Ten Years In An Unexpected National Capital

Ten years ago today, I arrived in Ottawa, a place I had never expected to live and work.  I had been working to move on from my previous job and got several interviews in the DC area.  Instead, I was told about a job interview process at Carleton that I knew I would not get (long story), but I had hoped to practice my stuff and maybe make a few connections.  Instead, I got offered a different job--the Paterson Chair in International Affairs.  And I will forever be grateful for the accidents and luck that got me here.  So much so that I resurrected one of my oldest Spew gags: how I am surprised, troubled, enchanted, and humbled. 

• Besides being surprised at how ten years flew by, soon making Ottawa the place I have lived the longest, I guess I am surprised by how I feel like I belong here and how quickly that seemed to have developed.  True, it was the first place I ever moved where I knew people.  I quickly developed friendships with other folks at the other university in town, my friends at Carleton introduced me to folks in the media with several now being friends.  Creating a network, the Canadian Defence and Security Network, was not easy but it was eased by how many people I met at the various events around town over the years, by the contacts I developed at a number of institutions inside and outside of government.  It really is a small city, and it is chock full of people engaged in the stuff that interests me--International Relations, Foreign Policy, Civil-Military Relations, ultimate frisbee, and Defence Policy.
  
• I am troubled by the politics of the place--that the city council seems to be dominated by the contractors and can't buy a train system in any competent kind of way, that the provincial leaders don't care about the city since the provincial capital is in Toronto (and we saw this play out during the far right occupation of the city), and the media and perhaps Canadians think that money spent on normal federal stuff is a waste, like the Prime Minister is supposed to live in a dump and fly on an obsolete plane.  Ottawa is a pretty special place, but it has been under-served by politicians at all levels.  
• 
  I am enchanted by so much of this place, whether it is the sweet ultimate fields near me, the canal that makes for good biking routes (and the ice cream place that makes my exercise bice-creaming), the relatively short distances to get to anywhere in town, so that it is easy to agree to meet folks wherever and to enjoy pretty much all of the place.  I guess the most enchanting aspect of the place are, to repeat myself, the folks I have met--ambassadors, military folks, officials in the department of whatever foreign affairs is called now, the sharp folks at the enemy university, the sweet folks at the Dean's office (I have had great relationships with two Deans here, which is a streak unparalleled in my career), the frisbee folks (of course), and on and on.  
• I am humbled by the expertise that so many have.  I am a generalist, so I know some about a lot, but not a lot about that much.  This town has so many people who are so sharp in their specialty that I am constantly being corrected.  But that is a good thing, as I keep on learning.  I can't trot out the whole "unfrozen caveman" thing as much as I could before.  Ten years in Ottawa also means twenty years in Canada.  I still don't know about Canadian history, and there are plenty of friendly Canadians who correct me about the present that I don't understand.  

While there are somethings I miss about my previous job and about Montreal, I know that I made the right decision ten years ago for me and for my family.  That we will not be leaving Ottawa when I retire, as we like this place and we really like the people we have met along the way.  This place very much feels like home, and I have much gratitude to all those who made us welcome.  My ultimate career is nearing its end, so I will have to find some other activity to keep me busy in the summer.  I may really become Canadian if I end up paddling up and down the canal.  

Anyhow, thanks to everyone for making us welcome. 

Capital Capture: Give Me Info and I Am Yours

As I approach the 7th anniversary of moving to Ottawa, I keep on marveling at my good fortune.  There never was a grand plan to move to Ottawa--it just happened.  Indeed, when I applied for the job at Carleton, I had no expectation of getting it.  Indeed, I didn't get that job (the Barton Chair)--I got the Paterson Chair instead, and it has been a great experience even before my ultimate frisbee team beat a NPSIA-based team last night in the Ottawa ultimate league.

