Signal to Noise

I am currently on vacation with my family and hope to remain so for quite a long time. You can follow our travels (if you are so inclined) at mentaltrackmarks.com.

Jan and I had some business in Charlottetown yesterday. As we were waiting to cross the street I saw somebody I had not seen for a while. He was looking more well-dressed than I remember being usual for him; no doubt this was a result of him being very good at what he does and being promoted accordingly. We crossed the road against the light to chat for a minute. I told him he was looking good and asked him what he was up to.

“I’m livin’ the corporate fuckin’ dream.” was his response, spoken with deliberate deadpan clarity. I still think of the possibilities of corporate life and the steady paycheck (and so do many others). It is good to be reminded that the dream may not be all bunnies and unicorns.

Wednesday afternoon was a great time to go biking. There is nothing better to beat my blasé attitude out of me in the middle of UPEI’s reading week then to hop onto a tandem bike with Dave and be propelled around Charlottetown on a beautiful warm-ish winter day. The streets were free of snow (though the amount of traction sand and run-off water was impressive) and car traffic was very light. A little over an hour later we finished our ride covered in damp sand–me taking the forward soaking and Dave with the telltale stripe up his back. Grit-filled satisfied grins all around. Thanks to Dave I have been biking in the first two months of this year.

As it turns out, the very next day I learned that “[c]ycling advocates in Charlottetown, including the Medical Society of P.E.I., are upset accommodation for bicycles is not part of a $5-million expansion of Riverside Drive“–and this was one of the very same roads on which we were biking the day before. Of course, given the limited number of roads into and out of Charlottetown, it was hardly a surprise that we would be biking on one of the access roads. The only other cyclist we met on our ride was biking from Stratford and into town on Riverside drive. It is not the most direct route to the heart of the city but it is the most scenic and the relative lack of traffic is a benefit to anybody on a bike.

Rather than comment on how biking is great and more bike lanes and paths would be good for Charlottetown (well, maybe I will comment on it by saying I will not comment on it) I simply note that I am raring to get back to work and am planning on how I can bike in every month this year. Time to get back on the rollers for a while and hope for a warm and clear day in March.

The Noye family, inspired by a man that I smell like (and without needing two tickets), Jan and I and the girls went out to Orwell Corner Historic Village yesterday to partake in the Orwell Corner Winter Fun Day. The writeup in the local paper suggested that we could

Visit with farm animals, go sledding, make snow taffy, help Blacksmith make a nail, horse and sleigh rides (weather permitting), plus traditional indoor board and card games. Hot chocolate will be served.

It was all true and to top it off there was a light snowfall that floated clumps of stick-on-the-end-of-your-nose snow. It is very hard not to spout words like “idyllic,” “rustic,” “picturesque,” “unspoiled,” and other synonyms … because it was a lot of fun. A lot of people worked hard to make an afternoon of sleigh rides, hot chocolate, and maple syrup taffy in the snow.

We spent about 45 minutes in the blacksmith shop and Robin and I got to make some crafts with steel. She got to make a nail and I made a double-ended hook. When Robin was not making her nail and hammering she was driving the fan to keep the force hot. She was told that in the late 19th century she might earn ten cents for a day of keeping the shop clean and the fire hot. She would probably also have been a boy.

All told, we spent a little over two hours wandering around the village, eating taffy (actually, picking taffy out of teeth and hoping not to dislodge fillings), patting bunnies (free to a good home), going on sleigh rides, and drinking hot chocolate. We finished the day at home with warm stew and many smiles.

I have been busy. It was more than that … but I have been busy.

I want to pimp a cause: Camp Triumph. My family has taken advantage of the camp for two years (the first year was in the old location; this year was at the new, very beautiful and developing location).

The creation of the new camp has involved a lot of donated time, materials, and sweat and has resulted in a beautiful beginning. I really suggest that you take a look at the previous link (repeated here) to see the effort that went into planning the new site with respect to everything from wind direction to sunsets to energy efficiency to longevity of the buildings.

There is a Facebook group for the camp and you will find many, many people extolling the camp’s value. If you are unsure of the camp’s value then take a look at the testimonials of the children who attended and their parents. I know it is truly a great place.

What I would like you to do (whoever you are) is to consider voting at the Aviva Community Fund site for the project to Build a Lodge for Camp Triumph. It will cost you a registration (email and password–you can disable the “send me updates emails” while registering) and allow you to cast a vote each day from now until December 16th.

That is all. If you can find the time and inclination I would appreciate it and you might (no guarantee) get a small warm feeling in your belly. Your mileage may vary. I want to help the camp because it helps others a great deal.

