I haven’t written about tap dancing for a while so let me tell you about figure skating.

My friend Julie, who I visited in Malta last year, is back in town and actively promoting her figure skating blog, called Boot and Blade.

It’s an interesting look into the figure skating world from the perspective of someone who spent an awful lot of time on the rink skating and coaching. I have a passing interest in figure skating but Julie definitely knows how to hook me. I think I even watched part of the World’s with her last year just so I could get the inside scoop on who should or shouldn’t win and what moves were tough vs. crowd pleasers.

Check out 8 of the Worst Figure-Skating Falls.

Here’s the first.

Boot and Blade: Figure-Skating Blog by Julie Szabo

Did you meet me at CHRA Annual Congress: Breaking New Ground, April 2-5?

I was recently asked to share my social media expertise as a speaker at the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association’s Breaking New Ground Conference in Vancouver. The conference focus was Canada’s social housing sector, with the purpose of questioning traditional approaches to housing issues and offering fresh perspectives. In my case we were looking at traditional media approaches and fresh perspectives on media, in particular how CHRA could use online media to get support for affordable housing issues.

Canadian Housing and Renewal Association was established in 1968 and is a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening the social housing sector.

My workshop was “Everything you wanted to know about blogging, Facebook, and independent daily online magazines but were afraid to ask…”

You can see the full write up on Boxcar Marketing.

And if you are interested in community planning or housing issues, check out Rachael Ashe’s recap of some of the examples we found of communities using online tools to do community planning: Community Planning Examples.

Looking for something to do on Thursday, March 27 at 7:00 PM?

If you’re in Vancouver, consider coming to Rex Weyler’s book launch at the Chapters at Broadway and Granville.

Rex Weyler is the author of Greenpeace: The Inside Story (Raincoast) and he and I worked closely on the online campaign for the book. I’m a huge fan of Rex and think he’s a great storyteller.

Since Good Omens is a bit of a Christian story and I’m all for thematic convergence, I’m going to try to make it.

Rex will read, speak about his new book The Jesus Sayings, & sign books.

Coffee and desserts will be served (and who doesn’t love desserts)!

Here are some quotes about the book, which I also noticed in the Globe and Mail this weekend:

Quote:
“Weyler liberates the historical Jesus to tell the Christian origin story anew. He speaks truth to power in this solid and exciting re-telling of the diversity, politics, and mythology behind the origins of Christianity. There is integrity and trustworthiness in this work and in this author, whose history of activism helped launch the global Greenpeace movement. Read this book.”,Mathew Fox, author of One River, Many Wells and Original Blessing

“This book scores high points in readability, relevance and insight. Weyler shows us that Jesus still has the power to inspire, and that it is up to us to make sure this inspiration draws out the best in humanity, and not the worst.,Pacific Rim Review of Books, Steve Black

“Rex Weyler is a master journalist, who brings us face to face with the Jesus who walked the earth, changed western civilization, and remains relevant to modern readers.”,John Izzo, Ph.D., author of The Five Secrets You Must Discover before You Die

“Weyler takes his readers on a historical tour of the ancient sources, describing how the earliest accounts of the life and message of Jesus grew over time and in response to changing circumstances. Weyler has done his research and is a great storyteller.”,The Gazette, Montreal, Lorenzo DiTommaso

What books are on your radar? What are you reading that’s fantastic?

I heard Diane Schoemperlen has a new book out, anyone reading it? Is it good? I loved Our Lady of the Lost and Found.

Tonight I’m going to get back into Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. I’m liking it a lot so far.

Via Trend Hunter I discovered Edoc Laundry. It’s interactive fashion. Each shirt has a hidden code that you take to the website for additional graphics. Very cool.