The Brown Knowser

I had a nightmare the other night. It was right out of a zombie apocalypse movie. Image: ioshmagazine.com I was surrounded by people who wouldn't respect the two-metre distancing measures. I tried to protect my family but then DW and my kids would get too close to others, risking exposure to what I call COVIDy people . I had to run away from my family as well. It was awful. The very next night, I had a dream that also reflected this coronavirus pandemic. I don't remember the specifics of the dream other than that the government had declared curfews because idiots were flouting the social-distancing rule. The military was now patrolling the streets: law-breakers were shot. I had no sympathy for those scofflaws. (Is that bad? Who cares?) In a third dream, I seemed to be living life as I had before the pandemic brought restrictions on our movement, though I knew that there was still a risk, that the virus hadn't been beaten, but I had to be careful. I encountere...

Last February, I walked away from a seven-and-a-half-year relationship with my Ford Focus , replacing it with a new hybrid. Before I said goodbye to my old car, which was rife with problems, I made a short video to outline the issues and to bid it a proper farewell. With my Insta360 One X video camera clamped to the passenger side door handle, I talked as I drove around Ottawa on my last daily commute in the Ford, making a detour through the Experimental Farm. I also shot a scene with my smartphone, attached to the front windscreen, as I was driving along Highway 416, a couple of weeks earlier. There's no continuity in the driving: I knew things that I wanted to say but they didn't come out in the order in which I drove, so the viewer can't follow my route. There was a lot of video footage that I never ended up using. I had some great shots of my morning commute, but I didn't talk much and these clips only ate up time. I really try to make my Brown Knowser ...

When I brought Music Monday back to The Brown Knowser , I did it thinking that I would only be doing it for a few weeks—a month, at most—while we rode out this global pandemic. Back then, like many of you, I didn't think that self-isolation wouldn't last long. After all, the coronavirus doesn't live long without a host. And yet, here we are, seven weeks into this shut-in, with my sixth musical post that is COVID-19-related. I miss my friends. I miss getting together with my family. I even miss being in the office. I want to cry. In the mid-90s, DW came home, late one evening, crying her eyes out. I was worried, as she didn't come home as expected and I had no idea where she was—this was the time before cell phones. And when she finally walked through the door, at almost 11:00, on a work night, with tears in her eyes, I asked her, "what's wrong?" "I had tickets for us to see Holly Cole, tonight, and I forgot. And I had wanted to surprise y...

I've been trying to find the words to express my horror at what happened on Sunday, in Nova Scotia. Words fail me. My family knows the areas that were affected, and we know the wonderful Canadians who make this beautiful province the special place that it is. Nova Scotians are warm, friendly, welcoming. They are also strong. We stand with them.

For not the first time, and certainly not the last time, I've lost track of the days of the week. I rely, to some extent, on my smartphone to tell me whether or not I have to get out of bed to go downstairs, to the basement, and get to work. The radio tells me when it's time to eat, it's time to call it a day, and when it's dark and I'm tired, I tell myself to go to bed. Time in and of itself is meaningless, these days. Life's set of routines isn't as concrete as it once was. No one cares if I shave or not. It's no longer important what to wear. Though, I do try to make an effort, most of the time. I'll get out of bed when my alarm tells me to. I have a shower. I shave. I put on clean clothes. I go to the kitchen and, if time allows me and no meetings are pending, I feed myself. I go to the basement, turn on the computer and log on. I check my messages, line up what tasks I have, and the day moves forward. I try to tell myself this is okay, thi...

In their youth, they fought for our future. It's now our turn to fight for them. They deserve our protection. Stay home. Happy Friday.

Photo: Economic Times , via Google. Before COVID-19 forced us to isolate ourselves from one another, we used to have my parents over to watch programs on Netflix and Amazon Prime. DW and I had introduced my folks to The Crown , even willing to watch seasons 1 and 2 over again so that my parents could catch up before we moved on to watch season 3. We were doing the same with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , re-watching the first two seasons, when the global pandemic kept my folks away. We were only halfway through the second season, and DW and I are dying to see season 3. We also watched the dark and disturbing British crime series, The Fall . We all needed to watch something light after an episode, and so we'd often put on the Baroness Von Sketch to bring our stress levels down. Before self-isolation, my father had had a mild cardiac episode and had to spend a few days in the hospital (he's totally recovered now). While he was in the hospital, I lent him my Samsung tablet...

Bear in mind, I was paid in cash, the largest denomination of currency being a 10,000 won bill. On the last day of each month, my co-workers (including DW) and I would turn to the financial section of The Korea Herald , a daily English-language newspaper, and clip the foreign currency exchange rates. At the top of the list was the American dollar, the figure that we used to calculate our pay. The rate was a day old, so on November 30, 1997, we used the rate that was published from November 29. The basic cash rate for that date was 1,163.8 won for every American dollar. We used the American dollar because our contract was a fixed monthly wage, in USD. It wasn't a lot, even for 1997, but considering that housing and all utilities except phone were covered, we had precious few expenses. DW and I could typically send all of our base salary home and live off of any overtime that we worked. And we also taught privately. Some months, that would double our income. But it was n...

