A lot of interesting things have been happening lately that I've yet to document properly here. My apologies to those involved for falling behind, but as you'll see, I've been rather busy.

For starters, Melanie has finally moved to Vancouver. After months of preparation, fear and goodbyes, Mel packed her bags (and her two cats) and hopped on a plane to YVR. In the space of less than a week, she had 4 interviews for two jobs and it's very possible that she'll be offered one of said jobs today or tomorrow. The cats were comfortable in my place almost immediately, and I'm already beginning to notice the effects of Mayday's fur all over the place. (She's such a princess).

It's been a bit of a shock to Melanie so far. I don't think that it's completely sunk in that she's a Vancouverite now. I suggested that she "take the day off" today and wander through Stanley Park while the weather is still pretty. I hope she takes my advice.

Chrystal has also broken some rather big news: she's moving to Kandahar. You know, that place from where we keep shipping people home feet first? Of course she won't be serving in the military, rather she'll be working in the diplomatic office, on a military base, surrounded by big people with guns. This is a really exciting career move for her and she's been wanting something like this for a very long time. I can't say that I'm glad she's going, but I suppose I have to be happy that she's doing what she wants with her life.

Just come back alive ok?

As those of you who have been sending me occasional emails may have noticed, I've not been doing a very good job in replying to them. In fact, if you were to go back through this blog only a few months, I'm sure you'd find a few posts talking about how overwhelmed I am with stuff I have to do and specifically, emails to which I want to respond. The problem, at least as I've seen it, is that I just don't have enough hours in a day to get everything done. I work long hours, come home burnt and only wanting to veg out and do nothing... and even then I spend hours at home writing code for the office some nights.

Donat Group is a big fan of "work/life balance" a concept I'm familiar with, yet have not really taken advantage of lately. To remedy this though, I've decided to try something that may sound insane to some (hell, I'm not even a big fan of it): I'm going to schedule everything.

The plan is to schedule my work hours so I'm not inclined to stay as late as I usually do, then schedule making dinner and yes, even responding to all those emails. The theory being that if my laptop tells me that it's time for "x", it'll help me focus on the job at hand.

Maybe it's insane, but at the moment, I'm approaching desperation. Nothing in my life is working lately and frankly, I want my life back. I just wish my mind didn't keep drifting back to Seven of Nine scheduling "fun".

Email has been kicking my ass of late. By "kicking my ass", I mean of course that I have had, for far too long, far more email in my inbox marked "unread" than I can reasonably handle.

Among those senders yet to receive a response from me, there are: Annie, Heather, Kathryn, Amy, Margaret, Julie, Katie, Sheena and Roland. To all of you, I want to say that I'm sorry. I'll get to your email as soon as I can but most days, I look at that inbox (15 unread) plus my bloody Facebook inbox (12 unread) and I just can't bring myself to dive into it all. I appreciate the mail, really I do. Just please understand that if you haven't received a message yet, it's because I intend to write a real letter and I need to find the time and a clear head in which to do it.

At last, it would seem that I have a valid excuse for not writing here for so long: Melanie has been in town for just over a week.

The logic behind the whole situation of course was this: if she really was to move all the way to Vancouver, it makes sense that she might want to see what it's like before committing to the decision. She really couldn't have picked a better time. While it's sweltering and smoggy in Toronto, It's been a moderate 19°C here, low wind, and just a little rain.

As if the weather alone wasn't enough to convince her to move, I sold her on the thing BC's been flaunting for decades: the scenery. We rented a car and drove up to Kelowna through the rocky mountains. We took the scenic route, passing through dense forests and speeding through clouds. We saw waterfalls, lakes, rapids, and a few million tonnes of solid granite sticking out of the ground. Yeah, BC's pretty awesome... and I mean that in the literal sense: "worthy of awe".

I introduced Melanie to as many cool parts of Vancouver as I could, including my parents (in Kelowna), my grandparents and a number of my friends who made it out to my birthday shindig yesterday. We hit the Art Gallery, English Bay, The Marble Slab (w00t!) and even Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Chinatown that's always closed when I want to visit :-(. My brother got us free gondola tickets (thanks Butthead!) to Grouse Mountain (no Grouse Grind for us... next time.) and Melanie was super-brave and crossed the Capilano Suspension Bridge. We even got a tour of UBC by her Aunt and Uncle who work there.

We didn't get to everything of course. I would have liked to have found time to visit the VPL, Science World, and Granville Island, but I'm sure she'll lots of have time see that stuff when she moves here. That's right, the sales pitch worked. Melanie's moving to Vancouver. The plan is to be in town for January 2009 after a 1month trip to Melbourne, Australia to see her friend Amber (who is almost as awesome as BC).

Also for those of you wondering about the status of our relationship, you're probably not a Facebook addict yet (good for you!) Basically, we're together, though the logistics of two people being "together" with nearly 4000km between them is a bit daunting. I'll just go with what she said in her blog post: FUCK YOU DISTANCE! :-P

So yeah. It's been a long, busy week and now that my "vacation" is over, I have about 16hours before I'm back at work. Sometime... sometime soon I hope, I'll take a break ;-)

Yesterday evening, a short time after the press release chaos and the following strategy meeting I had in preparation for tomorrows TPSB consultation, I had something of an epiphany that I would like to share.