Yesterday was not typical but not atypical.  I went to a briefing organized by the Conference on Defence Associations Institute (a CDSN partner) given by a Canadian officer who had commanded in the Mideast as part of OpImpact.  I learned a great deal including:

• The effort is now a regional one as they have folded the Iraq mission in together with training missions in Lebanon and Jordan.
• The Jordan training includes helping to create Female Engagement Teams--so that the Jordanian military can interact with women better.  Lots of change is going to happens since the speaker indicated that some of the officers of the Jordanian military don't know what to do with the trained women--their new skills are not for secretary jobs but for crowd control, patrolling, etc.
• One Canadian training effort in Lebanon is winter training.  Turns out that a key hunk of the Lebanese border with Syria has long gone unpatrolled because the Lebanese armed forces have had little training in this area.  And yes, there are mountains and snow and skiing in Lebanon.
• The CAF is definitely learning how to do the training and what to expect: "We can't want it more than they do."  Also, this officer was honest about the limitations--we can't say that folks we trained didn't go on to do war crimes.  This is more believable than the previous assurances that this could not happen.  I'd love to see a study that assesses whether western-trained soldiers commit fewer war crimes and whether this varies by the identity of the trainers.  But the methodological problems might just be insurmountable.
• Not much media coverage and much of this is the fault of Canada--that for sometime, the policy was not to show the pictures of faces or give the names of those doing the training.  Fear of security risks were scoffed by those in the room.  A rep of a coalition partner said they had the same policy.  
• That the electromagnetic spectrum is dominated by our opponents.  That is, we do not control the airwaves, and we have to assume that our unclassified networks are penetrated.  Not great.
• Because of how personalist things are (including corruption that provides the grease that allows the military machinery to move in places like Iraq), the performance of any unit depends more on the battalion commander than pretty much anything else.  So, of course, this leads to a key question/observation--who decides who commands and by what criteria?  A big reason why 2014 happened--ISIS getting so close to Baghdad as the Iraqi forces broke--is that promotion was very much about who was loyal to the party in power and not about performance.  

After this, I went to have coffee with someone from inside government who was seeking my take on the world and what Canada is doing.  I actually was not as negative as I often seem to be:

• that when NATO decided to take over the coalition training effort in Iraq, Canada jumped quickly to take the lead, a contrast to how, um, slow, Canada was to agree to lead the NATO effort in Latvia
• that OpImpact, which I had just been briefed on, is actually a pretty coherent effort (contra to the Liberals' starting point, which I had criticized as incoherent, getting me into a twitter fight with Gerry Butts)
• I complimented the Liberals on what an overly cynical person might consider a trap they set for Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives--announcing a new shipbuilding program--this time for the Coast Guard.  How can the Conservatives promise to cut the deficit down to zero if they are wedded to the existing shipbuilding program, this new one, and, oh, yes, a promise to buy new submarines?  Given how all of the parties have to sell out to Vancouver and Halifax on shipbuilding (and maybe Davie in Quebec), I can't see how Scheer can keep the various promises.  It was hard to do even before the new shipbuilding announcement and now much, much harder.
• I did criticize the government for sticking to the planned duration of the Mali mission--that it was for one year, whether or not our replacements are ready.  I think it burns the political capital earned by the mission, it hurts any chance to say that Canada is back in peacekeeping, and so on.  On the other hand, the Conservatives are not going to run on doing more peacekeeping, so this is not a huge vulnerability.  Just seems dumb to me.  Yes, there are tradeoffs and costs, but if the mission is worthwhile for a year, it is worthwhile for 15 months.  This is not a case of extending forever.
• I did criticize the government for keeping a promise that it should have implemented last and not first--disbanding the Liberal caucus in the Senate.  This has made it far harder to get things done including securing the next election (thanks to Stephanie Carvin for educating me about this).  This should have been one of those promises kept later in one's term.  Ooops.

Anyhow, I got into this business because I am deeply curious about damn near everything.  Being in a national capital means learning heaps of stuff through these kinds of meetings.  I do love my job, and I do, yes, love Ottawa.  Some call it a bubble.  I call it home.  

