Author Archives: wcaplan

Jul 23 2025
6 Comments
A little serious

Remember when friends were people you liked

"Cheers Bar photo by J. Miers / Jtesla16 at Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY‑SA 1.0"

You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t written anything, not in this blog or my “I am Not a Baker” blog for a very, very long time. I don’t really have a good excuse for the latter as I bake all the time. I just don’t write about it. But this blog? This blog is tough to write in times like these. If, like me, you spend any portion of your day watching CNN you know what I’m talking about. Laugh if you must. I have learned a lot from Brianna, Jake, Dana, Laura, Erin, Wilf, Fredrika, Anderson and Kaitlin, not to mention Fareed, John and Harry. Ok. I watch more than a little CNN. I’ve learned that this world has seen better days. That one guy, who’s not even that smart, can upend the world economy at his whim. That a few megalomaniacs (that’s him too) can order people at their behest to kill each other so they can expand their own kingdoms. And while these self-professed kings occupy themselves with their exploits they sit on their proverbial asses while the world and lives around them are literally destroyed by fires and floods. Of course they do send their thoughts and prayers and a few National Guardsmen to help out. Perhaps though not as many as they send to quell the voices of those who protest against their outrageous policies. So you can see how it might be difficult to write a blog about the life of a shallow person amidst all of this tragedy, turmoil and destruction. Which is why I haven’t. And which is why this is not really a shallow blog. It’s just something I want to say. 

So what has brought me here today? Let me take a little foray into my past life to explain. And since I have a rather long past, this could take a minute. I’ll do my best though to make a longish story shortish. Those who know, know that I spent a good deal of my working life online. That’s not so unusual today but I don’t work today. Let me put this in perspective for you. I worked online before anyone really knew what a hyperlink was. And yes, we called them hyperlinks. Those who did know were concerned that being able to jump from one computer screen to another would be confusing and affect people’s ability to concentrate. It is and it does. You could only buy books on Amazon. Google was really new. There was no “voice over internet”. You get the picture. It was a long time ago. But my job was to bring people together to learn. On-line. And as much as I embraced my job, I knew from the get-go that we were not in Kansas anymore. That we had opened a whole new can of worms, a virtual Pandora’s Box (swIdt) that once opened would likely never be closed again. And while my working days are far and away, this week-end, as I settled into my Saturday morning routine, enjoying my yogurt parfait, perusing the business section of the Globe with CNN droning in the background, you know, the usual, my ears perked up when Michael Smerconish arrived with his Saturday morning commentary. Now you will note that there were no “Michaels” in my rather lengthy list of CNN favs, primarily because I have never really listened to Smerconish before. Not sure why. I just haven’t. But this Saturday morning I did. Because he was talking about something I knew a little bit about. And talked about a lot. 

You see Mr. Smerconish was talking about nostalgia. Reminiscing, it would seem, about the best time of his life. It was 1978. Honestly, at this point I wasn’t listening all that carefully (there’s only so much multi-tasking I can handle these days) but it had something to do with saving up a few shekels and going to a bar on the Jersey Shore with his buddies. Beer was 7 for a dollar. Apparently the bartender danced on the tables. Wouldn’t have been the best time of my life but who am I to judge? But then things got interesting and my ears perked up. He began to talk about connection and how people used to get together and do stuff. About how the internet has changed all of that. Rather than being a conduit to bring people closer it has served to tear us apart. Mostly because we no longer do stuff together. In person. He talked about how everything is so divisive now. How we have become isolated from one another. We no longer have the ability to compromise. Political parties have become more extreme. We’ve all picked a side and we’re staying on it. His conclusion. The internet has reshaped our world and the way we interact in it and with each other. And listening to him made me just a little nostalgic too. Not about the bars, although I probably saw a few of those. It reminded me of the times I would curl up in my big chair with books by scholars like Neil Postman and Sherry Turkle who understood that technology is a “Faustian Bargain” (Postman, Technopoly, 1992) and that being together online also meant that you were painfully alone in your room (Turkle, Alone Together, 2011).