I will end with one final note from the write-up on the Aviva site that underscores the commitment to the camp by the people who work there. Nobody at the camp gets paid, it is a labour of love,

“Everyone who works at Camp Triumph is a volunteer. In 2009, 74 volunteer staff participated. All of the Camp counselors are university students coming from a variety of faculties such as Medicine, Engineering, Architecture, Journalism and Fine Arts. Our other volunteers range from Educators and Guidance Counselors to Firefighters.”

Then at that very instant we heard a loud WHACK!
From out in the fields came the sickening smack
of an axe on a tree. Then we heard the tree fall.
THE VERY LAST TRUFFULA TREE OF THEM ALL!

Well, I have taught my first class at UPEI after a reasonably long period of not teaching anything to anybody. It was as nerve wracking as always. I have accepted that this will always be the case. Lots of nerves, lots of preparation, things work out more or less okay. There is still a lot to be done. I have had a little under two weeks to prepare my courses and I am not finished yet. But, it was a good start.

Since I will be writing class notes and lecture slides and all the stuff I should be doing to make a good class instead of writing here I will leave you with a version of “Tainted Love” by Pop Stasi that is very good even if it is being used as an advertisement. You can also check out the original by Soft Cell.

Lest you think that I am worked off of my feet, I tok a little time today to make a panoramic view of the Sun-N-Shade looking from just outside of the office toward the entrance. I used Hugin (after seeing what Peter Rukavina created with a few pictures outside of his door) with my iPhone camera (advertising slogan: “it is what it is”). It turned out quite well considering the camera and the overcast day. I am going to play with Hugin more.

Campground, campground, campground–how I love the lessons you teach. I have amused more French-speaking campers than I can count (in any language) with my attempts to communicate. One of the families that came through was as hopeless in English as I was in French and we almost laughed ourselves foolish through pantomimes and gestures. The teenage daughter excused herself to laugh on the deck outside of the office because she was giggling too hard and eventually realized that she should be self-conscious because she was, after all, a teenager laughing like mad in the presence of her parents. Rather than describe the actions I will leave it to your imaginations to picture the discussions on the size and quantity of mosquitoes and the quality of the College of Piping’s dance performances in Summerside.

People on vacation want to be happy. That is the best part of being here (dancing in the office and making funny faces while pretending to swat mosquitoes is a close second).

The variety of people is wonderful. Not always the individuals, but the variety is amazing. I have accumulated many more stereotypes (very few are negative) and many more exceptions to them. I like to think that I am cheerful, polite, and resourceful enough to eventually figure out what people want and get it for them. I did blow one situation today through and only through the greatest of luck did things work out very well–all thanks to a lady from California.

For reasons known only to the gods that govern camping traffic near large bridges, there was a rush of people (about five groups at the same time) this evening around 7:00pm. This is quite unusual for a Sunday evening. As I worked through the groups that were in the office I had my head down quite a bit and when I had a piece of paper slipped into my view I was surprised. Two gentlemen passed me a piece of paper that asked me if I had a cabin to rent. I answered that I did not. They looked puzzled and wrote another note. It said that they would like to have a cabin but would take a tent site if there was no cabin. I again said that there was no cabin available but I had a tent site available if they wished.

I am sure at this point you, the reader, have figured out that they two men were deaf and me telling them that there was no cabin was very close to useless. How I could remain so damn stupid after these two exchanges staggers me. I figure I am pretty clever and astute (I even mentioned my cleverness above, remember?). Yet, I did not catch on that speaking to a deaf person is not the best means of communication–ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE IS A PAD OF PAPER RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. But, stunned I was. Then, because I have more good fortune than I deserve, a lady from California was waiting behind the two men and she was very capable with American Sign Language. She and the two men had a great conversation and quickly forgot about me and the cabin. I was able to help the remaining people in the office find camping sites and then waited and watched the silent and beautifully expressive conversation.

One of my deeply held beliefs is that communication is fundamental to understanding (obvious) and understanding reduces conflicts (reasonably obvious, I hope) and fewer conflicts makes people happier (not going to prove it but it has held true for me). Being in a situation where I was unable to communicate I immediately felt awkward and helpless. It was only a small step from that to being embarrassed at my gaff, worried about causing offence, and becoming more nervous than I had been when dancing and swatting mosquitoes to the mortification of a stranger’s teenage daughter.

The lady from California allowed all of us to communicate easily and, dare I say it, comfortably. She and her family went to settle into their camper and the two guys went off to pitch their tent. I came in here to write and think a bit. I will do better next time.

Time for a gratuitous Dead Kennedys’s (argue amongst yourselves on the use of the possessive here–I am taking the band to be a singular entity that happens to end with an ‘s’) finger poke in the eye of the music industry. I am sure that people will eventually kill the movie and music industries by making copies of movies and songs but they are going to have work much harder than they are now to make it happen. Even the efforts of Jello and company were not enough to kill the industries (and, I guess, all their profits).