The Donut: A Canadian History

Yesterday, I broke down and bought The Book. And it's pretty interesting.

Last night I also found myself in the midst of a quintessential Canadian celebration. The Montreal Canadiennes won their first game of the playoff series. The celebration rivaled that of Denver winning the game that put them in the World Series.

Cities

Some people love them, want to live in them forever. Some people hate them, some like to stay a few days, or even just a few hours - say for the shopping, the museums, or the restaurants. For me, I'm starting to discover that the less a city is like a city, the more I like it.

Within the last few years I've spent a few days in Montreal, Portland (OR), Denver, Pittsburgh, Luxembourg, Ghent, and Amsterdam. Favorites? Portland and Denver followed by Amsterdam. What do those cities have in common? Bikes, an emphasis on outdoor recreation, and except Amsterdam, excellent bookstores.

Which brings us to Montreal. Hitting the road at 9 am it took until 2, for me to find 1 bookstore - and that was next to McGill University. Bikes? Yes, there are some but I didn't see a single bike shop which makes me wonder. There are several small parks (Place) scattered about in squares which are well kept but really no plein aire type features.

But while it is not my favorite city, don't get me wrong it is interesting. Old Montreal, or Vieux Montreal is old. 1700-1850's and well kept. One gets a deep seated feel of history walking the streets and there are plenty of museums to tell the back story. I went to Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, or the Sailor's Church, it being maritime and me being paid to be here and all. The original structure was built in 1675. That was followed by a few fires, and few renovations, and artistic additions. The resulting church is a tasteful blend of it all, the nave even has boat chandeliers.

And the food...you could spend a whole day just reading menus. Making the choice of where to eat lunch was trying but the idea of Lamb and Olive stew just pulled me to the last one. That and micro brews.

Right now I'm taking a little break before this evenings party at the McCord Museum of Canadian History.

Je suis en Montreal

After a long, but often beautiful train ride up the west side of Lake Champlain yesterday I arrived at L'hotel Bonaventure Hilton - conveniently located across from the train station (Gare Central). My room has a great view out over the city and onto the St. Lawrence Seaway.

It's all bilingual here and that's pretty cool. Also cool - they actually do talk hockey! a lot. And then this morning when looking for some breakfast I passed several beautiful bakeries and pastry shops with the most delicate and chocolate and flaky pastries on display. But do you know where the line was? Tim Hortons. And it was a long line. I peaked into the cases, looked at the menu and sure enough it's the same Tim Hortons we have. Minus the lines.

By some gliche or something it appears that I am not registered for the sessions today (Museums and the Web Conference) and as they are full, I can not register. Sooo. I'm off to explore the Old City or Vieux Montreal. But I will be thinking about work the whole time.

Truce!

The Enemy and I have made our peace. I have to confess after the accident, riding a bike was a bit intimidating. Once in the saddle it was still intimidating to lean into the turns, ride through sand piles, hop up on curbs, etc. but...after a very nice ride on Sunday and again yesterday we're doing just fine.

In other good news...the street sweepers were out this morning so even as a truce is reached...its getting time to take out the Panasonic.

Pondering through the haze

I can imagine one fate worse than flying across country while having the flu, and that would be sitting next to someone who has the flu. And that is why I can't understand why, when there are many empty seats all round the Southwest waiting area, everyone is sitting next to me - one of them is even attempting to converse! I mean, what is it about a woman visibly shivering while wearing a primalot jacket, who'se face is flushed bright red and who'se left eye is twitching uncontrollably that says "Hey, come sit next to me! Lets chat!"

But wait - Maybe they'll move away as I completely strip for the upcoming fever stage.

Scouting Waterfalls and Mountains

Yesterday after the Enterprise rental guy sold me on the extra insurance, me and the rental car headed East along the Columbia River Gorge. Taking exit 17 off I-84 onto the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway we wound along the Snake River and then between 600-800 ft Basalt clifts overflowing with waterfalls. Unfortunately, I've got a cold/flue so I only saw the few that were within a mile of the road. Latourell Falls was amazing, at 'only' 249 feet you can walk right to the base and feel the tremendous power of falling water.

