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The Boy™ and I went to the Kickoff ‘08 game, and had a total blast. Lots of fun, and the Dinos won (but we missed the action of the fourth quarter - had to leave a little early with a worn out 5 year old )

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I had a meeting with a prof last week about a very interesting project she wants to set up (to run the course as a series of blog posts resulting in a science magazine published by the students - I’ll write more on that later). During the discussion of the project, we got to talking about blogging in general and she mentioned that she had recently started a blog of her own.

Gwendolyn Blue started blogging less than a month ago at Home Grown Alberta, and already has some great posts up about sustainability and local food sourcing. 100 mile diet? In Calgary? Apparently, it IS possible (just a little more difficult due to the insane sprawl of this city…)

I’m looking forward to seeing what Gwen comes up with, and really excited to have discovered her blog!

You can tell it’s springtime in Calgary when you wake up to this:

And then after you get to work, you check Dashboard Weather and find this:

Up to +7˚C today, then up to +22˚C this weekend. At least the surprise dump of white stuff will melt quickly… It was a really fun ride to work this morning. Maybe too much fun. I’ve got street slicks on my bike, so didn’t have much traction. Going up hills was interesting. And I had to stop repeatedly to clear snow from inside the fenders, from off of the handlebars, off of my jacket and helmet. And had to constantly wipe the giant flakes from my glasses so I could see where I was going. I avoided the busiest street portion of the ride, ducking through a park instead. No need to take unnecessary risks…

There’s a big “Bike to Work Day” in Calgary on Friday, April 11. The University of Calgary is running a special event on campus as well. It’s pretty safe to say I’ll be biking to work that day (and every other day as well ) and am looking forward to seeing how many people get into it.

On campus, they’re going to set up greeting/refreshment stations (with prizes!) on all major entrances, and there’s a workshop being put on by the bike club at the Mac Hall loading dock to show basic bike maintenance.

I think I might even pack the camera as well. Should be fun! I’ve already ridden over 900km this year, on track to hit between 3500 and 4000km by the end of 2008.

Now, if there were more bike-friendly routes (i.e., fewer cycle-homicidal bus & SUV drivers) there might be more people willing to risk riding their bikes to work or school…

I just set up a copy of WordPress Multiuser, running at calgaryblogs.net. It’s an open and free blogging service. I won’t be running ads, or charging for individuals to use it. My only goal is to get more people publishing content online, and if yet another blogging service will help, then so be it.

It’s configured to serve subdomains, meaning you can easily set up a blog at “mygreatblog.calgaryblogs.net” and treat it like it’s your own server.

I don’t have a “policiy” or usage agreement or anything yet, but for now, the only rule is “don’t be evil.” - so, I guess that means anything goes, except for spam splogs and link farms.

I’m probably a little crazy to set this up as a free service, but this stuff shouldn’t cost money for people to use. I’ll start things off sharing my Dreamhost account. If it outgrows that (and hopefully it will) then I’ll investigate other hosting options.

I’ve been an on-again, off-again bicycle commuter for almost 2 decades. For the last couple of years, I’ve been riding my bike almost exclusively (as long as weather allows) from my house to work at the University. It’s not a long ride - between 12-14 km, depending on my route - and much of it can be done off of streets, or on quiet residential streets. At the beginning of the riding season, I estimated that i might ride 2000km, or if I got lucky, maybe 2500km, before the end of the season. I’m about to cross the 2900km mark, and might be able to hit 3000km if the weather holds out. The bike ride is probably the calmest, most meditative time I get in a day. On days when I can’t ride, I miss it, both physically and mentally.

There are a few sections of my ride that have to cross or follow relatively major streets, and that’s where things get a bit interesting. The worst street I ride on is 32 Ave, between the fire hall and the University. It’s only about 4 blocks, but it’s by FAR the scariest part of my ride. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been almost run off the road by aggressive and dangerous drivers - occasionally with undergrads gleefully shouting “get a car!” (btw, I have a car. a pretty nice one. I leave it at home so my family is mobile - I choose not to drive to work). On this stretch of road, I’ve been nearly run over by Hummers, Escalades, giant monster pickup trucks, city buses, and puny foul-belching shitboxes driven by students.

After 32 Ave, the rest of the ride is pretty tame. Even crossing Nose Hill Drive is pretty simple, given enough patience (I did something REALLY stupid at that crossing early in the year, and almost got creamed as a result. now I’m perfectly happy to wait patiently for a break in traffic before crossing, rather than trying to aggressively steamroll through).

One thing I’ve come to realize is that there are 3 basic types of drivers in Calgary.

1. safe, friendly, and courteous
2. mildly dangerous, oblivious morons
3. completely dangerous, aggressive assholes

Unfortunately, the ratio seems to be roughly 1:100:10, with morons outnumbering assholes, who in turn greatly outnumber the safe drivers. There are some really great people out there, who are aware that there are people outside the boundaries of their SUVs or minivans, and work with the bike riders to make things go smoothly. Then, there are the complete assholes, who blow aneurysms if they have to let off the gas pedal for more than 1 second, and drop the hammer to accelerate as fast as they can as they pass a bike. They have no problem with cutting off a bike, or crossing traffic to get in front of them. I had one Hummer H2 accelerate around a corner, passing me on the right, then gunning it to turn left directly in front of me (without signaling or braking around the corner). I almost caught up to that one, but he got away. Probably for the best, since I’m not sure what I would have said to Asshole Hummer Driver if I managed to catch up to him on my bike.

