Nothing in Particular

Not sure what I'm going to write about this time....

I'm attending a class at BCIT at the moment on Effective Public Speaking. People at work were surprised that I thought it necessary but I guess I was comparing myself, unfairly, to the best of the best at Honeywell and coming off a poor second best. Compared to the general public who are not used to presenting in a public forum and the kids on the course, I'm not doing to badly at all and enjoying it.

We have to give a number of presentations throughout the 12 week process and one of the group has spoken about her diagnosis of bone cancer that eventually lead to the amputation of one of her legs. This happened to her at the age of 18 but she seems to be coping really well with it, both physically (you'd never know that one of her legs was a prosthetic) and emotionally.

Anyway, it inspired me to talk about my epilepsy last week which necessitated me to do a little research on the world wide interweb. It would appear that of the 40 million suffers in the world, 32 million have no access to treatment either due to poverty and geography or the fact that they live in a country that still believes that epileptics are possessed by demons. actually, due to the side effects of these meds, I tend to agree with them, but that's another story. I read that the first evidence of seizures can be found in Babylonian tablet in the British Museum. These will be around 4000 years old and they apparently talk about demonic possession. It took another nearly 2000 years before a Greek physician, Hippocrates, figured out that there was a neurological connection to the seizures rather than a spiritual issue but it took the medical profession until the 19th century to formally recognize this and start treating patients with the care and respect that they needed. This, and the fact that witnessing someone having a seizure is a pretty freaky thing to go through, meant that the condition had a huge stigma attached to it and still does in the developing world, hence the lack of treatment in those parts of the world.

However, as I've said before, if not being able to drink beer and feeling a bit shitty is the worst I have to cope with, I'm not doing too badly.

I downloaded a Pixies concert this week. They are touring in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their 3rd album, Doolittle and some of their European concerts have been released for download at 10 pounds. I also bought the remaining Beatles albums on CD so now have the complete set although not all in the new format. I still don't like the new format...it's cheap and nasty looking.

We're off to see U2 with the kids this week. Should be fun. It will be Evie's first concert so it will be interesting to see what she thinks of it.

Green Ideas

I attended BC Hydro's Power Smart Forum this week to network with customers and learn a bit about environmental initiatives. For the uninitiated, BC Hydro is British Columbia's power generator and they have a department called Power Smart who provide funding and general advice for customers to help them complete energy retrofit projects to their buildings so that they become more efficient consumers of electricity. The over-riding reason BC Hydro want to do this is so that the use of their electrical output is minimized and they have sufficient surplus to sell to California, where electricity is consumed with a voracious appetite for lighting and air conditioning. They also want to control their output to prevent having to build new dams and destroying more ecosystems in the northern part of BC.

The vast majority of the electricity in BC is generated via hydro dams and are therefore very low carbon emitters, although not carbon neutral, but we do import electricity from places like Alberta where they generate electricity by burning coal so we are not entirely environmentally friendly here on the Pacific west coast.

The conference, though, included some key-note speakers, workshops and discussion sessions that covered all sorts of environmental issues in support of the Power Smart drive.

The best speaker was Andrew Winston who is a "globally recognized expert and speaker on green business" and had a very engaging presentation offering corporations some advice on how to reduce energy consumption. He introduced the fact that China is busy constructing the equivalent of 30 Manhattans in China every year and to support this, half the world's cranes are in China right now. China's recession was 7% growth and I attended a talk on the North American economy on the final day and 7% growth is not a recession to anyone, but in these recent economic times, if 7% growth represents a recession in China then you can imagine what their growth figures were prior to the global financial meltdown.

He also spoke of what Wal-Mart are doing with their suppliers. They asked the top 100 suppliers to an event in Brasil last year and 3 days prior, sent them all an agreement that they were being asked to sign live at the event, but sent it in Portuguese. The agreement forced the suppliers to agree to provide their goods in an environmental and sustainable way. This included an agreement not to purchase beef from any land reclaimed from the Amazon (the rain forest area in South American as opposed to the web-based book store), so Andrew's argument was that countries around the world had been trying to stop the rapid decimation of the rain forests in the Amazon for 30 years and Wal Mart have managed it...Wal Mart, that evil corporation that apparently treats their employees badly, pays them very little and their rapid expansion round the world has meant the end of small local retail outlets everywhere.

He also suggested that a recent poll of MBA graduates would be willing to accept a lower salary if the company offering it can demonstrate their green credentials over other corporations. This mirrors what we have been hearing from the States where under-graduates are increasingly choosing universities for their green credentials. Frankly I don't believe a word of that. Whilst it may help them make the decision if they are stuck between two institutions, the main reasons they base their choice on, I suspect, are the course they want to study, the success and quality of the university and how much they can afford.

