Written Inc.

Near-supersonic networking

2012-02-01T06:20:00.000-05:00

Taking flight
At altitude, December 2011

About this photo: Thematic celebrates screens this week. If you've got a screen-related pic you'd like to share, head here.

The good news: Our flight offered free wi-fi. The bad news: It expired after 30 minutes, at which point I'd be asked to fork over for the privilege of annoying my seatmates with my incessant Internauting.

My workaround? Simple: Collect every wi-fi-enabled device in my bag, and simply sign in anew when each half-hour ran out. By my count, I had five devices - laptop, two tablets, BlackBerry and iPod touch. - which got me 2-and-a-half hours of connected goodness on a three-hour flight.

Now, let's be clear that I am no fan of in-flight connectivity. Up until recently, in-flight aircraft represented the last bastion of near-silence for the over-wired. No pinging texts, no filling inboxes, no online games. Just the blessed peace and quiet associated with forcibly-disconnected flyers reading, napping or, horrors, chatting with each other. I lament the fact that society feels the need to fill every nook and cranny with high-bandwidth connectivity. Sometimes, it would be nice to simply pull the plug for a bit.

But, hypocrite that I apparently am, I was willing to set aside my anti-wireless-at-altitude stance for a chance to email silly pictures of myself to everyone I knew. Because as a one-time thing, it was a heck of a lot of fun. And as I happily skipped from one device to another to slurp up my half-hour snippets of free wireless, I couldn't help but think that, used with care, this could be a neat addition to the human landscape.

Who was I kidding? Between Alec Baldwin playing Words With Friends and the kid across the aisle using his iPad to record obscene-sounding bodily functions, I think we're all doomed.

Your turn: Wi-fi in flight. Good, bad, or indifferent?

On Carl Sagan, curiosity, and the lowly book

2012-01-31T18:54:00.000-05:00

"What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic."
Carl Sagan

Please resist the urge to repeat "billions and billions" in that unforgettable tone of his. What Dr. Sagan brought to the world, aside from a remarkable scientific mind that expanded our view of the universe, was a challenge to everyday folks to look at their own universe with just a little more curiosity.

I miss his voice and I miss his insight. I wonder who else is out there to carry the torch of science for those who never saw themselves as scientists.

Your turn: So, who else is there? I'll start: Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Thematic Photographic 181 - Screens

2012-01-30T19:00:00.001-05:00

Window on the world
7 miles above the planet, December 2011

I'd like to try something a little different with this week's Thematic theme, screens. So much of our daily lives revolve around flat panel televisions, computer monitors, smartphones and tablets, so I thought it would be neat to have a theme that focuses on these miracles of visually-focused electronics.

To me, technology has always been more than a simple gadget discussion. It's about how miraculous new inventions change the way we see and experience the world. I thought the screens that deliver those experiences would be a great place to start. Are you in?

Your turn: Share a photo of a screen, any screen, in any kind of scenario you think best reflects the theme. Post it to your blog, then leave a comment here letting everyone know where to find it. Repeat as often as you wish throughout the week, and be sure to visit other participants to share the joy. Thematic Photographic is our weekly photo-sharing, learning and exploring extravaganza, and we'd love for you to take part. For more background on Thematic, click here.

On remembering to experience the now

2012-01-30T18:17:00.001-05:00

"You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present."
Jan Glidewell

Where the flight attendant almost busts me

2012-01-29T20:32:00.002-05:00

Please take your seats
Somewhere over Ohio, December 2011

About this photo: Thematic. Movement. Here.

I keep coming up with new ways to get myself ejected from the grocery store, asked to leave the mall, and now, kicked off the plane. Thankfully I've only come close, without actually walking the plank. But I figure if I keep at it like I did on this flight, it's only a matter of time. Anything for the picture, right?

What does this have to do with movement? Simple: the camera was moving at nearly 800 km/h when this was taken. So was everything else in the picture. I didn't compose it, per se, as I didn't want to draw any more attention to myself than I already was. So I shot quick glances in all directions to make sure no one was paying too much attention, then quietly dropped my arm down into the aisle and began shooting.

By the time I was done, the drink cart was approaching from the back. And the flight attendant looked none too pleased. Still, she resisted the urge to dump apple juice in my lap. Or lecture me on the security risks of in-flight low-angle guerrilla photography.

It's another one of those click-and-pray shots, and while it won't win any awards (though this one did...more on that soon) it nevertheless brings me back to a moment that makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile, too.

Your turn: How does photography lighten your mood?

Always move forward

2012-01-29T10:17:00.002-05:00

Behold the sign of the horse
Delray Beach, FL, December 2011

About this photo: This week's Thematic theme is "movement". Even though this Mustang is clearly parked, there's a sense of movement in its front fascia that never fails to stop me in my tracks. If you feel the need to move, too, please click here.

Our son is a huge fan of the Ford Mustang. No surprise, as this iconic vehicle has been the object of desire of red-blooded, American boys pretty much forever. Okay, since 1964. Never mind that our son is Canadian. Last I checked, his blood was red. And there's still something about the design, the brand, the way the thing sounds as it cruises on by, that turns his head in ways no Hyundai ever will.

So whenever I see one, I try to take a picture of it. I'm guessing that in the annals of parenthood, anything that gives you an excuse to talk is a good thing. And since I was red-blooded and near-American once upon a time, too, this is an easy thing for the two of us to just fall into.

Your turn: The inanimate objects that connect us. Please discuss.

On meteorology

2012-01-28T22:33:00.000-05:00

"We could all take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism."
Author Unknown

On living vs. existing

2012-01-28T07:16:00.000-05:00

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
Oscar Wilde

It saddens me to think that Mr. Wilde may have been right. How many people around us, after all, are so wrapped up in the mundane details of making it through the average day that they forget to stop every once in a while to realize what a trip this life thing can be? A good shake to the soul might be in order, a reminder that we only see beauty if we first make the effort to do so.

From where I sit, it isn't a glass-half-full-glass-half-empty equation. My glass is half full of water, the other half air. How I choose to perceive it - as a source of life-giving water, an optical-photographic plaything, or anything else - is entirely up to me. Having that choice is priceless, and I'd hate to think I'd ever squander it.

Your turn: How do you spread joy?

Facebook goes public. Someone gets poked.

2012-01-27T17:37:00.000-05:00

It's sorta-official: Facebook might file papers for its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) as early as next Wednesday. The "sorta" part is because Facebook hasn't actually announced it. The Wall Street Journal is reporting this, citing an anonymous source. In journalistic parlance, it's "a person familiar with the matter." Which could mean the janitor who cleans Mark Zuckerberg's office, his pool guy, a disgruntled former employee, or his mother who simply wants him to call her more often than he does.

Whoever this "person familiar with the matter" is, he/she has touched off a firestorm of coverage. The big number could fall between a $75 billion and $100 billion valuation, with the company aiming to raise some $10 billion from the offering. This would make it larger than the GDP of some small-ish nations. Or some larger ones with banking, um, issues (Greece, consider yourself poked.) And around the same size as McDonald's (grease?)

Sure, at this point it's all speculation and hearsay. But the Journal's been pretty bang on in the past, and if all this plays out, the monster deal will significantly change the way we view social media. Why? Because the little baby once used to find hot dates on an Ivy League campus is all grown up, and most of us these days are only too happy to immerse our lives in a growing wave of services we once dismissed as trivial.

$100 billion is anything but trivial. And as Google panic-spends its way to parity, it's clear the social media future is Facebook's to lose.

Game on.

Your turn: Facebook...good or evil? Why/why not?

Play. Move. Live.

2012-01-27T06:52:00.001-05:00

Pure joy
Delray Beach, FL, January 2012

About this photo: Thematic explores movement this week, and I hope you'll join us. Click here to get started.

There's something to be said for taking a few steps back so you can watch your kids be themselves. I don't do nearly enough of it during the day-to-day routine that defines our day-to-day lives. Too busy working, grocery shopping, shuttling and worrying to unplug and just enjoy them for who they are. That has to change, because moments like this one on the beach are fleeting.

There's also something to be said for doing instead of just standing on the perimeter looking in. So after I took this picture, I put the camera back into its hermetically sealed bag and dove into the surf with our kids. No pictures or video. Just a vivid memory of an all-too-brief afternoon on the beach when we disconnected from the real world and enjoyed the moment.

Your turn: When's the right time to put the camera down and dive in?

On darkness and light

2012-01-25T20:04:00.001-05:00

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."
Aristotle Onassis

Mr. Onassis's words resonate especially deeply with me today, and I'm not entirely sure why. As far as I can tell, I'm not surrounded by darkness. I'm riding a pretty fulfilling wave that sees me engaged in work that jazzes me and touches others. My creative voice has never been more vibrant.

Yet I'm keenly aware of how quickly life can turn, how cruelly it can all be taken away, how even when we're bathed with light it behooves us to know where the shadows are, as well. Because life doesn't follow a predictable path, and it probably doesn't hurt to know what we'll need to do if the darkness suddenly descends on us.

Your turn: Keeping the darkness at bay. How?

Vignette - a morning I don't want to forget

2012-01-24T23:33:00.001-05:00

Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears.
Albert Camus

I was up at a ridiculously early hour yesterday. I hadn't slept as much as I simply lay in bed staring at the clock, so worried I'd oversleep that I simply avoided sleep entirely.

The two co-CEOs of Research In Motion had quit the night before. The tech world was buzzing and I had been asked to do an early morning interview with Canada AM. It's CTV's flagship morning show, and as much as I've for the most part gotten used to the whole being-on-TV thing, this is television on another level, the best on-air and production talent you can imagine. I was equally jazzed, humbled and honoured.

I quietly moved through the usual preparation. Shower, clothes on, pat the dog, kiss the sleeping munchkins, juice, read, read, read, then out the door. I've done early-morning interviews before, but this one somehow felt different. As I stepped off the porch, I felt as if I was drinking things in in something beyond HD. The air felt particularly crisp, the darkened landscape almost three-dimensional as my now-wide-open eyes took it all in. It had rained the night before, and the ground was still slick, a chilling wind whipping through the now-bare trees. It was weird, but in a good way...I felt so incredibly alive and in the moment.

On the drive down, I pulled up next to someone at a red light. For some reason, the traffic lights reflecting off the road caught my eye. I wondered if the person in the other car noticed it, too, or wondered how something as simple as a traffic light reflecting off of a wet road can seem worthy of attention at this ungodly hour. I felt like I had a secret, that that driver had no idea I was about to do something blindingly cool before most of the rest of the city would even be awake. I didn't even want to blink, didn't want to miss these few quiet moments of an apparently special day when I was going to kick open a few more doors for me and my still-sleeping family. I wiped away a tear, maybe two, because in an instant I knew that this was what "right" felt like.

It's moments like this that you want to stuff in a bottle forever, when you realize you don't know what you did to deserve it, but you're still glad you did whatever it was. Of course, moments don't work that way, and neither do bottles. But that doesn't mean we can't hope to find a better way to freeze the snippets that matter most.

Before long, I slowly drove up the winding road to the studio on the hilltop. The bright lights shone like beacons in the night, signalling a place I've somehow made my own in recent months, a place where I feel like I can turn pretty much every journalistic dream I've ever had into an amazingly fulfilling reality. We all have places where we excel, and this is one of them for me.