You see, after all of the above, I was vibrating... Stress had overwhelmed me and I didn't want to think -- no, I couldn't think about anything related to the events of the past 24hours. And so, I went for a walk. In the frozen cold, snow floating down from the sky, I walked from St. George station all the way to Yonge and Bloor... and that's when I realised.

It started with me trying to flush out all the stressful thoughts from my brain. I was walking down Bloor, getting wound up about future responsibilities, work to do, etc and I found myself consciously trying to make those thoughts "go away". It took some effort, but with the help of a Farbucks hot chocolate and ginger cookie, and a long walk in the snow, I managed just that. And by the time I reached Yonge & Bloor station, I was no longer thinking about anything stressfull.

But then, on the ride home, I started trying to ease myself back into what was up next and that's where I noticed it: I couldn't remember. Nothing was coming to mind. Who was I supposed to email next? What was in my inbox? What jobs were left for the evening? Nothing remained. It was like I knew I had something to do, but the actual work had been erased from my memory.

Now, given the current state of my memory, I'm thinking that is quite common for me, except that it's probably on a subconscious level. I forget things because part of me can't handle the stress of remembering it, and so, the memory disappears...

After my last post, I decided to take the night off. Colin suggested a full vacation but given that that wasn't an option at the moment, his secondary solution was to turn off the phone and remove myself from my life for a while. I can't say that this "fixed" me 100%, but I'm definitely feeling better today. I even went through my mountain of emails and those I didn't respond to, I at least marked as "read" so they won't be hanging over me anymore.

The plan, (at the moment at least) is to lay off the unnecessary things. No more tv (downloaded or otherwise) and to force myself to have at least 2 nights a week where I turn off my phone and vacate my life for a while. It's not much, but it's the best I can manage at this point.

I'll post more as I wade through this.

A blog is about you. Originally, these things were invented as a sort of personal reflection place, a diary of sorts. I never really intended my blog to be like that, but in a case like this, I'm not sure where else I work this stuff out.

Stress is getting in the way of my personal life. Normally, I'm a laid-back kind of person, but lately, with the TPSC, the new job and Melanie happening, I've found myself continuously exhausted.

It's important to note that the use of the word "exhausted" here is not meant to mean "sleepy". Rather, I'm burning out. The thought of going back through my email to answer the 12 or so people who are waiting on me literally makes me queezy. I can't focus on anything it seems and I think my personal life is deteriorating as a result.

I just need... rest.

Note that some of these links lead to private posts.

2006 was a big year for the planet. Americans woke up and realised that their leader was insane (well enough of them to kill the Republican dominance in the House and Senate), Europe and China gained momentum on the world stage and the "War on Terrorism" did little more than make more terrorists.

Canada ousted one leading party and invited in a new one that promised to be much the same and our reputation as an environmental leader is now in the toilet. The air is dirtier, the water murkier and we're all trapped in this handbasket of our own weaving.

But contrary to what some might think upon first reading this blog, this site is not about the world, it's just about me and what I'm doing in it. ...and on my own front, a lot of good things happened this year.

On the personal front, some wonderful ladies made their way into my life. Most notably of course would be Melanie who I've been with for over 6months now. We've had our ups and downs, but I'm quite happy with her and I'm glad she's here for the New Year.

I also made a good many new friends through my activist work, not the least of which is Stephen, who I've come to hang out with outside of my responsibilities to the TPSC.

On the professional level, I hopped around a lot this year. February saw me start my career in network administration at Rydium. I loved working there, but couldn't stay for my own moral reasons so I moved onto Primus who treated me so poorly that I chose to leave after only 3months, where after a couple months of job hunting, I found Bodog, a place in which I'm currently quite content with my working arrangements.

I'm proud to say though that the biggest changes for me this year rest in the Why I'm Here section. I joined the Toronto Public Space Committee, a "within the lines of legality" political action group devoted to making this city a place for people not cars or corporations. It's been a great place to get into politics from the bottom up. I've come to learn how City Hall works, talked with councillors directly, given deputations (albeit badly) and most importantly come to understand what needs to be done, and where the power to make those changes rests.

I've worked on campaigns opposing the selling off of street furniture to companies like CBS, helped write the philosophy document for the group, wrote the code for the TPSC website that made headlines during the municipal election and now I'm heading up a very high-profile campaign to fight police cameras on the streets of the city. It's exciting work and its exactly why I came here.

So while we're all still trapped in this handbasket heading straight to hell, I suppose I can still be an optimist. I'm doing what I can to get us out of there, and I suppose that's all I can really hope for. I'm looking forward to 2007.

I have no idea what the article is saying, but Shawna is i-famous in Korea!

She has a puppet she calls "Socky". He likes to eat towels and talks with his mouth full. He's made out of a sock.

I do believe that this is why I like her :-)