Photo credit: Greg Livaudais on Flickr

It’s been a busy time at the mainwriter headquarters. The “new year” isn’t even that new any more; in fact, the first month of it seems to be whipping by pretty quickly.

My safety blog – SpeakingOfSafety – has been a big focus for me. Story ideas seem to leap out at me from all directions, since most people have stories about safety/injuries at work. Let me know if you have one to share.

Another huge focus is my son’s education, which is evolving in new directions now that we are hooked in with BrainBoost Education. He’s having one-on-one sessions in tech/math and is also studying hands-on science in a small group. I’ve also been doing some great learning after meeting for a couple of sessions with BrainBoost director Matt Giammarino, who coached me on managing time and setting up a great atmosphere for learning.

Stay tuned for a new mom and son blog – coming soon! Actually we might do some posts together for this blog, since he is the “vice president” of mainwriter, after all.

This water pump at Watch Lake took some muscle.

I’ve been writing safety stories for SpeakingOfSafety and getting started on a new homeschool year with the SelfDesign program, which has a big online component. I’m using LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Basecamp, Action Method Online, and Google Docs for my work and play communications.

Ideas are called for. Lots of them. So I’m pumping them out of my brain when I have the chance. I do some of my best work in the car on my laptop tethered to my iphone outside a skateboard park. I have a portable Ikea umbrella I prop in my car window to save me from screen glare. I keep a lawn chair in my trunk if it seems too sketchy in the park to let my son be alone, with no other skaters.

Then I sit beside the skate bowls, on the grass, trying to work, but today it was hard because a guy was sleeping nearby on the lawn, with a boom box beside him playing loud C-Fox-ish music (presumably to drown out the urban sounds so he could get some rest). He had a shopping cart full of stuff with a bicycle on top.

Toby often says “Watch this!” and shows me new moves at the skate park.

My little dog does his morning business

Last week some people on Twitter had a big heated argument about poo – after someone requested parents stop sharing scent-evoking details about their kids’ diaper mishaps.

I don’t want to name names, but I will say that both people in the conflict are smart, strong, funny women whose blogs and tweets I read regularly. One is a mom who had tweeted a comment about the smell of her toddler’s poo – how the child’s poo was so strong-smelling that its stench had travelled into the house from outside.

A lot of parents would commiserate with this mom and we might laugh together about the disgustingness of cleaning up crap. But for people without kids, this can be pretty disgusting – and that was the response of the other person in the Twitter argument. She responded to the poo comment on Twitter by asking parents to “quit talking about your kids shit. It’s disgusting. No one wants to hear about it.”

The mom who mentioned the poo was very offended (and maybe hurt, I imagine). She accused the poo-objector of being mean-spirited and an angry Twitter back-and-forth ensued. They even said the F-word to each other!

Ask anyone on Twitter how they feel about reading other people arguments in 140 characters per retort. It’s a bit like a fight in hockey. You aren’t supposed to enjoy it but you do.

The woman who objected to the talk about baby poo said the mom should “have some decorum.” Ouch. They rehashed a couple of past incidents, disagreed, then joked a bit at the end.

Now that I think about it, it seems there’s been less poo talk. Or has there?

Seattle's Mark McLaren of McBuzz Communications at WordCamp 2010 in Vancouver, B.C. on June 12

The event included a mix of computer programmers, web developers, and writers (like me) who are less inclined towards tech-i-ness. But the hard-working organizers managed to provide something for everyone – not to mention a tasty sushi lunch, cool WordCamp water bottles, and the usual assortment of conference stickers, pencils, and temporary tattoos. There was also an evening social at the Granville Island Tap Room, but I didn’t go because I wanted to go home to my family, after being away all day.

One thing I learned was how to make this blog appear closer to the top of the list when someone goes to Google and searches “Vancouver BC writer.”

Mark McLaren is the owner of Seattle’s McBuzz Communications and he gave a talk on SEO – which stands for “search engine optimization.” Basically this refers to what I mentioned above (i.e. being easier to find on Google or Yahoo! or whatever you use for searching the Web).

For now, I’ll spare you the details on SEO and, if you want more information, you can visit the McBuzz site, which explains the concept in greater detail. Essentially I followed along with Mark’s suggestions during his talk, updated my “All-In-One SEO” settings, changed the title bar on this blog, and moved up the list on Google right away.

Christine Rondeau of Bluelime Media was one of the tech experts at WordCamp’s Genius Bar (named after the tech support stations in Apple stores). She showed me how to fix the Subscribe tab on my blog – so, dear readers, please do subscribe, if you are so inclined – along with a few other things I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

I also turned my blog into the first draft of an e-book – thanks to Peter Armstrong and Scott Patten, founders of Leanpub. This platform can be used to “create, curate, edit, publish and sell a PDF book based on your blog” as their site describes. It was so cool to see all these random blog posts brought together in book format – which I called “Your Dose of Gentle Weirdness.”

Peter and Scott are still working out some bugs in their program and finding ways to make it more user-friendly. It seemed to be helpful for them to watch me go through the process of uploading and organizing my blog posts.

Leanpub is free to use, and the creators make their money by taking a 25 percent cut of e-books sales. They cover the PayPal fees, which brings their cut down to about 20 percent.

Thanks so much to all the organizers, speakers, and sponsors for putting on such a fine event.

The Canadian flag outside a hotel in Burnaby, B.C. on a windy morning May 28, 2010.

Caught by powerful gusts, the flag snapped and whipped loudly, bound to the top of its pole by rope and rings. Beside it, the “Stars and Stripes” billowed and undulated like a hippie girl dancing at Woodstock, and I pondered the meaning of them as symbols.