Winding up the Gorge I saw a few others including, Multnomah Falls. For a great website on Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest, check out http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/index.php. A great site which not only gives waterfall information but also updates on related issues, like access and endangerment.

Another great moment in the Gorge was seeing a field of violets. From the very big, to the very sublime, nature is beautiful.

Also beautiful - the town of Hood River. Not so nice, The Dalles - where I had a reservation and based upon the recommendation in the Guide Book, had planned to take the downtown walking tour. Note - stay in Hood River. Driving to The Dalles is interesting in that you get to see the hillsides change from rain forest to inland desert, but once you get the idea - turn around.

Since I couldn't hike around much, and the sun was out I did decide to see if I could see Mt. Hood. Following the 'advise' in the travel book I ended up out in the middle of no where on a road that turned to snow. Luckily, Mt Hood was worth the trip, that and seeing all the orchards and vineyards.

If I were to visit I'd stay in Hood River, go in the early September, be sure and be in decent shape so I could hike up into the gorges and see the more remote waterfalls. I'm even considering a rafting trip up the river.

(I'll post the photos later for the homesick Northwesterners - you were right! It is beautiful!)

Buddhists, Books, Bikes and Beer

In the 6 short days I've been in Portland, I've really come to like this town and it's people. Last night we went to Bailey's Taproom, which has 20 local beers on tap. And even though I didn't personally taste them all, I hear they were all very excellent.

This morning dawned bright and sunny and during a long walk alongside the Willamette River I got to watch a real live bike commuters. Hundreds of them all riding using their bikes to get to work. How cool is that! I also got to see Mt. Hood for the first time this trip. The picture certainly doesn't do it justice.

The after the conference ended I (and several other library-types) headed up to Powell's Books for some excellent browsing and coffee.

Add all that with last Saturday's amazing Buddhist retreat - and Portland is definitely in the running for my favorite city.

Oh-and the people, they're just great. Friendly and outdoorsie, and just my kind of people.. here's a book recommendation by way of example.

Hiking Hot Springs in the Pacific Northwest: Hiking through the woods, stripping down to nothing, getting into hot smelly water, and then reeking of sulfur for the rest of the day is one of my very favorite things to do. Lucky for me, this book exists solely to inform me as to the location of some of the best hot springs in the Pacific Northwest.

Tomorrow I'm heading up the Columbia River Gorge - no stinkie hot springs however, I'm going hunting for waterfalls.

Day 3

The presentations are starting to blurr together.

Basically a lot of cool people are doing some very cool things. I'm putting together some organizational spreadsheets grouping (yeah - classifying) the talks together by:

• Open Source Library Systems
• Content Management Systems
• MARC related
  
• Other topics (which will probably break into other categories
  

Internet Archive

This morning's keynote was delivered by Brewster Kahle. It was on the Internet Archive; Open Library. The talk was much the same as the one he gave at the Technology in History conference last year at Brown, however while that was theoretical, the project is now up and running. There was even an article on it, and its issues in the Journal of Higher Education.

(They are also working with zotero (see previous post) on creating a scholarly commons)

Meanwhile a code4lib regular told me about the irc channel that a lot of people log into during the conference. - basically its a chat room. So right now while listening to the presentation there is a comment conversation going on in the chatroom - sort of a reality check, and very informative.

Next: Rob Styles from Talis - a UK vendor
"Finding Relationships in MARC" appears to be about RDF but with a really good slide show which I hope becomes available, but they are also recording it, and it's on Rob Styles blog at: http://www.dynamicorange.com/blog/archives/library-tech/marc_rdf_and_fr.html

"Delivering Library Services in the Web 2.0 Environment" OSU

Put resources where the student were - put links/info on the course pages. There is an opensource client. Takes only a few minutes to make a page. http://ica.library.oregonstate.edu/about/index.html

Alot of the libraries were comparing this to Libguides. (which I can't load right now to read more about.)

Another one to check out is Vu-find. Still looking good, but I can't forget our goals - that the data only lives one place. It can be harvested but again, can only live in one place.

The real reason I'm here

You know you're at a geek conference when you spend the day trying to download ubuntu, but the connection is too slow because the other 200 people in the room are also using the internet...and then, the next day you discover that all along, they had free ubuntu CD's at the registration desk.