I’m not sure most drivers are aware of what to do when they encounter a bicycle on the street. Some just choose to ignore it, resulting in close calls and dangerous situations for the bike. Some want to give as much room as possible - even if it means crossing the solid line into oncoming traffic to avoid getting close to the bike. It seems like many drivers don’t have an awareness of the size of their vehicle - they aren’t sure how much room they need to give to avoid hitting a bike, so they just give as much as possible. That is almost as scary as a close call, because the bike rider isn’t sure what the driver is going to do (are they going to pop back over quickly? are they going to see that car coming toward them and then freak out?) It’s best to just give a bit of room without going overboard. On most streets, there is ample room for parked cars, bikes, and a car, as long as everyone is aware of their surroundings.

And cell phones. Jebus. Can we PLEASE pass some legislation to ban their use while driving? Again, I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been nearly killed by drivers who have a phone wedged against their head, driving with one hand (or less, sometimes! I’ve actually seen a driver with cell phone in one hand and a Starbuck’s coffee in the other, trying to work the steering wheel with a free finger!) and not paying attention to the world outside their monster trucks (or SUVs, or minivans). I think I need a Make: project to build a cell phone jammer to stick on my bike…

In September, I picked up a new bike - a 2008 Kona Dew FS hybrid commuter - and that completely changed how I thought about the ride. I’ll write up a post reviewing that bike when I get a chance. In short: I LOVE IT. Before, on my heavy decade-old Sport Check special Scott Head mountain bike, I’d have to be careful because I couldn’t trust the bike (would the gears shift when I needed them, or wait a minute to pop in after I was up/down the hill? would the chain throw as it shifted? I actually threw a chain going up a hill once, and it got pulled through the spokes yanking a couple out). Now, I trust my bike, and it’s so much easier to ride with the giant 700c wheels and 27 speeds. Over the last couple of months, I’ve chosen to ride a longer route because it’s so much more fun to ride. It takes me a little longer than the short route, but I get to ride along the river valley instead of through suburbia. Calgary’s got a really nice bike path system, along a gorgeous river valley. It’s great to be able to take advantage of that. The quiet streets in Scenic Acres and Varsity are a pleasure to ride, and there are always people out walking along the pathway making it feel like a nice and welcoming community.

The city is in a constant state of construction. The northwest has been under continual road construction for the last few years. It’s for the best, in the long term, as eventually the LRT will come to within a few blocks of my house. In the meantime, crews are working on major intersections, including the main entrance to my community. When they’re working on the street, they’re careful to reserve open lanes so traffic can get through. But, when working on the pedestrian bike path, they just blockade it. Find another way. No entrance. Of course, none of the bike commuters pay attention to the signs - we all just continue through the construction zone, going slowly and carefully to watch out for open pits and moving equipment (I was chased up the hill by a dump truck one morning - fun way to start the ride). Hopefully the construction gets completed over the winter, or they recognize that this is the only way for bike commuters to get into the community, unless they want to ride on the major ring road that Stoney Trail has become. I sure don’t want to ride on Stoney. I’d rather risk a showdown with a bulldozer than try to ride with the convoys of speeding dump trucks and monster SUVs racing up and down Stoney…

Another thing I’ve noticed, and I’m not sure if it’s a valid observation or something clouded by my zero-carbon-emissions smugness. The likelihood of a vehicle displaying a yellow “support our troops” sticker/ribbon seems to be directly proportional to the size of the vehicle. I haven’t seen one on a Prius. Only a handful on small cars. And on a sizable proportion of giant pickup trucks, SUVs, and larger vehicles. I’m wondering if it’s tied more to political leanings (are individuals in the right wing more likely to a) drive larger vehicles and b) want to show support for the troops) or to the price of gas (are individuals who drive gas guzzlers more likely to support the troops that are fighting for cheaper oil?)

The bicycle commuting community, for whatever reason, has a bit of a “small town” feel to it. If I stop on the path to take a photograph or stow a jacket, I’ll almost certainly be asked by a passing bike rider if everything’s OK, and can they help. If I was driving a car, and pulled over to the side (say, to talk on a cell phone) I’d likely risk some road rage. Completely different feel. Is it something about removing the protective shell of a vehicle and placing a person back into their environment? Is it the slower pace of a bike, as compared with a car on a freeway? is it something about the type of person that is inclined to ride a bike? Regardless, it gives me hope that people in this city are still good, and that it’s possible to recapture some civility. Maybe if everyone rode their bikes…

I didn’t think Calgary was ready for this, but apparently I was wrong. Thanks to an email from Sami, I see that the first ever BarCamp Calgary is scheduled to take place on May 26, 2007, at the University of Calgary main campus. This is a type of event I’ve REALLY wanted to have here in Calgary, and it’s great to see there are a whole bunch of people interested in making it happen. Looking at the list of Campers on the event page, I only recognize a couple of the names. Maybe the Calgary blogosphere is more robust than Ive been guessing?

