The Corporation

Okay – so those of you who weren’t around or missed it the first time I pointed out that someone had posted The Corporation on google video only to find that it was taken down a while later, you get a second chance since it looks like the makers have posted it this time along with a donation link.

Watch the movie here. There isn’t a recommendation high enough that I can give. It’s definitely worth the 2.5 hours of your time.
For those who missed it the first time, here’s the synopsis:
“The Corporation explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Footage from pop culture, advertising, TV news, and corporate propaganda, illuminates the corporation’s grip on our lives. Taking its legal status as a “person” to its logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?” Provoking, witty, sweepingly informative, The Corporation includes forty interviews with corporate insiders and critics – including Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Michael Moore – plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.”

Walking the Walk

It’s politicians with visions like Jack Layton and Olivia Chow who make me glad to have moved to Canada. They are admitting that the world is changing and the same old ideas that worked in the 20th centuries will not work for much longer. That said, I always had a bit of skepticism about left-leaning politicians. Sure, they talk about green energy and the changes we should make but what do they do in their own personal life. So I’m embarrassed to say that I was pleasantly surprised to see all of the cool things that Jack and Olivia are doing in their personal life to help the environment. Olivia Chow, (NDP MP – Trinity-Spadina) gives us a really inspiring tour of her and Jack’s Green home in Toronto in this video.

Like a nightmare

This article sounds like a weird dream I’d have: “A 1.5-metre-long cobra being illegally kept inside an adjacent semi-detached house escaped in late September and has been seen in the property of landlord Phil Belanger. Since then, both of the affected semis on Church St., near Lawrence Ave. W. and Weston Rd., have been cleared out as a precaution. All efforts to locate the snake have failed.” – Toronto Star.
We live in a very strange city.

An old link but a good rant nonetheless

Obligatory (but should be implied) impolite language warning: F— the South.

Staying a little longer

I got the unofficial word today – I’m cleared to stay on this project here in Québec until the 22nd of December. Sage and I are pretty okay with it. She, Paul, and I have been having net “hangouts” just about every night and they’ve been lots of fun. Plus if all goes well I should be able to take two weeks off followed by several weeks of nearly all work from home. And a further bonus is that I may well look for a short term apartment for a month. It seems like the longer you rent the less the price is so while I might spend $70/day for the place I’m in I may spend $600 for a month somewhere down the street. So if I do that, I can rent it for the rest of the year and have a place to take Paul on the Christmas holiday. He was very intrigued by all of the stories of walled cities and haunted battlefields. To be able to basically have a free place to stay would be really quite something, I think.

Today was a busy day at work – 12 pretty much nonstop hours. The time went by really quickly, though. At one point I looked up at the clock and it was 4:30, a “few minutes later” it was 7:00 and I had no idea how the time had passed. But it is really good to be busy and feel extremely productive.

And now it’s off to have a bit of the pre-made mexican quiche from the health food store, listen to a bit of the Whole Wheat Radio stream and relax a bit before bed. After a day of editing documents at great speed I need a little time to slow my brain down before going to sleep.

Thoughts while showering

Everyone who knows me knows that the shower is where I do much of my thinking – preferably with a cup of coffee in hand. This morning, after writing the previous entry, I jumped in the shower and thought a bit more about my progress or lack thereof with the French language. I was thinking that I should probably listen to some of the podcasts out there for learning French and almost immediately shot my own idea down. I shot it down because of how listening to the podcasts would remind me of how little I know about it and I would find it frustrating and upsetting.

It was at that point I realized that there was something that Paul has already picked up from me and I don’t even know how. It’s not like I go around saying “only have fun doing things you’re good at” or anything close but my feelings this morning mimicked his when he talks about learning new math techniques.

It never occurred to me that as a homeschooling parent part of my responsibility would be to enthusiastically take on new things that I may not be good at right away and to stick with them. Maybe it’s time to listen to a few more of those podcasts and quit worrying about how competent I am.

Oh, and friends of mine on flickr will see that a few of the photos I’ve taken are now up.

Routines

It’s weird being in a new apartment in a new city by myself. It is as if all of my routines have been tossed aside. I have to recreate some new ones. So far it hasn’t been all that bad.

Yesterday after playing gin online with Sage for a bit I took a walk to get some coffee grounds and a bit of breakfast. That walk ended up being a 2-3 hour stroll through the old city. I have a few photos that I’ll post. Go ahead and email me with your flickr account information and I’ll add you to my “friends” list (if I haven’t already) and I’ll try to post some tonight or tomorrow morning. Unfortunately my net connection is on an open wireless network offered by the hotel and it gets really busy and slow by about 9:00 AM so it may be tomorrow before I post much.