So maybe there is a shallow part to this blog. Because this is where I’m going to say “we told you so”. At a Pecha Kucha presentation in 2011. Not to mention a keynote in St. Louis. That’s right. Just short of 15 years ago my colleague Wade (iykyk) and I got up on the stage and much to the chagrin of some in the audience, we talked about how the internet was changing our language, our interactions and our lives. How as we redefine our words we also change our understanding of our world. Think about it. There was a time where community meant attending your place of worship, being active at the PTA, or joining friends for a drink where “everyone knows your name”. But now with all of our social media, you can join an online community where not only do the members not necessarily know your name, they might not even know you are there. Your “network” consists of hundreds, if not thousands of followers on LinkedIn or X (well hopefully not there anymore). Most likely these are people you wouldn’t recognize if you fell over them. And because of Facebook you can have hundreds, if not thousands of “friends”, many of which you wouldn’t even like if you actually got to know them. Which is fine because all you have to do is “unfriend” them.

As I recall, Wade and I spent quite a lot of time thinking and talking about all of this and while we knew our sphere of influence was rather limited, we had hope.  We figured that by understanding the impact of technology on our society, by being conscious and deliberate people (that’s all of us) could drive the use of technology rather than being driven by it. That we could play an active role in what could be. We could shape a future in a world that was congruent with our vision for humanity. And we could realize that while we can have 4000 friends on Facebook, we don’t have to. Sadly, it seems, we were wrong. I know this because 15 years later Michael Smerconish is talking about the same thing as he demonstrates how our lack of connection has impacted us socially, economically and politically. His suggestion for the best way out of this quagmire we find ourselves in? Mingling. Start seeing people in person again. Get back to the bar even though I can guarantee you the beer is no longer 7 for a dollar and most likely non-alcoholic. But go anyway. Maybe don’t ask the bartender to dance on the tables. But go. To the library, the community hall, your local cafe. Anywhere other people go too. Who knows? He could be right. At this point, it can’t hurt to give it a try. 

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May 29 2024
9 Comments
Informative, Uncategorized

It’s a Mystery

It’s true. Time really does fly when you’re having fun. It’s almost astonishing (it would “actually” be astonishing if I weren’t so prone to procrastination) to look back and realize that the last time I posted on the blog was over a year ago. And I’m guessing you’re wondering what the heck I’ve been doing that’s been more fun than writing this blog. The answer is fairly simple really. I’ve been reading. Quite a lot. (Baking a bit too, but that’s a story for another day and another blog.) But not just reading anything. It’s been a rather focused reading binge. You see, I’ve pretty much been exclusively reading mysteries for the past year or so. Also detective stories which, because I find them in the “Mystery” section of the library, seem to fit the bill. If I’ve learned nothing else in all of this time, it’s that those mystery (detective) writers churn out the volumes faster than you can say “elementary, my dear Watson”. (You know he never actually said that.) Which means that because prior to my relatively recent foray into the land of intrigue and chicanery, I was not a mystery reader, I have plenty to catch up on.

So that’s it. That’s what I’ve been doing. Just reading. Nothing mysterious about that. The funny thing is that reading all of those books has got me thinking about the mysteries in my own life, and I’m thinking, maybe yours too. It seems to me that each day we are faced with some conundrums, both big and small, that we can’t make heads or tails of. Like how is it that we put 12 socks into the wash and only 11 come out. Or why, when we get back from the grocery store, do we discover we have everything except the item we went to buy. Or what about the enigma of the forever looping song. You wake up with a song stuck in your head, and no matter how hard you try, you can’t shake it off. It follows you everywhere, looping endlessly like a catchy but slightly annoying soundtrack to your day. I won’t name one of the most frequent offenders as I suspect the damage is already done. And most importantly, why can’t we eat just one chip? Small mysteries, but mysteries nonetheless.

