Timeout...

It's been a zany week filled with all sorts of neat little twists and turns. I'm a little sleep deprived, so in lieu of a snappily written new blog entry, you're stuck with this lame piece of tripe from my BlackBerry (yes, I still use mine, and yes, I still really like it, and no, that doesn't make me a tech-prude, but anyway...)

In the meantime, I have a favor to ask of you all: Please leave a comment outlining one nice thing you've done for others over the last day. (Yes, there's a purpose to this. All will be explained. Eventually.)

Overexposed

Every once in a while I like to catch up on some of the notable media work I've done. Had a couple of interesting ones earlier this month. Spoke with the CBC's Kevin O'Leary and Dianne Buckner on The Lang and O'Leary Exchange. The topic is a neat one: smartphones that double as electronic wallets, and their potential to take over from plastic credit and debit cards when we all go shopping. It's coming faster than we think, and it turned into a great discussion. Video here (my segment starts at about 39 minutes in. A more direct link is here.)

Other neat interviews thanks to my old friends RIM and Facebook:

CTV National News. Scott Laurie's report on the Facebook IPO. (May 17)
Same report embedded in part 1 of the newscast: video here.

CTV Toronto. I spoke with Ashley Rowe about the potential for SmartData to protect us from hackers and scammers. It's a great example of Canadian scientific research and leadership. The piece aired May 15th, but I haven't found the video yet. Will post it when I do.

CTV National News. John Vennavally-Rao's package on investors suing Facebook over its IPO (sense a theme here?) They included a clip of me in the intro to the newscast (video here). The package itself is here. (May 23)

CTV Kitchener. Max Wark's report on RIM's impending layoff announcement. Video here. CTV London also ran a similar report. (May 27)

CBC's The National. Havard Gould's report on RIM's latest troubles (layoffs, bank hire, operating loss, CEO's mother bought an iPhone...) Okay, I'm kidding about the CEO's mom, but the video is real, and it's here. Oh, and Havard's upcoming surgery is real, too. Get better soon, Mr. Gould: journalism needs you.

CTV Toronto. Colin D'Mello. Report video here.

CTV Canada AM. Chatted with Marci Ien about RIM's prospects. Video here. (May 30)

There's writing and other stuff, too, with articles in Yahoo! Canada and the Toronto Star. I'll post those tomorrow, because I figure there's enough video here to put most of you to sleep. Sorry about that: I guess it's been a busy time around here.

Oops, I lied: One more thing. I shared a bummer of a tweet yesterday. Now I'd like to swing the pendulum and share one of the nicest ones I've ever been privileged to receive:

Lucky me. I work with some of the kindest people anywhere.

RIM hires bankers. Investors bail. Again.

So the big news out of techland today is a familiar one: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion had another bad day. It announced it was hiring bankers J.P. Morgan Securities and RBC Capital Markets to help it investigate all strategic options - including partnerships, licensing, or even an asset sale.

I spoke with some folks on the way home from work, and as a result was late for dinner (totally worth it.) Havard Gould included a couple of clips in his report on CBC's The National. Video here.

I'll be up before sunup tomorrow to speak with CFRB Newstalk 1010's John Moore just after 6:20 a.m. (livestream here), CTV's Canada AM at 7:10, and CBC Radio's Metro Morning in Toronto at 8:10.

Between now and then I have to crank out a lot more words than I already have on my too-white laptop screen. It never ends. Nor would I want it to.

When Twitter users go bad

I received an interesting tweet this morning. Not the nicest tweet, mind you, of even the most polite. But I'm used to the occasional sniping from the peanut gallery, as that's the deal I made when I decided to go into media. Usually, I ignore it. This time, I won't. Here's what showed up in my tweetstream:

@carmilevy Do you ever work, or have you become another talking head?

I had tweeted earlier in the morning that I was going to be doing a radio interview. I'm guessing this missive from someone who likely ought to know better was in response to that note.

Here's the deal: Anyone who knows me knows that I do interviews like this - on radio, on television and in print - fairly frequently. Doing so helps raise awareness among editors and it makes it easier for me to secure writing work. Oh, and I love the process. Live radio and television is like working without a safety net. You're totally on, totally in the moment, and totally in the hands of professionals hundreds of miles away who you may have never even met. It's as unreal an experience as you can imagine, and I get to do it on a regular basis. And not a day goes by that I don't count my lucky stars that this is what I do, that doing so opens doors to me and my family that would otherwise have remained slammed shut.

