On shooting for the stars

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land amongst the stars."Les Brown

I had a shoot-for-the-moon kind of day today. And it was good. Very good.

More soon. I promise that'll be good, too.

Shattered window, shattered life

Makes you think twice
London, ON
March 2012
Click here to share your own Thematic Windows

I guess a part of me will always feel the urge to stop and report from the scene of a major accident. A journalist's DNA being what it is, I often find it difficult to hold myself back when something so significant happens right in front of my eyes.

On this bright afternoon, two vehicles rather violently ended up in the same place at the same time, and it's clear this Hyundai Accent ended up on the losing end of a battle that no one ever really wins. Ambulances and police cars converged on the scene. Drivers and passengers were taken to hospital. Cleanup crews and tow truck operators were left to mop up the scene and get traffic flowing again. For anyone driving by, the world quickly moved on. For anyone in either vehicle, the world had changed.

I flitted among the mess, grabbing whatever pictures I could as I tried to pry details from the commanding officer on-scene. I shared what I could with the local television station, tweeted it out, then headed home.

Months later, this picture still haunts me. Was that the impact of someone's head? What - and who - else got damaged as the vehicle went from high speed to no speed in a blink? Would the occupants of both vehicles ever get into a car again without thinking of this day? Would they be the same?

I've been there, and silently, as this picture snaps into focus, I still wish them safe travels.

Your turn: Does driving scare you?

Thematic Photographic 221 - Windows

Windows to history
Kitchener, ON
July 2012

I'm looking forward to this week's Thematic theme, Windows, because it's so ripe for wide-open interpretation. In and of itself, a window usually isn't much to look at. It's transparent, near-invisible. But pull back a bit and suddenly the story becomes a bit richer.

This lovely set of upper-floor windows sits just above a Home Hardware store in Kitchener, a city about midway between Toronto and London. My wife and I had come here on our way back from dropping the little man off at camp. We didn't have anything scheduled for the rest of the day, so we took our time on the return leg and enjoyed the somewhat quiet journey.

It was a warm day, so we took a rest on a well placed bench on the sidewalk out front (note to city planners: buy lots of benches. They rock.) Inevitably I ended up staring at the facade, and just as inevitably my fingers fidgeted on my camera bag. As I composed the shot, the store's owner came out from his shop. I half-expected him to challenge me - sorry, but my big-city roots continue to betray my general sense of cynicism - but instead he was smiling. He noticed my Nikon, mentioned he owned one, too, and a delightful bantering session ensued.

In the end, I got my shot, but also came away with a life lesson that mattered far more than any collection of pixels on a memory card ever could. No offense to the big box stores at the edge of town, but I don't think I would have been able to have this moment of connectedness anywhere else. Score one for small-ish town life, and keep your hopes up that it continues to survive in an ever more bottom line driven society.

Your turn: You know the drill...take a picture in support of the theme, post it to your blog, pop back here and leave a comment letting folks know where to find it. Repeat as often as you wish through the week and feel free to bring along a friend or two or three. If you're new to Thematic Photographic, our weekly photo sharing/learning/enjoying activity, just click here. Thanks!

2 Minutes Out Of The Box

I survived my three hours of radio fun last Friday - more on that in a future entry - and ended up having more fun on-air than should be legally permissible. At various points I felt like WKRP's Les Nessman. I didn't mispronounce Chi Chi Rodriguez's name or those Chihuahua dogs, but I missed enough cues and felt my away around the process enough that I knew I was in new-for-me territory. Which was a good thing, because I don't think I've ever enjoyed airtime as much as I did on Friday. Man, I owe a lot of people (Al Coombs, Mike Stubbs, Al Smith, Rick Sinclair, Stuart Clark, my wife...) a lot of thanks!

So, about the show. One of the segments is called 2 Minutes Out Of The Box. It's basically a two-minute editorial, and as these were always my favorite spots on radio and television, it was a serious treat to be able to write and read mine on-air. Here's what I wrote - and I'm guessing if the politicos I wrote about end up reading this, my invitation to the City Hall Holiday Festival is never going to get here. Anyway, here goes:

Live in London long enough and one thing becomes clear: this is a great city. We're home to world class education, medical care and research, technology, manufacturing and business. We consistently rate near the top of every quality of life index imaginable, and talk to anyone, anywhere, in Canada and chances are they've got a London story to share. They've studied here, they've worked here, and they loved the place. 