Then there are the bigger, perhaps more perplexing mysteries we face. Like Trump. Now you know as a shallow person I try not to dip my toes too deeply into the kerfuffle we think of as politics. It’s just not what I do. This year though, it’s pretty hard to keep my head in the sand. Let’s face it. In one country you have two young(ish) men who seem to prefer to take pot shots at one another rather than talking about policies, while our neighbour to the south is faced with choosing between a couple of guys who, and I might be somewhat kind here, are a little long in the tooth. But here’s the mystery. These latter two fellas are currently running neck in neck. Now whatever your politics might be, it seems to me to be reasonable to think that a man who is accused of a plethora of charges in umpteen criminal cases should not be quite as popular as one who, while admittedly not perfect, is at least not facing incarceration. What are these supporters of Mr. T thinking? Did they forget that this genius thought injecting bleach to prevent COVID was a good idea? Or that his denial of a fair election resulted in his supporters storming the capital and attempting to hang his VP? Or maybe they really do think there are “good people on both sides”. Do we truly never learn from the past and are forever doomed to repeat it? I can’t begin to speculate on how this story will end but honestly, sometimes the human race is one big mystery to me. 

Then, just when we thought we had this whole internet, online stuff figured out, along comes Artificial Intelligence to add a little suspense into our lives. I gotta tell ya. While some of the mysteries I have read make it hard to fall asleep at night, this AI thing will raise more than a few hairs on the back of your neck. Remember Hal? For some time we have known that AI is capable of displacing people in a variety of occupations but things are getting out of hand fast. Last night while watching the real news, delivered by what I can only presume to be real people, I learned that in the not very distant future we will be watching the news brought to you by some “not so real” people. That’s right. Not real people who look quite a lot like real people will be reporting on what’s happened in the world on any given day. And you and I won’t be able to tell the difference. Before you know it, those not real people will be writing all of the mysteries I’ve been reading. Or maybe even this blog. Truth be told. A tiny bit of of this post was written by Chat GPT. Let me know if you can figure out which part. Sorry, after all of this time, I just couldn’t resist leaving you with a little mystery of my own. 

BTW…If you, like me, are looking for a good mystery, you might want to pick up the Lane Winslow series by Iona Whishaw or the Rowland Sinclair series by Sulari Gentill. You’ll want to start each of them with the first book in the series. I believe they are still being written by real people. And, if you have any other suggestions for a good mystery series please add them in the comments. After all, I never know when I’ll be writing the blog again.

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Jan 18 2023
2 Comments
Informative

I never even said goodbye!

I’m guessing you’ve noticed. Perhaps not cared, but noticed nonetheless. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I think the last thought you have when your head hits the pillow each night is “Where the heck is the shallow blog? I haven’t seen it for some time!” I suppose there’s an outside chance that every once in a while it might have crossed your mind that I haven’t posted anything here for, well let’s just say, eons. But I’m not here to apologize for my lack of musings on the Interwebs. After all, it’s not easy to be shallow, or at least to write about being shallow, during a pandemic. Even for the shallow gal. What I am here to do is apologize for never even saying goodbye. Which, if you peruse my last post, you will see I did not do. Mostly because I didn’t know, at the time, that it would be a very long time before I’d be back. If I had known what was to come, or should I more accurately say what was not to come, I could have, at the very least, parted with a “till we meet again” or a “see you later, alligator”. But who knew! Who thought I would stop writing the shallow blog just because we were are in a pandemic that has lasted longer than it takes to read the collected works of Shakespeare? Although, if I had thought about it for a moment or two, I would have realized there were lots of things I stopped doing during the pandemic. So maybe I should have known. 

Like having friends over for dinner. Or lunch, coffee, breakfast, pretty much anything. It’s not that I no longer liked our friends, although it was a handy excuse for those I didn’t quite fancy. It was just that the risk involved in hosting a shindig, no matter how small, was simply not worth the trouble. First there was the rearranging of furniture to ensure everyone would be six feet apart. Then came the “lysoling” (if you could get them. Remember when you couldn’t get them?) of every single surface that could possibly be touched by us, them, and/or the cat. And whether they liked it or not, I would have to insist that all guests wore N95 masks and provided verified COVID 19 test results taken no less than two hours before arrival. All that and I pretty much knew that the topic of conversation was going to be nothing other than the pandemic. Imagine. We’re sitting in a sterilized home, six feet apart wearing masks and the only thing we can talk about is why. Really, who needs that? And so it stopped.

