Andrew Kurjata Lifestream

[Tumblr] Every Japanese Arnold Schwarzenegger commercial ever made (via...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:53:28 -0800

Every Japanese Arnold Schwarzenegger commercial ever made (via the Ampersand)

[Tumblr] "If Louis Riel had been hanged in 1885 because of an informer among his Métis rebels, Canada’s..."

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:17:58 -0800

“If Louis Riel had been hanged in 1885 because of an informer among his Métis rebels, Canada’s spy agency might still be blocking release of that history-changing revelation 125 years later.”

- Spy file on Tommy Douglas is old, but not old enough for release: CSIS - The Globe and Mail

[Tumblr] "“I live in the United States right now. I elected the president. I happen to think he’s..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:49:43 -0800

“

“I live in the United States right now. I elected the president. I happen to think he’s a great leader and a wonderful president,” Gretzky told CTV’s Seamus O’Regan. “And if he believes that we need to be where we are right now, for the freedom of the world, I back him 100 per cent.”

“But we’ve got to believe in our president and I happen to think he’s a great leader.”

”

- To be fair, this was in 2003. But I find it interesting to wonder what would happen if Gretzky ever decided to get involved in Canadian politics. Sure, the country votes him one of the ten greatest Canadians in history and gets all giddy when he agrees to be final torchbearer, but would opinions change if he were to try to be something other than an ex-hockey player?

Campaigns have been waged against Harper for supporting the same war, and the Tories in turn attacked Ignatieff for living abroad and referring to the United States as “his” country. I wonder if being the Great One would be enough to override the above quotations?

I don’t know if I should start accusing this country of having double standards when it comes to our attitudes towards hockey player and politicians, because they play decidedly different roles in our society, but it does sometimes bother me how much adulation we give Gretzky for essentially playing hockey well, getting rich, then moving south and taking part in promo deals.

Nothing against him, he can do what he wants. But can we please stop acting like he’s done anything in particular for us as a country? It kind of makes it look like we don’t have a lot going on.

OK, rant over.

[Tumblr] "So driving one of these suspect Toyotas raises your chances of dying in a car crash over the next..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:14:27 -0800

“So driving one of these suspect Toyotas raises your chances of dying in a car crash over the next two years from .01907 percent (that’s 19 one-thousandths of 1 percent, when rounded off) to .01935 percent (also 19 one-thousandths of one percent).”

- Toyotas Are Safe (Enough) - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

[Tumblr] "I’m not sure that Lindsay and her lawyers want to make the case that every time someone uses..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:31:35 -0800

“I’m not sure that Lindsay and her lawyers want to make the case that every time someone uses her name in conjunction with a reference to a substance abuse problem this should be construed as a clear “characterization” of Lindsay Lohan. This is functionally conceding (in a case I can’t imagine you’ll win) that your personal brand is tied up with substance abuse.”

- eaves.ca

[Facebook] Andrew: is so confused about what day it is. Programming and scheduling for two different places in two different time zones will do that.

Andrew Kurjata — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:07:06 -0800

[Tumblr] “The 1868 Red Ensign, which features the coats of arms of...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:01:32 -0800

“The 1868 Red Ensign, which features the coats of arms of the four newly united provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, was in use for only three years after an independent Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. The 142-year-old Canadian flag in “pristine” condition is to be sold at a June auction in Toronto, where bidders for the Confederation-era relic are expected to pay up to $60,000 to acquire the “rare piece of Canadian history.” (via the Vancouver Sun)

[Tumblr] I’ve posted this before, but seriously, it is so freaking...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:40:36 -0800

I’ve posted this before, but seriously, it is so freaking good. I just heard it on the radio and had to stop what I was doing to listen. It’s been a long time since a song grabbed me like this, but it’s to the extent that I feel sorry for you if you don’t love it, because it means you aren’t experiencing what I’m experiencing when I hear it.

[Tumblr] (via robotindisguise)

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:01:01 -0800

(via robotindisguise)

[Facebook] Andrew: it's go time.

Andrew Kurjata — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:02:01 -0800

[blog] An Essay on the Listen Bird: My Contribution to Cutbanks Magazine

ak17 | Andrew — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:33:00 -0800

Today, the final physical copy of Cutbanks magazine hits newsstands, coffee shops, and bookstores throughout Prince George. This was a valiant one-man project taken on by my former co-volunteer-worker Tyler Clarke, when we were both editors at the UNBC newspaper Over the Edge. He was tireless then, and he became even more tireless as he took on the ambitious project of writing, producing, and distributing a monthly magazine devoted to the arts and culture scene in Prince George. Unfortunately, the costs and the time have proven to be not worth it, and he is retiring the physical version, with the online version continuing for as long as he still has the time. I feel bad I didn't contribute more; it's a great idea and it's unfair that the burden has been entirely on him, especially when there is so much interest in it. I did, however, contribute one thing to it: some photos and this essay on my favourite piece of grafitti: the Listen Bird. Here it is, along with some photos and links.

****

The Listen Bird lives in my neighbourhood. At least that's where I first encountered him, sitting on a garbage can at the entrance to the local park. I was amused by the simplicity of the design and the curious message, just a few circles and lines attached to a speech bubble intoning the viewer to do just one thing: “Listen.” I snapped a picture with my cellphone camera, made it my default background, and moved on.

Over the next few years, I started to encounter him everywhere I went. At first I thought he was limited to my immediate neighbourhood, the Heritage region near 1st and Foothills. Then I saw him cropping up downtown and thought he was a civic thing, but by the time I caught a glimpse of him on my commute through downtown Victoria, I realized that this was part of a much larger phenomena. When I started getting serious about photography (and by serious I mean actually owning and using a camera more than twice a year), collecting instances of the Listen Bird seemed like an obvious subject. And indeed it was, as someone had already started a Flickr pool (basically, a shared online photo album) devoted to sightings of the Listen Bird worldwide. Here, you can view pictures of the bird from coast to coast, be it the stylized versions found in Montreal alleys, the oversize blocks taking roost on top of the Edmonton skyline, or a bilingual pair recently spotted at a downhill ski resort.

According to discussion on the Flickr group, no one really knows who's responsible for the first Listen Bird. It's quite possible it originated as an armadillo in the mid-1980s, and was the work of a “bizarre songwriter and musician named Robin, last name unknown.” The geography, at least, seems credible, as an inordinate number of the birds posted to the group come from the Albertan capital. I've always thought of Edmonton as what Prince George would look like if it were to suddenly have a population boom and failed to do any urban planning, so perhaps there's something innate to northern, semi-industrial cities that give the bird's message poignance. While Vancouver and Montreal wear their culture on their sleeves, the charms of Prince George and Edmonton are apparent only to those who take the time to search for them, letting them soak in over the course of a number of years. Look at this magazine. It's devoted to uncovering the hidden culture of Prince George, every issue flying in the face of the chorus of voices singing “There's nothing to do here!” Against that backdrop, the Listen Bird's message takes on an almost political tone.

One of my greatest fears is that one day an overzealous downtown beautifiation project will eradicate the Listen Bird's presence. Yes, he'll survive in the bathrooms of Books and Company, but what of the ones hidden away in bowling alley doorways, back alley bus stops, or the downtown post offices? The Listen Bird is public art in its purest form, given without compensation or credit, its message as open to interpretation as any other, its presence cropping up in unexpected places, giving the urban elements of Prince George a cohesive vibe while linking it to similar projects across the country. I don't know if it's one or two or more artists spreading the bird around the city, if there's some underground movement in tagging culture that I'm not a part of, or if it's just something that spreads virally, the way things used to before the days of YouTube and email forwards. And I don't want to know. The anonymity of it gives the message a life of its own, untethered to a singular persona or public figure. Mao Tse Tung famously began his political journey with a 4000 character screed scrawled on the bathroom walls of his college, or so the story goes. Factual or not, it is true that many a political movement has galvanized public support by posting their message in public places where all can see, regardless of race or class or religious screed. And while the anonymous nature of the painter ensures they will never reach political notoriety, it also gives their message a time-and-placelessness that no personal manifesto can ever achieve.

As someone with no easily definable skills (communications professional with a political science degree?), I've had to spend a fair amount of time self-promoting. I'm not alone in this, as the internet age has rendered Google the new resume and Twitter the new handshake circuit. The Listen Bird is an antidote to all that. Whether he's at the edge of the forest or the back of a bus stop, he serves as a reminder that there's always a story left untold. The people and the things you can find in this city are as interesting and enlightening as anywhere else in the world. We have languages, bordering on extinction, that are absolutely unique to this geography and the culture that came out of it. Our history, written or oral, is as fascinating and as complicated as any metropolitan centre or rural outpost. The elements at play as we seek to define ourselves in the face of the 21st century can and does fuel debate as heightened as anything going on in the power corridors of Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa. And the arts and music being created here may sometimes be messy and terrible, but they can also reach moments of unqualified greatness that I rank as among the best I've ever experienced. This is open to everyone. We can all find it. All we have to do is listen.