We are home to a growing class of engaged citizens who are right now defining the state-of-the-art in using social media to build better communities and a better city. We're in position to set the tone for other cities in the digital age.

There's a "but" coming. 

Live here long enough and something else becomes clear: we deserve better from those who lead us. Over the past few weeks, we've all had a front row seat to a veritable circus at city hall, with intra-council feuds spilling out in public, on air and in social media. We've had near-violent opposition to hiring an integrity commissioner, followed by a mayor who can't remember signing a five-figure check to pay for his son's wedding just a few years ago. We've had gridlock on council while the city grapples with stubbornly high unemployment, failing infrastructure and now, failing bridges. Some days, it almost seems like we're being led by politicians more focused on their interests than ours. 

I'll admit, I'm tired of it. And I'm guessing I'm not alone. While city hall dithers, cities like Kitchener-Waterloo and Stratford are building reputations as business friendly, forward focused towns. Their municipal governments have learned to work well together. They've learned how to reach out to other levels of government, to connect with schools and businesses, to build partnerships that make people want to invest and live there. While I'm sure they've got problems of their own, they seem to be able to handle them professionally, with the kind of courtesy Canadians are known for. London hasn't gotten the memo. 

Londoners have a role to play here, too. Many of our councillors have been in the game for years because, frankly, we don't seem to have the gumption to change. And that needs to change. 

We're two years into our latest municipal mandate. Still, I dont think it's too early to start talking about who we really want to lead us. While I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bath water anytime soon, we need to start talking about who really deserves to lead this great city, and who doesn't. I'm guessing folks who think "duck off" is an acceptable response to a citizen may want to find another line of work. 

It's time we got the leadership we deserved, and if we go with the old guard yet again next election, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.

Your turn: Thoughts?

Always start with dessert

Let them eat cake
London, ON
September 2012

As we wind down our what's for dinner theme (click here if you'd like to drop something into the photographic hopper*), I want to remind y'all of one simple truth: dessert is meant to be eaten first. That way, if you fill yourself up before you've cleared the table, you haven't missed the best part of the meal.

I've subscribed to this notion for my entire life and in doing so drove my mother insane when I was a kid. She asked friends and even our paediatrician whether I was causing myself harm. His answer: "It all gets mixed up in there, anyway."

G-d bless you, Dr. Weiner!

Your turn: Have you ever eaten dessert first? What kind of reaction did you get?

* One more thing: New Thematic theme, Windows, launches tonight at 7 o'clock Eastern.

In praise of the Montreal bagel

The perfect meal
Laval, QC
August 2012

Growing up in Montreal was a good thing for me on so many levels. I got to learn what truly diverse cultures, languages and communities looked like on a day-to-day basis. I enjoyed some of the most entertaining (read insane) political discourse on the continent. And, most importantly, I learned how to eat well.

Montrealers don't simply eat to survive. It isn't merely a nutrition thing for them. Food is an integral part of life, an essential ingredient of that difficult-to-define sense of joie-de-vivre that makes this place so different from any other. Against that backdrop, the humble bagel you see here is more than just a roll with a hole in it. It's a critical part of the city's identity.

When we visit family, we always load up the car with bagels and other goodies from the local bakery before we point ourselves west and cruise the 401 back into the relatively milquetoast landscape of Ontario. Not that we don't appreciate our adopted home, but it simply can't hold a candle to Montreal's history of turning otherwise unassuming dishes into cultural celebrations. In comparison, London is kinda whitebread. It tastes OK, but you don't look forward to it like you do that lovely taurus-shaped thing pictured above.

As we continue to share what's-for-dinner-themed pics (click here if you haven't gotten yours in), I realize you may wonder why I'm sharing a bagel here. Isn't that for breakfast? Or brunch? In a way, you're right. Bagels are probably most closely identified with earlier-in-the-day consumption. But in my hybridized world, some 730 km west of the only bakeries that know how to make these things the way they were intended to be made, anytime is a good time to enjoy a little taste of home.

Your turn: What foods remind you of your own hometown?