As did make-up. With no one coming or going there was really no point putting in the effort to get all dolled up every morning. I’m afraid all those tubes with the 24 month “best before” dates have now found their way into the trash bin. I mean, what was really the point? Who was looking at me on my very brief outings to the grocery store? Certainly the mask negated any possible purpose that wearing lipstick might have had. Not to mention the stains it left on my very expensive N95 masks. Mascara? Between the fog on my glasses and the fog on yours, the chances of my marginally elongated lashes being seen was quite remote. And I’m pretty sure the grocery clerk didn’t really care if I had eyebrows or not. Suffice to say as a result of the pandemic I no longer spent those 5 precious morning minutes putting on a new face. I just stopped. At least until recently when we all realized that passersby on the street don’t pose much of a risk and we can take off those pesky masks while walking outside. Now every day before I open the door I hear my Auntie Fanny’s voice (may she rest in peace) say “Going out? Aren’t you going to put on a little lipstick?” So I do. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I have even stopped buying clothes. Actually that is probably not a bad thing since I seem to have enough shirts, pants, skirts and dresses to cover pretty much any occasion that might arise. The real problem is, none do. As I think back over the last three years (I know, it only seems a lot longer) I can honestly count on one hand the number of times I have had to put on anything other than jeans and a T. Ok. Admittedly I have donned a couple of fancy blouses for those Zoom meetings we all endured but, as you know, even then the jeans still sufficed. And there’s really no problem wearing the same things over and over again because, like my eyebrows, I don’t think the clerk at the grocery store really notices. 


And in case I haven’t yet convinced you that it is not just the blog I had stopped writing I can honestly tell you I’ve pretty much stopped traveling, going to concerts, eating out at restaurants, taking transit, sitting closer than 6 feet away from anyone and, if you can believe it, going to Starbucks. Which is why it’s somewhat astonishing that I am back writing the blog. The problem is I can’t tell you when and if I will be here again. So until we meet again, “See you later alligator”. Just in case.

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Jul 07 2021
2 Comments
A little serious, Informative

Are We There Yet?

Photo by Claudia Soraya on Unsplash

I have to be honest with you. These past few weeks I’ve been feeling a little like the kid who sits in the back of the car asking repeatedly, and somewhat annoyingly, “are we there yet?”. And it’s not because I have to go to the bathroom or am feeling a little peckish and want to stop for a bite. It’s because I just want to get the hell out of the damn car that I’ve been in for way, way too long. Truthfully, it’s a trip I never wanted to take in the first place. Because who wants to embark on a journey without having the slightest inkling of when it’s going to end? Or, for that matter, where you’re going to be when it does. Which, if you ask me, is pretty much what we have all been on for the past year and a half. The thing is, now that it looks like we are approaching the end of our little sojourn and there is, as many are wont to say, a bright light at the end of this rather long tunnel, some of us are asking ourselves, what we are going to do now that we are “there”? And where the heck are we, anyway? 

As can be expected, there are lots of psychologists out there with lots and lots of theories about how people are going to act and react to the new found freedoms they are being doled out. In case you haven’t figured this out yet, let me quickly point out that I am not a psychologist, and rarely do I spend time developing theoretical constructs of why people don’t do or do, do what they do. But as an introspective shallow person I have a pretty good idea of what it is I do and why I might do it. Which explains why, at this stage of the game, I think it should be ok for me to add my voice to theirs and share with you my thoughts, and I’ve had quite some time to formulate them, about life after the pandemic. From a shallow person’s perspective.

Hand Washing. Let’s start with the easy stuff. I don’t know about you but I pretty much always wash my hands at the appropriate times, even before I was threatened by a global epidemic, and I expect I will continue to do so after it passes. Admittedly, I might not frantically search for a spot of sanitizer each and every time I leave the grocers or find myself accidentally placing a finger on the escalator railing to avoid losing my balance and crashing into the person 6 feet in front of me. Still, I suppose it will take some time to use up that 14 gallon bucket of “Germs B Gone” I purchased in the frenzy at the beginning of this whole thing, which means I’ll likely not give up this newly formed habit for quite some time. 

