Chris’ Blog

This weekend, the service at our church was about poverty. It was very powerful and got me to re-examine what I do and think about poverty. Christine and I expect to make some changes in the new year. I find it very easy to forget about the six billion or so people that have a lower quality of life than I do and to resist an attitude of entitlement that I believe is prevalent in our society.

Although I found none of the statistics presented surprising (I’m not sure what is worse: knowing the statistics and doing nothing or being ignorant of what is going on in our world) I did find out that there is an online petition at http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/ asking for the government to increase efforts to meet the United Nations Millennium Declaration to spare no effort to eliminate extreme poverty in the world. It’s somewhat more of a guest book than a formal petition, but I signed it anyway.

Yesterday, Christine and I attended a craft fair. There was supposed to be a guy who makes amplifiers (guitar?) out of old household appliances: toasters, coffee makers, televisions, etc.. Needless to say I was pretty excited to go; I planned on buying at least ten different amplifiers. It turned out that he pulled out of the fair at the last minute, so it was mostly a bust.

After browsing umpteen tables of jewellery made out of buttons, printed circuit boards, and old clothes I was relieved to come to a table with some guy determined to solve the issue of the day. I asked him what he was all about and he said that he wanted to see proportional representation introduced for Alberta. He was about to start up into his speech, but before he could say anything more I asked him if he had a petition. He looked a little disappointed (no one else was talking to him) but said that he did, so I signed it and told him good luck.

Christine came by and signed also, again only allowing him a few words and picked up a brochure. I don’t pick up brochures. It has a website for those who are interested: http://www.fairvote.ca. Although the website has no information about the Alberta petition. I wonder if he brought the wrong brochures?

by Michael Adams

This book was a Christmas gift from my wife as a book I would like to read. It turns out she was right. In “Fire and Ice” Michael Adams compares values held within and between Canadians and Americans and maps out where those values are headed.

See my full review here.

★★★★☆

This book was quite good, very thorough. Jared Diamond explores mostly the effect of geography on cultures since the beginning of civilization and theorises why some cultures excelled and came to rule while others were conquered and disappeared from history or lingered into modern times.

See my review here.

★★★★☆

Someone. clearly with starving Ethiopian children on their mind, decided to put half their hamburger lunch back in the fridge at my work yesterday. Well, it’s still there this morning. Yummy!

I work in a federal government building. Surely this must violate some health code or internal policy.

“The Shawshank Redemption” has been voted the #1 feel-good movie to help cure the winter blues according to Ananova. I’ve seen “The Shawshank Redemption” and I’m not sure those people know what feel-good means.

A couple weeks ago Christine and I spent a day clothes shopping. We were supposed to be shopping for Christmas gifts, but it didn’t end up that way. Christine informed me that my clothes were no longer in style. I was, of course, surprised to hear that my clothes were ever in style. I wished someone would have told me when they were fashionable and I could have enjoyed them more. By the end of the day: new shoes, pants, and shirts. It was actually nice to get some new clothes, especially pants that are long enough, (most of the pants I bought in China are a little on the short side) but what a chore. You have to find the right size and right colour and then you find out that they have the colour you like, but not in the right size. And then you need a medium in this shirt, but a large in the other…fortunately the stores have to close eventually, so you can’t stay forever. It got me to thinking about how on Star Trek, when they would go to visit other planets with advanced civilizations they would all be wearing the same outfit. Think of the time and resources saved if everyone wore the same outfit, not to mention the economy of scale in the manufacturing. One factory could supply the entire world with clothes. Or maybe something like on the Enterprise: scientists wear blue; engineers red; operations tan; and artists wear miniskirts. Oh well. At least I only have to go clothes shopping once every two years.

On Wednesday, Christine and I saw “The Four Seasons” by Vivaldi performed at the Winspear Centre by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. It has been over eight years since the last time we have been to the Winspear Centre and it is something we have missed considerably while living in Ottawa and Shanghai. The concert was fantastic, although I was unable to find any Orangina during intermission, which was rather disappointing. The acoustics of the centre are amazing and add a lot to the sound. You can’t compare listening to a CD with attending a live performance (at least not with my stereo). Being able to see the orchestra also adds an energy to the music that you don’t get by only listening. During our visit I noticed that there is a giant pipe organ at the back of the hall. At first I assumed that I hadn’t noticed it before because I often don’t notice things, but it turns out that it was added in 2002, so score a point for my memory. It turns out that the organ is the largest concert organ in Canada, so now I need to find a performance featuring the organ so I can have a listen.

We just returned from seeing Martin Sexton in concert at the Myer Horowitz Theatre. We had seen him twice before at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in ‘97 and again this past summer. Both times his performances were quite short, so when the opportunity came to purchase tickets for a full concert, I jumped at the chance. We were not disappointed; the concert was amazing. Martin Sexton performed solo with only an acoustic guitar (acoustic-electric if you want to get picky) and for one song a piano. To make up for not having a supporting band he would ’sing’ other instruments: saxaphone, trombone, and even electric guitar solos. The audience of about 800 was kept entertained throughout, although it was clear that many were fans already. I would classify Martin Sexton’s music as folk-blues. Many of his songs leaned much more heavily toward one side than the other and a few had a definite jazz feel to them as well. He is a great songwriter, amazing vocalist, and plays guitar as if it is an extension of his own body. It makes me sad that someone as talented as Martin Sexton receives such modest attention while others with considerably less musical ability sell out stadiums. Where’s the justice?

I have a new job! It’s for a small high-tech company called Picomole. I start October 1, the same day we get possession of our new condo.