Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

May 31, 2014. Cycled 55 km out to Shediac and back, via Scoudouc, and listened to the Blue Jays 12-2 rout of Kansas City. Which would all be great except for the stiff cold wind coming in off the ocean. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nwwB8r

May 30, 2014. Another treat from the front garden, these tulips right up against the front wall. It must be spring - it was office cleanup day today! from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nNihmJ

May 29, 2014. This is Jonathan Creek where it crosses Horseman Road in west Moncton. I saw it first thing in the morning when I went down to Main Street to see about a trailer hook for the car, thought it would make a great photo, and so went back at lunch time to snap the shot. It was that kind of day - no meetings, so I was able to run some errands and clean up some code - in the frenzy of REL2014 gRSShopper got a bit ragged, and I need to pull it back together again. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nKLgEQ

May 28, 2014. A full day of meetings today, productive and useful meetings, but still, that was my day. Our new ID badges also arrived - they want us to wear them all the time, so here's mine on its clip attached to my belt over the rugged green fabric if my pants. It expires in 2019 - hey, job security! ;) from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nPA4i8

May 27, 2014. Spring at last? These trees in front of the office didn't even have leaves when I left, now they're all covered with white flowers. The weather, however, is still miserable. It would have been a good day to stay home and recover from jet lag, but an afternoon meeting took priority. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nvj4wS

May 26, 2014. Travel day, back to Canada. This is a view of Nürtingen from the train window. European cities are filled with bicycles - Canadian cities could take a lesson from that. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nMvjNM

May 25, 2014. It's a beautiful day in southern Germany, perfect for a bike ride up the Neckar valley to Rottenburg (and a bit beyond). from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nvjgsT

May 24, 2014. Took the train to Stuttgart and spent the day wandering through downtown and climbing a hill. This is from the entrance to the 'New Palace' - according to Wikipedia, "from 1746 to 1797 and from 1805 to 1807, it served as a residence of the kings of Württemberg." from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nJN5dS

May 23, 2014. Finished my second talk and went for an impromptu walk to the top of the hill just east of downtown Tübingen - it's all residences and frat houses and flowers and roses. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nJuJNz

May 22, 2014. Still in Tübingen, gave a talk today, then took a short break after the talks before going back to the hotel to prepare for my second talk the next day. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nL15en

May 21, 2014. First day of the Mass Collaboration Workshop, after the presentations, at the Casino restaurant in Tübingen. Three of the speakers - Allan Collins at left (I'll try to find the othertwo names). Really interesting people, and I enjoyed hearing their stories about (egs) Anderson and Bower, and the Pittsburgh school. A really good moment for me. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nrm1M3

May 20, 2014. Tübingen is located on a hill by the banks of the Neckar River, a tributary to the Rhine. As you can see I had beautiful weather for exploring - I went to the top of the bell-tower, pictured, of the the Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church). from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/np2dUs

May 19, 2014. Arrived in Tübingen, a " traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 30 km south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers." Wikipedia from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nETn34

May 18, 2014. Packing for Germany. As always we get lots of help from the cats (yes that's Lexi sneaking into the suitcase at the bottom). from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nF9U8o

May 17,. 2014. That's my bicycle in the foreground, halfway through a 53 kilometre ride to Salisbury and back. I had a waffle cone with maple butter on the top and butter pecan on the bottom. Difficult ride today, lots of wind. But I did enjoy listening to the Cards beat Atlanta 4-1. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nn4roK

May 16, 2014. A quick stop at Mapleton Park during lunch. Sadly I had to shoot into the sun (that's why the sky is washed out) because of the construction that has ripped out a big part of the park behind me - I hope they're proud of themselves. Good day, overall. Good meetings. Good performance review. I'm happy. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nDmmao

May 15, 2014. Andrea and I went out to Vaughan Harvey Bvld to take part in a tree planting program with the City. Naturally our nice sunny day turned cold and rainy for the planting. We were assigned tree #8, which turned out to be a gingko.That's Andrea with our tree part way through the planting process. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nkBCbK

