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Saturday, December 29, 2012   Sprucewood Library, Edmonton

The Edmonton deep freeze has ended, more than two weeks of temperatures below minus 20 celsius.  Today's temperature is nearly above freezing, the sun is out, and I'm at my second library of the day.
Council of Canadians water activist Maude Barlow warns of public water woes on a podcast of today's "Redeye" as I type.  "Redeye" is a show of Vancouver Co-Op Radio:  http://www.coopradio.org/ This is
a volunteer-run, member-owned radio station.  I am a member and I recommend the station to you.

 

Christmas Travels, a Birthday, and Find

Monday, December 24, 2012  Williams Lake

A 915-kilometre drive from Edmonton, that began in the dark and ended in the dark, brought Carla and me through blowing snow, over some icy or snow-covered roads, but some good roads, here to Williams Lake on Saturday, December 22. 

Our trusty Toyota Echo, loaded more heavily than its rated capacity, got a tank of gas in Jasper.  That gas got us the last 550 km to Williams Lake.  It will get another tank of gas today at Toosey, between Williams Lake and Anaham, on the highway to Bella Coola. 

Our Chelsea turns 20 today.  Christmas has trampled almost every birthday since she turned three.  I therefore have a morning party for her.  This afternoon we'll drive to Anaham for tonight's Christmas Eve Dinner at Chelsea's grandpa's house.

Tomorrow, Christmas Night, I will board the bus back to Edmonton.  The car will stay here for Carla to use.  At the March 31, 2013 expiry of my Edmonton apartment lease, I will UHaul truck everything from there to here.   

Much of my Edmonton furniture came from Find.  Before I leave Edmonton, I plan to stop at Find for more furniture for friends and family around here.  What is Find?  Find is an Edmonton thrift store that sells nice things at low prices.  It's profits help house the homeless:

http://findedmonton.com/

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, all.

Libraries, Buses, Films, Music, Trains, and Yule

Wednesday, December 19, 2012   Woodcroft Public Library, Edmonton

I like Edmonton public libraries, even if they charge users an annual fee, unlike British Columbia libraries.
As I listen to a Vancouver Co-Op Radio podcast on a public library terminal, I type of many things.

Edmonton city buses are great ways to get around.  A $22.80 10-pack of tickets lasts me more than two weeks.  I live two blocks from the Jasper Place Transit Centre, from which buses go many places:  downtown, West Edmonton Mall, and several libraries, such as this one. 

Some libraries are close to pools, another fun discovery in Edmonton.  My low-income swim pass gets me into city pools free, and I have swum, steamed, sauna-ed, and whirlpooled in most of them. 

A sadder bus tale is Carla's very late bus to Edmonton.  It should have been here at 11:00 this morning.  It will be after midnight tonight.  The bus from Prince George left three hours late, picked her up in Williams Lake, and missed the connection to the bus from Kamloops to Jasper.  Carla waited in the Kamloops bus station from 2:30 this morning until about 2:00 this afternoon, rather than the few-minute stop scheduled. 

Now she buses through the night to chilly Edmonton, -21 today, with -30 predicted for tomorrow. 

In other news, have a link to a new Edmonton film I saw last week: 
  
http://www.hotdocs.ca/film/title/who_cares

Have a link to an old classic film I also saw last week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJfZaT8ncYk

Here part of a Borodin string quartet, which I saw performed in city hall, for free, the other night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSdMKJqnnW4

That same city hall had a display of the many commuter train routes planned:

http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/LRT_Network_Plan_Jan2011.pdf

Ah, if only the population was more densely settled.

Lastly, have a Merry Christmas.  Carla and I will drive to BC on Saturday, leave the car there for her, and I will bus back to Edmonton on Boxing Day. 

Michael Writes in the U of A business library

Sunday, December 16, 2012  Winspear Library, University of Alberta School of Business

I post this on a computer in the library of the last University of Alberta faculty I attended.  Mine was the first class, 1985, to graduate from the new building of the School of Business.  Before then, the school was in the Central Academic Building.  As I walked into this library, I remembered many sessions of groupwork in the rooms for that purpose.  Now computer terminals fill half of the space, but the rooms remain.  Happily, a sign advises quiet, and it is quiet this last week of university before Christmas. 

