tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51446730570054893672024-02-08T04:48:16.361-08:00Generalísimo Brando"If I had more time, I would have written less." - Mark TwainB. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-72678354598495855112009-07-01T22:10:00.000-07:002009-07-04T23:36:17.459-07:00On My Block (the Laurel Street Remix)<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">One of the better ideas </span></span><a href="http://jfturcotte.wordpress.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Joe</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> and I have had on our lunch breaks was a Laurel Street version of Scarface's 'My Block'. Now that I've been on the street for exactly one year, I finally had enough material to put a ditty together. You have to know </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odq2Mvvw6XA&feature=PlayList&p=A119CF2254D6F758&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=44"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">the song</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> to get it, though.</span></span></span></span><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">♫ ♫ Since last July it's been the same ol' thing on my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">You're either out on bail or a young professional on my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Friends in SUVs "have to be fucking crazy" to park on my block<br />Bedraggled moms ask for bread on my block<br />Multigrain or white? They'll take whatever you got<br /><br />On my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Where half-way and century homes co-exist<br />My block<br />The 'I need two dollars' guy is usually pissed<br />My block<br />There's a rotten old creek with shopping carts in it<br />On my block<br /><br />♫ ♫ Weekday mornings it's the same ol' thing on my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">I walk to work while people work to walk on my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Last night's blood in their veins, but they're up early to hustle my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ducks cross the road; I hope they're not breakfast on my block<br />It's the start of another day on Laurel, whether its residents like it or not<br /><br />On my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Where Winnebagoes hide from the cops<br />My block<br />Cabbies talk of a brothel where you can get whatever you want</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">My block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">A hairy man leers out a window that never shuts</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">On my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />♫ ♫ Every weekend it's the same ol' thing on my block<br />Profane lovers' quarrels spill onto the streets of my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">'Jerome' yells "Fuck welfare!" as his girlfriend kicks him off of my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Someone jumps out a third-floor window and the cops are back on my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Some of them wave to me now because they're here a lot<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">On my block<br />The men are usually shirtless</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">My block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">There's a free bottle return service<br />My block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">But strangely I no longer get nervous</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">On my block</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-18651182666992573382009-06-22T12:57:00.000-07:002009-06-30T06:47:34.749-07:00Lame point-form update<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">What I’ve been up to in the past month or so since I last posted:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Helping my dad and step-mom move. In all fairness, this is what started my online exile, being stuck out in Balitmore with no Internet access for a week. With my sister’s help we pitched out 5,000 pounds of refuse, salvaging some important family photos and heirlooms along the way (notably my father’s 40-year-old Finnish cross-country skis). While it was sad to say goodbye to Baltimore after 17 years, I look forward to visiting the new place – a quaint little house on the outskirts of Cobourg.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Reuniting. </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://fortytwopointsix.blogspot.com/">Mike Brown</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> came back from Sierra Leone, so we saw fit to spend the better part of an entire weekend catching up over tomfoolery. Then all the old </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Cord</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> guys got together and we had our fourth annual Guys’ Day, complete with 16 oz burgers, a mini-keg of Red Baron and road hockey. Highlight of the summer so far.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Getting ridiculously excited about South Africa. The guidebook I ordered arrived last week, coinciding with the start of the Confererations Cup – the warm-up tournament held in the World Cup host country one year prior to the real thing. Between reading about 3-day wilderness treks through Kruger National Park and witnessing the atmosphere in the stadiums, I’m beginning to think this might actually be worth travelling across the world for. Now if only I could find one more person who agreed with me… (see previous post)<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-46410356536389270892009-05-21T13:02:00.000-07:002009-05-25T13:22:23.246-07:00Wanted: one World Cup travel partner<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Tablemountain_capetown.jpg/800px-Tablemountain_capetown.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 436px; height: 185px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Tablemountain_capetown.jpg/800px-Tablemountain_capetown.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">This past weekend I had a ridiculously good time in Toronto with Mike Li, an old friend from Laurier, and his roommate Jane. Though significantly hindered by tomfoolery, we started planning our trip to Southern Africa next year.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />There’s the Kalahari Desert, wine tours on the Cape, Table Mountain, cage diving with Great Whites, Kruger National Park, beaches on the Indian Ocean, the Okavango Delta, Victoria Falls – and, of course, the small matter of attending multiple World Cup games. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />With all of that on the table, combined with the complications of traveling to/within South Africa, it’s good that I have faith in Mike and Jane as travel partners. The only problem is that I need to find a companion of my own to occupy my extra seat at the games (Mike and Jane have their own tickets to the same games I do).</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />As such, I have thought up some criteria that will hopefully help me identify and rate potential candidates. If you think you’re up to it, don’t hesitate to let me know – this is going to take some serious planning and I’d like to know who I’m going with as soon as possible. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Anyway here’s what I’m looking for, in order of importance:</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />1) Someone with the time and money.</span> I’d like to be in-country for the entire tournament, which runs from June 11 - July 11. Including travel time to/from South Africa, the total trip would last close to five weeks, and cost $5,000 at the very least. Obviously without the potential cash and vacation time (which is all I have at this point), coming along is a non-starter.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />2) A seasoned and adventurous traveller.</span> A very close second to having the time and money is your attitude towards travel. South Africa isn’t a Caribbean all-inclusive or backpacking through Western Europe; it’s going to be intense, exhausting and dangerous, and I need to trust that who I’m going with can handle that. At the same time, I’m not going half-way around the world to be overly cautious – you should also be willing to take calculated risks in the name of experiencing something truly unique.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />3) A passing interest in soccer and Africa.</span> I don’t expect you to be as football- and Africa-obsessed as myself, but I don’t want to spend the month explaining the Offside Rule and the history of South Africa (I couldn’t do the latter very well anyway). A general sense of curiosity about the two is enough, as this is clearly the least important qualification – I’m sure spending thousands of dollars can generate a passing interest quite quickly.<br /><br />(Photo credit: Cape Town's Table Mountain, courtesy of Wikipedia)<br /><br /></span> </span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-11880202330547827372009-05-15T16:16:00.000-07:002009-05-20T14:35:02.905-07:00Happy (very belated) Mother's Day<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">For the fourth year running, a brief phone call had to suffice to wish my mom a happy Mother's Day in Mozambique. With the annoying 'speaking via satellite' delay and egregious price of international long distance calls, the conversation was typically short and not always to the point.<br /><br />There once was a time when this wouldn’t have bothered me at all. My mother’s evangelism, if not shared, can be incredibly alienating in large doses. But surprisingly, after picking up and moving to Southern Africa to be at the centre of a worldwide Christian revival, her outward expressions of faith have moderated to a point where we can have a mostly rational discussion about our lives, God included. Clearly, our relationship has improved as a result.