Thursday, August 23, 2007

Happy Birthday, Zak!

Hi Zak!

Happy Sixteenth! We hope your birthday is fun and wonderful, and wish you a successful and enjoyable year ahead. Oh, and lots of exploding. That too. : )

Lots of love,
Mom and Dad

Monday, July 09, 2007

They say you can publish documents from Google docs staright to your blog. Well if this works I guess it means you can. Thus all your bold or italics are then translated and colours too. Interesting.

In other new, it is 11 days till I and Zak head off on our adventure. I will try and keep a blog going over at macblaze.hopto.org. We are heading off to Canmore to take a climbing course (Intro to Trad) with Leslie and then she's back to work while Zak, Doug and I head to Lake Louise for a couple of days and then off to Waterton for a couple more. After that its catch as catch can until we hit Squamish on the 31st. Doug will take th train back and then Zak and I will meet up with Leslie in Vancouver on the 4th.

Then follows 8 days of sailing on this boat before we meander our way back home via Skaha oand maybe the Ghost Wilderness.

11 days...

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Beautiful Sunday

Anyone remember that song?

Hi, hi, hi beautiful Sunday
This is my, my, my beautiful day
When you say, say, say, say that you love me
Oh, my, my, my it's a beautiful day


It's been a while since I've sat down to write. Lots has been happening, too. I remain chair of my program and have a mentor for my "practicum" year of leadership training. And now I must get busy writing my candidacy proposal, with the aim of taking my candidacy exam by Winter Solstice. A little faster than I had expected to do things, but probably in the realm of the possible. Tomorrow I begin a course on the work of Paulo Freire — lots of reading on the horizon!

To that end, here's a quotation from Gadamer:

To participate with the other and to be part of the other is the most and the best that we can strive for and accomplish ... We may perhaps survive as humanity if we would be able to learn that we may not simply exploit our means of power and effective possibilities, but we must stop and respect the other, whether it is nature or the grown culture of people and nations.

And further:

We live in separate realities, but we live with each other.

And from Freire himself:

I have the right to be angry and to express that anger, to hold it as my motivation to fight, just as I have the right to love and to express my love for the world, to hold it as my motivation to fight, because while a historical being, I live history as a time of possibility, not of predetermination. If reality were what it is because it was written so, there would be no reason to be angry.

Must fly — really must clean my office, and other stuff, before the house gets too warm. I hope to talk with you soon!

L

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Rock On

Went climbing outside for the first time this year and visited Hogwart's and Waterknot Wall. Everyone did their fair share of leading (even Leslie) although she did comment that she considered coming down her reward for having to go up. Kind of makes her more of a descender than a climber but I guess everyone has their own schtick.




Opening day


Bruce starts the day off with some warmups on the easy Hogwart's Wall. It was a lovely day if a bit windy.


Zak follows up with some moves of his own.


Lelsie shows here moves with a couple of lead climbs of her own. She generally doesn't like to lead and that goes double for outside. She really rocked and pushed through a couple of difficult moments...

All this with an audience! (check out the spot below the wire-like shadow on the road and spot the sheep!)


Moving up the hill to Waterknot and a few tougher climbs, Zak shows off his safety-concious fashion sense. Only a 5.6, but the crux is below the first clip.


Zak moves on to the 5.11b...HARD! He pulls off the first three bolts before his fingers give out and he bails to give Dad a chance.


Bruce takes up the challenge and after a few attempts, finally dials in the next two moves but can't make the clip. After a couple of tries apiece, Zak and Dad bail and slink off to climb easier stuff.


Meanwhile Leslie is content to pummel the 5.8 into submission and work on her style points.


After a long day, we look back up the hill to the small cliff band (indicated) that makes up Waterknot Wall.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Seven big ones

A list compiled many, many years ago: seven phrases for ending (or at least redirecting) discussion, as identified by a master evader.

1. OK.
2. Right.
3. Sure.
4. So...
5. Anyway...
6. Whatever.
7. Never mind.

Of course, intonation is everything. Don't try this at home!

L

Monday, May 14, 2007

My youth...



I got this Corb Lund video off a friend's blog and it really reminds me of being young again...sigh...

Almost makes me a teary as Toby Keith's "I Love this Bar"...

Saturday, May 05, 2007

For Mom

A pre- mother's day gift...

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Thought for today

I can live for two months on a good compliment. — Mark Twain

Climb on,
L

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Bricolage

Found in passing. Work, school, and technology conspire to keep me from resting. No, no, I do that to myself. Anyway, here are some kibbles and bits to keep you entertained and inspired. Stay well!

Leslie

**

They used to photograph Shirley Temple through gauze. They should photograph me through linoleum. — Tallulah Bankhead

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. — Jennifer Yane

The double agent looked up from his lunch of Mahi-Mahi and couscous and realized that he must escape from Walla Walla to Bora Bora to come face-to-face with his arch enemy by taking out his 30-30 and shooting off his nemesis's ear-to-ear grin so he could wave bye-bye to this duplicitous life, but the chances of him pulling this off were only so-so, much less than 50-50. — Source unknown

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work. — Pearl Bailey

A tree is a wonderful living organism which gives shelter, food, warmth and protection to all living things. It even gives shade to those who wield an axe to cut it down. — Buddha

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Oh MY F'n GOD!


