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6.15.06

Inside the curtain

China may be “communist”, but you’d never know it. Consumerism is rampant, private property is respected (though I doubt it’s protected very well by law) and there’s quite a bit of career / life mobility for those in the cities.

Whatever their trajectory, they definitely have their roots in communism. Beijing’s Tienanmin Square is Chairman Mao’s resting place. His mausoleum was not open when I was there, but apparently he’s on display inside.

Keeping a close watch on the populace is also important. These towers were in Tienanmin Square, but are also elsewhere in central Beijing. Cameras at the bottom, speakers galore to spread the message.

My final stop in China was the city of Changchun. It’s the hub of China’s automotive industry, and is a very clean, modern city. It’s in China’s extreme northeast, very close to China’s ideological cousin, North Korea.

Since I was so close to North Korea, I decided to read up on its history, looking for reasons why China and North Korea have taken such different paths after such similar beginnings. Well, that’s difficult to do while in China. My normal resource, wikipedia, is blocked. As are many of the links Google presents you with when you search “north korea history”. Evidently a sensitive topic.

I did find a few links accessible from China, and found the contrast between the two countries fascinating. Here’s one link full of photos from North Korea, and an LA times story about a group of Americans that visited in 2005.
Here’s the wikipedia entry for North Korea. So nice to have it back 🙂

As a footnote, I’ll comment on the a) cleanliness of the cities in China, and b) wanton littering observed by all those around me. People would unwrap their popsickle and just drop the wrapper wherever they were. Drop their newspapers when finished with it. And yet the cities remain clean. There must be people that just pick up after others …

Filed in: Photos | Travel
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December 12, 2006 - 4:02 pm

forgetful.ca » Cracked pots. - […] Kim Jong-il, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea. Kim’s father Kim Il-sung holds the title of “Eternal President of the Republic,” but he’s had troubles providing effective leadership ever since his death in 1997.  I was close to North Korea (north east China) this past summer and blogged some thoughts.  It’s a fascinating place due to the Kim’s megalomanic rule. […]

December 12, 2006 - 4:02 pm

forgetful.ca » Cracked pots. - […] Kim Jong-il, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea. Kim’s father Kim Il-sung holds the title of “Eternal President of the Republic,” but he’s had troubles providing effective leadership ever since his death in 1997.  I was close to North Korea (north east China) this past summer and blogged some thoughts.  It’s a fascinating place due to the Kim’s megalomanic rule. […]

6.14.06

Voices from the past predicting the present

I remember putting together a time capsule in grade 5 at Ecole St. Paul in Saskatoon … to be opened in The Year 2000 … so far away from quaint, backwards 1986. I don’t remember what my contribution was to the time capsule. It may have been something pop culture related … I think I was reading a lot back then. I wasn’t into music (my tape collection consisted of Dire Straits, Masters of Metal IV, and Alabama Greatest Hits … you could tell I was considering my options), video games hadn’t really taken hold of me yet. GI Joe maybe? I wasn’t present for the opening of the time capsule, so I guess I’ll never know. I’ll bet everyone wondered where that weird, pudgy Fullerton kid ended up, and what he was thinking when he contributed that incredibly bizarre item to the time capsule.

We move into our new sod-less house in a week and a half … I’m thinking that we should bury a time capsule in the back yard, to be opened some time in the Distant Future. Or maybe one time capsule per year. Maybe one a month. I don’t know.

I’m sad I didn’t have more forethought when I was 5 or 6, to bury a time capsule somewhere in the Ottawa area, maybe containing my three favourite things at the time. That would be a really cool insight into my young mind. How could I have been so short-sighted?

What triggered these thoughts of past, present and future? A letter written in 1956 by Walt Disney, predicting the face of entertainment in 2006.

Share your time travel stories in comments! Or if you don’t have a time travel story (if so, how boring are you?!?), share your time capsule story.

Filed in: Life | Weird Stuff
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June 14, 2006 - 11:18 pm

Gary - Well at least Walt got a couple of things right, like the outlaw of war. Oh, wait….

June 15, 2006 - 8:21 am

Kris - My sister had a “time capsule” birthday when she was in Grade 8, her first year of high school. She had 10 or so of her little friends over and they all put in things that were important to them in little individual bundles. Then, my Dad set up a video camera and each of them left their future selves a video message. I believe the group of them may have also performed a dance or something equally embarassing.

When they graduated, the group of girls (who had miraculously remained friends over the years) got together and Dad dug the time capsue out of the darkest corner of our basement (we moved during that time…would have sucked to have had to knock on the door of our old house asking to dig up a small section of the backyard) and they opened it and watched the video tape. It was HILARIOUS. I was in it too…in all my Grade 10 coolness. It’s a wonderful idea.

June 15, 2006 - 12:05 pm

Shannen - I once tried to organize a family time-capsule, but they all made fun of me.

Mean. All of them.  😉

6.13.06

Apologetically unblogged

I’ve been very absent lately. I complain when others don’t update their blogs regularly, and then I fall off the face of the Earth.

My apologies.

