Getting it right

As someone who relies on public transit in Ottawa, I've been watching the downtown tunnel discussion closely.

This disturbed me:

"Rogers said the problem with veering northward at Kent Street [from Albert Street to Queen Street - ed.] is that it will reduce the rail line's future potential ridership because there will be new development on streets like Slater and Laurier Avenue, rather than farther north on Queen and Sparks. Rogers said that by staying farther south, the city would be able to include buildings such as the Bell Canada tower within reasonable walking distance of the subway."

The distance between Albert Street and Queen Street? Two blocks. Not wide city blocks. Just normal-sized streets. That take all of 30 seconds each to walk down. Having to walk from Laurier Avenue to Queen Street might dissuade someone from taking light rail if they're only going a few blocks to begin with. But no rational person would choose to drive into downtown, find and pay for parking and deal with all of the related problems just because it means they have to walk two minutes less to get to their office tower. Unless they're looking for a reason to keep using their car, but at that point it's not the two block walk that's going to change their mind.

Let's have a rational discussion on light rail. There are plenty of wrinkles to iron out. This isn't something that should slow down the debate.

Ottawa weekend

This is an exciting weekend in Ottawa. There's tons and tons to do. It's like spring has hit and everyone wants to take advantage. Some of the things I'm considering doing:

1. You Say Party! We Say Die! at Babylon on Saturday night (part of BC Scene through the NAC)
2. Outdoor art in Chinatown on Saturday afternoon
3. Vintage shoe sale at Victoire Saturday 2-9pm
4. Tulip Festival
5. Jane's Walk Ottawa

We also have two birthday outings with friends to work into the schedule.

I have to promote the Apartment613 blog here. Most of the fun stuff around town that I've been finding out about comes from them. They're super tuned into the cool kid scene and they have a fab blog to let us all know what's happening.

Fame whores

OH MY GOD FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST PLEASE GO AWAY AND NEVER EVER COME BACK AGAIN EVER.

Micro

So this week should have been a much better week for blogging, but I haven't been doing it. Ideas flit into my head briefly, usually when I'm working or otherwise unable to update, and then I get home and don't blog. I have been using twitter a lot lately, so maybe I'm wasting all my expressiveness through micro-blogging.

As you've probably guessed, I love the internet. I love social media, although I feel pressure to keep up with all the new toys. Lately I've been meaning to check out 12seconds, which lets you make 12 second videos, and AudioBoo, which is an audio blog tool built specifically for iPhones. For anyone interested in social media, you should be following David Akin (@davidakin) and Ian Capstick (@iancapstick) on Twitter. Besides being prolific tweeters they are also the very first early adopters on the Hill for new tech stuff.

Speaking of new media...earlier this week I had to rush off to a story with about an hour's notice. It was an interview with a veteran from the Battle of the Atlantic. Naturally, I turned to Wikipedia (double-sourced at the Veterans' Affairs website). Let me lay this out for you. My history marks in high school were always in the high 80s and low 90s. I was AWESOME at history. And I couldn't even tell you if the Battle of the Atlantic was in the First or Second World War (it was WWII).

As I often do with the internet, I wondered what people - specifically reporters - used to do without it. Would I phone someone in the newsroom's library to get me some articles on it? What if I were a freelancer and didn't have library access? Reporters have beats, but it's unlikely someone on the defence/military beat would be dispatched to cover an advance story on a commemorative event.

Either we are lucky that technology arrived in time for us to deal with newspaper staff cuts, allowing us to do quick research rather than taking the time to dig through books, or they were able to make the cuts because we had technology to help us keep up with the information we're expected to manage. Maybe I should hate the internet for that.

I admit it

I finally have to accept that I'm a member of the youtube generation. Usually I ignore silly labels like that, mostly because I was born in 1980, which is the cut-off for Gen X to Gen Y/Me/Echo Boom/spoiled brats with helicopter parents. So I never fit either one really well. But after spending 15 minutes with my husband learning via youtube how to tie a Windsor knot, I think I need to own it.

In case anyone is wondering, apparently all the cool kids wear Windsor knots.

The only good part about being sick...

...is being able to watch dvds and tv. In this case, I have been catching up on the episodes of Being Erica that I missed when we were in Egypt. I think this one is one of my favorites yet.

I have some thoughts on tv-via-the-internet, sparked by a conversation with some former colleagues a couple of weeks ago. But they're not fully formed and my head hurts too much to put them in order right now.

Please try this show. I don't want it to end up like that other awesome CBC show with Michael Riley, This is Wonderland, cancelled after three amazing seasons because the network moved it around too many timeslots for it to develop an audience.

The only sure thing is the continuing decline of the industry

Dan Gardner has it right: Hug a reporter and buy a newspaper. We could use the support.

Blogging is light as I fall into a funk. On top of me being sick all week, we were forced (through many tears) to return our new cat to the SPCA because he had a major health problem that could infect our other cat. He had already become a cuddly, loving part of the family and we're still having a hard time dealing with it. The dark cloud over my head isn't conducive to blogging and I'm having a hard time shaking it. More to come when I am not such a Debbie Downer.