What's Up With Wojo?

A number of people have reminded me that I haven't posted much here in August, so it's time to write an update. For better or worse, there's not much news to report... Japan was a great trip, and Vanessa and I hung out until last the middle of last week. I'm now getting into the swing of things.


So, for those of you curious about my life, here's what I'm up to...

Research

I decided to take August and September off and work on my own projects and explore my own interests. I'm working on a number of papers with old friends from Toronto and elsewhere. Nice, fun research... No major deadlines yet! The work is both qualitative (international development and sociology) as well as quite mathematical (algorithms and statistics). I'll post here if anything major happens.

Business Ideas

Yes... I've been ranting about business for a few weeks now, and finally have taken the first step to doing something. I'm looking into revolutionizing e-mail. I won't say much more yet. But e-mail me if you want to chat about some ideas.

Revisioning FMM

FMM is still moving forward. I presented on the site in Japan, we've launched a book recently, and are now looking for more partners and volunteers. I'm exploring what we'll be up to next, and will be attempting to do that "next thing" before I leave for England.

Culture (and Comics)

Reading lots of comic books... And regular books, too! Just finished reading The Watchmen and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and am now reading The Dharma Bums. Also brought back a dozen issues of manga from Japan, which I need to start reading (in Japanese!).

While not as serious as my reading, I'm also exploring my music tastes and art galleries in Toronto. Will be writing about this soon, too.

Sports!

So Michael Phelps is doing well in the Olympics. Did you know I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer when I was 12? Well, maybe it's a good thing I didn't pursue that career option... :) But I am getting back into sports. I'm hoping to run a 10K race in the next few weeks -- definitely before I leave Toronto. I was going to start swimming today, too, but showing up at the community centre was a bit of a downer: I was the only one under 70 years of age, and well, 70 year-old swimmers are sloooow. I promptly left and bought a membership at a gym, and am going to start swimming there tomorrow.

Catching Up, Socially

Finally, I'm just hanging out in Toronto and visiting friends and family. You know, before I leave forever... Well, until December 21, anyway, which is when I'm coming home for the holidays!

So that's what I'm up to...