It's been a busy week with workshops and conferences but there was still time for song swap this week! One of my good friends (who I met on my field school in Belize) is part of a terrific folk/blue-grass/jazz style band, Whiskeyjack, and they just released their first studio album! I was pumped to be able to share some of their music this week. Here's what we've got:
Jason Mraz - Bella Luna
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix Cover)
Whiskeyjack - There and Back Again
Whiskeyjack - Railroad Bill
Whiskeyjack - On Your Own
Portugal. The Man - Sea of Air
Barbarossa - The Load
Pete Seeger - This Land is Your Land (A Tribute)
Avicii - Hey Brother

 

So as you may have noticed, I missed this week's Friday Song Swap. Luckily I have a better reason than just simply forgetting or being too busy at work - I was travelling to Edmonton for the University of Alberta Sustainability Summit! 
The Sustainability Summit invites students from all across Alberta to engage in sustainability topics through keynote speakers, panel discussions and small group talks.  The theme of this year was "Power & Prosperity: The relationship between energy systems and communities".  This topic is especially critical in Alberta where we live and breathe oil (my dad and I often laugh about how his work on well-sites is paying my way through a conservation/tree-hugging degree). Working in the Office of Sustainability at the University of Calgary, I've really come to value these conferences and summits and see them as a critical opportunity for myself to witness how other people see sustainability and to learn different or innovative ways of approaching the problems that Calgary and our institution faces when tackling 
Despite being only a day-and-a-half conference, my notebook looks like I've spent weeks there! I don't think that I have ever learnt more in my entire life, and I was so moved by how many people participated and the quality of discussions.  I was particularly impressed by the calibre of the speakers that the U of A Office of Sustainability/Sustain SU brought in and the diversity of perspectives. Each and every one was engaging and clearly an expert in their own field; all the sessions I went to were clear with their facts and expressed their own opinions freely while still delivering data and presenting the opinions of the opposing side without defaulting to a Straw Man.
As far as conferences go, i think that this was one of the most well-organized ones that I have ever been to. I am currently in the process of developing a presentation along with my co-workers who attended on what we have learned and what we still can learn from the University of Alberta. We will be expanding on the specific presentations and especially focusing on the incredible keynote speakers. I look forward to sharing that presentation with you soon!

Every January it seems like the days go by faster and faster! After an appropriately-named "Meat & Greet" at Big T's Steakhouse with a previous employee, I'm more than ready to sink into this bar-b-q coma and just listen to some sweet office tuneage.

Arctic Monkeys - Knee Socks
Dragon Fli Empire - Keep The Funk Alive
Little May - Hide
Little May - Boardwalks
Lykke Li - Knocked Up (Kings of Leon Cover)
Grey Reverend - Everlasting
Oscaar Isaac & Marcus Mumford - Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)
Samba de la Muerte - Begin Began Begun
Hot Since 82 & Habischman - Leave Me
Hot Since 82 - Shadows (Ft. Alex Mills)
Green Velvet - Bigger Than Prince (Hot Since 82 Remix)
James Blake - Life Around Here
Run D.M.C. - Rock Box

One of the perks at the office is a weekly tradition known as Friday Song Swap. It's exactly what it sounds like: we share what we're listening to with the other members. Contributions include old songs that we just can't get out of our heads, new songs heard that morning on CJSW, randomly selected songs from shuffle, or sometimes even cat videos. Everyone has different tastes in music so it's a great way to become exposed to new genres or tunes, and who knows, sometimes you find out that maybe you don't hate R&B after all.

Here are the results from January 10:
kwes. - 36
Lynard Skynard - Call Me the Breeze
Eric Clapton & JJ Cale - Call Me the Breeze
My Bubba & Mi - Sexual Healing (Marvin Gaye cover)
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Haitus Kaiyote - Live Session on KCRW
Drake - Too Much (ft. Sampha)
SBTRKT - Hold On (ft. Sampha)
James Blake - Retrograde
James Blake - Lindisfarne
Elvis - I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone
 Walk the Moon - Lisa Baby

Well, here goes nothing! Welcome to my brand new blog, where I'll be sharing some of the interesting things that are currently happening in my life. I am hoping to develop a certain routine, but for now I'm going to let things flourish fairly organically. Let's see where life takes us!