He gave a couple of examples of initiatives that large companies have tried in an attempt to reduce energy consumption.

Conway made their truck drivers to reduce their speed from 65 mph to 62 mph and they saved $10M, but the best story he told was the distribution company UPS who stopped their vehicles turn left. Turning left in countries where we drive n the right hand side of the road means lots of idling while they wait for the on-coming traffic to pass and increases the chance of accidents. So through this initiative that they drove with the use of GPS they saved 28,500,00 miles of travel and 3,000,000 gallons of fuel.

His strongest message, however, was his recommendation that we greatly reduce our consumption of beef. This industry is responsible for the decimation of the Amazon forests and other agricultural areas around the world, the processing of the meat is energy intensive and then you have to distribute the products all over the world.

Food for thought....

I'm a 606 Commenter

I've just left my first comment on the BBC's 606 website. If this thing works the way I think it will, here's the link...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/F14978413?thread=6985364&skip=50&show=50

I'm NorthVancouverJambo. I feel so empowered.

The comments were in relation to an interview that the Celtic bigwig made to the BBC in which he...yawn...talked about his wish for the Old Firm to move to England. I'm so bored.

To iPod or not iPod

I've been listening to music on Josh's iPod a lot recently. Ordinarily I would get my melodic fix while driving to and from work (and anywhere else for that matter) in the car but due to the fact that I can't drive until December, at the very least, I can't really listen to it there so I've had to rely on the iPod. Josh's is the Classic that has an 80GB memory and despite having 309 albums on it and a collection of digital photographs, still has over 56GB of capacity left. When we eventually get our stuff, even if I add all our other CDs on (over 400 more), it still won't be full and I'd be concerned that the iMac will start to run slower, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

Evie and Tracey have a Nano each but rarely use them.

Anyway, my question is, do I need an iPod and if so, what type do I get? A Shuffle is way too small and the Classic is way too big from my recent experience. The new Nano has a camera and a decent capacity but the one that is grabbing my attention is the iTouch, but only because it has the ability to play games on it. Other than that I don't see the benefit. I already have a Blackberry for work so don't need another box that does stuff on the internet or store personal records.

This is, of course, all academic because I won't be allowed one anyway.

Reformation Days

I've read a number of articles on-line recently about various bands from the past reforming and playing live. The Pixies have been doing for a few years now and are currently touring their 3rd album, Doolittle. The Incredible Mr Ford and I saw them tour that record the first time around (1989 I think) and saw them at the Royal Court in Liverpool. It was an incredible show at an incredible venue, if you could excuse the sticky carpet. I've always wanted to see them again but the opportunity has never arisen. It doesn't sound like I will get the opportunity this time around either as they appear to be ignoring Canada but you never know. I could always fly to Glasgow...

The majority of the Faces are also planning a one-off reunion for charity but without Rod Stewart. This is one band that I would love to see live having been far too young the first time around. But it wouldn't feel the same without their illustrious leader. I suspect that they've fallen out after allegedly rehearsing last year with Flea on bass to replace the late departed Ronnie Lane. News coverage suggested that Rod Stewart wanted the majority of the cash from any tour and this clearly annoyed the rest of the band. I'm surprised they got that far with rehearsals in light of Rod Stewart's focus on his own solo career in the 70's as the Faces came to an end having tried to keep going after Ronnie Lane left. It saddens me that they couldn't make it work this time around and if the rumours of Rod's greed are true he needs to take a good look at himself, but that may just be media speculation.

The stand-in singers for the reunion are to include Mick Hucknel. Really?? He used to have an incredible voice (for Simply Red's first album) but he's deteriorated into middle-of -the-road rubish now and would make a mockery of the songs. The only other singer that would come close to Rod Stewart would be Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes. He's the only singer I would pay to see sing with the Faces if they came to town.

The other band I've heard about today is Mott the Hoople. Rumours of the Stones Roses reforming have been around for years but is unlikely to happen by the sounds of things but it got me thinking about whether I would like to see any of these bands a second time.

I' love to see The Smiths but that's the least likely reformation on the face of the planet. I thought about going to see The Sex Pistols when they played Glasgow a few years ago but thought might have turned into a circus. The Clash would have been excellent to see but that's never going to happen now that Joe Strummer has passed away. Sylvester Stewart has been playing live occasionally over the past couple of years but not with the other members of his famous group. Sly and the Family Stone would have been the greatest reunion I think.

