Thursday, November 24, 2005
Social entrepreneur project #40001
Sounds like everything is going to be on track for next Friday's Cook for the Cure. Sobey's has been donating $20 gift cards towards the food; Zehrs has given $10 cards. Councillor Ian McLean might want to come, though we will try to just hit him up for matching donations, and a rep from CIBC sounded optimistic that they would be matching donations as well. Oh, and KitchenAid will be tossing in a $50.00 donation, just for having us throw the party.
The menu for the event sounds great:
The menu for the event sounds great:
- Amy's Famous Baked Potato Soup
- Spinach salad with goat's cheese
- Bruscetta con formaggio
- Wild mushroom and scallion pasta - alfredo sauce over rotini
- A light sorbet to cleanse the palate
- Surprise dessert
- Cheese and crackers
Thursday, November 10, 2005
The full, private balcony of my Ottawa hotel room.
A poor attempt at a wide shot
A full kitchen? You betcha
Bedroom
Full bathroom
Fancy stuff
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Social psych nerd heaven
Here I sit, in my comfy little hotel suite, watching none other than Star-Trek: The Next Generation. It's some bizarre episode where the Enterprise is scanned by an alien ship, causing a sort of "mass amnesia" of all crew members (including the android, Data). That is, they can not remember anything about their identities, but they are able to still operate equipment, intuitively knowing how it all works.
Back to the 21st century (that's this one), there is a famous case studied in psychology - often called "the most famous psych subject" - where a concert pianist lost certain memory functions due to a degenerative disease causing a special type of amnesia. Due to the amnesia, which he will have for life, the patient wakes up every day forgetting who he is and can not remember anything about his life history, but he can still sit down at the piano and play a beautiful concert piece!
His piano performances still improve with the amount of practice he does, yet he can not consciously remember having done any practice that day. If he meets his wife one day, he can not remember having met her before. If she leaves the room and returns, he can not remember her having been there moments before.
Back to the 24th century, the collective amnesia problem has had some intriguing - and humourous - implications. Data ended up becoming the bartender (rather than the chief tactical officer) for a short while. All the girls start coming on to 2nd-in-command Reiker, he must think he's quite the pimp. Security chief Wharf mistakenly thinks he is the captain at first, and the way to "prepare" the ship is to ensure that it is all armed for battle. "Strength is preparedness, we must be strong."
This is quite intriguing. What would we all do if we had our core competencies, but could not remember our identities?
On a happy note, HM does not live a miserable existence. His journals are littered with accounts of "this is the first moment I remember being alive, this is so beautiful, life is so beautiful, this first moment is such a wonderful experience, everything is so amazing..."
Back to the 21st century (that's this one), there is a famous case studied in psychology - often called "the most famous psych subject" - where a concert pianist lost certain memory functions due to a degenerative disease causing a special type of amnesia. Due to the amnesia, which he will have for life, the patient wakes up every day forgetting who he is and can not remember anything about his life history, but he can still sit down at the piano and play a beautiful concert piece!
His piano performances still improve with the amount of practice he does, yet he can not consciously remember having done any practice that day. If he meets his wife one day, he can not remember having met her before. If she leaves the room and returns, he can not remember her having been there moments before.
Back to the 24th century, the collective amnesia problem has had some intriguing - and humourous - implications. Data ended up becoming the bartender (rather than the chief tactical officer) for a short while. All the girls start coming on to 2nd-in-command Reiker, he must think he's quite the pimp. Security chief Wharf mistakenly thinks he is the captain at first, and the way to "prepare" the ship is to ensure that it is all armed for battle. "Strength is preparedness, we must be strong."
This is quite intriguing. What would we all do if we had our core competencies, but could not remember our identities?
On a happy note, HM does not live a miserable existence. His journals are littered with accounts of "this is the first moment I remember being alive, this is so beautiful, life is so beautiful, this first moment is such a wonderful experience, everything is so amazing..."
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Ottawa
Staying in Ottawa, surviving a loong drive through the thunderstorm-ridden Prince Edward county. Just arriving at the hotel ... and I'd swear there was some sort of mix-up. Private bedroom, separate kitchen, balcony wanting of a huge party. Just a few blocks from parliament in the heart of downtown ... woo-hoo!
Friday, November 04, 2005
Sunshine and politicians
Beautiful weather we're having. I'm reminded of my trip to Florida last month!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting for Shad at a school in Guelph. Awaiting my presention, I poked around the school and noticed that the walls were adorned with pictures of Canadian politicians. Looking closer, I noticed that all these politicians had visited this school, in many cases at the height in their careers. From prominent native politicians to Ralph Klein to Dalton McGuinty to Brian Mulroney ... so many different icons had come to talk at this school.
Unable to resist, I asked around to find the reason for this phenomenon. Was the school some hotbed of voter influence in the country? Had some famous prime minister once been an alumnus? The answer turned out to be an inspiring one: a world issues teacher extremely passionate about getting his students the best real-world education possible, so he leveraged whatever opportunities he had to get students some invaluable face time with real leaders. In one case, a Quebec Referendum (1995) debate was even held at the school, bringing in leaders from across the country and televised by the CBC.
Now that kicks butt.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting for Shad at a school in Guelph. Awaiting my presention, I poked around the school and noticed that the walls were adorned with pictures of Canadian politicians. Looking closer, I noticed that all these politicians had visited this school, in many cases at the height in their careers. From prominent native politicians to Ralph Klein to Dalton McGuinty to Brian Mulroney ... so many different icons had come to talk at this school.
Unable to resist, I asked around to find the reason for this phenomenon. Was the school some hotbed of voter influence in the country? Had some famous prime minister once been an alumnus? The answer turned out to be an inspiring one: a world issues teacher extremely passionate about getting his students the best real-world education possible, so he leveraged whatever opportunities he had to get students some invaluable face time with real leaders. In one case, a Quebec Referendum (1995) debate was even held at the school, bringing in leaders from across the country and televised by the CBC.
Now that kicks butt.
