I've got a lot of mixed feelings about AI. It's the hottest thing since the last one - Bitcoin - which I still don't "get" the hype about. Perhaps it's a professional critique - as an accountant, numbers are pretty black and white. AI isn't a shade of grey - it's a hot pink. It makes stuff up and can't be blindly trusted.
Read MoreSomedays, it's hard to believe the beauty in my local area. I live in a valley surrounded by mountains and trails. For a fun hike on a Sunday morning, I ventured out onto a trail on my local mountain, and took my new drone for company.
The scenery was stunning, so here is the video I shot. Winter hikes: Amazing!
I grew up during the theatrical release of The Jungle Book (a long time ago!), and one of my first ideas of bears was Baloo scratching his back and singing "The Bear Necessities." Lovely fellow! This association with friendly, cuddly bears likely contributes to my lack of fear about these sharp-clawed animals in the wild—and having been a city dweller for so many years, bears weren't something I've ever given much thought to.
I now live in a more rural area, with a couple of bears regularly patrolling my neighbourhood - evidenced by the large, triangular deposits left behind or the occasional raid of a neighbour's garbage can if left outside. Luckily, these are black bears and not their aggressive relatives, though one is still pretty big. They walk through my street mostly at night to get from the hills where they live to the orchards on the other side of my house.
Mrs. T is much more prudent about bear safety and insists on carrying bear spray when we venture into the trails. She carries a bear bell when hiking or will set up her phone to play music and make noise to avoid creeping up on a bear. I go along with such measures largely for marital harmony. However, if I'm hiking deep in the back woods, I'm likely to strap on a can of bear spray. I've had bears walk through my camps, but they haven't woken me up, and I tend to be bear-aware with food to avoid potential problems.
Last weekend, I had my first close-up bear encounter. We were camping on a property some miles to the West of us in a beautiful wooded valley. I was taking Coco, our Lhasa Apso Princess Puppy, out for a walk when I noted a big black bear in the meadow a couple of hundred feet from us. Mr. Bear was doing beary things and foraging around the meadow, paying us no mind. Coco was likewise entertained by the sniffs of white-tail deer that had passed through the campground the night before. Indeed, it was The Peaceable Kingdom, with nobody paying any mind to anyone else.
So, I did what any self-respecting iPhone-carrying moron would do and broke out the camera to get a couple of pictures of the bear. I'm not suggesting I walked closer to get a selfie or anything that daft, but seeing a bear in the wild doing bear things was interesting. Very cool.
That was until Mr. Bear noticed us and started walking towards us. I didn't think much of it at first, as I was trying to keep an eye on the dog doing that circular walk that we all know means relief is coming soon. I looked up and saw that the bear had suddenly gotten much closer. Even at a walk, a bear moves quickly, and when it's looking straight at you and walking in your direction, it moves like the wind.
At about 100 feet away, I was tempted to pick up Coco, throw my phone at the bear, and shriek like a little girl while running away as quickly as my plump little legs would carry me, but this meant I'd be an appetizer for Mr. Bear. I could say I fought him off with my pocket knife and wrestled him into submission, but the truth is a lot less scary.
I said louder than usual, but not a shout - "Hey, bear!" And Mr. Bear turned tail and ran off through the back of the meadow. I felt bad for scaring the big loaf. And the experience has not taught me to be afraid of bears any more than before. Cute buggers when you see them up close. At least the black ones.
I’m conflicted. If Canadians can’t even come together as a nation to celebrate the Queen of Canada, as per the 1953 Royal Style and Titles Act, what hope is there for future generations of Royalty?
Read MoreWe are two-and-a-half years into the pandemic. While many people are heading back into offices, work-from-home and hybrid arrangements are likely here to stay. Zoom calls, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, Skype, or your other favourite application of the moment, will continue to be used. The days of in-person meetings, with the high cost and inefficiency of travel, won't come back the same way.
Read MoreSummer is an exciting time to live in the Okanagan Valley. It's hot. Very hot. And fire season is upon us.