I headed inside and handed myself over to the care of a local producer who knows what I need before I even say I need it, and a faraway director who on mornings like this calmly speaks into my ear and won't ever let me drop the ball. Outside of the focused circle of bright light that surrounded me, the rest of the studio was hushed, dark, serene. I closed my eyes, took a breath, and waited for the countdown to hit zero. I was ready.

Your turn: What does "right" feel like to you?

Thematic Photographic 180 - Movement

2012-01-23T19:00:00.000-05:00

Flared
Delray Beach, FL, January 2012
[Click photo to embiggen]

Quick note: The leadership change at Research In Motion continues to put its stamp on my existence. Click here to see the latest. Or read on for a little photographic diversion. Because when the big news stops, a little camera time is good for the soul.

Photography is an incredible thing. It can freeze virtually anything in its tracks, and in the process allow us to imagine movement when, in fact, there is none. It plays with the mind, brings it places far beyond the screen mere inches from our nose, forces it to ponder what it must have felt liketo be Right There.

It's always a wonder to me that I can stop time with a mere click. I can explain the physics of it, but that doesn't make it any less miraculous.

Your turn: For the next week, Thematic will be sharing movement-themed pictures. Either take one that suggests the theme and then post it, or find one you've already shared online. Leave a comment here letting everyone know where to find it. Visit other participants to share the joy (and accept my apologies for being so slack lately on that last part. Time is not my friend these days. I'll work on that.) And above all, enjoy the process. Because this is all about loving what we do when we grab our cameras and head out who knows where.

Oops, almost forgot: New to Thematic? Click here and all will be explained. Well, almost all.

RIM leaders quit. Future remains uncertain.

2012-01-22T23:21:00.012-05:00

So it's finally official. Research In Motion's co-CEOs and co-chairs Mike Laziridis and Jim Balsillie are stepping down from their posts (press release, WSJ, Globe & Mail, National Post). Current COO Thorsten Heins has been elevated to CEO, while former Royal Bank of Canada Barbara Stymiest becomes RIM's first-ever independent board chair. The now-former leaders will remain as members of the board.

What does it mean? Well, without much new products in the pipeline - new BlackBerry smartphones based on the next-generation BlackBerry 10 aren't due until the second half of this year, and the PlayBook is still languishing in the tablet-market equivalent of oblivion - not much. RIM needs renewal, and the leadership changes are only the first step in this process.

Worse, while I'm sure Mr. Heins is a superbly experienced industry vet - he was most recently RIM's COO, and has been in the telecom space for 30 years, including a stint as CTO at Siemens - he remains a RIM insider. If the company had been truly serious about reinventing itself, it would have looked to someone from either another company or another industry entirely. It's been done before - think Ford and ex-Boeing chief Alan Mullaly - and it could have been leveraged here, too.

I'll have lots to say on this in the days ahead, including a hit with CTV's Canada AM at 7 a.m. Eastern tomorrow (Monday). I'll add links to this entry as they hit the web.

Your turn: Thoughts?

Where I'm writing:

My op-ed in Tuesday's Toronto Star (!) Suggestions for RIM's new CEO as he settles in
My op-ed in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record and the Guelph Mercury (RIM's HQ is in Waterloo, so the KW paper is its hometown paper.) New leaders face new challenges (alternate link here)

My articles for Yahoo! Canada:

Where I've been quoted/interviewed:

I chatted with Beverly Thomson on this morning's CTV Canada AM. Main story link here.
Spoke with CKCO Kitchener's Abigail Bimman via Skype for their 11:30 p.m. newscast.
Havard Gould included my comments in a piece he aired on CBC's The National.
Spoke with Kieron O'Dea for a piece for Global National.
Bantered with CTV News Channel's Jacqueline Milczarek and Dan Matheson.
Appeared on TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
Spoke with Aaron Rand of Montreal's CJAD, because radio in my old hometown is just that special.
I spoke with the Toronto Star. RIM's Mike Laziridis and Jim Balsillie resign. byline Michael Lewis.

Additional links/resources:

At Research In Motion, a new CEO vows to silence the doomsayers
Bowing to critics and market forces, RIM's co-chiefs step aside
Meet Thorsten - RIM blog post on their new honcho.

Where so many others have walked

2012-01-22T07:30:00.002-05:00

By the day's early light
Pompano Beach, FL, December 2011

About this photo: We continue to explore anything that glows, and we hope you'll consider doing the same. Just click here to join in.

There's a certain sense of peace associated with walking along a quiet beach just after the rising sun has begun to paint the sand. What was cold to the touch just a few minutes ago is suddenly alive with radiated heat, as if a ball of hot gas some 93 million miles away can somehow bring immediate heat to your feet - and by association, your soul. Amazingly, that's exactly what happens as the sun rapidly transforms this place from the murky colors of pre-dawn to something that's decidedly more alive.

It's a change that you can feel as well as see. And as I focus in on the sidelit relief of the sand, I notice the traces of countless unseen souls who've walked here before me, and I get the feeling that I'm not the only one who's been drawn here. I wonder who all these other people are, and whether they felt the same sense of reverence that I'm feeling now. I wonder if they wonder anything at all, or if they're simply content to spend a few quiet minutes here before rejoining the real world as it shakes off the night and prepares for whatever it is that comes next.

I don't know what awaits me as the sun continues its relentless journey toward the top of the sky, but that hardly seems to matter as I slowly turn for home. My wife's probably awake by now. And breakfast awaits. I quietly think to myself that more days should start like this. Maybe...

Your turn: What does your ideal start-to-the-day look like?

How are you changing the world?

2012-01-21T18:43:00.001-05:00

While walking the dog earlier today, I found myself wondering about the whole meaning of life thing. My inbox has had more than a few sad messages from afar this week, reminders that this gift we've all been given is both fleeting and finite. It made me think.

And as my mind wandered back, I was reminded of the late Steve Jobs, and his well-documented desire to leave a dent in the universe. His dent is an obvious one, but what of the rest of us? What are we - individually and collectively - doing to change the world? How are we leaving it a better place than when we first got here? I'd love to hear your thoughts...

On work-life balance

2012-01-20T17:46:00.001-05:00

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important."
Bertrand Russell

I thought this would be a fine way to end the work week - after all, we all need the occasional reminder to stop taking ourselves so seriously and learn the definition of manyana.

Your turn: How are you planning on ending your week?

A place where nobody goes outside

2012-01-20T06:02:00.003-05:00

Who sits here?
Pompano Beach, FL, December 2011

About this photo: Thematic is glowing this week. You can glow, too, by following your mouse here.

Oversized balconies overlooking the pounding surf as the sun begins its daily climb above the horizon. Not a soul to be seen aside from the occasional runner dodging the last gasp of each wave before it crashes for good against the slick sand. I look up and wonder why more people who stay here don't grab a mug of something comforting and head outside to take in the view. Because I think I'd have a permanent outdoor spot for my own mug of something comforting if I lived in this phenomenal place.

For now, I'll have to be content with the way the early morning light plays on the concrete. The sun really does paint differently down here. Pity no one else is outside to notice.

Your turn: Are you an outside or an inside person?

Is this what an alien invasion looks like?

2012-01-19T07:27:00.003-05:00

Glassblower's delight
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2011
[Please click here for more glow-themed insanity]

You find some really surreal sights in some really surprising places. Any guesses where I found this one?

On playing, aging, and death

2012-01-18T18:01:00.001-05:00

"Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing."
Oliver Wendell Holmes

(I'm guessing this applies to both genders, too.)

Your turn: How do you stay young?

As the end approaches

2012-01-18T06:03:00.001-05:00

Soon to fall
London, ON, October 2011

About this photo: Thematic. Glow. Here.

In a matter of hours, we've gone from delightfully and unseasonably warm to brutally cold, icy and snowy. Twitter's heating up with complaints from the winter-unconverted. As I sit in the predawn house listening to the winds howl just outside my window, I readily admit I wish I could be back on a beach, my toes digging into the warm sand as the rest of me does not a whole lot else.

But wishes are just that. And it'll be a while before I'm warm. So for now I'll content myself with this dying scene of a dying season, of a moment where if I blinked my eyes just so, I could hold onto the last slivers of warmth before this leaf finally fell and the darkness once again took over.

There's beauty in the darkness, too. We just have to look a little harder for it.

Your turn:

Wikipedians hate SOPA, PIPA, and liver

2012-01-17T17:45:00.004-05:00

The Internet is abuzz with buzz over the mass protest against the proposed legislation - the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act - that are currently working their way through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. Wikipedia goes dark tomorrow in support of a growing protest designed to get the proposed legislation squashed. Copy-and-paste-addicted high school students everywhere should be suffering withdrawal symptoms by lunchtime.

Supporters of the SOPA and PIPA legislation say something's got to be done to rein in piracy, to give law enforcement the ability to reach beyond national borders and shut down copyright violators who use servers stashed in the Cayman Islands to avoid prosecution. Opponents say these acts, if signed into law, will drape a layer of draconian, Big Brother-ish censorship and centralized control that will destroy the open and collaborative Internet as we know it. A number of high-profile sites, including the English-language arm of Wikipedia, will go dark tomorrow to protest the acts and encourage users to fight them. Still others, like Google, will remain operational, but till add content onto their home pages to help spread the word.

Who's right? Well, everyone is. Copyright owners - like Hollywood studios and record labels all the way down to the suburban-dwelling guy who writes on his MacBook late at night and shoots pictures by day - deserve to not have their stuff surreptitiously ripped off and made available for download by shadowy web services in a shadowy country (on a shadowy planet...) People and organizations who create content deserve fair compensation - profits, salaries, careers, whatever - in exchange for their efforts.

Likewise, content distributors - carriers, web sites like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter and distributors like Internet service providers - deserve to do business over an open, collaborative, creativity-inspiring Internet without fear of being waylaid by an endless wave of lawsuits brought forward by the same litigious doofii who turned the McDonalds drive-through into a never-ending source of cash for ambulance-chasing (and coffee-dropping) lawyers everywhere.

There's got to be a middle ground somewhere that at least keeps some of those involved happy some of the time. There's also got to be recognition that it's a problem that will likely never completely go away, that the cops-and-mouse game of stealing electronic content or otherwise using it inappropriately will never end, that technology will always be a step or two ahead of the legislation designed to control - and make fair - its use. Similarly, the planet deserves a solution that replaces today's ineffective patchwork of national legislation with something that allows law enforcement to prosecute criminals wherever they may be.

But as long as partisan bickering dominates the agenda, it's hard to see any of this improving anytime soon. Which is a pity, because the utopian promises of technology deserve a fair shot at coming true. Like reaching for the stars, we know we'll never quite get there. Indeed, we won't even get close. But just striving for fairness and balance should be enough no matter what side of this issue you may be on.

Your turn: Got any SOPA/PIPA thoughts? Hope you'll share 'em. I'll post links of my own later on.

Related links:

CTV Canada AM. I was on-air with host Marci Ien. Video here.
CTV News Channel. I chatted with Sandie Rinaldo. Video here.
CFRB/Newstalk 1010 Toronto. I'm on-air with John Downs tonight (9:45 ET) and again tomorrow morning just after 7:20 ET. (Live feed here.)
Newstalk Radio, Dublin, Ireland. I'm talking transatlantic - right before tuck-in on my side of the sea is morning in Ireland - with Ivan and Chris from The Breakfast Show. Show page here. Live feed here.

Seriously...this stuff is neat.

