The Best Things Are Happy Endings

I have been a little shocked at the amount of twitter chat involving criticism of yesterday's Amber Alert in Edmonton and frankly, as a parent and a citizen, I don't understand it.

How was there not enough concern to warrant an Amber Alert in this case? I don't believe we should be participants of generating criticisms of our police force when they themselves are 1. Pleased with the overall process and the outcome of this incidence; 2. Hailing the quick thinking of the playground program staff; and 3. Encouraging us as citizens to continue to report suspicious incidents like this.

I understand to some this might have seemed like a waste of resources because the outcome was good. However I suspect these same people would have different criticisms if the outcome had not been good and the situation had not been reported or acted on in a timely fashion.

While you ponder the situation, consider this. A child is dropped off by an adult at the start of a playground program. These community programs have supervised hours through out the day. Before the end of that supervised period a different adult, whom you don't recognize, comes to take the child. Maybe the child doesn't want to go (stop playing) and puts up a fuss, but this adult takes the child anyway. Imagine now that this is not reported and three hours later the original adult comes back to pick up their child only to find they've now been missing for three hours.

A lot can happen in three hours... Now imagine this is your child and I think you'd find that an Amber Alert would be more than called for.

I think the Amber Alert program has been a great way to improve communications in the community and cross communities with other police services when a situation dictates speed is of the essence. I think the police need to have the confidence that they can use it whenever they feel justified and that we will trust in that, false or not. Indeed, isn't the best outcome of this that it was false to begin with and that the child is safe?

Just my humble opinion, of course. But I do strongly believe it's never a waste of anyone's time or resources if they are spent in the attempt to help one of the more vulnerable members of our society. Also, I think huge kudos should go out to the team of people who were involved in looking for this child and discovering that he was safe so quickly. Bravo.

Slave Lake Pictures

I finally got all of my Slave Lake photos loaded up into Flickr. You can see them HERE.

Don't Forget About Slave Lake!

"In all the years I've been doing this job, I haven't seen anything with this kind of speed and devastation."
- Len MacCharles, incident commander

"When you first see the devastation, it's a numbing feeling. It's going to take some time to get our community back."
- Slave Lake Mayor Pillay-Kinee

As we hear less and less in the traditional media about the efforts ongoing in Slave Lake, Alberta, I wanted to remind everyone that much help is still needed there. The Canadian Red Cross has committed to the recovery process for the next two years and you can help fund that support for the residents of Slave Lake with a financial donation (some agency's will continue to take material donations as well).

On May 15th 2011 a wildfire, fueled by winds of up to 150km, burned through the northern town of Slave Lake, destroying 40% of the town. 374 homes were destroyed and another 52 were damaged. The province declared a level four emergency – the highest on its scale - and more than 7000 people fled in an immediate evacuation, leaving everything behind. After 10 days some people were allowed to come back, but many still can not.

A month after the fire there is still much work to be done in Slave Lake. The Red Cross is still registering people and last I heard there were 200 families that the town had not yet re-connected with. Thank you for keeping Slave Lake in your thoughts as the recovery process continues.

We Take Too Much For Granted Everyday

Alice Pyne is a 15 year old girl who knows she is running out of time. She has hopes and dreams like we all do - she would have liked to have been a dolphin trainer - but she knows that some of those things will now, in her words, "remain dreams."

I became aware of Alice yesterday when her blog went viral with her bucket list - and one of the things she wanted was to trend on twitter. For me there is something inherently human in this desire to reach out - a need to be known, to be thought of - simply to say "I'm here, I exist, I live... and there's so much stuff that I still want to do." I know to some extent we all can relate to this.

One of the items on Alice's bucket list is to "make everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor." This is something that is simple for most of us to do and I highly recommend it. I've been on the bone marrow registry for years and I hope that one day I might be able to help someone, like Alice, to keep on working through their bucket list and to live all of their dreams. In Canada you can start the process HERE. In the United States go HERE. For everyone else, google "bone marrow donation" and your country and it should bring up the program you need.

