I just finished watching The Cove and am at a loss for words but still wanted to post something about it. In April 2007, I blogged about this YouTube video on the Taiji dolphin slaughter. Well, there is now a documentary out that covers the issue. It is an award-winning film and does an amazing job at revealing the truth about the dolphin trading and slaughter that occurs in Taiji, Japan. Please watch this film; I guarantee it will move you. I have posted the trailer below.
Here is a video I made of this July’s trip to Mt. Rainier, Washington with Dave. It has been a while since I’ve posted much, so hopefully this will make up for it. More posts to come in the near future!
I recently received an email from one of my Social Justice and Peace Studies professors posing a few questions to graduates of the program to see what they are doing with the degree. I thought I’d post my response here for future reference.
2. What you’ve done since graduating
Graduating left a very big question mark looming over my head. With SJPS being such a broad topic, able to be applied to so many areas (one of its benefits), I decided to take the summer off and live on the West coast for a few months (Burnaby, B.C.). I thought this time away would make things (mainly my plans for the future) more clear. It didn’t.
Still not knowing what to do, I returned home to a 6-month contract job in September, helping a company implement a new software package. It may sound out of the SJPS realm, but nothing really is and I’ve used some of the skills and understandings taught in the program while training and working with people in our company. This also allowed me to save some money and do more traveling.
3. What you’re doing now (summer 2009)
The 6-month contract turned into a 1-year contract so I will be spending my summer working in an office. It is only May and I am already having a lot of trouble dealing with the notion that I don’t get the summer off–imagine! Add to that the fact that I am still not clear on what I want to do in the future and it may sound like things aren’t looking too promising. On the contrary, I have learned a lot about myself and the “real world.” For example, I now know that I do not want to work with software implementation, sales, or in the typical office atmosphere. I’ve also learned that the present is far too interesting to spend all of your time worrying about figuring life out and trying to orchestrate your future. Life changes and new opportunities arise. Therefore, I’ve decided to lessen my grip on security blankets and try new things, even if I’m not sure they are the best option.
4. What you hope/plan to do in the near future
About to graduate, I had no idea what I wanted to do so I applied to teachers’ college just to see if I would get in. As it turns out, I was accepted at the U of T and now have to decide whether I want to go. Being a teacher is not something I have ever been passionate about and I’m not sure if it is something I would want to do for the rest of my life. However, there are a lot of benefits to having the option and it could turn out to be very satisfying–able to promote social justice to future generations, not being stuck in an office, and getting my beloved summers back! My grade 11 Physics teacher once said that there are no right or wrong decisions in life, there is only what you make and learn from those decisions. With this in mind, I plan to take the chance and see how it works out.
5. A short note on the SJPS program
The point of this email was to find out what graduates DO with the SJPS degree. Because the degree is so overarching, it is important to recognize that the benefits of the program go beyond the career paths it leads to. An important aspect of the program is how well it prepares one for adult life in society. The SJPS experience is a very eye-opening one. I think it teaches students valuable lessons and makes them more dynamic individuals, something that is greatly rewarded in the “real world.”
6. Book Recommendations (both are very short)
The Alchemist
The Tao of Pooh
I’ve been a bit AWOL when it comes to this blog, so I thought I’d post an entry summarizing a few things I’ve been up to lately.
Yoga
Rita and I just finished 8 weeks of Yoga (once a week, every Tuesday). We’ve wanted to find something that we can do together on a regular basis and since I’ve been wanting to try yoga for a while and it is something we can both do, we gave it a try. It has worked out really well and I think we both find it to be a nice way to wind down from everything else that goes on in this crazy world.
My Wrist
As you probably know, I broke my wrist 7 months ago (can’t believe it has been that long). It was quite a bad break and I’m still working through the tissue damage and getting it back to normal. I can finally reach a near-full range of motion again, but it takes work and discomfort. I can do most activities, but am definitely still limited. Progress is very slow at this point and the doc says it’s just a waiting game for the next 6 months as I slowly build the flexibility and strength back up.
