Two years.  Sometime in 2007 I decided I wanted to go to planning school. I can’t even remember what first pushed me toward that profession, but I do remember exactly where I was when I got into Queen’s – February 2008 in some dodgy net bar in Phnom Penh Cambodia.  I wasn’t expecting to get into any grad program and was putting out feelers for the Canadian military (enlisted), so it was quite a surprise.  I’m a pretty awful student, not too down with academia, and would rather eat glass then do research…not exactly prime grad student material.  Given that, it has been an immense privilege to have been given the opportunity to get that chunk paper and check out some built forms with a bunch of great people. 

All the best to the 2010 Supers

Technorati Tags: 2010, grad school, Kingston, queens university, surp

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Despite  the  accepted  health  benefits  of  walking,  in  some Western  cities  it  has  become  an almost  counter-cultural  activity,  and  ‘a  sign  of powerlessness  or  low  status’  (Solnit  2000,  253).  

Hah hah!  I always knew there must be actual, academic evidence for this!  No longer must I merely speculate or muse regarding how I feel when I walk about Kingston’s Gardiner’s road or the highway 401 power centres . 

I now have a citation that conforms somewhat the laws of academia.  

Wanderlust:  A history of walking .  As suspected, it is been signed out of the library.

Technorati Tags: grad school, Kingston, surp, urban planning, walking, walking school bus

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• Connected with descendents of my Great Uncle’s Typhoon squadron

  Was provided information regarding a memorial cairn created for my Great-Uncle in France.

• Acquired a long-term internet stalker.
• Acquired several good friends through the website.
• Routinely receive hits from individuals interested in the Nanjing sex industry…probably because of this post .
• Became a whiz with WordPress and other blog related software.
• 410 posts – over 600 pages @ 12pt. font of scribbling (as of 2008 given that WordPress no longer exports in .txt format so I can’t read as a word document) – 921 comments – about 24,000 hits – 3343 individual photos.

I spent this weekend cleaning up my gallery.  I had noticed some time ago that numerous albums were missing from the gallery, including most of my Southeast Asia, Nanjing, Slovenia, Croatia, some from Tibet and a couple of other random images.  I’ve addressed that issue and added photos from this summers escapades in Shanghai and Nanjing.  I might even add some more Canadian content (although the ole’ Pentax is still down and out…a resolution is to fix that bad-boy).   Most of those have already been posted on the main page at some point over the past six months, but they are now archived back in the gallery.  The India stuff will be in there eventually, although the trend is that I’m usually a year tagging and documenting my photos.

I’m writing this from a nice perch on the 4th floor of Stauffer Library over looking Queen’s.  I’ve vowed to spend less time in my office at SURP this year in a bid for more productivity (as much as I love the socializing, I would like to get this Master’s report done somewhat on time).  Stauffer is kind of a undergrad hang out, but the 4th floor has nice views and could be a choice location (but I’ll steer clear during the craziness of exams).

Crappy mobile phone image (Queen’s from Stauffer Library)  

I’m clear headed and ready to dive into my final semester (hopefully) as a student. I’ve got a bike that tears up the snow, a new backpack that eats mud for breakfast and a thermos full of coffee.  Just need some new sunglasses.

Technorati Tags: 2010, blog, grad school, Kingston, life, new years, pentax, photography, surp

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After being (for lack of a better term) "dumped" at the doorstep of the foreign student residence at 9pm in evening last Saturday night, the logistics have slowly come together over the past few days.  Aside from the supervising professors and the Queen’s liaison officer, I don’t think anyone was really informed that we would be arriving.  The graduate and undergraduate students in our office had a look of utter bewilderment when we arrived and still can’t seem to figure out why two urban planning students are inhabiting office space at the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity Science (although there is a GIS lab next door).  The connection is rather vague, but it is there.  This institute apparently does quite a bit of work on the effects of urbanization on surrounding natural environments, and this is where initial relationship was developed (around 10 or so years ago…so I’m told).  The bond is high-level academic and I feel that it is largely used as a networking and opportunity tool based upon the far-reaching names of the two universities.  From a student perspective, the happenings over at the urban planning and architecture school at Tongji University are slightly more enticing given the common field.  Unfortunately, I feel that students feed off one another, especially in China where the professor relationship can be quite formal and hierarchical.  I know little about genetics and my officemates know little about planning in Shanghai which doesn’t bone well for cross-office banter and discussion.