Going inside: With other people. I don’t know. The weather’s pretty nice right now so what’s the rush? Coffee on the terrace is lovely and those restaurant patios have expanded so much that there’s now more space outside than inside for most of them. Besides, I love inviting people over to my home knowing there’s no way they’re going to step inside which means I don’t have to clean for a day and a half before they get here. For now, I’m going to stick with the outdoor only regulations and cross that other bridge once there’s a bit of a nip in the air.

Concert and Movies: I should be more excited about this possibility than I am. I have to admit that I loved going to concerts, especially those intimate little coffee house venues where complete strangers come and sit at your table because you’re cool and they’re cool and the sweet smell of something lingers in the air so no one really notices how hot or stuffy or exceedingly crowded the place is. No wait. That was the sixties. Sorry. I seem to have lost track of time. Nonetheless, I think I’m going to hold off on these for a bit. What with my pandemic subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, Crave, Prime and something else I can’t remember the name of, it will be a while before I can afford a large popcorn and drink at the movies anyway.  

Baking: Well I baked a little before the pandemic and, like many others, I baked quite a lot during it but I am still not a baker. I know this because I was never good at science and I have come to learn that real bakers are. I was however, an English major which could explain why I am good at reading and interpreting recipes even though I can’t make up any of my own. Now that this pandemic seems to be coming to an end I intend to keep baking. But sadly, I suspect I will never be a baker. 

Wearing Masks: I know most of us, including me, are chomping at the bit to ditch these. They’re hot. They make our glasses fog up. And almost always, just when we thought we were ready to pull out of the driveway and be on our way, we realize we forgot a mask and have to run back into the house to find one. But before donating all of your carefully selected, colour coordinated masks to your local quilting guild for their commemorative pandemic project, think about this. When was the last time you had a cold or the flu? How much money have those of us who wear it, saved on lipstick? And how many times did you thank your lucky stars that your chit chatty neighbour didn’t recognize you and walked right by without stopping to share all, and I mean all, of the neighbourhood news. Think about it. And maybe do what I’m going to do and keep them on just a little bit longer.

Social Distancing: I’m pretty sure my comfort zone has always been somewhat wider than most so this one might not be as problematic to me as to some of you. I mean what’s the big deal about a few extra inches between friends? It won’t be difficult for me to keep those one or two extra steps between us for a little bit longer. And by “little” I mean into the foreseeable future.

Hugging: Last but not least, and I would be remiss if I left without mentioning it. I know this has been a really big deal for a good portion of the population. Me? Well to know me is not to hug me so perhaps my perspective on the return of the hug is a little skewed. Let me just say this. There’s an old adage that claims “Father knows best” and I’m starting to think that if everyone had listened to mine we might never have found ourselves in the backseat of this car in the first place.

Regardless of how you do it, as you step back into the world please remember the wise words of our own Dr. Henry. “Be kind, Be calm, Be safe“. And as my Dad would say, whether we were in the car or not, “Take it easy“!

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May 13 2021
2 Comments
Informative, Instructive

It’s Just a Survey, People!

I’m not sure whether you know this or not but a very long time ago I worked for the government. That’s right. I was a servant of the public and let me just say I have the utmost respect for those who still are. My job, somewhat ironically, was finding other people jobs. In good times it was a relatively simple job, in bad times it was a bit more complicated but either way, it was always a pretty busy job that took up most of my time during the day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying there wasn’t a little bit of slack. A few moments to gossip with my workmates about the latest scandals. You know. Some tongue wagging about who was going out with whom, and who knew, or perhaps more interesting, who didn’t know. And I’m certainly not going to deny that I may have played an extra game or two of Bejeweled on the computers set up in the lunch room for that very purpose (I told you it was a long time ago). But most of the time you could find me sitting behind my desk, welcoming each and every one of the people who were counting on me to help them out of what was often a rather unfortunate situation. So it was a busy little job. Which is why a recent news item baffled me just a bit. 