Yesterday there were 3 sessions, 2 workshops on installing open source library systems, LibraryFind and Evergreen, and 1 on Zotero. From the first 2 we learned that the systems are just as complex as they ever were and you need a mid range knowledge of linux and its quirks to be successful. Of the two systems I'd say LibraryFind offers the most potential for MSM. At the same time as those sessions there was a rogue group doing an install of koha which I heard went much smoother, nice looking system too.

The zotero sessions was good and I started building a translator (zotero code4lib page) for Mobius. With the zotero extension in firefox users can create custom collections from various sites. In the next release they are working toward making those collections shared. They are also working on various geographic interfaces and are looking for beta testers for the next release.

Afterwards about 10 of us headed to a the Rogue Brewery where we ran into another group of 20 or so attendees. I had a hazelnut beer which was interesting. We spent a good deal of time talking about the California Digital Library (4 of them were in the group) and debating why the restrooms were labeled "Barley" and "Hops".

Best Cities and States

What makes for a great city, a great state? Is it the people, industry, coffee, parks, restaurants, shopping, weather, bookstores, transportation systems or something else entirely?

I'm not sure but Denver, CO is my favorite city so far. Arizona/Utah my favorite state (actually what they call the four corners area)

Adventures in Buddhism

Saturday I attended a retreat on the Heart Sutra that was given by Ken McLeod. I've been reading his books and following a podcast of his Tuesday night classes for the last 3 months and was very happy to find he was holding this retreat in Portland a few days before the conference. He lives and teaches in L.A. and I've no desire to go there.

It was very good to see and hear him in person. Really amazing. I've never run across anyone who made so much so clear. By the end of the day the Heart Sutra was revealed. Of course, I'm not enlightened yet...just know a little more. It's the experience that continues to allude.

The other people were great too. There were about 50 all together, and everyone very welcoming.

The Hawthorne district, where the Portland Dharma Center is located, is a charming neighborhood. Nice houses, many bungalows, great coffee shops, and gardens! Spring flowers are just starting to bloom. Daffodils, and crocus were just starting to open. The sun was out and the walk there and back from City Central was lovely. Bittersweet too considering we won't be enjoying this in New England for another month or two. Ah well. All form is emptyness, emptyness form anyway.

Gee Wiz!

Mystic gets snow and I'm in Portland Oregon. Can't complain too much because it is 50 degrees and sunny, but still...

The trip was eventful. The snow starting a little earlier than expected caught the PVD airport crew off guard and we had to wait 45 minutes for them to plow the runway. There weren't many on the flight so atleast we could spread out for the wait and the flight. Once in Chicago we discovered that there were about 10 of us who missed our flight to Portland and we all got to go to Kansas City. That flight was packed. I met Ricky and Ann. Ann lives in Lawrence and after a lifetime of being a Republican has become a Democrat (and not just because of George), she's even donated money to the Obama campaign. Ricky was an engineer of some kind. Friendly guy who liked to talk.

Once in Kansas City the Portland-bound gang boarded the plan waiting at the next gate and in less than 30 minutes we were in the air again.

Portland. So far all I've done is take the Light Rail downtown to the Embasy Suites where I'll be for the next few days, and then walked around Pioneer Square. The light rail was cool. I do love mass transit, but down town was not so impressive. I could be tired however.

Back home you're all enjoying the snow.

Tanya's Pictures

Tanya's also posted her pictures of the big ice climbing adventure.

This is a great shot. Gives a good idea of the scale and site. That little head is Crystals. In my album there is a picture of Tanya on top of the wall taking a photo down at us. This is that photo.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tscsdslmnops/2008IceClimbing?authkey=GHAINjZUCqs

Alls well that ends well

Last weekend in a series of comedic twists worthy of Shakespeare, although minus the gender mix-ups, Chris, Gerald and John ended up climbing on Saturday in Smugglers Notch, VT while Crystal, Tanya and I climbed on Sunday somewhere near Kingston, NY.

