Why is the fridge so empty?

Home again and it's nice except for the piles of laundry and empty fridge. Pictures to come soon.

Brighton and Cambridge

Friday we went to the National Gallery and Portrait Gallery. National Gallery was obviously the more interesting one. Had we not slept in we would have been able to go on two guided tours at the National Gallery but hey, we're on vacation.

Saturday we went to Cambridge, did a little punting (flat-bottomed boat on the River Cam), gawped at the college buildings, and did a ghost tour. The ghost tour included a tour of the back of the colleges on punts. Sadly, this was more interesting than the ghost tour part. The tour didn't have the right presentation.

Sunday we went to Brighton and sat on the pebbly beach for a couple of hours. The pier was expensive and boring. For the three of us to go on one ride, it was £12. I didn't think Brighton was all that great but the beach is very nice. It's a good place to people watch. There were three guys heading to the cold water in their underwear and we knew hilarity would ensue once they spent a few seconds in the cold water. One of the guys was wearing white underpants and when his friends had gotten out, he was still in the water, wondering how embarassing the next few minutes would be. He eventually got out and didn't look embarassed.

Today was a bank holiday and after a lie in until noon, we did a river tour and then another ghost walk. It was not as scary as the one we did in Victoria but the guide offered up interesting facts. Today also marked our first day of inclement weather. It was sunny for most of the day but in the late afternoon it started to rain.

Tomorrow we'll do the British Museum and a guided tour of Christopher Wren's London.

Third time's a charm

Well, we finally made it.

The first time we traveled to the Vimy Monument (a brilliant suggestion from Natalie) in 2005, they had just closed access to the monument for a major restoration program. (As an aside, the monument really needed the work. We watched a video at the interpretive centre that explained how the monument was literally falling apart.)

Still, we were amazed by this massive piece of art commemorating Canada's unknown soldiers and the battle of Vimy Ridge. So, given the opportunity to go back as a couple of hangers on to a high-school trip in 2007, we tried again. This time, fewer of the barriers were there, but we were still blocked from getting to the monument. It was only two weeks before it would be opened to the public as part of the its 90th anniversary celebration.

And finally now, on our third attempt, we made it. Yesterday, we took an early Eurostar train out of London to Lille and then Arras for a taxi to the Vimy monument. While train transportation is relatively cheap in Europe, our taxi doubled the price. Still it was all worth it. We were finally able to get on the monument... to touch it and experience it as the architect and sculptor (Allward) intended.

It seemed like everything aligned to work out as well: we had as much time as we wanted to tour the monument, trenches, park and tunnels; the weather was excellent providing great views; and, well, everything was accessible.

More Vimy musings and photos to come when we get home. But in the meantime:

At the Canadian embassy

Just finished up at the Imperial War Museum. The WWI and WWII exhibits were boring as we've seen a lot of museums that cover that period. The Holocaust artwork and the exhibit commemorating the 90th anniversary of WWI were interesting. If anything, I would recommend the Churchill War Rooms instead as it benefits from a better focus.

Now, we're sitting in the Canadian embassy checking the Internet and reading photocopies of the Globe. Well, we're just waiting until we can meet Nicole at the pub.

I just had to go to Stockholm

I bought a similar shoe to this one last year and promptly wore them out. The right shoe is starting to show a hole in its heel and both shoes' soles are not looking well. In short, I loved those shoes. I loved them so much I even dragged my mother-in-law around West Edmonton Mall looking for those shoes. I even had a dream where I went to a store and found them and was so incredibly happy. When I woke up I was so happy until I remembered it was just a dream and then I was sad.

When it came to start thinking of what to bring to London, I thought of those shoes since they were so comfortable but left them at home since they would fall apart and I would have to buy other shoes. I know some of you are thinking, oh no shopping in London how horrible. Well, I'm cheap.

In Stockholm, yesterday the weather was sort of drizzly and after the Vasa museum, we started wandering downtown. We popped into Nordiska Kompaniet because it had Nicole's initials. It's like a much nicer bay. On the fourth floor, I saw a whole wall of Adidas products and thought maybe they'll have the shoe.

And they did!

And I found out why the shoe was hard to find. The shoe was part of a 2006 fall/winter collection. But maybe if I keep on going to European capitals, I'll keep finding my shoe.

We're going to need a bigger boat

Leaving Stockholm today. Saw the Vasa, a large warship that sank 20
minutes into her maiden voyage. Let that be a lesson to you to
properly load your ballast. We're heading home soon. The weather has
been good the past two days although today it's raining. Our
traditional Swedish meals have been excellent. We'll probably post
some photos tomorrow.

