Freebies Galore

Went by campus today, and noticed a big crowd in the quad.  Turned out it's the Campus Free Store doing a freebie event.

The Campus Free Store is run by the student union, and people can donate what they no longer want -- clothing, shoes, small appliances, books, and so on.  And any U Ottawa student can get what they need for free from the Free Store.  They have a retail site on campus, but today they are doing this open event under a great big tent, so ANYONE can just come and pick out stuff.

It's so good to see re-use and re-cycle put to good use.  

Wonder if they have any free money available????

I do like U Ottawa a lot especially for sustainability efforts.  I should check out their Food Bank as well.  Maybe they have free NY Strip Steaks!!!!!

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

Yet another semester is pressing to make its debut.  Ten more days to go.  How will it turn out?

Once more unto the breach, dear friends.  So welcoming, so peaceful now.  Just wait ten days, and all hell's gonna break loose.

This morning I passed by a privately-run off campus student housing complex.  U Ottawa has gotten so big (over 50,000 now) that there aren't enough housing on campus.  So a lot of private enterprise have set up shop to house the students.  Some are converting old office buildings into 24-hour concierge setups.  Like this one below:

 

Well, this building is still broadcasting Fall move-in.  OK, school starts in 10 days.  What do you think?  Does it look like it will be ready by then?  Don't hold your breath.  If I were a student booked into this thing, I'd be really worried now.  See all the scaffolding and shit?

And idiots out there still insist that private industry is ALWAYS more efficient.  What can I say...

Where have all the oysters gone?

They were here a minute ago!

Dinner at Supply & Demand, Wellington West, Ottawa

Is Summer Almost Over? Really?

It's that time of year again, when another school year lurks around the corner.  In my previous life, I'd be prepping the cases for my "beloved" 416 (certainly much LOVED by my students), and finding strange videos to show my consumer behaviour students.  Well, those days are long gone.  Now I'm looking at another year of fun classes and term papers, of lectures and exams, of inane class discussion by my classmates, and TOTAL FREEDOM!!!!!

Time now to take stock of what I did this past summer.  Apart from cutting the fucking grass, that is.

I read, of course.  As most of you know, I enjoy reading.  But I realize that I've scaled back my ambitious summer reading list, now that I have to read tons of stuff for school.  Still, reading gives me immense pleasure.  Let's see if I can recount my summer reading so far:

Strategies of Containment by Gaddis
The Cold War, a New History, by Gaddis
The Power of Babel, by McWhorter
Ancient Rome, by Baker
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire, by James
Words on the Move, by McWhorter

and now struggling through Kissinger's A World Restored  (I say struggling, because it's pretty dense and quite a hard read.  But very interesting). 

Up next, Tyrant, by Greenblatt.

I also did a Harvardx online course on Hamlet's Ghost.  So very illuminating!  And now I'm working on one about Star Trek and its impact on science and technology.  If you're wondering, these things are free and are available via Harvard https://www.edx.org/course Check it out!

OK, all work and no play is not good.  So I also baked loaves of rye bread.  Gotta be my favourite baking project.  No machines either.  People who use bread machines to make bread are not REAL bakers, haha.

Oh, almost forgot, I also finished a short story, submitted it, got rejected, and resubmitted elsewhere.  Let's hope I have good news to share later on.

If you have been following the news, you'd know about the protests in Hong Kong.  Whatever your political persuasion, you gotta give the protestors credit for having the courage to protest a dictatorship, especially while living in the shadow of a PLA (Communist Chinese Army) garrison stationed in your very city.  As you know, I was born there, so while I have no allegiance to Hong Kong anymore, it was my place of birth.  What I read dismays me, and I fear for the people there.  We all know what dictatorships do when pressed against the wall.  Read Tianenman Square from 30 years ago.  It's a major surprise to myself that I am following the events there so closely.  I have never done this before.  

I'm not going to let political stuff get into my blog much, but I thought I'd share with you something that's dampening my summer mood.  Alas, we are all prisoners of our geography.

One month (or so) to go before school starts.  I can't wait!