Making a home

I moved out here with very few personal belongings, other than clothes. Slowly, and especially after bringing my car out here, I've been able to add some more Susan-like touches to my apartment. This is mostly for my family's sake, but I also thought some of you might be interested to see my fairly limited, but intricately-planned purchases in the decor department.

I purchased a new bed and an awesome new couch when I arrived, along with a TV stand that the Superintendent of my building's son put together for me! I also picked up this cute blue slip covered chair and ottoman from a person moving out of my building. They are in my living room right now, but this will change when I save up some more money and decide what kind of a chair I want in there. It works for the time being.

The coffee table was a pretty key investment as I really had no place to eat my supper or to stack my magazines and remote control!

As you can see below, the living room at least now has a collection of furniture, rather than a big couch sitting in the middle of a completely empty room!



My personal favourite is my pretty bedroom, which while a work in progress is pretty darn gorgeous. I got a dresser from one of furnished suites in my building that was being renovated. And no, that's not actually an end table, but a huge tupperware box covered with a white sheet. It takes timet o get these things in order!

The goal for my next phase of decorating is to get bookshelves and lots of them, as well as a dining room table and chairs, along with something that people can sleep on if I ever get any visitors in my spare room.

There are other areas of my apartment, but this gives you a bit of a feeling of how the key rooms look right now. And believe me when I say things look 10X better than when I moved in, so by Christmas I'm hoping for another vast improvement.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

A quiet weekend and nice change from last week's craziness. Was in Saskatoon for a few days - met a ton of co-workers from other campuses, and my facebook session was met with a good response and general enthusiasm from the crowd.

In sad news, I missed Meg's going away party this past week as she heads to Ireland. I was really glad to chat with her on the phone before she headed out, however. It's only going to be 7 months until I make the way across the Atlantic for a visit. I can't wait!

Getting back into the routine of life here, but it can get pretty lonely sometimes. I realize it wouldn't have mattered where I moved to. Even the biggest, most "cosmopolitan" city would have its drawbacks. Probably even more so, because it would be lacking the extreme friendliness of Saskatchewan. I definitely wanted to get out of Ontario and I am really grateful to be here and in a job that I love. It seems to be a matter of being patient with myself and realizing that I will meet people as time goes on. I met a young woman in my building yesterday who had moved here on her own, but after 3 months she's already packed up and moving back to Edmonton. I certainly don't feel that sense of grimness, as I know it's the right decision to have come out here. Even if I do wax sentimental now and again about life pre-the big move.

Been scanning the local papers for things to do around the city. Ralph Nader, of all people, is coming to Regina in the middle of September. You so know that I'm there. I also plotted out the music events being held in the next few months. Here are some options I drew up:

September
- The Dudes & Two Hours Traffic
- Chris Cornell

October
- Tegan & Sara w/ Northern State
- Besnard Lakes w/ Tinsel Trees
- Radio 3 night at the UofR
- Final Fantasy & Basia Bulat
- Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

November
- Elliott Brood, The Acorn, & The Sun Parlour Players
- Matthew Good
- Utah Phillips
- Stars & Miracle Fortress

Not too darn shabby, considering it's the end of August and more people are bound to come through if I keep my eyes open.

Any suggestions on how to build a good life in a new place are muchly appreciated, as I certainly realize I'm not the first person to do this!

What country are you?

From a very fun quiz site called Blue Pyramid. I thought this was a fairly fitting assessment of what "country" I am. Particularly the part about being mildly schizophrenic as a result of the moderating!

You're the United Nations!

Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to
completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long
way to go. You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each
other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of
beating each other about the head and torso. Sometimes it works and sometimes
it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result. But your heart
is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Driving out some demons

The apartment has been cleaned from top to bottom, I've budgeted finances from now until approximately 2014, and life feels somewhat back into the Virgo balance - the way I like it to be. The only real snag this week was discovering that in order to get my new Saskatchewan license plates I first had to get a car inspection. No plates, no insurance, no nothin' til the inspection is done. Took the car in this morning, paid my $125 for the inspection and was then greeted upon return with the news that my car will not pass the inspection. In order for it to pass it needs $1300 worth of work (new brakes and all sorts of other things, with the labour cost adding up to about 2/3 of the total).

