This week we finally finnished installing the new telephone banking product. To the project team go all the thanks. They pulled it off without any major hitches. And the programmers at SmartSolution and TelTek were great. We just kept plowing through the bits and pieces that needed small fixes. The product is much easier to use and managing the system is simple with a lot of options.

The first option, and probably the most difficult, was implementing bill payments via voice. Once you get to that sub-menu of paying bills you can do everything via voice. No more buttons. It is really strange to pay Telus just by speaking to a telephone handset. The next step is to have all the menus activated by and chosen by voice.

And now we begin implementing a new internet banking system, compliments of Credit Union Central of B.C. We basically clone our current system and then work at developing various products and services i.e. electronic bill presentment with payment, delivery and archiving our monthly statements in PDF format, secure messaging, and the list goes on. Our major goal is to develop products that gives the user the ability to choose delivery and product variables through the internet banking product. For example if you don’t want your statement mailed then you should be able to choose to turn that function off. You should be able to choose an electronic delivery method instead. And you should be able to do that anytime. Want to be notified when your payroll deposit comes into your account via e-mail or text messaging? (We have our MemberNote doing that now but just for ATM and Interac transactions). Again you should be able to choose that through an internet banking program. We hope in some small way we can begin to develop some creative ways of banking. And with today’s technology, why not?

So we get out and vote tomorrow. And the question most of us have in our mind — Who to vote for? Liberal – do they deserve a vote given the scandals. Conservative – who knows what Harper is going to do. NDP – they won’t get elected in but are they to become the king makers. I haven’t heard anything from any of them other than the typical election promises which in 6 months are so conveniently forgotten.
So we vote and wait. Maybe it will all be decided by the rest of Canada. The election could be over by 8:01 p.m. Monday night. So what else is new?

Who really wants to be around for a new record of consecutive days raining? Only the locals!

Apple released there new Intel based powerbook this last week. Looks like a new cycle of upgrades for both software and hardware. The Classic operating system is unofficially dead.

Bad manners. It would seem to me that much of what we encounter on any given day can only be attributed to bad manners. If you try to figure out why a person has done something you can only end up confused. Never mind trying to understand their actions. In the final analysis it was just bad manners = rudeness.

Northern Voice published their speakers list. Julie Leung, Nancy White, Tim Bray will interview Technorati founder/CEO David Sifry, exploring the current state of the blogosphere and what might be next on the Net’s agenda, etc. etc. Mt. Lehman Credit Union is one of the sponsors this year. The ideas and discussions at this blogging gathering are unbelievable.

Today I had to go to a meeting. It was a day off and there was a meeting to go to. Luckily it was raining, raining very hard.

It was a good meeting as meetings go. There was an agenda, someone was taking minutes, the coffee and cookies were pretty good and there was a time when the meeting should end. The discussions were pretty lively and we came to some conclusions by consensus.

But for the life of me I don’t know what number the meeting would be if all meetings attended had been given a number. 2,500? more? So what is the deal with meetings anyway. Sometimes we have to realize that we are social animals. We live in the world of digital and analogue communications. Today the meeting was with real people and sometimes that is what we really need — seeing, communicating and laughing with a group of people. That is what life is about at times, not feeling alone and part of a group of people. Not a bad outcome of any meeting.

CBC Radio3 – Very interesting radio. Just when you thought that there was no “new” music this radio broadcast starts bringing Canadian bands to light.

CBC Radio1 – From this site you can choose which part of the country you are in. Then listen. For everyone in Vancouver you can listen to programs up to 3 hours before they air here.

PigPog – An interesting site with the title line “PigPog is all about being creative – anywhere – and sharing what you create with others.” It is filled with interesting links about something we can all use.

D*I*Y Planner – Paper, productivity & passion – A site dedicated to people who see the value of paper as a medium for planning, productivity, creative expression, and exploring ideas. This is the home of the D*I*Y Planner kit. It brings a fresh perspective into the question “Does everything have to be digital?”

Moleskinerie – One of my favourite sites. Everything and anything to do with the little journal called a Moleskine. If you aren’t aware of these little books this will tell you a bit about them and what people are using them for.

To be continued…

So an end to another year. Does this mean another list of resolutions that have a feint hope of being realized? This year’s list did not seem minished. Such a personal list rarely is shared and usually forgotten.
After resolutions we have the futurists who describe in some convoluted manner something either preposterous or something we already know. These are usually funny.
And finally the “previous year at a glance”. This is sometimes photographs, always headline news stories, obituaries (which usually bring on the thought “I didn’t know he/she died!”) and the best of books/CDs/DVDs/whatever.
Years change but our process of closing a year and beginning a new one is usually the same.

Hey – have a happy new year!