A different way of remembering...

I'm so glad to live in a country where we have the freedom to remember, to share, to live our lives as we see fit. We have these freedoms in large part because of the sacrifices of our military members. Either they lost their own lives in the process, or returned home to lives irrevocably changed from the experience. José Narosky got it right when he wrote, "In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."

Whatever their individual stories, it's our responsibility to remember and appreciate not only on November 11th, but on any day of the year when we can simply go about the day-to-day routines of modern life. For we can only do so because of them.

I've noticed over the years that Remembrance Day tends to get under the skin of some folks. Not sure what to call them: maybe anti-war protesters, or peace activists. Most of them seem to subscribe to the notion that all war is wrong, that humanity should never go to war. They often use November 11th as a platform to share their opposition to anything remotely associated with the military. Sometimes they take great care to let soldiers know they don't oppose them, per se, but the concept of war in general. Sometimes they don't.

I've got issues with the whole "war is wrong" thing. Sure, there's nothing desirable about using military force to pursue national interests - or any interests, if we're being frank. There is nothing noble about one human trying to extinguish the life of another. Ideally, no one should have to take to a battlefield. Ideally, we'd all be able to gather around a table, negotiate our differences into history, then sing a few bars of Kumbaya while someone fetches some celebratory marshmallows and sparklers.

But here's the deal: there are no universal ideals in humanity. Hatred lives among us. So does megalomania, cruelty, misogyny, tribalism and a whole lot of other behavioural contexts that are clearly out of step with the concept of life well lived. We're a couple of generations removed from a nation's quest to wipe my kind from the face of the world. The inhuman vitriol continues to this day: I have the distinct pleasure of cruising YouTube and watching videos of children being gleefully taught to hate Jews. An Afghani girl continues to fight for her life after Taliban gunmen shot her in the head. Her crime? She wanted an education.

If you're a peacenik, would you have kept your guns down and allowed that girl to be shot? Would you have sat idly by and done nothing while Hitler and his kind painted Europe black? Would you have waited for the Nazi wave to wash over North America, as well? You may think, simplistically, that "war is bad," but if not for the sacrifices of so many, we'd all be speaking another language. And many of us wouldn't be here at all.

Sometimes the only solution to combat the awfulness that beats just below - or on - the surface of the human condition is to pick up a gun and fight it with everything you've got. Sure, it sucks. War sucks. But the alternative is far worse. And heaven help us if we ever forget that force is sometimes the only way a just society can navigate the darkness and see its way through to the other side.

Today is as good a day as any to remember that. Tomorrow might be a good day to remember, as well.

On the relevance of newspapers

"Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock."
Ben Hecht

Becoming a Radiohead

I've done some nutty things in my life, but I'm thinking today's upcoming adventure may take the cake.

I've been no stranger to the airwaves in recent years, as my life as a tech journalist has opened up a lot of neat media doors for me. I'm often called in for radio and television interviews, and I've become quite comfortable giving my $0.02 worth of perspective in 5- to 7-minute chunks. A host or an anchor asks the questions, I answer them, and we're done. Simple, really.

Well, today I exchange simple for, um, not so simple. I've been asked to sit in as guest host of Newstalk 1290 CJBK's afternoon program from 3 to 6 p.m. today. And, crazy as it may sound, I've said yes.

Why? Because it's a challenge. Because I've always wanted to know what the real other side of the mic, when you're juggling everything and keeping things on track, feels like. Because I'm so tightly identified as a tech journalist that it's probably not a bad thing to break out of the mold for a bit and exercise other parts of my brain.

Al Coombs, who's graciously had me in for our weekly tech segments for the past number of months, has firehosed everything he knows at me. And as I put my packages together and get ready to head in, I'm praying I haven't forgotten too much of it.

At worst, I'll flame out live on-air in front of oodles of Londoners, many of whom know me. At best, it'll be a fun afternoon's worth of radio. I'm banking on the latter, and I hope you'll be able to tune in.

Hardware: Buy or wait?

I'm really enjoying moderating our #BellBiz live Twitter chats, as these sessions give me a great opportunity to learn from some really smart people.

Next Tuesday's session is no different. We'll be talking about hardware, and when the right time to buy it is. How long should you hold onto it, and when is the ideal time to make the switch?

