I’ve written before about my struggle with things I should do but don’t have a particular urgency or deadline. Things like routine check-ups at the dentist or organizing the spice drawer. Every few days you think “I really should get to that at some point…” and then you forget about it, until a few days later. They’re presence isn’t necessarily causing a major problem in your life, but they are a regular annoyance that just keeps coming back and back and back.
Recently, I came up with a new and not-at-all ground-breaking strategy to deal with these things. I made a big list of every one of these niggling items and I challenge myself to cross off one every day. These are not regular chores like cooking or sweeping or brushing my teeth. They are things like “change that light bulb in the entrance” and “get that one pair of dress pants dry-cleaned” or even just “email those photos to my aunt”.
And it’s been transformative. Not in an amazing, life-changing way but in the same subtle way that those little task pile up and drag you down. Every item that gets crossed off removes one little burden from my mental space. Every day I get to think “now I don’t have to worry about that again.” And then when those other things that haven’t been done start springing up in my mind they don’t bother me because I know each one of them will be dealt with, not someday, but soon.
Note: this also helps
I am once again attempting to learn French.
This is something I’ve done sporadically over the past eight years or so, in my quest to learn to speak another language at a level that goes beyond the tourist’s “hello” “good-bye” “thank-you” and “how much?” And French, being a language I took classes on from grades five through eleven, seems like something that should be obtainable.
But here’s the thing: despite seven years of regular classes on the French language in which I was quizzed, tested and assessed at a consistent A or B grade level, I speak virtually no French. I have a decent vocabulary and can pick up key words and phrases, but I am nowhere near fluent. Not even on conversations about weather or where I work.
And at the risk of absolving myself of personal responsibility, I blame the system. I think back to hours spent memorizing how to conjugate various verb tenses or making sure I knew which way to face the accent on the “e” when spelling out words and I think “what a waste of time.” All this effort and focus on spelling and grammar when even my pronunciation of “au revoir” is terribly mangled by an Anglophone accent.
Imagine if we taught kids how to talk this way? As soon as they can muster a “Mama” we focused on their ability to tell us where the pronoun goes and that they aren’t using to many “m”s when they write it out. It makes no sense. Instead, we speak to them in simple sentences, gradually building up their vocabulary, pronunciation, and ability to actually communicate with those around them. We give them at least a year of this before we start throwing writing at them, and grammar doesn’t come until much much later. And it works. So why do we completely ignore this tried and true method when it comes to learning a second language?
This is not a new problem. My mom recalls a story of when after years of getting “A”s in French class she took a trip to Quebec, only to find she could neither understand nor communicate with a bus driver in the language she was supposedly mastering. Years of making sure we don’t mix up our “vous” and “tu” and when confronted with an actual speaker of the language, we draw a blank because in all our learning, we’ve had no actual conversations in that language.
And I feel pretty confident it’s not just me who has this problem. Virtually everyone English speaker in this country takes French classes in school, but bilingualism west of Ontario is still a relative rarity. How many hours have been wasted over the past four decades or more with thousands and thousands of students toiling away over spelling exercises that could have been spent actually learning how to SPEAK the other official language of this country? Maybe if instead of learning which way the accent faces we learned how to pronounce that accent in a convincing way we’d be a lot closer to what was envisioned.
I’m now on app.net and tent.is
I understand and largely agree with the principals behind each, but I’m really not sure either will succeed (and if they do, if they’ll provide any use for me). So for now, I’m just hedging my bets and getting in early.
This is my anecdote of the moment, so here it is for posterity.
Two weeks ago, I was in a hotel in Terrace. CNN was on in the lobby. And there was a story about this new dance craze sweeping the world. The sound was off, so I couldn’t hear it, but you could see the video. It looked strange.
That night, I was at the wedding that prompted the trip. And partway through the night, a song came on that I had never heard before. And a bunch of people, most (but not all) younger than me, ran out and started dancing. A dance I recognized as what I had seen on CNN earlier that day.
I had discovered a pop culture phenomena via CNN. And that was the day I became old.
link
Alex Stone in the New York Times has a fascinating piece on why waiting in line is torture. This part jumped out at me:
“Surveys show that many people will wait twice as long for fast food, provided the establishment uses a first-come-first-served, single-queue ordering system as opposed to a multi-queue setup. Anyone who’s ever had to choose a line at a grocery store knows how unfair multiple queues can seem; invariably, you wind up kicking yourself for not choosing the line next to you moving twice as fast.”