However, that said, I still believe this is going to be a good exchange.  A lot of the responsibility to get out, learn, observe and network is placed upon me and that is sometimes the best way to discover productivity. Fudan also represents an entirely new angle of China for me where I find myself surrounded by high calibre research, minds and people that counter much of the common (and somewhat earned) stereotypes regarding China.

…There is also a fantastic view of Lujiazui (Pudong CBD) from the south side of the foreign student residence.  Utterly amazing at night.

Technorati Tags: china, fudan university, shanghai, surp, urban planning

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Hmmm…

good good study study day day up… 

Technorati Tags: grad school, nothing, study, surp

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Despite the best efforts of a former elementary school classmate who sent this very funny image too me…math and essentially most anything involving numbers remains (despite the protein) about as delicious as a bowl of minced cockroaches.

I’m currently engaged in a losing battle with a required statistics course.  The funny thing I find about number courses is the marketing strategies employed by their proponents.  If I had a dollar for each time I heard a number teacher state “you are going to need this in your future” I would be living in Whistler, hunkered within the walls of my massive custom built log house using a calculator to add up my piles of cash (+ interest) earned from unsuspecting number teachers.

I’ve decided that I only require such knowledge…for the next time someone says I need to take a number course.  That is what the statistics tell me!  In the 9 years after my first (and assumed to be ‘last’) statistics course I’ve come across such methodologies once…and it was handled quite nicely by my computer.

A secret fact about Bryan is that he was 9% away from not graduating high school.  Despite the fact that I didn’t seem to have any problem acquiring scholarships for my first year of university, 9% was the thin buffer that was standing between me and a life of wiping industrial wastes of the side of oil rigs in Fort McMurray, Alberta, a pharmaceutical test subject or a male dancer.

I failed the minimum BC math requirement once and passed (via correspondence –  a ‘watered-down’ version of that number course) with 59%.

My ability with numbers has plagued me my whole life.

I had to meet another math requirement for my undergrad geography degree.  Having two years of university under my belt and a more mature and dedicated outlook I ran into that course full on with optimism and a ‘can-do’ attitude.  I was in the math help office every second day that semester.

I’ve never been shot down so hard in my life.  Final mark, 52%.

I am well aware that many people are not number-inclined, but my performance with numbers is dismally far out in left field relative to my other abilities.  If I were a statistic, my position is so incredibly skewed I would be dropped from the study.

I don’t know why I can’t seem to perform with numbers. It is very bizarre.

I’m not about to sink low and blame instructors…but I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had a good one who didn’t hold that mathematical arrogance that most seem to carry around in a bag.  There have been some instructors I’ve had who I swear want to shove calculators down the throats of their ‘dumb’ students.  “What do you mean you don’t get it????”  “What are you, stupid or something?”*

*that could probably also be a planner at a town meeting*

Genetics?  Nope – my Dad’s a whiz with numbers. Maybe I’m a mutation.

I think it is confidence.  Each time I open up my stats textbook I am reminded of my 17 past years of schooling and complete failure with anything involving numbers.

Best I can do is open it up and try not to think about all of the useful things I could be learning as a planner.

Technorati Tags: attitude, grad schoo, math, statistics, surp

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I swear, I will die at my computer…while using AutoCAD.  I’m not kidding when I say my hair is falling out over this software package – it’s all over my keyboard right now :-(

Technorati Tags: autoCAD, grad school, Kingston, queens, queens university, surp

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I generally find myself in agreement with the premise. Fresh, locally grown food stuffs, support of local agriculture, increasing food security and developing community relations with local vendors = diverse, interesting and vibrant urban areas.  It reminded me a lot of my living conditions while in Nanjing.  While I can’t vouch for the locality of the food stuffs I was purchasing – I did have good relations with the various venders in and around my apartment, I never found myself traveling for more than 50 meters in search of any essentials and my fridge was never full.  I like to think of those years as a ‘right-sized-life’…barring of all of those travels I managed to squeeze in…:-p