A few students study at tables:  another generation learning about financial statements, debt-to-equity ratios, organizational theory, statistical analysis, arbitrage, market research methods, business case studies, and the many other things that make this Canada's top business school.  I'm glad I studied here. 

In a few minutes I will post this and walk to the Garneau Theatre, now Metro Cinema, to see "It's a Wonderful Life."  That film argues that people, not profits, are the purpose of business.  Few since Plato have agreed, and even he put traders in a low category in his ideal state, his Republic. 

Education truly is worth the effort.  Have the courage to try, and the willingness to fail and to continue:  good habit for life as well as for school.

The Ancient Greek historian Thucydides wrote that courage leads to liberty, which leads to happiness. 

Education made me happy before I entered this university.  Education continues to make me happy.      

Michael's Edmonton News December 11 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012   Edmonton

All,

The Kinsman Aquatic Centre pools, both 50 m long, are for serious swimmers, I noticed last Sunday, when many swimmers left me in their dust.  I was relieved to find a bronze horseback cowboy and matching cow in Mill Woods Town Centre Mall after I dropped off a birthday gift to a friend.  "Who Cares," a documentary about Edmonton sex trade workers, followed at the Metro Cinema. 

That night I went to the Edmonton Islamic Academy, a huge high school, for a fundraising banquet for medical aid to Gaza.  Food was great.  Speeches and music were in Arabic and English, and I was among the palest people in the 800-person crowd.

On Saturday, I went to a huge Christmas craft sale at the University of Alberta's indoor track "Universiade" building.  I gawked but didn't buy. 

Later that day, after I listened to some Vancouver Co-Op Radio podcasts on the internet in the Whitemud Crossing Library, I ambled in the cold to Confederation Pool.  This was more my speed than Kinsmen would be the next day.

Cold here, -20 for two weeks, but today's -5 feels balmy.

Edmonton December 8, 2012

Saturday, December 8, 2012   Edmonton

Ah, the pools of Edmonton, about which I have three minutes to wax.
Today I swam in Confederation Pool, 50 m long, 1 and 3 m boards, two
ropes, large whirlpool, hot steamroom, an oasis in -20 degree Edmonton.

Ah, the libraries of Edmonton, the downtown branch of which I type at now.
Earlier, I listened to various Vancouver Co-Op Radio podcasts online at
Whitemud Crossing Library, near Confederation Pool.

Last night I fled the freeze by walking to Jasper Place Pool, the closest pool to
my winter abode:  1 and 3 m boards, 5 m platform, rope, big whirlpool, steamroom.

Stay warm.

Edmonton Pools and Weather

Saturday, December 1, 2012   Idlywylde Library, Edmonton

I watch traffic navigate a snowy street outside this Edmonton library and mention my past week's activities here.  Gotta love that library internet access.

A downtown concert of Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven concertos lightened the winter darkness, a couple days after a swim at O'Leary pool and walk to Alberta Avenue Hall to watch the Grey Cup on a big screen.

Last night I ate natchos and drank Heineken at Kelsey's pub, thanks to a $50 gift card from my generous brother.  There are $24 left on the card, which is also good at Minestrone's, Swiss Chalet, Montana Steakhouse, and Harvey's. 

Then I swam, went down the curly tube slide, and sat in the hot tub at Jasper Place pool, the closest pool to where I live. 

Today I took my $8.50 one-day bus pass and struck out for Hardisty Pool in the east end.  Newer than Jasper Place pool, Hardisty has a steam room, sauna, hot tub and 25m pool.  I swam a few lengths, steamed and soaked, and returned to the winter outside. 

A snowy walk across Capilano ravine took me to 79 Street and 105 Avenue and the #94 bus to Bonnie Doon pool, busy with lessons.  This 1966 place has a four-level steam room, and four-level saunas in the change rooms:  step up and cook.

Here I type, a couple blocks from that pool, before I dig out my bus pass and ride to the University of Alberta Bookstore Christmas Sale. 

The Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism's tenth anniversary celebration is at Strathcona Hall, between the university and here, today.  I'll see it, ride to a Christmas craft sale at Youngstown Hall near a social housing complex in my neighborhood, and then ride back to the university area to meet one of my two charming sisters. 

She bought us tickets to tonight's local taping of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio One's show "The Irrelevant Show."


