An Afternoon in Fintry BC

Serene He stands among the flowers

And only marks life’s sunny hours

For him dark days do not exist

The brazen-faced old Optimist

— George Allison1

In preparation for the coming summer season, I have been taking some time to explore the Okanagan more. Partially to satisfy my own natural curiousity about the historical background of the region, but also to provide ideas of things to do for the guests of the vacation rental. When I first arrived in the valley five years ago, I thought the history was to be fairly basic: the valley was discovered to be a perfect climate to grow apples, peaches, and other fruit, and then slowly grew up to be a bustling city based on tourism and the environment. Read More

Alto’s Adventure

Ever since purchasing my new iPhone, I’ve been discovering that playing games on the larger screen is a much better experience.

Alto’s Adventure came out this week for iPhone. It’s an endless snowboarding game1, meaning the level only finishes when you crash. The game play is incredibly simple: a tap is a jump, pressing down causes you to flip. That’s it. Read More

My Problems With Dating

We don’t commit now. We don’t see the point. They’ve always said there are so many fish in the sea, but never before has that sea of fish been right at our fingertips on OkCupid, Tinder, Grindr, Dattch, take your pick. We can order up a human being in the same way we can order up pad thai on Seamless. We think intimacy lies in a perfectly-executed string of emoji. We think effort is a “good morning” text. We say romance is dead, because maybe it is, but maybe we just need to reinvent it. Maybe romance in our modern age is putting the phone down long enough to look in each other’s eyes at dinner. Maybe romance is deleting Tinder off your phone after an incredible first date with someone. Maybe romance is still there, we just don’t know what it looks like now. Read More

Year of Essentialism

The fall brought me a sense of panic that could have easily escalated into larger problems if I wasn’t careful. My daughter’s mother was once again going to be working in northern Alberta, leaving me to care for our daughter most of the time. The last time this happened, I didn’t handle it very well. Gained weight, felt miserable, and was completely unmotivated to do much of anything until the summer sun started to show up. Read More

New Year New Phone

After several years of watching people use large Android phones, Apple released their own larger phones this past October. Initially, I resisted diving in and buying one. I was rather content with the size and the camera of my two year-old iPhone 5, but then I started seeing the photographs of people using the newer phones and was greatly impressed. Read More

A Film About Coffee

Because of the complexity of coffee and because of the way it drives us and makes us feel, I think it occupies a special place in our culture. Because it’s always been like that, over centuries. That sort of connectivity, that exchange, is consistent. Read More

Virunga – Documentary Film

The oil issue might destroy everything. If we fail, we’ll not only lose Virunga, but also the other parks in Congo. All the other parks are going to sink. Everyone will say, ‘You’re not allowing us to exploit the oil or ore in this park but you did so in Virunga.’ Read More

35: A Reflection

I — I hardly know, sir, just at present — at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.

Alice, Through the Looking Glass

35 Years.

This past year, like Alice, I woke up feeling like I knew who I was, but by the time I went to bed, I was someone different. I found myself reflecting a lot with every spare moment. While I watched Kylie playing, the conversations I had with people, or the breathless moments I had at the end of a gruelling hike. Each moment had me thinking more on who I was, where I was going, and what I was doing. Read More