-- Winston Churchill

With another federal election looming on the horizon, there has been a lot of talk about how corrupt and inefficient our politicians are; about how there's no way to fix the system; about the lacklustre voter turnout.Yet I find myself curiously optimistic. Here's why:

Late last night, after dinner with friends, I stopped on Davie street and bought a newspaper before walking home. When I got home, I was chilly, so I turned on the heat in my apartment and had a hot bath, before checking my email and playing my Scrabble turns on Facebook. 

Big deal, right? Well, it is. Think about it. 

There I am, a woman, alone, walking through a residential neighbourhood at midnight, with no fear at all for my safety. There are no requirements in this country that I be accompanied by a male, no restrictions on what I can wear or where I can go.

I am able to stop and buy a newspaper with my own money, money that I earned and that I keep in my own bank account. This newspaper, containing criticism and analysis of all of the candidates in the forthcoming Federal election, was published without censorship and is sold freely. The bus stop outside the newsstand is painted hot pink, in honour of the neighbourhood's gay community. 

I arrive home to an apartment that is undamaged by war or earthquakes, that is safe and warm. I turn on a tap, and hot, clean water gushes out, as much as I want. There are fresh vegetables in my refrigerator, a high-speed Internet connection for my laptop, and absolutely no censorship on what Internet sites I can visit. The pictures around my apartment remind me that I know where everyone in my family is and that they are safe and close by.

It's easy to become bogged down in the small things -- when the alarm clock goes off on a rainy Monday morning, getting out of a warm bed and going to work sometimes sucks. But think of the alternatives. What if you didn't have a job to go to? What if you didn't have electricity to power your alarm clock? What if you didin't have a bed, or a house, for that matter? In more places than we care to remember, this is a daily fact of life.

My voter registration card came in the mail last week. On election day, all I have to do is take it to the high school a few blocks away, and I get to cast my vote for who I think should represent me in Ottawa. Freely, democratically, and fairly.

People around the world are dying for this right. I'm proud to exercise it.

And you know it's warm, because my attempt to grow sweet peas  on my north-facing balcony has been successful:

And the nice weather has arrived just in time for my long-delayed summer vacation. I've recently completed my contract with the College of Registered Nurses of BC. A truly wonderful experience, I learned a lot and made some new friends, which is something to be valued. 

I'm currently working with a group submitting a CECR application (this is the third NCE application I've worked on... the first two were funded... I think I am a lucky charm!) Once that is done, I'm officially on holidays. Bliss!

The kittens are not enjoying the heat that much, but all it really means is they sleep even more. It must be nice to be a cat.

 Alexandre Bilodeau, Gold Medalist!

From all appearances, our champion Alex Bilodeau is a sweetheart, who loves his family and is very close with them. So Canadian!

Having the Olympics in Vancouver has been amazing so far -- everyone here was absolutely devastated at the horrible accident on the luge course, just hours before the Opening Ceremonies, but I believe it has been handled tastefully and compassionately (despite CTV showing the accident over and over. That's a FAIL.)

I took a couple of pictures as the torch went by my apartment on Davie street on Friday, on its final leg before arriving at BC Place.  I was also lucky enough to be at the dress-rehearsal for the opening ceremony, which I thought were spectacular.

That's my apartment, proudly flying the Canadian flag!

A mounted police escort for the torch, as it travels up Davie street on its way to BC PLace
on Day 106 -- the last day! -- of the torch relay. 

The Torch!! 100 metres from my home.

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours wandering around our beautiful city in today's sunshine, and couldn't be prouder. As I type this, I can hear the nightly celebratory fireworks exploding over Coal Harbour. Being an Olympic host city is AWESOME!!!

My Mom shot this photo

I met some athletes from Denmark today walking down Granville street (who spoke excellent English) and their excitement and enthusiasm for their sport, for the Games, and for life in general was infectious. 

A lot of people -- or at least people getting coverage in the media -- seem to think having the Olympics here is a bad idea, but I disagree. I think it's great. Vancouver is an amazing city, and I'm glad we're going to be able to show the world.

I'm hoping to get out and enjoy some of the many events going on in the city over the next two weeks, including...

The Da Vinci Exhibit at the Art Gallery (admission to VAG is usually a bit steep for my pocketbook, but during the Games it's FREE!) Apparently Queen Elizabeth is loaning the drawings.

LiveCity Vancouver -- lots of cool local artists, free stuff and more.

Vancouver's amazing world-class restaurants

So celebrate the city!

I'll be posting photos over the coming weeks from the heart of the Olympic zone.

GO CANADA!!!