To join in the fun, just follow the #BellBiz hashtag, and mark your calendar for Tuesday, November 13th at 1:00 p.m. For more background, click here for the LinkedIn event, and here for the Bell Business Blog entry.

See you there!

Please don't feed the animals

Someone to share with me
Colborne, ON
August 2012
Thematic. What's for dinner? Here.

We'll set aside the debate about petting zoos - or zoos in general - for another day, because the last thing the world needs right about now is another raging argument between polarized people. It's been a bruising period in my city, province, nation and nation next door, so I'd like to set it all aside for a bit and simply appreciate a moment our kids got to have a few months ago.

We were on a long drive home to visit extended family. We were tired and, frankly, a little cranky. So when the Big Red Apple (see here for some history) loomed in the windshield, we took the exit. It seemed even more kitschy than ever, and we've put it on the no-stop list for the forseeable future as a result. But a connected moment with these lovelies seemed to perk our mood a bit, and sometimes that's all you really need.

Your turn: How do you turn a frown upside down? Any suggestions?

On Lincoln's America

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

Now that Barack Obama doesn't have to call the movers, I thought I'd reach way back into history for a slice of perspective. As a Canadian who greatly admires our neighbor to the south, it saddens me that the political discourse has become so rancorous. The nastiness that pervades virtually every aspect of the American political process betrays a country so deeply divided that it's hard to see either polarized side ever recognizing the legitimacy of the other.

It was almost painful to watch the idiocy and bias - the kind of stuff that would have gotten me kicked out of j-school - spewing out of my television, and the personal battles raging in social media, where hardly an hour went by when someone didn't unfriend, unfollow or even block someone else because they strayed into a political minefield. How did we get here? More importantly, how do we get back?

It may be un-Canadian of me to say this, but I'll say it anyway: You're all citizens of the same, once-and-future-great country, folks. With the election now behind us (because, yes, it affects more than just Americans), I hope more of you will start acting like it.

Your turn: Thoughts?

Thematic Photographic 220 - What's for dinner?

Always start with dessert
London, ON
October 2012

If food is such an integral part of our day-to-day lives - and I believe it absolutely is - then dinner is ground zero. After eating breakfast on the run, and grabbing lunch whenever we can steal a spare moment, dinner gives us a rare opportunity to slow things down and catch up with each other.

For the next week, I'd like us to look more deeply into our kitchens, restaurants and other venues where we gather to break bread and discuss the day just completed. It could be a picture of food, a peek inside your fridge or pantry, or something remotely related to the place where dinner is shared. As always, have fun with it.

Your turn: Please share a dinner-themed photo on your blog or website, then leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Visit other participants to share the photographic joy. Repeat through the week, if you've got the time, and feel free to bring a friend along. Head here for more background on how Thematic Photographic, our weekly photo sharing and learning activity, works.

Rust in peace

I hope these hold
London, ON
March 2012

About this photo: Thematic's been focusing on "somewhat worse for wear" all week. There's still time to submit yours. Just click here. New theme - "what's for dinner?" - goes live at 7:00 Eastern tonight. 

I didn't have to elbow anyone else out of the way to get this shot. I had all the room and time I needed to compose and meter the scene in the parking lot of the local Masonville Place mall. It was - and is - the kind of picture I like to shoot: offbeat, thought-provoking, atypical. Or, as my kids like to say, weird.

Because, to me at least, photography isn't about shooting the obvious. It's about shooting the stuff that sits, rather unobviously, just outside or below our everyday perspective.

Your turn: What do you suppose these nuts and bolts are holding together?

Where East Meets East

Big ship, cool building
Shanghai, China
May 2012
Please click here for more "worse for wear" Thematic

For something that plies the seas and braves powerful waves and unpredictable storms, the typical freighter doesn't seem up to the task. Old, rusty, dumpy...not quite the engineering tour de force you want watching your back as you enter into the seafaring equivalent of Hades.

Thankfully I'm standing on shore and not hanging out on the bow like the tiny yellow-clad crew member pictured here. And since I didn't hear of any major shipwrecks in the region in the months after I shot this, I'm guessing my fears were unfounded.