I despise the multi-line system. There are so many factors that can result in you waiting longer than someone who arrives after you: the speed of the cashier, the amount of change the person in front of you wants to use, and the one I despise most of all: being in the express lane behind someone who wants some rare brand of cigarettes that doesn’t exist which then requires a lengthy negotiation of a possible substitution and a two-and-half minute walk for the cashier to go get this item (I’m probably overestimating the additional wait-time but as the article says, it’s natural).
This multi-line system wouldn’t be a problem for me if there weren’t a glaringly obvious solution, which is the single-line, multiple check-out used at banks and Wal-Mart (say what you will, they got that right). Given that “in a system of multiple queues, customers almost always fixate on the line they’re losing to and rarely the one they’re beating” I have no idea why most grocery stores use a system that creates the most negative experience possible. And I never buy gum or tabloids to make it worth their time.
Not me specifically. Just everyone involved in an organization I was part of. It was made online, via social media, with someone essentially saying he knew where we lived and he would kill us and burn our cars and other unsavory things. This post is not a slam to police because once we contacted them they sent someone to us and to the person’s home to check him out. But I do remember that one officer asked “Can’t you just block him so you don’t see his posts?”
That surprised me, because I don’t think that if I were in a parking lot with someone yelling death threats at me the police would ask if I could cover my ears. That’s why this Globe and Mail editorial resonates:
“The assumption cannot be made, however, that some of those ranters won’t act on their words. The Internet is not inherently less real than phone calls, letters or face-to-face conversations.”
If threats are not really threats, that’s one thing. There’s plenty of examples of people making off-handed comments that should not be taken as legitimate threats. But the assumption should not be made that what happens online will never enter the real world.
Recently, I was working on a story that, on its surface, was David vs Goliath. A small, locally owned business had a new neighbour that just happened to be a larger, corporate-owned place that sold pretty much the same thing. The new business had a bigger sign, flashier messaging, and the ability to send out much more advertising.
End of the line for the local guys, right?
Except it wasn’t. Apparently, in the time since the small business got the corporate neighbour, business was up. People were attracted by the bigger sign and better advertising, but some were opting to try out the local store instead. Rather than the big business taking customers away from the small business, it was attracting new ones for both.
This isn’t an entirely unexpected outcome. In an article for Slate magazine, Taylor Clark examines why Starbucks actually helps mom and pop coffee houses:
“Each new Starbucks store created a local buzz, drawing new converts to the latte-drinking fold. When the lines at Starbucks grew beyond the point of reason, these converts started venturing out—and, Look! There was another coffeehouse right next-door!”
This made me think about the job I have covering local current affairs. There’s sometimes a tendency to think of other media outlets- be they print, digital, or broadcast- as competitors. All these other reporters and writers are trying to outscoop you, and take your audience.
But I don’t think this way. I see other media in the region as complementary. A newspaper focused on just one city can follow threads that a regional radio show can’t, while the regional radio show can come up with storytelling formats and guests that wouldn’t work in other medium. We all have our constraints and our competitive advantages.
If we focus on those individual advantages, we all win. If everyone does their job well, the number of people interested in local stories will go up. And the more people are interested in local stories, the more demand there will be for coverage from a variety of sources and in a variety of formats. As in the case of the corporate giant and the local business, sometimes your competition isn’t.
For a variety of upcoming projects, I’m looking for great northern B.C. musicians. Genre is not relevant. Basically, I’m looking for groups or individuals who would attract a crowd and/or impress a crowd. Ones who you are legitimately excited to see play and would tell your friends “you have to check them out live!” Ones who won you over on a festival stage or in a coffee shop.
Genre doesn’t matter, geography does. “Northern B.C.” is a tough area to define, but let’s just say roughly from Williams Lake northwards. Best place for me to collect them would be in the comments here, (where people can also upvote) but if you feel more comfortable you can message me on Twitter @akurjata or email andrew[at]kurjata[dot]ca.
I’m transcribing this blog post from my pocket-sized Moleskin notebook that I’ve been using to document the last few days. I’ve used these notebooks for a few years but never as much as this past week.