May 15, 2014. New leaves on new maple trees in the back year (I don't venture there very frequently - maybe this year I'll actually keep the grass mowed). from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nzFCN1

I'll return to my other flow of posts in a bit, but in the meantime Dron has responded to my last four, and there are some things worth addressing. In particular, he complains about my focusing sometimes on single paragraphs and even sentences - "out of context," he says. But from where I sit, you can't just use words as though they have any meaning you want - or no fixed meaning at all - without getting some of this analytical treatment in response. But I'll elaborate. The Family of Ideas There is a very large difference between his characterization this time of the 'family of ideas' as compared to what we saw last time. Last time: "about how to learn in a networked society, all of which adopt a systems view, all of which recognize the distributed nature of knowledge, all of which embrace the role of mediating artefacts, all of which recognize that more is different, all of which adopt a systems perspective, all of which describe or pr...

May 13, 2014. Had an all-day training session today with other staff from the Portfolio, then went down to the airport for the flight home. The nice weather of yesterday has been replaced with a grey drizzle that reminds me of the Maritimes. Next stop: Moncton. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/njAVDh

May 12, 2014. Morning meeting, then I had a little time free in the afternoon and took advantage of it in order to see the Governor General's Awards exhibit as well as to revisit the modern art gallery (I looked for Voice of Fire but I couldn't find it). I reflected: people sometimes question the value of art, especially as opposed to science and technology, while I am not sure how I could do my work in science and technology without art. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nB6soC

May 11, 2013. Back in Ottawa for meetings Monday and Tuesday. May is tulip festival time in Ottawa so I expect to find a lot of these around. These were outside my hotel. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nizrS5

May 10, 2014. Another cold, windy and rainy day today so I spent the day indoors, except for this sort trip to a greenhouse to buy a geranium. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nhkXPS

May 9, 2014. Busy day, two long meetings, some coding, a couple of blog posts. I took a short stop to photograph this statue of Father Clément Cormier, vice chancellor and founder of Université de Moncton. I see this statue every day on my way home from the office. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nyaMgt

May 9, 2014. This covered bridge spans the Petitcodiac River at Powers Pot Road, just off the Salisbury Road near Scott Road. Another artifact of my lunch-hour drives. Morning: long meeting. Afternoon: wrote a script to pull data for research into MOOC-REL and completed my annual performance review document. Another busy day. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/ngpwnX

May 7, 2014. Another photo from the front yard. After last weekend's clearning out the flowers are thriving. My back is a different story. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nwPTDK

May 6, 2014. I went for a walk in Mapleton Park over lunch and ran across this squirrel. Less productive today, but I still got some things done, and even picked out a new office chair - after 13 years, the old one has finally given up the ghost. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nudZGE

May 5, 2014. I took another short drive in the country, this time to go up the himm on Homestead Road to look at Upper Mountain Road, which you see pictured. I had never traveled Upper Mountain Road or its twin, Lower Mountain Road - the two connect Homestead with Salisbury Road. Maybe one day I'll cycle them. (Oh - and I was very productive today - I did half a week's worth of work in one day - feeling pretty good about myself.) from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nvygCH

May 4, 2014. I spent a surprusingly sunny and dry afternoon clearning up the yard, collecting leaves and branches and other winter waste (in the green bags, foreground) and putting mulch around the bushes. I like giving the lawn a good scrubbing like this first thing in the spring before anything grows; it makes it much easier to tend for the rest of the year. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/ndbepz

May 3, 2014. So it was the first day resembling nice weather today, so I cycled 52 kilometers to Salisbury and back. Average speed 17 kph, which is a good clip for me. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nrTXZG

Mat 2, 2014. I drove up to Gunningsville Road in Riverview for these trees. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nbJfxL

May 1, 2014. I finally got my winter tires removed today. And this evening we had thunder and lightening. So I'm prepared to oficially declare winter over. from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nsC8qk

April 30, 2014. Long day, lots of work, very tired, these are my slippers (almost forgot to do the daily photo). from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/nqzEUS