<br /><br />On the phone last week, I actually would have loved to hear more about the work she’s been doing since returning to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemba,_Mozambique">Pemba</a> in March. Every year, she seems to take on a new role on her project – an outpost of <a href="http://www.irismin.org/p/home.php">Iris Ministries</a> – and with each passing year she gets assigned to something that seems more ill-suited to her skill-set as a health care professional and evangelical missionary.<br /><br />When I visited the project in 2007, she was designing the first phase of public health improvements to her ‘base’ – the centre where over 500 orphans, missionaries and students live and work on a daily basis. While she knew nothing about building latrines, her project management skills had the task completed on time and under budget. This landed her the unenviable position of being in charge of constructing an underground septic system for the entire base in 2008.<br /><br />Though nominally related to public health and stopping the spread of cholera (which invades the base every rainy season), to see pictures of my mother in a hard-hat and steel-toed boots, standing proudly in front of what amounts to a massive concrete shithole, was illuminating.<br /><br />And she was so good at rooting out corruption and eliminating waste in that project that, this year, they’ve put her in charge of the notoriously corrupt kitchen (though thinking back to my mom’s equally notorious cooking when I was growing up, it may also become infamous for the food).<br /><br />But in all seriousness, this Mother’s Day I was happy just to have the opportunity to tell her that I’m incredibly proud and supportive of her mission – and that’s not something I’ve been able to say until recently. But I’ve seen the difference she’s made and how hard she’s worked to answer her calling. Whatever our theological differences, I’ll always admire her for that.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-61722565585192831482009-05-06T00:00:00.000-07:002009-05-06T10:05:59.819-07:00The last self-indulgent running post for a while<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">In case you haven't inferred as much already, my lack of post-marathon posts has been caused by my re-discovery of pre-marathon life. Concerts, Stag n' Does, baseball and throwing myself into an <a href="http://www.ssrfuture.org/">online conference</a> at work have taken the place of my former training regimen.<br /><br />For the first week, at least, getting reacquainted with my old friend Excess was an exciting novelty. I could barely locomote for the first few days after the race, so plunking down in front of the TV with a pile of Red Barons and the vape seemed like the natural thing to do. The thought of running anytime soon was laughable when I could barely get out of a chair unassisted.<br /><br />Then my first non-training weekend: a whirlwind of partying in Elmira, watching my beloved Barcelona demolish Real Madrid to clinch the Liga title, gorging on lamb chops and finally replacing my fat clothes with more size-appropriate garments.<br /><br />But with my lower-body pain subsiding and gorgeous spring weather outside, I was desperate for a light jog on Sunday. And I probably would have if it were not for my equally desperate need for new running shoes. But the price tag on a new pair of Saucony Hurricane XI's is prohibitive - close to $200 after tax.<br /><br />I went for a walk - to the office, sadly - instead. It was what I imagine a shot of methadone feels like to a heroin-addled junkie.<br /><br />By Tuesday, I was getting seriously restless. Cooped up for two days in the stuffy e-Conference 'nerve centre' (a meeting room at CIGI where we're running the event from), all it took was a light baseball practice to push me over the edge into full-blown endorphin withdrawl.<br /><br />In an excercise reminiscent of the Bad Old Days when I'd cave and hit up a convenience store for a pack of smokes on my walk home from work, I marched into the Running Room and was home with a new pair of Hurricane's within 15 minutes. As quickly as I could lace them up, throw on my gear and get out the door, I was back pounding the pavement for gloriously liberating 10k.<br /><br />Having no schedule or set distance, I could go anywhere I wanted at whatever pace I felt like. For the vehicularly challenged such as myself, new running shoes are the only thing I'll be taking for a joyride anytime soon, so I generally ran my guts out to see how the shoes and my body would react. Some very minor pain in my right leg was easily overshadowed by the temporary satisfaction of my new (and much healthier) insatiable addiction.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-91094196062812499062009-04-27T19:58:00.000-07:002009-04-27T21:10:54.247-07:00Marathon by the numbers<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">4:21:57.3</span> - time in hours, minutes and seconds it took to cover the 42.3km<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">>1000</span> - kilometres run in training<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">35</span> - pounds lost in the process<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">300</span> - dollars raised in support of St. John's Ambulance<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">51</span> - minutes it took to run an overzealous first 10k<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12</span> - kilometres into the race when I hit the first 'wall'<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">3</span> - times I broke down and cried during kilometres 39 through 42<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7</span> - senior citizens that breezed by me<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">71</span> - songs listened to on iPod during the race<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2600</span> - approximate calories burned<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">81</span> - runners who finished ahead of me<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">35</span> - runners who finished behind me<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12</span> - bottles of beers consumed post-race (estimated)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">26</span> - days until I'm 'allowed' to run again<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">.009</span> - percentage of general population that have run a marathon<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-85729993154633764712009-04-23T18:40:00.000-07:002009-04-23T19:05:13.481-07:00Lifelong dream, here I come<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Dear Brandon Currie,<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Further to your application for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Tickets, your Ticket request has been entered into the Random Selection Draw and processed by the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Ticketing Centre (the “FWCTC”). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >We are delighted to inform you that the Tickets shown below (and also as reflected within your FIFA.com customer account) have now been reserved by the FWCTC for your exclusive benefit:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Match 9 - E1 v E2 - 14 June, Johannesburg 13.30 (2 tickets)</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Match 23 - C1 v C3 - 18 June, Cape Town 20.30 </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >(2 tickets)</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Match 35 - B2 v B3 - 22 June, Durban 20.30 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >(2 tickets)</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-27050989211841122842009-04-22T21:32:00.000-07:002009-04-23T15:54:49.642-07:00Wind at my back<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Tonight was my last run before the race. There must be something to this 'tapering' business as I absolutely devoured the 10km.<br /><br />The weather was crap, but it didn't matter - the wind always seemed to be at my back. Even the normally annoying traffic lights conspired in my favour as I glided through every intersection without having to break stride. I caught myself singing k-os' 'Follow Me' out loud as I came down the homestretch of my route, pleasantly surprised I had enough breath to bleat out the chorus in the midst of running five-minute kilometres.<br /><br />As I reluctantly slowed down to a stop, I got the amazing (and rare) feeling that caused me to want to run a marathon in the first place - simply that, if I had enough flat road laid out before me, I could just go on running forever. Your legs, lungs and heart don't even matter any more. The energy of your being is an unstoppable force moving in a forward direction, and only your mind can limit how far that momentum can carry you.<br /><br />Suffice to say, I'm as sure as I've ever been that I'm ready for this. That, or the latest <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMk19ukfwuA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.ca%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3Dnew%2520balance%2520commercial%26oe%3Dutf-8%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial%26&feature=player_embedded">New Balance ads</a> have got me so amped I'm going to have an out of body experience on Sunday.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-44249168333205484582009-04-21T15:25:00.000-07:002009-04-21T22:09:44.358-07:00The longest job I've ever had (since high school)!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_WWgUkCuEqcY/Se5J-4pCHkI/AAAAAAAAAIM/MSLFXhy6kh4/s1600-h/DSC_0035.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 422px; height: 252px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_WWgUkCuEqcY/Se5J-4pCHkI/AAAAAAAAAIM/MSLFXhy6kh4/s400/DSC_0035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327276753931083330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">As you might have noticed, I like </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://bscurrie.blogspot.com/2009/01/zambia-one-year-on.html">milestones</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Well today I thought up another one - it's been exactly a year since I started at <a href="http://www.cigionline.org/">CIGI</a>. Provided I go to work tomorrow, it will be longest job I've had since high school (with everything since being year-long contact positions).