the after-conference gatherings at northern voice have always tended to be rather musical, so this year Grant went out and booked a rehearsal studio for us to jam without annoying neighbours. The Sanctuary, in East Van, is an incredible rehearsal space. I only recorded a small clip from the 11 hours (!) spent in The Sanctuary over 2 days. It was awesome, in every sense of the word. Seeing people I know share music together, with skill and talent I didn’t know they had? Inspiring. It was my first time ever playing music with anyone else. I’ll definitely be trying to do that some more…
Back in 2007, I was in Vancouver for a meeting, followed by hanging out for Northern Voice. I had to go straight from the airport to the meeting, which was down in the east side of downtown along Railway. After the meeting was over, I was waiting to meet up with Brian, so was lugging my suitcase and gear up to Hastings. I knew it was a colourful neighbourhood, but I must have been a little obvious as an out-of-towner. I wound up waiting in a little Vietnamese cafe, where I could be slightly less conspicuous with my suitcase and camera pack.
Kim found and scanned the class photo from our grade 6 class at Eugene Coste Elementary. Mrs. Hanson’s class. I love everything about this photo. 1980 was awesome. I’m the dorky kid in the front row, with glasses and denim jacket.
I wasn’t allowed to wear jeans for much of elementary school. So, I guess, once my folks lightened up I needed to clad myself from head to toe in the stuff.
I took this during a rest stop on day one of the 2009 Ride to Conquer Cancer, after pulling into a schoolyard in Longview, Alberta. This is absolutely gorgeous countryside, with rolling foothills building to the Rocky Mountains in the west. The highway is called The Cowboy Trail, because this is serious ranch country. Clint Eastwood shot Unforgiven in the area. Serious ranch country.
I was crazy enough to lug the DSLR with me on the bike, with a heavy 17-35mm L lens, and was really glad that I’d done so. I know several people who are doing the 2011 ride (I opted out this year) and know they’ll have a blast. It’s a hard, painful experience, but totally worth every second.
I’ve had to move onto a Windows machine at work (Win 7 Enterprise). This is the first time I’ve ever had to use Windows as a primary work computer, having used Macs in various incarnations since 1988 (when System 6 was the Shiny New Thing). It’s been a bit of an… adjustment.
One of the first things that hit me was how fracking BLUE everything is. There’s an easy fix - change the Window Color and Appearance setting to use a more neutral grey, dial down the color intensity, and turn off the stupid transparency.
I’ve been thinking about friends a lot lately - most recently because I just rediscovered my best friend from childhood online, after stumbling across her photos on display in Mac Hall. (as an aside, she writes an absolutely fantastic blog, and is a really good photographer)
I think about my childhood, growing up with friends in Canyon Meadows, a lot. I didn’t realize how much I think about it, and talk about it, until I told my son that I’d found my friend online again. He asked me if it was the friend with the boomerang. Dang. Yes. She had a boomerang, and I stupidly threw it and nearly took her head off when it came back (thankfully/unfortunately landing in a pond instead). I’d been telling him the stories of my childhood because they have shaped who I am.
Yesterday, Jim was rolling out an all-requests show on DS106, based on the theme “love and loss.” I caught part of the show, and it was pretty amazing. Then, some requests came in and I complained.
I was a jerk. I apologize for complaining about the content of a user-powered freeform Internet radio phenomenon.
For freeform to be truly freeform, the community needs to feel able to experiment and play anything, without fear of judgement or condemnation. My snark broke that trust.
Yesterday, Jim was rolling out an all-requests show on DS106, based on the theme “love and loss.” I caught part of the show, and it was pretty amazing. Then, some requests came in and I complained.