Not that I would expect anyone to notice, since a five-day blogging absence is not at all unusual for me, but I’ve been gone for the last few days on a southern Alberta adventure. We managed to do everything in our draft itinerary and then some, and it was a great trip. It will be the subject of a few posts over the next few days, but first I have to sort the over seven hundred photos I took– the gift and the curse of a digital camera with an 8 GB memory card in it.
But it seems all this photo taking is improving my skills, somewhat, since over the last week I’ve had one request for use of one of my photos in an upcoming ad campaign, and another was featured on the front page of the Tyee (see pic below, bottom-right corner is mine), in a crowd-sourced “Your BC” photo pool. Not exactly mind-blowing, going-professional stuff, but then picture-taking is something I do purely as a hobby, so anything else that happens is just an unexpected bonus. This is what Clay Shirkey means by the cognitive surplus, I suppose. Nice to think I’m contributing.
Nice surprise in the Best of PG 2010, published by the Prince George Free Press.
I suppose I would have less to do with the second one, but still. Building awareness. Thanks to everyone who voted!
Remember this? We did finish the job. Also, we got a new bench/trunk for the kitchen. Lots of seating and a good place to put the printer and various other goods. To see more pics, here’s my Flickr set.
I love having a garden (especially since my better half is so much better at looking after it than I would be on my own). It’s great saying to yourself “I need some lettuce for this sandwich” or “This pizza needs some thyme” and then walking out in the backyard and picking some.
Now, this weekend, we had our first harvest and first fully garden-made meal: borscht, from some of the biggest beets I’ve ever seen. We’ve still got peppers, pumpkins, peas, carrots, and even some corn that’s starting to come up, so the rest of the month is shaping up to me more great meals like this one.
“Gardening” set on Flickr >>
I recently added a whole whack of photos to my Flickr stream, and while there’s a lot I like, this one really stands out for me for some reason. I know virtually nothing about photo composition, but I really feel like this one captures something aesthetic. I feel like it captures the spirit of ArtsWells, too.
I believe Wells is where everyone from Prince George to Williams Lake who’s ever had a neighbour complain about violating some sort of appearance bylaw has moved. It is awesome.
Of the social media ventures I’ve undertaken, I think my favourite is the Mr. PG fanpage. I made it two years ago when fan pages were relatively new, basically because it didn’t exist. I sent an invite to a few friends, and left it at that. Within days, there were hundreds of fans, it was mere months before it hit 1,000, and it currently sits at over 4,000. I do very little with it other than add photos and the odd bit of Mr. PG news. I don’t want to turn it into a platform for anything other than for people to express their admiration for Prince George’s faux-wood mascot. I’ve become the de facto social media spokesperson for a forty-year-old symbol of Prince George, and I’m not going to muck it up by pushing any sort of agenda– no promoting non-Mr. PG related events, pages, or people, no matter how worthy they might be. Stick to the message: he’s a big replica of a wooden man who currently stands at the intersection of Highways 97 and 16, greeting visitors to the city.
I think it’s this philosophy that lets the community surrounding Mr. PG flourish. People write on the wall commenting about how they feel about Mr. PG and the city he stands for. While some of it is negative, some is juvenile, the overwhelming number of comments are things along the lines of “I love Mr. PG!” My favourites are stories about Mr. PG back in the day, be it the niece of the guy who played Mr. PG in the Grey Cup parade, or just people who have moved away and say that whenever they see Mr. PG, they know they’re home. It’s nice to give people a platform to express positive sentiments about the city when so much of the online chatter is negative.
I also think that people in Prince George have reached a point where they actually DO feel pride about Prince George. Some people seem to be embarrassed at being represented by a wooden lumberjack, but many more seem to view him as an important symbol of the city’s foundations as it moves into the 21st century. Rapid globalization has made people look for things that anchor them in a particular locale, here in Prince George Mr. PG is one of the most potent symbols of where we are. Celebrating and reinterpreting what that means is a big part of what’s happening on the Mr. PG fanpage. I love seeing the stuff people come up with, and hope the community continues to grow.
photo: Mr. PG mural for Studio 2880 by Irene Fyvie. 8′ X 4′ acrylic on wood
I just interviewed someone from Prince George taking part in this. Good lord.
