I was first introduced to the concept of design patterns when working as a software developer. Design patterns, or simply ‘patterns’, are used to describe common solutions to common problems. Collections of patterns are called pattern languages.

Calgary’s mayor recently put out a call looking for ‘Big Ideas’ in the realm of poverty reduction. Not really wanting to limit myself to ‘Big’ I have set my sights on ‘Crazy’, which means that these likely will (and probably should) be dismissed out of hand.

Much that once was is lost. For none now live who remember it.”
—Galadriel, the Lord of the Rings (the movie).

I’m not sure if I’m old enough yet to blame forgetfulness on age. My mom, graciously, says that I’m absent-minded because my brain is too full. But with Google, and an increasingly ‘app’-saturated world, even what memory I have doesn’t seem to be required anymore. If I need to know something, I can simply look it up.

I recently had the opportunity to watch Julia Roberts in the film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling novel “Eat, Pray, Love”. I watched it with my wife, partly to redeem some movie-selection karma that I had squandered in taking her to see “Tropic Thunder”, but also with a sense of curiosity about what passes for a good chick-flick these days.