Mint vs. Bachelor Buttons: Update!

In our last look in on Battle Plant, our intrepid plants had been overrun by mold. But being the sturdy - some say weed-like - plants that they are they have survived for another installment of who will take over the pot?

At this point, I can tell that the little plants are the mint, and the tall skinny plants are the bachelor buttons.

In terms of numbers, the mint seems to be winning. In terms of how much room it has taken over in the pot, the bachelor button seems to be winning.

I think the mint will eventually prevail, but will the bachelor button plants flower before they loose the battle? Stay tuned for more Battle Plant installments!

Why is it always the rudest people you meet who complain that everyone is so rude?

While waiting for a bus a couple of days ago I was in a small crowd at a bus stop. I was trying to pay attention to everything going on in the street and on the sidewalk – more for personal safety than anything else – and I was staying back from people who were walking down the sidewalk as a common-sense courtesy to give them room to move.

A man who was walking down the sidewalk had to push his way a little bit through the crowd a few steps up from where I was because there was no room for him to get by on the sidewalk. One of the people who was in his way and needed a bit of a shove got really annoyed and started saying “That was rude!” and remarking to anyone who looked even remotely like they were listening to her that society was getting really rude – but she waited until he was a block away before starting her speech.

There were about 3 people with canes, and 2 older people waiting to get on the bus. The complaining woman was not one of them, but she got on first.

There are signs on buses saying the seats up front are for handicapped and elderly people. She sat in one of these seats. She was middle aged and had no visible physical handicap.

There were some obviously mentally challenged people getting on the bus. One of them showed the bus driver the wrong pass, and had to dig for the proper bus pass, blocking the way for everyone else getting on. The annoyed woman was telling him that there were people behind him that he was holding up. This did not help his already flustered search for the bus pass, which he showed when he found it – he wasn't trying to fool the bus driver, he just had the wrong card at first – an easy mistake anyone could make.

As the bus trundled down its route almost everyone who got on or off the bus was disdained by the woman who felt the world was getting very rude. It was almost amusing to watch, but it wasn't doing her any good, and she may actually have not been middle-aged, but maybe just old before her time, due to the negative aura that she kept feeding with spite for any other human she saw.

Is it a secret that you can't control other people, you can only control yourself? And that includes your reactions to others and your own outlook on life. If you truly want to be miserable, no one will stop you, but do you really want to take the actions of strangers personally? Did that woman really think it was everyone else who was being rude, and not mostly just her?

Why does no one ask me which way is North?

I have some nifty hiking sticks, which I use regularly. They help me balance, and they are a great way to start a conversation with strangers. One has a compass in it, but no one ever asks me where North is – or any other compass direction either.

I don't actively start conversations with strangers - I would feel odd doing that - but many people see the hiking sticks and start up a conversation about them with me. It's an odd thing, I rarely go a day without someone starting “the stick conversation” with me.

So have people given up on the age-old path-finding method of always knowing where North is? Or do people already know, and don't need to ask? Or has the proliferation of man-made objects in our world made knowing the basic compass directions unnecessary?

I always have a good idea where North is, but when it's cloudy it's sometimes hard to tell, so I've actually used my compass in urban Vancouver.

I'm curious enough that I may actually ask people about this when they start “the stick conversation” with me. Strangers be warned, I will ask questions back now if you start one with me! :)

Why use air conditioning in your automobile?

Yes, OK, I used to live in Toronto and I know how hot it gets there, so I can understand why everyone in Toronto drives around with their windows up and their air conditioning on. But now I live in Vancouver, where the weather is more moderate, and the air is typically between -5 and +25 degrees Celsius. Never really too cold, and not often too hot.

So why, after about 8 months of rain – constant, daily, day-long, month-long rain – on the first warm sunny day in the spring, were people driving around with their windows up and their air conditioning on???

We were driving on a short vacation on Vancouver Island between Victoria and Parksville (which is just North of Nanaimo) in the middle of May. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we had the windows down, and if we were dogs, we'd have had our heads out the windows. It was fabulous to have a truly warm day. Many of the other automobiles around us had the windows down and smiling people inside, just like us.

But there were other vehicles with the windows rolled up and the regular determined, grumpy looking people inside. It was warm enough they had to have air conditioning on to survive inside the vehicle if the windows were closed. But why? Why didn't they roll down the windows and enjoy the day?

Yes, the Hummer that passed us with rolled-up windows was not a surprise, if you hate the environment enough to drive one of those, why bother to roll down the window, save some gas, and enjoy the day?

But it looked like a lot of people were heading out for a weekend of camping, with their windows rolled up and air-conditioning on. Do they enjoy the sudden rush of fresh air when they arrive at their camp-ground and open their car door that much that they didn't want to contaminate that moment with some fresh air before it on the way up?

Some people looked like they were driving home from work, with their windows rolled up and air-conditioning on. Did they enjoy the climate-controlled - recycled, hasn't been fresh since the building went up - air inside their offices so much they didn't want to spoil that feeling with fresh air on the way home?

It is truly mystifying why humans will put themselves in uncomfortable environments when the alternative is so easy. Roll down the window, take in some fresh air, and enjoy life!

Where is the Vancouver Seawall?

I live in Vancouver and Vancouver is a tourist spot, and it is now “tourist time” so I'm used to being asked for directions frequently, but today was the first time I was asked where the seawall is. I was on Granville Island so I actually wasn't sure. There is a path around the outside of Granville Island, but it has buildings and a cement factory on one edge which you need to go around. I thought this may be a part of the seawall route, but I wasn't sure.

In actual fact, after a bit of googling, I've now found out that the seawall passes just south of Granville Island and doesn't go into it or around the edge of it!

The seawall in Vancouver is now 22 km long, the newest stretch beside the Olympic Village is now open so there is no longer a break in the middle. The Olympic Village is currently a heavy construction zone with a dozen building cranes working madly at building the village for the year 2010, but most of Vancouver is a construction zone, so it fits in quite well with the surrounding area. I've found a map of the seawall:

Vancouver Seawall Map

And now I know where to direct people to the seawall from Granville Island. I should really carry maps, most summers I do actually. I've found maps useful when giving directions, it's amazing how many people visit a new area without having a map.

How do you make a conference worth the time?

The typical multi-session, multi-day, yearly conference that I've been to (I've been to about 30 different ones now, on a variety of topics) has about 20% good content, and the rest is marginal sessions, unhappy speakers (or mumblers), and an excuse to drink with salesmen (as if they needed one). But I've just been to a conference that I found much more valuable than average!

So how do you make going to a conference valuable?

The question that really needs to be answered is: Realizing that the sessions of a conference alone are not typically worth the price of admission, what else is there?

The answer is a lot, if you join in and volunteer to help. There are many things that need to be done for a conference, starting with planning and promotion, including registration desk manning, photo capturing, note taking, evaluation collection and ending with clean up. The more of this you do, the more people you will be in contact with. The more people you get to know, the more valuable the experience will be.

I'm not beating a drum from the top of a soap box here, encouraging altruistic actions and giving the road map for world peace, I'm just stating that I've found the answer to something that has bothered me for years. At the conference I just attended I decided to go all out. I put in hours and hours of promotion effort into the conference over a couple of months before it started, and I got so much more out of the conference than I typically do!

The key to meeting people, which is the key to a good conference, is to have a good reason to meet them and have something useful to talk about. And if you must use a buzzword, you are actually “networking” when you do this. Volunteering to help is the best way to make your conference time worth the effort to attend it.

Oh these gems of knowledge you gather as you get older...