Colour me not impressed. My car is by no means a pile of junk. But perhaps I've been negligent on keeping up on some of these maintenance issues the last couple of years. I have 30 days to get this done and become fully qualified to drive my car in this province. On the plus side, my new driver's license photo is probably one of the best pictures I've ever taken, whether on a license or not. Really trying to look on the bright side, here!

Yesterday I signed up to try Regina Public Library's online book clubs. I was able to pick the type of book I wanted to read (went with non-fiction), and each day I will receive about 5 minutes worth of reading from the book of the week. By each Friday the premise is that I will have read a few chapters of the book. Which is a great little trick, and I suppose a way to get bodies into the library to sign out the books should their interest be peaked during the preview period. What makes this book club different, aside from the online format, is that there does not seem to be an avenue through which people can discuss the books each week. No wiki, or discussion board. No idea of who else is reading the book or way to hear what they think of it. I realize that RPL has bought this program from a vendor but I would like to see some more opportunities for discussion and debate. Both of which are what make book clubs great.

Found out today that I'm going to be doing a mini-session at our big Library Services Division meeting next week in Saskatoon. My topic? Facebook - what it is, how people use it, and how libraries can apply it. The crowd will be a mix of librarians, library techs, and staff. My new co-worker and I have been talking about how we are going to apply facebook in our libraries, so this will be a great opportunity to gauge (and hopefully inspire) some interest from the crowd and get the ball rolling. Other than some time at work tomorrow to teach a class, I'm back full time next Monday and then promptly off to Saskatoon for three days. It will be nice to put faces to all of the names I've heard of or received emails from that are in our library system.

That's it for today.

all folked up

Lots of random things to write about tonight, most likely induced by the fact that I can not sleep. After laying in bed for the last few hours, getting up and wandering around, watching TV, standing on my balconey, making a ham sandwich, etc. I've decided just to bite the bullet and lul myself to sleep with the dulcet tones of my fingers tapping on the keyboard.

Sitting in my "spare bedroom" looking out the window at the very large office building across the way. I could have sworn earlier that I saw someone working at their computer too, very late into the evening. I started to imagine a whole scenario in which this person was either a workoholic, or alternatively unable to be in their own home for some mysterious reason. Somehow, I could relate to both.

I headed down to the Regina Folk Festival this weekend and was really impressed with a lot of what I saw going on there. The acts, pretty much to a T, were all incredibly solid and I wasn't dissapointed in anyone. Sure there were a few moments when I wished time would speed up as would the sets, but on the whole, I thought the performers were extremely well chosen. They also balanced eachother out in their eclecticism.

Some of the notables:

1) Groovy mix of blanket/lawnchair/pseudo-mosh pit seating arrangement
- with convenient walk throughs and well-placed concession and beer gardens, it made getting through the crowd really easy
I sat with the groovy blanket crowd on the first night, and then headed to the back for nights 2 and 3 with my cheapie Canadian Tire lawn chair. Views of the stage seemed pretty good from any location.

2) Very diverse crowd age-wise, but not other-wise
- for the most part the audience seemed to be made up of people quite a bit like me. White, WASPY types (c'mon, I can't pretend it's not true!) who read a lot of non-fiction and listen to CBC radio while also cheering for the local community radio station. Everyone was very friendly and I loved seeing all the families with their little rocker children but I would have liked to see some more diversity in the crowd. Perhaps part of this was due to the ticket prices, which while not extraordinary, could still leave out people who just would not be able to afford that kind of night (or 3) out. On a positive note, all of the daytime performances and worskshops were free, and people were allowed to sit outside the gates to the main show and listen in which was cool. Also, I saw a little boy wearing a shirt that said "Future Revolutionary". Too cute.

3) The workshops
These were a mixed bag for me. It was a great opportunity to see some of the musicians playing together, doing some covers, riffing on eachother's stuff and doing that whole folkie type of jamming you would expect. Not surprisingly, though, none of the headliner acts participated in these workshops. It would have been interesting to see how someone like Michael Franti would have collaborated with Mother, Mother, for instance! But I did see some jems, including my faves Cuff The Duke add some steel guitar to Rachelle Van Zanten's songs. She, by the way, is just awesome. I bought her album after seeing her in a workshop and it is really good. Check it out.