This summer, I was part of a team that spent several months writing a grant application to create a new Network of Centres of Excellence. On December 1, the federal government announced that our application, the NeuroDevNet Network, was one of three networks that will be funded!

Click here to read the press release.

The NeuroDevNet Network, led by Dr. Daniel Goldowitz, will study ways to reduce the long-term costs to the health care system through early intervention and effective treatment of children with developmental brain disorders. The Network will be hosted at UBC. 

I am very proud to have played a part in this achievement!

A bit more about NCE/CECR Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research...

The goal of the CECR program is to create world-class centres to advance research and facilitate commercialization of technologies, products and services.

These centres operate in the priority areas of the S&T Strategy: health, information and communications technology, environment, and energy and natural resources.

Many of you will remember that I was hired to cover the 2009 COPD Conference, held back in February, in Vancouver. The event consisted of two full days of speakers from around the world, presenting their research on every conceivable scientific aspect of COPD -- from treatment, genetics, environmental factors, airway remodeling and more -- and was an intense, eye-opening event, for many reasons. 

The conference also included an enlightening public forum hosted by the BC Lung Association and a lovely tribute dinner to Dr. Jim Hogg, whose research excellence has created a lasting legacy for BC. All in all, it was a very full three days.

The report has something in it for everyone -- there are write-ups on each of the presentations, some highlights from the Public Forum, interesting facts on COPD, and lots of great event photos. I'd love to hear your feedback -- click here to read the report now. 

I'd like to extend a special thank you to my superstar designer Justine Bond for her brilliant design, endless patience with revisions, and support in publishing this report. Not only did she conceive the layout for the entire publication from scratch, she also served as an editor, a source of copy ideas, and all-around cheerleader. I couldn't have done it without her help.

Also, a shout-out to Jennifer Myers, for agreeing to help us out at the last minute, and her great event photos.

This entire process -- from event to the final publication of this report -- has been a great experience. I learned a lot, and met some great people in the process.

I look forward to hearing what you think -- feel free to let me know in the Comments section below.

Click here to read the COPD 2009 Report now.

Well, I recently learned that it doesn't have to be that way!

I had the good fortune to be invited to participate in a one-day Facilitation Workshop last week, run by the amazing Dorothy Strachan of Strachan-Tomlinson.

The workshop focused on creating concise agendas, and organizing and running effective meetings. Turns out that one of the keys to an effective meeting lies in preparation, and in carefully crafting the agenda to achieve your goals.

I had never thought of a meeting agenda as a tool, but in fact it is -- instead of just a list of topics, meeting agendas should be based on a series of questions. Your goal should be to set outcomes.

A great tool Dorothy shared with us was this simple process framework for enabling action, which should always be in the back of your mind when you're asking questions:

What? -> So What? -> Now What?

What -- these are the "notice" questions ("What caught your eye in this report?" What is another way to say this?)

Next, you move onto the "So What" stage -- these are the "meaning" questions (How does this line of thinking relate to our objectives? What concerns does this raise for you?)

And finally, the "Now What" -- the "application" questions (What do we need to pay attention to as we move forward? Whose influence do we need if we are going to get this done?)

As someone who attends a lot of meetings, I found this entire day extremely helpful. I'll be working my way through two of Dorothy's books that were provided (Making Questions Work and Managing Facilitated Processes), so I'll be sure to post again with more insights.

Happy meeting!

I have the solution! BeachVacation.net.

This excellent site is my latest freelance writing project, and my first venture into travel writing, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

It's also great place to find a sweet deal on airfare and accommodations in Maui, Cape Cod, Myrtle Beach and other great destinations, so check it out!

BeachVacation.net

However, if you're planning on sticking close to home, Vancouver is certainly a lovely place to be right now. My Mom shot these photos on her daily stroll around the city...

Spring has SPRUNG!

And the best part of being in Vancouver right now?

Vancouver Canucks! Tonight was Game 1 of Round 2, and it was a fantastic game. We were up 3-0 at the end of the second period, then the 'Hawks stormed back and tied the game... but we came back to win it 5-3.

Hope you're having a great spring so far.

One of my recent collaborations was with Bombshell Media on a complete website re-design for The Letter Shop, one of Vancouver's oldest and most established printing houses.

The new site has just gone live and it looks great -- clean, easy to use, and attractive. And, it shows off all the copy I wrote for the site beautifully! And best of all, the clients absolutely love it.

You can check out the new site at LetterShop.ca -- and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments.

I don't usually post about TV shows, but this clip was excellent. Rick's celeb cause is mosquito nets for $10 -- buy one, save a life -- and he challenged the schools in Canada to raise money.

But the best part is the video.

Thank you Helix.