (nausea, photo-phobia etc.) Nothing much I took would budge it!

I felt a little better but should have stayed home on Tuesday - I didn't sleep well on Monday night (up past 3) and was pretty much a zombie. Went to bed at 8 on Tuesday and slept for 10 hours or so and felt a little better.

No more fever but I still have this nagging little headache that won't quite go away. Don't know if any one else has had this bug but it sucks.

Photo Credit: Stephen Foster http://www.flickr.com/photos/shf/537721322/

Hair Cut...

OK, so I'm off to the 'stylist' today at lunch - now I don't have a lot of hair so I'm not particular about where I get it cut - usually...

Now, apparently someplace in my past I missed a critical bit of information- there are apparently standardized 'screens' that are used on clippers - they apparently come in numbers with 0 being short and going up for longer.

The stylist asked me what I wanted - I responded with 'fairly short all over' which usually means two fingers...she responded with 'so that's a 2'? My answer - 'I don't know what that number means' I wasn't being sarcastic, I really didn't know what it meant - my more common barbers use scissors and brace their fingers to control length (hence the 2 finger bit).

Well, she proceeded - and apparently a 2 is much shorter than I usually would go. On top of all that she handled the trimmers (big pro-hair cutter ones) like she was sheering a sheep. Now it wasn't all bad, she took out a little trimmer and cleaned up things but I did leave the shop wanting to go baaaahhh.

The things you learn...the hard way.

Photo Credit: martysavalas http://www.flickr.com/photos/naegears/386062690/

CBC Report on Conservative's leaked

So this is what's going on...

We Survived

Well, we survived...two weeks in Walt Disney World!

Overall I was surprised and a little impressed - I had expected WDW to be a large tourist trap, and even though it really is it sure didn't feel like it. Being in the various parks was a pleasant experience, modestly priced meals and souvenirs, very clean, friendly well trained staff that seemed genuinely happy to be there. Even the photographers were more of a service than any kind of hassle - we had to ask them to take pictures - the antithesis of pushy. The attractions were fun and very very well presented, at one point I had a Disney employee mention that they don't have roller coasters or rides, they have attractions, and he was right - the line up areas for the attractions are all in character, as are all the staff at each ride. No 'staff t-shirt' shorts and flip-fops here, each ride and every 'cast member' had a 'costume' that contributed to the look and feel of the park - in fact they were hardly ever 'out of character'

I would not count this as a restful vacation - S, Kiddo and our other relations seemed to have a great time but it was too much go and do and not a enough rest and recharge for my likes - there were several nights that we'd come home and I'd be out by 9pm having read only a page of my book - waking up at 6 to get everything done and be off to the park again to be there for gate opening.

Sigh I'll be off to the Scout Jamboree in Northern Quebec in a few weeks, maybe that will be more relaxing.

For now,

Evan

Vacation

S. and I will shortly be embarking on the standard 'Family Vacation'. In this case our destination is that haven of peace and serenity - Disney World...ok so yes the sinus meds are affecting my brain.

S. is over the moon about going, and while I find it mildly interesting (I am looking forward to Epcot), the potential negatives keep coming to mind - we're going to be traveling with an almost two year old, who loves to run around like mad wherever he is. That just can't happen on a plane, so we're going to get to hold him in our laps - unless miracle of miracles they seat us with an empty seat, apparently they do try and do that. Nice thing is it doesn't cost us anything for his flight and he doesn't need a ticket for Disney. But all of that doesn't help on the flights (there are two, totaling 4 hours, each way) will be at all fun.

We've had some other parent's suggest that we get him to rest while we fly (apparently kid's Gravol (Dramamine) is a good idea...not sure about that.

After traveling we get to spend 14 days in the deep south US - home of Guns, guns and more guns. (Believe it or not the Governor of Texas was on the radio the other day saying that the recent shootings in the US wouldn't have happened if everyone was properly armed while they were walking around on the school campus! This is the place I'm taking my son to? On top of the obvious risks (both from weapons and from psychological proximity to these people). There are going to be many many businesses that are intent on removing as much of our money as fast as they can while returning to us as little as possible and what they do give us will be made of plastic or other 'cheapness' and will actually have been made in China.