I’m unsure if I’ll be able to attend (between family work schedules involving Saturdays, and Evan’s soccer games) but I’ll try to at least drop in to see what’s going on.

Very cool stuff.

There’s also a DemoCamp planned as well - TONIGHT, no less. I’m less sure about how cool/uncool that event might be - sounds like a Vendor Fair mixed with The Gong Show… I won’t be able to check this one out, but hopefully someone blogs it.

It’s great to see this kind of unconference stuff starting to happen in Cowtown. Maybe there’s hope for this burg yet…

I headed downtown this morning (waaaaay earlier than I'd have liked) to attend the Lexi.net Online Identity Conference. I was curious to see what an internet-related conference would look like in Calgary, having been involved in others elsewhere. I wore my NV '05 t-shirt, of course

I got downtown too early - the buses out of Tuscany go straight downtown, but the last one passes my house at 6:45. So, I had some time to kill before and after registration. What to do… I know! A photo walk down Stephen Avenue Mall!

I wound up taking over 60 photos during the pre-sunrise twilight, and after the sun came up.

What was I talking about? Oh. Right. The conference. After frostbite set in my fingertips, I headed back to the Telus Conference Centre, grabbed some caffeine, and talked a bit with some other attendees, including Wired.com writer Regina Lynn, Aaron J. Seigo, Doug aka Dr. Tongue, and a bunch of others.

The first session was on privacy and anonymity, with some interesting links. Not sure it was aimed at the right audience, though.

After that, I went to Kirstin Darguzas' session on Blogging Your Identity. Kirstin is a professional "mommy blogger" and gave a really good talk on boundaries, online identities, and what it's like being a full time blogger (doesn't sound like as much fun as one would think).

Next up was Janine Warner, talking about Virtual Images - finding out what's available about you online, and how you can take control of it. Very interesting talk, with links to a few tools I hadn't heard of before. I gather her usual audience is more CXO-oriented, so some of the strategies may not be needed by us mere mortals (I'm not about to pay $120 for a company to research what's online about me - this blog likely does a good enough job of drowning out anything I don't know about )

During the lunch keynote session, Heather "Dooce.com" Armstrong told the back story of her blog, how she got fired (yeah, she deserved it ;-)) and how things are much better as a result. I was very interested in her descriptions of personnas and boundaries. What's off limits? What's fair game? She's much more willing to blog about her family than I am, which is fine since they seem to be relatively comfortable with it (aside from Jon's squirming at some of the stories). The lighting backdrop during her talk was mesmerizing/distracting, with fluid Fire and Ice rolling up and down the wall behind her and onto the ceiling. Very cool. But distracting.

Jon Armstrong gave a great presentation after lunch about Branding. He gave a an overview of the general process of branding (initially for companies, later for individuals, mostly about Apple ) Jon's pretty funny, and his Keynote skills were refreshing. Mostly a simplified Lessigian style presentation, marred only by the lack of a wireless controller.

I had to leave before the last session, but having chatted with Regina, I'm sure it was another good one. Sorry I had to leave early, Gina!

I was rather impressed with the conference. I was quite surprised at the international (well, binational) attendees. About half of the people I talked with were in town from the States just for the conference.

It had quite a different feel from a Northern Voice (this was much more formal/traditional) but was much more intimate than an NMC or WWDC. Not a bad balance. Maybe Calgary's ready for Northern Voice YYC? The venue would be completely wrong for that, though. No wireless, for one thing. No wireless? Really? WTF. Wait - I left the laptop at home anyway I just brought my camera and a little reporter-style notepad. A much better way to attend a conference.

After some really spectacular fall days, winter’s here. Right on schedule, just before Halloween.

Here’s the webcam view from ShawTV, looking north from near the Stampede Grounds. That’s downtown Calgary. Hiding beneath the snow and ice piled up on the camera.

I was contacted this morning by someone from Lexi.net to let me know about the upcoming “Your Online Identity” conference in Calgary on November 17, 2006. I hadn’t heard of the event before, so had to check out the conference website for info. It sounds like a really cool event. Not as by-the-people-for-the-people as Northern Voice, but still sounds interesting. They’ve lined up an impressive list of speakers, including The Dooce herself.

I think it’s pretty cool to have an event like this in Calgary. I’ve been toying around with the idea of a Northern Voice YYC since I went to the first Northern Voice YVR. I’m not sure Calgary’s ready - Vancouver’s much more plugged-in and seems more aligned with the whole “web 2.0″ / blogging / yaddayadda stuff. But, maybe this is a sign…

I’ll try to make it to the Lexi.net event. It’s definitely not as inexpensive as NV, at $125 for the day, but I’ll try to make the case for it.

Update: I’m in. Looking forward to it!

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