Uncategorized – JP's web site

May 26, 2020May 26, 2020

Holding the line on urban sprawl

The city of Ottawa is expecting to grow by 400 000 people living in 195 000 new homes in the next quarter century. Where should they go? That’s the question facing urban planners and city council as they prepare a new Official Plan.

January 10, 2020January 26, 2020

You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive

This is how the emergency warning sent to people in danger in Australian bushfires starts. Two lines down, the sobering information appears:

It is too late to leave.

October 28, 2019January 26, 2020

Meet Matthew

My nephew Matthew stumbled upon my web site, and I thought that it would be fun if he could make his own page. So, here he is, take it away!

September 21, 2018October 28, 2018

An Orienteering Adventure in Brewer Park

Last year, I was a Scouter with a group of Beavers here in Ottawa. One of the activities that I organized was an orienteering challenge, where the beavers had to navigate their way from clue to clue using a compass. It was a pretty big hit with the kids, so I thought that I’d write it up in case others want to use it. Continue reading “An Orienteering Adventure in Brewer Park”

December 3, 2017October 28, 2018

JUST YOUR AVERAGE RADIO SHOW 2017-12-06

I was set to co-host an episode of “Just Your Average Radio Show” on CKCU but at the last minute the host was not able to make it and canceled.

I had the music all ready to go anyways, so I just put it up here. I’m pretty happy with the mix. Continue reading “JUST YOUR AVERAGE RADIO SHOW 2017-12-06”

March 8, 2017

Getting rid of my books

Tidying up on the weekend and trying to organize a bit, my gaze fell upon my books. Are they really worth keeping? They take up a lot of space, space that we don’t really have, and I never use them. Their utility is very low.

But I love them. Some of them have changed the way that I see the world. Some of them have lots of great memories attached to them.

In the end I decided that the best way to appreciate their true worth is to get them into the hands of others to enjoy. I’m giving them away¹ so that hopefully they can mean something to others. That was the best way to value them.

My memories aren’t attached to the physical objects themselves, but their contents. Now that the library service is so great, with inter-library loans, we still have access to the books. Also, some are now open-sourced online (eg https://archive.org/details/MetamagicalThemas) so I can look them up in the future if I ever want to re-read them.

One reason for hanging on to them was to pass on to my daughter. One day, she’d read them, and then we would share how great they were. I can still point her in their direction, and hopefully she’ll like some of the same books that I did, but we don’t need them hanging around in the meanwhile.

Only time will tell if this was a foolish decision.

¹Nearly all of them. I’m keeping books that I refer to often, ones that I’ll read to my daughter in the next few years, and my rare copy of Raymond Briggs’ “When the Wind Blows” which I see is worth between $100 to $150 already.