[CFUR Radio Blog] Get Yer You Say Party! We Say Die! Tickets Online (or in Person)

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:28:22 -0800

Sometimes you don’t want to get out of bed in order to buy concert tickets. Understandable, bed is nice. So for those of you who want to be sure you get your You Say Party! We Say Die! tickets without coming to the university to buy the tickets, please feel free to purchase tickets online through PayPal. Just fill out the form below and click . Please note that PayPal takes a cut, so the prices are a few cents higher; we still only get $10. Be sure you enter the name of the person or people picking up the tickets.

Tickets paid for online can ONLY be picked up at the CFUR office or at the door. To do otherwise, you must make arrangements by contacting stationmanager@cfur.ca.

[CFUR Radio Blog] You Say Party! We Say Awesome!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:00:23 -0800

It’s been a whisper of a rumour for awhile now, but today it can finally be confirmed: Vancouver hitmakers You Say Party! We Say Die! are coming to Prince George.

The show is Saturday, April 10 and tickets are– get this– only $10. That’s thanks to the brilliant support of Northern Toyota who very generously agreed to help us out with the costs. We also need to extend our thanks to NUGSS who are pitching in, the folks at Sound Factory who are helping out with the equipment and lighting, and Best Western who will be providing accommodation for the band. It’s businesses like these who help make shows like this possible, so please show your support.

If you haven’t heard of them somehow, You Say Party! We Say Die! are a Vancouver five-piece with fans around the globe, thanks in large part to their extensive touring and the success of their latest album XXXX. This has been a critical success, even earning a favourable review from the notoriously hard-to-please Pitchfork media. It has also hit number one on campus charts last November, and is still holding strong in the top 10.

Having won over audiences as part of Vancouver 2010’s Cultural Olympiad, YSP!WSD! are heading to the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas this month, then hopping north to Prince George just a few days before embarking on a two-month European tour. They’re bringing newcomers Makeout Videotape with them, too, so get ready for a full night of great music.

Anyways, enough babble. Here’s what you need to know:

Who? You Say Party! We Say Die! with guests Makeout Videotape

When? Saturday, April 10 at 7 pm

Where? NUGSS Event Space (near the Thirsty Moose Pub) at UNBC

All ages? You bet. Everyone is welcome.

How much? $10 if you buy now.

OK, so where do I buy? The CFUR offices for now (if you go in the bus stop entrance at the university, head left, and go up the stairs you’ll find us. We’re by NUGSS, PGPIRG, and Over the Edge. We’ll also be selling around town later this week and let you know.

Can I listen to this band first? Sure, why not? Here’s some tunes:

Laura Palmer’s Prom (from XXXX)

Dark Days (from XXXX)

Downtown Mayors Goodnight, Alley Kids Rule! (from Lose All Time)

Monster (from Lose All Time)

Nightswimming (R.E.M. cover)

You can R.S.V.P. to this show at the Facebook event page.

[Tumblr] excited

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:01 -0800

excited

[Tumblr] excited

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:54:47 -0800

excited

[Facebook] Andrew: You Say Party! We Say Die! at UNBC April 10. Tix on sale TODAY starting at 1 in the CFUR office. Thanks to Northern Toyota & NUGSS for help! (via CFUR 88.7fm).

Andrew Kurjata — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:52:01 -0800

[Tumblr] MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix) Designed for awesome.

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:59:20 -0800

MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)

Designed for awesome.

[Facebook] Andrew: wondering what it would take to shut down George Street for a city-wide street hockey game.

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:59:34 -0800

[Tumblr] The Hood Internet vs. the 2000s (via the Hood Internet)

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:03:42 -0800

The Hood Internet vs. the 2000s (via the Hood Internet)

[Tumblr] Pitchfork: Guest Lists: Fucked Up

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:51:11 -0800

Pitchfork: Guest Lists: Fucked Up:

You know how sometimes you don’t get a band, then you hear them in a certain context and suddenly you do, and it unlocks all their other songs for you? That happened to me with this band the other day. This is an ok read.

[Tumblr] Gawker.TV: PS-eh? The Craziest Canadian Public Service Announcements

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:20:02 -0800

Gawker.TV: PS-eh? The Craziest Canadian Public Service Announcements:

(via fuckyeahcanada)

[Facebook] Andrew: Do you like/dislike Nickelback? Why?

Andrew Kurjata — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:08:39 -0800

[CFUR Radio Blog] The Poster PG Project

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:27:59 -0800

While few people would describe Prince George as a metropolis, we are pretty big. In fact, a colleague of mine who spent some time working for the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure once told me that in terms of geography, Prince George is the largest city in the province. Which means if you’re looking to promote an event, you’ve got a lot of walking to do.

Here at CFUR we want to help make it easier. That’s why we’ve started the PG Poster Project, a collaborative online map that we hope will eventually contain details about all the storefronts and back alleys and community centers posters are accepted. Take a look and help us out.

[Tumblr] Bill Nye the Science Guy on Bill O’Reilly

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:59:43 -0800

watch video

Bill Nye the Science Guy on Bill O’Reilly

[Tumblr] 30 Bizarre Examples of Defacing Money

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:53:53 -0800

30 Bizarre Examples of Defacing Money

[Tumblr] The CANADIAN DESIGN RESOURCE

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:35:22 -0800

The CANADIAN DESIGN RESOURCE

[Tumblr] “Greatly expanding the life span of the usual cup and...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:31:27 -0800

“Greatly expanding the life span of the usual cup and saucer, where a little chip usually means the bin, this design grows old with style. This product uses an engobe style of mold making, creating a finished object that has multiple layers of colour. If you chip one, the colours below are exposed, marking the use and increasing our attachment to the product. What was a flaw is now a beauty mark.” (via The Canadian Design Resource)

[Tumblr] All I needed to see was one picture to know I would love this...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:41:32 -0800

All I needed to see was one picture to know I would love this blog.

[blog] My latest project: The Poster PG Map

ak17 | Andrew — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:21:00 -0800

There's a lot of emphasis put on connecting with online audiences these days, hell, I've carved out a very small niche for myself as someone who sort of understands how to use the internet (an area that I think will soon cease to be a matter of expertise and more a matter of course). But I don't think you can underestimate the power of the physical poster for attracting a new audience: everyone goes grocery shopping, not everyone spends time clicking through local blogs. Which is why in the lead-up to an event I'm promoting, I'm attempting to map out everywhere in Prince George that posters can and should be placed. It's an open project, so anyone with information to add can and should do so. You can find and add to the map here, and leave comments here.

[Tumblr] "So before Canada hosts another international event, I have a bit of advice to those tasked with..."

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:34:22 -0800

“So before Canada hosts another international event, I have a bit of advice to those tasked with organizing its major ceremonies. Before you look at Billboard and US Weekly to pick the entertainment, have a listen to the R3-30 podcast by CBC Radio 3.”

- Amen. (via the Tyee)

[Flickr] IMGP2368

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:18:15 -0800

finished!

[Flickr] IMGP2367

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:17:32 -0800

finished!

[Flickr] IMGP2366

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:16:57 -0800

our cats are also weird

[Flickr] IMGP2365

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:16:22 -0800

our cats are also weird

[Flickr] IMGP2363

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:15:47 -0800

our cats are also weird

[Flickr] IMGP2362

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:15:08 -0800

our cats are also weird

[Flickr] 100_0712

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:14:33 -0800

[Flickr] Greeting

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:13:58 -0800

this is what happens when I come home

[Flickr] Greeting

Andrew Kurjata — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:13:32 -0800

this is what happens when I come home

[Delicious Bookmark] Cartridge Faucet Repair - Repair a Leaking Cartridge Faucet

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:28:35 -0800

[blog] DIY Bathroom Makeover

ak17 | Andrew — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:20:00 -0800

Want to see how to redo your bathroom on the cheap? Here's what we did:

First find, yourself some discarded tile. Look for local "freecycle" exchanges, or swap shops or whatever.

Then, smash 'em up.

Rip out the old floor.

Mix up some thinset:

Then lay the tile out like a freeform puzzle, "buttering" the back of each piece with the goop.

Finally, add the grout. We also did a coat of paint, just to change everything.

I should also note, this was entirely the vision of my far more artistically-inclined girlfriend. I would never have thought of this.

[Shared Tracks] palahniukandchocolate: suicidewatch: THE KINKS...

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:23:14 -0800

palahniukandchocolate:

suicidewatch:

THE KINKS “STRANGERS”

sometimes i feel like Wes Anderson’s only goals in life are to get the word out about the awesomeness of Futura font and to make sure everyone in the world hears every killer Kinks’ deepcut that was ever written.

hkuuu

[Comment] Re: The Hazards of Love

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:35:40 -0800

That is a great picture. Just sayin'.