Thematic Photographic 179 - Glow

2012-01-16T19:00:00.001-05:00

Daybreak
Pompano Beach, FL, December 27, 2011, 7:12 a.m.

Our new Thematic theme, glow, should be a fun one. If it glows, emits light in some way, or even figuratively suggests the concept, then go ahead and share it. That's it!

This particular shot was taken 12 minutes after this one. At the time, I promised to share more, and I may have some additional perspectives from the beach through the coming week. Let me know if you get sick of them.

In the meantime, I suspect you all know what the Thematic deal is, and what your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be over the next week. If not, click here for details. And have fun with it, because that's what Thematic Photographic is all about.

Your turn: Shoot, share and comment. Repeat. And smile.

The one posed shot of the year

2012-01-16T07:15:00.004-05:00

Sitting still. For now.
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2011

About this photo: This pic wraps up our week-long exploration of the "after dark" theme - here. Our new theme, "glow", launches later today, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

It isn't often that I get them in the same place at the same time. Even more rare is having them do so without some kind of mugging for the camera. Which is no surprise given virtually every picture of me at their ages had me making some kind of funny - or in some cases not-so-funny - face.

I've ruined more pictures than I can count, and am likely the one responsible for my mother's grey hair. So it's somewhat poetic, nay fair, that our children should do the same thing to me. Still, they consented to this one moment of family normalcy when I told them their grandparents would be really, really happy. I also bribed them with chocolate, and am perfectly willing to accept my unparent-of-the-year award in exchange for that moment of photographic/familial desperation.

It's rare that I do the posed photography thing. But every once in a while, it's good for the soul to freeze them in place as a reminder of how you got so lucky to have them in the first place.

Your turn: What do you think happened next?

Where the lights are always on

2012-01-15T19:06:00.004-05:00

White, not green
Toronto, ON, December 2009

About this photo: We're sharing "after dark" photos for another day - new theme launches Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern - so you've still got a snippet of time to share your own. Here's where the fun begins.

I had been in the big city for the day because while most of my work as a journalist is somewhat virtual - television hits done from remote studios, stories emailed to editors, and even pyjama-clad radio interviews phoned in from my driveway and - sometimes you need to be front-and-centre. This particularly clear and cold December day was one of them, with a corporate video shoot that I definitely couldn't do from my home office. Or in my jams.

After the session was done, I had a bit of a walk back to my car. So I slowed my pace down a bit, held my camera in my hand and waited for ideas to present themselves. It didn't take long for this abstract-looking building to grab my attention. I couldn't stop thinking about the psychology of modern living that treats empty, fully-lit office buildings as entirely normal elements of the nighttime sky. Owners claim it's in the interest of security, but it still strikes me as a typically arrogant disconnect from respectful use of often-non-renewable resources.

Still, there's an abstractness to this scene that stopped me in my tracks on the sidewalk. I can rail about eco-unfriendliness until the cows come home, but on this night, it meant getting a shot that wouldn't have otherwise been possible. That would have to be good enough as I tucked my camera back away, buried my near-frozen hands deeply in my pockets and headed for home.

Your turn: Who works here?

Little yellow taxi

2012-01-14T19:33:00.003-05:00

Latka's ride
Delray Beach, FL, January 2012

A little man's toy taxi car. A warm evening out. A long lineup that had us chatting outside for a while. All ingredients for an impromptu shoot.

My cousin suggested I make it look like it's in the road. Not wanting to use an actual road - my wife probably would have had a kanipshen at the sight of me shooting in the middle of traffic - I instead found this relatively well-lit curb in the adjacent parking lot. Before you could stick your thumb out and flag a real cab down, I was contorting myself in between an inconveniently placed stand of prickly bushes to set up the shot, my cous suggesting angles and perspectives.

Other restaurant-goers walked by and stared at the spectacle of a grown man crouched on the ground. I'm sure at least some of them were mildly amused. Or alarmed - I'm not sure. My wife, chatting with the rest of our family, was blissfully unaware, though I suppose I'm pretty busted now, as she reads the blog.

The shot was challenging, as I couldn't use the spontaneous camera-bag-as-tripod trick I had used in our Thematic "after dark" theme launch pic (here). So I was stuck handholding down to a third of a second, which allowed me to once again get in touch with my Zen side.

The results? Well, they made a little guy happy, especially when we returned his toy to him. And in the end, that's all that really matters.

Your turn: Do you attract attention when you're shooting in public?

Local tie-in: The taxi in the shot is a model of a Ford Crown Victoria, which until a couple of months ago was manufactured just up the road from us, at the Ford Talbotville assembly plant. The factory is now shuttered, its former workers trying to stay afloat in an economy that doesn't seem to have as much room for middle-class manufacturing as it once did. I found it neat that our little cousin's favorite toy had such a local connection to us.

On Ghandi's view of conscience

2012-01-14T14:46:00.001-05:00

"The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience."
Mahatma Ghandi

They dream in neon

2012-01-13T21:52:00.000-05:00

Light bright
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2011

About this photo: Thematic. After Dark. Here. All are welcome.

Three hungry kids. A roadside, drive-through restaurant that we've driven past hundreds of times but never thought to visit because it seemed so forgettable. A warm evening in a place where we nevertheless wish we could linger a little longer.

As we waited for our food, I pulled out my camera and started exploring the architecture of the place. On the surface, it was a nondescript white concrete building with garish lighting, an exhaust-filled outdoor seating area and a walk-up window staffed by employees who seemed to wish they could be anyplace else. Fluorescent light spilled out the service window and onto the time-worn sidewalk below. A forgettable oasis of cookie-cutter mediocrity in a place that doesn't seem to care one way or the other.

But the details told a different story. A place where light rewrites the nighttime landscape, and where color beats back the sun during the day. And when the two intersect, even this place can offer up the kind of sight that just doesn't happen back home. Because we would have missed this neon light show had we simply let our first impressions guide us elsewhere.

Your turn: The first three words that come to mind when you see this photo are...?

On the (apparent) speed of light

2012-01-13T18:52:00.001-05:00

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
Terry Pratchett

On reciprocal happiness

2012-01-12T20:50:00.001-05:00

"Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A ghost of a life

2012-01-12T07:47:00.003-05:00

Alone
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2011

About this photo: We're sharing "after dark"-themed pics all week long, and you're most certainly invited. Click here to see what the fuss is all about.

This is probably the worst and saddest photo I took while we were away. Worst because I literally shot it from hip-level, without bothering to meter, check focus or even compose. I practically closed my eyes and squeezed it off because I had no time to do anything else. It was one of those moments where you either shoot quickly, quietly and now, or risk losing the moment forever.

It's the saddest picture because it paints a visual of loneliness that I've always imagined in my mind's eye but could never quite touch. I can't stop thinking about the sound of the key in the door on that dark, shadowy concrete balcony, the stooped posture of the lone woman, the fact that I had seen so many like her in this place that they had all begun to blend together in my mind. I imagined what awaited her on the other side, a quiet prison of blank walls and loneliness. The sadness stayed with me long after I had put the camera away.

The result is grainy and lousy. But I can't stop looking at it or thinking about it. Which is I guess what photography is supposed to do.

Your turn: The saddest photo you ever took was...?

On heroes

2012-01-11T19:59:00.001-05:00

"Without heroes we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go."
Bernard Malamud

Your turn: Who's your hero? Why?

Waiting for the world to wake up

2012-01-10T20:41:00.005-05:00

Barely first light
Pompano Beach, FL, December 27, 2011, 7:00 a.m.
Click photo to enlarge

About this photo: We're exploring the after dark theme this week, and I figure the moments just before sunrise just barely qualify as after dark. Way after dark. What's in your collection? Click here to share it.

As I wandered alone onto the darkened beach in anticipation of sunrise, I was struck by two things:

I'm the only person around insane enough to be out here in the chilling wind as blowing sand threatens to add a new design to my lens filter.
I'd come out here every morning, earlier even, if I lived closer.

If we're being rational - work with me on this one, as you already know rationality isn't my strongest suit - this wasn't the best morning to shoot the sunrise. As I first got outside, I felt like kicking myself when I saw the sky: The clouds pretty much wiped out the building light show and the blowing sand coming in from the south (right-of-frame) limited my available angles.

I worried about destroying my camera in pursuit of lousy pictures, and toyed with heading back inside. But the little angel on my other shoulder reasoned it's not as if I get out here all that often. So I decided to stick it out and see how things evolved.

Initial photographic disappointment notwithstanding, it felt strangely comforting to feel the constant, salt-stained wind in my face as I watched the horizon come alive. The longer I stayed on the slowly brightening sand, the more I realized just how wrong my first impressions were. The winds were blowing the clouds into italicized patterns on the horizon that pulled the eye in and wouldn't let go. Instead of blocking the light, the clouds played games with it. They seemed to partner up seamlessly with the gradually rising sun, painting its rays in ways I would have completely missed had the skies been clear.

I took a lot more pictures after this initial view, and I'll post them soon. For now, though, I wanted to share a moment that seemed to start out like a washout but ended up even more rewarding than I had originally imagined. Sometimes, you just have to give things some time to see where they'll take you. Otherwise, think of what you would have missed.

Your turn: Ever have disappointment turn into something great?

On seeing through the darkness

2012-01-10T18:12:00.001-05:00

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible."
George Chakiris

Thematic Photographic 178 - After Dark

2012-01-09T19:00:00.003-05:00

Another one rides the bus
Delray Beach, FL, January 2012

Welcome to our new Thematic theme, After Dark. Despite the fact that photography is all about light, and nighttime doesn't always offer up enough of it to make the craft worthwhile, there's plenty of opportunity to get the shot if you're willing to give it a little extra thought.

For example, this old Volkswagen Bus. We were waiting for our table at a popular local restaurant. This being Florida, we were sitting outside and enjoying weather that was infinitely better than the 43 cm of snow being dumped on our hometown some 2,400 km away. I spied this delightfully well preserved Volks across the street and despite the fact that I had no tripod, figured it was at least worth a try.

I crossed the busy road, dumped my camera bag on the sidewalk and got to work. I used the bag as a makeshift tripod , reasoning with myself that the necessarily low angle would seem more dramatic. I used the remote control to set off the 4-second exposure - I didn't want to go too much longer as I wasn't sure how stable the fabric bag would be as traffic whizzed past. I also wanted to get back before my ever-suffering wife realized I was gone.

In the end, I got the shot, my wife liked it, and we had a lovely time at the restaurant. And I realized just how much fun an after-dark shoot could be. As we explore the theme over the next week, I hope you realize how much fun it can be, too.

Your turn: Take a photo after dark (nighttime works, as does any other way you define "after dark"...have fun with it) and post it to your blog. Leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Visit other participants and come back through the week to add to the fun. Thematic Photographic is all about stretching our photographic horizons a little. For more background on how it works, click here.

Where shall I fly today?

2012-01-09T06:42:00.005-05:00

Skimming the waves
Pompano Beach, FL, December 2011
[Click photo to embiggen]

About this photo: We're still sharing favorites from 2011, and you're invited to do the same. Just click here. New theme, After Dark, launches tonight at 7:00 p.m.

Anyone who's hung around here for a bit knows I'm somewhat manic about bird pictures (see here, here and here for previous examples.) I don't really understand why this is so: They just pull my attention skyward whenever I'm around them.