<br /><br />It's been a good year, too. From baseball (obviously pictured above) to interviewing some <a href="http://bscurrie.blogspot.com/2009/02/too-hot-for-gv.html">interesting people</a></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> now getting to design <a href="http://www.ssrfuture.org/">an e-Conference</a></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">, it's been an enriching experience.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> And in this economy, engaged and sustained employment is something to be commemorated.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-52016922816874866672009-04-13T17:07:00.000-07:002009-04-13T17:46:30.783-07:00I'm peaking?!<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I completed the last of my tortuously long Sunday runs yesterday. I feel less bad than I have some other Mondays - including one when I could barely walk to work - but even still, I have shooting pains in both legs, an aversion to anything resembling stairs and a trademark limp that I'd like to coin Runner's Hobble.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yet my running </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.amazon.ca/Running-Start-finish-John-Stanton/dp/155105096X">Bible</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> says this is me in peak fitness; I now have to 'taper' my training program to less than half its previous intensity so I'm rested for race day. Apparently:</span></span><br /><br /><blockquote style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A good taper will make you feel like a horse in the gaits at the start of the Belmont... It is the feeling of peak fitness; use it to your advantage. </span> </blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Wow, I feel sorry for those horses. Admittedly, I'm only in day one of the taper, but I hope this isn't what peak fitness feels (or looks) like. My body and I still have a long way to go after this race is over.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-5426435076027889102009-04-03T07:29:00.000-07:002009-06-15T07:50:10.216-07:00My Top 10 albums<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">In my quest to craft the ultimate marathon playlist, I've been going through all my music to extract any and all songs that I think will keep me moving in a generally forward direction. Once I got the news that I could run with my iPod on race day, I began refining my already-epic 'Gets Me Amped' list into a strategic symphony of tunes that will surely help me finish.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In the process, I've been thinking about what my all-time favourite albums actually are (admittedly something I started considering a few weeks back when I read Al's rather <a href="http://www.cordweekly.com/cordweekly/blogs?blog_id=234">more comprehensive</a> list) and have produced a list that is probably slightly biased towards runability. But that's the headspace I'm in right now, and this is nothing if not an ever-changing list that won't be the same next year. Also note that my criteria for 'top' and 'favourite' mostly have to do with the album's staying power as a personal classic, and little if nothing to do with its cultural or historical importance. It's simply what I like.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So, in chronological order, here goes:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">1. <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Beatles (the White Album)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1968) - The Beatles</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Driving around aimlessly on an epic Spanish road trip, this was one of about ten albums <a href="http://j-cecil.livejournal.com/">Scott</a> and I had to listen to for 4000 or so kilometres. It's scatterbrained style matched my mental state at the time, and it's kitschy diversity has been a staple ever since. Not most people's favourite Beatles album, but definitely mine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">2. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rage Against the Machine</span> (1992) - Rage Against the Machine</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">As much as I now disagree with their politics, I can't deny that Rage, more than anything else, got me interested in politics. As a clueless country kid, the world of peasant uprisings, Che Guevara and Buddhist self-immolation excited the hell out of me. And, front to back, an musically innovative and devastatingly powerful album that can still get me amped (though no longer to the point of hoping for the imminent demise of the unipolar world order).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">3. <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1993) - The Wu-Tang Clan</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In Grade Eight, I was understandably confused how Far Eastern martial arts theory could be cross-bred with East Coast Hip Hop. Luckily, this album’s philosophical underpinnings mattered very little – with RZA’s singular production and the Clan’s MC’s all in fine form, I had officially become another white rap fan (see: clueless country kid, above).</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. <span style="font-style: italic;">Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star</span> (1998) - Mos Def and Talib Kweli (obviously) </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">On the musical-taste family tree, <span style="font-style: italic;">Black Star</span> is at the base of an ever-growing branch that includes such heavyweights as The Roots, Kanye, Common and Shad. Though Talib's and Mos' careers have been mostly downhill ever since, it's easy to see why after making the conscious hip-hop album of my generation. I dare anyone to listen 'K.O.S. (Determination)' and disagree.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />5.<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Anthology</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (1999) - A Tribe Called Quest</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I know it’s cheating to put a best-of album on a best-of album list, but <span style="font-style: italic;">Anthology</span> isn’t a chronological greatest hits compilation – it meanders its way through Tribe’s studio albums and even includes some B-sides and a Q-tip solo effort. While I was sadly unaware of the trio throughout their rise to prominence in the early to mid 90’s, this album became the chilled-out soundtrack of my early days at Laurier. “On my day off/bullshittin’ and hopin’ that the day goes slow” pretty much sums up my approach to first and second year.<br /><br />6. <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Songs for the Deaf</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (2002) - Queens of the Stone Age</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyone who played EA Sports' <span style="font-style: italic;">NHL 2003</span> knows that the song "No One Knows" is probably the best hype track in the history of sports video games. But while that song was what first got me interested in the Queens, it was the entirety of this concept album - an rollicking road trip through the California desert that Hunter S. Thompson would undoubtedly approve of - that has earned <span style="font-style: italic;">Songs</span> a spot on the list. Dave Grohl as guest drummer didn't hurt, either.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">7. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Black Album</span> (2003) - Jay-Z</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What happens when the best rapper alive rhymes over all his favourite producers' best tracks in a conscious attempt to (and forgive the barrage of sports cliches) call his shot and hit hip hop's ultimate walk-off home run before hanging 'em up? The worst part about the <span style="font-style: italic;">The Black Album</span> is that it was followed-up with less transcendental Jay-Z albums.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">8. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">We Were Born in a Flame </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">(2003) - Sam Roberts</span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">As per CanCon regulations, at least ten percent of my ultimate album playlist has to be partially funded by the public purse, and maybe the CRTC finally got something right with Sam Roberts' debut. They got good return on their cultural investment though as Roberts' mentions his homeland numerous times, including the eponymous and slightly misleading 'The Canadian Dream'. 'No Sleep' even contains token biligualism. Even still, 'Higher Learning' was an anthem for all things post-secondary and 'Dead End' sums up the genetic pressures of us last-in-the-line male heirs. All in all, my favourite rock album with Canadian Identity™.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">9. <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Joyful Rebellion</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (2004) - k-os</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Beside the fact his stage name is still a grammatical train wreck, there's not much to complain about with k-os' sophomore effort. It helps that I saw him perform tracks from the album in two semi-intimate settings, the first of which being a tomb-like Wilf's in 2002. When I recently heard Lil' Wayne talking about his album as a newspaper needing to cover different sections, I actually thought of <span style="font-style: italic;">Joyful Rebellion</span>. You've got the Status of Rap Throwdown ('Emcee Murdah'), the Marley-esque Reggae Romp ('Crucial'), the Ode to MJ ('The Man I Used to Be'), the Golden Era of Rap Tribute ('B-Boy Stance'), the Love Song Claiming not to be a Love Song ('The Love Song') and the Rock Collab ('Dirty Waters' feat. Sam Roberts) and the Epic Outro ('Papercutz').</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">10.