It's been a pretty hectic day at the office with meetings, engagement programs, and an opening of a brand new Sustainability Resource Centre! With that being said, not much participation in song swap! I gave it a day but nothing else came through.
Here are some songs to get you through the weekend: Roisin Murphy - Rama Lama (Bang Bang) The Broken Circle Breakdown - The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn
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Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We had a Valentine's Day-themed song swap today, with no direction but a subject titled "The Love Day Playlist". I can't be sure how many people in the office have just gotten out of serious relationships, but there were certainly a lot of songs for the single pringles among us. Take a listen and judge for yourself.
For the Better Halves: Arctic Monkeys - I Wanna Be Yours Ciara - Body Party Amy Irving/Jessica Rabbit - Why Don't You Do Right? Bran Van 3000 - Astounded Luther Vandross - Love Won't Let Me Wait For the Single Pringles: Lake Street Dive - I Want You Back (Jackson 5 Cover) CeeLo Green - Fuck You Jhené Aiko - The Worst Jhené Aiko (ft. Childish Gambino - Bed Peace Wet - Don't Wanna Be Your Girl (Eest Coast Remix) Ki: Theory - Open Wound Good Omens - By Open Plain (Entire Album) Again, I want to apologize for the delay in posting about events far later than I should be - I had anticipated that it might be difficult to keep up considering how busy my January has been but I have been so excited about all the events I feel as though I can't do them any justice when I leave the post until later. So it's something I'm going to have to start working on!
ISEEESA stands for the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Economy Students' Association (though they expect to change their name soon depending on the status of the parent organization, ISEEE). For the past eight years they have been holding a networking dinner and speaker event that all students can attend for a nominal fee, which covers dinner, drinks (yes, alcoholic drinks), and a "gift", which this year was a solar-powered phone charger(!). While most of the ISEEESA students tend to be from either Haskayne (Business) or Schulich (Engineering), there is a huge diversity in the disciplines of those students who just participate in these events. There is slightly less diversity in the corporate side of the event: companies pay around $600 to have a table at the event, and most of the companies that are represented are Oil & Gas (the platinum sponsor of the event is Total E & P). This is probably why I felt so lucky that the table I was randomly assigned to was that of Eco Canada, the "environmental careers organization". While my field - sustainability - lends itself fairly easily to most sectors (especially at a sustainability networking event) and certainly to oil & gas/energy, I find it more comfortable to speak to people from companies who are more clearly focused on the environment. Funnily enough, I had applied to get my Environmental Professional in training certificate from Eco Canada and had actually spoken to one of the people from the table on the phone just a few weeks before (we recognized each others' names). It just goes to show you that you need to make sure you respect the faceless voices on the other side of the phone as you never know when you might see them in real life! It was also pleasing to know that despite the dress being business formal, a style which I understand but do not necessarily feel comfortable in, the professionals at my table were wearing dark jeans with stylish collared shirts, which immediately puts me more at ease since it is the dress I'm accustomed to wearing at my own job. I was also pleased that I had opted for the vegetarian meal as most of the table was also eating vegetarian or vegan, and it always helps when the servers ensure that your glass is always full of wine (even if you have to hold back because of, you know, networking professionalism or whatever). The meal itself was incredible and it was evident why this is own of the most successfully-run student events at the University of Calgary. The guest speaker for the night was Alex Steffen, whom I had never even heard of before that night, which I was surprised about after reading his fairly illustrious biography. He was extremely engaging and spoke to the night's theme: how to be a world changer. He provided a series of tips on surviving in our rapidly changing world and how to keep abreast with the changing technology and create a world that is sustainable in all aspects. His thoughts were clear and even with a strawberry & chocolate cheesecake in front of me, I paid utmost attention (the true sign of a great speaker is their ability to hold attention even when there is CHEESECAKE present). A co-worker of mine coincidentally has his World Changer 2.0 book at the office so I've asked to read it and find out more. One of the greatest parts of the night was reconnecting, not networking. One man whose children I used to babysit was representing the Faculty of Environmental Design at Mount Royal University, and I got the chance to tell him that he was a major inspiration for my interest in sustainability and I had even taken an Environmental Design course because of him. I also saw a friend I've known since I was very young but who I often don't see because we are both fairly busy with co-op work terms and extra-curriculars. Another friend from high school told me that he had always thought that I was one of the smartest people in our graduating class and wasn't surprised to see me at this event, though I can say I was certainly surprised to hear him say that! All in all, the night was amazing and I was extremely happy that I chose to go despite almost backing out at the last second because I was slightly anxious as to what to expect. If only I had known earlier - I would have gone every year! 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!
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