I was thinking about this over the week. The decay that we appear to see in today’s world seems to parallel something in the microcosm of our own lives. When you buy something or invest in something new, there is a period of time when you really put a lot of care into that thing. New car, whatever, you look after it. It stays nice for a few years. And then, as it becomes used a little, scratched a little, maybe not as shiny, you tend to neglect it a bit, and for a while it still functions as it was intended, maybe because of initial build quality, or possibly out of sheer luck. Or maybe it exists simply because no one has noticed that it’s beginning to tarnish a bit.

When it fails, or when you finally notice that it is on its last legs, well there is the problem. You need to fix it. You can repair it, sure, but often at a greater expense than getting something to replace it. I wonder if we are at that point with some elements of our society. Infrastructure and policy have perhaps become too huge, too cumbersome. Fixing them is far too expensive. Do we need to scrap them and start over? Radical new ideas? Implement massive change and just force everyone to adapt? Maybe this is why relatively new societies like Finland are doing so well. They haven’t had time to tarnish?

Imagine if the world ran out of oil. Right now. Well, we’d really be up the creek, but could we adapt? How painful would it be? It will happen eventually — fossil fuels are a finite resource. Perhaps not in my life time, but it will happen. What about fresh water? Same thing, probably. But society, too. Health care, education, all sorts of things — they need overhauls. Does short term memory hurt us in these cases? Do we only remember back to when we thought it was good, and all new generations just assume that “this is how it is”? Maybe that is why we are not solving any of these problems. Or at least, not solving them quickly enough.

The track for this post is A Bar in Amsterdam, by Katzenjammer, a fantastic female quartet from Norway. They are folk, and folk rock. A departure from what I normally listen to, but way awesome.

I return to my office tomorrow, after being away from it for ten days. Partially because I was attending an iOS development seminar, but also because of long weekends and such. Incredibly productive, these ten days were. So much so that I’m not really looking forward to being back in the office. Tons of stuff to do.

In my last post, I mentioned travel, and the tension in the middle East. Things continue to bubble there, with a recent bombing in Marrakech, specifically, at the Cafe Argana, a place I frequented many time when I visited there in 2009. To think that the cafe has been reduced to a smouldering heap, with lives lost, is sobering.

This was a photo I took from the roof top, showing the Square at night during Ramadan.

Will this impact my desire to travel? No. Is it a sober realization that we are all connected? Certainly.

I finally finished Nick Thorpe’s book, “’89: The Unfinished Revolution”, which I found incredibly enlightening. I am now moving onto other fare, also dealing with Eastern Europe. “Berlin: A Portrait of Its History, Politics, Architecture, And Society” by Giles MacDonogh. It comes highly recommended, and I am sure I will glean much.

Election day tomorrow. Should be interesting. I voted Green in the advance poll.

I found out today that the paper submission for the Public Knowledge Project conference in Berlin this September was accepted. So, I guess we have to actually do something for the paper now. No matter, the work itself is done, most of the technology is finished, and because this is sort of official now, I feel a lot better about booking flights to Germany, and eventually beyond.

Beyond. The Mid-East is looking a little tense lately. Seeing as how I will be in Syria in October, I guess I can hope for one of two things. First, I hope the tensions there resolve in some manner, hopefully for the betterment of Democracy. Second, I will probably get amazing photo opportunities. Let’s hope I don’t screw up. I had briefly (only briefly) given thought to switching up the travel plans and then decided that no, I wasn’t going to do that. That is a dangerous path to start down, living uncertainly, and it’s not something I want to become acquainted with.

Coffee has been especially good lately. I have been enjoying a single origin Colombia san Alberto Espresso roast from 49th Parallel Roasters. I really need to finally go the subscription route. It would make life simpler.

Track for the post is Not Breathing, by Draconian. Great metal band from Sweden. Enjoy.

Easter is a tough holiday for vegans. It’s not so much the main course dishes that are problematic, it’s more about the symbolism and the eggs. The freaking eggs. There have been Easter eggs at Easter for as long as the holiday has been around. The Zoroastrians first painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration. The Jewish people have hard-boiled eggs called Beitzah. This seems to be one holiday for which I can’t brush off the egg as some pagan thing not associated with the ‘true meaning’ or something. And yeah, I know what the true meaning of Easter is supposed to be about.

What would a vegan decorate for Easter? I think my absolute favourite thing at Easter when growing up were the Lilliput solid chocolate eggs, the small ones in the shiny foil. Those were awesome. That’s what my parents would hide around the house for my brother and me. There appears to be a vegan version in the UK. Maybe next year.