Read MoreOne of the better things to come out of Covid-19 is the ability to work from home. And home moved for me during the pandemic.
No longer in the hustle and bustle of the city, I live near orchards, mountains, and a steam train. Horses walk down my street, and the biggest pests in my neighbourhood are deer.
I still have to make the drive to work sometimes. Face-to-face meetings are important. This was my drive down the dreaded Highway Through Hell - the Coquihalla Highway on my way to work last week. Beautiful when the weather is nice. Deadly when it isn’t. This is the section from Merritt to Abbotsford, BC.
Read MoreLast Friday, Covid-19 mask mandates were lifted. Where I live, these were previously enacted by the Provincial Government. Masks are optional anywhere in British Columbia. Where I live, masks now are worn by less than half of the population when out and about. I hope that the virus got the memo.
Read MoreAs business services increasingly go online and become subscriptions, more and more businesses must have call centres. I'm sure managing a call centre isn't easy, particularly with a pandemic and work-from-home regulations. However, I doubt anyone who sets up, runs and manages a call centre has ever had to use it from an outside line. There is a special place in hell, with scarce exceptions, for call centres.
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We’ve all seen the stereotypical Hollywood Christmas movie where disaster threatens Christmas for the protagonists. These movies always seem to resolve in the middle of a small town with Holiday lights, snow, rousing music, and hugs all around. I live in a town that is straight out of a made-for-tv movie!
Read MoreSometimes people surprise you. And sometimes, that surprise is just incredible.
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I hope that we, as a society, have learned positive lessons from the Covid 19 pandemic - even if the narrative we see in the news can be divisive. I remember the early days of the pandemic, where people were trying to get used to living with new social rules. People were polite, kind, and respectful. At least, until you got to the toilet paper aisle in a grocery store. Then all bets were off.
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In my podcast, Stationery Adjacent, I often talk with my cohost, Stuart Lennon about our technical setups. We both work from home and are always looking for the most productive arrangements. We are both, admittedly, Apple Fan Bois, and we do enjoy working with cutting-edge (and often bleeding-edge) technology.
Read MoreIn 2005 I spent some time working in Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut in Northern Canada. With its arctic location and remoteness from traditional freight channels, people were different. People help people. A handshake means something, and your word is your bond. Perhaps helping your neighbour was about survival rather than just getting more toys. Still, I've never worked in such a collaborative fashion.
The people of Summerland have much of the same positive attitude, despite the threat of nature. The local Shopkeepers are friendly. Unknown people who are walking in town wave as you drive past. And I find that my new neighbours are extremely friendly.
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Summerland. With vineyards and orchards. A beautiful lake. And warm, pleasant temperatures ideal for drinking wine in. In my past visits, getting into air conditioning was the main environmental concern. I mean, it says it on the tin, right. Summer-land….Tl;dr: Never believe the label on the tin.
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When one has lived in a metropolitan sprawl for many years, one gets used to certain conveniences. A Starbucks close to one’s house. 24-hour grocery stores (or at least a Wal-Mart with a grocery section). And a choice of restaurants for any civilized hour. In the last year, like many in the world, I've come to rely on fast deliveries of both essentials and random Amazon purchases that I've only bought because of late-night shopping.
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I made my recent home move backwards. I sold my house and then had to decide where to move and find a place. Which wasn’t easy in the hot seller’s market of 2021!
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Moving is hard. And not something I like to do. I lived at my last house for 22 years. And, if you stay in a place for that long, you begin to accumulate things. In my case, a lot of stuff! And those things have to be moved.
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2020 brought a lot of things, arguably many of them harmful. Working (primarily) from home certainly affected how I felt about where I was living in the suburb of a large metropolitan city. And so, I joined the great migration of 2020/2021 and decided to leave town.
Read MoreIn a weirdly coincidental series of unfortunate events, I ran into problems with both of my Macs this week. The displayed effects didn't show an apparent cause. It was only through a lucky and logical conclusion that I found the problem, which was basically the same on each computer.
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