Observations about Craigslist

Spent my New Year's Day sorting some things out in the basement as it was getting a little labyrinthian on one side and I couldn't actually get to some things with ease.

As part of the process, I threw up a few items on Craigslist to give away and sell.  I like Craigslist because it helps link local people with items they need.  It also fits with my personal ethos of recycling and reuse.  I often look on Craigslist or thrift stores first when looking for an item instead of rushing out to the big box store.

Anyhow, looking at Craigslist posting this week makes me think that a lot of people got a new flat screen television for Christmas or at Boxing Week sales based on the number of older CRT TVs being given away.

I was joking with my wife, that instead of keeping up with the Jones by buying a new TV, we can just get the box off someone and leave it in the alley to make people think we got a new TV.  We get to up our neighborhood cred while saving all the money.

Any food, any time of year.

One of the issues surrounding climate change is the consumer belief that we can have any food item any time of the year.

This struck me on a snowy day in Vancouver as I was walking by a produce store.  There was an individual asking one of the workers if they had any grapes.

I think, "It is snowing, why would you expect grapes."

The only grapes would be coming from a much warmer part of the world, quite literally thousands of kilometers away.  Can we really expect to make any progress towards sustainability if we are constantly shipping foods thousands of kilometers to satisfy the culinary desires of everybody.

That's why this winter I avoided the consumption of mandarin oranges.  It is silly that this 'tradition' of eating oranges at Christmas time has become part of the way things are done in Vancouver.

Just a thought.  If we want things to get better, we all need to think a lot harder and act a lot smarter.

Mix tapes rule

Earlier in the year our trusty Toyota Echo was unfortunately in a motor vehicle accident and needed to go to rust bucket in the sky.

Fortunately, our friend was selling his old Honda Accord in order to contribute towards a mini-van for his growing family.

However, the vehicle was of a vintage when cassette tapes were still standard equipment for car stereos.  This was bad timing as when I was packing up to move, I decided that I no longer needed my cassette deck and various tapes and had sold all of this.

We got one of those cassette adapters but it has an annoying his and bit awkward to use with the funny cord hanging out.  I spread the word that I was in need of cassettes and several friends forwarded what they had which was cool.

However, it was only yesterday that re-aquired a cassette deck, just $20 on craigslist.

So, this morning I connected it up in "mission control" and got everything working.  My son and I then sat down to record some music.  It is very easy now with youtube as compared to 15 years ago with a stack of CDs.  We just think of a song, go to youtube and find it.

It was a good teaching moment too as I had to show my son how to use a pencil to wind the leader up to the start of the tape and then blanking the first part of the tape.  Then showed him how to set the level on the cassette deck so that all the songs would be roughly the same loudness, saving one from jumping to the volume control if a sound was too loud or soft.

There are some benefits to old technology and to be able to spend an hour quietly with my son was great because he's approaching his teens and by then hanging out with dad might not be on the top of his priorities.

If you're going to make your own, I like this set of rules.

Homeschooling, a brief word

I came across an article by Penelope Trunk who writes on many things, but what caught my interest was one of her entries on homeschooling in that is a how-to-live decision not a how-to-learn decision.

People ask me why I homeschool my son and it comes down to allowing my son to learn at his pace and not have his enthusiasm and energy restricted by a teacher that is struggling to keep control of over twenty kids at a time.

I also feel that you maybe have ten to twelve good years to be with your child, from the age of around two to their early teens before they go out into the world more on their own.  I figured that taking some time out of my life to build a strong relationship with my child isn't such a burden.  Really, if you're going to have kids you should be prepared to deal with the responsibility of kids.

Not everyone is in the position to homeschool but many who think they aren't really could do it if they committed themselves to the idea of being more involved with his/her child's education.  Our family has learned to live with less, and really we have a lot, in order to homeschool.

And to those who think homeschooled kids don't get enough social interaction, you're wrong.  Homeschool kids have sufficient opportunities for social interactions: sports teams, field trips, homeschool groups (we have a math group), classes for homeschoolers, and more are out there.  The cool thing is that it provides these children opportunities for interacting with not only children of their own age but children of all ages, instructors, teachers, other parents, grand parents, store owners, field trip guides and more.  Homeschool children aren't restricted to the four walls of a school and one teacher for the year.