Whatever. The big, past-its-prime Russian ship slipping past the Bund was too good to pass up. How often do symbols of Communism's once-optimistic past and scruffy present end up in the same frame?

Your turn: What's the guy on the bow thinking?

On getting ready to vote...

"There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president."
Kurt Vonnegut

If you're American, you ARE going to vote, right? Nut cases or not, they - and the flawed puzzle pieces of democracy that they represent - are the best we've got.

The lost birthday wish

It's been an odd kind of day around here. On the one hand, I was having one of those rare days where everything journalistically and professionally was going my way. I wrote and published stuff I love to write, did live radio on a station I listened to as a child, with hosts I've looked up to virtually forever, all while friends and family back home listened in, and laid the groundwork for the next wave of unbelievably cool work to come. With every message I sent and call I made, I was on my game. And after years of building my little media world to this point, it felt beyond good to be so in control.

On the other hand, it was my dad's birthday today. He would have been 78. And although it's been just over three years since we lost him, days like today always find a way to reach into my soul and squeeze it just a little too tightly.

I don't come from a family that talks. It's not a pejorative thing at all: not everyone is effusive and sharing, and my extended family simply doesn't work that way. So when my thoughts wander to his life before he died, and our family's path immediately afterward, and since, I often find myself navigating the process alone. It'll hit me when I'm walking the dog, driving, skipping a beat in the home office between one deadlined assignment and the next, or sitting in a studio chair waiting for the red light on the camera to go on.

Sometimes I'll seek out a keyboard and write what I'm thinking. Not because I want or need anyone else to read it, but because I need to see the letters on a screen, tangible evidence that I haven't forgotten, that lives continue to matter, deeply, even after they've ended.

I've learned much in the past three years. Learned how much I love my wife, how much I owe her for all she's given me and our kids, how glad I am to have someone who doesn't just listen and talk, but reads my mind and knows exactly what to say and do when life throws us a curve or two. Or three. Or when it serves up unbelievable goodness. She's there for all of it in ways I never knew before I met her.

I've learned who to get closer to and who to avoid. And I've learned that days like today, vanished milestones of sorts, need to be less about lamenting what's been lost and more about appreciating the foundation that those we've lost helped build for us. About how much we've been able to achieve because they were, all too briefly, part of our lives.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm slowly figuring it out. I'm guessing my father would have been happy to know that.

Making mobile payments make sense

I've been moderating Bell's live Twitter chat series for a few weeks, and I've got to admit it's become quite the experience. Each week, we pick a topic, then throw the floor open to participants to ask questions, get answers, share ideas, and basically turn what was once complex into something simple and understandable.

These chats are designed to help small businesses make sense of today's fast-moving technology. No matter what business you're in, it's a pretty neat way to spend a learning-filled, fast-paced hour.

This coming Tuesday, November 6 at 1:00 p.m., we're going to tackle mobile payments. On the surface, it's simple: replace cash, credit cards and debit cards with mobile device-based payment. Tap your smartphone to pay and you're on your way. In reality, there's a wider range of issues you've got to think about before you dive in. With advancements in mobile payments starting to gain speed, we thought now would be a great time to start the conversation.

Just follow #BellBiz in Twitter, or click here to dive right into the discussion.

Update: I've posted the LinkedIn event here. Now with questions!

Hope to see you then!

On fame, not the show

"All is ephemeral - fame and the famous as well."
Marcus Aurelius

Yesterday's data center

Obsolete
London, ON
April 2012
Click here for more Thematic "somewhat worse for wear"

Everything starts off shiny and new, but a few short years of everyday use turns them into yellowed shadows of their former selves. I find it interesting how some examples of human engineering - say an old, colonnade-style building or a turn-of-the-century pocket watch - seem to stand the test of time, while others, like 80s-era tract housing and most examples of modern technology, seem to wither almost from the moment we start using them.

I'm not sure why that needs to be the case, and it frankly saddens me a bit. Because at one point, this now-forgotten pile of computers represented a limitless future for countless students at this area school. It didn't take long for them to reach this sad state, part of an ever growing pile of uselessness.

The technologist in me understands why things turn over so quickly. The dad, husband, and everyday guy in me thinks it's a depressing comment on our modern-day priorities.

Your turn: Is it? Does disposability have to rule?