Life in Cowtown

I grew up on the cusp of the digital age. My foray into the vast world of computers included reading DOS for Dummies and everything. I was a user of the old school BBS boards and by the time the internets rolled around and the possibilities stretched out endless before us, people of my generation jumped in like it’s going out of style. We banged our heads against the early search engines, gleefully sent each other any semi-interesting sites, found (or founded) online communities and started blogs. Slowly sites figured out new revenue generating models and formerly paid sites like encyclopedias and major newspapers went free. The digital content exploded and information sharing came into its own. Except for it really didn’t.

Living in Canada I am often exceedingly frustrated at how much online content is not available here simply because of some arbitrary geographic restriction and outdated modes of thinking on parts of both the content providers and our very own governmental regulations. From TV shows to music files to the latest Olympic coverage I am often confronted by the screen-of-death error message that tells me I’m in the wrong part of the world to be able to watch whatever it is I was looking for. And that just pisses me off to no end. Take the latest Olympic coverage – last night I missed some event or another because I have a life occasionally and can’t be glued to the TV all day, so I optimistically thought I’d catch it online. Except for that didn’t work. Cause you see the International Olympics Committee has some sort of asshat restrictions on who is allowed rights to broadcast online in each country, so if I’m not mistaken it’s NBC in the states and CTV here. Except for CTV’s video page has all sorts of asinine clips available like someone’s workout routine and lame interviews and such, but not very many videos of the actual events where those athletes do whatever it is they do to merit an interview. I mean does anyone really go on their site to watch them light the cauldron or the opening essay, both of which are prominently featured on their sparsely populated video page? I sure don’t. I go to see actual coverage of actual events both past and present except for the content is not there. I’m sure NBC’s site has what I’m looking for (US sites in general seem to be much more on the ball about digital content), but due to asshat Canadian restrictions they can’t stream them here. See the pattern?

So in this supposedly free digital age of endless information there are oh so very many instances where people around the world are excluded from the conversation and participation by their very own governments and third party agencies that should not be allowed to have any say in who watches what when and where. It smacks of paternalism and results in mass frustration and leads users to either find the content illegally or fume silently. Perhaps once upon a time this may have made sense as many shows aired in the US much earlier than other countries and restricting online content until after the show aired was only prudent, but in this day and age of the modern media environment it seems like a throwback to the ridiculous protectionist policies that permeated earlier decades. The Olympic events already happened after all.

In my frustration I know I’m barely scratching the surface of the battle for digital freedom. Google’s skirmish with China shone a bit of a spotlight on the issue, and right now the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is being negotiated between the US, Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan cloaked in secret negotiations and shady repercussions ranging from border searches to ISP providing information about suspected copyright infringers without a warrant. If you want to read some real scary discourse check out these posts by Michael Geist – the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce Law at the U of Ottawa, and this brief by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Perhaps it’s just my small-government (yeah I know, I live in the wrong country) and free market sensibilities but the fact that these policies are hammered out behind closed doors and seem to cater to corporations irk me if not outright scare me. The fact that anyone feels like they have the right to dictate when and where I can watch or listen to digital content strikes me as absurd. And the fact that CTV can’t get their site to join the 21 century is just pathetic.  I know that despite all the rhetoric we don’t live in anything approaching personal freedom but it sucks to be disillusioned this badly about the digital frontier.

I’m back. Literally and figuratively. Since working non-stop since mid-December, celebrating a birthday and taking a quick week off to jaunt over to a slightly warmer but much prettier British Columbia, I am finally easing back into my slightly boring but predictable schedule. Over the last few weeks I ate a ton of food, skied a ton of slopes, ate some very expensive jam (which I will tell you about in due course), read some great books, and in general kept myself all too occupied, which happens to be one of my least favorite things to do. I enjoy my downtime and go out of my way to plan a life where I have plenty of it.

But in the meantime I was looking at this picture of a bunny I took some weeks ago, and pondering the huge abundance of wildlife that shares with us this land called Canada. It’s kind of hard for people here to understand, but this is one of the very few places in the world where animals and humans share any kind of space voluntarily. In most countries the only birds you see are pigeons and the only animals the stray cats and dogs skulking in the streets. The rest are scarce to the point of extreme rareness and reticence.

Many people that move here cannot believe that rabbits and deer are frequent visitors within the city, fearlessly venturing on our lawns and hopping our fences. That squirrels are not only common, but cheeky, and that folks routinely name the chipmunks that drop by to pilfer bird feeders. They are astounded to hear coyotes howling at night, and see huge elk crossing the highways, never mind the foxes, ducks, geese and many other denizens of any average Canadian neighborhood. Certainly no bears have ever entered their hospitals like they did here a while back, and no animal crossings are built so that critters can cross the highways safely.