I have discovered GodTube.com and I am now officially scared...

I thought it was a joke...but nope, he's serious.
More here

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Where's Terry Eagleton when you need him?

Just finished flipping through, grazing on, and generally musing about last year's collection 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (a companion volume to 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die). If you haven't already seen it, you may want to spend some time with this book.

The collection presents an amalgam of high culture and popular titles, beginning with the ancients and continuing right up to 2005. The pre-nineteenth-century sections are quite thin; the twentieth century forms the essence of the book. It was produced in England and betrays some British favoritism alongside a strong American presence; interestingly, there are very few Canadian, Australian, or postcolonial authors included — there is, as we would have said in the 1980s, a clear Anglo-American axis. The bulk of the authors are male and white, and the listings make routine observations about those inclusions who are not male or white.

I truly wonder about the purpose of a collection such as this. It certainly evokes class-based standards for cultural knowledge and participation. Many of the listings use theoretical and formalist explanations for the selections, suggesting that only a reader with a thorough literary education will be able to appreciate the full meaning of the text. Many texts are glossed with information about their adaptation to the stage or screen — an access point for those unable to cope with the literary apparatus, perhaps? There is certainly more than a whiff of canon building in this book — and aren't we through with that yet?

I have an MA in English, the follow-up to an undergrad honours degree in English. While I'm not exceptionally well read, I had believed I have a reasonable literary background and a fair knowledge of major texts in English and world literature. This book has proved me wrong, wrong, wrong. I have read perhaps twenty percent of the "must-read" titles — and appallingly, I read at least half of those after receiving my MA. While I know where my weakness exists (primarily in concentrating on reading books by women and Canadians), I'd be interested to know how others fare when comparing their prior reading history to this prescription.

But this book has got me thinking. Perhaps one of the reasons I am no longer interested in completing my doctorate in English — why I am in fact completing a doctorate involving the deconstruction of English by way of another faculty — is that the class mechanism of English is simply too obvious for me now. The Department of English at the University of Alberta, my alma mater, is so interested in its self-construction as radical that it rarely stops to consider its own site of privilege or its complicity in oppression. Even decades after telling itself that reading literature doesn't really make us better people, the Department continues to chant the liberal motto of better living through literature. (Well, why not? It's the same bill of goods the rest of the schooling enterprise is selling.) And if you don't have access, you're really not one of us after all, are you? Of course, it's not all high modernism and the Leavises today; now the badge of admission is the mindless iteration of post-colonialism, identity feminism, and theoretical Marxism. Yet the song remains the same.

Where are the working-class poets? Somewhere in China, or Africa, or Southeast Asia, assembling your next DVD player, sewing your new lululemon leggings, or answering your calls at an international call centre. They're not here: the North American working class lives elsewhere now — and that whole notion of class is so out of date anyway!

And what has three decades of identity-based literary criticism given us? A powerful belief that individual identity trumps collective needs every time. A liberal embrace of the marketplace of ideas. A vague sense of dread that can be diffused only by consuming faster and faster the digital enhancements of a mediocre age.

So why should we read those 1001 books? There's no need, really. They'll be coming to you soon enough on Google Books, digested into their essential fibres for those with the means to buy them — or for the truly pixellated (and perhaps the pixillated too), on YouTube. Will civilization as we know it come to a lurch if we all don't stop what we're doing and read? We can only hope so...

L

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Thought for the day

The people united will never be defeated...

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Playing...

Made a few changes using the new template system. I'll have to put some thought into it. I used Adobe Lightrooms flash gallery to upload some Rip & Grip images. Have a peek. They are on the iMac at home so don't expect super fast response. Speaking of which I got the iMac back so be sure to swing by and visit macblaze.hopto.org. I turned the shaw space over to Zak and he's been busily uploading Halo pics. I made him hand code the web pages so they don't have the polish of packaged stuff, but overall pretty darn good...

In other news after viewing this clip, I now suspect EJ Woods has a second career. If ever there was a devious, anti-pet mind that would invent this contraption under guise of being helpful, Mr Woods is such a villian...

Friday, January 19, 2007

All that is old is new again

I still don't have my computer back from the shop and I still don't have my blog up again. In other news, we've updated to the new and improved google blogger... I'm not sure I like change. I think its bout time I look into a domain for myself.

Anyway L is home, only 55 minutes late... I guess that makes her almost early...

Tah!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

86 It

A new custom playlist. Those who were there will understand. Those who weren't will simply be puzzled....