So, to answer your question, oh misguided tweeter, yes, I do work. Fairly often. Fairly hard. Fairly non-stop. Like now, as I settle in for a long night of writing before tucking in for a few hours, then waking long before dawn for another round of pre-breakfast interviews and research. Then it's off to the office for the day before I return home and start the cycle again.

Because this is how I market myself, build my brand, build my future for me and my family. I'd invite you to look over my shoulder and see just how much I work, how far beyond "talking head" this work is, how much effort it takes to achieve any of this and how profoundly I enjoy the privilege of journalists across the country calling me - silly, backward ballcap-wearing, bike-riding, irreverent me - for my opinion, but I'm guessing its easier for you to zing the occasional slice of snark into my tweetstream because I figure this is infinitely more entertaining for you than, oh, being nice.

I can probably go back into the archives and pick out at least a dozen or so similarly themed messages from you. I've ignored them all to-date, probably because, shockingly, you're a friend of my extended family, because I figured it wasn't worth raising a fuss over. But today I've chosen not to. And I realize I'm probably overreacting, probably making more of it than I should, probably missing the brilliance of your apparent humor.

Or maybe you're just being a dick. Either way, stop it. Because considering how little free time I have these days - working, you know - I have absolutely no patience for dicks.

Coming home

As much as I love getting on a plane, flying far away and soaking in the experience of being in a radically different place, coming home is always my favorite part. There's a comforting feeling when the return flight pulls into its gate and you know who's waiting for you on the other side of the terminal,  a feeling that all is right with the world, that you always have a place to return to. And, more importantly, you always have people, family, to return to.

I realize not everyone is so blessed, that some travellers return home alone. So I hug my family that much more tightly when I first see them.

Please see here for more far from home-themed imagery. New Thematic theme will go live soon.

Who has a death wish?

Waiting for the light to turn
Shanghai, China
May 2012
Head here for more Thematic "far from home"

Pedestrians take their lives into their own hands in this city of 19 million souls. The rules of the road so often seem to be mere suggestions, with cars stopping for nothing or no one, drivers leaning on their horns for the sake of making noise, streets filled with traffic coming from whatever direction makes the most sense at any given moment. It's frightening to watch, and even scarier to be in the middle of. I can't imagine walking and texting at the same time, as it would almost be an invitation to becoming someone's hood ornament.

So you can imagine my surprise when I came across this scene at a typically busy intersection. I'm not quite sure how chilled the blood in these people's veins was, but I'm guessing it was colder than mine. I guess you learn how to survive when this is all you've ever known. Either way, I said a little prayer for them all. Just in case.

Your turn: What's the woman on the right talking about?

Snickers Satisfies, Anywhere

Connecting with the familiar
Shanghai, China
May 2012
For more far-from-home photo-madness, head here.

I'm not the world's most adventurous eater. My can't-eat list is pretty restrictive, so travel always makes mealtime a fun experience as I pick my way through the menu and look for things that won't send me off the culinary deep end.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I cruised past the snack-and-go counters at the conference and came across a pile of Snickers bars. Please don't ask how many of them made it into my backpack. Of course, the moment had to be remembered with a picture. And, of course, the get-on-the-floor technique seemed to make the most sense.

The bottom line on finding something familiar far from home is this: They do taste better. I'm sure it's the psychology rather than the chemistry, but there's something about having something dear as opposed to something that's easily attainable. And far from home, you hold onto what's dear just a little more tightly, and savor it just a little bit more.

Your turn: Does the five-second rule still apply here?

Everywhere a bird

Skimming
Shanghai, China
May 2012

It doesn't matter where I go, I'll always find a way to bring a bird photo home (like here and here.) I don't even know what kind of bird this is, but there's something wondrously universal about staying close to the things that bring us comfort even when we're thousands of miles away from home.

More more "far from home"-ness, click here.

On destiny and the pen

"The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it."
Leo Rosten

And so I can't. Which, on reflection, makes me one very lucky soul.

