trees in white rock
Friday, September 14th, 2007
It appears with each passing day that there are fewer and fewer trees in this city. I suspect there are a number of reasons for this. Read on »
uncommon sense
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
I wrote a post about a year ago titled common (non)sense. Again, I find myself frustrated with people telling me that my ideas or concerns are contrary to “common sense” — as if that’s a good enough reason itself to do (or not do) something. Read on »
walk (and drive) the talk
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
We all know how beneficial it is to our health, environment, and economy to use energy more efficiently. The City of White Rock can demonstrate to its citizens how to be energy conscious with their cars. Read on »
regulating courtesy
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
Today, Council received a letter from a citizen frustrated with the parking situation in her neighbourhood. She lives in an apartment building that doesn’t have enough parking spots to accommodate all its resident vehicles. Read on »
paper lens
Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
After writing yesterday’s post, I remembered a letter to the editor a couple months ago ridiculing my apparent “myopia”. They were objecting to my concerns that Council was missing a great opportunity to support its heritage initiatives and draft Tourism Strategy. Read on »
time vs. attention
Saturday, September 1st, 2007
It never ceases to amaze me how many people assume that the amount of attention an issue gets in the news reflects the amount of time I spend on it. Read on »
listen to this
Friday, August 24th, 2007
from my computer’s dictionary:
listen |ˈlisən|
verb [ intrans. ]
give one’s attention to a sound : evidently he was not listening | sit and listen to the radio.
• take notice of and act on what someone says; respond to advice or a request : I told her over and over again, but she wouldn’t listen.
• make an effort to hear something; be alert and ready to hear something : they listened for sounds from the baby’s room.
• used to urge someone to pay attention to what one is going to say : listen, I’ve got an idea.
There is this pervasive and persistent belief in the community that I was not listening during the town centre debates. I’m trying to understand how it could be that I took notes during the discussions, wrote articles and dozens of emails in response to questions and comments… yet, somehow they say, I did all that without listening. Read on »
i’m back
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
Wow. It’s been 4 months since I’ve written a post on this site. Putting together the Spirit of the Sea Festival was a heavy and time consuming responsibility. And it seems like it’ll never end. There are still bills rolling in, errands to run, website to update, records to file… Read on »
mood of smart
Friday, April 20th, 2007
Below are more quotes from Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence.
Many people have asked me about the value of Cliff Annable’s contribution as a White Rock City Councillor. Read on »
impact of stress
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
When emotionally upset, people cannot remember, attend, learn, or make decisions clearly. As one management consultant put it, “Stress makes people stupid.” – page 149, Emotional Intelligence.
I wonder how this would apply to people who feed off their assumptions or rumour and arrive fearful or angry at public information meetings? Read on »