<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Late Registration</span> (2005) - Kanye West</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"If you talkin' bout classics, do my name get brought up?" - Unfortunately for Kanye's ego, yes. Any album that dominated 05-06 at <span style="font-style: italic;">The Cord</span> was bound to end up on this list, but unlike bound copies, I don't look back at <span style="font-style: italic;">Late Registration</span> with occasional horror. As of the last time I discussed the album's dominance of the newspaper office with <a href="http://fortytwopointsix.blogspot.com/">Mike</a>, various songs were still firmly atop the play counts of one of the main music-playing computers. This was the first album on this list and probably the last I'll ever take off.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Honourable mentions and possible future inclusions, lest you think I'm decisive:</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">What's Going On</span> (1971) - Marvin Gaye</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Return to the 36 Chambers (The Dirty Version)</span> (1995) - Ol' Dirty Bastard</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Foo Fighters</span> (1995) - Foo Fighters</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Trainspotting: Music from the Original Motion Picture</span> (1996) - Various Artists</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span>UPDATED: <span style="font-style: italic;">Black on Both Sides </span>(1999) - Mos Def<br />UPDATED:</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Blazing Arrow </span><span>(2002) - Blackalicious</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />The College Dropout </span>(2004) - Kanye West</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be</span> (2005) - Common</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span>UPDATED:</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>The Old Prince </span></span><span>(2007) - Shad</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br />Shine</span> (2008) - Estelle</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Renaissance</span> (2008) - Q-tip</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Troubadour</span> (2009) - K'naan<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-81002670844246379052009-03-26T07:36:00.000-07:002009-03-27T08:53:46.956-07:00Marathon fundraising begins!<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span> An excerpt of what I sent around CIGI today... let me know via comments or email if you're interested in pledging and we'll work out a way for that to happen.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Colleagues and friends, <br /><br />As some of you may be aware, in about a month’s time I will be attempting to run the <a href="http://www.waterloomarathon.com/">Waterloo Marathon</a> – and I stress ‘attempt’ because I’ve never tried to run a marathon before. Nevertheless, I have been training throughout the winter and am now confident (or delusional) enough to start asking around for pledges. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This year’s race benefits the K-W chapter of <a href="http://www.sja.ca/Ontario/pages/Kitchener-Waterloo.aspx">St. John’s Ambulance</a>, an organization I’m sure you’ve all heard of and whose mission is to “enable Canadians to improve their health, safety and quality of life by providing training and community service.” Pledges in any amount are welcome (those of $25 or more are tax deductible) and can be made via cash or a personal cheque made out to ‘St John’s Ambulance’. By no means should you feel obligated to pledge, but if you are interested please do so by Friday, April 24.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Thanks in advance for your support, </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Brandon</span><br /><br /></span></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-24481669925601199702009-03-20T11:53:00.000-07:002009-03-20T15:08:32.466-07:00My not-so-iron lungs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WWgUkCuEqcY/ScPomhIsfRI/AAAAAAAAAH8/LlQXaEzHZcc/s1600-h/585px-Bronchiolar_epithelium_3_-_SEM.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 425px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WWgUkCuEqcY/ScPomhIsfRI/AAAAAAAAAH8/LlQXaEzHZcc/s400/585px-Bronchiolar_epithelium_3_-_SEM.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315347733654830354" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Last week, an ugly bought of wheezing, chest pains and phlegmy cough presented the first serious threat to my marathon hopes. It had actually been creeping up for the past month or so, since I started running 20-plus kilometre distances and stopped the inhalation of all things not air.<br /><br />Running wasn’t really a problem, but I was short of breath before bed and in the morning. And the <span style="font-style: italic;">taste</span> of what I was coughing up throughout the day was enough to wish my taste buds could go back their pre-quitting-smoking uselessness.<br /><br />What I thought would be a renaissance for my poor old lungs was turning into asthmatic odyssey reminiscent of my worst days as a smoker. I kept picturing that poor wretch on the ‘Cigarettes Leave You Breathless’ warning label, wondering how I ever convinced myself smoking on and off for 10 years was a good idea.<br /><br />When I finally got to see my doctor about it earlier this week, I feared that the marathon would get shut down and that my long-standing asthma was mutating into something more serious. I braced myself for bad news.<br /><br />Instead, I got a fairly positive diagnosis that seemed to explain all my symptoms. Apparently, the microscopic hairs that line and clean the bronchial tubes (pictured above) are returning after their years-long extinction, and are thusly producing the heinous mucus that I had been horking up. And because I had been stubbornly refusing to take my ashthma inhalers before running (trying to be all natural and whatnot), my lungs had been working extra hard to provide enough oxygen during exercise, hence the minor pains I had been experiencing.<br /><br />The increased prevalence of wheezing was chalked up to the vast changes my body has experienced in the past five months. Asthma is an elusive and ever-evolving malaise that can react unpredictable to changes in environment and lifestyle, the doctor said. And because I hadn’t given up smoking <span style="font-style: italic;">everything</span> until very recently, my lungs and their itinerant conditions have to play catch-up with the rest of my now-healthy body.<br /><br />Best of all (except for not being diagnosed with emphysemalungcancerpleurisy), I could keep running. Armed with a new proactive asthma inhaler, I feel like a weight has literally been lifted off my chest. “A healthy young guy like you shouldn’t worry so much,” the doctor said, “try to keep that in mind.”<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-51950650752159332022009-03-15T21:02:00.000-07:002009-03-15T21:43:09.093-07:00Finding a Pot of Gold<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1773/240/72/1065490466/n1065490466_259460_886.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 290px;" src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1773/240/72/1065490466/n1065490466_259460_886.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Just when I think I'm too tired with my day job and running to keep up with the increasing demands of working with </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >the Rainbow</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">, (the aspiring Zambian newspaper I wrote about </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://bscurrie.blogspot.com/2009/01/zambia-one-year-on.html">here</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">), I find this post on Derrick's Facebook wall:</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Hi Brandon Currie, it was great to have you in Zambia. The Rainbow Newspaper Limited is humbled by your expertise in communication and human rights. Please, keep it burning as we need a just society. This is great. Please we (Rainbow family) and I, (Derrick Sinjela) in particular are greatly inspired by your acumen. We shall send a copy of our third edition soon. Merry Xmas and a Profitable and interactive 2009. In line with our motto: "Promoting Diversity in News Coverage', we are glad that you came to Zambia and made us proud.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Regards, Derrick Sinjela-Editor-in-Chief</span></span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">That was obviously written a few months back and was in no way sent to me, written on my wall or tagged - I wouldn't have have found it at all if I been on Derrick's profile page looking at pictures (see above). While he was obviously effusive in praising my "acumen", the fact that he would write something like that, not knowing if I'd ever even read it, is incredibly humbling.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Derrick, a journalist who's worked unfathomably hard to become the editor of his own newspaper, has a lot to be proud of in a place where few reporters can hold their heads high. If I've helped him to realize that, then I did a lot better of a job in Lusaka then I first thought.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-31660045655683345022009-03-11T21:05:00.000-07:002009-03-12T16:42:28.251-07:00The Old Prince Still Lives in Waterloo<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It has come to my attention that I've become embarrassingly thrifty when it comes to buying groceries.<br /><br />With interest rates low, I'm paying off debt as fast as fiscally possible, leaving little in the way for culinary extravagance. About $10.71/day for food to be exact, according to my trusty little Excel spreadsheet. And with the ever-present caloric demands of marathon training, this has led to some interesting trips to the grocery store. Basically I need to eat a lot of good food, for cheap - a fine balance that's necessitated some creative thinking.<br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Earlier tonight, I purchased chocolate milk over my regular two percent - not a shocking revelation, given how delicious chocolate milk is - but, sadly, taste wasn't the main reason for doing so.