After the jump is the speech I gave to Waterloo City Council on Monday. The meeting itself [was written up in the Chronicle](http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/article/199579), but I don’t think the quote from me totally sums up what I was trying to say (you know, newspaper quotes…).
I’ve mostly been complaining about the media and the residents’ associaton here and on WWBA. It took me a bit to figure out what to say to council.
Do you read [Seth Godin’s blog](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/)? You should read [today’s post](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/01/amplifying-complaints.html), particularly if you’ve been following the [HUG thing](http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/article/199579).
Which statement do you think is more likely to generate the desired response?
> I’ve been living here for 50 years! I pay my taxes! This neighbourhood is a disaster and the city needs to do something!
or
> I love this neighbourhood and I really like living here. I think it would be really great if more of the people like me who want to live here were able to.
Even if nothing else comes out of this, I hope some people at least learn something from it.
I’ve been moved to write a post about [HUG Waterloo on WWBA](http://waterloowellingtonblogs.org/2010/01/hug-waterloo.shtml). It’s a follow-up to a post I did a year ago on the supposed “[student ghetto](http://waterloowellingtonblogs.org/2009/01/in-the-ghetto.shtml)” in the Northdale neighbourhood where Ellen lives.
Ellen and I talked to Jan D’Ailly last night, offering some of the pieces of the puzzle that I’d been missing. We’re a little dubious about coming forward because this could get messy. But Ellen thinks it’s important. I do too, for that matter.
Waterloo council is planning to table a motion related to HUG Waterloo’s proposal, and we’re planning on speaking there, if Ellen’s up for it. Wish me luck.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
I’m in Belleville for the holidays, as usual. I’m enjoying a little bit of relaxation and celebration back home with my family.
My mom threw her now-traditional Christmas Eve Open House last night. I got to catch up with cousins and aunts and uncles. Today we did the normal Christmas gift exchange and dinner stuffs. All in all, it’s been a lovely Christmas.
I managed to watch the Doctor Who special tonight, and it was… something else. I look forward to the resolution next week.
I’m putting together a game of [Spirit of the Season](http://www.evilhat.com/home/sotc/spirit-of-the-season/)–a special Christmas edition of [Spirit of the Century](http://www.evilhat.com/home/sotc/)–for next week. I’m looking forward to pitting Nick Saint, aka Secret Santa! and his band of Reindeer Men against their dastardly enemies. And it’s been over a year (really?) since I last ran a game. I’m looking forward to getting back into that. And I’ll need to put some work into it tomorrow.
I don’t have any particular reason to go Boxing Day shopping. I’ll have a look around online, but I’m not especially looking to buy anything.
I’ll be back in Waterloo on Monday, I think. Then I’ll have to get ready for my New Year’s party.
I’ve been trying to get more into Ubuntu lately. Not just running it, but getting *involved*.
I like Ubuntu. I like the software; I like the ethos; I like the community; I like how it’s catching on with people. There’s lots of things to like. I haven’t been this excited and enthusiastic about a computing platform since my old Amiga days. Rather than just basking in my enthusiasm, I want to *do* something about it. I want to contribute.
So I’ve been poking around the [various ways to get involved](http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate). I was sitting in on some of the [Ubuntu Open Week](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek) sessions last month, looking in occasionally when they were talking about things that looked interesting. In one of the community sessions, I asked what you could do when your LoCo ([Ubuntu Canada](http://ubuntu-ca.org/), in this case) doesn’t have much of a presence in your area. I didn’t get much of an answer, but I did start up a bit of a conversation with some other Ubuntu people in Southern Ontario.
So coincidentally, the next week was [Ontario Gnu/Linux Fest](http://onlinux.ca/). [Ralph](https://launchpad.net/~txwikinger), one of the KWLUG people, was asking around for people to help out with the Ubuntu table. And since I wanted to promote my [release party](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/index.php/2009/10/27/karmic-koala-release-party/), I volunteered.
I got to hang out with other KWLUG Ubuntu people, and they showed up for my party the next week. We talked a little about starting up a more local LoCo. Ralph went off to UDS in Dallas and talked to the Ubuntu Canada people there. The result of that discussion is the [Kitchener/Waterloo Chapter of the Ubuntu Canada LoCo](https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-waterloo-region).
So far, we have 12 people signed up. As of right now, we know we’ll be participating in the [Ubuntu Global Jam](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam) early in 2010. What we do beyond that, we’re still working on figuring out as a group. I’m just happy that we’re building this local group I can explore this whole Ubuntu thing with. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.