[Delicious Bookmark] Anki - friendly, intelligent flashcards

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:15:42 -0800

[CFUR Radio Blog] Health on the Hill Episode 17 Podcast

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:51:05 -0800

Health On the Hill is a weekly discussion of current health topics and issues by four Northern Medical Program students. It is an ongoing project created as part of an undergraduate medical course called Doctor, Patient, and Society. It airs Mondays at 5 pm.

Podcast

You can subscribe to the Health on the Hill podcast in iTunes by clicking here or by subscribing to the following link:

Health on the Hill Episode 17 – Interdisciplinary Medicine Part 3 – Nursing Training – Feb 22 2010
download

[Shared Tracks] Broken Social Scene - World Sick Did you know a new Broken...

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:41:20 -0800

Broken Social Scene - World Sick

Did you know a new Broken Social Scene album was coming out? I didn’t.

[blog] So Much Good Music

ak17 | Andrew — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:35:00 -0800

I haven't been keeping up with music as much as I used to, which is ironic in light of my new job (although also changing because of it).

However, this morning proved to me that 2010 is shaping up to be a bumper crop of music, particularly of the Canuck variety (although that's been the case for the last five years). This morning I found new tracks by the New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene, was emailed a new Said the Whale EP, and just now was directed to a new Feist track. And my favourite track of the year remains the new Besnard Lakes single.

If you're like me and are just finding out about these, here they are for your listening pleasure:

New Pornographers - Your Hands (Together)

Broken Social Scene - World Sick

Said the Whale - the Fish and the Stars

Feist- He Was Free
watch video

Besnard Lakes - Albatross

*Update* And I forgot to mention, I've finally listened to the new Japandroids and Caribou tracks, both of which are great, especially since I've never liked Caribou before.

Japandroids - Art Czars

Caribou - Odessa

*Update 2*

via Brenda Lee, a new Mother Mother song:

[Flickr] Kitties

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:23:08 -0800

[Flickr] (Untitled)

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:22:44 -0800

[Flickr] (Untitled)

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:22:27 -0800

[Flickr] (Untitled)

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:22:09 -0800

[Flickr] (Untitled)

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:21:49 -0800

[Flickr] (Untitled)

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:21:30 -0800

[Flickr] mixing mortar

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:21:08 -0800

[Flickr] (Untitled)

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:20:50 -0800

[Flickr] (Untitled)

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:20:35 -0800

this is my awesome Value Village penguin mug

[Flickr] broken tile

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:20:20 -0800

[Flickr] Olympic Mascots from McDonald's

Andrew Kurjata — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:20:00 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] Will B.C.'s crows still come home?

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:54:32 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] The Incredible Edible Flower

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:15:10 -0800

DayLily
Hemerocallis fulva

[blog] Olympic Mascots

ak17 | Andrew — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:10:00 -0800

So we went to McDonald's today, and for a variety of reasons wound up getting some Olympic mascot toys.

I know people have given them a hard time since they came out, but I kind of like them, and at the very least am fascinated by the design aspect of them. Olympic mascot-making is big business. Here's some history:

The first official mascot was Waldi, the dachshund dog at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It apparently represents Resistance, Tenacity and Agility. I swear that I have a stuffed dog that looks a lot like this somewhere.

He was pretty awesome, as was Amik the beaver for the Montreal Olympics. I mean, I know it's obvious and all, but the simplicity of the design is great.

The 80s mascots were pretty obvious, with the USSR selecting a bear and the United States selecting a bald eagle. The bear is far more win, though:

Seriously, look at this giant balloon at the opening ceremonies:

This was followed by another contender for best mascot ever with Hondori, the Korean tiger in 1988:

The winter Olympics have had some pretty terrible mascots, though:

As did the summer Olympics throughout the 90s and into the 2000s:

We all remember the Beijing mascots, of course:

And these are the first mascots I remember-- the Snowlets of Nagano:

Apparently, they were originally going to have a snow weasel, but no one liked him. I would have liked to have seen it.

[Shared in Google Reader] CBC News - British Columbia - Leprosy case aboard Olympic police ship

(author unknown) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 10:31:31 -0800

Heath officials in B.C. confirm that a crew member aboard one of the cruise ships housing Olympic security forces has been diagnosed with leprosy.

[Shared in Google Reader] Surrey, Vancouver's ‘ugly sister,' puts on a fresh face

(author unknown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:40:23 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] The night they killed figure skating - by Elvis Stojko

(author unknown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:36:22 -0800

Andrew Says
Wow, Elvis Stojko. Wow

How can you be Olympic champion when you don’t even try the quad? If you’re going to take the quad out, why not take out another triple axel and just have more of the other stuff so the International Skating Union can make it more into an “art” recital.

[Shared in Google Reader] The Chinese Confucian Party?

(author unknown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:00:19 -0800

the revival of Confucianism is thought to be associated with the revival of Islamic “fundamentalism” and its anti-Western tendencies. Perhaps the revival of closed-minded and intolerant Christian “fundamentalism” also comes to mind. But the revival of Confucianism in China is not so opposed to liberal social ways (other than extreme individualistic lifestyles, in which the good life is sought mainly outside social relationships). What it does propose is an alternative to Western political ways, and that may be the main worry.

[Shared in Google Reader] Once more into the breach of online comments - The Globe and Mail

(author unknown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:49:02 -0800

“Behind the anonymity of commenting, people hate others. It is disgusting.”

[Recently Read in Instaper] Allez Canada! - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:39:47 -0800

[Recently Read in Instaper] Attention as a Currency and Noise

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:34:37 -0800

[blog] Some of My Favourite Photos of the Past Weeks

ak17 | Andrew — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:57:00 -0800

A while ago I put up a bunch of photos I took in January and February. These are the ones that caught my eye, and I wish I could take more like them:

My Flickr

[Delicious Bookmark] Is it possible to Forward to multiple people - Google Apps Help

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:40:04 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] Get mail from other accounts - Gmail Help

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:39:53 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] Today in the Globe: Facebook’s Political Reach

David Eaves — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:28:04 -0800

I have the following piece published in the Globe and Mail today. It isn't going to further endear me to Michael Valpy (who is already not impressed with me)... but felt another perspective on the issue was needed. He, like many traditional columnists, is not a fan of social – or digital – media. Indeed, he has argued it is destroying our country's social cohesion and democracy. Those familiar with me know I feel differently . By allowing us to self-organize, connect to one another and to our politicians, social media is enabling a different and very powerful type kind of social cohesion and democratic expression.

I respect Valpy a lot and hope we get a chance to sit down and talk social media at some point. Given our collective interest in journalism and statements like this, it feels like it would be fruitful for both of us. Hopefully it will happen.

Facebook's Political Reach

Yesterday, Michael Valpy posted an interesting piece about a Nanos poll showing Canadians – including younger Canadians – question how much influence political Facebook groups should have on any government.

The problem with the piece lies in the headline: “Facebook forums shouldn't sway government, young Canadians say.” It suggests that online activism – or social media in general – isn’t credible with the public. This, however, isn't what the poll showed. Indeed, the poll says little about the credibility of Facebook, particularly compared to other forms of political activity. It does, however, say a lot about social media’s dramatic growth in influence over the past five years.

Critically, the poll didn’t compare forms of political activity. If one had done a similar poll asking whether Canadians believe a demonstration should sway the government, or if direct action – such as when Greenpeace hung a banner from Parliament – should alter government policy, would the numbers have been dramatically different? I suspect not. Governments have electoral mandates – something Canadians broadly agree with. Most political activity, both on and offline, is designed to shape public opinion and ultimately, people’s decisions at the ballot box. That is a threat influences government.

Consequently, it may not be the medium that matters as much as the number of people involved. Do people believe the government should pay attention to a 1,000 person rally? Likely not. Should they pay attention to a 10,000 person Facebook group? Likely not as well. But at a certain point, with large enough numbers, almost any medium matters. Would people think that the government should reconsider a policy in the face of 10-million-person petition? Or a five-million-person Facebook group? Possibly. What about a 500,000-person march? Even this might prompt respondents to reconsider their response.

Ultimately, the Globe article jumps to a negative interpretation of Facebook too quickly. This is understandable in that traditional news organizations are still coming to grips with social – and digital – media. But by allowing us to self-organize, connect to one another and to our politicians, social media is enabling a different and very powerful type kind of social cohesion and democratic expression.