</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />One litre of chocolate milk was 99 cents and two percent was $2.99. The idea of a grown man using chocolate milk in all of his normal milk functions seemed juvenile at best. <span style="font-style: italic;">But what am I going to be using the milk for anyway? </span><span style="font-style: italic;">To put in cereal and coffee. Huh. Chocolate with granola. Mocha lattes. Mmm.<br /></span><br />So, not unlike a 10-year-old, I purchased two cartons of the chocolate - one for the above-mentioned normal milk functions and the other so I wouldn't just guzzle the carton reserved for normal milk functions.<br /><br />On this same trip to Valu-Mart, I also purchased $3.99/pound portobello mushrooms, promptly ripping off their heavy stems in the produce aisle so as to not pay for a part of fungi I wasn't going to eat (I also employ this technique with vine-ripened tomatoes. Seriously, who pays for the <span style="font-style: italic;">vine</span>?!).<br /><br />But it's not all about short-term savings - there are also investments. If I come across an exceptionally good deal on an in-demand item, I will buy an enormous quantity of it. While financially prudent, I often end up with a glut of food that can be difficult to get rid of.<br /><br />Last week, an innocent-seeming trip to Sobey's went awry when I discovered they had a firesale on oranges - five kilos for $5.00. Since they're my favourite fruit and usually at least twice as much per pound, it was a no-brainer. The fact that it could be difficult to eat 11 pounds oranges before they go bad didn't really occur to me. I estimate I'll have to eat four a day to stay ahead of their decomposition.<br /><br />Same goes for a pile of almonds I bought, which are trendy in healthy food circles right now. Two pounds of plain, unblanched almonds for $5?! A steal - until I realized that unsalted and unroasted, almonds are like bits of protein-laden cardboard. Woops. The knowledge that they're full of 'good fats' doesn't make them taste any better.<br /><br />Then there were the legendary blocks of <span style="font-style: italic;">parmigiana reggiano</span>, an amazing but heinously expensive cheese that usually I can't afford. Last month, some poor fool at Valu-Mart had clearly input the wrong unit price, as the normally $40/kg product was marked down to $4/pound. Not one to alert the authorities, I swindled two pounds of the stuff in a coup for dozens of future Italian dishes.<br /><br />So tonight I had discount whole-grain penne with weeks-old leftover pasta sauce (no visible mould is evidence enough for consumption), sauteed stemless portobellos, always-cheap bulk onions and on-sale green peppers. Garnished with practically-stolen parmigiana, washed down with replacement chocolate milk and finished with a dirt-cheap orange.</span></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" >Embarrassing, perhaps, but also fairly delicious.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Note: Post title inspiration can be found <a href="http://www.lyricsreg.com/lyrics/shad/THE+OLD+PRINCE+STILL+LIVES+AT+HOME/">here</a> - particularly the last verse<br /><br /></span></span></span><em></em>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-12201941985246409572009-02-23T21:56:00.000-08:002009-02-23T22:24:32.275-08:00Marathon Training: Still Occurring<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Given my previous lifestyle choices, it's perfectly understandable that I get a lot of questions about how marathon training is going. The problem is I don't know what to say.<br /><br />"Good" would imply that I don't have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jogger%27s_nipple">Runner's Nipple</a> and blisters that resemble an open-pit mine.<br /><br />But "bad" would be inaccurate too. At the halfway mark of my training program, I've completed 47/50 scheduled runs for a total of 407km run. With every successful distance covered (26km is the longest single run so far), I believe a little bit more that I'll be able to finish the race, maybe even within a respectable time.<br /><br />No, the most informative thing I can say about my training is simply that I'm still doing it. Perhaps if I go on to do more races, I'll be able to gauge my progress in some kind of context. For now, it's still a novel process of mental exhilaration and physical exertion.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-74948272878453548602009-02-19T14:13:00.000-08:002009-02-19T14:48:29.101-08:00An update from Zambia...<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Just to update anyone who might be wondering, I recently received an email from a current JHR trainer in Zambia that explained the circumstances surrounding Binion's death:</span></span><br /><br /><blockquote style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I would like to let you know that one of our Zambian friends and colleagues, Binion Kapoma, died on February 10, 2009. He died at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka of cerebral malaria or meningitis that had been misdiagnosed as malaria; I have heard both reasons given for the cause of his death. I attended the funeral on Feb. 12. He was 34 years old.</span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I feel better now, at least knowing what happened. It's depressingly close to what I had assumed - that something preventable had gone unnoticed or unattended to at UTH. It's the only real public hospital that exists in Lusaka and is not up to international standards. Shortly before I left Zambia, there was a city-wide controversy when nurses at UTH were assaulted for leaving patients to languish in waiting rooms. A shocking number of seemingly educated individuals supported the beatings, the origins of which were obviously caused by a lack of human and physical resources and not an unwillingness to triage.<br /><br />Whatever the cause, Binion is the third Zambian I've known that's died young, even by Sub-Saharan standards. While I was nowhere as close with the other two (who both died in traffic accidents), it illustrates the dramatic difference in life expectancy between our two cultures, and that the rules just don't apply to poor Zambians. Binion was university-educated and solidly middle-class in his social hierarchy - that, more than his age, is what surprised me most about his sudden passing.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-26629769707693855912009-02-11T13:32:00.000-08:002009-02-11T13:51:14.484-08:00Tiwonana, Binion<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">When I started my internship in Zambia, my host organization was in the bewildering process of switching office buildings. Being new and relatively unimportant, when I showed up to check out my new digs, I discovered they were non-existent. Already three weeks into my internship and not wanting to waste any more time, I stubbornly took up residence in the hallway. It was awful. I had no access to a company phone and a wireless signal that was so weak I had to walk to one end of the hallway to download my email, then walk back to my chair to check it.<br /><br />About a week into this sorry state of affairs, someone from the Zambian Community Media Forum (Zacomef) – a smaller organization that rented office space from my hosts – asked me what on earth I was doing loitering in the hallway. After explaining that, no, I wasn’t waiting to see someone, the young man became very concerned and insisted that I work from their office, at least temporarily. He introduced himself to me as Binion Kapoma, and I ended up working alongside him for the rest of my time in Lusaka.<br /><br />In the early days of being in such a strange new place, Binion was a godsend. Not only did I now have a huge desk to myself, high-speed internet and a landline, but he constantly listened to good reggae and hip-hop. Kanye, Marley, Peter Tosh and Lucky Dube were as likely to fill the office as were conversations about the struggles of community newspapers and radio stations across the country. I was at once more relaxed, more engaged and more at home in my own skin.<br /><br />When Binion quickly realized I had no ability to communicate in the local language, he taught me as much as I wanted to know. And when he saw that I didn’t know what to do with myself at lunch, he took me to the local food stand, where I never once saw another white person but grew to love eating with my hands and joking around with the lunch ladies.<br /><br />Throughout my stay in Lusaka, Binion and I became good friends. He would come over and drink Castle at my place on weekends. I visited his home to see his first child, a son that we joked should be named after me. All the while we worked closely together as I identified Binion’s work with community journalists as an area where I could make the most difference in my small window of opportunity. He was more than happy to facilitate my eagerness, and we embarked on an epic <a href="http://lusakasunrise.blogspot.com/2007/10/safari-relay-leg-one-to-chipata.html">journey across Zambia</a> to deliver a three-day training workshop to some of the most in-need reporters I’ve ever met. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was the most professionally rewarding experience of my young career. <br /><br />We’ve stayed in touch since I left, with Binion acting as one of my references that helped me get my current job. The other day I was just thinking of emailing him to ask about the office, his baby boy and any other Lusaka gossip he was willing to share. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />That was until I received the news this morning that Binion died last night.<br /><br />I don’t know how, exactly, other than he passed away in hospital after being admitted for an ‘illness’ a few days ago. I'm desperately trying to find out more. He couldn’t have been older than 35.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-37711330687155890312009-02-10T12:51:00.000-08:002009-02-10T14:12:05.245-08:00Too Hot for GV<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">During a trip to Ottawa in November, I interviewed </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca/api/eng/profdetails.asp?id=363">Dr. Nipa Banerjee</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> for Governance Village. The India-born professor was, until recently, a long-time employee of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and held down foreign postings all over Asia, most notably in Afghanistan soon after the fall of the Taliban and at the beginning of Canada's development efforts there.