I overheard a conversation between a regular school kid and a homeschooler.  "So when do you go to school?" the answer, "All the time."

Cool, Wade Davis joins UBC

Anthropologist and language preserver crusader Wade Davis has joined UBC and will be teaching undergraduate classes.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/BC/ID/2425189164/

I put up there with David Suzuki in drawing my awareness to the challenges we face to ensure that humankind will continue into the future.

Is it so wrong to be average?

I recall a story of a U.S Senator stating that half the doctors in the United States were below average and that action needed to be taken.  Not sure if this was urban legend but it represents a poor understanding of math.

However, what's wrong with not being average?  It has to be put into perspective.  A fourth line hockey player is below average for a professional hockey player but he could still outplay everyone on the ice in my Sunday night hockey group.

This comes up because I am reading The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor.  He teaches at Harvard where the students come in with high expectations because they have been groomed their entire lives to attend such a prestigious school.  However, once again after their first exam, many are shocked to be considered below average.

He also dismays his students by reminding them that 99% of them will not graduate at the top 1% of their class.  The students fail to recognize where they are relative to the rest of the world where the majority of people their age will never attend a university.

So, don't let being less than average stop you from doing something you love or make you feel less than adequate.  Never stopped me from playing goalie in ice hockey.

Metro Vancouver, Future of the Region (November 28, 2013)

Attended another Metro Vancouver event on Thursday, part of their Future of the Region dialogues.  The talk discussed the planning necessary for the Metro Vancouver region in order to make it an economically robust, culturally rich and socially equitable place to live, work and play.

The panel members included former Vancouver city councilor Gordon Price, Bev Grieve (Director of Development Services, New Westminster), Tim Savoie (General Manager, Development Services, Port Moody), and Gary Pooni (President, Brook Pooni Associates).  I’ve attached a scan of the bios that was provided at the dialogue.

The bottom line message, repeatedly emphasized by Gordon Price, was that the future of the region is going to be decided by the Translink referendum.  If the people do not vote to support Translink, then more roads will be built to support a car oriented society.  Over a million more people will be coming to the region over the next 25 years and developments will have to increase density but without proper public transportation, it will be very difficult to move the people as needed.  Price also emphasized that the transit system is at its limits already, with the 99 B-Line unable to meet demand.  The Marine Gateway project and the proposed Oakridge redevelopment will also place increased pressure on the Canada Line.  However, without increased funding to meet the transit needs of the increasing population, things will only get worse and push people into cars.  This is the wrong direction for the region to take and hopefully people will recognize this and vote appropriately when the referendum does come around.

Metro Vancouver Sustainability Breakfast - Food Waste

Attended the Metro Vancouver Sustainability Breakfast today.

Today’s topic was the challenges and opportunities presented by the upcoming ban of organics in the waste stream in 2015.

Todd Jeanotte of the Four Seasons hotel presented how the hotel works to minimize food waste in their different restaurants and catering business.  This involves staff engagement, menu engineering, preference reports, collaboration with suppliers, forecast management, and accurate measurement of input and output.

Erin Nichols represented the Vancouver Food Bank and spoke of how the organizations Food Runners program helps divert food that is near the expiration date from over 200 donors to those that can make best use of the food.  The interesting point made was that there is no liability for businesses that donate food which was a concern in the past.

Stuary Lilley of Enterra Feed described the process of how they take food waste and convert it into feedstock for chickens/farmed fished, oil and fertilizer.  Their process is described as a bioconversion process which uses the food waste to feed black soldier fly larvae which are then processed to make animal feed and fertilizer.  It helps close the loop in terms of minimizing waste and putting back the nutrients used to grow food into the agricultural process.

Steve Harpur, founder of Earth Renu, described how his company takes food waste and processes it into natural gas or biodiesel.  His main message is that there should be no food waste (packaged or unpackaged) going to landfill.  There are sufficient technologies capable of dealing with the waste and by locating his facility on Annacis Island, he reduces the distance that waste needs to travel – rather than the 700 km round trip to Cache Creek.