More interesting is how split Canadians appear to be over political groups using Facebook "to share ideas, information and to help mobilize their activities” (30 per cent have a positive view, 30 per cent have a negative view and an enormous 40 per cent are undecided). Here is a technology few Canadians knew existed five years ago, and it is already viewed favourably by a third of Canadians as a way to engage with political groups. As people become more familiar with these online activities I suspect comfort levels will rise, since many people often don't initially understand or like new technologies. This survey shows us online political organizing is moving into the mainstream – perhaps even more mainstream than a protest or a petition.

So should Facebook influence the government? The prorogation debate shows it already can. But do people believe Facebook should be less influential than other (more traditional) forms of political activity? In this, the survey reveals very little. Indeed as Nik Nanos, the pollster who conducted the survey, adds at the end of the piece (and in contrast to the title): "we still haven't come to grips with what [Facebook groups] really mean."

Email & Share:

[Comment] CPSRenewal.ca : Column: Google: Friend or Foe of #Gov20?

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:15:35 -0800

That may be true, but in that situation wouldn't a good corporate citizen have a vested interest in making it so that individuals searching for government services and information are able to find it? And I mean find it without their tax dollars going towards buying AdWords in order to compete with lobbyists. Not saying that Google is obligated to do this, but similar to Nick the hopes I have for Google is that they WOULD do this, because it's the right thing to do, even if it just in the form of a "search your government" button.

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[Shared Tracks] Albatross by the Besnard Lakes (via Herohill) Wow. Just wow....

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:22:38 -0800

Albatross by the Besnard Lakes (via Herohill)

Wow. Just wow. Song of the year so far.

[CFUR Radio Blog] Optimism

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:23:29 -0800

I brought cross-country skis up to work today. It’s raining outside, but I’m hoping.

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Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:40:46 -0800

[blog] Optimism

ak17 | Andrew — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:24:00 -0800

I brought cross-country skis up to work today. It's raining outside, but I'm hoping.

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[Shared in Google Reader] Naked guy. Click. Naked guy. - The Globe and Mail

(author unknown) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:16:51 -0800

Andrew Says
What a strange and yet interesting soundings service.

Between the rude, the nude and the whack jobs also looking to chat online

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Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:12:37 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] Winter Olympics 2010 - Salon.com

(author unknown) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:33:03 -0800

The things about "contemporary Canada" that are worth celebrating couldn't (and probably shouldn't) be represented on a float anyway. We may not have built many epic monuments, or dazzled the world with our conquests, but over the course of the last century and a half we’ve built a successful model for a liberal, progressive multicultural democracy. So much so that, these days, the American dream is more feasible in Canada than it is in America.

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Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:28:29 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] Upload Your Email to Google Apps

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:08:34 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] HOW TO: Make a Google Buzz Desktop App

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:47:25 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] We see our Arctic as a colony - The Globe and Mail

(author unknown) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:44:57 -0800

Andrew Says
Excellent read.

We own the Arctic but, unlike most of our northern neighbours, we are not Arctic. Rovaniemi is a serious city of 60,000 people, with a major university, a large airport and important ties to the mainstream of Finnish life. Like the Arctic cities of Tromso, Norway (60,000) and Murmansk, Russia (325,000), it's a major centre of business, learning and tourism.

So when Canada tried to impress the world's finance ministers and media with its Arctic identity by holding a summit in Iqaluit, a remote and somewhat inaccessible town of 7,000 just below the Arctic Circle in Nunavut, it didn't completely work. “It looked like the Canadians had just arrived there – they didn't seem to know the place any better than we did,” one European official told me.

[Shared in Google Reader] What I Really Think: Everyone, who isn't an athlete, needs to relax a bit about the Olympics

(author unknown) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:34:45 -0800

The IOC - needs to lighten up. I don't care what the sponsors think - you cannot prevent people from calling a hamburger a hamburger and telling a 16-year-old Olympian that she can't wear a bracelet in memory of a dead friend because the bracelet comprises a form of "sponsorship" is simply less than human. As long as you do things like this there is no reason for the public to respect you or your sponsors. You are upholding the wishes of sponsors over the Olympic ideals.

[Shared in Google Reader] We see our Arctic as a colony - The Globe and Mail

(author unknown) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:37:14 -0800

Canadians own the Far North, but it isn't us

[Shared in Google Reader] Column: Google: Friend or Foe of #Gov20?

noreply@blogger.com (ncharney) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:00:00 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] LifeStreaming Is Simple As Pie | Josh Highland

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:49:43 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] Building a Custom Lifestream Website with Sweetcron | Nettuts+

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[Delicious Bookmark] sweetcron - Project Hosting on Google Code

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:38:54 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] 24 hours with a Google Nexus One - James Cridland

(author unknown) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:33:58 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] What the Buzz? Get Me Off This Crazy Thing!!! | Tech Broiler | ZDNet.com

(author unknown) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:20:22 -0800

Andrew Says
I'm putting this in reader in the hopes that Google will see and fix it. I am thus far unimpressed with Buzz, and hope they either fix it or kill it.

Google's Buzz, which adds Social Networking features to their popular GMail service, is a bit too Alpha and uncontrolled for me to participate in

[Comment] Re: Moose @ UNBC

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:24:02 -0800

Fixed!

[blog] Making Waves in Tumbler Ridge

ak17 | Andrew — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:37:00 -0800

Two stories that I've worked on have been credited to some degree with affecting change in Tumbler Ridge. From today's edition:

"A grassroots community effort is to thank for Charles Helm’s spot in the Olympic torch relay through Tumbler Ridge on January 31, after the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) gave a last-minute nod to a local torchbearer.

But before that phone call was made, concerns from local citizens and the 2010 Spirit Committee were amplified by CBC Radio, Mayor Larry White, Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom, and Minister of State for the Olympics Mary McNeil. It culminated in a phone call to director of community services Cheryl Hayden at 5 p.m. the night before the relay."

from Olympic Efforts Net Local Torchbearer »

And:

"A strong show of support by council in reaction to Dr. Charles Helm’s three-page letter led Mayor Larry White to update Lekstrom on the urgency of the issue. The difficulties posed by a “911 only” emergency room policy in Tumbler Ridge might also be taken to the Health Minister and Premier. Last Wednesday (Feb. 3), Charles Helm took his message to an audience across northern B.C., as he was interviewed on CBC Radio’s Daybreak North morning program...

"Helm’s decision to air the issue may have spurred some new developments. A Northern Health spokesperson was on the line with CBC’s Daybreak North the morning following (Feb. 4) Helm’s interview. Later in the day, a Northern Health representative connected via teleconference to the interagency meeting taking place in Tumbler Ridge. And nine days after Helm told Northern Health he was going public with the issue, mayor and council and Tumbler Ridge’s seniors needs task force received Northern Health’s 26-page response to a report submitted by the district 16 months ago."

from Emergency Room Policy Continues to Make Noise »

This is why I like the CBC-- although it's a national broadcaster, it fills an important role in the local news spectrum, taking stories like these and making them regional, and even provincial or national. I can't think of any 'national' paper that does that to any real degree, nor do any commercial broadcasters I know of. It certainly isn't a replacement for local news coverage (the Tumbler Ridge News being a case in point as a paper who is able to follow these local stories to a greater depth than the CBC likely will), but the 'national conversation' would have a lot less on places from Tumbler Ridge or even Prince George without it.

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Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:05:16 -0800

[Delicious Bookmark] Bits of PHP code - A shortlinks server using PHP and MySQL - James Cridland

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[Delicious Bookmark] Flickr CC search - James Cridland

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:46:02 -0800

Creative Commons search for Flickr

[Comment] Re: Holy Podcasting, Batman!

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:25:02 -0800

Glad you like it. Thanks for the ideas, and feedback.

[Comment] Re: Holy Podcasting, Batman!

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:24:24 -0800

Glad you like it. Thanks for the ideas, and feedback.

[Comment] Re: Bonjour, Salut, Hello

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:58:51 -0800

Thanks to Christopher swooping in and saving the day, it's all up and running. I'm still putting the page elements in, but a stable link can be found at http://cfur.ca/listen

[Comment] Re: Bonjour, Salut, Hello

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:54:49 -0800

Yup, I'm actively working on that. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[blog] I Am Currently Fascinated by This: John Robert Giscome, Northern BC, and Black History Month

ak17 | Andrew — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:45:00 -0800

For Black History Month, I made the proposal that we do a story about John Robert Giscome. The extent to which I knew about him was this one-line sentence from the Citizen:

"Closer to home, John Robert Giscome is the first recorded black person to spend time (1862-63) in the Fort George area, and is the namesake for the community of Giscome."

So I started looking around, and Giscome's story is fascinating. He was Jamaican born and came to the Americas to work on the railroad near Panama. He then followed the Gold Rush to California, before joining in the black American migration to British Columbia at the invitation of Governor James Douglas (who is also a great study).

He and his partner, Henry Dame of the Bahamas, came up to north-central BC and with the help of local guides "discovered" the Giscome portage, then known as "Lhedesti" or, "the shortcut."