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">What transpired was easily the longest (close to three hours) and possibly most controversial interview I've ever conducted. Transcribing it took close to three days. I knew most of it wouldn't be published on GV - being a CIDA-funded project and all - but it was so scintillating (to me, at least) that I couldn't help myself.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">What follows is an re-edited transcript of the interview. As a Canadian taxpayer and someone who cares about the mission in Afghanistan, I found Banerjee's comments deeply troubling.<br /></span></span></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><b><span style=""><br /></span></b></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Why is a ‘development approach’ important in fragile states? </span><br />Because poverty is one the root causes of conflict in all fragile states, particularly in Afghanistan. And delivery of development services is one responsibility that would bring legitimacy to the [Afghan] central government. My central thesis on fragile states is that government’s legitimacy and acceptance by the people is the most critical factor in bringing stability to a fragile state.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">So what can a country like Canada do to help the Afghan government seem more legitimate in the eyes of its own people?</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Well, first of all, security measures. I’m very much in favour of the presence of international armed forces because the government isn’t ready to provide the security that‘s needed for its own people. And that’s one of the ingredients that will bring legitimacy to the central government because people are looking for human security. And not just for their social security, but their physical security as well… the reform of the [Afghan] military and police force has been a complete failure. I don’t know how effective Canada’s training of the police has been in Kandahar – it’s Canadians who are saying it’s been very effective but I need to find out what’s going. It doesn’t look very effective.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">But what about those who say our aid dollars go to waste if we work too closely with an increasingly corrupt Afghan government? </span><br />With the corruption issue – corruption wasn’t bad in the beginning but as it’s gotten worse the international community has kept quiet. Even now they are quiet – you won’t find the Canadian government talking about it. Seriously speaking, if you think the government is so corrupt that you cannot work there, then just provide military support and withdraw from development.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">With your long career in our government’s foreign services, in your opinion does Canada have the capacity to do long-term state-building in places like Afghanistan?</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">No. I think that development work can be done. I don’t know if you can write that or should write that, but seriously, I am extremely frustrated with the [Canadian] civil service competence. In the beginning the excuse might have been that we were trying to put things in fast, but it’s not in the beginning stage anymore. Out of CIDA’s programs, maybe 25 percent are successful projects.<br /><br />Because we are going through Canadian firms and Canadian companies, monitoring is not good and I’m not so sure our [development] officers are trained well enough. In Afghanistan it is chaos. They are sending so many young people without and previous experience in aid or living in a Third World country, never mind a fragile state. The people with experience don’t want to go. Capacity, though minimal, is there. You can’t do [the Afghans] work for them. What you need to do is to constantly be on their side and say ‘This is the way it should be done. Now you do it.’<br /><br />But I don’t think this is the way Canada works. Is part of the problem that Canada has never tried anything like this before? I’m not a military expert… but it does concern me that since 2005, when we took over Kandahar, things have declined. Absolutely almost to the date. I hate to criticize the army because, seriously, of the 'Three Ds' it is the most committed, but whether or not they can do it is a different issue. But at the same time, I think we are looking the other way as to what is wrong with our operation in Kandahar. CIDA will tell you they do state-building, but they don’t really in a fragile situation like in Afghanistan, which is starting from almost zero capacity. And all donors can be heavy-handed, which is not suitable for a fragile country, or anywhere really. [Canada’s] entire approach and philosophy has been wrong.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Does this speak to an inability, on the part of our Government, to admit when they’re wrong?</span><br />One of the main problems I’ve had with the government is that I’m outspoken. But I’m also committed to development and maybe I’m brighter than others because I find problems. When there are problems you identify them… what’s the point of looking the other way all the time? Evaluations are so you can identify problems and issues and deal with them. There is extreme resistance to any change in CIDA. I think they’re insecure, because anything they have done is 100 percent correct, I guess that’s the public image they want to give.<br /><br />To some extent Canadians are like that. There’s no search for excellence. If there was you would look at these issues and problems, and address them, if you really want to achieve something… mediocrity is the way to go. Somehow the project gets completed. That’s all they want. Then they would say ‘We’ve disbursed so much money for the project and everything is dandy.’<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">We often talk about what we don’t or can’t do well in assisting developing countries. After 30 years in Canadian development, what<span style="font-style: italic;"> does</span> Canada have the capacity to do well? </span><br />In my experience, you can do development. But I don’t think we should design our own programs and implement them through our own private sector. It should be, as much as possible, through national government programs. But you need to be vigilant because the corruption issue will constantly come up. At the time of the design of the program and when you are approving funds, there has to be tight, results-driven accountability.<br /><br />I used to tell my staff: "Establish your credibility, be humble when you don’t know and when you say something base it in strong knowledge." I don’t think it’s that difficult.<br /><br />We talk about accountability in the Third World?! [CIDA] has no accountability to anybody. Nobody asks anything of you, nobody supervises you properly, nobody monitors, and nobody trains you. Nobody asks for any accountability. People stay in a job for one or two years and go away leaving a mess behind… I think I’ve put my finger on it. There’s a total lack of accountability within our government.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">No accountability in general or in the way we do development?</span><br />I’ve never worked in any other government department; I’ve only worked in CIDA. But 33 years of experience and I would say that is it: a total lack of monitoring, supervision and asking for accountability from officers and project managers. They are solely driven by their career motivation and keeping the boss pleased, I guess. Can you believe this? They’re spending public funds. Think: would you risk your own money in that kind of a project? But what we’re trying to do with re-building failed states seems to be unprecedented.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shouldn’t failure be an understandable part of the process of involvement in Afghanistan? </span><br />But we’re not doing it for the first time. There’s Bosnia, Kosovo, Timor-Leste… When [the Canadian] embassy started in Afghanistan, I was told over email that it was going to be a ‘Three Ds’ policy, god only knew what that was… There was no strategy for the integration of the ‘Three Ds’, nobody knew what it was. There were four people placed in the embassy. I was thrown in, a single person with 150 million dollars to program. I didn’t have any experience with fragile states. None whatsoever. There was no strategy, no support from headquarters. None.<br /><br />We were in Kabul initially but when the army moved to Kandahar there was a deliberate effort to cut off the Kabul embassy and development program from Kandahar. This was CIDA. The guy they sent [to Kandahar] as a director: first time posting, never been abroad before. Not a very confident person either. He deliberately would not report to me, but to CIDA directly. He didn’t know what fragile states were, he didn’t know development. He was in CIDA for two years, and environmental specialist or something. It’s just disgusting, I’m sorry. There is a cap on the Afghanistan program, definitely, in what you can say.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Is that an official policy? </span><br />I think it’s official. (Goes on describe how CIDA management censored her in presenting a paper on Afghanistan at a conference). But that’s why I say it’s the managers, not the higher-ups. These guys are not trained, not supervised. It is so bad. And I feel bad for [the managers] too. They are not learning anything. I’m older and more experienced; I can take risks and chances.<br /><br />All this time I’ve been controversial I knew one thing: they will never fire me. They don’t have the guts.<br /><br />There was a Sri Lankan guy fired for incompetence. Well, okay, I don’t think he was incompetent exactly but pretty ineffective I would say. So I wouldn’t have problems with his firing. But the thing is, if he is fired, there should be another 20 mainstream, white, Anglo-Saxons who should be fired too. He took it up to Human Rights Commission and eventually won. But the thing is this accountability issue. I think you should put that down. ‘A retired CIDA officer said there is no accountability. CIDA staff bears no accountability to anyone.’ And we talk about the accountability of recipient governments?!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What about our own government’s accountability to us, the taxpayers?</span><br />That’s another thing. Are we being ethically accountable? I don’t think so. I don’t think we tell the truth to the public. The public is stupid, they don’t understand anything – that is the assumption. That’s the assumption in the entire government I think.<br /><br />After I got back from Afghanistan… those guys who run the CIDA website asked me to write something. I thought I wrote an extremely nice piece and it was not negative at all. But I was talking about capacity-building and leadership and ownership… Well, they came back and said ‘This is not what we want. We want personal stories of how CIDA funding has affected individual lives.’<br /><br />I don’t look at development as that kind of a thing. To me, development is nation-wide and interviewing one girl who has better health because of clean drinking water doesn’t do anything for me… so they never published [my piece].<br /><br />Have you ever seen anything from the Government of Canada saying that establishing legitimacy in the [Afghan] government, and hence visibility and ownership of programs, is most important? They never say that. If you tell the public, they won’t understand. We tell them ‘We’re establishing democracy there.’ Well you can’t establish democracy without improving their institutions… there is no democracy if there are no institutions to protect democratic rights. Elections aren’t the only thing that makes democracy work. The entire purpose is to stabilize the country. And a stabilized country will address women’s causes. And help establish democracy. None of those things will happen unless you stabilize the country. If you want to do the women’s development, why have you sent the army in? Are we fighting the Taliban for the sake of Afghan women?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=""></span></b></span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-69550368550632838202009-02-05T20:26:00.000-08:002009-02-06T07:35:42.423-08:00The Battle of Marathon<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Being generally curious about history, one of the first things I did when I decided to take on the marathon was to research where on earth the ridiculous idea to run exactly 26.22 miles came from.<br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The name </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">marathon</i><span style="font-family:georgia;"> comes from the legend of Pheidippides</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, a </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Greek </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the town of </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon,_Greece" title="Marathon, Greece">Marathon</a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to Athens to announce that the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Persians had been defeated in the </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon" title="Battle of Marathon">Battle of Marathon</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">.</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> It is said that he ran the entire distance (26 miles and 386 yards) without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "We have won," before collapsing and dying.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Thankfully, the thought of the marathon literally killing me hasn't really come up in my training; I haven't experienced any worrying symptoms of over-exertion and my doctor declared me fit to start running my guts out. That was until I received a strange email from this year's race director:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Recently, I was talking to our Medical Officer of Health about the causes of deaths after a Marathon - sorry to broach such a morbid subject but as the Race Director and the Executive Director here at St. John Ambulance it is a subject I take very, very seriously. She said one of the main causes was drinking too much</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> water - she is in fact a runner herself.</span></span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It went on to describe how, if you ingest too much water without enough sodium, it won't absorb properly and you can actually drink yourself to death, <span style="font-style: italic;">on water</span>. It seems there has been one reported case of this happening, ever, at last year's Boston Marathon. "Try to drink sports drinks with sodium and potassium," the email reasoned, "but also try alternating hot clear chicken broth with water and tomato-based drinks."<br /><br />Wait, what? Should I arrange to have someone supply me with sports bottles full of piping hot chicken noodle soup and virgin caesars along the route? I think I'll opt for water or Gatorade, thanks.<br /><br />With the litigious nature of society these days and following a death at the world's biggest marathon, I understand why the race director wanted to raise awareness of the issue. But to seriously suggest ingesting hot broth is the key to not dying? If only someone had told poor Pheidippides.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-72756517995361222692009-01-28T06:38:00.000-08:002009-01-28T10:20:28.622-08:00Zambia, One Year On<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WWgUkCuEqcY/SYBvuMjZ4cI/AAAAAAAAAHI/ircEzGWQH6Q/s1600-h/P1010003.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WWgUkCuEqcY/SYBvuMjZ4cI/AAAAAAAAAHI/ircEzGWQH6Q/s400/P1010003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296356001222091202" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It's been almost 12 months since I left <a href="http://lusakasunrise.blogspot.com/">life in Lusaka</a> for the considerably cooler and more developed climes of Southern Ontario. Save a brief sojourn to Quebec in August, I haven't left the confines of the region in nearly a year. But whether it's the god-awful weather here or my continued engagement in Zambian media projects over there, I often think of my adoptive African country. Allow me to explain.<br /><br />Pictured above (at right) is Derrick Sinjela, one of Lusaka's most determined journalists, holding a certificate of incorporation from the Zambian Government. As of November 2008, Derrick's vision for media development - what he calls the Rainbow Media Group - is a legal entity and can even be traded publicly on the Lusaka Stock Exchange.<br /><br />This is remarkable in a number of ways. When I left town, Derrick was still reeling from the debacle that was <span style="font-style: italic;">The Advocate </span>(which I wrote about <a href="http://lusakasunrise.blogspot.com/2007/09/human-rights-paper-that-never-was.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.jhr.ca/fieldnotes/view.php?aid=1101">here</a>), the nascent human rights newspaper that eventually 'fired' both of us. His exit was particularly acrimonious, as the editor made Derrick's firing a top story in one issue of the newspaper. The last time I saw him, he was something of a broken man, though he promised me in an interview to "rise like a Phoenix through the Rainbow," his new idea for a socially responsible publication. I was understandably skeptical.<br /><br />But in the months after I departed, Derrick kept in constant contact as he developed his business plan. Combining lessons learned from my brief experience with start-up newspapers in Lusaka and his 20-plus years in the media, I played a small role in helping him craft the Rainbow's founding documents, even earning the ridiculous title 'Lead Business Consultant' in the process. Instead of rushing straight to print and trying to distribute nation-wide - two common mistakes of fly-by-night publications - Rainbow Media would, at first, act as a journalism foundation, ensuring it could recruit and fairly compensate its reporters. This idea was hugely important to Derrick, who rightly saw the lack of professionalism, direction and dignity in the Zambian media as a function of low wages. Secondly, the eventual newspaper would only be distributed in targeted neighbourhoods of Lusaka (namely the ones with highest literacy rates) to start.<br /><br />Professionally-speaking, the most rewarding piece of the project was that Derrick had internalized the notion of public service reporting to the point of enshrining it as a founding principle of the company:<br /></span></span><div style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;">The mission of the <span class="nfakPe">Rainbow</span> is...<br /></span></div> <div align="justify" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">To contribute to the building of news reading culture to the Zambian citizens.</span></div> <div align="justify" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">To conscientise the Zambian people on the critical issues impeding national development.</span></div> <div align="justify" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">To highlight pertinent issues and matters affecting Zambians on human rights, gender tolerance, economic development and share equity among citizens, and opportunities to be extracted from tourism and the role of culture in national development.<br /><br /></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">There was a degree of satisfaction in this for me as I'd spent the better part of a year telling Derrick and his acolytes that human interest and advocacy journalism would work if they gave it a decent shot (like actually interviewing ordinary Zambians for stories that affect ordinary Zambians). With this, I figured they were on solid ground to start their venture.