So far I’m finding this part of the city to be extremely touristy in a somewhat obnoxious way. I can live with it and it beats living in a hotel in suburbia but I’m not sure if I’d live in this part of town were we to actually move here. Worse still, was the lower city near the ports. It’s an excellent study in how vibrant a car free neighbourhood can be but is filled with galleries and cheesy t-shirt and souvenir shops.

When I got back from the walk I did something I don’t often do at home. I closed the shutters on the room (I have no curtains and am on the first floor but I do have these neat little wooden shutters) and took a 2 hour nap. After waking I did some laundry and listened to a few podcasts.

At dinner last night, I decided that like it or not I am not really ready for French speaking. I can understand only a fraction of what’s being said to me and it actually feels rude to inflict that on someone when usually there is a shared language that works just fine. So for the moment I’ll practice my listening (I have lots of opportunities at work both in meetings and at lunch) and reading and resolve to study the speaking a bit more in the future. Sage and Kite talked a bit while I’ve been gone and Kite pointed out something really interesting and totally true about me that I’m sure is part of why I’m no longer up for speaking French on this trip. Kite noted that I am absolutely excruciated by doing things that I’m not really good at, particularly when others are watching. That is bang on and explains a lot why I haven’t taken on many new hobbies in the past 20 years or so too. It’s something that made living at the yurt really difficult as many of you will remember (though I didn’t describe it that way at the time). It is definitely something I’d like to change, too as it limits me a great deal.

Okay – time to get ready for work soon – I may try to upload a few photos to flickr in the meantime.

If Atheists Went Knocking on Doors

Australian filmmaker, John Safran, traveled to Salt Lake City to see what door to door proselytizing would be like as an atheist. The results are pretty funny.

Moving in

Okay, so I’ve managed to check out of one hotel and have checked in to my studio apartment on a really quiet block of Rue Sainte-Ursule. I’m quite pleased with the place – very clean, manageably small but still has everything I need . A five minute walk and I’m in the middle of everything. The only slightly obnoxious part is the parking. I park down this teeny alley that is just wider than the car in a space that is just wide enough to park and get out of the car as long as I don’t eat too much while I’m here. And no, I’m not even considering what it’ll be like in the snow with all of the hills. That’s a thought for another day.
Once I unloaded my bags and figured out where everything was I went out to get some dinner and pick up a few things for breakfast. One of the things I really notice is that there are (surprise) more tourists here and along with that more english spoken. As a result, I’m having fewer opportunities to practice. The ironic thing is that I found myself somewhat irritated at the fact that there were all of the tourists around. It didn’t take me long to remember that I was a tourist that was also attracted to the beauty of the area. So I just need to get over myself and enjoy the opportunity for someone to pay me to be here.

Speaking of being paid, I found out late today that I will not have to work all weekend after all but instead will only work after noon on Sunday. Good news for me since I now have the opportunity to sleep in and wander a bit tomorrow and generally be an (ahem) tourist.

I also heard rumours today that I may be staying here for the rest of the year. Yes it sucks to be away from home and yes I’d rather be in Toronto but hey, if you’re going to send me somewhere this beats the hell out of Los Angeles and frankly I can see this working for quite a while if need be.

Other than that, things are pretty much the same. I’ll try to take a few photos tomorrow and maybe put them up in the flickr account.

I’m moving!

Okay, not moving my real house, nor am I moving to Québec but I found an apartment that I can rent for two weeks. The rate is about the same as the hotel I’m in but the location is much better. At the moment I’m in a hotel in Ste. Foy, something of a near suburb of Québec. The apartment is a small studio in an old house on a narrow street within the walls of Vieux Québec.

I had been meaning to go down to the old city for some time now but hadn’t managed to get it together to get down there since I’ve worked every day since I got here and actually it looks like my first full day off will be on 12/2/06 since I volunteered to take on a bit of work this weekend. Tonight, though, a coworker of mine invited me down to near where he lives just outside the walls to get some of what turned out to have been the absolute best sushi I have ever tasted hands down. After that we decided to walk the two or so blocks down to one of the gates of the old city (not my photo – I’ll try to remedy that). We wandered around the city which was absolutely gorgeous and had so much more character than the mall-filled area I’m in right now.

So tomorrow I move out of this hotel and into the little studio. At least now I can explore a bit without having to wait for a free weekend to do it.