Next in the line of introductions, because Rebecca already foreshadowed his arrival, is Kern. Kern is a big guy... so big, in fact, that he not only has a blog, but it's a whole planet... "Planet Kern". Kern and I sang together for a numbers of years in a quartet named "Terminal Barbershop". We also lived in the same house for a while (also living with a number of my other readers (I shouldn't say other, because I'm not sure that Kern actually reads)), where Kern lived in the basement apartment of the house we were all sharing. That configuration seemed to suit Kern's part-party-animal-part-recluse personality well, when he felt like it, he could hide behind his apartment door... and when he discovered something exciting he wanted to share, there was usually someone one door and one flight of stairs away.
Nowadays, Kern is slightly farther away, teaching english in Japan (and also learning Japanese... and quite well, as I understand). There is talk that he will one day come back and go to teacher's college (teachers' college? teacher college? college for teachers?). I think only time will tell on this one, I do have another friend who went to Japan to teach english, and he never came back! Well okay, he did come back, but only for visiting... but as the said on Tales of the Riverbank: "but that's another story."
Incidentally, Kern's blog is the first one on my list that is not hosted by blogspot... I wonder if they are going to sanction me for linking off-site?
-KDH
p.s. the string of punctuation marks in the titles is still alive and kicking.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
I've got a string of posts with punctuation marks in the titles!
Indeed, I am a big fan of punctuation marks! It is one of the easiest ways to add life to a blog! See, isn't this post just full of energy and excitement? Hoorah for punctuation marks!
-KDH!
-KDH!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Extra! Extra!
Rebeeca gets added to list of links after guilt tripping! Read all about it.
Okay, it wasn't really because of any guilt tripping... it's because it was time... and I needed content. Rebecca (there, are you happy? :) ) is the final member of the triumvirate who lived in "The Pit" for those years in undergrad when I could oft be found sleeping like a mummy on their couch (I know there were other people who lived there at various times, but I think of Kristin, Karen and Rebecca as the women of the Pit).
I blame Rebecca mostly for my very neat and tidy collections of worlds come crashing together when she and my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) Susanna became friends (eventually being two of the three founders of the Only Human Dance Collective at UofT (I still prefer "Only Humans Dance Collective", but it wasn't up to me)). Nowadays, aside from being my friend, Rebecca is very helpful to me when Susanna asks me if I want to go see the latest dance movie (or some such other dance activity). If I'm not in the mood to see said dance activity (which I will admit, is often the case), and it's not particularly important to Susanna that I see it, I can suggest that maybe Rebecca would like to go see it. I think Rob appreciates Rebecca and Susanna's friendship for a similar reason.
Welcome Rebecca,
-KDH
Okay, it wasn't really because of any guilt tripping... it's because it was time... and I needed content. Rebecca (there, are you happy? :) ) is the final member of the triumvirate who lived in "The Pit" for those years in undergrad when I could oft be found sleeping like a mummy on their couch (I know there were other people who lived there at various times, but I think of Kristin, Karen and Rebecca as the women of the Pit).
I blame Rebecca mostly for my very neat and tidy collections of worlds come crashing together when she and my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) Susanna became friends (eventually being two of the three founders of the Only Human Dance Collective at UofT (I still prefer "Only Humans Dance Collective", but it wasn't up to me)). Nowadays, aside from being my friend, Rebecca is very helpful to me when Susanna asks me if I want to go see the latest dance movie (or some such other dance activity). If I'm not in the mood to see said dance activity (which I will admit, is often the case), and it's not particularly important to Susanna that I see it, I can suggest that maybe Rebecca would like to go see it. I think Rob appreciates Rebecca and Susanna's friendship for a similar reason.
Welcome Rebecca,
-KDH
Friday, March 23, 2007
He wrote what?
It's hard to know what is appropriate to talk about here.
While it's is technically a public forum, where anyone could happen along to this site (especially now with the link from the high traffic site "Kristin In Berlin"), it is mostly people that I already know fairly well who make up most of the traffic (or at least all of the comments). If I were sitting in a room with only the people that I suspect are reading, I would have few qualms about saying something inappropriate (as I likely have done many times in the past). But would I want to write down those thoughts where anyone could come along (perhaps even months later) and read them? It seems to me that might undergo slightly different filtering.