I made some more cookies yesterday, but I was in a hurry and didn’t document the process this time. They were carob chip cookies, a twist on the chocolate chip cookie I did last time. They weren’t for me. There is a disconnect here, a conduit that probably needs help making a connection. We’ll see.

Where do we go when we go from here
Feels like a circle around me while I wait for more
Know that I wanna know where I follow you
Don’t wanna go down the street where you once came from
And I wanna know

What’s the point of doing anything
If you’ll never notice
I would sit and wait for you again

– What’s the point, Johnossi.

Stormy day today, typical of April, although it lacks the warmth I normally associate with April rain. I’m writing this from the confines of my sofa near my front window, and I’m staring up at the old chainrings I’ve hung from my curtain rod, watching them move and spin, the light from the window reflecting off of them as they spin round and round, buffeted by the vent from my air exchanger. There are tens of thousands of miles on those rings, solo rides, races, easy rides through meadows, fast rides down the sides of mountains. Crashes, laughs, sunny days, and days like today. The sprockets have been worn into points, and look like misshapen shark teeth. They didn’t shift well any more, and it was time for them to rest.

It sounds unpoetic, but really, it’s kind of cool. The storm’s rain is hitting the window, and it is beading into rivulets and trickling down the glass. Chaos theory deems the predictability of how those streams will combine to form larger ones is impossible. My eyes alternatively focus on the rain, and then on the rings, and occasionally settle on a null point between them, where everything I look at is slightly out of focus, soft, indistinct.

Life can be like that. Soft, indistinct. Out of focus. I need it to be that way, at times. Like now.

There’s really only one track that I can think of for this post. And there it is.

My Dad used to say that, when he was unhappy with me or my brother. When we’d do something dumb, or break something.

I heard those words in my head today, this morning on the way to work. I was walking by the trail station on the North side of the train bridge, and someone had taken the effort to rip down the signs, knock over the garbage cans, and toss the picnic tables and benches into the swamp across from the office building.

That’s a lot of work. Someone went through a lot of trouble to be a shithead.

Seriously, why do people do that? What’s the point? Do they feel better about themselves afterwards? You know, I see stuff like that and I have to say, no wonder no one cares about NB. Why should they, if we don’t?

I’m just about done with this town, I think. The track for this rather pissed off post is Clenched Fist, from Sepultura. One of my favourite thrash metal bands, from Brazil.

Expect another post in a little while when I’ve had some time to relax and chill. I made cookies on the weekend. Maybe I’ll put up a recipe.

1. The smell of the air after heavy rain.
2. That brief moment between sleep and wake when dreams are still tangible.
3. New Book Smell.
4. The reassuring ‘clink’ when you shift into a larger gear on a bike.
5. New shoe laces.
6. The way Göteborg-based metal bands start epic tracks off slowly, bringing in one instrument at a time. The assertive growl or scream before the first stanza.
7. Female bass players.
8. The way a softcover book fits in a backpack. The flexible cover curls around what ever else is in there, with no hard edges. Try doing that with an iPad or an e-reader.
9. Cumin.
10. The froth from adding hot water to freshly roasted and ground coffee.
11. The way ice on the side of the road melts. Water flows underneath it, creating these little ledges that crumble when you walk on them.
12. A comfortable chair in a sunny room.
13. An elegant solution to a difficult problem.
14. Dry Humour.
15. New socks.
16. Anyone else who gets the joke.
17. Mango peelings.
18. Surprising someone.
19. Woodpeckers from Mars.
20. Peanut butter.

Yes yes, March is here, although it really doesn’t look a whole lot like the beginning of Spring here at the moment. This alternating between frigid and clear, then warm and snow, has made for an interesting winter.

I know I have promised to revise the last book but I just haven’t put myself to that task yet. Partially, because I wanted a break. But also, because I need to freshen my eyes before I read through it again. This should be familiar to anyone who’s edited a document, or written code — some times you just need to walk away for a bit. I need the text to be a little less familiar so I can be more objective. Soon.

Work has been interesting lately. A rather heavy time crunch is looming, but when isn’t there? Side projects outside of work seem promising. Some interesting WordPress development going on, the new site for Rocket.fm may be live soon (finally! waiting on QA), and then I can look at other stuff to tackle.

Tackling. Books — The White Lioness by Henning Mankell is great. Enjoying it immensely. Also, nerdy books on Python programming and PostgreSQL database optimization.

My brother has switched to a new restaurant in Calgary. He’s now at Char|Cut. Stop in and say hello if you are there.

Music. Hmmm. Probably one of the best rock/car anthems around was Turbo Lover by Judas Priest. Don’t let the date on the video fool you. That’s the original, from back in 1985. Awesome.