Archive for the ‘General Announcements’ Category

at xavier rudd thanks to @x929 opening act izintaba was AWESOME. Looking forward to the main show!

Sad truths..: http://ping.fm/8xPUq

In light of my [second] last post I’d like to fire a couple of great talks your way..

Now, it’s no secret I’m critical of the education system.  In fact, I still have relatively few teacher-friends because of my disdain for Edjamukational Institutions and what they stand for. Or maybe.. Maybe more correctly what they don’t stand for.

The teachers I do know, I cherish.  They think like this, and act accordingly.  They are incredible resources, undervalued, underpaid, and overworked.  They work tirelessly and never complain. They make me want to go back to school and learn what they have to share.

I wish more teachers were more inspired and understood this..

I announced that I was down at the T&C the other night to see Quentin Reddy play, but it was a bit too late for people to come down..  Thanks to those of you who tried though!

Quentin and the guys played a few great sets before I had to leave (an early morning was looming) but I managed to grab a few images while I was there.

Thought I’d share them with you all here as I still don’t have the dromedary company blog up and running (too busy with other projects!).

I came across this BBC article today and it strikes me as yet another indication of the problems with school systems in the western world..   Here a kid finally takes interest in politics and the state of a country; he’s engaged, informed and holds an opinion about how the future of the UK should look…    The trouble? He’s 14, several years away from voting age.   What makes me a bit crazy is that his teacher ratted him out rather than using the situation as a pure learning opportunity and having the kid in question fess up properly.  What’s the lesson we learned here?  In the ‘real world’ it’s okay to be a tattle-tale.

Right..

I say, good on ya Alfie. I’ll buy you a beer when you’re 18 and it won’t get you in any more trouble..

at the town and country at 50st and 17 ave SW Calgary to foto Quentin Reddy play a gig at 930. Come on down and join us!

This may quite possibly turn in to a very long post. I apologize in advance.

I’ve been absent.

Not just from this site, but from life in general. I’ve been holding on to some ridiculous notion that I’ve been busy with this or that, but the pure truth of the matter is that I just switched off.

It’s not entirely clear to me why or when exactly this happened, but I’m pretty darn sure that my time in the field didn’t help.  I also think it wasn’t the cause though I may have laid blame there previously.  Looking back further, it’s really difficult to identify the last time I felt really alive.

This is a problem.

Switching off has provided me with the capability to handle a number of small catastrophes and major life-events with ease.  It has meant that I can easily rely on the illusion of simple pragmatism to explain how easily I deal with strife (without completely losing my nut).

I’ve deceived myself and in the process I’ve likely deceived others.  If I take an honest look at the issue it becomes clear that I’ve completely lost any sense of caring.  Caring for myself, caring for others, the environment and even the world at large.

This conflicts with my morals and my dreams.

Since returning to Canada, I’ve become increasingly disconnected from the beliefs, behaviours and paths of the people around me. Something is wrong with the way we live our lives (both here in ‘the west’ elsewhere) and I can’t quantify it, and it often feels as if nobody else really gets that. Yet, I continue to live the life here as if nothing has changed.

This cognitive dissonance is no longer just uncomfortable, it’s systemic and paralytic in my own life. I have let it stop me from caring, and I have always understood that we as people are capable of great things, but rarely do I see more than doom, destruction and death being broadcast on a daily basis.

Going it alone.

I’ve done a lot of things solo in my life, I’ve travelled, bought a house, photographed, run, biked, hiked, consoled a dying friend, and stood up for an underdog.

I understand the need to be capable of working on my own, entertaining myself, and being self sufficient. In fact I have vehemently pursued individual goals in an attempt to prove (to myself?? others??) that I am self sufficient. I’ve turned away or ignored opportunities for assistance and in the process have learned what an incredible strain it is to be an individual in this world.

Empathy.

Something my cousin has suggested in a yelling, spitting rage that I do not posses. This in the wake of the death of my Uncle Dale, a man I’ve learned an incredible amount from over the past thirty years and who has been the only father I’ve ever really known.

The problem really hasn’t been not caring enough, but rather caring too much and about too many things. I’m not just whelmed, I’m überwhelmed. Figuring out what matters again is a top priority and in order to do that I need to clean house a bit.

Taking stock.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be taking stock and having a serious look at what really matters to me and what I want to do about it. There will be a literal and a figurative clearing of house in the attempt to simplify what has become an unreasonably complicated life.

This is a smattering of the thoughts running through my head at the moment.  In the past CAVOK has been about clearing my mind and keeping my word.   It has been inexplicably difficult to begin to document the happenings of the last few years and so I shall endeavour to document from this point forward with the caveat that I may at some time visit the past..

For those of you who still check in here once in a while, and who’ve made it this far through the post, thank you for taking the time to care..

Last fall, after a late frost ruined all of the fruit on two apple trees in my back yard, I made the decision to leave it all as fodder for the birds this winter.   Much to my chagrin, the squirrels are the only creatures that have been making use of the offering and mostly that’s been happening over the last month or so.  We haven’t had a particularly hard winter, but I suspect that the more palatable winter food has been consumed and now these little vermin are having to settle..

I’ll be clear that these little creatures are vermin, and a nuisance, they’ve chewed through more than one important bit of the house, and make a habit of skittering along the stucco outside my bedroom at ungodly hours of the morning. I yell at them, shake my fists, and even pound on the walls  on occasion, but I must admit it’s difficult to NOT enjoy watching them scamper through the snow and scurry up the trees to pick fruit nearly the same size as their little carcasses.

I caught this little guy the other day camped out on a sunny window sill and quite enjoying his meal (until I came along that is..)

I still have no idea where the impulse came from, but I dug up a copy of Baz Luhurmann’s 1999 release Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) this morning.  As I listened with a decade of additional experience under my belt, I’ve realized how simple wisdom can be, and how we tend to ignore that of those who are further down the path then ourselves.

As I progress through Leadership Calgary, the focus shifts frequently back to building wisdom in to our ways of thinking and being. At times the prospect (and in fact the process of getting there) seems immeasurably daunting.  After listing to this recording for the first time in ten years  though, I realize that wisdom really can be simple.. to those that posses it.  It’s the getting-there that’s difficult.

Baz Lehurmann: Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99, wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience…

I will dispense this advice now.
Read the rest of this entry »

I had an interesting encounter this afternoon when I met the Postie out in front of the house..  I introduced myself and as we chatted, he commented about some stock he’d purchased in a company that I haven’t worked for in over a year.  For the first time I caught a glimpse of a completely different perspective, a world where the only connection to your client is through the outer markings on an envelope.  When I realized this, I even felt a bit silly for offering my first name.  I’m the only one who gets mail at this address after all, and why wouldn’t I be me?

When I worked at technical support several years ago, I knew clients by their username alone (save a few regular-callers), and often I would recall a plethora of information about the specific configuration of their computer, previous problems and additional email addresses without much thought.  Several of the regular clients I could still list off by username, but any further details of their lives are forever lost in the Telco archives..

This really highlights to me what a huge impact our environment can have on our orienting stories, our way of seeing the world. I’m curious now, has anyone else had this experience, or can you relate to the tech-support or postman’s side of the equation?