The challenge going to blogging conferences with bloggers is that they are snap-happy-camera fiends. Within seconds of meeting Lee LeFever, for example, I appeared on Flickr.

The great Roland was also in on the action.

Lee takes photos of Roland taking photos … See what I mean. It’s an endless mise-en-scene. Then we all talk about metadata. Metadata within metanarrative. The postmodernists go wild.

blogsndogs

CTV Canada AM reported this morning that the Tories have podcasts up on their site and the Liberals are blogging. Perhaps they’ll show up at the Blogs n Dogs session today.

http://www.technorati.com/tag/blogsndogs

Altitude: Please be aware that Banff’s elevation is approximately 1,384 metres (4,540 feet) … you may experience fatigue, shortness of breath and/or dizziness.

It has nothing to do with being out of shape. See how awesome this place is.

Other wonderful things include the recycling bins in my room, the SmartSaver lightbulbs, and the guy in the box outside my window playing violin.

Check out the music hut. I’d guess it is 6-8 foot cube.
http://www.banffcentre.ca/music/facilities/

I’m a bit distracted by all the cool things and I should be working on an outstanding proposal. Outstanding in that it is incomplete rather than exceedingly brilliant.

blogsndogs

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” (Saint Augustine)

I’m on my way to Banff tomorrow for the Blog n Dogs conference. I have borrowed snow pants. I have located my winter shoes. I’m still searching for more appropriate outerwear. My wee wool coat is not going to do it.

Suggestions on braving the cold?

I have been waiting for this book: The Imagined City: A Literary History of Winnipeg, edited by David Arnason and Mhari Mackintosh. There was an announcement in today’s Winnipeg Free Press that Arnason will be at the Millennium Library Tuesday evening for the release of the book.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Carol Shields Auditorium on the second floor.

A lot of crazy stuff happened in Winnipeg.

Arnason was my thesis advisor at the University of Manitoba. He came out drinking with the grad students and told fantastic stories. I like retelling the stories but I often get the details confused. For example, I never met Al Purdy, but Arnason did. David Arnason. I like telling this story as my own. But it’s not.

Arnason told me Purdy arrived at the University of Manitoba as a visiting professor sometime in the 70s. Purdy left everything in B.C., including his wife. He brought only a few possessions and furnished the apartment with a mattress and some pots and pans that were scrounged up by grad students.

Purdy lived just off campus in Summerland Apartments. He liked socializing with profs and students. They hung around, drinking, and sat on the mattress or the floor. Purdy stocked the cupboard with bean cans and bottles of rye.

Arnason told me Purdy rinsed out the bean cans and used them as glasses. The saving grace was Purdy passed them around half full of rye.

Arnason told these stories as a distraction. He sometimes offered stories in lieu of critical feedback on my thesis. My essays and revisions came back with a check mark or, well-written pieces, a ìgood.î

Arnason says Purdy once called him in the middle of the night. Purdy didnít care about etiquette or the time of day. He commanded that Arnason come over and read the poem he just finished. Arnason had a wife. He lived outside Winnipeg city limits, in St. Norbert. Purdy presented a problem.

Arnason arrived at Purdyís. I imagine he looked tentative, peered at Purdy from the doorway. Purdy offered Arnason a bean can and then waited in anticipation as Arnason read the manuscript. When Arnason finished reading, he handed it back to Purdy. ìItís good.î

Arnason appreciates the economy of words.

ìGood,î was Purdyís indignant reply. ìItís great! Read it again.î

I just spent 10 minutes on a Kick Ass posting about what’s going on in the publishing world. Then the computer froze. I was under the illusion that my posts were “quick saved” as I typed. This is not the case. Now I’m dreadfully late for a post-birthday cake eating date. So instead of Kick Ass you have Half Assed.

The vague recollection of the post is as follows. Lots of cool things happening in publishing, no time to talk, here it is:

Read this article on Berrett-Koehler. Total eye opener in terms of a kick ass business model for book publishing.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/100/berrett-koehler.html

Listen to Patricia Storm on CBC Radio talking books on Cross Country Check-up
http://cbc.ca/checkup/archives.html

And House of Anansi launched a podcast today.
http://www.anansi.ca/podcast/apod.xml

Really, my first post was 4 million times better and I’m not exaggerating.

For a stunning example of half-finished web design, visit the Canadian Blog Awards page and vote for So Misguided.

Round 1 voting has started for the 2005 Canadian Blog Awards.

So Misguided is nominated in the Best New Blog category and the Best Culture Blog category. Vote for Pedro! No, I mean vote for me by selecting the category and then So Misguided.

The Polling Stations are open until Wednesday November 30th.
Friday December 2nd, 12pm EST: Round One results will be announced.

Then I solicit your votes a second time, seems rather tedious:
Saturday December 3rd – Friday December 9th: Round Two voting.
Sunday December 11th, 9pm EST: Round Two results will be announced.

Voting Instructions
Vote once, every day. So Misguided for president.

Don’t pay too much attention to the voting results. It is crap. You’ll see what I mean. And where do LinkFour and LinkFive go?

I forgot to post this last week so here it goes now. Google Print has a new name. It is now Google Book Search. Perhaps Google has just discovered SEO?

The change has been in place since November 17. The search page at http://print.google.com is now http://books.google.com

The second part of the change is the home page promotion. Google Book Search is *bang* right on the home page, unfortunately you now need to log into your Google account to view the book pages. Is that like showing ID to get into the library?

Check out the explanation for logging in:
http://print.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/help.html#whylogin

Apparently you can click the “view an unrestricted page” link. I don’t see that link.

What do you think about Google Book Search so far?

I turned 30 on Wednesday … but I’m celebrating until Monday.

One of the most interesting things about turning 3-0 is hearing about how other people celebrated their 30th birthday. My favourite story so far is that of a colleague who hosted a big party and presented a Punch and Judy show, with an original script.

Do you have a good story? Tell me.