The joy of Boxing Day. Or maybe the most important aspect of today — you made it through Christmas! Ah yes all that family dysfunction with unfufilled expectations, decision making at it finest and communication at its minimum. All of this along with major assumptions by all the players. It all adds up to the typical family Christmas we all wander through year after year. But wait there is some light at the end of the tunnel…only 364 days until the next episode. And you do have those New Year’s resolutions to add even more guilt.

Here’s hoping that everyone who did make it can at least point to a few good memories from this holiday season. We seem to always come away with enough memories to make Christmas that special and unique time in our lives.

MacDonald is a Scottish writer who inspired the likes of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and others. If there is one author that you should be acquainted with it is him. Gutenberg has a wonderful e-text collection.

His Diary of an Old Soul is a marvellous poem with an individual stanza for each day of the year. Here is the December 3rd entry.

Unbelievably I slept in until 10:30 am this morning. That never happens. Why? We went to see the recent Harry Potter movie last night but given the black theme of the movie I should have stayed awake all night. Maybe it was the Buffalo potato chips that induced the slumber.

Interesting site Rocketboom.

There is a Quicktime there interviewing people (in the Archives section) asking people about their preference between Internet Explorer and Firefox. And the winner is…..
There is a daily newscast which is new and fresh.

Started reading Moby Dick by Herman Mellville. The first page has this passage:

What do you see?–Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads;

The question is what does spiles mean? A Google search indicates that it is the metal spout used in collecting maple sugar for making maple syrup. But that doesn’t seem to be the same thing that Melville is writing about. Interesting that Oxford doesn’t publish a meaning that fits either. The wonder of our English language.

Moby Dick is an e-text that can be found at Project Gutenberg. By the way if you don’t know about Project Gutenberg you should. There are a huge number of e-text books there. It has more writings of George A. MacDonald than any library I’ve encountered.

Yes boys and girls, Mr. Red Suit will soon be at a mall nearest you. I think my dear mother hauled us out to this guy once. There is probably some goofy looking shot of my brother and I somewhere in her bin of pictures. The best part of these pictures is when mothers bring them to work to show to their co-workers and the “isn’t he/she/it cute” comments. I wonder if people take their pets up to get photographed, or better yet take some beloved object up and get a picture of the old guy with it. Can you image the picture -“Yes Larry this is a picture of your Dad’s favourite lunch box and Santa, it was like a child to him.” Let’s get a picture of Mr. Martin or Mr. Harper with Santa. Santa will be able to tell us if they have been good this year. What we really want to know is if they will be good next year.

Advent began on Sunday. Tomorrow is the first day of December. For me the Christmas Season begins. It would be very nice if the retailers kept all their Christmas decorations on hold until tomorrow instead of putting them up after Hallowe’en. The season would just appear! The credit union gets decorated on Friday morning with the staff putting everything up in the morning. The local nursery, Tanglebank, delivers a few dozen poinsettas and suddenly the place is Christmassy. (Is that a word?) And to top it all off this evening I managed to write two Christmas cards! Boy times are changing.

We are invited to attend the graduation ceremony of my cousin’s son who is about to enter the police force. It should prove interesting. Don’t know what to expect. The law and order types should feel very safe. The rest of us may feel guilty and a little paranoid. Shouldn’t massive numbers of policemen-women make anyone feel paranoid?

Today I was downtown at Birks picking up my old wedding ring. It had to be expanded by two sizes to get it back on my finger. They did an excellent job and it was pretty cheap. Nice place and nice people. So far they have the best Christmas tree I’ve seen this year.

So I am heading back to the car, which was parked on the street beside a non-expensive traffice meter. This young fellow shouts out “Sir do you have 25 cents or a dollar spare change? I need to catch a ferry and am $7 dollars short.” What the heck, it is getting to be like Christmas and the guys looks like he could use some change. My hand comes out of my pocket with a few loonies and quarters. So I pick one of the loonies out and give it to him. He doesn’t say thanks. He says “How about another one of those?” I am a little shocked — How about another one of those? — I told him “Not today” and got into the car. A little unerving to say the least.

So I stick the key in the car and am getting the faceplate for the CD player out of the glove box and putting the cell phone in the holder. Suddenly there’s a car horn honking away. I look in the side mirror and somebody is blasting their horn wanting to get into the parking space. Now I am really upset. I pull out muttering to myself about the impatience and lack of civility of the downtown poplulace. It sure felt better when I was on the east side of the Georgia Viaduct.

I watched most of The Accidental Tourist tonight. It didn’t meet the “very interesting” movie standard due to the number of times it made me fall asleep. It wasn’t a bad movie, it just was the kind you wished maybe you should have done something else rather than watch this one. The plot of any movie can be weak but this one was just not understood. A movie should at least hold your interest. When you start wishing for commercials to move it along maybe it is time to take a walk.