Sandbagging, Ottawa-Style

Flooding is a seasonal thing, apparently.  There were floods in 2017 and now again in 2019.  The bad news is that they happen too often.  The good news is that it allows for learning.  It was very clear today that folks learned from two years ago.  How so?  The instructions to volunteers were clear, the places where the filling of sandbags took place had enough stuff (they ran out of bags two years ago), and there were innovations.  Such as:

The cones funnel the sand into the bag, and they are at the right height for people just to shift their shovels.

One ends up having one of three jobs--shovel, hold/move the bags to and from the cones, or tie them.  There was no one telling the volunteers where to go or what to do once they were dropped off, so I found myself at a secondary pile. I started by tying the bags, but I sucked at it--the strings were not easy to work with--easily broken.  So, I moved to being a bagger.  I mostly sat on a bundle of sandbags, grabbing loose ones, moving it under the cone, and then moving the semi-full (you don't fill them 100% or else no one can move them around) bag behind me for someone else to tie.  The folks who tied the bags and others would then move the bags into the backs of trucks and on to trailers they were towing.

I got into a good rhythm with one shoveler for most of the morning and one tie-er.  There were some folks who joined us or who took over various positions.  There were a bunch of kids who were doing similar work.  Oh, and not everyone had the cone system--they were just shoveling directly into bags.  We had our pile of sand re-filled two or three times. The job got much harder once all of the big bags of bags were broken down as I don't do so well kneeling.  Sure, I bent the knee, but I could not keep it up for long.

At the biggest pile, there was also more media because the Prime Minister showed up:

He is just to the left of the security guy who is staring at my back and at the guy who took the picture (the shoveler I worked with).  Some folks didn't really want Trudeau there.  Most of us didn't mind.  I thought it made sense for Trudeau to show that he was engaged in this crisis, helping out, and providing an opportunity for the media to show what we were all doing. [UPDATE: since this has become slightly controversial, I should note that his appearance was a blip--we had tons of volunteers and other folks working hard before/during/after his appearance and the piles of sand were mostly maxed out in terms of how many people could work on them.  PMJT only slowed us down long enough to take a pic, and given how physical the work was, taking a minute break was hardly a bad thing]

I had never volunteered for anything like this before.  I probably will again, as this area will flood again. And because I feel like I owe Ottawa something.  This is my second favorite place I have lived (hard to compete with San Diego, what with no winter there and all). The town has been very, very good to me, helping me do my work, being full of interesting people, having a vibrant ultimate community that includes leagues for geezers (grandmasters is the correct term), and being so very welcoming to us.  It is the first place I have ever moved where I knew people ahead of time and was joining friends.

Sure, it rained on us, and, yes, it snowed on us, and it got windy at times.  My shoveler occasionally threw sand on me, and I have a couple of blisters and many sore muscles.  But I feel really good about contributing to the sandbag building.  On our way out, we passed by homes that were using these sandbags to protect them.

Ok, the CBC took that photo since I was on the wrong side of the bus as it shuttled us back to the base where I had parked my car.  That base was chock full of people looking to join the effort.  The effort will continue tomorrow and perhaps beyond that.

Oh and the last time I was this close to so many light armored vehicles was Kandahar:
Most of the army folks were at a very large pile of sand, but some were spread out helping to coordinate. 

Anyhow, I highly recommend joining in on such efforts.  It is not only a good thing to do, but, it makes you feel good. 

Time Flies: Five Years in Ottawa

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the move to Ottawa and to Carleton.  It has worked out better than we imagined.  To be sure, this one had an advantage over all the other moves--it was the first time we moved to a place where we knew people and had many friends.  Last night's party for Roland and Katie Paris reminded me of that, as Roland was one of the friends who was so very enthused for our move and welcomed us.

So, what do I love about Ottawa and Carleton after five years?

