tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-204334842009-06-28T16:13:22.164-04:00"Simplify, simplify." - Henry David Thoreau <p> A Prince Edward Island place. An Ottawa web space. Stuff.</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.comBlogger420125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-12773824190583469952009-05-21T22:00:00.002-04:002009-05-21T22:02:08.426-04:00

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-28094781353767674232009-05-14T22:10:00.004-04:002009-05-14T22:33:59.221-04:00

No, they're not in jail. It's the loft at Walden. The boys love it when I shut off all the lights and get the candles of the chandelier going. It's amazing how bright it seems with 6 candles burning in a small cabin miles from any street lights or city light pollution. Every summer at the cabin I have to spend at least one evening on my back on the dew-soaked lawn, staring out at the stars. Even

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-59350534476258851642009-05-10T22:05:00.003-04:002009-05-10T22:31:26.683-04:00

I love this photo. The energy and hope in the flag. The joy on Jasper's face. Me not quite believing that this is my son, at my place. That was before it was "ours."It's June 2001. The leaves are just coming out, but the grass has had a few weeks to get ahead of us. Jasper was making his first day trip to Walden. He was only just over a year old, but really ten months because back then we were

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-35321413171178703762009-04-11T15:43:00.003-04:002009-04-12T13:23:32.877-04:00

I ran 14k yesterday. It's the first time I've gone that far in one day, and it felt great. I started and ended at the Agriculture Museum of the Experimental Farm in Ottawa, running along the Rideau Canal and over Hartwell locks to Hogs Back and on to Mooney's Bay. The Agriculture Museum was packed with kids, including my own, who were there with Suzy and one of Suzy's best friends Michelle and

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-2375655975488913162009-04-08T21:21:00.004-04:002009-04-08T21:42:56.969-04:00

I type with three fingers of my right hand, and two of my left, plus one thumb for the space bar. I'm fast but not efficient. And if someone's watching I just can't type. Only recently did I realize that the space bar had nothing to do with outer space, but the space between words. Computers are so amazing. Space age.Eight years ago this month I had a burger with my dad at the DQ on Bank Street

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-81346239858680843622009-04-06T21:14:00.003-04:002009-04-06T21:42:50.160-04:00

Let's see. Where to start. A secret: I don't think about what I write here before I start to type.A confession: I hate my hair. Tomorrow my experiment with "growing it out" comes to a swift end. A promise: I will add the screen room on the front of the cottage this year.**It's a crime that grey hair has a different consistency to it. I'm quickly losing my flowing nutty brown to kinky wacko grey.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-38296300014671848622009-04-02T21:38:00.003-04:002009-04-02T22:02:57.977-04:00

I'm disappointed tonight, but I shouldn't be. Today I found out that I was not picked for an international fellowship that I'd been nominated for last December. I won't be going to Yale University after all. It was a long shot anyway. But I had stellar letters of reference. A Premier, CEOs, gurus, etc. I have to admit that I had my hopes up there and was told I was a strong candidate. But there

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-38404695206027524282009-03-30T21:14:00.004-04:002009-03-30T21:33:32.236-04:00

In case you're ripe for another random strawberry sighting (see below), you may be interested to know that Kellogg's is running a new contest: Spot the Strawberry. The prize for the contest, which was run on YTV and closed March 23, was a bicycle helmet. I was just in London, after a few days in Oxford. Yes. Well then. Indeed. One thing the British take seriously is a good hot drink. Perhaps the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-44787329004903579972009-03-18T00:47:00.002-04:002009-03-18T00:59:17.631-04:00

I flew into San Antonio this evening as the sun was setting. It's my first time in Texas. The sun was hot on the airplane window and the city was shrouded in haze. I think it's the first time I've ever been happy to see summer-ish smog.Sure enough, it was as warm outside as in, and the air was thick with humidity and Spanish. I hopped in a cab and within a few minutes we crested a gentle rise

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-3245319394817111282009-03-14T01:17:00.003-04:002009-03-14T01:26:18.712-04:00

I get nervous climbing up a ladder to clean the eaves trough on the first floor of my 1.5 storey house. So, faced with the opportunity to change the bulbs on the Calgary Tower, how could I refuse the chance to get over this base fear?It really wasn't so bad. The worst part was climbing the ladder and getting across the threshold of a little window that led to the catwalk along the rim of the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-68939503140407412882009-03-12T11:33:00.002-04:002009-03-12T11:50:34.838-04:00

Forty-one is fine. My mother called this morning from a beach in Portugal with birthday wishes. She caught me in the middle of a scramble -- getting the kids ready for school after sleeping in too late because I got home last night at 11:30PM from a whirlwind trip to Pennsylvania and back (12 hours of travel for a 45 minute meeting -- and I'm an "energy conservation" consultant ... ). Life's a

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-63101554202946055752009-03-09T21:45:00.002-04:002009-03-09T21:55:14.335-04:00

Joanne writes from Vancouver:"on my run this morning, I saw a strawberry with a bite out of it sitting on the sidewalk...at the corner of 10th and Ontario, no less...I almost fell flat on my face in surprise...."Living is easy with eyes closedMisunderstanding all you seeIt's getting hard to be someone, but it all works outIt doesn't matter much to meLet me take you down, cause I'm going

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-74928095733997209002009-03-06T07:41:00.005-05:002009-03-06T08:38:14.949-05:00

News flash: There's something afoot.You won't read about this in the papers, or even in the alternative media, but it appears that someone in Ottawa is walking around eating fruit salad carelessly. The woman sitting next to me on the flight from Ottawa to Calgary yesterday told me she too saw a strawberry on the sidewalk, but it was in a different part of town. (See yesterday's post, below).I