Well, how are you now? I hope that you're well and managing during this isolation period. That, if you usually celebrate a holiday at this time of year, that you were able to make the best of our situation and share some virtual time with family and friends. Last night, DW, my kids, and I spent a couple of hours on Skype, hanging out with my parents and one of my sisters, who also live in Ottawa, with another sister, who lives in Toronto, my brother and his family, who live in Phoenix, AZ, and my niece, who is in Austin, TX. It was as though they were all with us, around our kitchen island. Almost. Not quite. But definitely worth it. Just remember that by staying indoors as much as possible, by maintaining a minimum social distance of two metres, and by washing your hands thoroughly and regularly, we'll beat this COVID-19. Be good to one another. After all, we're all in this together. Together, we'll get through this. Here's one of my favourite Canadian ...

There are places around the city that I go to on a fairly regular basis to shoot photos: the Vimy Memorial Bridge , the National Gallery of Canada , Hog's Back Falls , Lansdowne , and of course, Parliament Hill , to name but a few. There are objects that I make it almost a ritual to capture. When I go to the National Gallery, I have to take a picture of Maman . I love that spidery piece of art and depending on the angle that I position myself, I can make her look gigantic in comparison to the actual gallery or the cathedral that is across the street from her. When I go to the National Arts Centre, I always stand in one of the two spiral staircases that have a multi-floor chandelier that looks like a bunch of ice cubes on a mobile . And, when I go to Hog's Back, I often go to the pavillion, stand in the centre, point my camera straight up, and capture what looks like an eye but is actually a simple light fixture. The last time I was there, shortly after the stay-indoors...

Our family is moving to the next phase in doing our part to save the planet. Even if that means a little blood will be shed. Six weeks ago, DW and I picked up our new hybrid automobile. While it's not a fully electric vehicle, it is much more fuel-efficient than any of our previous vehicles and can run about 800 kilometres or so on a single (45 L) tank of gas. And while we drove it a lot in the first week after picking it up (our CR-V was essentially left sitting in the driveway), we went more than four weeks between fillups on our second tank. (Of course, being in self-isolation played a major role.) After four weeks on a single tank: just under a quarter of a tank left and 121 km until empty. When we initially ran the numbers, we'd calculated that we'll save at least $60 each month * in fuel fillups. Before we bought the car, we had begun reducing the amount of plastic that we've been bringing into the house. When we shop for ingredients at Bulk Barn, ...

DW and I haven't talked about our autumn vacation plans in more than a month. We've even stopped our German lessons. We're still hopeful that we can make it over to Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. After all, we don't leave until mid-September. But as health officials give us grim numbers with the COVID-19 pandemic and the government continues to enforce strict travel measures that they say may go on for months, our hope is waning. Financially, it's no big deal. All of our hotel reservations were made with free cancellation, if cancelled within 48 hours of arrival. And while we didn't purchase cancellation insurance on our plane tickets, we're hopeful that if our government says we can't go, the airlines might let us postpone our departure. Even if they don't, we were able to get our tickets for about $650, each, and though it would sting to walk away from them, it wouldn't be devastating. When our city shut down public venues, such a...

It's well enough for me to be confined to my home during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have a wife and two fun kids to keep me company. Not to mention, two adorable cats. I'm fortunate. But I can't help think about those who are in self-isolation, on their own. If you're one of those, I hope you have friends and family who you can reach out to. Someone you can call, or chat with through Skype or FaceTime, or other reach out to in other ways. If you're able, arrange to meet a friend in a place where you can go for a walk while maintaining a healthy two metres from each other. For all of you in isolation during this unprecedented time, here's a song that will hopefully lift your spirits. It's by my favourite female singer, Sarah Slean. Oh, and if you like Sarah and want to see her perform, live, in her home living room, on April 19, go to her Side Door Access site to get yourself a ticket. Help support a fabulous artist. Joining a crowd, even virtually...

I know that during this pandemic, we ought to stay indoors, save for exercise such as a walk or run around your neighbourhood. But last Friday, I really needed to get out by myself. So, I grabbed my camera gear, hopped in the Niro, and drove. I had no planned destination, no pre-conceived notions of what I wanted to photograph. I just got in the car, and drove. When sunset came, I was driving on country roads to the southwest of the city and toward Richmond. When the sun fell low on the horizon, I could see it across a flooded farm field, through bare trees. I pulled the Niro over and got out. I walked back to where the water, which came from the melted snow but couldn't be absorbed into the frozen earth, was casting reflections of the trees. I think that these are my first series of sunset photos for 2020. If you want to see them, check them out on Instagram . Of all the photos I shot of the sunset, my favourite of the bunch is the one in which I included my car. It sums...

Today marks Day 16 since my company directed me and my peers to work from home until at least April 6. The same directive was made of DW, so we've been working under the same roof ever since. Of course, a lot has changed since March 12, with the governments stepping up and ordering non-essential workers to stay at home and it looks as though we could be stuck indoors until May. It's a good thing that I love my family. The kids have handled this pandemic rather well, all things considered. DD16, who was beginning March Break as of the 14th was grumpy at first, but as long as she could be on FaceTime with her friends, she was fine. One of her friends even visited, briefly, as she and her mother were running errands and drove up to our house. DD16 and she chatted, face-to-face, from a safe distance. DD19 is a homebody by nature, and is perfectly content to spend hours in her room, playing video games or streaming movies on her computer. She was recently accepted to her dre...