Ice Climbing is great way to spend a winter day outdoors. You get to hike into the quiet winter woods to what is inevitably a beautiful place where ice has formed high enough to make a scalable wall, and then you get to play there for as long as your calves and arms will allow. Personally I liked repelling the most, but climbing was nice too. Trying to read the ice and learn which spots would hold the axe, and how to get your toes into the wall was challenging, and 'standing' on the wall when you found a good spot was exhilarating.

Our guide, Bill, was perfect. You could tell that he knew what he was doing and he was such a good instructor that I learned a lot without realizing it, and I got a good 2/3 of the way up the highest wall. Much further than expected.

If you ever consider going Ice Climbing, here's a few recommendations:

• Do pick up the recommended gaiters - they really don't cost much, and work much better than duct tape.
• Bring a small pad or other foamish thing to sit on during lunch - ideally it would both keep your butt from getting wet and insulate same from the ice.
• Make sure you are in reasonably good shape and good health. I'd say I was borderline.
  
• Starting a few weeks beforehand do calf raises, and pull ups - you'd probably be okay without this but I suspect your experience would be better if you had as much strength as possible.
• Dress for a day sitting outside at the forecasted temperature. You'll be much warmer when climbing, but you're not always climbing.

Enjoy the slideshow:

Photo album

Worlds Collide

• Activity world - I still on a stationary bike and watch the watt read out
• Ethical world - - wondering if there is a way to tap into that wattage to power equipment and thereby leave even less of a trace on this world.
• Work world - a post at Slashdot announces a knee brace that generated electricity from walking

KaBoom! - why not set up all gyms so they actually mini generators? It solves two big problems facing America.
1. The energy shortage
2. The increasing obesity rates

hey - it's not just the superbowl that could benefit.
Buy the pedal-a-watt

The Next Adventure

So the time to begin pondering the next adventure is here. The Pacific Coast bike trip has been canceled, the leg is healing, vacation days are accumulating.

What to do?

First and foremost there is a bike ride across Legacy Annual Bike Ride Across Utah. And I'm definitely going for that, but its not until Sept. 7 - 13, 2008.

Some options between now, then and beyond include:

• Backpacking the New Hampshire section of the AT
• Driving to Amy's graduation in Iowa and continuing on to Yellowstone or something out that way (with bike if possible)
  
• A week cycling Quebec's Route Verte
• Backpacking in The Grand Canyon (but you have to apply for the backcountry permit 4 months in advance)
• All the above!

In the meantime I'm going Ice Climbing with some of the ACO/EMS crew this coming weekend.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...

Late last night while the rest of the world was kicking back for some Saturday night fun, the gang at ACO were counting. We were counting techwick, luna bars, Denalis, shoes, jackets... you name it, if ACO sells it, we counted it. (Adam - pictured left is counting 235 hats).

Yes, faithful readers, last night was Inventory! It's what I consider the actual end of the Christmas season because this is the low point, merchandise-wise, of the year. Prior to Christmas the racks and the back room are piled with stuff. Everywhere we can hang, or pack something it is hung and packed. Immediately following Christmas the sales begin and the racks empty. And when they are at their very emptiest, Inventory-specialists from out of no-where descend on the store for a wild night of counting. They count everything once, then we count everything again. Not a bad system when you think of it.

In past years the Inventory Specialists have been late (a big mean nasty snow storm - of 2 inches), and humorless. This year however we had a great crew and during the Irish music selection I managed one of my longest juggling sections ever, (nothing beats the Dubliners for setting a good rhythm), Chris, Gerald and I had a sing along to Flogging Molly's "What's Left of the Flag", Adam attempted a jig, and we almost got Luis to actually do one.

Next week the Spring gear will start arriving, and the year begins again.

PS To all past members of the ACO Inventory Crew - Brandon, Adam, Brian, Jeremy, Karen - we missed you!

One Quote to Say It All

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.

- GK Chesterton

This guy is a genius.

Philospohical musings from the saddle

What are they thinking? Or perhaps they're not? As I pedal away on the stationary bike I can't help but wonder why, oh why, do they still have those fat saddles on these bikes. Hasn't the bike community learned, tested and perfected women's saddles. They work on road bikes, why not use them in the gym?

Today I snuck into the "spinning room" and even those bikes have the fat seats.

Soon, I will sneak back on to my real bike!