The reason animals shy away from people in most of the world is because they are prey there, and feel it keenly. The plump ducks, geese and rabbits would quickly be poached by families thankful for a free dinner, deer would be poached too, never mind the season, fish would be caught until there’s none left, and the predators would simply be exterminated. Not that North America doesn’t have those tendencies from time to time, but overall animals fare much better here than elsewhere.

It’s funny to me how we mourn the animals that have to be shot due to posing a hazard to people and whose numbers drop as we take over their habitat, but as soon as an enterprising species acclimatizes itself to living around us we call them a nuisance, like the unfortunate seagulls, pigeons and gophers. Methinks we’d be better off celebrating their adaptable natures that ensure their survival and take the occasional inconvenience they pose with humor if not grace.

First off,  I wanted to say sorry for not posting this week, I’ve been under the weather, and had an exam to write, and a relative to send off to Malta, and nothing new is happening in the garden, other than champion weeds. I’ve been busy, really busy, balefully glaring around the house and yard at all the chores that need doing and that are decidedly not getting done. Which inspired this post.

The world is divided into many dualities of people, but two of the most common that I encounter are the doers and the slackers. I admire the doers, I really do, they are the people that get it done, the putterers, the fixers and the workers. They are the ones that can’t sit still, they must be tinkering, fixing, polishing and improving. They are great to have on hand – they are often pretty organized, fully domesticated, they clean and cook and repair like Martha Stewart on crack. They are awesome.

Then there are the dedicated slackers. They like to sleep and do it like an Olympic medal is at stake.  They love lounging time, in front of the tube or with a book, and will dedicate great lengths to the pursuit of comfort. They are happy chilling out with a drink in the evening, feeling like they earned it after working all day, while their partner has hours of energy to spare and wants to get some weeding in, or maybe run a quick marathon.

I fall somewhere in the middle and it causes some conflict for me. My nature falls firmly into the lazy camp, I am not a person that thrives on being busy, and if I have more than one commitment on a weeknight, I panic about the sleep I’d miss. I love leisure more than just about anything, and I often wish I could clone myself, twice, to do all the things that need doing that I don’t feel like doing.  Sometimes I attempt to go against my better nature and force myself, literally kick myself, out of the house into the great yonder to try a new activity, or do something outdoorsy, or just go for a beer on a weeknight.  It often pays off too – I took up skiing last winter, and discovered an amazing new sport that I did not for a minute, think I’d like.  But too often I get worn out just by the act of existing, sitting for eight hours at work, plus a long commute and arrive at home wiped out, ready for a nap and an easy dinner. Even doing the things I enjoy sometimes requires a mental kick to get rolling.

However, that lazyness stops a few steps short of the kingdom of slack. For one, I love me a clean house, and while I’d love to relax while the dishes are piling up, the laundry is overflowing and the floors need vaccuming, I can’t. I’d rather suck it up, sacrifice some time and get it done, so I can relax with a clean conscience until it all starts to build again. Another area where it breaks down is career. A truly lazy person is not very ambitious. Of course they would enjoy the benefits of an easy jobs with a  great paycheck, but if it takes too much work to get there they won’t bother. I bother. Part of it is professional pride and a part of it is the very tangible increase in quality of life that money can buy. Let’s face it, whether you’re earning a little or a lot, you’re likely working the same 35-40 hrs a week, so why not earn more? And while I love vacations, my idea of a good time is not drinking by the pool. I have a deep desire to see the place that I’m visiting. To soak in the atmosphere that shapes its citizens, to see the ruins and houses and cafes, to visit a store and a farmers market, to explore local flavors and see a glimpse of their lives. At a leisurely pace, of course.

Sometimes I walk the line between leisure and ‘getting crap done’ just fine. Sometimes I’m composed and in the moment, which is the only way to live of course, as I do the household chores, maintain the garden or plan a weekend. Other times the balance gets skewed, and I chafe with frustration at the demands on my time, which I want to do spend doing nothing. On some level I realize that all the little running around we do is ultimately meaningless, just a way to stay busy, distract yourself, and take time away from simply being. Other times it feels like life is not to be wasted, and I should just manage time a bit more effectively to keep it running smoothly and ultimately do more, and get more out of doing.  And I envy the happy tinkerers who itch to clean the house, organize the pantry and do some canning while they’re at it, cause that gene passed me right by.