•  It is so much fun to be an IR scholar in a national capital. 
• I get to meet with people in and near government all the time.
• I regular meet diplomats and defense attachés so I get perspectives from around the world.
• There are many interesting events that inform me about stuff directly in my research agenda, directly relevant for my teaching and then stuff that ain't either but is most fascinating.
• Interviews with military officers, politicians and others are easier to arrange. 
• There is a dynamic density of folks who are interested in this stuff.
• My students often have fascinating backgrounds and experiences as they have often done some time in government.
• Ottawa may have fewer options for comedy or food than Montreal, but it is so much easier to enjoy such stuff.  Traffic is supposed to be bad, but it is not.  We say yes far more than we used to when things come up since it is easier to get to and enjoy whatever is going on.  I love the Byward Market, which is a great place to have a beer with a government official (who might just spill interesting stuff).  
• It is far easier to the public engagement stuff, including TV and radio, here as I can into downtown and home pretty quickly.  That Ottawa is the national capital also means I get to engage with journalists all the time--this is not just about self-promotion but about learning stuff from them
• We live in a very neighorhood-y neighborhood, where the folks actually know each other and look out for each other's kids.  Oh, and I have a two car garage so I don't have to scrape my car all winter long (and Carleton has covered parking, woot!).  And now a Costco is only five minutes away!  People call my neighborhood Barrhaven Farhaven since it is 30 minutes from downtown.  Which is about 50-67% of the time I needed to get into downtown in Montreal. While we could use more/better selection of restaurants out here, I have everything else I need.
• Frisbee is only 12 minutes away most of the time!  And the leagues here are very friendly, chock full of the usual assortment of silly players.  The big difference between this frisbee community and previous ones (other than proximity)?  More beer after games!
  
  
• NPSIA has turned out to be an even better place to work than I expected.  
• Perhaps hiring my friends (ok, I was excluded from those searches) has something to do with it.  I have also developed friendships with most of my colleagues, and we have managed to resolve the 10-25% problem very well.
• The students are quite bright and have pushed me to teach differently--MA policy students don't need/want the same kind of classes as Phd students.  I do miss teaching undergrads, and I do have more grading than I had in my previous job.  
• However, I am also no longer the adviser of last resort (my last job had several scholars in areas near mine who were inferior advisors for one reason or another).  So, I have fewer PhD students, so my guilt about potentially producing many folks who might end up underemployed is diminished.
• I had one of the best "bosses" in my career for the past five years in Dane Rowlands.  I am sure that his successor, Teddy Samy, will be great.  
• Our dean, Andre Plourde, has been super-supportive, and his staff have been of great
  
  assistance to me.  Indeed, one of the key strengths of Carleton has been consistent efforts to recognize people for their contributions. I definitely feel not just welcome here, but appreciated.  And that goes a long, long way to making me happy and appreciative.
• There is a Tim Horton's in our building!

I am sure I am forgetting stuff, but the key is that we are very happy.  The five years have flown by as they have been full of interesting experiences, much fun with friends, excellent beer, and heaps of frisbee.  So, thanks, Ottawanians for making me and mine so welcome. 

Ottawa Doth Rock

I was having a beer with a former student earlier in the week when she informed me that she was leaving Ottawa for Toronto since Ottawa sucks.  Well, sucks for her since she does not want to work for or with government.  My response was: huh?

I love Ottawa.  I remember my old students wondering why I would leave exciting Montreal for boring Ottawa, and my basic response was middle-aged Steve does not partake much of Montreal excitement except for the comedy festival.

But the real story is this: Ottawa is a super-exciting place to be if one does International Relations.  Today, I had a meeting with Brazilian diplomat to prepare for my research in yet another country I know not well.  We had a very interesting conversation, and then I drove home.  Easy peasy.  Engaging the diplomats in town both for my research and for my general engagement has been a key plus in living here.