Another thing Alice challenges us to do is consider what it is we are putting off doing and why. If something is important to the way we want to live our life then we should start making that a priority and look for the opportunities we need. We're all relatively guilty of getting bogged down in the mundane daily tasks we feel responsible to participate in and we always put things off because we will get around to them, eventually. But what happens when you run out of time? As Alice asks in her blog profile - "If today was your last day on this earth, how would you spend it?"

It's worth some time today to ponder that question, right after you sign up for the bone marrow donor program in your jurisdiction.

We are all running out of time, just most of us don't know it. Keep on dreaming, my friends.

Maisie's Magical Christmas House

If you're in Edmonton for this holiday season, you should visit Maisie's Magical Christmas House, located at 9619 – 144 Avenue.

The house is named such in honor of the home owner's mother, Maisie Dolynchuk, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 82 years. Maisie loved the Christmas lights so much that she wanted them to be enjoyed by people even after she was gone. The house is her legacy.

There is no charge for people to come and tour the display, but you're asked to bring a non-perishable donation to the Edmonton Food Bank.

A TREE for a Good Cause

Do you need a Christmas Tree? Know someone else who doesn't have their tree yet? Today you can support Edmonton's Food Bank by purchasing an amazing live Christmas tree for the holiday season - for only $10! The trees are being sold at Churchill Square from 6am to 2pm today and volunteers are available to help load the trees into your vehicle for you.

Cash or cheques (made payable to Edmonton's Food Bank) are accepted for on-site purchases. You can also text to donate (keyword TREE to shortcode 30333 and $10 will be added to your phone bill in support of Edmonton's Food Bank) or call 780-425-2133 for VISA or MC transactions over the phone. If you prefer to donate online you can do so at edmontonsfoodbank.com via Canada Helps (VISA or MC).

Remember to bring your skates as well - you will have the opportunity to skate with the Edmonton Oil Kings on the ice at City Hall.

Christmas Time!

When the lights go on at the Alberta Legislature grounds I know it is Christmas time and I should get our tree up.

Canada at War

From WWI to Present Day Afghanistan - this video is a tribute to all Canadian soldiers for Remembrance Day 2010 (via Jonathan Wagner)

Beyond 2010 Hackathon

I've stayed up all night with a great group of talented people at the Beyond 2010 Hackathon (in Edmonton, Alberta) and an equally talented group of people in Birmingham UK. We've all been hard  work developing a mobile app tool to help people in the event of a disaster. It's been a fun and productive process and I really love the truly collaborative nature of the project - we've all been using typewith.me to produce the written documents and skype for conference calling with the UK Hackathon team. I'm really happy to have had an opportunity to be involved in this (thanks to Brittney LeBlanc for coordinating!) and I can't wait to use and see the final product! And hopefully we will all have created something that saves lives and eases suffering. 

Four Easy Steps to Voting in Edmonton!

I've heard various reasons over the past few days as to why people don't vote or why they likely won't vote in tomorrow's election. Some people expressed that they don't know "how" to vote and they don't want to feel dumb when (if) they get to the ballot box. I've thought a bit about this and I understand that no one wants to feel this way but the process of voting is actually fairly easy (and quick). If you are 18 years old, live in Edmonton on election day, have been in Alberta for six months and are a Canadian citizen then you get to vote for Mayor, one city councilor and one school board trustee (either public or catholic).

Here's FOUR easy steps for those living in Edmonton:

1. Find your Ward and Candidates. You can find your ward using this LINK.  Once you know your ward, a complete list of the candidates is found HERE.

2. Learn a little about your candidates. Most of the candidates have websites and if they do you'll find their links HERE.  

3. Find your polling station using this LINK. Your polling station is open on Monday between the hours of 9am and 8pm only.

4. VOTE! On Monday October 18 2010 go to your polling station between the hours of 9am and 8pm. Take your ID or alternatives with you (there is no voters list). The most commonly used types of identification are an Alberta driver's licence, Alberta ID card or your Canadian passport. If you don't have any of these, check this LINK for other types of accepted ID.

If you require assistance marking your ballot you can even get help from a friend or the deputy in the voting station.