But I have a semi-good excuse for my absence: life in general. All of a sudden it was May and I barely had a moment for myself, so the last thing I wanted to do was find myself sitting in front of the computer with nothing exciting to share. See, late May at my work equals our yearly MAJOR conference and it takes up all of our time in preparation. This year was our 75th anniversary and required extra work than usual from me. I spent days and days at the National Archives poring over ancient files trying to document the history of our organization. Though the project was incredibly interesting – it was very time-consuming. I’m just thrilled that it’s over…and I’d be happy to not step foot in the Archives ever again.

So…here are a few quick updates.

1. My 10 days at York University were so loooong and tiring. I was the unofficial-official photographer of our conference and found myself with a very busy schedule. But as busy as it was, it was awesome! I really enjoyed the opportunity to do something I’ve never done before. Here are two of my faves:

DSC_0047sm.jpg

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2. Packing, packing, packing. Our moving date is fast approaching and we are knee deep in pack-mode. We’ve reduced our kitchen down to an annoyingly low number of plates and bowls and we’ve started trying to clear out our deep freeze, which includes finally defrosting our massive wedding anniversary pie. It was as delicious as I remembered.

3. Packing leads up to my favourite update…The pre-delivery inspection on our house! We finally got to see it is a finished state (other than the weekly peeks through the windows) and it looks amazing. When you are picking all the interior components at the design centre, you don’t have an idea of how things look together in a room because you have a tiny piece of carpet, hardwood, a mini cupboard door, a small piece of countertop etc. to work with.

I was thrilled! I loved how everything came together. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was stealing ideas from the Nate Berkus episode of Oprah (when he redecorated Kirstie Alley’s home), but either way…It was awesome. The only thing that is making the next two weeks not seem like two years is that we still have soooo much packing to do.  With time running out to get it all done…the next two weeks are gonna fly!

Filed in: Life | Photos | Travel
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June 13, 2006 - 3:39 pm

Sonja - I can’t wait to see your new digs!!! When do you guys move exactly? Let Mark and I know if you need a hand with the actual moving part.

6.12.06

Radiohead June 8, 2006 Toronto, ON

Shannen and I went to Radiohead in Toronto on Thursday night …

“A long way to drive for one night,” you say, “especially when you drive back that night,” you continue. Especially when they close the frikkin’ DVP northbound starting at 11pm, I say!  That’s the only way out of downtown eastbound!

What you have to realize is that it’s *Radiohead*. They are special.

Setlist:

01 The Gloaming
02 Bangers ‘n Mash
03 15 Step
04 2+2=5
05 Kid A
06 Fake Plastic Trees
07 Videotape
08 Arpeggi
09 Idioteque
10 Climbing Up The Walls
11 Down Is The New Up
12 Karma Police
13 Nude
14 House of Cards
15 Myxomatosis (1)
16 Spooks
17 Paranoid Android (2)
Encore 1
18 You And Whose Army? (3)
19 Bodysnatchers
20 Just
21 Let Down
Encore 2
22 There There

Numbers in parentheses were my favourites, in order from 1 to 3.

Lots of new songs … they are returning to their guitar-rock roots. I’m sad to see the electronica go.

Filed in: Entertainment
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June 12, 2006 - 3:10 pm

Kris - Sounds fun! This does not, however, explain Shannen’s mysterious absence from my MSN list for the past few working days. Is she perhaps trying to get back at me for leaving her for weeks?

Hmmmmmm.

(Come back, Shannen…)

June 12, 2006 - 4:04 pm

mark - We got 23 songs in Montreal (advantage: woodingtons). However, we didn’t get Paranoid Android or Let Down, so we’ll call it a draw.

Apparently Elaine from Seinfeld was sitting in front of us. Her dance performance during Idioteque was really something to see.

I liked all the new songs, but they almost seemed TOO accessible on first listen. I’m used to warming up to new Radiohead. No need with these ones. I too am sad to see some of the electronics fadeaway (Johnny had noticeably fewer toys with him this time), but it’s good to see/hear Phil a bit more involved – he looked pretty bored during the HTTT tour.

6.8.06

OAFE Award – Bringing the Homestead Tradition to Your Table

Michelle Nichols has a secret.

No, no, not that secret. Another one. I wouldn’t dare tell that one.
Michelle is from Drake, Saskatchewan.

Drake may be known for many things, but I know it for two:

  • Home base for the Wiens clan.
  • World headquarters for Drake Meat Processors, the best smoked farmer sausage factory on earth!

Look at them hang!Michelle gave me 2 coils of farmer sausage for my birthday this year, and we had the first one this week.

All OAFE aspirants be warned: this particular OAFE Award really raises the bar on future awards … the sausage is that good.

I will be writing Drake Meats a letter suggesting that I become their exclusive Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec distributor. I may never send it, but I’m going to write it.

Off to Radiohead in Toronto!

Filed in: Food | OAFe Awards
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June 8, 2006 - 7:54 am

Shelly - Yes, Drake Sausage is the best in the universe.
Although Drake does not have a bar, a post office, a high school, or anywhere to buy milk on a sunday or monday, it does have a webpage: http://www.drake.ca. You can read all exciting Drake news there.

The genealogy portion is somewhat creepy in that it contains pictures of all the gravestones in the cemetary (this dude was OLD: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~drakesk/ns/vogt_peter_susanna.jpg) Guess you need ways to occupy your time when there is no bar.