The two were successful in their mining efforts, and Giscome retired to Victoria with the modern day equivalent of half a million dollars.

Aside from the interesting turns in this story, including an encounter with cannibalism, it's fascinating to hear a story of Canadian exploration not centered around a European (even if it does still result in a migrant to the area being credited with the 'discovery' of a route that had actually been in use for centuries). Here's a guy who traveled across continents, started with very little, encountered the well-documented discrimination of the period, and still managed to settle down with $500,000 cash in modern terms.

A great coda to this story is that of Cecil Giscombe, an American poet who in the mid-90s traveled to Prince George and area to research a long-form poem/book about his potential relative and a wider exploration of the relationship between place and internal narrative, as well as the relationship between African-American thought and the abstract freedom sometimes symbolized (rightly or wrongly) by Canada.

Black History Month, an American-born event, can seem somewhat removed from the realities of northern BC, but through Giscome I've discovered a conduit into that narrative that I look forward to delving into over the coming month, and beyond.

*NOTE* The aforementioned Cecil Giscombe will be on the show tomorrow around 7:45 Pacific. He's a fascinating talker, and I highly recommend a listen CBC Radio One in northern BC or online here.

Further reading: "John Robert Giscome" via the Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage Heritage Society

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[Shared Tracks] I Guess by Analog Bell Service This is right.

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:52:28 -0800

I Guess by Analog Bell Service

This is right.

[Shared Tracks] ABCs w/ Chubb Rock (5 Alive Remix) by K’naan (via...

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ABCs w/ Chubb Rock (5 Alive Remix) by K’naan (via Herohill)

[blog] The Real Thing?

ak17 | Andrew — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:00:00 -0800

The perspectives expressed in the blog are those of the author and the author alone, and do not reflect the views of anyone else.

This morning on the show there was a discussion about Coca-Cola's Aboriginal Art Bottle program. When I first started working on this, I wasn't expecting much. After all, there's been a fair amount of criticism surrounding certain Olympic sponsors' use of indigenous symbolism, and if our own homegrown companies could have such a huge miss in this arena, what are the chances a huge multinational could do a successful job?

I don't have the background, academic, cultural, or otherwise, to provide a proper evaluation of this campaign, but I can say that at a glance it's far, far better than I expected. For one, unlike most mainstream uses of Aboriginal art, this one actually goes beyond Inukshuks and Bill Reid (not that I have a problem with either of those) and represents artists from across the country. The show spoke to Garry Oker, a member of the Doig River First Nations near Fort St. John, and here in Prince George Kim Stewart was selected for her piece representing Metis culture. A quick glance at the iCoke gallery reveals pieces from Labrador, the Pabineau First Nation, and Winnipeg, with more still to come. While the canvas is distinctly Coke, it seems each artist has put their own personal style into place.

Of course there's always debate over whether it's right for a product such as Coke to start mucking around in other cultures, but in this case the artists chose to become involved in the brand and it seems to have been handled as well as could be expected. I have mixed feelings towards this very complex debate, but at a gut level I think its unfair to the artists and the wider cultures to assume that they lack the resilience to adapt to a changing world, including a commercial one. That's not to say there aren't valid concerns that could be raised, but by the same stroke it's probably too simplistic to assume that Coke and the Olympics will automatically fail at any attempt to incorporate indigenous culture into their 'brand' (for lack of a better word).

Another thing I find really interesting here is that in an attempt to 'brand' Canada in the months leading up to the Olympics, there's been a huge influx of Aboriginal motifs into arts and advertising. I'm curious if this will lead to foreign visitors having a false sense of the amount that Aboriginal cultures make up the mainstream Canadian identity, and if so, what the longer term implications of this might be.

Thoughts?

[blog] Century/4=me

ak17 | Andrew — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:28:00 -0800

Today, I turn 25, which I guess I'm no longer in my young 20s, and which I also suspect means I'm pretty much an adult by any standards. Some people have a problem with birthdays, but I don't, really. It's occasion to take stock of what I've been doing with myself, and I'm glad to say I'm pretty happy with where I am, what I've done, and where I'm headed. I've had a blessed life, with plenty of supportive people helping me along the way, and as a result, since leaving high school I've been able to do the following:

start and complete a university degree
travel overseas twice, including half a year living in another country (China)
try out numerous jobs requiring various levels of skills and training
live and work in what could well be the nicest neighbourhood in the world (James Bay, Victoria)
buy a house in the city I want to live

On top of it all, I'm in a happy relationship approaching six years, have numerous rescued pets, great friends and family, and I'm in the process of starting two new jobs that capture my imagination and interest and (gasp) might actually lead to me having a real career. I can't imagine that I could ask for much more.

Again, there's no way I could have done this without the support of some great people along the way, whether I see them on a day-to-day basis or only interacted with them a few times. So, for everything I have and everything I've done, thanks-- to all of you. It's been a great 25 years (even I don't remember the first few). Here's hoping the next 25 go as well.

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[blog] Listen

ak17 | Andrew — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:12:00 -0800

A while ago, I started trying out Flickr, and I simultaneously started trying out photography more. I've been getting better (I think), and by far my favourite set so far is the Listen Bird. This is a piece of graffiti that's been cropping up around the city for the past half-decade or so, and through a group I found on Flickr I've discovered it's actually all over the country. I keep finding more and hope to eventually collect shots of all the Prince George ones, and would really like to know who's behind them all. If anyone has any thoughts or information about this, please contact me.

www.flickr.com

[Comment] Re: Week One at the CBC

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:19:51 -0800

It's a photo I took, but it's a shared office mug. I'm worried I've disqualified myself from ever winning one by working here, but I'm keeping an eye out.

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[blog] Week One at the CBC

ak17 | Andrew — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:51:00 -0800

Recently, I managed to bluff my way into becoming a freelancer for CBC Radio One.* Even better, in an effort to get me fully trained in CBC standards and protocol and because they had a brief period of time where they could use an extra team member, I'm working with the morning show Daybreak North for most of the month of January.

I know a lot of people take issue with our public broadcaster, but I am a huge fan, especially of the radio department. I've made the argument in the past that CBC Radio is as essential a component of nation-building as the railway was, and I believe it stills play a very large role in leading and contributing to a national conversation. So to be even a very small part of it is, for me, a pretty big deal.

During my first week, I worked as a hybrid researcher/associate producer. What this essentially boils down to is I pitch story ideas and then pursue those that have been approved. For our purposes, stories can take the form of on-air interviews or self-contained tapes (think of them as mini-documentaries. Really, really mini-documentaries).

If the story is going to be an on-air interview I find guests and conduct a pre-interview. A pre-interview for radio, by the way, is awesome. If you're working in print and conduct an interview, you have to make sure your quotes are exactly as your subject said, and often have to transcribe the full thing, which is not a fun task. Radio doesn't have this problem, because, well, listeners actually hear the subject. And since I'm conducting a pre-interview and not the on-air interview, I don't have the pressures of being on the air. I can just take part in a conversation with someone interesting, jotting down notes about which questions have the most interesting answers. I then write a script, including some background info on the story, and turn it over to the producer and hosts who use their experience to make everything sound radio-worthy.

I never knew such a job existed, but I love it.

For most of my first week, my role was mainly working on pre-interviews, and in that time I received what I think is probably a pretty fair representation of how things might work. On day one, everything went smoothly, including when I had to use a name and a position to track down someone who used to live in Prince George, currently lives in Canmore, Alberta, and was at present somewhere in Europe (fortunately, he was using his Canmore-based cell number and didn't seem concerned about roaming charges).

Day two started seemed to start out in the same way. I had two fairly straightforward stories to set up: the first one was a wilderness story in which most of the leading experts were based in northern BC and the second was based on a series of press releases that had no less than five media contact people available. But this is where I learned about the unpredictability of the job: I managed to get the first story done using a contact from the southern part of the province and the second story was killed because I couldn't find anyone to talk to us.

The other two days were about a mixture of the first two, as I learned new parts of the in-house communication systems and formatting and the like. On Thursday, my last day for the week (not counting Friday, when I was called in for a breaking news story), I put together my first tape piece, a story I discovered through a Facebook event invitation. To combat the January blues, a local couple had started a tradition they dubbed "International Souffle Day" which has been growing since its inception six years ago. I got in touch with one-half of the couple, conducted a phone interview, and then spliced it together with some music, taking my own voice out in the process, to make it sound as if she was giving one continuous narrative. I was pretty happy with it, and even happier when I learned it was picked up the national syndication service and broadcast on morning shows across the country including Yellowknife, Toronto, and Charlottetown.