In Stockholm

Short recap of our day in Stockholm

- Got up early, although thanks to jet lag it didn't feel early, to get to the airport.
- Ryanair, the airline we flew, is essentially a bus with wings. There are ads on the overhead bin covers
- Wandered around Stockholm
- Toured the Swedish parliament. A little dry but did discover they only have one chamber, not the bicameral system common in other parliamentary democracies
- Decided we are going to visit Birka, a UNESCO world heritage site. It's an old Viking town. Hope to see Vikings
- Had delicious meal of elk meatballs with a cream sauce and ligonberries. The wine with our meal was double the price of my meal. Alcohol is expensive
- Hostel room is small but clean. Showers look okay

So vikings tomorrow!

Welcome to London

All is well and we need to eat. Just popped into the home we're staying at before finding something to eat. Nicole is trying to explain to us how Londoners don't eat on Fridays.

Will be tourist--I need food.

View from our new "home".

Reputation

How can you not laugh at this? Well, I guess you could not have been listening to hip hop in 1990... that would make the above photo a stop sign with graffiti.

In other news, I've been giving a fair amount of thought to my online reputation. "Reputation" is a critical feature of the work I do. While public relations is essentially story telling with purpose (more to it than that, but that's not what this post is about), at its core is an understanding that the reputation of a person, organization or idea is a powerful and valuable part of that person, organization or idea.

Your reputation is developed over time by what you do and what you say. It is measured by how people think about you. And sometimes your ideal reputation is not your actual one. For clients, that's often where I come in. You see, if you can identify how you want to be seen, you can take very specific actions to bridge the gap between your ideal and your actual reputation. And for those who worry that sounds a bit too Orwellian, it takes words and actions to get there.

Our reputations are typically produced in the public sphere. If you're doing something and others can witness it, your reputation is being formed. Furthermore, as those people talk to other people about you, your reputation is at their mercy.

But enough of the lecture.

The online world is essentially one massive public sphere. And while that may be obvious to some, it is easily forgotten... and to others: never realized.

Which brings me to my point: over the past 15 years, I've been building my reputation online. And up until five years ago, I didn't realize it.

Every photo, article, video, news release, blog post, tweet, podcast appearance, CRTC intervention... it's all there creating an image of Daorcey. It's my reputation for those who know me and those who don't.

Should I be worried? Possibly.

Because the next part is about realizing what that reputation is. What have I created for myself? Based on what you can find online about me, here are a few attributes:

• Goofy
• Thoughtful
• Unthinking
• Critical
• Amusing
  
• Self absorbed
• Volunteer
  
• Panda-eater
• Gun-toter
• Traveler
• Sap
• Jerk
  
• Geek / Uber-Geek
• Cynic
• Party-er
• Stick-in-the-mud
• Manipulator
  
• Soulless
  
• Gamer
• Reader
• Flack
  
• Writer

While that might not be all... it's enough. Clearly, some I'd like to keep and some I'd like to throw far, far away.

It's hard to wipe some of the stuff off the net. Sure, a few photos on Facebook can be untagged, but I can't ask the National Post to remove that editor's blog entry that calls me out for being PR support for a client (nor, can I have them remove the comment from a paranoid reader that suggests I'm part of a much larger conspiracy).

I've realized that all I can do now is be as vigilant as possible as I continue to have this very public online presence. Yes, keep it honest. But also keep it within the realm of that reputation I'd like to cultivate.

Blogging? Don't vent about the stupidity of... (fill in the blank here because as soon as I type in something like "colleague" all my coworkers will want to kick me in the junk)

Tweeting? Don't tweet about what you ate for breakfast, unless, of course, breakfast is a key feature of your identity. Then, by all means, give me the rundown.

MySpace updating? Don't update your closest friends about that new, secret client project. Even if you're just talking about "Project Gold Father" it will bite you in the ass.

Facebooking? Don't call it Facebooking... you'll just sound like a n00b who thinks the internets are made tubes and facebooks are like scrapbooks but with more faces.

In the last year, every time I go to write something in the online realm, I think twice (sometimes more than twice) about the long-term ramifications of my words. In many cases, they're there for good and even if you can delete a misstep, a phrase uttered can never be truly recovered.

(Don't get me started on Outlook's "recall" feature... what a stupid feature... I'm comfortable saying right now that should you ever send me a "recall" email following your original email, I will judge you... I will judge you harshly.)

So, here I am armed with my knowledge of online reputations and it has brought me to this point: self censorship. I guess I don't really mind. I am shaping my reputation after all.

And, I'm not exactly sanitizing my whole life. At this point, I'm comfortable with the complexity of reputation I have for myself. So, for now, I'm not scrubbing the internet of my dumb theatre "citicisms" from university. Nor am I deleting the photos of me in various Star Wars uniforms. Sure, maybe somewhere out there someone really hates me because of the online reputation I have. But for now, I'll stick with what I've got.