I'm not a real hard-core birdwatcher, though. I wouldn't know a yellow-bellied sapsucker from a Monrovian miniature spotted quail. I've tried reading books on bird-spotting before, but it's always ended up in a fog of combined boredom and frustration. Here's all I know:

They fly.
I can't.
I find that neat.

For the sake of convenience, I usually end up shooting whatever's nearby, which typically ends up being the ubiquitous seagull. Scoff if you must, but damn, they can fly. Chasing them with a lens always teaches me something new about the craft. And it makes me feel good while I'm doing it. Which is kinda the point of this living thing, after all.

Your turn: Where's this bird going? Where would you go if you had the native ability to fly?

What massive looks like

2012-01-08T19:37:00.001-05:00

Give me strength
Quebec City, QC, July 2011

About this photo: This is one of my favorite pictures of the past year. Do you have one? If you do, I hope you'll share it. Click here to start.

Ever notice how if you stand near a really giant piece of engineering you eventually feel its presence in your bones? I can't quite explain why, but large structures created by humans seem to have a gravity all their own.

And so it was with the Quebec Bridge, which I probably could have hung around all day if time and my wife permitted. But she's wise in ways that I'm not. And practical (again, in ways that I'm not.) And our merry family had a museum to tour, animals to meet and experiences to experience. So I zoomed in for a few last grabs before we headed inside.

All these months later, I can still feel it in my bones. Can you?

Where I explain what the hell that was

2012-01-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

Light, water and memory
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2011

Earlier today, I posted this picture and asked you what the hell it was. You're all excellent guessers, and I'm glad you had such a good time with it. Turns out you were all pretty darn close. Here's the deal:

We were sitting poolside watching the kinderlings swim in the mostly darkened pool. Being Canadians in a strange land, they were happy to swim after dark, long after the locals had gone inside and tucked in for the night. It was New Year's Eve, and the Canucks didn't much care that it was nowhere near warm enough to go for a dip. Annals of parenting, no?

As the kids swam, I found myself fidgeting with my camera, concerned about not having something unique to remember this night. I wandered to the other side of the pool and found myself staring at the reflected light - from above and under the water's surface - and thinking how neat it would be to shoot it in the abstract.

The answer hit me pretty quickly: Relatively long exposures - 2 to 4 seconds would do it - combined with sweeping the camera in a constant-speed arc from left to right. I've tried this painting-with-light experiment before, but was never happy with the outcome. Time to change that. So while my wife and our cousins chatted poolside, I started waving my camera around. I'm sure had anyone seen me, they would have called security.

Thankfully they didn't. Thankfully we returned home with as many children as we had when we left. Thankfully I ended up with a neat new set of abstracts to enjoy. And an additional incentive to continue shooting weirdly well into 2012.

Your turn: Do you do oddball things with your camera? Do tell!

What the hell is this?

2012-01-08T10:47:00.002-05:00

On the last day of the year, I found myself feeling a little playful. So I threw the camera settings into pray-this-comes-out mode and went to work.

Anyone want to guess what this is? I'll post the full rundown tonight, but I'm curious what you think. The crazier the better.

On roses, gardens and living

2012-01-07T19:24:00.002-05:00

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon, instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today."
Dale Carnegie

Watching the waves roll in

2012-01-06T23:44:00.002-05:00

Don't get wet
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, December 2011

We've been away for a bit, as the ebb and flow of life over the past year made some quiet time pretty much mandatory for us all. We should be pulling into the driveway right around the time this post hits the blog - the wonders of modern technology.

While we were gone, I sat beside the ocean and stared at it for seemingly endless periods of time. Every once in a while, I'd pick up my camera and take a picture. Or two. Or two hundred. It depended on my mood, which became a lot mellower the more I did this. I also mellowed as I watched our kids recharge their own batteries. They're good souls, so much like my wife that it scares me sometimes. But not too much. Either way, it was good to spend copious amounts of unstructured time with them.

I don't know when we'll be able to do this again. Life's ebb and flow gets less clear the further out you look. But we'll always have moments like this - captured by a lens or our own mind - to refer back to when things seem a little darker than we'd like.

Your turn: How do you recharge?

Deadwood

2012-01-06T07:53:00.005-05:00

Twisted sister
London, ON, March 2011

About this photo: Thematic. Favorites. Here. Just for you. Just because.

I had a few extra minutes before picking our daughter up from a playdate, so I parked the car near a local creek and reached for my camera. The day was miserable - grey and dull, with enough muck on the ground to make the entire photo expedition a questionable thing to do. But I clambered down the embankment anyway because, well, I'm not entirely sure why. If we're being straight-up here, I'm not ever certain why I grab the camera and head out.

I don't necessarily need a reason. It's almost like that Field of Dreams voice that whispers, "If you build it, he will come." Now, let's be clear: I'm not a farmer, I have no hankering to play catch with Shoeless Joe and I don't hear voices. But there's a pull that every photographer I've ever spoken to seems to understand. That feeling you get when you're looking at something, and you just know you need to record it in some way. It's a calling, a gravity, a need. So you listen to it. And you shoot.

And today, this twisted mess of branches was my gravity. It may have been very much dormant, a seemingly lifeless tangle of wood, with no direction and no focus. Yet to me it said one word: Life. The scene was random, imperfect, not always pretty. But still something I needed to remember.

Your turn: What "calls" you?

Tightly woven

2012-01-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

Step on me
London, ON, May 2011

About this photo: We're still sharing favorite pics of the year, and we'd like you to do the same. Click here to get the party started.

This picture exemplifies some of the ridiculousness that drives me. I'm sure no one ever got down on the floor and shot the carpet this closely, and I'm pretty sure no one ever will. I think they're missing out on some serious fun.

I've never viewed photography as a craft of "musts". When I go somewhere, there aren't any pictures that I absolutely must take, or poses that everyone feels compelled to bring back from their travels. So you won't see iconic pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge in my archives. Oh, I DO have pictures of that bridge, but not like any you've ever seen.

Because I'm a little different. I see the world differently. And I use my camera to share that kinda off-base perspective with everyone around me. Sometimes it scares them off. Sometimes it ticks them off. But that's OK with me, because it leaves me more time for the folks who get me, who smile at my weirdness, who shrug with a smile at strangers when I get up on the chair at the restaurant to capture the hanging lamp from just the right angle.

Because the world's a wonderful place. And I'd hate to see the same thing every time I open my eyes.

Your turn: How do you see your world differently?

CES is dead. Pass it on.

2012-01-05T10:31:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks on the writing front, with my latest piece for Yahoo! Canada now live on the Insight blog:

CES ends an era: Are big trade shows headed for extinction?

In the same vein as video killing the radio star, the Internet is making these annual, expensive and disruptive treks to Vegas an increasingly questionable proposition. Sure, it's a heck of a lot of fun, but is it the best way to spend scarce marketing dollars?

The world has changed. Industry trade shows need to change along with it. Or risk disappearing altogether.

Happy reading! More on the way...

Facing a very large planet

2012-01-04T07:28:00.001-05:00

What's out there
Delray Beach, FL, January 2011

About this photo: Thematic. Favorites of the year. Here.

Say hi to our three kids, seen here frolicking at the edge of a calm ocean almost exactly a year ago today. A number of things strike me as I look at this scene, prime among them the fact that they're three relatively young kids at the edge of a very large sea. It reminds me of the very large world that awaits them, and how they'll grow up to meet whatever challenges it throws their way.

I wonder if they'll always look out for each other in the surf as they clearly did on this day, and whether I've done enough as a dad to instill in them enough menschkeit - basically, goodness - to do just that as they grow into the adults they're destined to be.

Your turn: Do you still play in the surf? Or wherever else?

Looking back with Canada AM

2012-01-03T18:15:00.001-05:00

The fun never seems to end these days: I was on-air with CTV's Canada AM this morning to talk about the biggest social media hits and misses of 2011. Anthony Weiner's weiner? Check. A 10-year-old Lady Gaga protege? Got it?

I spoke with Scott Laurie, and as ever, the experience was a highlight. There are days that I still can't believe I get to do this.

Video is here. Happy watching!

Your turn: What - or who - would you add to the social media hit/miss list?

Tempest in a RIM-tinged teacup

2012-01-03T17:29:00.002-05:00

Rumours are swirling that Mike Laziridis and Jim Balsillie, co-CEOs and co-chairs of beleaguered BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, are about to get booted out (Financial Post article, Financial Times piece.) Well, as co-chairs, anyway. It seems they'd remain as co-CEOs, with Barbara Stymiest taking over as RIM's first-ever independent board chair.

Is it too little, too late to save the company? Or is it the first of many necessary steps to turn the tide? Time will tell. And I'll be watching. And probably writing.

In the meantime, RIM slashed prices of the PlayBook tablet to $299 for the 16, 32 and 64 Gb models. Hmm, I wonder which one I'd get! Get 'em while you can. Marketing craziness aside, they're excellent pieces of technology. Disclosure: I bought one (cheap) and love it.

Drawing lines in the sky

2012-01-03T07:06:00.001-05:00

Orbital dance
London, ON, March 2011

The bright streak is a long-exposure shot of the International Space Station flying over my house. The less-bright streak is the Space Shuttle Discovery after she undocked for the last time on her final flight. Like her sister ships Atlantis and Endeavour, she's now being decommissioned in preparation for life as a museum exhibit. Glorious, no?

Yet on this cold night, she was in her element, orbiting at 28,000 km/h in the environment for which she was expressly designed. She was only a dot from where we stood on the sidewalk, but what an amazing dot she was, and what an amazing line she drew across the sky to inspire our kids to shoot for their own stars.

Your turn: What, or who, inspires you? Why?

One more thing: To share your own favorite-photo-of-the-year, click here. It's a Thematic extravaganza, and it runs through next Monday.

A river runs through it

2012-01-02T07:24:00.000-05:00

Meandering
Somewhere over southwestern Ontario, March 2011

About this photo: It's Thematic's "favorites-of-the-year" fest, and you're all invited. Click here.

Sometimes circumstances force you to take a picture rather quickly without taking the time afterward to savor it. You grab it, leave it on your memory card, and move on to whatever else happens to be grabbing for your attention - like, in this case, the flight attendant waving at me to put my stuff away in preparation for landing.

When I finally got around to backing the picture up, I felt more than a little humbled. At first glance, this is a simple late-winter scene of the landscape that surrounds my city. But it isn't really all that simple. It's a reminder of the incredible forces around us that shape our world, and the inspiring artwork of nature that results from processes born millions of years before we existed. If only we take the time to notice.

Your turn: Where does this river lead?

I'm #3!

2012-01-01T18:09:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, stuff happens that makes me realize I lead a really cool existence. For example, ReadWriteWeb ranked one of my quotes as #3 on a top-10 list for 2011.

Seriously. Cool. Here's the link.

Even cooler: Jason Calcanis was #4. Unreal company.

The little mermaid

2012-01-01T08:32:00.002-05:00

Splash
Delray Beach, FL, January 2011

About this photo: Thematic. Favorite photos of the year. You. Here. Please and thank you.

Quick forewarning that over the next day or two I'll be posting a couple of beach-themed perspectives on the little people who turned us into parents. Why? Because for better or worse they never cease to force me to ponder what the heck I'm supposed to be doing on this planet.

And as much as they complain about my incessant pointing of lenses in their general direction, they eventually relent and let me grab a few megapixels of them being themselves. Because even they seem to sense that this life thing is fleeting, and we can't let moments like these slip unnoticed into the past.