That is one obvious highlight of my first week, but the other is a little more satisfying. I found out about an author up in Telkwa, and contacted him to set up an interview. After preliminaries had been taken care of, he sent me an email thanking me for contacting him and saying that his parents were really excited because someone from the CBC had called. Up until that point it hadn't really occurred to me that I was "someone from the CBC", but in his context, that's what I am. Again, I know there are people who take issue with CBC, and many who never listen to it, but there are lots of people who do, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in this country who doesn't know what it is. My previous media experience has been pretty small-scale to the point that more often than not the first couple of minutes of setting up interviews were focused on explaining what and where the publication I was representing was. That is not a problem when you say, "I'm calling from the CBC."

So all in all, it's been a good first week. My only complaint so far is the fact that the office computers are locked into the archaic Internet Explorer 6 (it doesn't even have tabbed browsing!), but that's pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. I'm feeling really lucky to get a foot in the door without any j-school background (nice to know experience, even as limited as mine, still counts for something) and am pretty positive about the idea of freelancing for the foreseeable future. For a more up-to-date commentary on my experiences, you can follow me on Twitter. Daybreak airs from Monday to Friday in northern BC from 5:55 to 8:37 a.m. Pacific Time on CBC Radio One or streaming online here.

*Actually, I didn't bluff my way in because it implies I somehow fooled the very astute folks in charge of hiring. So let's just say I'm very, very lucky.

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[Shared Tracks] Dominoes by the Big Pink When done well, nothing beats a wall of...

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:19:18 -0800

Dominoes by the Big Pink

When done well, nothing beats a wall of sound.

[Shared Tracks] Lisztomania by Phoenix I think this song was in a commercial or...

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:29:11 -0800

Lisztomania by Phoenix

I think this song was in a commercial or something. I’m finally listening to Phoenix. I’m clearly not hip enough.

*Update: I remember why I know this song—- it was used for this video.*

[Shared Tracks] Young Heart Spark Fire by Japandroids Japandroids sound better...

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:31:53 -0800

Young Heart Spark Fire by Japandroids

Japandroids sound better LOUD. Take out your headphones for this one.

[Shared Tracks] Shine by Collective Soul Nostalgia.

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:41:37 -0800

Shine by Collective Soul

Nostalgia.

[Shared Tracks] We’ll Make Time (Even When Their Ain’t Time) by...

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:52:15 -0800

We’ll Make Time (Even When Their Ain’t Time) by Hawksley Workman

This song starts with some Gregorian chants in doo-wop keys and back-and-forth stereo vocals before moving into a chorus that sounds vaguely like “Make Believe”-era Weezer, but in a good way.

[Shared Tracks] Officer Down by Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle This is perfect for...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:53:25 -0800

Officer Down by Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle

This is perfect for a melancholy winter twilight moment.

[Shared Tracks] Gimme Gimme by Bonjay (Grahamzilla remix) I wasn’t blown...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0800

Gimme Gimme by Bonjay (Grahamzilla remix)

I wasn’t blown away by Thunderheist when I first heard them (in the form of “Jerk It”) but their production style slowly won me over, capped off by a terrific live show. Now I’m happy to hear anything producer Grahamzilla does, and it doesn’t get much better than this remix of what was an already terrific song. It captures the same soundscape that M.I.A. made so hypnotic on “Paper Planes.”

[Shared Tracks] I Play My Kazoo by Grand Analog This track rocks.

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:34:45 -0800

I Play My Kazoo by Grand Analog

This track rocks.

[Shared Tracks] How Does It Feel? by Zeus This is one of those bands that I keep...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:04:24 -0800

How Does It Feel? by Zeus

This is one of those bands that I keep hearing about from people whose musical tastes I respect, and yet never listen to. So I listened to them. And I like what I hear.

[Shared Tracks] I Wish It Was Christmas Today by Julian Casablancas The guy from...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:10:08 -0800

I Wish It Was Christmas Today by Julian Casablancas

The guy from the Strokes covering a song performed by Horatio Sanz, Tracey Morgan, Chris Kattan and Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live? It’s like I’m in high school again.

[Shared Tracks] Treaty Connector by the Danks Seriously, what’s going on...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:36:56 -0800

Treaty Connector by the Danks

Seriously, what’s going on with the East Coast? Between these guys and Two Hours Traffic (who share about half a band), they are making the best pop-rock hybrids around.

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Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:01:17 -0800

Face of the Earth by the Joel Plaskett Emergency

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Song Sung Blue by the Great Lake Swimmers (Neil Diamond cover; full album streaming here)

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Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:39:32 -0800

The Drums by Islands

A great track from a great album. This song has some really interesting rhythms and a nice, three-dimensional bass combined with melodies that are tight, dark, and catchy.

[Shared Tracks] Last Christmas by Ohbijou (Wham! cover) Beautiful.

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:43:26 -0800

Last Christmas by Ohbijou (Wham! cover)

Beautiful.

[Comment] Re: I've Seen A Lot About "Government 2.0", Now I Want to Know About "Citizen 2.0"

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:48:16 -0800

Interesting points all round, and I think it's clear that my question, being open-ended, has a myriad of interpretations and responses. One thing that comes out of all of it is the ability and importance of people to be engaged, and using the internet to do that.

I wonder if it means anything within government that we are at a point where public servants can have a "following" across the country (via blogs, Twitter) and that conversations like this one and on other blogs can occur between citizens, civil servants, and anyone else who wants to get involved. It strikes me that it's sort of like having a constant public forum, rather than one three-hour session once a year or so to discuss issues that matter to people. I'm in Prince George, BC and I know the names and thoughts of people working in Ottawa, and have significantly more understanding of the importance of their jobs-- all thanks to the internet.

On this front, it seems to me that a potential model for "government 2.0" to engage with "citizen 2.0" would be to have online brands, be it a Facebook page, blog, or even a single employees Twitter feed that become de facto gathering places for people interested in various policy points, if for nothing else the exchange of ideas.

Of course, with Joe's comments in mind and a look at the comments on CBC.ca or the Globe and Mail it seems all too likely that this would open itself up to devolution and partisan sniping. Although I would like to add that those sites made the (in my opinion erroneous) decision to let people register under pseudonyms. I notice that Macleans is certainly more civil, and they have the IntenseDebate plugin for comments which, like Disqus on my blog, encourages (or, if you choose to do so, compels) users to log in as "themselves" via a website, Twitter, or Facebook. I think this discourages "trolling" and leads to a more thoughtful debate.

I'm not really sure what my point is and I feel like I'm rambling. I just wanted to point out that I'm mulling over all the points and am hoping they will cohere into something I can share in the future.

Thanks!

[blog]

ak17 | Andrew — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:09:00 -0800

"Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food and water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing: they miss someone very special to them; who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. The bright eyes are intent; the eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to break away from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. YOU have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart."

Rest in peace Oreo. 'Til we meet again.

[blog] I've Seen A Lot About "Government 2.0", Now I Want to Know About "Citizen 2.0"

ak17 | Andrew — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:17:00 -0800

During my brief foray into the provincial bureaucracy, I became loosely connected with a group of individuals working throughout Canada to make government more open, engaging, and engaged through the use of new ideas and new technologies. Since leaving government, I have continued to follow the conversations taking place on blog posts and on Twitter with interest, but have found myself going from "active participant" to "passive observer" to the point I'm at now, where I feel like the conversation really has nothing to do with me. This is not a criticism of these individuals-- they are preoccupied with how to best do their jobs, which is breaking down barriers in government to increase the flow of information. But what I want to know is how I can best do my job-- as a citizen-- that helps promote the ideals these groups are working for: transparency, accountability, efficiency, ingenuity from our governments agencies (municipal, provincial, and federal).

So the question I'm asking of anyone involved in "government 2.0" is what does a "citizen 2.0" look like? How do we engage with our elected officials and, maybe more importantly, the non-political administrators, public servants, and policy-makers? How do we demonstrate that open government works, that we want to be engaged, that we are intelligent enough to understand that if you make government more human you won't be opening yourself up to criticism for your flaws but respect for your transparency?

Basically, how do we support the work that you, the government 2.0 evangelist, are doing?

Replies welcome via comments, email, Twitter, or your own blog post responses.

[Shared in Google Reader] 5 Tips for Building Lasting Online Friendships

Brandon Mendelson — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:26:44 -0800

Brandon Mendelson is the co-author of Dracula And Kittens, a book that has little to do with networking and everything to do with the corporate food chain. For updates, you can follow Brandon on Twitter.

Most columns on networking are from a business perspective. These authors want you to collect cards and make as many “connections” as possible. But what are you really connecting to?

A “connection” is a poor way to refer to someone you plan to associate with for a long time. A friend is what you should be going for. Friends will help you without hesitation or compensation. A connection might help you, but may also expect something in return. It’s hard to build a fruitful relationship with that.

Without friends, your network is useless. And if you’re paying close attention to who succeeds in social media, it’s always the person with the strongest network.