There’s a few reasons for this increased use, but high on the list was a desire to be unplugged. So to that end, the notebook replaced the Twitter and Facebook status boxes, as well as Foursquare check-ins and this blog. I just had a ten-days off (two weekends, a provincial holiday, and five vacation days) and I wanted a break not just from work, but from the internet, as well. Namely, the flow of information that comes with it.
I am constantly plugged in to this flow. On my job, I’m looking at news sites and wire services and email to find and follow stories. Off the job, I’m on Facebook and Twitter and Google Reader for diversions and information and keeping track of what’s happening in the world. And I needed a break.
It’s easy to get into the routine of constant “click click refresh.” It’s quite literally addictive, setting off pleasure centres in the brain. Then there’s the feeling of needing to be in the know. I don’t know that my job of creating a daily current affairs show necessarily aggravates the situation, but it does give me a handy justification for checking news sites or social media more times than I probably need to.
But I’ve liked this experiences of going without. I haven’t checked Facebook or Twitter in days. I’ve checked my email a couple of times, but just to sweep and delete. I barely know what’s happened in the news for the past week aside from what I’ve overheard in conversation, seen on the front page of newspapers at the grocery store and a couple of radio broadcasts.
I don’t think being constantly unplugged from the flow of information permanently is a viable, desirable or responsible option. But I don’t think the routine I’d hit before this purge was ideal, either. Constant bite-sized chunks interfere with my day too much, not to mention my thought process and attention span. There’s a middle ground. I just need to find it.
Sitting while you work is killing you. No, really. It’s the subject of much discussion this week.
I’m not going to go into a detailed analysis of all the studies that have been done on this subject (a pretty good set of articles is linked to in the preamble to this Wirecutter article). But I am going to share my own experience with standing on the job.
I stand on the job. It started about a year and a half ago. I was well into being established in an office job which mostly consists of typing, phone conversations, and other computer work. And I was being met with the usual challenges of inertia: sluggishness, weight gain, etc. Despite being largely inactive all day, I would still come home and be wiped, wanting to lay down or sit. Despite not moving, I was still tired.
I thought back to other jobs, and remembered how on other office jobs I’d had I’d experienced the same problems (and noticeable weight-gain issues) that I only managed to fix when I went to being unemployed. I didn’t experience those problems when I worked in a restaurant, a coffee shop, or a mill. And I often felt less sluggish. Without doing any research into the subject, I looked at the common denominators: I sat at the office jobs. I stood at the other ones. And despite enjoying the work of the office jobs more, I enjoyed the way I felt physically more at the other ones. If you’re going to be exhausted at the end of the day, better that you be mentally and physically exhausted, rather than just mentally (which will drag you down physically anyways).
So I made a resolution: I would stand at work. And I did. Here’s how I did it:
Not particularly fancy. I’m lucky to have a desk with an upper platform already, but that’s an upside-down recycling box for my keyboard and a packaging box for my mouse. The recycling box is now an actual keyboard stand, but the cardboard box remains in place. If I didn’t have the elevated platform, I’d go out and buy some other sort of box or platform for my monitor. At home I stack my monitor on set of encyclopaedias (sad statement on their use), and kneel on an exercise ball. I’ve been working on-air this week, and most of the time I have my mic elevated so I can stand while speaking. I only sit when a guest comes in so I’m at the same level as them, or when I have to do some concentrated typing.
Standing also makes me move more, which is just as (and possibly more) important. Even typing right now, I’m taking regular split-second breaks to shift my legs or walk around. I’ll regularly jump up and down to get my mind moving, or take a quick walk around the office. I do this more when standing then I ever would while sitting. I’m also lucky enough to have a headset, so when I’m talking on the phone I can walk around the office or pace, which I do constantly.
This system has made a huge difference. I get far less sluggish (and the sluggishness returns whenever I spend a day sitting). I have more physical and mental energy, both on-the-job and at home. At the end of the day, my body feels like it’s done something as opposed to just having sat there. It’s nice to have my body and mind in sync: while my mind is working, so is my body, and relaxing at the end of the day is earned by both parties.