If you are like me (I'm still undecided for Mayor) I encourage you to get yourself to the ballot box on Monday - at the very least, if you still can't decide, you can spoil your ballot. Remember we have something amazing here in our country but the only way our democracy works is if citizens are active participants. Just vote.

The UltraAVX Experience...

 
Thanks to Cloud AdAgents and Cineplex Entertainment, last weekend myself and 8 other Edmonton twitter friends had the chance to experience the new UltraAVX Cinema in South Edmonton Commons.

The UltraAVX theatre experience offers you a chance to reserve your seats, a feature I'm a huge fan of and certainly took advantage of. This involved me going to the Customer Service desk where a very helpful agent showed me a seat layout of the new theatre and helped me to choose the exact seats I wanted. Once I had made my selection he gave me my tickets with the row and seat numbers on it, just like a concert. When the group of us returned later that night for the movie there was no line ups and we went directly into the theatre and found our seats. I really liked that when everyone went to grab food there was none of the typical anxiety involved with having to protect seats or try to make a jacket stretch over as many chairs as possible. This in itself might have been enough to impress me, but the theatre has more to offer than that.

The first thing we noticed when we got to our seats was the seat - like individual rocking armchairs that allowed plenty of leg room to get comfortable and lean back if you'd like. I really liked the mobility of the chair. In addition, each row of seats is positioned high enough that your view isn't obstructed regardless of where you're sitting or how tall the person in front of you is. I can honestly say that I haven't had as comfortable an experience watching a movie in a regular theatre, but then this isn't a regular theatre.

UltraAVX features a large format wall to wall movie screen, allowing for a great image from wherever the vantage point (although I wouldn't suggest sitting too close to the front or on the extreme sides). The theatre boasts dolby digital surround sound which made me feel immersed within the sound which was a neat experience. I didn't feel like the sound was coming at me like some other theatres I've been in although it wasn't as loud as an IMAX theatre. There may have been a better movie choice to showcase this sound experience (we saw Secretariat) but I quite enjoyed it nonetheless. All in all it seems to me that this is how movies should be experienced.  

I was impressed enough with the UltraAVX experience that I can't wait to go back. For me, the 15.75 per adult ticket price (11.99 child/senior) is worth it just for the convenience of selecting your desired seats before hand (in the past I've waited hours in line ups hoping to get the seats I wanted), but the quality of the experience is now something that I am looking forward to, especially for the more anticipated movie releases (like Harry Potter). Maybe it's not for every movie experience, but I'll certainly be back!    

You can find an UltraAVX theatre in both the Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton and Cineplex Odeon South Edmonton Cinemas. 

Also, read Brittney's review here, and John's here.  They're awesome!

Happy 10 - 10 - 10!

Everyone knows the answer to the ultimate question of life, universe & everything is 42.

10 10 10 in binary = 42. For geeks worldwide that makes today, 10-10-10, #42day. Which then, by further extension, makes it an awesome day to celebrate The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

So fellow hikers, let us commence the celebration!

Guestblogging From an Undisclosed Location

Duncan and I co-wrote a playful election piece for Edmonton's popular podcast talk show - The Unknown Studio. Involving Battlestar Galactica and Edmonton's 12 wards, it was a lot of fun. Intrigued? You can read it here:

Edmonton’s Quorum of Twelve (October 07 2010, the Unknown Studio)

Livestrong Together

 

Fourteen years ago, on October 2, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer - but with the news that it had spread to his abdomen, lungs and brain his chances were greatly hampered. He was only 25 years old.

 

Through a combination of determination, education, physical conditioning, aggressive medical treatments and a positive attitude, Lance fought back at the disease. Before even knowing how the story would end he declared himself a cancer survivor. He created the LIVESTRONG Foundation as a support and advocacy group for other survivors. And he never backed down. Amazingly, after his treatments finished, he went on to win the Tour de France a record breaking seven times in a row.

 

Lance Armstrong has been an inspiration to me and his LIVESTRONG website has long been a source of knowledge and motivation for me as I try to incorporate healthy choices into my own lifestyle.         

 

Today is LIVESTRONG Day - a global event to raise support and awareness for the 28 million cancer survivors worldwide. I am going to wear yellow today in support of the LIVESTRONG ideology and in honour of Lance Armstrong and the way he showed us to believe in our strengths. 