There was also a representative from Recycle Smart, a company that connect sustainability and business.  Many businesses do not know where to start, especially in dealing with the upcoming organics ban.  They also demonstrate that working towards meeting these requirements is not that costly and may actually save a business money by reducing waste collection fees.  Your waste may actually be a resource for another company.

The main message is that food waste represents nearly a third of the food produced in the world and that being organize material there exists the means and technologies to make use of this material rather than sending it to landfill.

Credentialism runs its course

Has the value of the college/university education diminished in the last twenty years?


I began reading College (Un)Bound by Jefffrey J. Selingo which looks at the future of higher education and how it has changed in the last twenty years with those born in the 1980s and 1990s attending post-secondary institutions.  In one part of the book, he looks at whether students are benefiting from college in a meaningful manner and refers to the book Academically Adrift by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa in which the authors looked at Collegiate Learning Assessment scores for recent graduates.  In their analysis, 45% of students after two years of study made no gains in writing, reasoning and critical thinking skills.  While after four years, a disappointing 36% made no progress.  Sadly, many students and parents blame the institutions for their failings.

I graduated with my undergraduate degree almost twenty years ago and my masters degree almost fifteen years ago.  Was it worth the time and cost?  If that is judged based on me working in the fields I studied, then no but if it is judged on me making use of the skills I learned then yes.  I started off with an undergraduate in biology and a my masters was in pharmaceutical sciences.  I am now a researcher and project manager for a shared value/sustainability consulting group.  How I got from there to here is a convoluted trip taking me from working as a lab technician, to a shipper/receiver, to managing a pharmacy teaching lab.  I never truly focused on grades, as the knowledge and skills I learned were much more interesting.  And I would rather have a good night's sleep rather than trying to squeeze out those extra few percentage points.  Not that I didn't take pride in doing well, but it really wasn't about the marks.

But I guess I'm also a little different from most people as I've taken some sort of academic or continuing education course every year since I graduated from high school except for 2002.  That's twenty years of additional formal learning that many people wouldn't even consider.

What am I getting at?  That school isn't about the grades.  It has been demonstrated that educators from grade school, high school and beyond participate in grade inflation such that the value of an "A" is diminished.  If everyone does well in school, how come so many graduates seem to know nothing when they enter the working world.  I've had to deal with PhD's trying to get packages from Vancouver to Belgium in less than twenty four hours - it was brought to me at 4:00 PM (PST) and had to get to Belgium for the next morning.  It stunned me the incapacity to realize that Belgium is 9 hours ahead of Vancouver which meant it was already 1:00 in the morning there when I received the package.  Flights to Brussels direct from Vancouver take at least 13 hours - thus, if you eliminate all processing and ground transport times, the package would at earliest be there at 2:00 in the afternoon in Brussels.  Alas, all FedEx packages go to Memphis first for sorting and then to Europe.  There was no way this was getting there the next day unless this researcher bought a ticket and got on the plane themselves.  This to me was a clear case of a lack of critical thinking or analysis skills and brought to mind me expression that incompetency on another individual's part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

So, yes, I believe that schools are failing our children and I struggle on a daily basis to help bring understanding to the world, one college graduate at a time.

Dear. Mr. Watterson

Interesting to see that there is a documentary out about the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

Googling it, one finds there are several reviews, but the one that caught my eye was the one in Christianity Today.  Now, I never knew about this website before today but it fascinates me that they do movie reviews.

I named my son after the little boy who has adventures with his tiger.  He even reads the comic strip himself now - hopefully he doesn't try to imitate the toboggan adventures.

Remembering Veterans

It would seem that once again, some retailers like Costco and Target take objection to those that wish to sell poppies during the period before Remembrance Day.

My mother-in-law's husband, a World War II veteran, passed away last week at the age of 94.  He volunteered to serve his country in a war against the Germans.

My son has a fairly good understanding of the sacrifices that soldiers make and the story of the big box retailers diminishes these acts.  The representatives and public relation talking heads will undoubtedly put a spin on the whole issue but it will not mean much to me.

I personally object to the reasons some wars are fought but support those that are willing to put their lives on the line in service of their country.  I can't convince you to avoid shopping at Costco but is that big box of socks really what people have died for?