It is not only a matter of who is reading, but the fact that this is a much more permanent medium than speaking. With spoken indescretions, one can hope that they will fade away and be forgotten. With published indescretions, things that you have written could always come back to haunt you, even if you've editted the page to remove the indescretions... with all the web-crawling out there, you never know what version of your page Google is caching, or which split-second view of the page some other history-of-the-web site out there is saving for posterity.
Then there are things that I'm never quite sure if I can talk about or not regarding my workplace. It's always hard to keep track of what is public knowledge (i.e. there has been some sort of press release and it's posted on our website), what is still under wraps (i.e. things that are revealed in sentences starting with "Remember to keep this 'in the company family'"), and all the things in between (i.e. things that are not necessarily secret, but that haven't been announced on our company webiste). I think it is best if I just avoid talking about my company at all on the blog!
Almost all of my readers are bloggers themselves... what do you guys think? Do you often find yourself not posting things you might want to post?
-KDH
p.s. Don't worry... the change in page width that you've noticed was on purpose... I'm playing with the relative widths of the columns... and I'll likely play around with it until I find what seems best.
While it's is technically a public forum, where anyone could happen along to this site (especially now with the link from the high traffic site "Kristin In Berlin"), it is mostly people that I already know fairly well who make up most of the traffic (or at least all of the comments). If I were sitting in a room with only the people that I suspect are reading, I would have few qualms about saying something inappropriate (as I likely have done many times in the past). But would I want to write down those thoughts where anyone could come along (perhaps even months later) and read them? It seems to me that might undergo slightly different filtering.
It is not only a matter of who is reading, but the fact that this is a much more permanent medium than speaking. With spoken indescretions, one can hope that they will fade away and be forgotten. With published indescretions, things that you have written could always come back to haunt you, even if you've editted the page to remove the indescretions... with all the web-crawling out there, you never know what version of your page Google is caching, or which split-second view of the page some other history-of-the-web site out there is saving for posterity.
Then there are things that I'm never quite sure if I can talk about or not regarding my workplace. It's always hard to keep track of what is public knowledge (i.e. there has been some sort of press release and it's posted on our website), what is still under wraps (i.e. things that are revealed in sentences starting with "Remember to keep this 'in the company family'"), and all the things in between (i.e. things that are not necessarily secret, but that haven't been announced on our company webiste). I think it is best if I just avoid talking about my company at all on the blog!
Almost all of my readers are bloggers themselves... what do you guys think? Do you often find yourself not posting things you might want to post?
-KDH
p.s. Don't worry... the change in page width that you've noticed was on purpose... I'm playing with the relative widths of the columns... and I'll likely play around with it until I find what seems best.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The game is up!
Okay. I admit it.
Being in Toronto is not a new thing, I've lived here all my life. I just couldn't hold it in any longer.
I feel lighter.
-KDH
p.s. Don't forget to weigh in on the European Vacation.
Being in Toronto is not a new thing, I've lived here all my life. I just couldn't hold it in any longer.
I feel lighter.
-KDH
p.s. Don't forget to weigh in on the European Vacation.
Spring has springed.
Spring: a time of new beginnings, of rebirth... a time when the sun is directly overhead at locations successively further north of the equator! It's funny how depending on your perspective the year "starts" at different times.
The usual beginning and end to the year is the calendar year, culminating with a countdown at a big party (are we supposed to be celebrating the end of the year, or the beginning of the year?), and bringing with it many changes. For one, everyone needs to get a new calendar (except school children and teachers... which I'll get to in a minute). Also, everyone tends to make new year's resolutions where they use this arbitrary new beginning to force themselves to change some behaviour that they don't like.
Another calendar new year is the lunar new year (in all it's incarnations), and for my family this means chinese new year. Being a lunar new year, the exact date in terms of the solar calendar fluxuates, but it usually falls in late January or early February. There are many traditions associated with chinese new year, but the ones that we usually follow are limited to cleaning the house before the new year, giving red envelopes and eating a meal with family (or talking with them on the phone if they are too far away).