It has been almost four years since we moved to Ottawa, and it has been such a great ride.  I have had far more interactions with those in and near government, learning all kinds of stuff that is handy for my research, useful for my teaching and/or just plain fascinating.  I got in this business of professing mostly because I am intensely curious.  Being in a national capital let's me pursue that curiosity quite easily.

Indeed, some of my poker buddies now work in government, so I can tease them when I see them. 

Oh, and grandmaster (old folks) ultimate league is starting on Sunday, so maybe I will be able to play decent defense... or maybe not.

Ottawa May Not Rock But It Rolls

Lots of discussion this week about Ottawa and whether it is a good enough G-7 capital.  Macleans has a good discussion of Ottawa's pro's.   Perhaps Ottawa is not a great city because people don't have that much to complain about?  DC?  Heaps of complaints about how broken their expensive mass transport is.  London?  Heaps of complaints about how unaffordable it is.

What is Ottawa's greatest flaw?  Ok, it is cold, but any Canadian city outside of BC is going to be cold, so that ain't changing anytime too soon.  It is "boring."  Well, that is what my students at McGill said, but since I am not single and don't need a vibrant club scene (nor do most folks), I think we are ok.  Ottawa's greatest flaw may be that it is not spectacular--as in not too many spectacles.  As someone who lives here, I am ok with that.

Indeed, what makes Ottawa so great is that it is a very livable place compared to most major cities. Sure, it is not that big so we don't have as much of everything as other places.  Not tons of restaurants but plenty of good ones, including ones that I can take my gourmand parents to with no same.  It is an enjoyable city in that one get to what it has to offer without trials and tribulations.  My wife still has nightmares about the time she tried to drive from suburban Virginia to Baltimore for a Friday evening birthday party.  That hour drive took three plus hours.  Whenever Ottawa ranks highly on bad traffic lists, I have to laugh.  Rush hours are short and not that intense.  Montreal had so much to offer and yet it became increasingly difficult to enjoy it since the infrastructure impeded rather than facilitated movement into and out of the city.

Maybe it helps that I live in a real neighborhood with neighbors I actually know and drink with.   That the big ultimate frisbee field in summer is 15 minutes away.  Tha the town is chock full of sharp, engaged people who mostly want to make a difference as they want Canada to make a difference at home and abroad.

I have lived all over North America from NYC to DC to Miami to Philly to small town Ohio to San Diego to Vermont to West Texas to Montreal, and I am quite pleased that this is where I have ended up.

Perhaps Ottawa is not spectacular, but it is pretty wonderful.   

A Tough Day in Ottawa

Today, Ottawa, my adopted hometown, faced a mighty difficult test and performed quite well.  There were much rumors about multiple attacks that didn't take place at a nearby hotel and mall, just like that day in DC where the media reported that there was a car bomb at the State Department (and I had just told my wife that I was headed there). 

I followed it on twitter rather than TV, which might have been a mistake since the TV coverage turned out to be great. But the media folks on twitter were also sharp.  I have met more than a few during my time here, and I have much respect for them. 

There was much uncertainty for quite some time with a press conference producing no new insights at all.  I am getting ready to watch the Prime Minister's address.

There will be much criticism of the security folks since this guy got into the building, but he was killed before he could do much damage.  By whom?  By the guy responsible for security, the Sergeant at Arms, apparently.  Former Mountie and all that. 

I am going to run now, but I had two tweets that went pretty viral today, and I feel pretty good about them now:

in my next book, I argue that I study Canada during A-stan because pressure reveals character. Today, Canada is revealing its character
— Stephen Saideman (@smsaideman) October 22, 2014

this day is revealing Canada is chock full of heroic govt workers, determined and professional media, and a calm, patient public. Not bad
— Stephen Saideman (@smsaideman) October 22, 2014

I will have more thoughts tomorrow as we learn more about this event and how it relates to Tuesday's attack (or not).

So Far, So Good part 2

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of our move to Ottawa.  I was too busy with my daughter's graduation to note the event (I was late last year as well), but I am really, really quite happy with our move.