Canadian Death Race 2010 Brochure
I don’t listen to a lot of radio from the States, but after seeing three recommendations for “This American Life” in three days, I decided to give it a go. I visited their website and clicked on “Favorites” and ultimately chose “20 Acts in 60 Minutes.” The gist is simple: in the hour-long show, they present 20 stories. The math is simple: 3 minutes a story, less, if you account for time the host uses and breaks.
It is brilliant.
Since I regularly put together 2 minute segments on Daybreak, I am even more in awe of how much they are able to convey in such short time. I often find it challenging cutting down a five-minute interview into a two-minute tape, so that they are taking full stories and distilling them to their bare essence is simply inspiring. Particularly great are the stories at the 8:15 mark about a local classifieds radio show in Tennessee and especially the one at 21:59 about the greatest dog name in the world. The thing about both of these is they are such simple stories– the second one, in particular, with two brothers aged 12 and 13 explaining how they named their dog– this could happen anywhere. And yet the story-telling is such that you are captivated by the narrative of this simple non-event that must happens hundreds of times every day around the world– the sort of thing that could easily be glossed over while looking for the next great news story, yet makes for the most memorable bits of radio.
I’m going to take this as my new gold standard for putting together radio packages. If you put the right amount of care into any story, it’s bound to be compelling so long as the person telling it finds it interesting, too.
You can bet I’ll be listening to more of this show on upcoming road trips, and I recommend you do, too: the episode I’m talking about is here, or in the audio player below.
[audio:http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/241.mp3]
“RCMP are anticipating thousands of people could turn up for a “tubing” event Saturday in the Miworth area.
“With the expected large number of participants, Liquor Control Board regulations will be strictly enforced with the issuing of fines and seizure of liquor. Open liquor and the consumption of liquor in a public place are among those offences being targeted. A police boat will be patrolling the river in order to keep the event safe and to assist with any emergencies. There will also be a number of road checks deployed throughout the Prince George area in order to detect and deter impaired driving.”
Nice to know police are prepped for this, but I’m not a fan of high-traffic areas out in nature. Still, a river float is a classic Prince George experience so if you’re looking to do it with a few thousand friends, you may want to check this out: 2nd Annual HUGE River Float on Facebook
“The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) is pleased to announce that the campus and community radio sector will receive vital funding following the decision released today by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on the Review of the Campus and Community Radio Policies.
“The Commission approved part of the CRFC’s request for mandatory funding from the private broadcasting sector through contributions to the Canadian Content Development (CCD). Once in place, this will mean that the CRFC will likely receive $775,000 annually. This funding will then be distributed through the CRFC’s programs to more than 140 stations and their representative associations.”
via CommunityRadioFund.org
Sounds like good news for CFUR, but I’ll have to look in to what, exactly, this means.
Ad nauseam
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August 10 2010 | ∞
I’m going to a friend’s wedding in Lethbridge, and so will be visiting a part of the country I’ve never been before: southern Alberta. I really had no idea what was down there so I went to the library and picked up some travel books. Now I’m wishing I’d booked more time in order to see everything. I’ve made up a draft highlights itinerary that I think is doable, but I’m hoping people familiar with the area will be able to give me feedback– is there something I’ve missed, do I need more time for somewhere, am I underestimating driving time, etc? Here’s the sketch-up:
Day 1: leave mid-day (need to work), drive as far as we can from Prince George into Alberta. If we leave Prince George at around noon, what is a reasonable place to camp? Jasper is a bit close, but Banff is too far. Anyone know any good sites in-between? Do I need to reserve?
Day 2: stop off at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, get the rest of the way to Lethbridge, check in at hotel. How long do we need at Head-Smashed-In? Anywhere else we should stop?
Day 3 (wedding day): Most of this is going to be wedding/reception, but in Lethbridge we do plan on checking out Fort Whoop-Up, home of what was once North America’s most notorious black market whiskey trade. Any other suggestions?
Day 4: head to Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. Explore it on Day 5 and then head back on Day 5 and 6. What specific parts of the park should we see? Where should we stop on the way back?
So yes, any advice you can give is appreciated.
Filed under: personal | Discussion