When i was a kid, the only year that had much effect on me was the school year, so my year began in September and ended in June (I am still swayed by this calendar as Susanna is a teacher). What about the months in between? They just weren't on the calendar. As a kid, this new year always brought new clothes, new books, papers and pens, new classes, new teachers, sometimes a new school, and sometimes new friends. This is probably the new year that brought with it the most dramatic and immediate changes.
Spring, though, to me seems to be the real new year. There is something about the rapidly increasing number of daylight hours that seems to make a dramatic difference. Remebering how to differentiate sinusoidal functions... the vernal equinox is the day where the increase in daylight hours from day to day... so this is the time of year where things are changing the fastest (I suppose they are changing equally quickly at the autumnal equinox, but in the opposite way). The increased light changes people's moods (whether it's more vitamin D that effects a change or not, I don't know), changes the activities people do (they have more time to do things during the "day"), and starts changing the temperature. I'm no pagan, but I think the beginning of spring is the real new year. I'm going to start making resolutions, cleaning house and getting new stationery every spring
-KDH
p.s. A colleague of mine who is relatively new to Canada told me that it shouldn't be so cold anymore... spring is here, winter is over. I told him that in Canada, winter doesn't end when spring begins.
The usual beginning and end to the year is the calendar year, culminating with a countdown at a big party (are we supposed to be celebrating the end of the year, or the beginning of the year?), and bringing with it many changes. For one, everyone needs to get a new calendar (except school children and teachers... which I'll get to in a minute). Also, everyone tends to make new year's resolutions where they use this arbitrary new beginning to force themselves to change some behaviour that they don't like.
Another calendar new year is the lunar new year (in all it's incarnations), and for my family this means chinese new year. Being a lunar new year, the exact date in terms of the solar calendar fluxuates, but it usually falls in late January or early February. There are many traditions associated with chinese new year, but the ones that we usually follow are limited to cleaning the house before the new year, giving red envelopes and eating a meal with family (or talking with them on the phone if they are too far away).
When i was a kid, the only year that had much effect on me was the school year, so my year began in September and ended in June (I am still swayed by this calendar as Susanna is a teacher). What about the months in between? They just weren't on the calendar. As a kid, this new year always brought new clothes, new books, papers and pens, new classes, new teachers, sometimes a new school, and sometimes new friends. This is probably the new year that brought with it the most dramatic and immediate changes.
Spring, though, to me seems to be the real new year. There is something about the rapidly increasing number of daylight hours that seems to make a dramatic difference. Remebering how to differentiate sinusoidal functions... the vernal equinox is the day where the increase in daylight hours from day to day... so this is the time of year where things are changing the fastest (I suppose they are changing equally quickly at the autumnal equinox, but in the opposite way). The increased light changes people's moods (whether it's more vitamin D that effects a change or not, I don't know), changes the activities people do (they have more time to do things during the "day"), and starts changing the temperature. I'm no pagan, but I think the beginning of spring is the real new year. I'm going to start making resolutions, cleaning house and getting new stationery every spring
-KDH
p.s. A colleague of mine who is relatively new to Canada told me that it shouldn't be so cold anymore... spring is here, winter is over. I told him that in Canada, winter doesn't end when spring begins.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Vacation!
It's time to start planning vacation, and I think that you (yes, you!) could be of some help. Susanna and I talked about what we should do this year for our vacation, which all but absolutely needs to be in the summer, as Susanna is a teacher and is therefore at the mercy of the school year. After a short discussion, it seems like Europe is the likely winner for a few reasons. First, we could spend some time in Berlin, where my sister lives (as does one of my faithful readers) which would be good because we'd get to see Kim, Thomas and Kristin... and because we'd likely have free lodging... which is always good. Second, Susanna has never been to Europe, so the plan is that we could possibly spend some time in places other than Berlin.
Here is where you come in. We need some suggestions as to where to spend our time. There are a few details that may help you decide what would be a decent plan, and what would be too much or too far. Without checking with work about a vacation schedule, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get two weeks, and I think the plan was to spend one of those in Berlin, or at least a portion of a week... it's likely that Susanna will stay on for a week or so after/before me in Berlin (I haven't asked my sister yet... so don't blow my cover). The timing for this trip will likely be August. I have been to Europe before on a few occassions, which isn't to say that I wouldn't go back to somewhere I had been.