How do I love Ottawa? Let me count the ways:

1. Despite being rated as having horrible traffic, it is actually really easy to get around town, which means I can get far more out of the city and what it has to offer than I could in Montreal.  Montreal is a great city, but I could rarely enjoy it because getting around was so very stressful.
2. Just in the past two weeks, I had breakfast at the residence of the Norwegian Ambassador, went to a CDFAI event where I met many interesting folks in and around the policy world, lunched with a visiting expert on civil-military relations in South America, beer-ed with a twitter friend passing through Ottawa, participated in a Fast-Talk at DFATD, and had beers with young folks working in the defence sector.  I moved to Ottawa to be better engaged in the policy community, and it worked!  I still have much room to improve--remembering people's names, meeting other folks and so on--but being inside the Ottawa bubble is damned good for my business of doing International Relations.
3. Public outreach is so much easier.  As I have discussed here repeatedly, I have taken more seriously over time the obligation to not just talk to those of my own kind (professors) but to share my research and perspectives beyond.  It is far easier to do this in Ottawa, where things are far closer and where media outlets are more engaged in Canada's role in the world, than previously.
4. The students at the Paterson School of International Affairs continue to teach me quite a bit as I try to teach them.  They have varied experiences working all over Ottawa, and have some very insightful takes on such experiences.
5. Despite a proclivity to having summer meetings, I am a big fan of NPSIA, its Director, staff and colleagues.  It has been a stimulating two year, and the environment at work has been the most supportive of my entire career.  
6. There is much ultimate.  I could play far more frequently, but two nights a week during the summer is about as much as I can handle.  This summer, more games have been at distant fields, but that still makes them far closer and easier to reach than in my previous locale.
7. Our neighborhood is still is incredibly neighborly.  A great group of people who are most welcoming and quite willing to give me a beer.  Not great poker players, but that is a good thing.

I could go on and on, but I have a graduation cake to make.  The key point is that Ottawa has been very, very good to me and my family, and I am looking forward to figuring out how to enjoy it empty-nest style.

Re-Visiting the Canadian War Museum

My parents were in Ottawa, so I took my wife, daughter and my folks to the Canadian War Museum--partly to get the Canadian perspective on the War of 1812.  The current government played up that war as a big source of Canadian nationalism, even though Canada didn't really exist until 1867.  And many of the Canadians I have talked to tended not to see that war the way the Harper government see it. 

Anyhow, it is always fun to see history from different perspectives (I am going to Hungary's House of Terror tomorrow--perhaps the most politicized museum of its kind--more on that later).  Like, this exhibit in the Cold War has a header of: Dealing with Washington!  As if the U.S. can be a difficult neighbor!?!  The stuff here relates mostly to NORAD--where the US and Canada share responsibility for defending the North American airspace. 

The museum spends heaps of time on the establishment of Canada, with perhaps a bit overly sunny view of relations with the First Nations; War of 1812; other crises in the lead up to Confederation; the Boer War (the real starting point of the grand tradition of being led poorly by British generals), World War I and II, Cold War, and peacekeeping.  Thus far, Afghanistan is only reflected in a series of pictures taken by one war photographer.  Great shots, but they need to make some space for the most important Canadian international effort since Korea.

On the bright side, my daughter and I got to heft an AK-47.  Heavier than I thought.  And it was fun going through the museum with her, as she paid more attention to the role of women in Canada's military history.

Definitely worth a few hours, even if you are not a big fan of tanks.  If you are, then you are in luck as the lower floor has a heap of tanks.

Why I Live on the Edge of Ottawa

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

I hate scraping my car's windows clear of ice and snow.  Ten years of this in Montreal was more than enough.  So, I am loving my two car garage (and also parking garage at work). 