Day off tomorrow due to Remembrance Day. Having not lived (or better yet not having any recollection) of a time in my life of war as a Canadian is sometimes difficult to fathom. Your view of war is pretty much what you have seen on a screen or read in a book. Those people that you have talked to over the years never really wanted to say much about it. It was too dark and not something to share. My father in law who was in the Danish underground never spoke of it openly. The one time I did hear something was with his brother in law speaking of the night the Allies had parachuted some supplies in a field and how they had just missed being caught by the Nazis. One fellow I worked with who was a bombadier for over 26 bombing missions said he still woke up at night in a sweat. Another who was in a tank throughout the war said that he was closer to that crew than any of his family. Those medals we see tomorrow on the chest of our vets probably represent more sentiments that we can imagine. War is hell and we should never forget that.

Had the pleasure of sitting through an excellent presentation by Dick Hardt today. It was about sxip identity. The whole concept is intriguing and puts some powerful elements into play that were seemingly “forgotten” when looking at the security aspect of other methods. First, the privacy issue is solved as the individual themselves allow the digital information to pass to those requesting it and secondly, which I think is the most important, it puts the individual into the picture as the ultimate controller and decision maker in every instance. This whole realm is really put back to the individual and that is really what gives it tremendous power as a unique idea. There is no place like home!

I was downtown today and saw a lot of people who didn’t win the Loto 649. Everyone had that in common. Taking the public transit is always interesting. You can actually see so many people. When you are driving a vehicle you never get to see these people. Your eyes are always on the asphalt, which really has little in the way of changing. One young gentleman got on the bus with a skateboard and a North Face winter jacket. The jacket had fur trim. Neat looking garment but it looked expensive and given the temperature was only around 12 degrees he must have been cooking in the thing. The back of the buses are pretty well grafitied and sometimes the only place with a window open when the driver has got the heat cranked up to the level of the Sahara Desert. And sure enough after the required number of 5 stops someone comes on, sits right beside the window and proceeds to shut it. Well you had a gentle cool breeze for a few stops. Nothing like rolling down that car window though. And that maybe is the key to better public transit — individual climate zones. The “one temperature fits all” really doesn’t work.

I was in Winnipeg last week at a meeting about stewardship. It was one of the most intense and interesting 3 days I have had in a long time. We stayed at a Catholic retreat beside the Assiniboine River and with the mild weather it was beautiful. All the leaves were off the trees but there was a gentle mild warm wind that made it pleasant. One day it rained.
How do you define stewardship? A ten letter word that can mean a hundred things to various people. There is a monentary connotation but the broader meaning tends to put an emphasis on a lifestyle, what we do with the resources and gifts that God has given us. Are we proper stewards of the time and of our abilities. It pushes the question about what is important in our lives and what is our purpose. Why are we here and what should we be doing. And those questions never are fully answered. They are always questions that need constant answering if we are true to ourselves.

Nancy White has an excellent blog on “Challenging the myths of distributed collaboration”. She points to a critical issue — that these efforts need to be based on a cooperative value set. There is the key challenge. Can collaboration be cooperative without that common value set? Or what value set do individuals have with any work that they collaborate on? There seems to be small groups that propose the end result of their code, and hence product, is for the greater good but we are seeing large dollar transactions occur when their idea (product) has a high commercial value and it is subsequently sold. The excitement of something unique and workable will always create the “buzz” necessary for it to become popular. Popularity tends to have a material side to it though. Aren’t users part of the collaborative spirit? Maybe that is what they mean by free enterprise!

Riverview Arboretum

Today we drove out to Riverview (years ago it used to be called Essondale) to view a remarkable collection of non-native trees. In 1904 1,000 acres of land were set aside for two purposes:

• A sanctuary and residential treatment facility for the mentally ill

• A site for a B.C. Botanical Garden

Over the years 200 acres were sold to developers to create Riverview Heights and in the 1990’s Colony Farm (600 acres) became a GVRD Park. There is only 244 acres left for the patients. In 1925 the botanical gardens were moved to UBC but the trees were left behind. These were cared for and are now an unknown legacy for everyone.

One can write and describe experiences one has. To truly understand the beauty and the heritage that is available to everyone you need to take a walk amongst these silent giants. There are leaves and barks of trees that you will never have seen before. They stand as stately giants on the gentle slopes of this sanctuary. It truly is a peaceful setting that is medicine to the soul.

For more information on how we can keep this pristine site for its orignial two purposes visit The Riverview Horticulture Centre Society.

Coming home from UBC a few Saturdays ago there was a rugby match between the Thunderbirds and Meralomas. We stopped to watch and saw some great plays and some solid running by the Lomas. Leaving at the half we didn’t get to see who the winner was but I don’t think the Thunderbirds were in their finest form. It was great to see the game. Rugby is the game a spectator almost becomes part of the action. You can feel the pain and sense the joy of a great kick or handoff. There is an ebb and flow so important to the game that just isn’t found in to0 many sports. It never matters what the weather is like as a wet muddy field only adds to the excitement.