Kyrill - Hurrican in Europe

a few tiles flew off my parent's house

that looks like fun though!

Kyrill started in England, ripped through the Netherlands, Germany, Chech Republic and Poland and hit Austria last night. Crazy! Interestingly, this is not even mentioned in the Canadian News (CBC).

IRONIC

It might sound a little ironic that I am traveling to Michigan on the corporate jet, in order to work on a sustainability project. We are evaluating whether FSC* certification of our office furniture product offering is feasible. For that to happen we have to find out where our suppliers get the wood from. I must say, I was positively surprised by our suppliers’ cooperation. I guess, if you spend hundreds of thousands of $ each year and you come with a request in regard to sustainability, they actually listen and are willing to change. Sweet!

*FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council; they developed sustainability requirements for forest management; it’s a three tiered approach: environmental, social and economical sustainability.

Sunset

On the way to Michigan

Calgary skyline - from the airport - it was really windy - a few more knots and the flight would have been cancelled

Calgary - Nose Hill Park - and Downtown in the top right corner

Should I be worried that Captain Walter is chatting with us?

...No worry - everything is under control in the high tech cockpit

Michigan Again

Ken and Larry. Doesn't Ken look a little bit like George W. Bush?

inside

Yes, I could get used to traveling like a rock star!

the corporate jet - worth 33 Mio $

Art Saturday

On Saturday I celebrated art. First of all, it was Elisabeth's birthday (Elisabeth is my artist cousin)! Alles Gute zum 33-iger! Then I ran into James Wyper (that's his real name! If I was ever to become a famous something, I got to change my name to something non-German speaking people can actually pronounce). I was so lucky to check out his uebercool studio in an old brick building downtown. He is preparing for an exhibition in Holt Renfrew, which is opening next week. His paintings are bold and convey beautiful messages. Of course, I can only speak for myself - is it just me that sees an angel and a gateway on the canvas?

In the afternoon, Heather and I went for a stroll on Stephen's Avenue and FINALLY managed to see Katie Ohe's show (it was our 3rd try to see the show!). I met Katie in Norman's yoga class: she is around 65-70 years old and her headstands are as solid as her hands. Her exhibition is interactive: sculptures that the we could spin. The sculptures reminded me of chickens and eggs - in a Zen garden...

And in the evening I got a call from Barbara - the art historian. I guess, this Saturday was an example of all good things come in three (or four or more ;-)