On this sunny afternoon, I'm glad our daughter let me take the camera out. It's been a year since this was taken, and I can already see how much she's changed. She's less little-girl and more young-lady, more forward-looking than back. She's started high school, made new friends, pursued new interests and become more independent than even she suspected she could.

This picture freezes her in a moment before all that change happened. It doesn't stop time, but it does make it easier to accept just how blindingly fast it seems to be moving.

Your turn: How do you use your camera to remember?

The year dawns bright

2011-12-31T22:12:00.003-05:00

Sparkled
Delray Beach, FL, January 2011

About this photo: We're sharing our favorite photos of the year, and we hope you'll do the same. Just click here to get in on the year-end photographic nuttiness.

Part of me feels our nearly-obsessive devotion to date-based events is a little much. Birthdays, anniversaries and holidays put us on high alert to live up to expectations that simply can't be sustained in the real world. Everything's got to be perfect, everyone's got to be on their best behavior and every memory needs to be unblemished.

Reality dictates otherwise, as life is seldom as clear as the Nivea model's porcelain skin might suggest. We can airbrush, PhotoShop and edit until time immemorial, but underneath it all, reality has a crazy way of bleeding through.

Which brings me to this particular scene, shot in the rushed moments after the big ball dropped, when everyone gathered for the obligatory New Year's party represented the perfect kind of togetherness that made Bing Crosby's career what it was. But was it, really? I'll leave that for you to decide, and to ponder whether such perfection is even worth pursuing. I think the planet would be a happier place if everyday imperfection was considered more than good enough.

Your turn: I'm not a resolution kind of person. But I do want to know what you hope the new year brings. To you. To us all. What do you hope for?

Where he becomes part of something

2011-12-31T10:19:00.004-05:00

Togetherness
London, ON, May 2011

It's quite a challenge picking your favorite photos out of the countless moments you've caught over the past year (more here). As I've sifted through my own admittedly virtual pile, I've asked myself what makes a great picture, anyway. Is it technical perfection? A tone or a feel that moves the viewer? A bit of both? Neither?

Truth is there is no one answer. What makes you like something - like pistachio ice cream, Adam Sandler movies or the Kenny Loggins/Michael Bolton Very Special Christmas Album - could very well make your identical twin, if you're lucky enough to have one, violently ill. There's no rhyme or reason to any of this, so we may as well just roll with it. Life's too short to spend overanalyzing.

That said, this one touched me because it marked a transition for our youngest son. I took this picture as his first-ever convention - a three-day event - wound down. Everyone was gathered on the front lawn, singing and speaking, leaders trying their best to leave the little ones with memories that would keep them connected and involved in their community.

I was struck by the way our son left the house a 10-year-0ld boy and came home having made connections he cherishes to this day. He grew during those three days, and no picture sums that up better in my mind than this one. It always stops me in my tracks when it flashes past in a slide show.

Your turn: What makes a picture significant to you?

Dinner is almost served

2011-12-30T20:10:00.001-05:00

Empty. For now.
London, ON, April 2011

Some of my favorite pictures (please see here for more similarly-themed Thematic) from this past year are also the simplest. I've admitted many times that I like simple things, that my overwhelmed-by-life brain often needs to get away from it all by capturing and taking in stripped down, elemental scenes.

This particular photo is an excellent example, as it was taken in that quiet time before we had friends over for dinner, as the house bubbled with adults and kids catching up with each other, and the smells from the kitchen suggested we were in for quite a treat. It was a warm, happy moment, and one picture takes me right back. Powerful stuff, this photography thing.

Your turn: What's going to end up on this plate?

When you realize you voted for the wrong guy

2011-12-30T13:33:00.001-05:00

"Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks."
Doug Larson

I live in a medium-sized burg about a two-hour drive away from the largest city in the country. I've vented plenty of bile about our leadership over the years, but our elected civic officials are seemingly godlike when compared to the folks currently running the show in Toronto.

Mayor Rob Ford, who ran for office on an oft-repeated promise to "stop the gravy train" has turned the city into something of a laughingstock. He's declared war on the Toronto Star, called the cops on one of Canada's top comediennes, been spotted driving (at least twice) with his handset (a no no in our parts) and has been accused of giving the finger to a passing motorist. No one admits ever having voted for the guy, yet there he sits, making a supposedly world class city seem decidedly less so.

The latest: cops being called multiple times to his house to deal with an ongoing series of domestic disputes (story here). I don't want to pile it on at a time when he and his wife, Renata, are clearly dealing with some very serious issues. But I am forced to question whether this kind of leadership is in the citizens' best interests, and whether it might make more sense for him to step aside so he can deal with more important issues, at home, than finding gravy and flipping the bird.

Your turn: Politicians who suck. Please discuss.

Eat a good breakfast

2011-12-29T08:26:00.000-05:00

A good start
Delray Beach, FL, January 2011

About this photo: We're sharing our favorite photos of the year, and you can, too, by clicking here.

I used to be religious about breakfast, with at least a 20- or 30-minute block of time reserved to sit down at the kitchen table with something nominally nutritious. I'd take my time with it as I spread the newspaper out and gradually ease my way into the day.

Times have changed. I get up at different times every morning - sometimes psychotically and unpredictably early depending on deadlines, munchkins' choir schedules and the state of the dog. Oh, and the newspaper these days is impossibly thin, and barely worth reading. Carving out quiet time to eat and read has taken a bit of a back seat, so most mornings I get by with a quickly downed glass of juice and a thermal mug of tea that comes with me wherever I go.

I know that this is bad. Logically, I appreciate how important a good breakfast is to maintaining good health. Realistically, I'm just freakishly time-challenged, so this is the first thing to go.

I'm not one to make resolutions. Still, I know this is something I need to change. Opinions welcome.

Another Toronto Star Op-Ed...

2011-12-28T21:55:00.005-05:00

Exciting times in my writer's world, as the Toronto Star has published my next op-ed piece (first one went live in October - blog entry here, direct link here.)

The latest article is entitled Life of tech companies is nasty, brutish and short, and it examines why things are seemingly worse in this sector than in virtually any other. It's accompanied by a piece of artwork by illustrator Charles Weiss. I think that's kinda neat, too, and am doing a bit of a happy dance at how it's all turned out.

The piece will be in the Thursday print edition of the paper, so if you're in Toronto and come across the dead tree edition, I'll be your pal if you can shoot/scan it and send it my way (carmilevy AT gmail DOT com). Heck, I'll be happy if you don't flame/troll me in the comments section.

Either way, happy reading.

Your turn: What should I write about next?

On dirty art

2011-12-27T22:54:00.002-05:00

"Art washes away from the soul the dirt of everyday life."
Pablo Picasso

I did a neat thing with my wife today: We wandered through a few art galleries. We didn't have much of an agenda beyond spending the day together and reminding ourselves why days like today are so treasured.

Along the way, we learned about artists whose work literally turned our definition of "art" on its ear. And inspired us to return to our own admittedly pedestrian artistic pursuits with a little more vigor. Whoever we are and whatever we do, we've all got an artist's voice. And Picasso's words, which we literally bumped into as we exited the last gallery of the day, couldn't have been better composed or timed.

Your turn: What does art mean to you?

Thematic Photographic 177 - Your Favorites

2011-12-26T19:00:00.001-05:00

There will come soft rains
London, ON, December 2011

I'm going to end the year and start the next one with a familiar theme - a simple request, really, for you all to dig into your archives from the past year and share your favorite pictures. If you loved it, we want to see it.

I realize that some pictures don't necessarily fit into the weekly ebb and flow of themes, so this is our collective chance to share the ones that may not have found the light of day otherwise.

Looking forward to seeing what you've all got!

Your turn: Please share one photo - or many photos - on your blog. Leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Visit other participants to share the photographic community goodness. Repeat as often as you wish, and feel free to bring a friend or two along. We'll stick with this particular theme for a little longer than the usual one-week deal, as I think we all have a backlog of favorites to share. Are you game? (Oops, almost forgot: Click here for more background on how Thematic works.)

Learning from your kids

2011-12-26T17:30:00.000-05:00

I learned an important lesson from our kids today: Slow down. I've been burning the candle at both ends for so long that I think I had forgotten how important it can be to turn it all off every once in a while.

While I'm busy zinging from place to place, they're busy growing up, building foundations for whatever comes next. I'd be silly if I missed it because I was too occupied with life. There will always be more work, but there won't always be a little man who wants to play Crazy Eights.

Funny thing is they didn't have to say anything. It was the simplest of epiphanies, actually: We went out for breakfast. And we lingered for a while as the kids ate ice cream and laughed themselves silly. And I looked at my watch and realized time isn't doing me any favours, and we won't have limitless breakfasts like this to squander.

So I consciously enjoyed this one. And I'll enjoy whatever else comes along, even if it means rearranging the calendar a bit to accommodate the so-called real world. Who says what happens in their lives is any less real, anyway?

Your turn: How do you get the most out of the stuff - and the people - who matter most?

On birds, horses and happiness

2011-12-26T09:30:00.001-05:00

"Did you ever see an unhappy horse? Did you ever see bird that had the blues? One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses."
Dale Carnegie

I grew up surrounded by folks who fretted over what they wore, what they drove, and how others would respond when they first pulled up to the curb and got out. Impressing everyone around them was the goal. Failing to do so was a disaster worthy of movie-of-the-week-like attention. Until, of course, movies of the week fell by the wayside.

Now, I presume, they just drink themselves silly when their Lada Niva Sport merits an indifferent shrug from the prom queen.

But here's the thing: Once everyone scatters from that curbside kill zone in front of the high school reunion - or whatever venue that serves as Judgement Central - you're still wearing whatever you were wearing, still driving whatever you pulled up in. And the prom queen and folks like her who passed judgement on you? They've moved on. Forgotten you exist once again, until the next time you pull up.

And it's up to you to live with the person you are. And until you learn to ignore the prom queens - who I'm betting are more miserable than you've ever imagined - and listen to your own voice instead, that whole happiness and self-contentment thing might remain out of reach.

Besides, the Lada Niva Sport is a seriously great vehicle to have when eight feet of snow lands on your driveway overnight. You could even pick up the prom queen on the way to work.

Your turn: How do you find inner happiness?

Beyond land's end

2011-12-25T13:12:00.002-05:00

Lives over the water
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2010

You never quite know what you'll end up with when you put your camera into your kid's hands and tell him to go to town. The pictures could end up blurry. The camera itself could end up irreversibly damaged by oompa loompas and beach sand. You could have to explain it all to your wife when you get back home.

But you'll never know if you don't give your munchkin that first opportunity. Like driving, first apartments and first relationships, you kind of have to hold your breath and let go. Of them, obviously, but also of your own parental need to control everything and keep them from experiencing anything remotely close to hurt.

Whatever happens next is up to them. Scary thought for some, I know, but a necessary step all the same. Because they'll never learn about the bumps and falls of life if we don't let go in the first place, don't give them the opportunity to experience it all first-hand, don't let go of the fear of them coming back with a bruise or two.

On this blustery afternoon, we found ourselves walking along a nearly deserted beach. And it just made sense to let our son carry the camera and see what he could see through its lens. In the end, there were no oompa loompas and no sad stories to tell my wife. What you see here is what he saw, a moment on a place that he's been connected to since he was little (here and here), a story of distant strangers all drawn to this place beyond the edge of the earth, for reasons that will forever remain unknown.