So, any ideas?
Here is where you come in. We need some suggestions as to where to spend our time. There are a few details that may help you decide what would be a decent plan, and what would be too much or too far. Without checking with work about a vacation schedule, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get two weeks, and I think the plan was to spend one of those in Berlin, or at least a portion of a week... it's likely that Susanna will stay on for a week or so after/before me in Berlin (I haven't asked my sister yet... so don't blow my cover). The timing for this trip will likely be August. I have been to Europe before on a few occassions, which isn't to say that I wouldn't go back to somewhere I had been.
So, any ideas?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Additions
Today's introduction is appropriate, since it comes quickly on the heels of an event in their honour. As you likely have already noted, there is a new link on the right here. It leads to the Lew Family Blog! While it is in name the Lew family blog, I think we all know who wears the pants as far as the blog is concerned... it's Karen. Karen does have a bit of an on-again-off-again relationship with her blog: ultimatums to her readers and months with no posts. But things could change with this soon as the event in their honour was a baby shower for Karen and Dion (and baby). With Karen soon to be on maternity leave she might crave the human contact of the web (such as it is) and find herself posting on her blog more often.
Welcome to my blog, Karen!
-KDH
Welcome to my blog, Karen!
-KDH
Friday, March 16, 2007
There'll be a change in the weather...
Brace yourselves, change is a-happenin'!
In what could become a long line of scrounging every ounce of content out of adding links to other sites, you will notice that there is another link, and this is the announcement about it. Today's addition is another of the sites to which I have already linked in a post, where I suggested that this site was an homage to sites such as this new one: Gina's site (don't worry Karen, your site will make it up here soon, I just needed to pay respects to my "sister" sites... you know other sites about people who are in new places (do you think I've hit that "new places" thing enough yet? (can you really nest parentheses like this?))).
Gina is many things to many people. Some of my readers may know her as a purveyor of fine used vehicles, while others may know her as a Danish hostel owner (not be be confused with a hostile danish owner?).
For me, if I remember correctly, Gina was the one who taught me to play squash back in "the day". Unfortunately for her, I think she might have recieved some collateral damage from my ugly displays of self-loathing whenever I didn't meet my expectations (which was usually when I lost... which against Gina was most, if not all of the time), for which I don't think I ever apologized. Sorry Gina (some poor excuse for an apology... it's not even as personal as an email... hidden away in the bowels of one paragraph in a long post, and she may never even read this).
On the bright side... I haven't broken my squash raquet in many years now... so either I'm a little more forgiving to myself, or I'm playing people who aren't as good at squash as Gina is. Probably a little bit of both.
-KDH
In what could become a long line of scrounging every ounce of content out of adding links to other sites, you will notice that there is another link, and this is the announcement about it. Today's addition is another of the sites to which I have already linked in a post, where I suggested that this site was an homage to sites such as this new one: Gina's site (don't worry Karen, your site will make it up here soon, I just needed to pay respects to my "sister" sites... you know other sites about people who are in new places (do you think I've hit that "new places" thing enough yet? (can you really nest parentheses like this?))).
Gina is many things to many people. Some of my readers may know her as a purveyor of fine used vehicles, while others may know her as a Danish hostel owner (not be be confused with a hostile danish owner?).
For me, if I remember correctly, Gina was the one who taught me to play squash back in "the day". Unfortunately for her, I think she might have recieved some collateral damage from my ugly displays of self-loathing whenever I didn't meet my expectations (which was usually when I lost... which against Gina was most, if not all of the time), for which I don't think I ever apologized. Sorry Gina (some poor excuse for an apology... it's not even as personal as an email... hidden away in the bowels of one paragraph in a long post, and she may never even read this).
On the bright side... I haven't broken my squash raquet in many years now... so either I'm a little more forgiving to myself, or I'm playing people who aren't as good at squash as Gina is. Probably a little bit of both.
-KDH
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Change can be scary! That's why I'll never frighten my readers with unannounced change. New links or changes in the format will always be talked about in a post when it happens.