   

Edmonton Recreation Surprises

Saturday, November 24, 2012   Edmonton Public Library, Abbotsfield

Edmonton, my September-March, 2012-2012 home, boasts much affordable recreation.
For me, much is free, thanks to a tip from my friend Doug Schill.

Doug, alias Fred Douglas Schill, I think, gave me an application form for a City of Edmonton Leisure Access Pass.  City residents below a certain income qualify.  An Edmonton address on my local credit union statement proved my residency, my 2012 income tax assessment proved my income, and by Halloween I had the treat of a Leisure Access Pass. 

This pass entitles me to free admission in the city's numerous recreation centres, and discounts at many other local attractions.  I have tried seven recreation centres so far, fewer than half the total. 

First, Peter Hemingway Recreation Centre, about 30 blocks from where I live, has a hot tub, sauna, steam room, waterslide, and 50m pool.  I rode there on the bike from my friend Doug. 

Second, Jasper Place Recreation Centre, at 13 blocks away the closest to my place, is older, less sporty, more family-oriented, and has a steam room, big hot tub and leisure pool.  It also has one and three metre diving boards and a five-metre platform, similar to the one at the University of British Columbia outdoor pool.  During a 1994 school field trip to Vancouver, when I taught at Alkali Lake, BC, one eight-year-old pushed another off it; luckily the faller could swim.

The third, fourth, and fifth pools I visited on the same day, via buses and trains. 

Third, Commonwealth Recreation Centre, near Commonwealth Stadium, is the newest pool I visited.  It has a 50m pool, a leisure pool, a steam room, hot tub, and, like Peter Hemingway, it has racketball courts and a gym. 

Fourth, Londonderry Recreation Centre, which has two ice rinks, has a large leisure pool and hot tub. 

Fifth, Eastglen Pool, saltwater, is merely a pool, but warmer than the others. 

Sixth, Terwilligar Recreation Centre is vast, the first of two pools I visited today.  It has four rinks, two gyms, an amphitheatre, 50m and leisure pools, and a hot tub and steam room.

Seventh, the ACT Recreation Centre has a leisure pool, steam room, and hot tub. 

I type this on an internet terminal in a branch of the Edmonton Public Library, while I listen to a podcast of "Think for Yourself" on Vancouver Co-Op Radio.  My $12 library annual membership, which would have been free had I gotten the leisure pass first, is a great bargain. 

Other libraries I have visited are the Stanley A.Milner, downtown, Woodcroft near Peter Hemingway Recreation Centre, Jasper Place near the Jasper Place Recreation Centre and my winter home, Sprucewood just north of downtown, Strathcona near the  University of Alberta, Idlwylde east of the University, Capilano in the east end, Whitemud Crossing and Riverbend in the south, and Lois Hole in the southwest. 

I have attended special events in libraries. 

One Saturday night, I was in a packed auditorium in Stanley A. Milner branch, many dressed in Monty Python props, for an interactive showing of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."  There were sword fights, helmets, stuffed rabbits, and many things Monty Python Medieval.       

One weeknight at Whitemud Crossing branch, I joined a crowd to listen to a string quartet play Hadyn, Mozart, and Beethoven concertos. 

The Alberta Advantage has led to the most unequal income distribution of any Canadian province, rents are high, there are profound social problems and infrastructure deficits, and anyone born after 1971 hasn't seen a provincial government change, anyone born since 1935 has only seen change of provincial government. 

Still, a person can find free or cheap fun in Edmonton, as I am finding during this first time living here since the spring of 1986.

Maryanne's France and Monaco Photos, to Debussy

In the Peanuts comic, Schroeder played rich Beethoven music on a toy piano.  In France and Monaco, Maryanne took stunning photographs on an iPhone.  Claude Debussy's "Arabesque I" accompanies these photos, and continues for a minute or two after the photo show ends.  That gives you time to close your eyes and imagine you are in the scenes photographed.    

Turin and Mediterranean Coast, Christmas, 2011

Italian and Russian music accompany this 4-minute series of Christmas, 2011 photos from Menton, France, Ventimiglia and Turin, Italy, and Monaco.  The Tarantella comes first, the Volga Boatmen song second.  I don't know if a person can dance the Tarantella on a Volga boat.

Many writers lived along the Mediterranean Coast, Graeme Greene, Katherine Mansfield, and Samuel Becket among them.  Tolstoy and Dostoevsky visited.  Charles Dickens came by boat from Marseille before the railroad came in the 1860s.  Increased traffic brought tourists, who have since made Monaco a fancy place.  In Monaco, we saw a Russian-language tour guide leading a group. 