The Battle for Sustainable Cities – Blog | SustainAbility

 The Battle for Sustainable Cities – Blog | SustainAbility

Over 50% of the world's population lives in cities.  Establishing a sustainable urban culture is important in ensuring that cities will continue to be able to serve as a place for people to live.

Huge elephant in the room

I typically disagree with the Margaret Wente's opinions in the Globe and Mail but her piece on Toronto mayor Rob Ford is bang on.

He won't quit and there is no mechanism to remove him.  He lacks the ability to run the city with all the controversy surrounding him but as long as he stays in office he can command the resources of his position to defend himself.  How does that serve the people of Toronto?

He's mocked on every late night show and is an embarrassment for Canada.

I hope he comes to his senses either resigns or steps back to get some help.  Only time will tell.

What will it take?

Shooting the s**t after hockey on Sunday with tales of working in cold climates such as -30 C in Edmonton or one guy saying it was near -70 C up in the Yukon once.  And then someone pipes up that with places being that cold this whole global warming thing is bunk.

In past I would have tried to reason with him but the fact is that people will believe what they want to believe.  Stating facts and evidence from the latest scientific reports won't do a thing because in general, people know so little about science that they go to the extremes of not trusting it.

State sized chunks of ice falling off Antarctica and longer ice free periods in the Arctic are enough for me to believe.  But for me, it is common sense.  If we burn thousands of gallons of fuel a day, that exhaust has to go somewhere.

Some of it is natural but humans play a role in climate change.  If you don't want to accept that then get out of my way because I'm here to do something about it.

 

Math Problems

In our homeschool math group we work through different math exercises to help better the math intelligence of those involved.  It is an interesting group consisting of an older group of two teenagers, a middle group of five ten year old boys and four younger children.

We present the same problems to each group and it is wonderful to see the different thought processes used to attack the problem.

This past week we were working on river crossing problems, beginning with the basic wolf, chicken and grain.

The young ones initial solution was to take the chicken across.  Then they came back for the grain and stated that the wolf would swim along side the boat thus getting everything across the river.  It was interesting this "out of the boat" thinking and a lesson for the parent leaders to clearly define the parameters of a question.

This week we move on to magic boxes, similar to sudoku but involving sums.

The Flying Troutmans

Finished reading the Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews

An interesting road trip story about Hattie Troutman who takes her niece and nephew on a trip through the United States to find their father.  Min Troutman, the mother, suffers from mental illness and was placed for treatment at the beginning of the story.

It is a story about family and discovery of one's place in the world when things are seemingly bleak.  I found it interesting because I have become more aware of that part of the world which is often hidden away.

My sister in-law's brother in-law suffers from manic depression and every so often he wanders off the medications.  My brother has never been diagnosed but is probably on the spectrum with a touch of Asperger's.  This became a bit more evident upon reading Raising Cubby by John Elder Robinson.  This is a father's tale of raising a son that has Asperger's while Robinson himself has Asperger's.

And I am coming around to understanding that we can't keep people in the shadows and hope the problem will go away on its own or that someone else will deal with it.  This is an issue that is coming to the forefront in Vancouver with Mayor Gregor Robertson focusing on housing the mentally ill.  There was also a study indicating that it does not cost much more to house the mentally ill as compared to burden placed on the police, medical and social services community.  The closing of Riverview put a lot of people at risk and in my opinion some people need to be institutionalized for their own wellbeing.

The world is getting smaller and more people are living in cities now so we all need to figure out how to get along.

Gabor Mate's letter to the health minister

One of my issues with the current government of Canada led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper is its lacklustre attitude towards science.  Scientists have to go through a strange process to release their data and speak with reporters.  That has gotten to the point that even the media outside Canada has commented on this 'muzzling' of science.

However, today I wanted to make note of Gabor Mate's letter to the Federal Health Minister on the federal government's stance on prescription heroin in helping heroin addicts recover from their addiction/illness.

In this letter, Mate challenges the minister on her decision to block this treatment and questions the basis of this decision.  It is obviously one of emotion not logic as it goes against the scientific evidence.

