42point1

why i love inspector o

I stumbled across the Inspector O series of books in the library a couple of weeks ago.  They're written by James Church, which, the book jacket informs us, is a pseudonym, because Mr. Church is (and I quote) "a former Western intelligence officer with decades of experience in Asia".

The Inspector O novels are set in North Korea.  O is a fascinating character, one of the most engaging detectives I've run across in a while, in one of the most unusual settings.

I've quickly become a fan -- so much so that as soon as I finished the first book ("A Corpse in the Koryo") I immediately grabbed the second book ("Hidden Moon"), and I've got the third one ("Bamboo and Blood") on hold.

I ran across this passage last night, and realize it's just one of the many reasons why I've quickly become a fan of Inspector O.  O is assigned to accompany a Scottish policeman sent to Pyongyang to provide security for a visiting British official:

I grinned.  "Yeah.  Get in.  Let's not stand here all the dooh-dah day."

Boswell looked surprised.  "Where the hell did you learn that, Inspector?  Did you know it's from an old American song?"

"I know where it's from.  I have a degree from the University of Karaoke."

Love it. 

it never rains, but

Popping up for air -- oh, well, and to make a bit of an effort cleaning up the house, because after the last month, and now finding myself in between projects, I'm noticing all the stuff I was either content to let slide, or didn't even notice was sliding.

But!  I have news!

Remember when I mentioned having my presentation selected for Podcasters Across Borders?  For the knitters out there, I probably should have put that in perspective, maybe by saying that for the podcasting world, that's a bit like a knitter getting a pattern accepted into Knitty.

But guess what?  I saw Amy Singer, editor of Knitty on Saturday, at the Downtown Knit Collective's Spring Frolic.  And she told me that a pattern I'd submitted had been accepted for the next issue -- Summer 2009.

So, podcasters?  That's a bit like getting your presentation selected at PAB.

Oh, hey, lookit me.  I've done *both* those things this year.

(insert huge silly grin here).

However, it doesn't mean that I don't have to clean the house.  This week is devoted to clearing up all the lose ends and un-dustifying the house, and then it's on to some serious work on that PAB presentation.

Oh, and the garden.  I'm late planting lettuces....

busy. busybusybusybusybusy.

Busy, and honestly, I don't have much to say that's worth writing about.  Small stuff I share over on Twitter, but even there, I don't have much time.

Busy trying to write a bunch of new patterns up.  Busy trying to get a new podcast up off the ground, and realizing that that a blog might have been easier.  Spelling I can check, pronunciation of Indian names and hindi words, well, that's been challenging. 

Lots of reading and writing and movie watching as I test knit things and write up patterns.

Plus, a knee that's acting up (had an MRI last week, waiting on results), and back and neck pain because my gait is wonky from the bad knee.

And you know, spring.  Sprung.  Finally, so I'm thinking ahead to the farm and the garden.

Oh, and you know, this -- I'm the third one on the list of Sessions.  God knows what those lads were thinking when they looked at my proposal and decided to accept it.  Surely there were more interesting proposals they could have taken?

Don't get me wrong -- I was honoured to have been chosen.  But holey moley, it's like, the Big Time.  A Real PAB Presentation.  Don't they know I can barely tie my shoes, never mind create a multimedia presentation....?

So, busy, eh?

the best job in the world

Remember The Best Job in the World?  There was a flurry of interest about it a while back in the news and on Twitter -- an island in the Great Barrier Reef is looking for a caretaker, and put out a call for applicants.

Well, after receiving over 34,000 applications, they've narrowed the field down to a short list of 50.  11 of those 50 will get an interview -- but!  There's also a vote for a Wild Card Applicant -- the person with the most votes will get an interview.

The cool news?  One of those applicants is a local kid -- a very talented student from the University of Guelph.  Don't believe me?  Look at the video he created:

The kid is 20.  And he's amazing, isn't he?  Go vote for him, willya?

Postscript:

It's Rob writing the postscript -- Katherine said she had some problems getting the links in her post to work, that they didn't take you to the site or Mitchell's video, and she asked me to see if I could fix them.

Well, it turned out that she'd done everything correctly and the links worked just fine when I tried them.  Internet gremlins, I guess.

But the funny thing was, and the reason for this postscript, when I watched his video I realized that I had been on that street* on that very day and had seen Mitchell and his friends!

I don't know if it was before, after or in-between takes, but I remember thinking "Wonder what they're out marching for?  Australia or bust?  What's that all about?"  I had thought no more of it until seeing his video on the Best Job In The World site just now.

No matter, it's a way cool video and this dude seriously deserves your vote -- go follow the link and show him some love, people!

* I was at the New Age Health Food store on Wyndham in Guelph.  It is absolutely the best place to shop for vitamins and supplements -- Vahid, the proprietor, is a great guy and extremely knowledgeable about the products he sells.  His prices are also much better than other specialty stores or the mass market stores.

podcamp toronto 2009

My head is still full from two days of podcamp -- and I'm starting to feel that post-event let-down, a kind of low-level blues as I adjust back to what passes for normal living around here.

But I've been thinking about how amazing it was -- around 500 people showed up, volunteers helped out to make sure things ran smoothly (or as close to it as possible when you're organizing an unconference).

I didn't attend a lot of the sessions -- but those I did, I really enjoyed.  They got me thinking, they inspired me.

I spent a lot of time just talking to people -- and the sad thing was, I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, and those I did see, well, there just wasn't enough time with them.  Such is life, and you cherish the moments you do manage.

But I want to take a moment to thank the organizing team (scroll down to see their names/links) in particular -- now, time for a couple of disclaimers:  I helped out a little with last year's podcamp, and Rob was on the team this year again, so I got a bit of an insider's view of things.  And if that makes me biased, so be it.

This crew has been on board for the last two years, and they worked incredibly hard to pull this off.  Just because it's an unconference doesn't mean that there isn't work to be done -- in fact, there's rather a lot of it, from organizing schedules and coordinating the space, to doing some PR to get the word out, to connecting with sponsors to help fund the thing, to inspiring volunteers to step forward to help, to doing a myriad of little things that all add up in the end.

Jay, Eden, Dave, Connie, Sean, Tommy and Rob are talented.  They are committed.  They are also fun, and great to be around or chat with.  They (if you will forgive the expression) busted their asses to make sure everyone would have a great time at podcamp.  And they pulled it off.

Sure, there were probably a few glitches here and there -- that's part of the joy of pulling this kind of thing off.  But it was a great podcamp, there was great energy in the halls, there was lots of learning and sharing and connecting going on.

Bottom line, though -- they deserve a HUGE round of applause for stepping up and doing this two years in a row, all the while trying to juggle work and family and all sorts of other committments.

I am grateful they did it -- thanks guys, you did good.