Oh what fun.

Now, we're actually going to be staying in a house that we've rented for the two weeks, its going to be just as expensive (or maybe a little less) to stay there as it would be in a hotel considering that it's actually S. Myself, Kiddo, S's mom and another cousin that I'll call Min. The house idea is great more space, our own bedroom and so on. The fact that I'll get to clean, do dishes, and other domestic chores down there just as much as I do at home (I do try and pull my fair share) not so much.

I'm going to spend 14 days in Tamaracouta Quebec this summer with 6800 Scouts, in comparison, that sounds relaxing.

I'll write something if / when we get back alive...

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pastorjason/239574951/

New Tech..Still

I've commented before about people who vigorously resist getting email. But I'm beginning find several friends and acquaintances who, although they use email, fail to 'extend' their grasp of technology. I've recently started sharing documents online via the Google Docs and Spreadsheets system with a couple of my friends. My hope was that they would be able to see what I had done and collaborate with me online - easy for me and easy for them right? Nope. Instead they all asked if I could send them a word document or if I could put it directly into and email. Email is something that they all understand and are comfortable with. (I even suspect that a couple of them still print every email and deal with it as paper)

My problems start with the need to work to combine the edits of potentially four people that individually email me back, each with their own edits and changes. This will actually create much more work for me in the end than if they had only taken the 20 minutes to work at understanding the great systems being offered, for free.

One observation is that some people seem to have reached 'max load' they really can't take much more, they understand the web in general - i.e. the original static information provider sites (circa 1995) and they understand email but that is the extend of it. In the last 5-10 years the web has become so much more. Online collaboration, personal and social sites, software as services and much much more. Now, I'm not sure if this is a 'design issue' or a 'human issue' i.e is this something that the web site designers need to look at or have we just reached the maximum limit of some people to adapt?

A small percentage, mostly older and those that really never got connected in the first place seem to still expect (or maybe hope) that this whole Internet thing will 'go away' or end or 'get simpler' somehow. I'm convinced (and admittedly I have a reasons to be it's my lively-hood) that we're going to be on the Internet and using technology like this from now on, please - help those of us out here on the front edge a little bit...spend ten to thirty minutes each week expanding your technical knowledge - read the Globe and Mail technology columns, learn about and subscribe to RSS feeds that discuss your other hobbies, in general work at becoming more 'web literate'. Besides, in the end the time you save will be your own.

Evan

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/people/jintan/

most powerful clip i have seen

Very good and telling video about what we teach our kids...

Customer Service - NOT

I wanted to tell you about an experience I had recently at the local UPS depot - now it's important to note this was the corporate depot not a franchise!
I had arranged to pick up a package at the depot (rather than having it delivered to our home where we wouldn't be anyway) First problem occurred when I couldn't find a place to park. There was a dedicated customer parking area but it was full. I went into the office after parking in a staff parking spot (in violation of the posted sign...) I go into the dingy little cubby and there is only one person at the counter. (Why is the parking area full?) I wait a few minutes while the person in front of me completes paying for his COD package and I help him through the door.
I speak to the 19 year old kid in the grey sweatshirt and sideways baseball cap - we discuss the parking problem, he commiserates with me, I suggest that maybe towing someone would solve their problem (mostly in jest actually). Baseball cap kid goes in the back for my package leaving the door open to the back area of the loading bay so I can see the five people lounging around, with maybe one or two actually moving packages into trucks. Then a PA announcement comes over from the manager asking employees to move their vehicles out of customer parking. So far so good - while the kid in the sweatshirt and cap looks shoddy - he's done good work, got my package quickly and talked to management about my problem. Then the kicker - the meatheads in the back yell back at the PA to "Shut Up". I'm still standing in the dingy little entry way and can see and hear all of this - I almost yelled at them - I was angry. I left the place and placed a twenty minute complaint call to the UPS 1-800 number (asked for a supervisor first.)
What a colossal customer service failure - I can't park, I'm served by a kid who looks like he should be out on his skateboard not behind a business counter, the counter itself looks like something out of the 70's. Then the rampant disrespect shown by the employees to the management.
Why on earth would I ever do business with UPS? Now they have an annoyed customer who is blogging on their faults...it's easy to think that 10+ people will read this ... a PR disaster. (The standard PR rule I was taught in school was that a happy customer tells 1 person unhappy customers tell 10)