So I encourage it. If you have a box or books or money to spend on something fancier, elevate your monitor, push back your chair and stand at work. I’ve been doing it for 18 months and it feels great. Now I’m seeing all sorts of studies telling me that it is decreasing my chances of death significantly, which also feels pretty good.
Today is Canada Day. I’m going to celebrate by getting lost in the woods we’re so well known for. There is much to love about this country. But for whatever reason, I woke up today with a poll on my mind.
It’s this one here, conducted by Angus-Reid and published by Maclean’s. It’s called “Canadians feel like they’re on top of the world.” Published last December, it found that when compared to the United States and Britain, we Canucks are much more bullish about the future of our country. We’re more likely to think the country is moving in the right direction, more likely to agree that ours is the greatest country in the world, more likely to think it’s the best place to raise a family.
And why would you disagree? Turn on the world news and look at the ruptures happening in United States, the constant crises in Europe, the problems in Japan and China and India. Canada is great!
But exceptionalism is a dangerous game to play. It does us as a nation no good to look at the problems and failures of the rest of the world and take that as proof that we got it right and can sit back and celebrate. Even if we’re right and by some metric this is, factually, the greatest country in the world– that can change and (as the last decades have shown) change fast. Especially when you’re on top.
Every once in a while I’ll find myself thinking about how great this country is and then I’ll wonder what I have to do with it. It’s not like I’m managing the economy or making laws or anything like that. Being in a great country does not make you great by default. Great countries are made by ordinary people striving to do great things. It’s take an informed and active citizenry. It takes people from all walks of life being actively involved on some level of making the whole thing work. It looks like we’ve done a pretty good job so far. Let’s keep it up. Happy Canada Day.
Look, I’ve written about buses in this city before. To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about the current system. I recognize that it’s a challenge to service such a geographically large area with a relatively small population, most of whom drive cars anyways. I have no idea what the economics of running a bus are, but they are large vehicles, and the prices are pocket change. I’m going to guess they have fairly razor-thin margins.
I want the bus to work. I take the bus in part because I want to prove that there is a market for it. I encourage people to try to take it where possible.
But it’s just so hard.
Ask anyone who’s attempted to take a bus and you’ll get the same complaints. It doesn’t depart frequently. Huge portions of the city aren’t serviced, or are only serviced once an hour (or less) or don’t get service on weekends, or anytime between the hours of 6 pm and 7 am.
These are chicken-and-egg things. Do you add more buses more frequently and hope it attracts enough new riders to offset the costs or do you wait for there to be more riders before you expand? My instinct is for the former. Anytime you want to attract new customers you have to have that initial investment. Car companies, movie studios, businesses– they all create their service or their product and then get the customers. They don’t wait for people to start knocking on their door asking for a service– they put that service out there and attract the users.
But none of this- NONE- is any good if people can’t figure out how to use the system that is in place. We could have the best system possible but if people can’t figure out how it works. This is my primary argument when looking at the bus system we have in Prince George.
Here’s the Prince George transit map. Here’s where you can find the schedules. And here’s what I’ve written before:
“How long does it take you how to figure out how to get from UNBC to Pine Centre mall? Bear in mind, these are two of the better served locations, and both are on terminals. Try doing it from a residential area. Or adding more than one destination.”
Plus, there’s always changes. In the past months, routes have changed or been cancelled due to road work, the end of university, and the end of the school year. How do you find out about these changes? Well, you check the transit website, presumably every day before you take the bus, just to find out if there may be a change. More likely, you find out when your bus doesn’t come and you call someone to figure out why. Not that there is a number to call posted at most bus stops. Or even a map or schedule. Not a huge argument in favour of taking the bus over a car. I hacked together a system that will Tweet, email, Facebook message or text you when there is change. So it’s possible to make this more convenient. It just hasn’t been done. No idea why.
Right now, for most people, the bus is a last resort. It’s slow and inconvenient and given the option they will drive, take a cab, carpool, bike or even jog to work before they take the bus because it’s quicker and easier. Which is fine if we’ve decided that the bus is only there for people who can’t afford to travel any other way.
But if we want the transit system to grow– and I assume this is the case– seomthing has to change. And I would posit the first step is make the system we have – whatever it looks like – understandable. Post schedules at the stops. Find a way to let people say “I want to go from point A to point B, how do I do this by bus” and have it return a route. I don’t care if that’s an app or just a person on the other end of the phone whose job is to understand and communicate this information to whoever calls. Something. Because as long as the bus system is so hard to use that the only people who do it are those who can’t afford to do otherwise, it will never grow.
