Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

November 29, 2017. I got a lot of sleep and woke up around 3:30 a.m., which sets me up nicely for "jet lag day" for today and the conference starting tomorrow. My room faces east toward the sea so I was able to watch the sun rise over the Mediterranean this morning. It's off-season here so the hotel and the entire town are almost empty. It is odd being the only customer in the medina. http://ift.tt/2j2WYLG

November 28, 2017. During a layover in Frankfurt I was browsing around and surprised to see three angels setting up shop outside the Duty Free. I hung around to listen for a bit and take this photo. Arrived in Tunis on tome and after a shortish drive down the coast arrived in Hammamet. It's off-season for this resort so it's nearly empty. Now to go to sleep for 16 hours. http://ift.tt/2Bm7wfP

November 27, 2017. Departure. Drove to Montreal and got on the plane for Tunisia. That was basically my day, though I did a bunch of setting up (downloading files, preparing posts, etc) to prepare. This is a new (?) sculpture in Trudeau airport in Montreal. http://ift.tt/2AiWSJR

November 26, 2017. We drove into the city to do some errands before my departure, including getting our annual flu shots at the St. Laurant Shoppers (our regular Shoppers ran out of vaccines). http://ift.tt/2j2Bu1r

November 24, 2017. Today's photo is a blast from the past. Andrea was rooting through some old boxes and found this - it's my ID as a volunteer at the Canada Games in Brandon, Manitoba, in 1997. I love my access code - C.P.U. - which gave me entrance to the media room, rugby competition, and field hockey competition. I didn't do much in the rugby competition, where I was supposed to help with media (they did not want my help)) but I was the timekeeper for a large number of field hockey games. http://ift.tt/2AkzYSo

November 24, 2017. This is what it looks like when I leave the office these days. I like the way the little alcove looked lit up by the light and frames by the tree - I wanted to frame it a bit differently but shooting with a phone limits your options. I played around quite a bit with Jupyter Notebooks today, as well as the Python IDE. Good session playing No Man's Sky this evening (it is dramatically better than the first release). http://ift.tt/2hQt5xq

November 22, 2017. I was at the School of Publish Service today getting set up from a new research project and one person had these paper roses in her office. Nice! http://ift.tt/2A51X80

November 21, 2017. Had a couple of meetings today and puttered with Scrapy, a python aggregation platform. Back to Costco on the way home; this is a picture of the parking lot an bridge to the parking lot at the Brick. http://ift.tt/2mRymd7

November 20, 2017. The time changed while I was flying back from China with the result that now i see the sunrise when I get up in the morning (it's also dark when I drive home). Easy Monday; got a bunch of newsletter bounces cleared off the books, caught up on email, made some small contributions to IEEE groups, and wrote a short article. Accomplishments: - wrote A Quick Definition of Neo-Liberalism http://ift.tt/2iBIYZl

November 19, 2017. Where would we be without cat photos? Quiet Sunday indoors paying bills and catching up on paperwork. Snow and cold outside. This is Alex in the box in my office. http://ift.tt/2B00flA

November 18, 2017. It didn't take long for or indoor geraniums to throw out the first bloom. Nice inspiration as we're having a blast of winter weather this weekend. Managed email and played No Man's Sky for a while. Spent some time on the spin bike, first time in a while (have to get into the winter cycling routine so it's not such an uphill climb in the spring). http://ift.tt/2ja1UNY

November 17, 2017. Lexi is completely comfortable on the railing despite the ten foot drop to one side. Short meeting this morning and puttering for the rest of the day. Did some work on data modelling. Accomplishments: - wrote Four Conclusions on OERs http://ift.tt/2zWa7gS

November 16, 2017. What significant about this photo isn't that it's Costco, it's that it's the first photo shot with my new mobile phone. Andrea and I both got new Samsung S7s - I know, last year's model, but an excellent phone, and easier on our budget. Kudos to the salesperson in the Costco both who was a master at what he does, leaving me with the impression that I had more after meeting him than I did before we met. http://ift.tt/2yRTiCi

November 15, 2017. Caught up on email today and wrote an article. Also admired the geraniums. This is a watering can we bought a while ago from Ikea for 75 cents. I love the design. Accomplishments: - wrote The Real Goal of Open Educational Resources http://ift.tt/2iZsCcl

November 14, 2017. Andrea assembled the shelves we bought from Costco (not an easy task) and we set the geraniums ( previously ) up in their winter home. Meanwhile, I spent the afternoon in the office using the world's slowest web site to enter my work hours and time code information. Because, you know, I might be inefficient if I'm not closely managed. http://ift.tt/2mwK5xw