Video Killed the Radio Star, The Buggles
Goodbye 70's, Yaz
Relax, Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Kids in America, Kim Wilde
Brand New Lover, Dead or Alive
I Ran (So Far Away), A Flock of Seagulls
Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper
Young Guns (Go For It!), Wham
Too Shy, Kajagoogoo
Let's Go Crazy, Prince and the Revolution
Self Control, Laura Branigan
Hyperactive!, Thomas Dolby
So Alive, Love and Rockets
Father Figure, George Michael
The Ecstasy of Flight (I Love the Night), Chris De Burgh
Hungry Like the Wolf, Duran Duran
The Look of Love (Part I), ABC
Gloria, Laura Branigan
If I Had You Back, The Rubinoos
Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God), Kate Bush
Running with the Night, Lionel Richie
Billie Jean, Michael Jackson
Hazy Shade of Winter, The Bangles
Call Me, Blondie
Love Shack, The B-52's
Living in a Box, Living in a Box
You Spin Me Round (Like A Record), Dead Or Alive
I Did It for Love, Harlequin
4 Ever 2 Gether, ABC
Rebel Yell, Billy Idol
Der Kommissar, After The Fire
Geronimo's Cadillac, Modern Talking
I Drove All Night, Cyndi Lauper
Don't Go, Yaz
Steppin' Out, Joe Jackson
I Got You, Split Enz
Too Much Time on My Hands, Styx
It's My Life, Talk Talk
Sunglasses at Night, Corey Hart
Love Becomes Electric, Strange Advance
Faster than the Speed of Night, Bonnie Tyler
Safety Dance, Men Without Hats
Windpower, Thomas Dolby
Dancing with Myself, Billy Idol
Come On Eileen, Dexy's Midnight Runners
(Nothing But) Flowers, Talking Heads
First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes
Time (Clock Of The Heart), Culture Club
Like a Prayer, Madonna
I'm Your Baby Tonight, Whitney Houston
You Keep Me Hangin' On, Kim Wilde
Hold On, Ian Thomas
Change Of Heart, Cyndi Lauper
This Is the World Calling, Bob Geldof
If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Here Comes the Rain Again, Eurythmics
He's a Dream, Shandi
Open Your Heart, Madonna
Cruel Summer, Bananarama
Walk Like an Egyptian, The Bangles
Part-Time Lover, Stevie Wonder
What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Pet Shop Boys
Sister Christian, Night Ranger
1999, Prince
Wham Rap!, Wham!
Situation, Yaz
On the Loose, Saga
Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Ultravox
Controversy, Prince
I'll Tumble 4 Ya, Culture Club
Goody Two Shoes, Adam Ant
Venus, Bananarama
The Glamorous Life, Sheila E.
Stand Back, Stevie Nicks
Maniac, Michael Sembello
This Wheel's on Fire, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Like Flames, Berlin
Run Runaway, Slade
Something About You, Level 42
Obsession, Animotion
Our House, Madness
Road to Nowhere, Talking Heads
Walk of Life, Dire Straits
Twist in My Sobriety, Tanita Tikaram
Sign O' the Times, Prince
Don't You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds

Enjoy! - L

**

Q: What do you do if you're attacked by a troupe of circus performers?
A: Go for the juggler.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Are You a Grizzly Bear?

Perhaps you are a grizzly bear and don't know it! Take this simple quiz to find out.

Are you loud?
Are you hairy?
Are you big?
Are you strong?
Are you scary?
Do you like berries?
Do you like salmon?
Do you sleep a lot in the winter time?
Are you irritable when you first awake?
(females only) Are you protective of your offspring?
Do you roar?

If you have answered yes to all of these questions, you are a grizzly bear.

I am.

Eeks!

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!

Hello all!

I hope you had a warm and wonderful holiday season and the new year is finding you optimistic. I'm simply procrastinating right now, so I'll keep this short. This year I resolve to write more often. Writing is a good way to achieve many of my goals.

Meanwhile, here's a thought (agreement error notwithstanding), courtesy of the delightful little book The Five Hole Stories by Dave Bidini.

"... once you've found a goalie's five hole, they're yours forever."

Sigh...

Anon,
L

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Mad World

This is the kind of week it's been...

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me


— Tears for Fears

See you on the other side!

L

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

BLAZE

My computer is fried so my website is down so I have no platform for my muse. Thus I present to you...Daily Doggerel The Blogspot Edition

For car(men) wherever you may find them
Toyota, Dodge, Datsun, Ford
A metal machine, a macho overlord,

Insensitive drivers, uncaring, obscene,
Driving us crazy, cursing their genes

Noisy, obnoxious, expensive and careless
Pervasive technology, quintissentialy worthless

Automotive desires are driving our days,
Credit ratings balloon, consuming our pay.

But I want that car, that awesome machine,
Oh and this one as well, and that one I mean,
Off road and on track and highway carousing
With 350 horsepower, I'll do without housing.

I love my cars mercury and subaru,
Such a pity, you know, I can't afford you.

B

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

From the mouth of Zak

"Hugo A Go Go, leggo my Eggo!"