Kiss are touring again and I have been thinking of buying tickets for Josh but I'm really not sure. I would only want to go to see what a Kiss show was like but I guess I can see that on the internet for nothing. They were never very good the first time round and far more interested in what they looked like than what they sounded like which is why they were never heard much in the Uk as I was growing up. In any case, there's only two of the original line-up anyway and Gene Simmons is far more entertaining on the TV now that with a bass strapped to his leather-bound body. I am a genuine fan of the man, just not his band. I heard him on the radio in the UK when he was plugging one of his books a few years ago and he sounded pretty switched on. He speaks his mind and possibly gets on people's nerves as a results but I like and respect him and he's come a long way from his origins. His Mother must have been (and continue to be) an incredibly strong woman having survived the Nazi's "camps" during the Second World War and bringing a young Gene to the States a bit later, bringing him up on her own. She's the reason he has been as successful as he is. He's a self-promoting, big-mouthed, money-making machine but maybe we need more people like him.

Anyway this post isn't about the Kiss bass player. So, who would you like to see reform that hasn't already? Post a comment and let me know.

Here's my suggestons:

1. The Smiths

2. The Stones Roses

3. Sly and the Family Stone

4. Pink Floyd (all of them)

5. The Faces (all of them)

6. The Velvet Underground (I know they reformed but that was for a one-off tour and I missed them)

7. The Las (again, I know they reformed for some shambolic shows at festivals but I only got to see rough versions on the internet.

8. Dead Kennedys

9. The Jam

10. ...erm....Abba (sorry, I panicked)

Thanks to the Black family for joining the army of followers. I'm not sure if 3 can be described as an army but I'm don't care. My hits on the blog have soared into three figures now. Admittedly most of those are me checking for new comments and followers but that doesn't matter. In fact, here's another quiz to set you: how can I get more followers? What would you like me to write about. Let me know. I could be your literary DJ at a wedding, waiting for prose requests instead of records.

Random News is No News

The last two weeks has seen me in bed for most of my spare time as I try to deal with the latest side effects of this medication, hence the lack of any posts. Sorry. In fact, this one might be a bit short.

I started reading War and Peace recently. I'm not entirely sure how long it will take me to finish but I am determined t get through it so that I can continue making it through the Big Read top 100. I thought that if I could get it out of the way early, it will lift a huge weight off my shoulders. Thankfully, I've already read Lord of the Rings. The next couple after that will be short ones I think so that I can get my numbers up. Perhaps a couple of Roald Dhal that I can polish off in an afternoon.

I had my biggest find at the charity store last week: 15 CDs. Someone had obviously dropped them in that day. Stones Roses, Brand New Heavies, The Shins, Massive Attack, Joni Mitchell, The Beach Boys and David Grey to name but half of them. I also picked up 3 of the new Beatles remastered albums in Costco for $13 each: Sgt Pepper, Let It Be and Rubber Soul. The new packaging is horrible being as it is, shiny cardboard, but you get a wee film with each that you can play on the computer and a booklet giving some of the background to each record. The recordings have been remastered which means if you play them on systems that cost thousands you can pick up nuances that were undetectable on the originals. And you can buy the set in Mono if you really prefer it. Frankly, I'm not into the Beatles enough, nor do I own a hugely expensive system to play them on but I am collecting their albums so thought the $13 price was too good to let go.

I've been busy loading our CDs here into iTunes. It was much quicker on our new iMac but iTunes itself is a little limiting. And when you go for the album artwork, they miss half of the records I have and on the few that they do have the artwork for, they get it wrong.

I downloaded a couple of Podcasts form the BBC this week too. Jonathon Ross was one. What you end up with is his radio show without the music. There must be a reason for this. Licensing on the music perhaps, but it rendered the experience a little boring. I like Ross and his antics on the radio but it's the music that I used to listen to him for so. I also downloaded a football show from BBC Radio Scotland which was better because I didn't have the expectation of music.

Talking of football, I see Scotland didn't make it to the World Cup...again. Came down to the last game against Holland and despite an apparent great performance, a defensive error in the last few minutes cost us the game and the chance to play in the play-offs. I suppose I'll have to support England then. I'm quite hopeful of their chances.

Ok, I have a basketball game t go to; Josh, not me. Better go.

Scotland the Grave

I've just read my mate, Donald's, latest email in which he's just commented, as constructively as is humanly possible, about the weather in Scotland, the fact that living in Scotland could be better the national team's chances against that footballing super-power, Macedonia, a game that we (like, I play for the team......) won 2-0, by the way. That means we need to win our last game against the Netherlands, which is no mean feat, and then hope that our resultant second place in our group allows us to qualify for the World Cup play-offs against a crap team...like the Orkney Islands, or a team from Mull or even a team made up exclusively of ladies from a terribly posh part of Vermont. Can this be arranged I wonder?

