Ok, so finally I can see my own blog again. Waldencabin.com stopped letting me publish on October 11, 2005, then the site disappeared, and when I finally moved it, I couldn’t see it (though apparently others could). So tonight I can. I really miss writing. My life is light bulbs lately. Tomorrow I get the final price on 350,000 of them so every household in Ottawa can have one. Thanks for reading. I’m rusty, and tired. Not so bright tonight. C’mon back! I’ll try to post daily now, even if it’s this kind of crap. And if you’re here because you’ve been waiting for something new for 5 months, that…

Jasper begged to go to bed at about 11:30, so we welcomed ’06 from our hotel room, overlooking our city. He was asleep by 11:45.

My wife who hates to be referred to like that says I’ve gone negative even before Harper. And I have no secret agenda. But I do have a new notebook. A “Moleskin” palm-sized hardcover book with a faux-leather cover and elastic. Blank pages. I chose this over a similar one with lines as an act of defiance. “Don’t fence me in!” I bought the over-priced scribbler to capture content for this new site, to kickstart writing again. See, I’m grouchy when I don’t write. And it’s been 3 months. Keep your distance. Day One. Observations: Christmas stuff is 50% off everywhere, but I just can’t bring myself to buy. I…

Now this is ridiculous. I can’t post. My legions of fans are clamouring. Aren’t you? Well?

Testing, again. I’ve been off-line for a month. My Blog is back. It’s been off-line for weeks because of a screwup with the DNS pointers. If you don’t know what that means, Count Your Lucky Stars. Get yourself to onechange.org. After months and months of thankless work, our little team of talented and dedicated volunteers is about to give nearly a million dollars in Hydro savings back to my neighbourhood (Ottawa South). We start to deliver up to 50,000 free compact fluorescent light bulbs this weekend. Project Porchlight, baby. It’s Change Within Reach. It’s SO GOOD TO BE BACK. I’ve been giving media interviews all week and I need a…

Elizabeth told me today that she is having nightmares about life-sized compact fluorescent light bulbs running around willy-nilly bonking into each other, suing us. Matters of event insurance and energy efficiency collide in the subconscious mind. (She’s President of the Porchlight Board). Meanwhile, I can’t touch my chin to my chest because of a pain in my upper back. I think it was caused by a fit of coughing the other day, but Jackie at work (fresh back from a honeymoon in St. Lucia) just smiled and said, “You didn’t hurt yourself, Stuart. You’re just in knots.” She pushed me against the wall and dug her thumb into a muscle…

I’m waiting for my light bulbs to arrive today. One hundred of them, boxed in beautiful Porchlight packaging. This is the first teaser shipment of the 49,900 that will follow. Project Porchlight is lurching ahead toward its October 29 launch. There’ll be a Giant Tiger, a ton of coal, a brass band, and (hopefully) lots of people who know that anyone can make a change. Our new Web site will be launched next week. Meanwhile, check out www.onechange.org. It’s still just sinking in how an idea became a movement that has attracted so many great people, and so much support. It scares the heck out of me. And that’s being…

It hit me like a hammer last night. I spend most of my time surrounded by women. I just wish it was because they find me irresistible. It’s not like that. Yesterday was the first of my 12-week carpentry course at Algonquin College. The course represents a notable break in my usual routine. Which is why I found it troubling that my biggest concern last night was what to wear. My casual brown leather slip-ons did make me feel a bit self-conscious in a room of steel toes. There were lots of tight t-shirts, faded jeans and farm caps with curled brims. I was the only one taking notes, mostly…

I’m feeling a bit more settled this week. More than I have in months, in fact. Last week’s visits to prisons in western Canada may have had something to do with it. I’m also reading a sappy little meditation book by Thich Nhat Hahn. It’s borderline “Chicken Soup for the Buddhist Consumer,” but the message is solid. The foundation is impermanance. The past doesn’t exist, nor does the future. Life is only this second. For me, my life is writing this blog. For you, it’s reading it. Thanks! Likewise, we aren’t born and we don’t die, much like waves on the sea. They’re all just water, changing. I like the…

I fixed my sister-in-law’s clogged plumbing today (sink and toilet), with the help of her 10-year-old son Rowan. We took the drains apart under the sink, back to the wall, and cleared sludgy black plugs out of the curves with a rooter wire that resembled a tape worm. The contractor who put those pipes in was lazy — no quick-release in the trap, and a botched patch to the main line to the drain. The whole operation was stinky, disgusting and very satisfying. I’d forgotten how great it can feel to get dirty. Since Jasper and Simon have come along, I spend a lot less time in rubber boots or…

In Alberta, they call their premier King. He rules over a rich land (even if bookstores are scarce). There’s no provincial sales tax, billions of dollars are being invested in hospitals and infrastructure, and new rules govern chuck wagon racing. It’s all good. The money is literally being pumped from the ground. This week, King Ralph announced a “prosperity bonus” for all 3,184,000 citizens. Everybody’s getting a cheque for $400 bucks. Yee haw! That’s $1.3 billion bucks. The reaction, not surprisingly, has been positive. But that doesn’t mean the prosperity bonus is a good idea. Consider this: Ralph Klein wins elections bashing the federal government. His gift to Albertans is…

I’m sitting in Calgary airport watching CNN on mute in Montana’s Saloon. My quarter chicken (white meat) meal is picked to the bone and two pints of Rickards gone. Every couple of minutes the same images flash on the screen: An airbus lands gingerly on its hind wheels and its front wheel bursts into flames. My flight to Toronto leaves in about 45 minutes. People all around avert their gaze. Nobody seems overly upset by the saturation coverage in an airport of an airbus averting disaster. Larry King seemed to enjoy covering the airline incident. With a guest on the line, he noted that “JetBlue has satellite TV. They get…

Don’t stay at the Day’s Inn. It was booked on my behalf, sight unseen. The $69/night rate should have been a red flag. Fred, the photographer I’m travelling with, rolled a towel at the base of his door to keep out mice. A sign in the elevator: Maximum 7 people (or 2000 lbs) Do not overload. The elevator will get stuck if it’s overloaded. PLEASE DON’T OVERLOAD! Candy and chips available at Reception. Good luck finding something to read. The National Post is everywhere, which says nothing about the literacy rate. There are more RV and CAT dealers than Tim Horton’s locations. I interviewed a half-dozen Aboriginal welder inmates today.…

Vancouver > Mission Calgary > Drumheller Edmonton. Slammer Tour ’05 rolls on. I’ve met so many killers and bank robbers, I can’t remember them all. All on the shop floors of CORCAN work rehabilitation facilities. Aside from the products these convicted federal inmates produce (such as refurbished DND trucks, mattresses, security bars (ironically) for sale at Home Depot) the remarkable thing is, many are eager to talk. And the theme that has emerged is simple. “Most of us are getting out.” Andre is serving 25-to-life for killing someone in a drunken bar brawl 13 years ago. “We need something to do when we walk out of here, so we don’t…

I can hardly type tonight. The strep is gone, though I’m still on antibiotics. What’s getting to me is being so busy. Today I sent the final artwork for the Porchlight bulb box to press, confirmed almost $150,000 of new writing business at work, and ordered 30,000 light bulbs. 20,000 more are being ordered next month. And last week the government of PEI’s climate change hub said they want to get a free bulb to every house in PEI next spring. Amazing! Someone said to me this week that I will be able to sell greenhouse gas credits to China. I think I’ll swap them for surround sound. Check out…