While it's not a sign of my worldly nature, I've come across two things on other people's blogs and I want to share them with you. The first, a site dedicated to strategic voting in the upcoming Canadian election to ensure that the environment is protected. Vote for Environment is asking you to do just that. In ridings that polls consider to be close races, they advise voters not to split their vote between the Liberals, NDP and Greens but rather to rally behind a single candidate. I see nothing that describes a specific party affiliation, rather they just want to see the environment protected and don't see the Conservative party doing it. Funnily enough, neither do I. My riding seems likely to remain Liberal, both from my experience and according to their site. What about yours?

The second ill-gotten link is a Youtube video from Canada's own Feist. This time she's adapted her song 1,2,3,4 for the Sesame Street crowd. Cute!

Blogging about blogs

I listened to some commentary this evening about how many political candidates have had to withdraw from the race (Canada will be holding a Federal Election on October 14) due to their blogs. More specifically their perspectives, posted for the world to see and saved in perpetuity thanks to the endless servers of google and their caching of webpages.

My mind moved immediately to my own (imaginary) political future and what my opponents would latch onto to bring me down. Any of you who have been reading my blog as regularly as I have posted may have your own ideas. Me, I honestly don't have a specific instance that comes to mind. I haven't railed against too much or made rash statements that I'm no longer willing to support. I wonder if the disgraced political candidates feel the same way. Maybe that speaks to the strength of their convictions or to their inability to understand that not everyone shares their views. Maybe it speaks to the harsh light that shines when the nation's media focuses on any one thing or maybe they deserved it because their views were not palatable to a large percentage of the voting public.

As for me, it'll probably be "No Pants Day" that brings me down.

Things seem hopeful. That shouldn't be noteworthy but, when it is... it is. Challenging times of the recent past seem like distant memories. This is a good thing but I'm working hard to remember what was hard about them and considering lessons that I may learn to carry me safely into the future.

Additionally, projects at work have a good feeling around them. It makes for a nice context in which to approach things.

Sorry for the lack of action of late. Pre-occupied and all that.

At what point does optimism become unreasonable? Is the loss of optimism necessary in a pragmatic world or is it just a sad moment when hope is lost? As with any true conundrum, the truth takes aspects of both and as a result, neither is entirely true. I'm not optimistic about the current state of the world, and especially the type of world any children I might have would live in. But to choose not to have children would, in and of itself, represent a loss of optimism. I do not believe I am alone in my concerns about the state of the world, but does that stop others from becoming parents? Of course not. "Pragmatism" and optimism must live in harmony. Does that help me figure out where I stand. Perhaps. I guess I'll just have to be optimistic that I'll get it figured out.