Dragon, meet ISS

Knock, knock
Somewhere in orbit
May 25, 2012

Pretty historic day a couple of hundred miles above our heads, as the SpaceX Dragon capsule, loaded with clean laundry and tasty treats - and, possibly, some of Scottie's ashes - docked with the International Space Station.

This is a big deal, as it illustrates that private industry is eminently capable of getting into orbit, doing critical work, and getting back down. Still ticked that the Space Shuttles have been retired? You might be looking at the next generation human-capable spacecraft, as SpaceX plans to stick seats in these puppies and fly real astronauts on them within the next three or so years.

Enjoy the peanut brittle, Expedition 31. More on the way, I'm sure.

Strangers in a strange land

Resting
Shanghai, China
May 2012

This scene struck me as particularly poignant. In a city where nothing ever seems to really stop, I saw example after example of people trying to carve out a slice of quiet for themselves wherever they could find it.

I think I could learn from them. I think we all could.

Your turn: Where do you find quiet in the middle of it all?

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Please click here to share your own "far from home" vision in support of this week's Thematic.

On tech being good or bad. What say you?

"There is an evil tendency underlying all our technology - the tendency to do what is reasonable even when it isn't any good."
Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

In the best Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey tradition, I've been doing a lot of thinking this week about the meaning of technology. I always seem to hear stories from folks who feel, deeply, that technology is either a force for extreme good or extreme not-so-good. There never seems to be an in-between.

I don't have an answer beyond this: technology is neither positive nor negative. It just is. It is a benign, passive platform that ultimately becomes what we make of it.

How's that for an answer?

Living on the margins

Subsisting
Shanghai, China
May 2012

About these photos: Thematic is exploring "far from home" this week, and you can, too, by clicking here. We promise you'll enjoy the ride.

I never presume to know all there is to know about a given person's situation. I would never judge, either. As a journalist, my role is to simply observe and share the facts as clearly as I possibly can. The members of my audience are always intelligent enough to draw their own conclusions.

That doesn't mean I'm not affected by what I see. And everywhere in this crazy-busy place, I see people living on the margins of society. They clean the steps of public buildings, panhandle in the street for whatever scraps they can find, or, in this case, scour garbage bins for recyclable materials. And my heart hurts a little bit every time I see them. I silently hope they find what they're looking for, hope they find a way to keep on keeping on, to survive in this place that seems content to ignore their very existence.

This particular lady was looking through a bin outside one of the top hotels in the city. At one point as I tried to capture the unfolding scene, she looked up at me and briefly caught my eye. I wondered if my observing her was upsetting in any way, and hoped it wasn't. I didn't have long to ponder that thought, however, as soon enough a suit-clad, walkie talkie-carrying concierge emerged and shooed her away, staring at me with particular suspicion, likely pegging me as yet another know-it-all tourist with no appreciation of the subtleties of life here.

He was probably right: I don't have a clue how so many in this apparent emerging land of plenty can apparently be pushed to the margins. I wish I understood more of the dynamics that make this country tick. I quietly think that perhaps if I got under the covers here, I'd learn more about life back home, too.

As she dejectedly wheeled her bag-laden bike into an uncertain future, I realized my heart still hurt a little.

Your turn: What do you learn when you're far from home?

On technology and experience

"Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it."
Max Frisch

This one made me ponder a bit, as I think there are two sides to this equation. Sure, we can use technology to isolate ourselves - hiding behind our inbox, for example, or spending every waking hour poking each other and writing on the virtual walls of so-called "friends". But we can also use it to reach out and connect in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

The choice, in the end, is ours. Neat how that works, isn't it?

Your turn: What thinketh you?

A moment in Hong Kong

Otherworldly view
Hong Kong, China
May 2012

Please note: These photos support this week's Thematic theme, "far from home." If you'd like to share your own vision from far away - and we hope you do! - just click here.

The scene: A glass-enclosed airport terminal - one of the largest ever built - halfway around the world from home. We've been disgorged into Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport after a 15-plus-hour flight from Toronto. We're 12 time zones ahead of the folks at home, so it's already the next morning.

We've got a few hours before our final flight takes us to our final destination of Shanghai, so our little group settles into the almost-deserted, too-comfy-for-words place. This is how all public spaces should be built, and I think a few hours isn't nearly enough to enjoy this stunning piece of architecture built on reclaimed land in the middle of a bay, surrounded by some of the most unreal topography we've ever seen. I pinch myself a few times to make sure it's all real.