He's clearly got a sense of vision that's very much his own.

Your turn: How do you know when to let go?

Yahooligan journalism

2011-12-24T17:38:00.003-05:00

Every once in a while, I like to grab a virtual lasso and corral some of the more notable writing I've done over the last little bit. Looking back at December, I realize it's been a bit of a busy month. I'm lucky enough to be a regular contributor to Yahoo! Canada, where most of my work is published on the Insight blog. If you want perspective on the business news of the day, this is a great place to start. Yes, I'm just a little biased. Sorry.

Here's a rundown of some recently published work:

Your turn: What should I write about next?

Journey to the centre of the universe

2011-12-24T08:12:00.001-05:00

Time out
New York, NY, November 2009

About this photo: Thematic. Strangers. Here.

Let's get this out of the way first: I spelled the word, "centre", like a good Canadian should. There, I feel better. Let's continue.

It's hard to take a picture in Times Square without getting a stray human being caught in your composition. The place teems with people like the underside of a rock is covered with...well, you know. I almost got away with an empty shot on this bright Saturday morning (I wasn't in shul...shhh) until this guy sauntered into the sea of red chairs and plunked himself down.

Looking back at this now-two-year-old shot brings some neat things to mind:

I now write for the organization featured in the billboard just above his head (latest piece here.)
The NASDAQ reflection on the right? I'd been there before in another one of those surreal New York moments.
I waited to meet one of my Budweiser friends. None showed up. Two years later, I'm beginning to doubt I have any friends at Budweiser

Whoever this guy is probably had no idea I was even there. I wonder if his ears are burning right about now.

Your turn: What's he thinking?

On life, defined

2011-12-23T21:07:00.003-05:00

"Life is relationships; the rest is just details."
Gary Smalley

I kinda liked this one, especially given how much up-close-and-personal time we're all about to get over the next week or so. It's a perfect time to think about the connections we make along the way, and why they matter so much - to us, and to everyone whose lives we touch.

Whatever you're celebrating, may you do it surrounded by the folks who matter most. By Dr. Smalley's logic, that's all we need to worry about.

Your turn: A connection that mattered to you. Please discuss.

No longer strangers

2011-12-22T18:25:00.001-05:00

Boys at play
London, ON, July 2011

About this photo: We're staring at strangers this week. What the heck am I talking about? Click here and all will be explained.

Our kids played soccer this summer, an experience they still talk about and look forward to repeating next year. As much as they revelled in the game itself, and as proud as we are that they took to it with such spirit and drive, I think they got a lot more out of the experience than that.

They connected with kids who started out as strangers to them, yet over the summer managed to coalesce into a tightly knit team. They made friends. They became part of something unique and something they were proud of. Our daughter, who started high school this year, got to know a few kids who are now her classmates. I have no doubt that the experience helped ease her entry into the often-frightening world of the Grade 9 student.

We may be exploring the sometimes distant world of strangers within this week's theme, but it took a summer on the pitch with our kids to teach me that not all strangers are destined to remain that way.

Your turn: Connecting with strangers. Please discuss.

On the true bastardized meaning of Christmas

2011-12-21T23:40:00.002-05:00

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like."
Will Rogers

Why are we so concerned with what others think? I realize we all want to be accepted, to a certain extent. But somewhere along the way we seem to have lost the script.

Wouldn't it be neat if we spent less energy worrying what folks think of our cars, our clothes or the last tchatchkeh that we bought, and more time simply trying to be better people with what we've already got?

Yup, thought so.

Thematic Photographic 176 - Strangers among us

2011-12-19T19:00:00.001-05:00

He walks alone
Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC
July 2011

For a whole lot of reasons, some legal, some moral and some practical, I don't normally take pictures of strangers. Lots of photographers carry release forms with them in case they see a stranger doing something interesting. They'll then ask said stranger to sign said form if a photo is ultimately taken.

I can't be bothered. Which, I'm guessing, makes me a photo-criminal of the highest order and an enemy to all who simply want to walk the streets freely without fear of having their optical bits sucked through a lens, captured by an electronic sensor and recorded for all of time on a memory card.

To compensate for my apparent disregard for the privacy of others in public spaces, I do the following, in order:

Try to shoot away from strangers
If this proves impossible or impractical, I try to shoot them at angles or in ways that make identification difficult.
If this proves impossible or impractical, I make up some sort of excuse to assuage my guilt and add some humor to the situation. That way, if they ever happen across their picture online, they'll laugh so hard that they'll forget to sue me.

I haven't been sued. Yet. So I'm guessing it's working. So far, at least. Will my luck run out? Not sure. But for the next week, I'm hoping you'll join me on my troublemaking little quest.

Your turn: Take a picture of a stranger, any stranger. Post it to your blog. Leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Visit other participants to share the photographic joyousness of it all. Click here if you're new to Thematic Photographic. And for the love of all that is or once was Kodak, have fun with it. Because that's why we do this Thematic thing, right?

On waiting for the right things

2011-12-18T19:11:00.001-05:00

"If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine."
Morris West

Home of the Big Gulp

2011-12-18T07:26:00.002-05:00

Someone's thirsty
Minneapolis, MN, February 2011
[Please click here for more Thematic oneness]

I'm a huge fan of water towers, yet I don't think I really understand why. Maybe it's because they connect us to a time that no longer exists. Perhaps it's because of the way they loom like beacons over otherwise empty landscapes, signposts for long-distance travelers in a nearly forgotten age before GPS.

When my parents would pop us into the station wagon to visit family in faraway places, I remember staring out the window and watching for familiar landmarks along the way. Bridges, buildings, mountains, restaurants and, yes, water towers all told me just how many more miles we had to go, and whether I risked missing anything by nodding off. It's different today, as we drive with enough technology to calculate our position to the closest meter.

I'm not entirely convinced it's a better way to go, though, as there was a certain magic in the air when one of these things emerged from the murky sky and cast a shadow over our passing car, the faded name of some small town half-painted, half-baked on its rusting reservoir. Even if we were still far from our destination, or home, it made me feel just a little better to know where we were.

So when the adult me stares up at what some might view as a relic of a bygone era, I can't help but remember what it felt like so long ago. It's somewhat humbling. Comforting, too.

Your turn: What things, when you see them, trigger memories from long ago?

Cross the line

2011-12-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

Borders
London, ON, April 2011

About this photo: Thematic. The one. Here.

We all have floors like this in our distant or not-so-distant past. Hardly a school exists without the kind of hard linoleum gym floor that jocks just love and the last-picked long since learned to loathe.

If you close your eyes just so, you can hear the squeaking of sneakers, the bouncing of balls, the too-often-ignored screams to pass the ball, shoot the puck and call the penalty on the other guy. Memory can be a powerful thing, no?

One big boy

2011-12-16T20:06:00.003-05:00

Little man got a new pair of glasses today. When Debbie emailed me his picture from the optometrist, I wanted to reach through my screen and squish his cheeks. I don't know when he got so big, but I'm tickled deep down that he's growing into a sweet-natured, smart-minded mirror of my wife.

Life can sometimes throw dark days at us. Today definitely wasn't one of them. Lucky me.

Your turn: I'm going to need new glasses in the new year. Style suggestions welcome.

About this photo: It's Thematic's "the one" week this week. Click here to jump into the photographic insanity.

On courage, fear and opportunity

2011-12-16T00:42:00.000-05:00

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."
Ambrose Redmoon

It's been a week of days that start long before sunrise and end long after the kids are tucked into bed, of late-night writing jags and late-afternoon sprints across town before I jet off to something else barely 10 minutes after I get home. I've logged more than a few sessions in front of a camera, and the early morning treks into the studio have given me ample opportunity to wonder about the wonder of it all.

As I looked at the red light in the leadup to my most recent interview and listened to the producer in my ear count down the time until we were live, I thought about my first-ever television hit just a few years ago. I remember the sick feeling I had in the pit of my stomach, the furtive wish that I didn't melt down on-air, the hope that I'd remember to say all the right things.

In the end, I needn't have worried. I set the nausea aside and focused on just getting it done, and getting it done well. Which I did - or at least I think I did - and as I drove home afterward, I had to resist the urge to high-five total strangers at every red light. Amazingly, the phone kept ringing, and my media adventure continues to this day. I'm no longer afraid as the clock ticks down to air, but I can still understand why some folks might find it more than a little scary. You're always a flipped switch or lost thought away from losing it.

Which got me thinking about fear as I cruised the dark, wet streets this morning and turned into the parking lot, the studio's exterior lights blazing. I guess a while back I decided I wanted to ride the media wave so much that swallowing those pre-air jitters was an easy, or at least worthwhile, thing to do.

And let's face it, it's a thrill to start the day talking about things I love with really smart people who also love what they do. I'm sure there's a little bit of fear still lingering deep down. But it pales in comparison to the soul-stirring joy I feel when everything's clicking along and you know you've just laid down some seriously cool TV.

Not a day goes by that I don't realize how lucky I am.

Your turn: Why are you lucky?

One more thing: I'm back on-air first thing Friday morning - 7:40 a.m. Eastern - with CTV's Canada AM, talking about Facebook's new Timeline feature. But first I've got to drive through the darkened, wet streets of my pre-dawn 'burg. I seriously can't wait.

On Andy's culinary curmudgeonliness

2011-12-14T18:49:00.001-05:00

"I don't like food that's too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I'd buy a painting.”
Andy Rooney

It's been just over a month since the world lost one of its favorite realist-curmudgeons. I always enjoyed his essays, as his voice seemed to inspire my own minutae-focused world view. Since it isn't very likely we'll see another like him anytime soon, if at all, I've been trolling through some old Rooneyisms to remind myself why his curious mixture of observational journalism was, and is, such a treasure for us all.

This one makes me hungry.

(Oh, and get off of my lawn. Please.)

Your turn: Who inspires you? Why?

Destination unknown

2011-12-14T06:54:00.001-05:00

One craft, many lives
London, ON, October 2011

About this photo: Thematic explores "the one" this week, and you're definitely invited. Click your (one) mouse right here to get started.

One of my earliest memories was lying on the lawn and staring up at the sky. Contrails fascinated my toddler mind, as I couldn't begin to imagine that the tip of each one was a massive, hugely sophisticated machine capable of carrying hundreds of people thousands of miles. At first blush, it was simply a moving line in the sky, just the thing to attract, and keep, my attention.

I know a lot more about those machines now, but that fascination has never really left me. I'll often stop what I'm doing just to stare, to squint a little more intently, to try to identify the aircraft type and its possible route or destination, to wonder about the myriad lives passing almost invisibly far above my head. The Internet has made the process magically interactive - bless you, Wolfram-Alpha - but it's still a beautifully simple thing to just stand there and wonder.

Your turn: What other things make you stop and wonder?

On how to really build a castle

2011-12-13T20:03:00.002-05:00

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."
Henry David Thoreau

Thematic Photographic 175 - The One

2011-12-12T19:00:00.001-05:00

A dog's territory
London, ON, August 2011

I'm a pretty simple guy, so I tend to feel most comfortable when I boil really complex things down to their most basic elements. To that end, photography is a lot like life: Focus on the one thing that interests you most, and forget about everything else. You can always tell those stories in another picture. Besides, I get annoyed with our modern era's near-obsession with cramming as much as possible into every available space. Too much, too fast, and anyone who thinks we've become a multitasking society is seriously deluded.

