Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.

Ottawa sights

During the next three weeks, in the lead-up to a friend’s visit, I am undertaking a survey of touristic sites in Ottawa. It should involve the major museums – war, civilization, the National Gallery, the small Museum of Contemporary Photography – as well as Parliament and possibly the Supreme Court. This pre-screening is meant both to familiarize me with the city a bit and to help identify places of interest to show to others.

What else might be appropriate for a three-day-visitor? Culinary suggestions are also welcome. For the benefit of anybody else who is new to the city, it may be worthwhile to know that a collection of MetaFilter members are meeting up on August 9th.

The ravages of transport

Everything that passed through the mail from England to Canada seems to have suffered a bit in the crossing, if only by taking on an odd smell. Nothing, however, was anywhere near so badly damaged as my world map. Despite being properly packed in a rigid plastic tube, it has been bent, crushed, and mangled. That is a particular shame given that it was an especially good map, and a birthday gift to boot.

Right now, the remains (held aloft by a system of cords I rigged up) are serving as a temporary window covering for the pane facing the street. I should have given it to someone in England, or left it on the wall of my room in Church Walk for the next inhabitant to appreciate.

PS. These 34 degree Celsius days (and twenty degree nights) are a challenge unto themselves. I am looking forward to the autumn.

Out of season

If you want to save some money and make yourself feel like you are really on the ball, have a look at the winter clothing prices at Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC). Presumably because they have new stock coming in this fall, a lot of old stuff is quite heavily discounted. If you sense a long-term need for Gore-Tex trousers or a down parka, now may be the time to invest.

Personally, I am placing my hope in a long summer. Unless some new hassle arises, my next paycheque should finally mean the acquisition of a used bike.

The Simpsons Movie

The other night, I saw The Simpsons Movie with Marc and some of his economist colleagues. Going in, I thought it more likely to be a disaster than a triumph. I was pleased to find my pessimism largely unjustified. While it did involve a lot of the same awkward and improbable gimmickry of the later episodes, the film was well speckled with fully deserved laughs. It also revealed federal environmental bureaucracies for the villainous and malicious entities they truly are.

Simpsons fans avoiding the film for fear it will be terrible should gird themselves to have a look; those without a long-standing appreciation for the show will probably be better off steering clear.

Still in the wilderness

Unfortunately, I am still sans internet. It seems the only way to get DSL is to pledge an entire working day, then wait to discover what time the installation team cares to show up. They don’t do evenings or weekends, naturally, and they certainly cannot commit to a time more specific than ‘probably am’ or ‘probably pm.’

To anyone who has sent messages to my personal email accounts, I apologize. I simply cannot check them until I get access at home or lug my laptop to a coffee shop downtown. The latter, I may undertake tonight.

[Update: 31 July 12:05pm] At least my July 21st issue of The Economist has finally managed to wander to the right place. I am not entirely isolated from the goings on in the world outside the TLC complex.

[Update: 1 August 2007] By midnight on August 3rd, I will have a DSL connection through TekSavvy – one of the local ISPs that seems to be well liked by people on web forums. Thankfully, someone who lived in my flat previously had DSL set up; as such, I don’t need to spend an entire day waiting for Bell to show up and make hardware adjustments.

oint(Musca domestica)ment

The 6:15am rumble of heavy trucks is one limitation of living three metres from a busy road. They are joined in cacophony by commuters in cars and on motorbikes, building into an intense parade by the time when I need to walk to work. The level of sound is more than sufficient to make attempts at sleep fruitless.

I am considering switching the placement of my bedroom and living room. It would make the flat somewhat awkward, but it would allow greater privacy (especially while I have no blinds) and hopefully sounder sleep. In any case, I need to pick up a box of industrial strength earplugs for myself and any guests who I have in the future.

Unconnected

I haved moved into the new place, and it is very nice. Scandalously, there is no internet. As such, updates will be infrequent until I can pay some Canadian telecom company way too much for broadband.

Life without high speed internet makes one feel fundamentally cut off from the world – like one is stranded in an obscure village on an unknown continent.

To sleep, perchance to dream

I have discovered an additional element of full time work. It concerns what might be called a Wakefulness Index (WI): a notional figure representing one’s ability to concentrate and think creatively at any point in time. The index has natural oscillations; for me, it probably peaks in the afternoon and evening (insofar as work related thinking is concerned). Of greater personal policy importance is what might be called wakefulness forcing, the undertaking of behaviours and actions that alter one’s wakefulness index during subsequent hours or days.

Such behaviours encompass everything from the micro (a particular decision regarding caffeine consumption) to the macro (the selection of an overall sleep regime). All this seems clear to me right now because of one of the major choices that frequently needs to be made, in regard to wakefulness. That is, the decision of whether to use leisure time (especially weekends) for the purpose of increasing your index (resting, but not doing much else) or decreasing it, but having a lot more fun.

It is a classic biological trade-off like, for instance, the balance between time spent looking for food and time spent looking for a mate. Like all such balances, there are multiple stable equilibria and a near infinite number of ways to shift between them. In the interest of overall balance, since yesterday and this morning were used as WI investments, I will have to draw down the account a bit tonight.

Flat pack furnishings

This has been a big day. When I woke up, I owned no furniture. Now, I own two wardrobes, a desk, two chairs, a sofa, a large bookcase, a bed, and a kitchen table. I also have pots and pans, flatware, glassware, a reading lamp, bedding, and the keys to my new flat. All told, I now have about ten times more weight and value in home furnishings than ever before. I still need to get some drapes or blinds, unless I want to leave everyone walking or driving up booth street with constant visual access to my bedroom.

Tomorrow evening, IKEA will be delivering the sofa, bed, and bookcase. A few hours with an Allen Key later, I will have myself a furnished apartment. Definite progress is being made, in relation to Maslow’s hierarchy.

Looking around the half-furnished flat, I am already half thinking that it would be a shame to leave when this contract expires in a year.

Sustainable transport required

Now that I have a flat leased and am starting to collect furniture, the next target for a search is a bicycle. I am open to either a new or a used bike of a reasonable price. A hybrid is probably the correct formfactor, since I am unlikely to always use it on the road, but will generally be doing so. Picking up a pannier or two is also probably a good idea, especially given that I plan to commute to and from work by bike – at least until the snows begin.

Local intel is always valuable in these situations. Anyone who can speak to one of the following is encouraged to let me know: the relative merits of local bike shops selling used bikes, the same information on places that sell used ones, any specific opportunities to buy a good bike from a private individual. Having sold my Oxford bike in desperation, shortly before my departure, I know that relocating individuals with a moderate lack of foresight can be an excellent source of such vehicles.