Here's what should have happened:
1) The customer parking area should have been open to park in.
2) The kid should have been in uniform - (not that he did a bad job really)
3) The gentleman in front of me should have been helped by UPS staff out to his vehicle with his large box - easy and cheap improvement in customer experience.
4) The counter space should have been clean, modern, well painted in corporate colours with corporate logo
5) The door to the shipping area should have automatically been closed as my package was retrieved.

It's the year 2007, thousands of customer service books have been written and published in the last decade - and companies still can't get the basics right???

Evan

Photo Credit: wok http://www.flickr.com/photos/mworrell/266180687/

Spring Thaw - St. Vital Park, Winnipeg

Spring Thaw - St. Vital Park, Winnipeg
Originally uploaded by Tuktoyaktuk.

I almost feel as if the world is waking up, with only a few warm days it's amazing how much the snow has melted. I can now go to work without my boots!

I can see many of the plants in our garden, and my mind is increasingly turning to our yard tasks ahead - sod and retaining stone to purchase, path to repair and cleanup, seeds to start (they're in the kitchen greenhouse) There might even be compost to pull out and get ready for the garden (it's had 2 years now)

The basement, though 'DONE' needs a good cleaning (as does the rest of the house - can you say 'Spring Cleaning'! Maybe we can start that this weekend...

I'm finally sleeping better and 'House Management' (the just living each day stuff - remember we have a 21 month old ) has been much easier recently. I've been trying to really move myself actively toward the 8 - action vs. my tendency toward a built in delay to 'gather more information' . I'm beginning to 'live' (not just know) the fact that the delays actually make things worse. It's still not all right (I missed processing some forms for a Scouting issue and also missed a phone call to another Scouting contact that I should have done last week. But it's not so much of a panic each morning as it once was.

I'm looking forward to spring this year. Much to do and clean and grow, maybe even myself!

Take Care!

CBC DRM Junk

Tod Maffin indicates on the Inside the CBC Blog that CBC intends to post clips of some of their shows online, which is great! Problem is that they are going to encode them in the DivX format and shackle them with DRM.

If they don't want people to share their videos then they shouldn't make them available! To believe that anything that is web posted can be contained or controlled is simply silly these days. The only thing the DRM does is make it more difficult for legitimate users to use. Those who want the images bad enough will grab them anyway - and will repost them onto better formats like YouTube.

I for one will NOT use or buy ANY web content in any form that has been infected with DRM it’s just too risky after the viral software distributed on SONY music CDs in 2005.

A number of high profile Canadian artists have come out against DRM (Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies amongst others) see http://www.musiccreators.ca/wp These are the performers and industry that CBC purports to promote!

A more progressive and community supportive stance would have been for the CBC to license their material under a Creative Commons license so that fans like me could share and promote their material freely but they would retain the right to prevent commercial use and disallow modification of it’s content. (see http://creativecommons.org/ )

Evan Young

Winter Is Almost Over

Winter Is Almost Over
Originally uploaded by Big Grey Mare.

I was searching for a photo for a 'winter is still hanging on' blog but this was a nice picture...We've had a little more snow in the last couple of days but the temps have been nice.

Winter is almost over, you can almost hear people chanting it over and over to themselves like a mantra.

Need to go out and shovel some more snow...maybe not - my bed warmer is on and it's time to go back to bed and hide for the night!

Have a good Sleep!

Evan

100 Years

Some of you may know that this is the 100th anniversary year of Scouting - here's a great video that tells you a little about the founder of the worlds largest and most successful youth movement.