So this week, I'd like to slow things down a bit with our new Thematic theme, "the one". It's as simple as it sounds: Share pictures that focus on one thing only, or otherwise suggest a single, simple something. And from where I sit, life doesn't get any simpler than a happy dog sitting on his lawn. For him and for me, this moment was as singularly pure as it gets.

Your turn: Find a picture that just screams "one" to you, then post it to your blog and leave a comment here letting everyone know where to find it. Previously posted content is also totally workable. Visit other participants to share the joy, and repeat as often as you wish all week long. If you're new to Thematic, our weekly photo sharing and learning activity, please click here.

Sort of red. Definitely bright.

2011-12-12T08:12:00.003-05:00

Natural spectrum
London, ON, August 2011

About this photo: This picture wraps up our week-long exploration "seeing red". Still have something to share? Go here. Otherwise, we'll be launching our new theme, "one thing", tonight at 7:00 Eastern.

I doubt there's a shred of red in this picture, so by all accounts I'm probably cheating on my own theme. But I've got two excuses:

I'm not color blind, but I often have difficulty identifying or differentiating subtle shades. I couldn't tell you if it's green or aqua, for example, or red or orange. I know what you're thinking: What a great trait for someone who, um, takes pictures.
Sometimes, mixtures of colors remind me of a particular shade, even if that shade isn't overtly included in the picture at all. Let's call it suggestive color, shall we?

So given my inability to differentiate colors and my love of the optical spectrum, this one said "red" to me even though I can't find one red petal in it. It's in the same general region of the spectrum, so that ought to be good enough. That and it's Monday morning, I've got two sick kids in the house and we all need a reason to see something lovely.

Your turn: How can you explain a flower's ability to make us feel just a little brighter?

On loss, time and perspective

2011-12-11T19:44:00.003-05:00

"When you are sorrowful
look into your heart
and you shall see that
you are weeping
for that which has been
your delight."
Khalil Gibran

You can't feel loss unless you had something to lose in the first place. And as I've so often written in this space, I'd rather have it to lose and lose it than not have it at all.

Life isn't permanent, but it's the best gift we'll ever have. Seize every day with those who matter most, and never fear losing whatever it is we treasure above all. Because to never lose is to never truly live.

Your turn: How do you make your memories happy ones?

One more thing: Please accept my apologies for the slightly dim tone of this entry. It's been a melancholy day. More here.

Holding on for dear life

2011-12-11T08:58:00.003-05:00

Hiding in plain view
London, ON, November 2011
[Click photo to embiggen]

At first glance, you'd hardly think this scene has anything to do with our "seeing red" theme (here). In fact, the branches first caught my eye because of their geometry and depth. I was so captured by it that as I composed, I idly toyed with the idea of shooting it in black-and-white*.

But it was windy and my fingers were cold, so I really wanted to get the shot over with before stuffing my hands back into my toasty warm pockets. Annals of photography, folks: I just wanted to keep my digits warm.

Anyway, I didn't notice the tiny remnant berries until later, when I got home and saw the pictures up on my monitor. They reminded me of some plucky survivors, holding on against hope, long after anyone else would have given them up for dead. The thought made me smile, because we could all use a little inspirational defiance every once in a while.

Your turn: Holding on despite it all. Please discuss.

--
* When I feel that a particular scene would render better in b&w, I deliberately throw the camera into b&w mode. While I've been known to convert color pictures to b&w after the fact, I prefer to shoot them native because that way the camera's sensor is properly calibrated for the task at hand. I've long suspected you lose a hint of sensitivity when you shoot in color and then compensate for it later in software. Consider this example #592 of my retentive nature.

Media storm - drunkenness, megadeals & online privacy

2011-12-10T18:54:00.003-05:00

I had a pretty good media week this week, with my name popping up in all sorts of fun places. Notably, I got my hideous mug on television a few times, including the following interviews on Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart's release of new guidelines to ensure online advertisers play nice with our private information:

CBC News Network. Spoke to Reshmi Nair. Video here. And here.
CTV's Canada AM. I chatted with Scott Laurie. Video here. I also spoke with CTV News Channel's Jacqueline Milczarek just after that, but I couldn't find the video online.
The Toronto Star. Privacy online (byline Francine Kopun)

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion had a lousy week, too, as two high-ranking employees got drunk on an Air Canada plane and forced it to land in Vancouver. The over-300 passengers on board were put up in hotels and forced to endure an 18-hour delay before continuing their flight to Beijing. The now-ex-employees were subsequently fined $72,000 by the airline. Then a BlackBerry promotion in Indonesia turned into a stampede. Then I talked to Canada's leading wire service about how all this stuff hurts the brand:

Canadian Press. BlackBerry maker's image could take a hit after stampede and airplane ruckus (Global Toronto, Winnipeg Free Press, Yahoo! Canada, Hamilton Specator, Brandon Sun, et al.)
Globe & Mail. Will drunken RIM employees affect BlackBerry sales? (byline Zosia Bielski)

Other notable hits from the Toronto Star this week include:

New Apple iPhones and iPads turn out to be data hogs. (byline John Terauds)
Bell, Rogers bank on making money every step of the way (byline Vanessa Lu)
Teachers cashing in at the peak. (byline John Spears)

The last two stories dealt with the purchase of the majority of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. (the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, the Air Canada Centre, among others) in a groundbreaking telecom convergence move. I published the following two pieces on Yahoo! Canada to try to make sense of the deal:

To say this is fun would be something of an understatement. To say I don't feel privileged would be a lie: Every time the phone rings, the red light goes on or I click Send to an editor, I pinch myself that things are evolving as they are. May it be so for us all.

Your turn: What's your dream?

Blood on the street

2011-12-10T13:04:00.001-05:00

The color of stop
London, ON, December 2011

About this photo: Thematic explores the "seeing red" theme this week. You can, too, by pointing your mouse here.

It had been a restless evening. Although the house was peacefully quiet, with the kids tucked in and the happily-walked dog already snoozing on the living room couch, I was churning way too many things in my head. Upcoming deadlines, longer-term deadlines, life and career stuff...the kinds of things we were always taught not to sweat, but still manage to sweat, anyway.

I remembered something I saw from my earlier outing with the pup. I had changed up our route a bit and wandered near a traffic light. The roads were damp with the remnants of the first wet snowfall of the season. I didn't see the lights as much as I noticed their reflection on the mottled pavement. I made a mental note to return if I had the chance.

And I did. Never mind that it was still spitting outside - sometimes you just have to follow your muse whenever the moment is right. I slung the camera under my coat, tightened the lens hood and stepped into the damp, miserable night. As I walked, I checked the wind direction to keep the flakes off of my lens, then shot quickly when I got to the corner.

I'm guessing I shoot for a number of reasons, the least of which is getting the picture. Sometimes I just need some quiet time to think. Sometimes I just want to hold onto that moment. Sometimes just getting out there despite it all is enough of a reason.

Your turn: Now that you know why I do the photography thing, why do you do it?

Big red fast cat

2011-12-09T18:46:00.001-05:00

Blink to pass
Mahwah, NJ, July 2011

About this photo: Thematic is "seeing red" this week. You can, too, by heading here.

There's something about red cars that sets them apart. I'll admit a little bias, as I once owned a bright red vehicle (here) and spent entirely too much time keeping it - nay, her, Henrietta the Honda - bright and shiny. The sober grey car that came next never seemed to tweak the heartstrings in quite the same way. If at all.

So when I found myself face to face with this lovely Jag a few months back, it didn't take much prodding to get the camera out. Maybe they knew I was coming.

Your turn: What is it about red that makes it...different?

On the fragility of freedom

2011-12-08T21:58:00.001-05:00

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
Ronald Reagan

Where the steel rails never end

2011-12-08T07:32:00.002-05:00

I took this picture earlier this week on the platform of London's Via Rail station. It's a jewel of a facility whose construction began the transformation of the city's once-derelict downtown - well, it's still kinda derelict, but we'll leave that discussion for another day - and has been a regular backdrop to our family's adventures.

It was a dimly lit early morning, mixed with the kind of grey, snow-tinged dampness that signals winter's impending arrival. I had just walked my mom to the train and, as has become my habit, was standing on the platform waiting for the train to leave. I don't know why I do this, but I feel funny just turning around and walking away. My mom, bless her, had taken a seat on the other side of the train and had no idea I was there, but that's not the point - it made me feel better to be there, so I stayed.

It didn't take long for the platform to empty out, and soon enough I was standing completely alone. It was a strangely peaceful moment to be in a place of such transition, so close to to many who were going so far, yet still wrapped in near-absolute silence. Soon enough I'd be back in the car on my way to another busy day, but for now I wanted to remember what it felt like to deliberately put the world on hold for a bit.

Your turn: Being alone. Please discuss.

One more thing: What does this really grainy pic from my smartphone have to do with "seeing red"? The rail lights way beyond the end of the tunnel were what first attracted my attention. Squint hard and you'll see 'em. Click here to share your own red or reddish view of the world.

On the promise of everlasting childhood

2011-12-07T19:06:00.001-05:00

"In my soul, I am still that small child who did not care about anything else but the beautiful colors of a rainbow."
Papiha Ghosh

Your turn: How do you hold onto your childhood?

On journeys

2011-12-06T21:00:00.003-05:00

"When the road ahead seems too long, look back to see how far you've come. For, even if the hill before you is steep, the view gives you hope to finish the journey."
Daniella Kessler

Ms. Kessler's words feel somewhat more substantial to me tonight. I've been thinking about journeys for the past few days, especially the really extended one I seem to have been on over the last few years of my professional life.

At various points, it hasn't been clear to me where all the twists and turns would lead me. It's not as if the road I've been on has been remotely conventional - I'm still looking for that manual for geeky journalists in the Internet Era - and I've often wondered if I should have simply taken the easier path. Wouldn't it have been easier had I stuck with the Mother Corp cubicle?

Easier? Perhaps. Memorable and fulfilling? Doubtful. I was born a writer, and it made no sense for the adult me to fritter away that gift. I needed to follow that little voice that kept telling me to listen to my gut (and my wife.)

So tonight I wrote some more. In a few minutes, I'll do some live radio from my driveway. Tomorrow morning, I'll get up really early and drive through darkened streets to a brightly lit studio where I'll have the privilege of appearing on a top-rated national morning show. None of this is linear, or even logical. But it's me. And it's turned into a hell of a journey.

Your turn: Where is your journey taking you?

Thematic Photographic 174 - Seeing Red

2011-12-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Nature's brilliance
London, ON, November 2011

Red isn't so much a color as it is a culture. You feel it before you see it, and it sticks with you in your mind long after your eyes have moved elsewhere. If any color can raise the temperature of our soul, it would be red.

The onset of autumn makes it harder to find, but I've got immense faith in our loyal Thematic fans, and I know the next week will be filled with lots of red scenes.

Your turn: Take a picture that evokes the "seeing red" theme. It could simply have something red in it, or it could suggest the color. Or whatever: Remember the rule of Thematic, that it's entirely up to you to interpret a given theme. No rights, no wrongs. When you're done, post it to your blog (or find something you may have already shared) and leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Visit other participants and rook distant family members into joining the insanity. Thematic is our rather informal and fun weekly photo-sharing-exploration thing, and you can learn more about it here.