Thanks to a few years as a Resident Assistant at SUNY Potsdam, I think I might be able to steer you in the right direction. RAs are trained to take a group of strangers and get them to network. If you’re successful, you have what’s called a “good floor.” These networks of friends almost always grow strong, even years after graduation.

So how can we apply the “good floor” model to online social networks? Here are some tips.

1. Avoid the Cattle Calls

Floor meetings are useless for RAs. They’re mostly a dog and pony show with little substance. Online (and offline) networking opportunities are usually the same — not all of them, mind you, but many.

You’ll want to be highly specific about who you’re connecting with, so grabbing as many screen names (or business cards) won’t do you much good. Instead, follow the conversations and jump in with those discussing what you’re interested in. This is the best way to start a meaningful interaction.

2. Quality Over Quantity

It’s a cliche, and we all hate them, but this one is true. Five people who care about you and what you’re doing is far more valuable than 1,000 people who aren’t paying attention. So once you’re listening, hone in on five (and no more) people you would like to get to know.

3. Avoid the Shallow End

A relationship built entirely on resharing someone else’s content may be useful in the beginning, but then what? You don’t want to get into the auto-pilot mode of “I’ll share your stuff if you share mine.”

Instead, chat with the person about which content is best suited for each to share. It’s the best way for social media friends (and roommates) to get the most out of the relationship.

4. Find Common Bonds

Do you know how RAs diffuse tense situations? It usually has nothing to do with enforcing rules. Most of the time, it’s finding a common bond between two opposing residents. The same is true for online friendships. Sure, you both love Twitter, that’s nothing special. But if you share a passion for the same sports team, or both love New Orleans’ “Krewe of the Rolling Elvi,” that’s even better. If you find that bond and stick with it, over time the discussion will lead to other things.

5. Meet Them Offline

Back in September I met @HardlyNormal in Times Square. Until that time, I had only talked with him through Twitter, but Mark is a guy I wanted to work with, and whose cause I think everyone should support. He was planning to be in New York at the same time I was, and we met up.

Meeting an online friend has many advantages. These days, people are finding their future college roommates through Facebook and meeting up with them before school. Although meeting an online friend is not always feasible, if the opportunity comes up, go for it. I know some people may find meeting strangers online creepy, but it’s an important step, and one that makes the difference between a superficial connection and a real one. Just be careful, and always do your due diligence before an in-person meet-up.

What are your steps for making lasting friendships online? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

More social media resources from Mashable:

- Top 5 Must-Read Social Media Books
- Social Media Can Change The World Through Common Ground
- 5 Ways Social Media Is Changing Our Daily Lives
- How Social Media is Taking the News Local
- The Tao of Tweeting
- Sports and Social Media: Where Opportunity and Fear Collide

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, shapecharge, ThinkDeep filipok, gbrundin

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto

Tags: List, Lists, networking, social media, twitter

[Comment] Re: New Policy Journal: The Public Policy and Governance Review

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:39:10 -0800

This is more a comment on your interview than on the post, but I felt that I had a few things to to add to some of the talking points you brought up.

1. I think you're dead-on when you talk about "young people" (or more accurately, maybe just people geared towards new ways of sharing, creating, and communicating) who are interested in implementing ideas becoming frustrated with how slow government/bureaucracy tends to move when it comes to adopting new ideas. I spent some time with a provincial ministry working on a wiki-type model for information sharing, and even though there was a lot of support from just about every individual person I encountered, at every level, it remains that the number of meetings and consultations that need to be held prior to doing something is... if not discouraging, certainly not conducive to encouraging ideas that go outside the status quo, and as a result I'm a lot more keen on working with smaller organizations than something as unwieldy as provincial or federal government. And again, this despite the fact I was given a lot of encouragement from everyone inside the system.

2. For a certain group of people, these discussions are going to happen with or without the implicit blessing of the overarching system. For my purposes, I was able to use Twitter and blogs such as your own to find people across the country who are involved in "government 2.0" projects and solicit information and advice. As more people used to communicating in this way enter the system, this trend is only going to grown. Government (and other organizations) would be well-served to recognize and embrace it.

3. I continue to be struck by the differences between the political and bureaucratic branches of government when it comes to using new technology. It seems as if almost every MP and MLA has their own Twitter feed, and yet how many ministries are there using these methods to communicate their initiatives? Even something as simple as an RSS feed attached to a Twitter account and Facebook page would increase the likelihood that people find the information at a cost of what? The two hours it would take to set something like that up? I understand there are security concerns over what would be shared over these channels, but it misunderstands the technology. Any public servant *could* use Facebook to share confidential information, but then so could any public servant send that same information out to the media using email, or print off copies and leave them in a coffee shop. We need to abandon the assumption that people can no longer exercise judgment the minute a new method of communications comes along.

Thanks... this blog is always in my "must-read" pile, even if I rarely contribute to the discussion.

[blog] Some Thoughts On Government, New Ideas, and Systemic Change

ak17 | Andrew — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:49:00 -0800

I just left these comments on David Eaves' post about the Public Policy and Governance Review in response to his interview with the publication, but I thought I'd share them here, as well:

"1. I think you're dead-on when you talk about "young people" (or more accurately, maybe just people geared towards new ways of sharing, creating, and communicating) who are interested in implementing ideas becoming frustrated with how slow government/bureaucracy tends to move when it comes to adopting new ideas. I spent some time with a provincial ministry working on a wiki-type model for information sharing, and even though there was a lot of support from just about every individual person I encountered, at every level, it remains that the number of meetings and consultations that need to be held prior to doing something is... if not discouraging, certainly not conducive to encouraging ideas that go outside the status quo, and as a result I'm a lot more keen on working with smaller organizations than something as unwieldy as provincial or federal government. And again, this despite the fact I was given a lot of encouragement from everyone inside the system.

2. For a certain group of people, these discussions are going to happen with or without the implicit blessing of the overarching system. For my purposes, I was able to use Twitter and blogs such as your own to find people across the country who are involved in "government 2.0" projects and solicit information and advice. As more people used to communicating in this way enter the system, this trend is only going to grown. Government (and other organizations) would be well-served to recognize and embrace it.

3. I continue to be struck by the differences between the political and bureaucratic branches of government when it comes to using new technology. It seems as if almost every MP and MLA has their own Twitter feed, and yet how many ministries are there using these methods to communicate their initiatives? Even something as simple as an RSS feed attached to a Twitter account and Facebook page would increase the likelihood that people find the information at a cost of what? The two hours it would take to set something like that up? I understand there are security concerns over what would be shared over these channels, but it misunderstands the technology. Any public servant *could* use Facebook to share confidential information, but then so could any public servant send that same information out to the media using email, or print off copies and leave them in a coffee shop. We need to abandon the assumption that people can no longer exercise judgment the minute a new method of communications comes along."

[blog] This Week's Reads: Copenhagen, Access to Information, and Legalize Everything

ak17 | Andrew — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:31:00 -0800

I haven't done the best job of keeping an updated list of my favourite reads on this blog (though you can track my reading here and here, but this morning I've come across three articles worth sharing, and the time to share them.

Michael M'Gonigle - Against Copenhagen

Wasn't sure what to expect from the title, but this is basically an argument that what's likely going to happen at Copenhagen will not be the systemic change needed to truly combat the problems at hand. Basically:

" If you were to pass around a single piece of information at Copenhagen, it should be the two pages of graphs at the beginning of an interesting book written by Gus Speth, this generation's leading environmental bureaucrat in Washington D.C. The book is The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. Speth sets out 16 hockey stick graphs that portray increases in water use, in the damning of rivers, in CO2 concentrations, ozone depletion (hopefully now slowing down), rates of increase in average surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, the rising frequency of great floods, depletion of ocean ecosystems, loss of rainforests, biodiversity decline, increases in fertilizer and paper consumption, and the explosion in the number of motor vehicles.

And three others: growth in the size of the global economy (GDP), foreign direct investment, and population.

Together, these graphs -- all hockey sticks -- provide a single message. We are killing the earth in every way imaginable, getting rich in the process, and providing a model for a growing world population to join in on. "

Against Copenhagen »

Gil Shochat - the Dark Country

This is a story that really needs more play-- the difficulty citizens, journalists, etc in Canada face when trying to get access to information about our governments, and the causes and implications of that difficulty. One interesting point (from one of my favourite bloggers):

"In Canada, citizens could be granted “access” to information by the government, if they followed certain rules set by that same government. As open government advocate David Eaves points out, this follows from a tradition in which sovereignty resides with the Queen. Government data “isn’t your, mine, or ‘our’ data,” he writes. “It’s hers. It is at her discretion, or more specifically, the discretion of her government servants, to decide when and if it should be shared.” In the United States, the American Revolution put an end to any such notion."

