Category Archives: Personal

My boxes don’t touch!

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Julia and I had a practical birth preparation course on Sunday with Victoria local yoga master, philosopher and former registered nurse, Helga Beer. It was awesome!

Julia and I haven’t attended her yogo classes for the last many months. I had forgotten how much I get out of her philosophy.

During the course she mentioned Mark Gungor’s Men’s Brain Women’s Brain:

I hadn’t heard of this video. It’s hilarious! It’s clear Mark has some insights into having a better marriage, “laugh your way to a better marriage” his site says.

The box theory of men’s brains resonated with me, and I have a particularly bad case of it. It relates to my expertise and career in software problem identification, analysis, and resolution. And a clear symptom is my repulsion when an email or forum discussion has multiple topics in it, or when the discussion travels onto a different issue.

Of course, I grin and bear it, because most of life doesn’t suit the clean, discrete presentation as a bug report. Life is dynamic and messy, but still my boxes definitely don’t touch. Julia you’re so generous in your love for me!

The $475 you gave to foolswisdom.com

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As it says on the About page any money made by me on foolswisdom.com is donated to registered humanitarian charities.

The term “fundraising” in Toni’s article title “Automattic fundraising” reminded me that it was time to donate the money you gave by clicking on the ads here in 2007.

In 2007 that was $475 USD from Google Adsense and nothing from anything else.

$100 was already donated to my uni friend Microserf Nicole Steinbok‘s Great Lake Walk to raise money for Canadian Cancer Society. My $100 donation actually became $400 for the Canadian Cancer Society as I let Nicole donate it in her name so that Microsoft would match her, and her Microserf husband Jeff Steinbok generously matched donations, which Microsoft also matched. I like to stretch my donation dollar. Nicole raised $6301 and walked 49 km!

Just now I donated the rest of the money, $400 to Sami Barker and Esquimalt High friends’ Helping build a playground for youth in San Pancho through GiveMeaning.

San Pancho is a small developing fishing village just north of PV. My Aunt, a resident of the village, has two young boys. She has a close connection with the school, and says the town would benefit from a playground at the elementary school. A group of twelve students from Esquimalt High are participating in a fundraising event to buy supplies. Under the direction of Mr. Ken Henderson, the students will visit the town in March where they will live with the locals, study spanish and hopefully get to help out with the playground’s construction

Thank you for your support ;-)

My Favorite Photo Of Julia & I

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Lloyd & Julia sleeping @ langpad

This photo was taken by our friend Dani September, 2005 soon after we arrived in San Francisco to live there. We slept on her couch for the the first while. She took it without us knowing while we slept.

I like this photo so much because of how genuine and innocent it is.

In a few short months Julia and I will have our baby to watch over while he or she sleeps.

Andy Olmsted’s Final Post

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Andy Olmsted, a US Army Major was killed in Iraq on Jan. 3, 2008. The following day his friend published Final Post written by Andy in case he was killed.

I highly recommend you read it, and the other articles this very thoughtful and articulate person shared on his blog and in other online communities. Here is one of the many passages in Final Post that really moved me:

But for those who knew me and feel this pain, I think it’s a good thing to realize that this pain has been felt by thousands and thousands (probably millions, actually) of other people all over the world. That is part of the cost of war, any war, no matter how justified. If everyone who feels this pain keeps that in mind the next time we have to decide whether or not war is a good idea, perhaps it will help us to make a more informed decision. Because it is pretty clear that the average American would not have supported the Iraq War had they known the costs going in. I am far too cynical to believe that any future debate over war will be any less vitriolic or emotional, but perhaps a few more people will realize just what those costs can be the next time.

Thanks Giving!

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I’ve received quite a few thank yous from USA friends today on their Thanksgiving Day. All of them I return the thanks for the part they play in my happiness and successes!

Every day is an opportunity for thanks giving.

I have a wonderful partner in life, Julia, who is carrying our first baby (due mid-April); supportive family; talented, dedicated,and fun work mates; and amazing friends here in Victoria and around the world!

Thank you!

Petty

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I have been tripping out lately about the problems of the world, many influenced by our American cousins. I am fragile and this “stuff” affects me. I can’t help, but feel that most of what I am most passionate about is petty.

Contributing to free culture and open source takes the edge off, and helps me feel grounded. The other half, the greater half, is my Julia, family and friends (including all of my Automattic colleagues, local friends, and fellow contributors). I am very fortunate.

Anti-Israel = Anti-Semitic

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“Singling Israel out, among all the nations of the world, for a boycott is obviously anti-Semitic in effect, if not necessarily in motivation.”

I would not have described myself as Anti-Israel, and definitely not anti-semitic, but reflecting on it, I have been quite negative in my thinking towards Israel. Why have the people of Israel’s crimes seemed worse to me than Palestinians’ crimes?

The answer is obvious once I think about it, I am beating up the good people. I don’t mean that the Palistinians or other Arabs are the bad people. I mean, Israeli culture feels closer to my own culture, and therefore I feel I can relate to their values and therefore their crimes, but “singling Israel out, among all the nations of the world” is wrong.