In Menton, France, we stayed in an apartment owned by a Ukrainian woman, who was at her New York City address.  This photo show includes Menton's Russian church; hence the Russian music that ends the show.

The train from Ventimiglia goes through the Alps, in several tunnels up to several kilometres long, to the plains south of Turin.  The last, longest tunnel began in the green coastal climate and ended in snowy Italy.

The return train ride from Menton, through Ventimiglia, to Turin, 250 kilometres away, cost less than 30 Euros (Cdn$40).      

Sights and Sense from Paris and the Riviera

I offer photos from my first trip to Europe, December-January, 2011-2012 to Paris and the Mediterranean Coast to its south.  See the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Riviera, Monaco, and Italy.

A digital migrant rather than a digital native, I had trouble making, and especially uploading this video.  If you use Windows Movie Maker, as I did, be sure to "finish" your video by saving it to you computer and playing it once before you try to put it online.  My video's file extension is "wmv."  Uploading took my computer about 30 minutes.  During uploading, my computer showed frequent flashes of percentage uploaded.

If your computer shows alternately "Done" and a flash of those little in-progress lights, then it is not uploading.  A couple hours of such non-uploading that told me to return to Movie Maker and save my video according to instructions I found online.   I had forgotten the instructions after having found them online to ease uploading my first video, also on this blog.  A digital native, mainly someone under 30, would remember such instructions.  I, 50, should have written them down.  I hope to remember them this time.

The photos remind me how different that trip was than any other trip I took, including Newfoundland, Canada's Atlantic, Pacific, and Hudson Bay Coasts, the BC Inside Passage from Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert, from Miami to Ottawa, from Quebec to Maine and back to Edmonton via the US Midwest, and the Mackenzie Valley.  Only in Montreal and St. Augustine's, Florida did I find buildings centuries old, such as I found in France.

The 1700s English poet Alexander Pope's "Essay on Criticism" lampoons the typical young English noble who caps his education with "a European tour:"  "and Europe saw him, too."  I suppose "Europe saw me too," another unilingual North American seeking antique culture often called superior to that of the New World.

Pope's England hanged children for stealing bread, France's many cathedrals are more relics of serfdom and Catholic fascism than art objects, despite 1600s English poet John Milton's retort to a Puritan's objections to a cathedral:  "but it is beautiful."

I found nature beautiful in Europe:  waves crashing on the Mediterranean shore at Ventimiglia, Italy; orange and lemon trees growing throughout nearby Menton, France; coastal cliffs at Monaco farther west; and even in Paris, gardens wild and coiffed, and a sea of people and languages.  We are part of nature, which will outlast us, our cathedrals, and our geologically-puny debate about Old and New World culture.

See France, or don't.  Do get up each day, look at the sky, and marvel at your brief chance to observe and understand something of the universe, distant and close, durable and mutable, before you die and revert to the stardust whence you came.  Nothing is permanent, despite delusions entertained by builders of religions, cathedrals, art, and blogs.  Be not depressed, but inspired by impermanence: revel in your  experiences, observations, knowledge, acquaintances, and collective actions, the best guarantors of justice.

            

Paris to Menton, France, December, 2011 Music and Photos

F

Michael can't Get France photo shows on his blog,yet.

I made photo shows of my recent France trip but I cannot get them on the blog, yet.
"There was an error" is the message I get.  Stay tuned, or offer free advice.

Back to Blog and Boredom

I ignored this blog for months, forgot its name and password, and then found a good reason to blog: to post slide shows of my and my sister's December-January trip to France. These shows take up lots of computer memory, so why not burden web memory instead? I made a new blog, created and posted two slide shows, and then the internet ate the new blog. It did not eat the old blog, but I forgot its password, until today. Today, with the help of said sister, I remembered the old blog's password, also the password for the gmail account we had to create to make the blog. Now I can resume weighing the web with France slide shows, including recreating the two I deleted from my computer before the web ate them. Reliving the trip by recreating the shows, and adding more, might be more interesting than the picaresque and/or pedantic and/or plain boring notes from other blogs that came via Google to my long-dormant gmail account. Next, I'll figure out how to delete posts, rather than further bore a bore-laden internet.