—
I had an initial point to writing this, which is that Prince George is looking for feedback on it’s transit system. You can fill out a survey here and there are open houses for feedback on Saturday and Sunday. Full details on this site.
I saw this downtown last week and was reminded of this Ted X Talk by Dave Meslin. He proposed that “apathy as we think we know it doesn’t actually exist, but rather that people do care but we live in a world that actively discourages engagement.”
He used city notices like these as an example. How likely is it that someone driving by is going to know what this is all about? In case you’re still not sure, there’s a proposal to build a liquor store here, and the city is trying to let people know how to give feedback. Easy to parse, right?
If it’s that hard just to figure out what the signsays, how likely is it someone will actively engage in this process? If you want people to be involved, why not present the information in a way that’s simple, clear, and actively encourages feedback?
—
I posted the full talk and wrote about in on my blog in more depth last year.
A few years ago, ice built up on the river in Prince George, created a mini-dam, and started flooding things. For the people and businesses who live alongside the river, it was an absolute disaster. It made national headlines.
At the same time, the Coldsnap Music Festival was happening. One night a bunch of music fans were gathered inside the Art Space to hear some out-of-town bands. During one of the interludes a musician got on the mic and said something like, “It’s so awesome you guys are all out tonight. I know you’re going through a really tough time and it’s great to see the city rally.”
Everyone kind of looked at each other and then figured out what he meant. He was referring to the ice jams. Being an informed citizen, he was watching the news and knew that Prince George was flooding. Never mind that the flooding was localized to a few streets alongside the river– a far cry from the whole city being underwater.
This is where I find that concept of Kiez so fascinating. Most of the people in that room probably hadn’t even seen the flooding. It’s the same thing with the floods happening now. Rising river levels are making national news, and there are states of emergency and evacuation orders in localized areas.
Even though this flooding has been happening for over a week now, it doesn’t come into my daily reality at all. I don’t live by a river, I don’t commute past or over a river, and I don’t work by a river. So I don’t see the rivers, flood or no. So while rivers just a few kilometers away are making national news, I have no idea what they look like. This is true for the vast majority of people who live and work here.
I’m interested in when a localized event becomes something that affects the whole community. The Lakeland Mills explosion seems to have imprinted on people’s minds a lot, regardless of whether they saw the blast or know someone who works there. The flooding, not so much, though the media has sure picked up on it (my employer included). But housefires can be just as devastating as a flood to the people who have it happen to them, and those rarely get more than passing coverage.
I’m not saying any of this is right or wrong. It’s just an observation I’ve been thinking about.
—
Edit: As I was writing this, I decided to go take a look at the river myself. I biked along Cottonwood Island Park and put some pictures on Flickr, if you’re interested.
Ad nauseam
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October 11 2012 | ∞
Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to fill in as the host on Daybreak when the regulars are away. It’s completely different being the public voice of the program, rather than my regular gig behind the scenes.
One of my favourite parts or the job is preparing the show promos. This is a thirty second clip that runs throughout the day enticing listeners with what’s coming up on tomorrow’s program. I love the challenge of introducing a topic, making it sound exciting, and telling people when it’s on, all in a half-minute. It also lets me use music in some creative ways, as I like it to complement the theme of the story.
Below are a few I’ve prepared. I am definitely getting more relaxed in the latter two, compared to the ones I made during my first go a few months back.
Sexy books/SexyBack
[audio:http://f.cl.ly/items/1r3q2t1n1Q263G2p1k2C/sexybook.mp3]
Guerrilla gardening / Urban Guerrilla
[audio:http://cl.ly/K5gC/guerilla%20gardening.mp3]
River float / Rolling Down the River
[audio:http://cl.ly/K5ih/rolling%20down%20the%20river.mp3]
Oil refinery / Pipeline
[audio:http://cl.ly/K5nT/david%20black%20pipeline.mp3]
Energy slaves / Electric Feel
[audio:http://cl.ly/K6O0/nikiforuk%20slaves.mp3]
Filed under: CBC | Discussion