We cannot see them
We have chosen not to look.   
We have hidden our eyes
Afraid of battle.

We do not wish to make a scene.

We are An Ostrich Army

“The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.”

-Edmund Burke

I like watching it transform to something.
Anything. 
But not just anything,
Something that communicates
And communifies us together

The more muddled the page
The more lumledd the page
The more dumeled the page
The less space there is

And so I start again on a blank page
On a different sunny beach

Thirty residents and friends met in our front yard from 10 to noon for a stampede breakfast with BBQ’d sausages and coleman-cooked pancakes. There was also a birthday cake and loads of fruit.

Irene, an original home owner in the neighborhood pointed out that in her over 50 years of living here she had never seen a Stampede Breakfast on the street. From beneath stetsons and 10 gallon hats one family told us their kids were so excited to go to something right in the neighborhood.

Mike from up the road regaled us with live music. Barry, Jim and Pearl graciously allowed our party to spill into their yards and driveways. And we received great advice on how to cultivate our garden from Tanis and Glenda.

The funniest feedback we received was, “This was such a good idea.”

We appreciate the affectionate compliment but it behooves me to point out that there was close to nothing novel about the idea. The only thing that made it a “good idea” was that we did it and invited other people to do it with us.

So what are your ideas? What “nothing novel about it” idea could you put into play that might make your neighbors’ and friends’ day?

If you have an idea you want to try in the neighborhood you can contact me. I’d be happy to help you get it rolling.

Yours,

sb

Description aside it stained my hand deep blue.  This is no natural substance.  This CAN’T be good for the environment.  (Yes, what you flush ends up in the bow river eventually.)

Want a clean toilet without harsh chemicals?  I’ve heard baking soda and vinegar work wonders. (I think they even produce a bubbly cleaning action so you can “see it work” as the toilet cleaner my mom used to use claims is quite exciting.)

I sleep with a night guard in my teeth.  I use polident to clean it each night.  I huck a polident pill in the toilet in the toilet every now and then and it seems to keep things well in hand.

Speaking of hands, here’s a picture of  mine.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve learned something about myself (again) today that may be relevant to all of you self diagnosed A.D.D / border-line schizophrenic types out there.   I am, at least, a three-part person.

This discovery came when I started planning concerts and organizing creative types way back in University (Busking For Smiles) and in the city at large (Better Than TV.)  You see, there is Manager Steve and there is Creative Steve. Oh, and Confused Steve.

Creative Steve thinks up ideas.

Manager Steve thinks of strategy and the framework in which the strategy can unfold.

Creative Steve makes strategy palatable to an audience and even, dare I say, interesting…

Manager Steve relies on the software called “Things” and gantt charts.

Creative Steve prefers mind mapping, white boards, and walking around my neighborhood till an idea pops in my head.

In many ways I always thought the two parts of me didn’t like each other.  Namely because when I listen to them (at the same time) I end up a whimpering Confused Steve.

Now I realize (again) that Confused Steve is really nothing more than Steve who hasn’t learned to listen and work with one Steve at a time.

For example I spent hours putting together a map for a website today.  The more I thought about it the more upset I became.  I couldn’t pull my thoughts together and I started doubting the whole project.  Thankfully Confused Steve had had enough and I walked (in the rain) to Safeway to get some dish soap.  (We were out…)  Anyways, along the way I realized that the real issue was not that in the creative aspect of the project OR in the management of it.  It was that I was doing both AT THE SAME TIME.

With this revelation in mind I resolved to design a simple wireframe of the site, on paper, when I got home.

In a mere 20 minutes I had the map done.  NOW Creative Steve can fill in the gaps while Management Steve takes a break (from THIS project) and Confused Steve will hopefully wonder off because no one is paying him any attention.

SO… my advice for you, should you want it, is that sometimes when you doubt yourself or feel confused it is time to step back and figure out how many parts you are made up of and whether or not you’re listening to one or all of them at the same time.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I was talking with a friend today who was telling me how much fun he’s having doing video blogging.  I felt excited about the idea and thought I would give it a try.  Since my passions are community, clarity and creativity I thought I’d pick the first “c” and give it a whirl.  (The second two “c’s” ultimately build community anyways, so I can include them in the fun!)

Again, this is my FIRST try.  The lighting is no good AND I discovered you have to write backwards (or something) when you’re filming.  You’ll see what I mean when you run the clip.

Click on the “community” category for more of my thoughts / past initiatives on the topic.  You can also search by the “community” tag or by typing community in search box to the top right of the screen.

If you want to follow the whole series you can follow me on Twitter (to the right of this screen there should be  a “follow me” thingee for twitter. OR you can click RSS on the top right of the screen. OR you can “friend” me on facebook.

Cool.

sb

Hope Street is now receiving more visits to its site, lower bounce rates, higher click through rates (CTR) and ultimately is making more money off of its online presence.  This is great news and I am very pleased to be part of the team.  If you need a property manager or are interested in becoming a real estate associate go here:  www.hopestreet.ca

On the highly adventurous side I tried to mount some code that would allow hopestreet and myself to view the site analytics from our OWN analytics accounts.

Invermere is an amazing place.

Honestly, every shop I went in to was amazing. We had lunch at this pub on the lake. All the food was hand made and the burger passed my exacting standards with flying colors. The bakery had amazing sculpted food and this super duper good bread. Ivermere is also home to Kicking Horse Coffee and we really enjoyed their cafe. -Way cooler than starbucks and not as expensive. (Dear Kicking Horse, If you would like to open up shop in Calgary please pick my neighborhood.)

And there was a deli.

We bought a few kind of sausage. As per my German roots I rather like all manner of sausages. The peperoni was incredible.

Unfortunately, the buffalo-whiskey something-or-rather was not.

And that’s when I got the idea that if I cut up the sausage and dried it out it would make a pretty awesome treat for the dog: meat cookies! You can see them on the cookie tray. Boy does Jasper ever love them!

As far as treats go I imagine those were rather costly, but it makes me wonder if I could buy some cheap ‘just expired’ sausage and make more for the ol’ boy.

Meat Cookies