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Today, in the Ottawa Citizen, there was a feature story about where to go in case of a Zombie outbreak and whether Ottawa would do well or poorly in such an event.  This story was tied to a Zombie-walk today.  Hence the title to this post--tis the best of times as the Z-silliness spreads like a virus.  But it is the worst of times, as I am buried in work so that I cannot spare the time to venture out to watch or even join the shuffling and moaning*

*  Is that as pejorative for Zombies as Palin's "shuck and jive" for the President?  Probably Not.

By Halloween, I need to:

• review a book manuscript (late), 
• review an article (late), 
• revise a memo to go the publisher to explain how my co-author and I will respond to the positive yet contradictory reviews of our book manuscript (confusing and also fits the title of the post well), 
• prepare for class on Monday, 
• write and post the paper assignment (very late), 
• start the new NPSIA blog (ok, overdue and going to be kicked down the road), 
• make progress on the massive (in terms of documents, not in terms of $) grant proposal, 
• write a batch of letters of recommendation.

Talk about trick or treat!  Again, I love my job and it allows me to a lot of fun stuff (Dublin and London last month, Phoenix in December, etc., but oy!  Anyhow, expect light blogging except for occasional whining.  It could be worse, Ottawa could be hit by a hurricane this weekend.  Good luck to the East Coast.  Oh, and good luck to those in swing states that have to endure a heap of political ads.  The end is near!  To the election season and perhaps to everything if we don't prepare for the Zombies.

Ottawa Rocks!

So far, what have I enjoyed and/or learned about Ottawa in my first five days?

1. Bagels come with bag ties rather than strips of tape, so I can seal them.
2. A bit more selection in the grocery stores (although Ben and Jerry's variety is still woefully limited).  A lot more selection of grocery stores--at least three in the shopping centers nearby, but probably four.
3. My neighborhood is swarming with little kids.  Fun to watch, may have to partake of the zone defense.  Maybe my daughter will have heaps of opportunities to babysit when she returns from summer camp.  It was great watching a father teach his kid to ride a bike as I was moving stuff around in our garage.  The adults have been friendly as well.
4. Tis windy.  Too many politicians in one spot?
5. Partaking of the non-Montreal Island freedom of right turn on red.
6. Everything is pretty close.  Only one bridge to worry about and even that one is not that big of a deal in rush hour (the one on Hunt Club).
7. Ok, just a bit of perverse delight that the French signs are a smidge smaller than the English ones. 
8. The hours for stores are much, much better.  This goes along with the better attitude about customer service, I guess.
9. The ultimate is sweet!  I subbed onto a team tonight that was short players due to Canada Day weekend.  The team was full of fun people with sticky hands (that meant they caught my passes), and they invited me to play with them the rest of the summer. Victory!  We played at the fields the Ottawa league owns. Yes, owns.  19 fields on what must have been a farm.  Just flat, soft fields only a twelve minute drive from my house.  Ideal field in an ideal location.  The funny thing is that as I was leaving, I heard someone call my name.  Almost as strange as hearing someone call my name in Kandahar.  It happened to be one of my former teammates/opponents from the Montreal league.  Looks like I have another game on Wednesday night. 

On the other hand, some things remain the same.  My neighbor showed me the dents made in the street and in his driveway by a city snow removal truck.  Kind of like my car being crushed by a school bus.

Anyhow, we are big fans thus far.

Grass is Always Greener?

I love our new house.  It is in a suburban neighborhood that apparently gets much abuse from the internet:


To be clear, when my students in Montreal question why I would want to move from exciting Montreal to boring Ottawa and perhaps even more boring Barrhaven, I have to remind them that I am not looking for downtown fun.  So, I take the above video with good humor.  The choice is bigger house with two car garage and so on or small house that costs more and is beaten up..

I find the rebuttal amusing as well:


H/T to Jennifer S.

Low Blogging Day Ahead

I will be touring Ottawa tomorrow as a first effort to figure out where we might settle plus meet up with some folks at Carleton.  So, no blogging until maybe the evening.  So, please comment on this post with helpful information about Ottawa--either real or imaginary info will suffice.