But fear not. I’ll spare you my musings on nationalism or the Canada / U.S. relationship because this isn’t that kind of blog.

Instead, I’ll share some info on how these flags came into being. I learned and forgot much of this at some point, so I refreshed my memory with Google. Plus, I’d never seen Web resources when I covered these topics in school long ago.

The Maple Leaf

“The flag is the symbol of the nation’s unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion.”

Wow! That’s quite the claim, eh? These were the words of Maurice Bourget, Speaker of the Senate, on February 15, 1965 when this new flag was inaugurated on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

The Maple Leaf flag as we know it today was designed in 1964 by George Stanley, who sketched a copy of his concept on a letter to the government’s “new flag” committee, headed by a Ontario Liberal MP John Matheson. After much discussion of the options (imagine a big, long meeting with designers but no one says “branding”) they chose the current design.

The National Flag website on the Canada government website has many more interesting facts about the flag.

Stars and Stripes fly outside a hotel in Burnaby, B.C. Canada

The Smithsonian website says Mary made the first U.S. flag with her 13-year-old daughter; two nieces (13 and 15); and a 13-year-old African American indentured servant named Grace Wisher.

I love to imagine what the teens and the mom talked about. And what about our Canadian historian in the 1960s scratching his design onto the bottom of a letter? Now their creations fly above hotels all over North America, inspiring all sorts of emotions and thoughts in people. Care to share yours?

Photo credit: Sergio Bertolini on Flickr

For example, today I was in touch with a photographer who took photos of construction workers in Thailand. (And it’s not the person in the photo I used in this post.) I contacted him via Flickr to ask if I could use one of his photos to accompany a story I am writing about workplace health and safety.

He responded: “thx for your mail and asking before taking ”

He gave me permission to use his picture for my blog, asked me to send a link to the exact photo, and told me how to credit him. So simple, in this day of “help yourself” technology. Just ask permission and give credit.

This photo has no relation to this post

It’s the monthly meeting of The Shebeen Club – moved to a different location because the Shebeen was booked. Organizer Lorraine Murphy, raincoaster, wrote in the invite: “Wes aims to bring the mystique and hyperbole of social media down to earth, exploring its practical uses for environmental, political and social activism, and recounts some of his personal experiences on the social media frontier.”

When I saw this invite, I immediately thought about my friend Astarte Sands, program coordinator of Mosaic’s Workplace Connections Mentoring Program. Her program connects immigrants with local mentors who help them find jobs in their professional area. Astarte is already a master networker, and by adding more social media, they can connect with even more people who are willing to be mentors.

It’s $20 for a drink, dinner, conversation, and probably learning something.

Getting into the new ergonomic setup here at my home office in East Vancouver, B.C. Canada

My office is looking so great! It’s spacious, bright, and clutter-free. This is where I will work and be productive and creative and engaged. The right things will be in the right places when I need them.

“Where’s that file on la-di-da?” Ah. Here it is. Read, read. Think, think. Type, type.

With everything in easy reach, I will feel so inspired and motivated. I’ll spend less time on Facebook and Twitter. I’ll drink more water. I’ll start doing yoga again. I’ll ride my exercise bike (and my real bike!) and eat the right things at the right time… and, and…

Person sleeping on Commercial Drive March 26, 2010

Three-hundred volunteers are counting the number people living without homes in Vancouver. The goal of this project, run by the City of Vancouver, is to end homelessness by 2015.

Here’s a quote from Gregor Robertson, mayor of our city, published in today in The Vancouver Observer:

“This count gives us the critical baseline information we need to update our Homeless Action Plan, which will guide the City’s efforts to end street homelessness by 2015,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “We need updated, detailed information to track our progress.”

Update: You will see a new photo here – one actually from Vancouver that I took on my way to this cafe, instead of the one I had earlier from New York City.

Panel discussion on "Setting Up As A Consultant" sponsored by the International Association of Business Communicators B.C. chapter

The focal point of a panel discussion ought to be the panelists – the experts invited to share their knowledge and experience on a particular topic. We need to have good, specific questions ready for them and give each panelist a chance to answer them. It helps if the panelists know these questions in advance and take time to organize their thoughts before facing the audience.

Asking questions during a panel discussion

Depending on the topic and the audience, it might be a good idea to review the process of the panel at the outset, so everyone knows what to expect. The moderator could announce that each panelist will have X amount of minutes to answer the question and that this will be followed by questions – not statements – by the audience.

Last year I went to a great panel discussion hosted by a group of professional communicators in Vancouver (the B.C. chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators) – pictured above. The topic of the panel was “Setting up as a Consultant” and each of the panelists shared their personal story at this event held on Feb. 4, 2009.

It was billed as a chance to: “Listen in and ask your burning questions to a unique panel of knowledgeable speakers from diverse communication fields – they’ll tell you how and why they began consulting, the dos and don’ts of getting started and ways to be successful.”

Get that? Ask your questions. For after all, it’s an opportunity to ask questions, listen, and learn – is it not?

At the IABC event, the audience of communicators asked the panel questions about: the most effective way to get new clients, fee structures (hourly vs. per project), differentiating yourself, how to get the confidence to go it alone as a consultant, what kind of insurance you need, how to estimate the number of hours a project will take, what to put in a contract, and more. The session could have been much longer than the 90 minutes scheduled – with so many interesting stories from the battlefield of consulting and so much good advice for working as a consultant in our town.

The recent Social Media Club / Vancouver Blogger Meetup event is a step in the right direction when it comes to dialogue on important topics, and I’m looking forward to more. However I would like to see people arrive at panel discussions with a desire to learn, instead of using the panel as a vehicle for expressing their own opinions. If people are that eager to share their opinions (which has its place) it’s important to find the right venue for that – like a blog!