Anyway, it got me thinking about cheering the fella up, from the point of view of someone who used to live in Scotland but who now lives in a temperate rain forest climate on the west coast of North America where the sun's been shining steadily for the past few weeks and we can see eagles soaring majestically in the air, pretty much any day of the week.

Pheww; here goes.

1. You can buy chocolate that tastes like chocolate and not baby sick, any day you like, mate. I've written about North American chocolate before and won't bore you yet again but it's a real reason to be thankful, I can tell you.

2. You can go and see your favourite bands whenever they tour, because they always tour in the UK and rarely come to Canada. When you live in Vancouver you have to take what you can get and hence I've seen George Michael live. I'm not proud of it, but it was surprisingly good, I have to say. I've seen a couple of other bands too, but not much. The Raconteurs were particularly excellent last summer and Josh loved his first experience of a live show, but the opportunities in Scotland are far more than over here. On the other hand, when bands do tour here, you get to see them in ting places that they would never be able to play in Scotland. We've seen REM in a park and stood feet away from Michael Stipe, Travis is a wee venue and they came in through the crowd and Tracey shook Fran's hand and The Black Crowes in a theatre.

3. You can drink a pint of British cask conditioned ale in a pub that doesn't have numerous screens showing various different sporting events and have the aforementioned beer delivered by an expert at the correct temperature (room temperature) and not the temperature of ice. You can't taste beer at that temperature. I should know, I've tried on numerous occasions.

4. You have proper television. You have the BBC and all their wonderful programs made by people who love their art and are capable of producing superb, thought provoking drama, hilarious comedy, entertaining music shows or world class documentaries and not the dross we have to put up with over here. And that's just the BBC. The majority of the stuff here is imported American sewage, made for morons and sadly depressing. I'm not suggesting Canadians are the morons that I referred to in the previous sentence, by the way. They are a little further south.

5. Your radio (particularly the BBC) is second to none. Admittedly this is a mute point because you can listen to it on the world wide interweb as long as you keep in touch with what's on and listen to it within 7 days of it's broadcast, but frankly, I'm beginning to run out of reasons.

6. The scenery up the west coast and the north coast Of Scotland is breath-taking. It's even more breath-taking here but I've always been a fan of the Highlands and the holidays we spent up there were amongst the most relaxing I have ever had. Rent a cottage in the middle of nowhere, take a few books (none of your pulpy trashy fiction - take quality people), some choice beer/wine and some sturdy footwear and you're sorted. Even if (or when) it rains all week...who cares, because you are on holiday, in the middle of nowhere. It's everything that vacation should be; a complete escape from the trials and tribulations of normal working life.

7. The curry in the UK is only something that you can only truly appreciate if you miss it for a couple of years. The curry here is runny. That and the apparent lack of those spicey onions that you eat with those big crisps are the only issues I can think of moaning about, but when you can't get thick creamy curry sauce and spicey onion stuff with a pint of Lal Tu Fan (not spelling it properly, but John Hunter knows what I'm talking about) you'll understand just how good Scottish curry is, particularly in Glasgow.

8. Football is called football in Scotland and not "soccer". You've no idea how frustrating it is to have to say soccer all the time. I even have to say it when I talk to other Scottish people here for fear of confusing them. It's fitba, but if you say "fitba" they think that "football" is a terribly rough game played by wimps (they have to wear all that padding) and an ill-shaped ball...with cheer leaders, the world's most distracting sporting phenomenon. AND, if you want to see some proper fitba, you can go down Tynecastle and see it live and not the part time pish we have to watch here.

9. I need to get to 10 for our Don. Erm........Blackpudding. In fact, breakfast. Breakfast here is eggs and a few bits of other stuff. I hate eggs because, as most of you will know, they come out of chicken's bums and look, smell and probably taste foul. In Scotland you can have proper bacon and not the paper-thin stuff here, tatty scones, proper sausages, beans, mushrooms, toast and blackbloodypudding. Proper breakfast.

10. Made it...Next...the shop. Nothing remotely like it here.

OK, that should cheer you up sir.

Now, having said all that I wouldn't want to move back from here because I prefer Vancouver and have fallen in love with the scenery, the way of life, the quality of life, the people (not literally Tracey, there's still only room for you my Lover) and the record stores. We can see bears in the streets, eagles in the sky and whales in the ocean. We can watch basketball (shite), hockey (I'm being converted), football (mmmmmm) and baseball (HELP) all year round and ski in the winter. In the Spring we can ski in the morning and go to the beach in the afternoon and it's warm. You can ski in the morning and go to the beach in Scotland too but it would have to be Hillend (skiing on upsidedown brushes) followed by Portabelly.

Has this worked Mr Pretsell?

Anyway, I'm off. You'll be delighted to know that it's pouring here today. Bloody weather.