 

You can also participate in LIVESTRONG Day online - help spread the word.

Gunned Down in Scarlet, Coldest Blood...

"When Mayerthorpe, she cried, as her four horsemen died"

I'm happy to hear today that the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman will serve the remainder of their sentences. Both men pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter in the shooting deaths of RCMP Officers Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston, Anthony Gordon and Brock Myrol. 

I believe that what these two men did was reprehensible and feel strongly they must accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions. 

James Roszko, often referred to as a psychopath, was a well know locally as a criminal with a history of violent, armed offenses. It is unlikely that any rational person who knew him would have allowed him the benefit of doubt or not take seriously his stated intentions.

In addition to driving Roszko back to his farm and providing him with a firearm and ammunition, both Hennessey and Cheeseman admitted that they knew Roszko was planning on murdering "as many RCMP officers as he could." While they considered alerting police, they decided against it.

THESE MEN COULD HAVE SAVED FOUR LIVES.

Instead they chose to remain silent and that choice allowed these events to unfold as they did. I believe they had a duty to make a different choice that day, to take action to protect life.

Of course, I do feel that our system failed terribly in this regard, to this day I am astonished that a man like James Roszko was not incarcerated in some fashion. But that's a whole other topic.

Shine On Harvest Moon

Tonight we bid summer goodbye with the advent of the Equinox at 9:09pm. Before that however, if the skies remain clear, the Harvest Moon will rise in the east just as the sun sets at 7:32pm. As you watch the moonrise you will notice Jupiter in the eastern sky as well. Happy Autumnal Equinox Edmonton!

Tonight's the Night!

Earth has entered the debris from comet Swift-Tuttle, meaning the annual Perseid meteor shower - the best shower of the year - is upon us. August 12th (tonight) is the peak night of the shower where observers (best to be outside of the city if possible) could witness between 60 - 100 Perseids per hour. Friday and Saturday should offer good opportunities for viewing as well.

Also in the sky tonight (at sundown) will be Venus, Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon in a tight conjunction in the western sky - AND if you stay up late into Friday morning there are two International Space Station passes over Edmonton to watch. The first flyby happens at 3:54am (look SSE) and the second at 5:26am (look WSW). The ISS is quite bright and will take about 2 minutes to cross the sky.

Tonight has a lot of promise if the skies stay clear. I suggest getting out of the city - Elk Island would be perfect but there is no need to go so far.

Other things to do - Listen to the meteors on radar, check out pictures from people more talented than I and watch NASA's Fireball Cam.

Enjoy!

Send Just Five More Hugs!

As the Edmonton Food Bank nears it's goal of 7500 virtual hugs (that Kraft will turn into 7500 jars of Peanut Butter) I just wanted to ask everyone to please take a minute to send 5, 10, or 15 hugs to aid this process along. Anyone can send hugs, residency doesn't matter.

Send a Bear Hug Now!

To track the progress as the hugs add up, click this link HERE. The Edmonton Food Bank has until this Friday to meet it's goal.

And thank you.

Help Spread the Feeling

This week in Edmonton KRAFT Peanut Butter is gearing up to stock the shelves of the Edmonton Food Bank and you can help!

For every virtual Bear Hug you send (via email), KRAFT will donate a 500g jar of Peanut Butter to Edmonton's Food Bank. You don't have to do anything else. You don't even have to live in Edmonton!

Send a Bear Hug Now!

Edmontonians have already started sending their virtual hugs and have until Friday August 13th to send more! At the time of writing this the total was at 2649 jars!

Edmonton’s goal is 7,500 hugs (that's a lot of peanut butter). You can keep an eye on the progress HERE.

For those that prefer a more hands on approach, the Kraft bears Smoothie and Crunchie will be giving out bear hugs at West Edmonton Mall this Saturday (August 14) near the Ice Palace from 11am to 4pm. Just like the emails, for each hug Kraft will donate a jar of peanut butter to Edmonton’s Food Bank.

The Olympic Flame

The Olympic Flame arrives at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on its way to the Olympic Games in Vancouver.