November 13, 2017. After four days work punctuated only by a shopping trip and a football game I finally finished my Consciousness paper. I feel like I ran a marathon. I know it's not as poliched as it could be but I wanted to capture what was in my head, not create a perfect paper artifact. It represents things I've been thinking about for a number of years. Anyhow I'm glad to have this work out of me and into a place where people can share. Accomplishments: - finished writing Consciousness http://ift.tt/2zAVEZX

November 13, 2017. After four days work punctuated only by a shopping trip and a football game I finally finished my Consciousness paper. I feel like I ran a marathon. I know it's not as poliched as it could be but I wanted to capture what was in my head, not create a perfect paper artifact. It represents things I've been thinking about for a number of years. Anyhow I'm glad to have this work out of me and into a place where people can share. Accomplishments: - finished writing Consciousness http://ift.tt/2zAVEZX

November 12, 2017. Today was mostly about the playoff football game. Going to a football game in cold weather requires forethought and preparation. Andrea got electric heated gloves. I hauled out my parka. We were there early, I had a foot-long hot dog, and then the game was on. Alas, we did not win. But it was fun, definitely value for money (as we were in the cheap seats) and we'll be back next year. http://ift.tt/2mk4Yw7

November 12, 2017. Today was mostly about the playoff football game. Going to a football game in cold weather requires forethought and preparation. Andrea got electric heated gloves. I hauled out my parka. We were there early, I had a foot-long hot dog, and then the game was on. Alas, we did not win. But it was fun, definitely value for money (as we were in the cheap seats) and we'll be back next year. http://ift.tt/2mk4Yw7

November 11, 2017. Work continues on what will be a new A&W at the highway exit in Casselman. There has been a lot of work in town this past summer and fall - the Esso across the street has been completely rebuilt, the C-Store has been renovated, and of course there's all the work happening around our house. After 15 years in new Brunswick, this whole experience is new. http://ift.tt/2AxkN4N

November 10, 2017. The day was almost a write-off because of jet lag. I was up in the middle of the night and slept all morning. But in the evening I was able to do some writing. Anyhow, this is Lexi, and the red is the string she loves. She spends a lot of time with it, and chases it like a kitten when I play with it. For Lexi, every time is string time. http://ift.tt/2i5BsWj

November 9, 2017. Still fighting jet lag. I was up at five in the morning again and so of course watched the full sunrise from beginning to end. Avoided work by working on the newsletter and attending an online seminar on NRC's new promotion criteria. http://ift.tt/2hrP2WM

November 8, 2017. Expecting a front, we brought in the geraniums (previously here and here ) and put them in clear plastic bags to trap any insects that came in with them. There was one spider, which attracted Polly's attention. Still fighting jet lag. http://ift.tt/2ytrzb6

November 7, 2017. This is a frying pan hanging in the kitchen. Its best days are probably behind it, but I've had it since forever and used it for things like cooking over the campfire. You can just barely see it on the picnic table in this photo from 1993 (along with the coffee pot from the same set). http://ift.tt/2j98ZlA

November 6, 2017. This dragon was purchased from inside the Forbidden City. It now sits in our kitchen, atop one of the cupboards, with a view of the entire main floor. http://ift.tt/2ycXfBd

November 5, 2017. It was cold and smoggy and a good day to be leaving Beijing. I spent an extra long day (including an extra hour for the end of Daylight Savings) flying home. http://ift.tt/2iAU1kz

November 4, 2017. Spent the day hiking the Great Wall of China with my hosts here in Beijing. Despite reading ahead, I found the wall to be much steeper than I expected. This was no holiday stroll; it was a gruelling workout. The Wall was also more massive and more dominating than I had expected - even the refurbished part is an impressive feat of engineering. I won't ever forget my day on the Great Wall. http://ift.tt/2Aj7ZPV

November 3, 2017. Today was a day of meetings and building relationships. Part of this was a walk around the hotel grounds where I took, among others, this photo of a children's playground. http://ift.tt/2A59OPS

November 2, 2017. I gave my talk this morning, which by all accounts went well, and then visited the Summer Palace. Accomplishments: - slides and recording of my talk - not uploaded yet byt they exist http://ift.tt/2zb8HkV

November 1, 2017. I spent a quiet day relaxing, watching the ball game, looking at photos, and preparing for the conference. It was good to get a rest after a few exciting stressful days. http://ift.tt/2hvkZu5