Addiction is a horrible thing and the war on drugs has not succeeded.  Other methods to help those addicted to drugs, whatever drug, need to be tried.

Just remember this next time we go to the polls.  We are all on this planet together and if we are unwilling to help those around us then this planet will work harder to reject us.

Michael Bloomberg, the soon not to be Mayor of New York

When Michael Bloomberg became mayor of New York City in 2001, he was worth about $4 billion and as he leaves office at the end of the year he will be worth about $31 billion.

For the year of 2013, he will have spent about $400 million on pet causes, which is only 1.3% of his net worth.

It is commendable that he is willing to spend his money on education, smoking bans, and other health initiatives.  It is also a little scary to think that at the age of 71, that even if he gave away a billion a year, he would probably die before he ran out of money.

Nike, Walmart and Unilever

Once upon a time I was one of the naysayers and critics of Walmart.  But the C-suite of Walmart is working on changing the way they do things.  It is partly a wait and see but it is nice to see that such a massive cog in the world economy is making the effort.

I came across a blog entry on the Guardian that discusses how Walmart, along with Nike and Unilever are looking into changing the shipping industry.  Shipping of products makes up 17.5% of U.S. transportation carbon dioxide emissions and this number is expected to increase.  So it is nice to see that businesses are taking an interest in reducing these emissions.

Every little bit helps.

Workplace Wellness

In researching workplace wellness and the benefits to the bottom line, I cam across a blog on Health Work and Wellness which may have been of use to me a few months ago.

Hopefully the advice will be of use to others.

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By Amy Jen Su, Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Isis Associates, Executive Coach, Author and BWC 2013 Final Keynote Speaker and Workshop Facilitator

In a world filled with endless choice, opportunity, and instant communication, we manage plates too full, run on auto-pilot, and multi-task to keep our heads above water. In our effort to “get it done”, we have lost the joy of the process leaving many things, ironically, incomplete. Yet, research has shown that focus is an essential ingredient to leading a successful and fulfilled life. How then do we build and cultivate the quality of focus?

Make Decisions and Stick to Them
Breakdowns in focus often occur before we begin. We skip the very foundation necessary for true focus to exist – making a conscious decision and then sticking to it. This includes everything – from choosing our life’s work, determining the priorities for our teams, down to what we will accomplish in a given day. Focus begins with setting intentions, declaring our commitments, and then acting directly from these. While decisions are not locked in stone, there is value to making them, sticking to them, and then consciously adjusting them when need be. Conscious adjustment is different than consistent indecision and worry.  A client, Susan, struggled for many years with focus before settling into her current role as a principal in a marketing-services firm. “I’ve always been interested in many things that it has been hard to choose a career path – even now, I find myself distracted wondering if I should be following my life’s passion of working in non-profit.”

Eliminate/Manage Distractions

Maintaining focus is not only hard on the big decisions in life but also difficult in our daily lives as well. After two weeks of self-observation, Susan uncovered two key sources of “focus saboteurs”. First, unexpected requests from other people, which she usually responded to immediately, interrupted her flow of work. Second, she became conscious of how frequently she responded to email to procrastinate on high priority work that she either did not enjoy or required a significant chunk of “thinking time” to complete.

Cultivate the Quality of Focus
Short-term, structures and systems can support our focus but ultimately, we must cultivate the quality of our focus for highest impact. This involves shifting the hard-wiring in our bodies filled with anxiety, tension, and “pushing” to flow, attentiveness, and presence when engaged in an activity. Quality of focus ensures that when we are working on a document, we’re fully engaged in the process. When we’re with our families, then we are fully present with them versus thinking about work deliverables.

Cultivating this quality of focus requires slowing down, engaging in meditative practices designed to build awareness and attention, and quieting ourselves enough to really “hear” what we want. Susan learned that the big paradox in all of this was that by actually slowing herself down, she became more efficient – now eliminating many things on her list that were there because she lacked focus in the first place.

Reflection Questions:
1. In what area of your life would having greater focus benefit you?
2. Throughout your day, what distracts you from your highest priorities or intentions?
3. Throughout your day, what conditions were in place when you experienced great focus or flow?
4. What new systems, structures, or practices could further support your ability to focus?