Looking at my shopping patterns in Kingston over the past two months, I can’t say that this strategy is easily employed to my current living location/situation.  I live in a predominately residential area, and while there is a very good corner store about 10 minutes up the street, the proprieters open late and close early – which doesn’t jive well with a student schedule.  Most of my grocery shopping occurs downtown to take advantage of the farmers market, but the distance is a stretch without a vehicle and the bus runs every 30 minutes which I think acceptable if one’s timing is good, but creates annoying problems if a bus is missed by a few minutes.  A round trip shopping expedition for any item is likely to take at least one hour and that is assuming that I don’t tie in a visit to the university.

To be filling up on food every two days or so via bus/foot I find is difficult, even for someone who really isn’t that far from the fresh and local marketplace…and isn’t even really in the suburbs…and I don’t even have a full-time job.   I manage once a week grocery shopping which includes about 2-3 days worth of fresh items from the farmers market.

I dig the theory and I think it would work great for high-density areas, but when was the last time you saw anything resembling local/fresh food in the ‘burbs?  Unfortunately, the present fabric just isn’t very accepting…

Technorati Tags: canada, farmers market, food, food security, Kingston, local food, nanjing, surp, urban planning

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Some interesting things from this week:

The Canadian Army operates a Afghan radio station out of CFB Kingston broadcasting into the Afghanistan.

Anthropocene -from an lecture on security and environmental change.  Good lecture although I was surprised at how Robert D. Kaplan (one of my favorite essayists) was ripped to shreds by the presenter.  I also didn’t feel that my question regarding the role of the Canadian military in environmental change was adequately answered…I couldnt’ tell if I was being ridiculed or not.   Those policy study types are very obscure.

I was in Toronto last Saturday for a field trip.  First time to Canada’s premier city although I have to admit I’m not nearly as impressed by Toronto’ apparant built environment.  I just felt it to be rather mediocre given the mythical status is seems to hold in the Canadian mindset.  I specifically target the skyline and built structures, as I’m sure the social environment is as vibrant as it is reported.  I suppose it could be that I cut my ‘urban-teeth’ in Asia where the skylines and built landscapes are…well…massive.  I was good to see some of the developments in that area that are often mentioned in class – such items are very abstract unless physically experienced.  Visiting the new urbansit community of Cornell was the highlight for me as those design concepts only existed in text for me but I could finally put a space to the words, concepts and theory.  New Urbanism is rather controversial, but I liked what I saw.

Technorati Tags: afghanistan, canadian army, cornell, gis, Kingston, new urbanism, surp, toronto, urban planning

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This habit diminished significantly during my time abroad but I suppose it was only natural that it would make a return with my return.

My program doesn’t involve much time in the library as most of our readings are provided in course packs and relevant journals can be easily accessed online and printed at the school – nevertheless, I thought it was time to visit Stauffer (the visit would also correspond with a project for one course involving graphically modeling the library).

In an attempt to keep my China skillz current (in regards to planning) I searched up some books on the topic and recorded down their call numbers.  Call numbers are quite long and I am quite lazy, so after only one I noticed that most planning books held the first four digits in common thus would probably be found in the same section of the library – so a marched off confidently to the HT166 section of Stauffer. Sure enough, the books are there….all three bloody rows of them – I should have written down the whole call number.

I managed to find the several books I was looking for but I soon found myself surrounded by hundreds of relevant, current and damn interesting books on planning.  The Stauffer Library urban planning section is quite good (too me at least, maybe it has an awful selection…I’m not edcuated enough to know – ignorance is bliss).  I quickly discovered that I’m interested in almost all of them and in all aspects of planning…except maybe housing.  Despite being probably one of the most important and relevant aspects of urban planning, housing just isn’t sexy….my concentration, land use is far sexier.

Planning sexy?  *slap* – When was the last time you heard a woman comment – “I love a man that plans”.  It’s usually the attraction to a dude’s spontaeous nature – something which is the anti-thesis of the planning profession.

So here I am – back to my dorky ways.

Technorati Tags: books, china, land-use, queens university, stauffer library, surp, urban planning

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