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-45843617261864696752009-03-04T21:58:00.005-05:002009-03-04T22:34:03.521-05:00

This morning Jasper was a bit moody and blue when I dropped him off at school. We'd spent the day at home yesterday because Simon was sick with a bad cold and it's easier to have both of them at home at once. I'd gotten a lot of work done, but we managed to watch a bit of a movie, mess up the house, and slip out for lunch at Subway. So this morning as we skittered across the cold parking lot

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-52134552293270284592009-03-02T21:24:00.003-05:002009-03-02T21:48:52.640-05:00

1) The double-bagged kitty litter now has to be split between two bags because it is too heavy for the garbage people to pick up curbside. This is too much interaction with Puddy's sullied clumping gravel. If there's a lesson here, I'm missing it.2) Suzy got her sister JD a ticket to see Leonard Cohen at the NAC in an advance ticket sale. This morning people were lined up to buy tickets when they

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-17346448495659711852009-03-01T21:06:00.004-05:002009-03-01T21:26:19.172-05:00

I'm still learning. This weekend I discovered that it's just too risky to try to carry a black garbage bag-full of kitty litter up from the basement and through the house en route to the trash can. Double bag it.In bed with me now as I write is "Audacity of Hope" and "Tantric Sex for Dummies." Audacious indeed. With Suzy asleep beside me, it's probably also hopeless.I also have some new toys (no,

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-42717130067556701282009-02-24T22:48:00.003-05:002009-02-24T23:06:32.160-05:00

Did you know that the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich is made with Kraft Cheez Whiz? Note that the good folks at Kraft spelled Cheez with a zee (not zed or s). And Whiz? Who came up with that? I also discovered tonight that Philadephia Cheese Cake is made with Kraft Philly cheese! More processed cheese! Someone has to look into this. What's with the processed cheeses? The waiter told me tonight I

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-69792807598524108152009-02-21T22:05:00.003-05:002009-02-21T23:01:19.481-05:00

The news popped up Friday with about a dozen other messages on my Blackberry. Subject line: Aunt Grace. I knew she was dead. After all, she was 96. And just last week another aunt, Margaret, called to tell me that Grace was "very, very frail." Grace is (or was) actually my Great Aunt. My dad's aunt. She went 96 times around the sun but lived no further than 25k from where she was born. It's the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-58061602852810640692009-02-09T00:32:00.004-05:002009-02-09T00:52:23.822-05:00

I'm in Edmonton tonight. It's 12:30AM where I came from, and I have an 8AM meeting. I managed to squeeze in a 7k run on the treadmill, but there was no way I could get the TV on. The remote was asking me questions for which I had no answer. So I just decided to go to bed. But I couldn't figure out how to turn the bedside lamp on. Now I find I have to hit the letter i key extra hard to get it to

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-60212613955305299762009-02-04T22:05:00.004-05:002009-02-04T22:27:39.302-05:00

One of the best parts of my job is being able to meet and work with smart and creative people, leaders in their fields. Today, for instance, my colleague and One Change Assoc. Exec. Director John Mulvihill and I spent an entire day with Richard Earle, David Basch and Mark Chinoy of the Regis Group here in Leesburg, VA -- bashing and remodeling the One Change concept and trying to figure out how

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-36418468487608533022009-02-03T23:22:00.003-05:002009-02-03T23:36:46.314-05:00

Welcome to Leesburg, Virginia, the town where the US government retreated when the British (aka Canadians) stormed Washington and burned the White House.I'm here for two days of facilitated strategic planning -- which is more exciting than it sounds when you're planning to, well, take over the United States. I'm in a Hampton Inn tonight, a wee step down from the Fairmont San Francisco of last

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-88840330386707861032009-01-28T23:09:00.002-05:002009-01-28T23:16:48.702-05:00

San Franciso is so awesome. The streets are dry. No need to work out. Just walking gets the heart racing. A street car clanged loudly at me today because I was driving the wrong way in its lane headed steeply down to the bay. Nobody, but nobody, drives a standard. But I'm tired. After three days of networking, speeches, a CBS interview, and talking in San Diego, I have two more days of the same

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-69265716344874089892009-01-23T22:10:00.005-05:002009-01-25T00:14:02.234-05:00

Once, when I was maybe 10 my mom made me eat a raw onion when I asked her for 25 cents to buy the new Hubba Bubba grape. I did it. Another time, my grade two teacher Ms. Ferguson called me to the front of the class and offered me 25 cents if I hiccupped one more time. I didn't.>> Photos: First winter at Walden Cabin in PEI (1995), and in 2007.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-41554852411485000522009-01-22T22:01:00.006-05:002009-01-24T23:51:04.181-05:00

Sister-in-law JD's looking for a dog. She found a hot prospect tonight on UsedOttawa.com, mixed in with listings for old CRT TVs and IKEA furniture: An 18-month-old Corgi. The ad's a bit dodgy for a doggie posting. First of all, the owner posted what looks like a catalogue picture of a corgi. And it states emphatically that the dog is wonderful with "considerate children."Upon reading the ad I

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433484.post-65472016008116460272009-01-21T21:39:00.003-05:002009-01-21T22:19:33.503-05:00

People are scared. This hit me today in studio at CBC as I was doing a live-to-air segment on Newsworld (interviewed by Suhanna Merchand from Toronto) about concerns that UV radiation from CFL bulbs can cause sunburns and other medical conditions. I'm often called to give this kind of interview, and I'm increasingly comfortable doing so, even though it's weird to sit in a dark closet with just a

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12353471576742325510noreply@blogger.com0