Too many bloggers constantly make changes to their pages without taking into consideration the fragile minds of their readers (don't worry, I'm not talking about you, reader).
In that vein, I'd like to introduce a section you'll now see on the right hand side of my page: the "My Friends' Sites" list. The first on the list is Kristin, who astute readers will notice was linked to yesterday. Kristin, like me, is in a new and exciting place, and is blogging about it. If there is only one thing you would know about Kristin, know this: she is a mess with a breadboard! That's it! That's the one thing. Now that I've introduced Kristin, you will always find a link to her on the right hand side here (wave to the nice people, Kristin).
When I get more friends I'll add them to the list, but for now, Kristin, you're it.
Too many bloggers constantly make changes to their pages without taking into consideration the fragile minds of their readers (don't worry, I'm not talking about you, reader).
In that vein, I'd like to introduce a section you'll now see on the right hand side of my page: the "My Friends' Sites" list. The first on the list is Kristin, who astute readers will notice was linked to yesterday. Kristin, like me, is in a new and exciting place, and is blogging about it. If there is only one thing you would know about Kristin, know this: she is a mess with a breadboard! That's it! That's the one thing. Now that I've introduced Kristin, you will always find a link to her on the right hand side here (wave to the nice people, Kristin).
When I get more friends I'll add them to the list, but for now, Kristin, you're it.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Sincerest form of flattery
Some might say that this blog is a blatant copy of Kristin's blog: "Kristin in Berlin". I would like to make a few points in my defense:
I will admit that thus far this site has been more about style than content, but as a famous Torontonian said: "The medium IS the message"
-KDH
p.s. Yes, McCluhan wasn't originally from Toronto, but he spent a large portion of his life here, so I count him as a Torontonian... see this blog is about Toronto.
p.p.s I don't need to sign again after a p.s., do I?
- Perhaps hers is a non-causal copy of mine!
- blogspot really only gives you a limited choice of format, it could be a coincidence!
- My name is Kevin, not Kristin
- I am in Toronto, not Berlin
- Maybe I was copying Gina?
- I actually post.
I will admit that thus far this site has been more about style than content, but as a famous Torontonian said: "The medium IS the message"
-KDH
p.s. Yes, McCluhan wasn't originally from Toronto, but he spent a large portion of his life here, so I count him as a Torontonian... see this blog is about Toronto.
p.p.s I don't need to sign again after a p.s., do I?
A new tone
After consultation with a blog guru, I've decided that I will sign my posts! I feel that it gives a more personal tone to the blog, it allows me to connect with my readers on a new level: a more real connection.
Big news, yes, I know. If there is anything that my readers know, it's that I'm not afraid to make the hard decisions.
-Kevin "so what, I'm fickle" Harris
Big news, yes, I know. If there is anything that my readers know, it's that I'm not afraid to make the hard decisions.
-Kevin "so what, I'm fickle" Harris
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
...must remember post title
I'm not fond of the way posts look without a title. Besides, readers don't want to have to read the whole post to find out what it is about (even if the post is only a couple of lines long).
Other blogs I've read sometime tend to use the title to refer to the post in only a round about way. I've even seen titles that are meant to trick you into thinking the post is saying the exact opposite of what it actually says. Maybe I'll try those with my titles too!
Other blogs I've read sometime tend to use the title to refer to the post in only a round about way. I've even seen titles that are meant to trick you into thinking the post is saying the exact opposite of what it actually says. Maybe I'll try those with my titles too!
Monday, March 12, 2007
The First Post
Well I've made it past the first post, but it remains to be seen whether I'll make it to the end of whatever race this is.
I must say that getting to the first post was not as easy as it should have been since after composing most of my first post, my browser crashed and I lost everything that I had written. I don't have time now to resynthesize it all now... so it will have to wait!
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to sign off with every post as I might do in an email. I guess I will for now and I'll figure out what I want later.
-KDH
I must say that getting to the first post was not as easy as it should have been since after composing most of my first post, my browser crashed and I lost everything that I had written. I don't have time now to resynthesize it all now... so it will have to wait!
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to sign off with every post as I might do in an email. I guess I will for now and I'll figure out what I want later.
-KDH
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