Some other highlights from the article to amuse and alarm:

"A 2008 study by the caj and the Canadian Newspaper Association actually ranked this country’s access law behind those of India, Mexico, and Pakistan."

"“We have an amoral civil service here in Canada,” Amir Attaran says, barely containing his rage as he speaks about the case of Abousfian Abdelrazik, the Sudanese Canadian whom government officials consistently refused to repatriate between 2003 and June 2009. Even after Sudan’s military intelligence service told Canadian officials in Khartoum they were willing to “disappear” Abdelrazik, our diplomats kept silent. Approximately half a dozen civil servants “discussed the assassination of a Canadian citizen, and no one leaked that information,” says Attaran, who assists Abdelrazik’s legal team. “That’s sick.”"

"Singer Rita MacNeil was among those monitored during the ’70s, in her case for participating in Canada’s feminist movement. The rcmp also spied on Tommy Douglas, the first leader of the ndp and the father of Canadian medicare, because of his opposition to nuclear weapons and UN policy on Korea. Other subversives targeted by the force included Pierre Berton and Peter Gzowski."

"In a column titled “Ottawa Is Sending Me into a Black Rage,” reporter Stephen Maher of Halifax’s Chronicle-Herald detailed his struggles to get a list of projects from the Prime Minister’s Office. After three weeks of repeated requests, Maher wrote, the pmo told him to “stop bothering them.”"

the Dark Country »

This Magazine - Legalize Everything Series

In what was apparently a five-day series a month ago, This Magazine urges us to legalize suicide to fix the health care system, legalize (music) piracy to fix the music industry, legalize drugs to save addicts, legalize raw milk to... make tastier cheese, and legalize hate speech to save democracy. Aside from the raw milk argument (a lot less hot button then the others, no?), I've heard them all before, but it's interesting to delve into these debates from time to time.

Legalize Everything »

[Shared in Google Reader] U.K. Met Office To Release Raw Climate Data

(author unknown) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:23:33 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] The most accurate television show about the medical profession? Scrubs. - By Joanna Weiss - Slate Magazine

(author unknown) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:08:40 -0800

Andrew Says
new episodes tonight (new setting, new characters, same name). I'm curious what it will be like, though I do not expect great things.

Any fictional television show about a real profession runs the risk of getting things wrong. I work for a newspaper and cringe whenever I see reporters portrayed on TV. (They're always so self-serving and venal. What's up with that?) I once interviewed a c

[blog] A List of Critically-Acclaimed TV Shows I've Never Watched

ak17 | Andrew — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:04:00 -0800

So, apparently the last decade had the best TV shows of all time in it. But I didn't see them. I guess I never watched much TV, but just how little I watch has really been presented to me with these end-of decade lists. So, while I'm currently working on my list of my favourite albums of the last decade, let me now present to you a list of TV shows from the last decade that I didn't watch, should have, and still might, shows I didn't watch, should have, and probably won't, shows I should have watched and did, and shows I shouldn't have watched, but did, and don't regret it. The worst part is, even in the category of shows I have watched, there's only eight that I've seen every episode of, and about five more that I'd say it's safe to say I've seen over 50% of the episodes. What was I doing with my time? Catching up on Oz, I guess.

15 shows I didn't watch, should have, and still might:

1. The Wire
2. The Sopranos
3. Six Feet Under
4. Mad Men
5. Freaks and Geeks
6. Battlestar Gallactica
7. Big Love
8. Dexter
9. The Venture Bros.
10. Flight of the Conchords
11. the West Wing
12. Band of Brothers
13. Torchwood
14. Extras
15. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

12 shows I didn't watch, apparently should have, but probably won't:

1. Lost
2. Breaking Bad
3. Deadwood
4. The Shield
5. Veronica Mars
6. Friday Night Lights
7. Firefly
8. 24
9. Alias
10. Desperate Housewives
11. Rome
12. Big Bang Theory

10 shows I should have watched and did:

1. Arrested Development
2. 30 Rock
3. The Office (both versions)
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Futurama
6. Curb Your Enthusiasm
7. Undeclared
8. Easbound and Down
9. Planet Earth
10. Better Off Ted

12 shows I shouldn't have watched, did, and don't regret it:

1. Scrubs
2. Being Erica
3. South Park
4. Everybody Hates Chris
5. Corner Gas
6. Heroes (the first season-- I bailed midway through season two and am not going back)
7. Clone High
8. Pushing Daisies
9. Malcolm in the Middle
10. Modern Family
11. Weeds
12. Entourage

(actually, for the last two I sort of regret watching more than the first two seasons).

[Shared in Google Reader] iPhone or Droid

(author unknown) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:15:12 -0800

[Shared in Google Reader] iPhone or Droid

(author unknown) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0800

[blog] Heavy Thoughts for the Day

ak17 | Andrew — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:06:00 -0800

Really worthwhile read from Paul Carr of TechCrunch:

"Two weeks ago, I wrote here about how the ‘real time web’ is turning all of us into inhuman egotists. How we’re increasingly seeing people at the scene of major accidents grabbing their cellphones to capture the dramatic events and share them with their friends, rather than calling 911. Last week I went even further with my doom-mongering, suggesting that the trend of adding people’s homes to Foursquare without permission was indicative of a generation that prioritised their own fun over the privacy of their friends.

In the actions of Tearah Moore at Fort Hood, we have the perfect example of both kinds of selfishness.
There surely can’t be a human being left in the civilised world who doesn’t know that cellphones must be switched off in hospitals, and yet not only did Moore leave hers on but she actually used it to photograph patients, and broadcast the images to the world. Just think about that for a second. Rather than offering to help the wounded, or getting the hell out of the way of those trying to do their jobs, Moore actually pointed a cell-phone at a wounded soldier, uploaded it to twitpic and added a caption saying that the victim “got shot in the balls”."

The above quotation makes it look like more of an indictment of an individual than it actually is; he is just using Ms. Moore as an example of a trend that is everywhere from the cellphone shots of British subway bombings to YouTube footage from Iran-- people are watching, not helping.

watch video

After Fort Hood, another example of how 'citizen journalists' can't handle the truth »

also from Carr: Weezer, plane crashes and everything else that's worrying about the real-time web »

[Shared in Google Reader] Strombo Reveals Details Of New CBC Radio Show | CHARTattack

(author unknown) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:59:59 -0800

[blog] Get Your Civic Responsibility On (Prince George and area)

ak17 | Andrew — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:06:00 -0800

Three opportunities to provide input into the future of Prince George:

Regional Parks Plan - Open House Forums and Online Survey

"We are also gathering information on the needs and desires of the people using the parks in the Region - through public sessions in Prince George, MacKenzie and McBride-Valemount, a public survey, contact with a variety of stakeholders and through the RDFFG website. Stakeholders include government agencies, First Nations, heritage, tourism, education, recreation and nature organizations, and community associations."

UNBC town halls and community meetings

"To improve the quality of life in its region, the province, and beyond, by attaining the highest standards of undergraduate and graduate teaching, learning, and research. UNBC is committed to serving a vast region by building partnerships and by being innovative, resourceful, and responsive to student and community needs. "

MyPG.ca

"myPG is the first community sustainability plan for Prince George – a broad, long-term plan developed and carried out by the whole community.
What will my PG look like in the future? What changes would I most like to see in my community? Your responses will help to shape our community."

[blog] New Home

ak17 | Andrew — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:46:00 -0800

Today we FINALLY took possession of our new house. Actually, it was pretty quick-- just two weeks from the day we made our initial offer-- but it seems like forever, having spent pretty much every weekend since August and a good portion of the weeks scanning real estate guides and viewing houses. Then, since we put in our offer, it's been a bunch of hurry-up and wait-- find out if our offer is accepted, finding out when we can get a home inspector, confirming that our mortgage has been approved, confirming everything with lawyers. The funny thing about buying a house is that it pretty much hurtles you into the adult world-- far more than I would have expected. Not only do we get the mortgage, we get the home insurance, the life insurance (which gets us thinking about who will look after our pets in the event of our untimely demise, and what it will cost), we start to care about financial markets on a personal level, a new (joint!) bank account...

So now we're moving in. Fortunately, it's as close to a non-fixer-upper as you can get. Central vac, new furnace and hot water heater, newly-done bathroom. There's some updates that would be nice to have done, eventually, but nothing that needs to be done, so we can just move our stuff in and be done with it. We also know the neighbourhood (mere blocks from where I grew up), and it's a quiet street, so we don't have to adjust to much or worry about our pets.

The weird thing about moving into a place that doesn't really need work is that it feels more like your house-sitting than moving in-- the previous owner's fingerprints are all over everything. It's also interesting to see what they left behind-- a random assortment of glassware, a suitcase, teapots... I assume stuff they just didn't feel like packing.

Oh, and their cat.

His name is Beans.