<br /><br />The reality, of course, has turned out to be much more muddied. In May, when advertising and grant money first started to come in, they rushed ahead and published their first issue before the ink was even dry on their business plan. It was a disaster (I have the PDF to prove it if anyone's feeling masochistic). The lead story was about a tribal squabble between the President and leader of the Opposition: exactly the kind of empty political rhetoric we'd talked about avoiding. Even worse, a ludicrous 'Minister in Dog Sex Scam!' headline ran on the cover. If at all true, it would have been a gripping story of a Lusaka-based pornography ring that drugged woman, engaged them in bestiality and sold the products to Scandinavian countries - allegedly covered up by a high-ranking Zambian official. Unfortunately the end product was completely unbelievable, not quoting a single named source and reinforcing negative stereotypes of commercial sex workers and homosexuals (the alleged participants in said heinous acts).<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Rainbow Newspaper</span>, to my knowledge, hasn't been published since - but that's entirely a good thing. Derrick didn't need to me to tell him that he had fallen short of his own lofty goals, and promised to try and stick to his plan of building a professional media infrastructure before producing a professional product. He disappeared for several months after the inaugural issue fiasco, but resurfaced to send me the above picture, saying that he's sticking to the original plan again. I've been asked to buy shares in the now-public company, to which I responded that I would have to see a new issue that spoke to the guiding principles. Derrick's promised me another PDF by the end of February, and to send me stories to vet before they go to print. We'll see.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(Note: there's another significant Zambian media project I'm involved in as well, but due to the length of this post, I'll save it for later when I have more of your attention span)<br /><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="justify" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-33153623737425095262009-01-26T07:23:00.000-08:002009-01-26T07:53:04.649-08:00Sneak Preview: My First Narrated Slideshow<object width="400" height="302"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2967305&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=c9ff23&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2967305&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=c9ff23&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="302"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Well, 'mine' is a bit of stretch. I came up with the idea after meeting local photographer <a href="http://www.stephenjedgar.com/">Stephen Edgar</a>, who told me he had some great shots of an interesting development project in Bolivia. From there we developed the script with folks down in the Andes while I recruited a familiar yet professional <a href="http://aprilann.blogspot.com/">friend</a> to narrate it all. About a six-month process in all, not without its share of frustrations. Turned out not too bad though, I think.<br /><br />The video will be debuting on <a href="http://governancevillage.org/">Governance Village</a> starting tomorrow.</span><br /><br /></object>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-77575470702207269312009-01-25T10:54:00.000-08:002009-01-28T21:56:06.081-08:00Sundays<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">According to my training schedule, Sundays are 'long, steady run' days. These are easily the longest jaunts of the week, sometime almost double any distance I've run from Monday to Saturday. While the duration of these workouts provides the most obvious challenge, the real difficulty lies in the fact that they take place on, well, Sundays.<br /><br />This means I'm usually recovering from some form of excess, which you might guess is not the ideal foundation for a day that tests the limits of your physical and mental faculties. But Sunday is something of a holy sabbath for runners, with all manner of races, training and general rigour taking place on what is presumably the most laid-back day of the week. The marathon I'm attempting takes place on - you guessed it - Sunday, April 26th.<br /><br />Through sheer necessity, I've started to adapt. Since I'm not yet willing to make my Saturdays totally intoxicant-free (though this will have to happen at some point), I've been tapering them and their respective Sunday legacies down to moderate levels. At the same time, I have invented a Sunday morning routine that gets me from 'largely dead to the world' to 'ready to run 20k.'<br /><br />1. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wake up, drink two Throbbies of water </span> (I bring the entire Brita bedside the night before. 'Throbbie' is the hilarious nickname of my 700ml water vessel)<br />2. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eat a mountain of oatmeal.</span> It soaks up any leftover sludge in your stomach, digests easily and provides a heap of soon-to-be-burned calories<br />3. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't drink a double espresso.</span> This is nearly impossible and runs against all morning instincts. But water retention is too key.<br />4. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Clean up the apartment.</span> Besides giving time for food to digest and water to absorb, there is some psychological importance to having things in order before I head out. Strange, I know.<br />5. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Shave and shower.</span> It may seem counter-intuitive to shower before I sweat out pounds of water during my run, but for that exact reason you want to try and shower off the previous night's essence. Out of Golden Rule respect for others at the gym, it will limit my bad smell radius<br />6. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blast hype tracks. </span>This is the final step, and a general clearing house for musical guilty pleasures. By the time I play myself out of the house to something like Lil' Wayne, the previous night is a distant memory and I'm ready.<br /><br /></span></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-12056417534031020482009-01-21T07:05:00.000-08:002009-01-21T07:59:01.642-08:00Cynicism Loves Company<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >One of my e-companions throughout my journey to better health has been David Bruser, a staff reporter at the<span style="font-style: italic;"> Toronto Star</span>, fellow ex-smoker and cynic extraordinaire.<br /><br />Last year, he blogged about his "graceless, but still successful" to <a href="http://thestar.blogs.com/quitter/">quit smoking cigarettes</a>. While his deep and abiding addiction to nicotine surely surpassed my own, his struggles epitomized the daily challenges and annoyances all quitters face. "Let's hope nothing great happens" was a memorable <a href="http://thestar.blogs.com/quitter/2008/03/beware-of-feeli.html">concept</a>, as he was given to relapsing during the best of times.<br /><br />Now he's back with a new <a href="http://thestar.blogs.com/fitness/">Fitness Blog</a>, sarcastically detailing his quest to get into shape. His skewering of fitness culture entertains me to no end. To wit:<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><blockquote style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I was 30 minutes into the yoga session when a woman in the back of the room, contorted and coated in a fine sheen of sweat, wrapped tight in all the finest and flattering lululemon accessories, let out a splintering fart, making a mockery of the studio’s Far East tranquility vibe...<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">... I don’t like gyms because of all the strutting and flexing in front of banks of mirrors. Because I have never understood why men, strangers to each other, don’t mind getting naked in the gym locker room. I would rather eat rocks than catch peripheral glimpses of other men’s junk.<br /><br />... Some of you have tried to sell me something, like "DYLG Consultants" pleading with me in a post to buy an "11 day cleanse" product. I only quit smoking 11 months ago, so it would probably take a fire hose spewing isopropyl down my throat to make my insides look like they belong to a healthy 31-year-old. Let's worry about my colon in a future blog.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />And, of course, best of all - I recently got a shout out for an allegedly funny comment I made <a href="http://thestar.blogs.com/fitness/2009/01/session-1.html">a couple posts</a> back:</span></span><br /><br /><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><blockquote style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">One of my favourite posts may be from "Brandon," who seems to understand my helplessness. After I whined in the blog about my unbalanced diet and penchant for McDonald's, he wrote: "All it takes is one delicious, well-balanced meal to turn that corner. I hate to sound sexist, but could help with your diet be your wife's contribution to your fitness goals?"</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> My wife Brooke did not find this post as funny as I did.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />I apologized and suggested couples cooking classes.<br /><br /></span></span></div><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote></span>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5144673057005489367.post-85115117752834526382009-01-20T06:32:00.001-08:002009-01-20T06:32:56.137-08:00Live-blogging Obama's Inauguration<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Blogger's Note: I'm trying out this Live Blogging thing as much for an upcoming project on Governance Village as I am to try out something new in here. Credit to Doug Smith's excellent <a href="http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/2009/01/the-goods-on-the-game-vol-43-the-mlk-day-matinee.html">Raptors Blog</a> for introducing me to the application.</span></span></span><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.coveritlive.com/index2.php/option=com_altcaster/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=4aa9978bd6/height=550/width=400" frameborder="0" height="550" scrolling="no" width="400"></iframe>B. Scott Curriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15236379207298950444noreply@blogger.com1