Category: Daily updates

Generally musings of the day, usually accompanied by a photograph

Ottawa Coolness Assessment I

Coolness evaluation contract

During my ten months in Ottawa, I have had significant difficulty identifying aspects of the city that might be considered cool. Thankfully, someone much cooler than me is in the city and willing to conduct an authoritative evaluation. Below is an awkward combination of a United Nations Security Council resolution and terms of reference for a contractor:

Date: 27 May 2008

Preamble:

  1. Appreciating that Ottawa is the capital of Canada and a significant city within Canada.
  2. Acknowledging that capital cities and significant cities are centres of arts and culture.
  3. Recognizing that Milan Ilnyckyj has failed to find evidence thereof up to the present date.

Hereby resolves that:

  1. A special rapporteur shall be appointed to identify what, if any, artistic or cultural merit is possessed by the city of Ottawa.
  2. The rapporteur shall devote a minimum of one hour per day to this task.
  3. The investigation conducted shall continue for one month past this date unless specifically authorized to do otherwise.
  4. The rapporteur appointed to this task is to be Emily Rachel Horn originally of Surrey, British Columbia.

Signed: Emily Horn, Milan Ilnyckyj

We shall see what she produces in the course of her official duties.

Brief Smoky Lake recap

Smoky Lake canoe trip group shot

After four days in the Ontario wilderness, Emily and I are safely back in Ottawa. All told, the trip was successful and a lot of fun. We spent two days traveling and two hanging around our serene camping area, largely while others fished (more on that later). Wildlife sightings were fairly limited – though we did manage to inadvertently terrify a Canada goose and her greenish goslings – though it was nonetheless refreshing to be immersed in nature. While the weekend did include some serious rain, thankfully none of it fell during times when we had to decamp or travel. The smell of campfire smoke will doubtless linger on our clothes and selves for some time yet.

Getting out into the wilderness was certainly a most welcome break from city life. Similarly, the time spent in Toronto was a nice break from relatively parochial Ottawa.

For the visually inclined, some photos are on Facebook.

10^5 visits

Red snowplow

Recently, this blog got its 100,000th visitor since August 2005. While such numbers don’t have much meaning in and of themselves, they do provide an opportunity to take stock and consider what has happened so far and where things are going.

Between August 2005 and July 2007, the major purpose of the site was to document the Oxford experience and stay in touch with friends and family while off in England. Since returning to Canada, it has had less of a defined purpose. There has also been a conscious decision to make it significantly less personal overall. As a result, it now mostly consists of either personal musings on impersonal topics or responses to books or news items. This is not wholly without value. It fosters interesting discussions and provides a mechanism for keeping in touch with some friends. It may also help to inform some people a bit about topics of interest or importance, such as climate change.

At the same time, there are some things that concern me. I don’t really see enormously much value in providing links to information available elsewhere, along with minimal commentary. Additionally, I worry a bit that writing drips and drabs every day could sap energy that might otherwise be put into longer-term and more ambitious projects.

With Emily here, I also have less time to spend on random musings. As such, writing a daily post is more often than not an exercise in frantically scanning the news for something that I can comment upon without overly much thought or research. One solution is to dial things back and only write when I actually have something I want to say. That removes the impetus to come up with something daily – which has advantages as well as disadvantages – but should help to keep me from boring people with items of only limited interest or creativity.

Gone paddling

This weekend, Emily and I will be canoeing on Kawigamog, Noganosh, and Lost Lakes – near Sudbury. It should be a good opportunity to explore the Ontario wilderness, in the general area of Algonquin Park.

This will be my first big canoe trip since the second Bowron Lakes expedition in August 2004. Canoe-camping is an especially enjoyable sort. You can bring lots of gear, which means more comfort and better food. You also cover quite a bit of ground, which allows for variety and real expeditions.

We should get back to Ottawa on Tuesday.

Movement and concentration

Cliff and rescue workers

One of my major productivity boosting strategies while at university was to keep moving quite frequently. Rather than sit in one spot and have my level of attention gradually taper off to almost nothing, I would circulate between libraries, coffee shops, and other places where reading and writing could be undertaken. While the little walking pauses diminished the total time available in which to do work, the loss was more than compensated by better productivity while actually working.

It would be nice if more of the working world incorporated such options, rather than maintaining the expectation that a person will generally stick to their office or cubicle. The latter, in particular, seem well designed to soften the focus of one’s mind. Quite probably, the proliferation of portable computers and wireless communication options will eventually make such peripatetic work styles acceptable in even the stuffiest of environments. Until then, there is nothing for it but to note with appreciation how one’s mind re-awakens with the transition from florescent-lit beige fabric to the high contrast, air-circulating wider world.

Seeking the Ottawa social scene

Having spent two evenings searching with little luck, Emily and I have concluded that it can be challenging to find interesting social things happening in Ottawa. The University of Ottawa seems particularly devoid of life, though I suppose classes are not in session.

How do people who have lived here longer work their way into situations where entertainment of some kind is provided, as well as where it is possible to meet new and interesting individuals?

On constancy

Readers should be warned that my posting is likely to be less regular over the summer. The day-to-day expectation of one long post between 7:00am and 8:00am and a shorter post between 6:00pm and 7:00pm should be partially suspended.

I will certainly try to upload a post and a photo every day, but we shall see if that remains feasible given other ongoing projects.