Bear with me now as I just need to backtrack here. Last week, like most everyone in this great country of ours, I received my instructions for completing the census questionnaire. It wasn’t a big surprise. After all, there have been a multitude of commercials on the TV reminding me that this very thing was going to happen and it would be my responsibility, as a good citizen, to do my duty and answer all of the questions asked. Those advertisements even went as far as explaining the importance of doing so as apparently, the programs and services you and I might access in the future depend on the answers we provide. Since, at the moment, I’ve got nothing but time on my hands, I figured I could spend a few of my precious minutes helping those who run this country figure out how to do the right thing. Honestly, that was motivation enough for me so one afternoon, after working on my jigsaw, I sat down with a coffee, a computer, the instructions and my guy, to get to the task at hand. Because that’s all I really needed. It all seemed so straight forward. At least that’s what I thought. 

You can imagine my surprise when, while watching the nightly news, I found out that someone, somewhere in those hallowed halls of Statistics Canada, decided there was a little something else we all needed to rev up our engines. It seems that we needed playlists. And not just a few. Many playlists. Each with many, many songs. Music to accompany the completion of the 2021 Statistics Canada Census. Now I don’t know about you but as much as I wanted to have a chuckle about this, I found myself overwhelmed by the number of questions that began swirling in my head. Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem becoming apprised of the many wonderful Canadian musical artists whose talents add so much to our lives. And if being part of a playlist means a few extra shekels for those hard working artists, in what we all know has been a really difficult time, you can count me in (swidt?). But I was still left wondering what in the world Statscan (that’s what we call them around here) wanted me to do with this treasure trove of Canadian music. Was I supposed to get up and dance once I figured out how many people other than myself lived in my house?  Break out in song because I was actually able to remember where my ancestors lived before they landed in this great country of ours? Recount the days of my youth as I listened to Trooper belt out “Raise A Little Hell”? Or perhaps wallow in a little self-pity as Ms. Murray crooned “Snowbird” reminding me of what I wasn’t this past winter. What exactly was this all about? And when did Statscan become the cognoscente for the Canadian music scene throughout the ages.

My interest peaked, I decided to delve just a little further into what exactly was going on and it was a fine thing to discover that our government wanted us to “experience the different facets of Canadian culture through the sounds of our celebrated musical talent”*. (Statistics Canada) Certainly a laudable endeavour, although since we do have a Ministry of Canadian Heritage I had to wonder if it was perhaps a bit misplaced. But digging a little deeper I also found that this rather extensive undertaking was also about time. That’s right. Time. You see, in Canada there are two types of census forms. The short one, that we all keep our fingers crossed we receive, and the dreaded long one that we don’t. Since we only get one and not the other it can sometimes be hard to discern which one we received. And, as a result, how long it will take to complete. Statscan has now come up with a way to help us out. We are told the short one will take only a few minutes. And the long one? Apparently about seven or eight songs from one of the playlists. Which only opened a whole other can of worms for me. Like which seven or eight songs? And wouldn’t they have saved a whole whack of time and energy by just telling me how long it would take in, oh I don’t know, minutes maybe? 

As a shallow person I’m not prone to judge others but I do have to wonder whether there’s someone walking the halls of Statscan with not quite enough to do. I know there are no more Bejeweled computers in the lunch room and maybe no one really cares much anymore about who’s doing what with whom, but surely there’s something more important to be done than putting together playlists for those of us who are dedicating, at most, a half hour of our day to complete a survey. I mean, it’s just a survey, people! Point us in the right direction and we’ll get it done. And if you really can’t find anything else to do, maybe give me a call. I know it’s been awhile but I might have a few tips I can share with you on how to find another job.

*Statistics Canada. “2021Census Soundtrack.” 2021Census Soundtrack, 2021, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/ref/soundtrack-bandesonore/index-eng.htm. Accessed 12 May 2021.

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