Car Accidents
I’m not very lucky in this category. Over a year ago, I had someone back into the front end of my car and drive off, leaving me with a nice big dent. A couple of months ago I accidentally backed into a friend’s door due to a lack of communication between Rita and I as to whether there was anyone behind me. Insurance covered his (not my cracked bumper) so I’ve yet to see if that will increase my rates. Then, last Friday someone rear-ended me at a stop light. There isn’t really any visible damage, but he pushed the bumper in enough so that my muffler annoyingly rattles against it–I’m getting it looked at today (he doesn’t want to go through insurance).
Guitar
I’m still practicing the guitar and am definitely getting better, although I still have a long way to go. I’ve learned about 5 songs, but my actually reading of music and knowledge of notes/chords is still lacking.
Spanish
I started learning Spanish (Latin American) via The Rosetta Stone software. I’ve only done one lesson so far so I can tell you that a cat is sitting on the plane (un gato encima de una avionetta), but that’s about all. I’m trying to prepare for my trip to Costa Rica.
Costa Rica
Dave and I are heading to Costa Rica on April 17 to attend Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo. We’ll be learning how to surf for the first week, after which Dave will head home and I will backpack around seeing the sights (Monteverde Cloud Forest, Arenal Volcano, etc) for another week. I’m super-excited for this.
Photography
I’m disappointed in the lack of photography that took place over this winter. The cold weather really isn’t enticing, but getting out and shooting during inconvenient times is what makes one a good photographer–anyone and everyone can go out on a nice mid-summer day, but that is usually the worst time to be out shooting. I do still love the hobby though and did buy a new lens last weekend that I’ve wanted for over a year now (Nikon 70-300mm VR). I saved $200 by buying it used on Kijiji (and it still has a few years left on the warranty)–sweet! I also started to play with the video function on my D90. See a short clip I made below.
7 Years
Rita and I will are reaching our 7-year anniversary on March 11. 7 years! We’re going to a rock climbing and then to Medieval times in Toronto this weekend to celebrate.
In the Meantime
I’m still working on contract and will probably continue to until the end of the summer. I will know in April whether I got accepted to teacher’s college, at which point I will have to decide whether I actually want to be a teacher. I’m thinking I probably don’t, but have yet to come up with something better–I’m open to ideas!
Ciao.
The Tank from Patrick Briscoe on Vimeo.
Here is a great little video explaining the basics of the credit crisis. Check it out:
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
Obama Girl just put out a new video with Obama, Bush, and the Clintons as Miis. It is one of the funniest videos I’ve seen in a while. I’m not sure if it’s b/c I’m a PoliSci nerd (there are a lot of political inside jokes) or what, but this thing had me cracking up.
[If you don't know who Obama Girl is, she gained a lot of public attention when she made a music video about how much she loved Obama back in June '07 when he was starting to gain popularity. Check out her original "I got a crush on Obama" video here.]
Each week I browse through hundreds of articles on my RSS feed (find out what RSS is here). Many are not very interesting, while others are life-changing. I’ve decided to start a weekly post that lists the top articles I’ve read around the net that week–I’ll call it Around the Web (ATW). Most have to do with personal development in one way or another. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them. Here is my first set:
(click the links)
1. Check out one artist’s (funny) interpretation of Pepsi Co.’s new logo
2. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, find out why you should not buy diamonds and also check out some crazy facts about this “holiday”
2. How did the military leader, Napoleon, view time management?
3. Find out why stock market “averages” are not so average.
4. Leo over at Zen Habits (one of my favourite blogs) discusses the Zen of real food.
Have a great weekend!
I will admit to having a mild case of procrastination (when it comes to some things, I am a huge procrastinator). The crazy thing about procrastination is that the reason we procrastinate is to relieve ourselves of some perceived pain that would be endured to complete the task at hand. However, in reality, we will eventually have to complete that task, meaning that not only will we have to endure that pain in the future, but in the meantime we also have to endure the pain of dreading the task! In the end, by attempting to relieve pain by postponing the task, we are only increasing our overall pain.
In my case, this pain came from a broken computer that had been sitting in our basement for 1.5 years. 1.5 years! It was given to me by a friend who didn’t want to deal with fixing it. Everything worked on the computer except the motherboard. I figured I could just buy a motherboard, fix it up, and sell it for a couple hundred bucks. Well, it was an older computer and retailers don’t make it easy to find older parts anymore. This didn’t make me enthusiastic about the fix, so I continued to put it off, day after day. For 1.5 years I had to deal with complaints by my parents to move the hunk of junk out of the laundry room; I moved it from place to place, putting off the fix. Every day for the past 1.5 years, I would see the computer and cringe at the sight. Like Chinese torture, the task ahead slowly ate away at my soul.