Shattered dreams

2011-12-05T06:48:00.001-05:00

No longer whole
Quebec City, QC, July 2011

Please note: This photo wraps up our "flash of color" theme. Our next theme, "seeing red", launches tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Last-minute submissions for "flash of color" are being accepted here. Otherwise, hope you'll pop in tonight for some reddish fun.

I'll admit this picture isn't the happiest one in my archives. It suggests irreversible breakage, ignorance of social norms, urban grittiness, some kind of loss. It's always jarring to come across glass on the ground. I worry the kids or the dog will cut themselves on it. I wonder what went on in this place before we arrived. I wonder if anything else will happen here if we hang around for too long.

Yet in the scattered remnants of what once was and will probably never again be, there remains a certain something that almost forces me to stare. The glass glints in the sun as it sits on sun-baked asphalt that's probably a decade past its best before date. There's nothing about this general area that suggests it's anything but a rough-hewn stretch of a forgotten street in a dusty part of town, but I still can't stop looking at the bright green slices at my feet.

Maybe there's hope in this reflected color. Beyond this particular scene, in everything I come across, maybe I need to be looking more carefully for other signs of hope. I let that thought sink in as I slowly walk away and rejoin my family.

Your turn: Where do you find hope?

On some more Pooh wisdom

2011-12-04T19:39:00.001-05:00

"'Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.' said Pooh."
A.A. Milne

Hanging on

2011-12-04T11:22:00.003-05:00

Last of their kind
London, ON
November 2011

About this photo: Thematic. Flash of color. Here.

You've got to admire things with pluck, gumption and determination. They aren't always pretty, but they always manage to attract attention and make us think.

Like the homeless man who sells tattered newspapers by the bus stop, the off-tune accordion player who partially blocks pedestrian traffic on a busy downtown corner, or the abandoned building with particleboard for windows, they all manage to retain a certain sense of vibrancy and purpose even if we hold our noses a bit as we walk on by.

But that's the thing with life, is that despite all our attempts to drown it in perfume, cover it with makeup and otherwise smooth its rough edges with some sort of slick packaging, it somehow manages to remind us that things aren't always fully baked - or entirely fresh - under the surface. It is what it is, and it's up to us to either hold our noses and pretend we don't notice, or breathe it in a bit and realize that life, defiant, can be more fulfilling than life, blinkered.

On this blustery morning in the woods, I decided that this cluster of unspectacular, admittedly plain leaves was just plucky enough to merit some quiet thought. And a picture. Because I would have missed the moment had I held my nose and kept on walking.

Your turn: What kinds of things make you stop and think?

Lessons my dog has taught me

2011-12-03T17:15:00.002-05:00

I haven't written about our dog in a while because I'm guessing most of you don't want to read about his latest bout of mischief - the meticulously chewed and redistributed garbage, mangled shoe or half-eaten chocolate marble cake - or follow his roller coaster ride of diabetic fun. So I've made the executive decision to keep the canine volume level a little lower than it would otherwise be.

But every once in a while, I'll have an epiphany of sorts that reaffirms why I'm glad we have him, and why the world seems just a little kinder because of him. I had one of those moments as I was walking him the other night.

He was being his usual schnauzer self, wandering haphazardly all over the place, following his nose in search of whatever it is that jazzes him. It had snowed earlier that day, and he was burying his snout in the little bit of white stuff that remained, snorting repeatedly as he tried to burrow his blackberry-button nose as deeply as physics and soil composition would allow. I wasn't in much of a rush, and it was just crisp-cold enough that I was perfectly content to listen to him shnorkel his way underground for as long as he wished.

Eventually, he tired of the game and sauntered off toward the house, looking quickly back to make sure I was following before he continued his half-bounce, half-trot down the sidewalk. He was happy, perfectly content to be exploring his neighborhood, and all I had to do was read his body language and follow along.

We've been worried about him ever since our vet confirmed his diabetes, concerned every time an infection or some other ailment pops up and necessitates another trip to see Doctor Tom. He's five years-old, seemingly too young for any of this, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't wonder about his long-term prognosis. Will he live to a ripe, healthy old age? I fear he won't, and I kick myself for even thinking it. Or writing it here.

But on this day, on this walk, he wiggled his little rear end and drank in the experience, which pretty much mirrors every walk we take. He's blessed without the ability to worry about the things that lie beyond the horizon. Instead, he cares only about whatever it is that lies under the snow at the tip of his nose. And whoever's holding onto the other end of his leash.

We may not have as many days with him as we had hoped when we first brought him home. But somehow, he's teaching us to get the most out of every day we've got.

I could learn from him.

Your turn: What can we learn from animals?

On your life's mission

2011-12-02T19:51:00.001-05:00

"Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't."
Richard Bach

Red-tipped glory

2011-12-02T07:25:00.001-05:00

Fragile
London, ON, November 2011

I chose "flash of color" as this week's theme (please see here for more) because there's something refreshing about seeing a wisp of brightness where you otherwise wouldn't expect to find it. When I set out on my Sunday morning walk in the woods, I expected it to be a sea of grey, a desolate, shadowy place devoid of any memory of the lush color that had blanketed it barely a few weeks earlier. The approach of winter tends to strip the landscape of its in-your-face vibrancy, so my intent was to capture the bleakness.

So it was quite the pleasant surprise to see so many tiny examples of color. You couldn't see them from far; if you stuck to the broad view, they remained hidden. But walking closer to a tuft of stripped-down bushes revealed sights like this, tiny red sprouts that hung around long after the leaves around them had turned brown and been blown away.

The wind was blowing a chill through my coat as I took this scene in. I waited for the branches to stop dancing, but eventually realized Mother Nature had no intention of hitting the pause button just for me. So I took the picture anyway, tightened my scarf and kept walking, the memory of this once-hidden perfection serving as a reminder to take the time to look more closely. Otherwise, I might never have known what I would have missed.

Your turn: How do you make sure you don't miss the small stuff?

On kindness

2011-12-01T23:00:00.001-05:00

"Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind."
Henry James

Your turn: What's the fourth thing?

Chasing cops

2011-12-01T07:52:00.000-05:00

Flashy
London, ON, November 2011

About this photo: It's Thematic's "flash of color" week, and you can share your own flash of color by heading here. It's all perfectly legal.

Despite all the freedoms we supposedly enjoy in a country like Canada, there's always a moment of doubt when I train my lens on a police officer, cruiser, or any other subject remotely related to law enforcement. I may have all the rights in the world - as a citizen and a journalist - to record matters of public record, but that doesn't mean I can't be told to put the camera away and leave the scene.

It's happened to me, but I still can't leave well enough alone. Because regular folks deserve to know what goes on around them, even it's not always pretty or lawful.

Your turn: Do you ever get into trouble for taking pictures?

Cyclical color in a snowy land

2011-11-30T08:21:00.001-05:00

We woke up to this today. Not the bike sitting on the lawn, but snow. And even then, just a sprinkling, a taste of what's to come. And it'll probably melt off by lunchtime.

I don't tend to fret about changing weather. It's going to happen no matter what we do, so we may as well adapt and move on. Better to focus on the things we can change.

Still, I felt a slight pang of sadness on seeing my garish pink machine juxtaposed against the now-almost-monochrome landscape. Whether I like it or not, another biking season is inevitably drawing to a close, and with it, my self-powered radius gets a little smaller. One cycle begets another...I'm just glad I'm here to experience it all.

Your turn: What are you thankful for?

On the not-so-lowly turtle

2011-11-29T23:39:00.002-05:00

"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."
James Conant

I had a turtle once, long ago. She eventually outgrew every habitat we bought for her, and ultimately needed a ginorous aquarium. My old room had shag carpeting - blame my parents - with a bizarro blue/green pattern to it, and whenever she escaped, she'd disappear, chameleon-like. I'd have to lie carefully on the bed for fear of accidentally squishing her. Eventually, after feeling around the floor, I'd find her and return her. Until her next escape.

Long after she went to the great turtle riviera in the sky, I had an inspirational turtle experience in a faraway place. And to this day, these funny-looking, super-slow beings from a seemingly distant past still manage to fascinate me. I'm not so great at the neck-sticking-out thing, but I figure if a turtle can do it, I can, too.

Your turn: How do you explain the ongoing appeal of turtles?

Thematic Photographic 173 - Flash of Color

2011-11-28T19:00:00.002-05:00

Duck, duck...goose?
London, ON, November 2011

I'm not particularly fond of this shot. I had just discovered this little spot by the river. It was one of those in-between moments where I had a bit of time to kill while waiting for the little man's choir practice to end. I lost track of time as I wandered the pathways nearby, and had begun putting my camera away after realizing I had wandered a little too far and would now have to double-time it back to pick him up on time.

Of course, that was precisely the moment the ducks chose to take off from the water and make a spectacle of themselves. I was completely out of position, completely unprepared and completely late. I grabbed my camera from the bag and wildly shot whatever I could until they disappeared around the bend.

I'll have to return to this idyllic spot sometime soon. Next time, I'll be ready for whatever the ducks have planned.

Your turn: Please share a photo that reflects this week's theme, flash of color. Leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Come on back through the week and visit other participants to share the photographic joy. Thematic Photographic is our little weekly photo-exploration exercise, and everyone who's interested in expanding their photographic world view is welcome to join in the fun. For more info on how TP works, click here.

May the Q be with us

2011-11-28T18:18:00.009-05:00

Social media tools can be used for a lot of really ridiculous purposes. For example:

Playing endless rounds of FarmVille when you really should be working.
Bugging complete strangers to play endless rounds of FarmVille when they really should be working.
Sharing waaaaay too much information about your child's intestinal functions.
Sharing waaaaay too much information about your own intestinal functions.
Enlightening countless "friends" on the state of your relationship with your soon-to-be estranged mother-in-law.
Assuming Facebook "friends" are, in fact, friends.

At the same time, social media can be a force for good. To wit, an Ontario campaign to get CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi to do his live radio show, Q, locally. Mr. Ghomeshi is a multimedia superstar, an accomplished musician (Moxy Fruvous) and passionate mentor for Canada's next generation of talent. And he's got a lot of rabid fans who would give their eye teeth for a live-in-person visit.

The rules for this Internet era contest are simple: Mr. Ghomeshi and his show will visit the city that markets itself most effectively. So Facebookers, Twitterers and bloggers are now slugging it out online to get Mr. Ghomeshi's attention (London's Facebook page is here...bonus points if you follow the link and like it, double-bonus points if you start using the #JianinLdnont hashtag.)

True to our Canadian form, the campaigns are good-natured and light-hearted. Win or lose, I'm guessing the sense of community that's grown out of this large-scale process will pay off well beyond one radio show in one town. On second thought, maybe that's been Mr. Ghomeshi's goal all along.

Coolness.

Your turn: Are you involved in this? Got a link you want us to share here? Go for it...

I'll start the ball rolling:

My Ghomeshi'a Twitter handle, @jianghomeshi (follow him and say hello.)
A YouTube video featuring some folks I know, some folks I don't, all of whom I'm deeply in awe of.
A blog post by my friend, Janice, who I think must be Mr. Ghomeshi's Biggest Fan Ever. Her blog, btw, rocks.
Another blog post by Janice. Just-published and completely hilarious. A must-read if you're a Kermit fan.
Jianinldnont.ca: A great website started by London social media expert Jody Bailey. Here's the blog post he wrote about us!