4) New musical discoveries
Becca had done a great job of preparing me for some of these artists, so I had a preliminary head's up. There were a few real standouts that made me very happily hungover from musical bliss. These included:

Sexually Attracted To Fire
- from Saskatoon
- included a very neat stand-up bass type of thing and, while not imperative to good musicianship, an incredibly cute guitar player
- catchy lyrics, great sound

Los de Ajabo
- awesome, awesome, awesome
- full of energy and a fun mix of horn, guitar, vocals, etc.
- this is the kind of music you would want to dance to on a hot summer's night in a a foreigh country while potentially raising funds for a radical political group
DYNAMITE!!

Mother, Mother
- from B.C.
- 3 vocalists, crazy instrumentation and lyrics
- bought their album and will definitely be checking them out again

Rachelle Van Zaanten
- plays slide guitar, formerly of the Painting Daisies
- every song on her album is good. no word of a lie.

Michael Franti & Spearhead
- faced a bunch of technical problems during their set, but were completely professional and kept the crowd excited and into what they were doing through the whole thing
- positive message and tons of energy
- In sum, I would follow Michael Franti wherever he wanted to lead me

Mihirangi (will check the spelling sometime soon and report back)
- gorgeous music from this New Zealand woman
- she beat boxes, drums, sings, and makes weird noises then records them and loops them together while singing overtop to make beautiful stuff
- also included a digeiredo which automatically generates bonus points in my book

5) Attending my first music festival solo
While I have done the concert thing alone lots of times, this was my first time at a multi-day affair. It had its ups and downs. Talked with some nice people, but for some reason they were all older women who seemed to take pity on me! I saw lots of people whom I wished I could be friends with. If nothing else, it gave me hope that there is some sort of a potential peer group here for me, but it'll take some effort on my part.

6) "Four Strong Winds" being the closing song of night 3. I love that song, and the sight of a whole crowd of people singing it was quite moving.

Today I saw a poster for a music fest. in Craik, SK in which the Weakerthans are playing. I have a feeling this is a camping affair, however; and as any of you who know me well are already aware, even great music will not get me to camp!

It is far later than I should even admit, so I'm going to try and get some sleep. Banjo and tambourine inspired dreams to all.....

Anyone out there?

Greetings from beautiful St. Ignace, Michigan! I'm doubtful as to whether any of you are actually reading my sorry excuse for a blog anymore. Nor would I bleame you, given the lack of new content provided for you in the last few months. I guess you can consider both the blog and I as having been on summer vacation.

But likely any good student (which I've been for so long I kind of don't know how to stop), August & September are about getting back to business!

So what am I doing here on the shores of Lake Michigan? It will likely not come as much of a surprise that I finally caved on the car front. I just couldn't take the car culture of the west any longer...that is, I couldn't take not being a part of the car culture! Which is shameful and I feel somewhat disgusted about even admitting. But I TRIED, damn it. Taking the bus at all hours of the night and day, walking wherever I could, etc. Luckily I do live in a great neighbourhood that affords me those opportunities. But if I have any need to get out the neighbourhood or the city, things were getting difficult. And I hated feeling as if people were giving me pity with car rides. Hence, the long distance roadtrip that began this morning and will most likely end in Regina late Sunday afternoon.

My route is shaping up to be a rather nice one. I think it's the classic Western Canada roadtrip. Through Northern Michigan, followed by some time in Wisconsin, sleeping in Duluth, Minnesota tomorrow night. Then battling the wilds (or as some have told me, the boringness, of North Dakota). I'm not giving up on ND, though. Apparently it's well known for it's statuary so I'll do my part in taking photos of some notable sites along the way. And channel our dear friend Chuck Klosterman a little, too.

Have had a wonderful summer thus far. Lots of weddings and parties and visits and time with the family. I'm excited to get back to work and get going on the MANY projects on my plate. Some of these include getting the Distance Ed. portfolio into the kind of shape I want it in (longterm goal, of course:) but in the meantime getting some ideas into action. I'm thinking podcasts, I'm thinking web redesigns, I'm thinking some serious professional development action!

Believe my time is almost out here at the Public Library so will leave it at that. Consider this your (tentative) return of a more regularly scheduled blogger.