What was I doing this for? Was the computer and the potential money from it worth all of this mental anguish? Finally I decided, NO! I put the darn thing on Kijiji for FREE!. “Take it, get it out of my site,” I said. Within 5 minutes I had numerous people offering to get it off my hands. A couple hours later, it was gone. As if a mental weight had been lifted, I immediately felt better. The large eye-sore that had been bothering me for a year and a half was no longer around to eat at me.
When I look at it now, the computer would have cost me about $50 and ~4 hours to fix. Then I could sell it for $200 if I was lucky. Obviously this wasn’t motivating enough because I let the thing sit around for so long. In the end, I was so annoyed by the computer that I ended up resenting the fact that I agreed to take it in the first place. At least now it will be sitting in someone else’s basement waiting to be fixed.
I guess the moral of this story is that peace-of-mind can be much more important than money. Also, although putting something off may reduce short-term pain, procrastination only increases the overall, long-term pain–you have to deal with it eventually, and in the meantime it’s going to mess with your mind. Do you have a task that has been eating away at you due to procrastination? Share it in the comments.
My recent post on the “Out of a Job Yet? Keep Buying Foreign” bumper stickers caused a bit of controversy, as I expected. As somewhat of a follow-up to that post, I’d like to pose the question, does buying locally really matter to people?
I ask this because on my way home for lunch last week I saw a van pull in front of me with a bumper sticker that read “Made in Canada Matters.” A little better than the “Out of a Job Yet?” stickers, but still somewhat annoying, I wondered whether or not the people promoting these stickers were true to buying local. As if the universe were answering my question, the van pulled into a parking lot… and not just any parking lot.
“No way,” I said to myself, “He won’t.” As he pulled in, the driver could either turn right and go to Harvey’s or turn left and go to Dollarama. Sure enough, he turned left, parked, and walked into Dollarama, the epitome of all things “Made in China.” I couldn’t resist this photo op so I turned into the next entrance, parked, and snapped a quick shot of the ironic moment.
So, assuming that this guy wasn’t driving his friend’s car (I’m sure someone would have brought up the possibility), it seems fair to say that either 1) The guy honestly doesn’t know that the vast majority of things in Dollarama are made in China or 2) He just isn’t really bothered to think about/care about it. Since you would have to live under a rock to fit scenario #1, I’m thinking that “Made in Canada” doesn’t really matter in this case.
What do you think? Are people toting these bumper stickers because they really care whether their products are made locally, or are they doing it because they’re upset that their industry is hurting due to the recession? Does “Made in Canada” (or the USA) really effect peoples’ daily life decisions?
It has been a few years since I’ve skied (yes, that is the past-tense of ski, I asked Google). This year I purchased a set of skis from a friend at work ($100 including bindings for a nice pair of skis!) and promised myself I would get back into the sport. Well, I have now been out to the slopes a few times and am slowly getting my groove back. Each time has been a progression, moving from smaller to larger hills. My confidence has also been rising as my muscles start to remember how to work with two long sticks on my feet. So far, so good. Here are a few pictures from a day trip to Blue Mountain this past Saturday (yes, those are bras):
Alright, so this past Friday wasn’t “cool,” it was frickin’ freezing! At -21 centigrade and -32 with the wind-chill, it wasn’t one of the nicest days of the year. However, to make up for it, the sun put on quite a nice display.
On my way to work in the morning, I noticed two bright, rainbow-ish figures in the sky. Looking closer, I saw that there was a ring of light around the sun. I had never seen this before and was quite amazed. It turns out that they are called sun dogs and are created when ice crystals in the sky refract and/or reflect the light of the sun, creating something like a rainbow effect. I managed to get a picture from my phone (google “sun dog” for more images) of this beautiful moment.
That was around 9:00am and this sight was at 5pm (also taken from my phone at work):
These opportunities definitely made the freezing-cold day worth it.
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