Thankfully, there's ample power - thanks, Apple, for making the power adapter thing super-easy - and free Wi-Fi, so we all pull out our laptops and connect with the world we left behind. Once I boot up and get back online - sweet, sweet connectivity - I ping my wife all those miles away and, sure enough, she's there. In a few minutes, she's gathered the munchkins around the webcam and we're talking via Skype as if I'd never left. At one point, our daughter fetches the dog and holds him up for a cameo. It feels like I'm home, my inability to reach through the screen and touch them the only tipoff that so much distance now separates us.

As we idly chat about what I've missed since I left home and what the kids have planned for the rest of the week, I slowly circle the terminal to give them a sense of what it's like here. It doesn't take long before the kids have to get ready for bed, but already I feel as if they have, at least in spirit, gotten to experience some of this journey with me. Before we sign off, we decide technology is a truly miraculous thing, but I still wish we could reach through the screen.

Your turn: When you're far from home, what little tricks, techie or not, do you use to stay close to those who matter most?

Thematic Photographic 197 - Far from home

The open road
Somewhere on the I-75 in Kentucky
December 2009

I've been spending more time than usual of late away from home. For the most part, it's been for reasons that make me look forward to the journey, and in every case I've grabbed a camera and tried to capture not just what it looked like, but also what it felt like to be away.

Which is what I hope we'll all do for the coming week, as part of our new "far from home" Thematic theme. Basically, if you took it while you were away, it's fair game. Are you in?

Your turn: Share a far from home-themed pic on your blog or website, then drop a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Visit other participants through the week and feel free to return if you'd like to share more. We encourage photographic promiscuity here. For more background on how Thematic works, just click here. Enjoy...and thanks!

Topped out

Elevated flourish
Shanghai, China
May 2012

I'd like to wrap up this week's "look up" theme (click here for some last-minute up-ness) with another perspective on two of Shanghai's tallest buildings. I originally posted a night-time shot of these two (here), and was amazed at how simply waiting for daytime, then shifting a few blocks over, could result in a totally different view of these two. I kinda dig how they almost look like they're touching. Optics can be so grand, no?

The last time I was here, the building on the right was still under construction (photos here). That gigantic hole, which hadn't been completed when I shot the building in 2007, isn't just a cool architectural flourish. It was also at the middle of a civic controversy: It was originally supposed to be a circle - a reminder of the sun - but opponents complained it reminded them of Japanese imperialism. Architects eventually changed it to what you see here. Cool beans.

Your turn: Looking at the same thing from two perspectives. Please discuss.

One more thing: We hope you'll pop back in at 7:00 p.m. - OMG, that's tonight! - when we launch our new Thematic theme, "far from home".

Stairway to heaven - or just the 2nd floor

Sometimes, all it takes to change your perspective on life is a simple hike up the stairs.

Looking up to mom

Don't let go
Shanghai, China
May 2012
Click here to share your own "look up" moment

I was on my last walkabout of my visit here, a quick loop through the sweltering city before I headed back to the hotel, checked out, tossed my luggage in the back of a Buick minivan and headed for the airport for the inevitable gauntlet of check-in, security and still more security.

As I walked toward the hotel, I randomly shot people, any people, on the crowded overhead walkway that encircled one of the main intersections of this sprawling, often overwhelming city. This was the first truly nice day after a string of grey, rainy ones, and it seemed everyone had emerged to take it all in. This little girl stopped me dead in her tracks, as in that one tiny moment on a muggy afternoon, I saw a connection in that little hand that reminded me why we have kids in the first place.

She won't always hold onto her mom's hand as she's doing here. But for that brief window of childhood where the world revolves around her parents to an almost complete degree, I'm sure mom appreciates the handhold as much as little one does. Because it's only a matter of time before she walks on her own, too old/cool/independent/distant to make the connection to the person who shepherded her from munchkinhood to adulthood.

On this bright Shanghai day, it taught me that we're all more alike than not, and no matter how old we might be, we all need each other, hands and all, more than we'd like to admit.

Your turn: What's this little girl thinking?

On causing happiness

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
Oscar Wilde