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Earth Day is today April 22nd
photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video I have had an interest in environmental issues for more than 20 years. Even before I thought about starting my undergraduate degree, I knew I had an interest...
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Authenticity, social media and Malcolm Gladwell
In the past couple of weeks, I haven’t had the time to articulate all the reasons why I disagree with Malcolm Gladwell’s views posed on the keynote he delivered at F5Expo (thanks Nels Agerbo and...
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Thinking about the economic geography of the lower West End
For those of you not keeping score at home, even though my degree is in Environmental Studies, and I teach in the department of Political Science, my doctoral dissertation actually built an...
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The end of the term
photo credit: dbaron As you can imagine, this term (January-May 2010) was stressful for me. On top of my consulting, my research, and my involvement with the social media community, I was teaching two...
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The industrial-to-urban transformation of Granville Island
Whenever friends of mine or other touristy folks ask me where to go to get a real taste of Vancouver, for some reason I always think of Granville Island. To me, Granville Island is the epitome of...
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The @UBCREC Shopping Week is on! May 15th-21st
photo credit: suewells10 I have been a fan of the UBC REC program for over a decade, having participated in many of their internal tournaments (volleyball, primarily) first as a graduate student,...
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Game theory, cooperation and networked behavior online and offline
photo credit: 826 PARANORMAL At FreelanceCamp Vancouver 2010, I gave a workshop on how “Freelance Is Not Free“, a refined version of my 2009 BarCamp workshop. During the workshop, one of the...
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On furthering my academic writing
My blog started off primarily as an outlet for a different kind of writing. It has given me an amazing number and variety of opportunities I don’t think I would have had as a pure academic. Even with...
View ArticleThe state of North America’s biodiversity (@TheBigWild)
I pondered whether this should be a longer post on my research blog or a quick-and-dirty one on my personal one, but what really struck me is how powerful graphical comparisons can be. I often use...
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My family and loved ones are my priority
Given my research expertise in comparative environmental policy (with a focus on North America), a lot of academic folks have asked me why I didn’t choose to take the usual, post-PhD tenure-stream...
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Headed to a writing retreat
Credit: Duane Storey Thanks to my good friend Lisa Thomas-Tench, Mom and I are headed up North (to Whistler) for a few days for a writing retreat. You’ll see, both Mom and I are academics. She is a...
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My Fall 2010 schedule (for PR pros and journalists alike)
As I have mentioned before, I am back to teaching undergraduates at UBC this fall (1 course in September-December 2010, 2 courses in January-April 2011), which means that the social media personality...
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On giving oneself permission to NOT be perfect
photo credit: gtall1 I grew up in a family of five brothers where all of us were hyper-competitive, all of us were really focused on our integrated goals (arts, science, sports and volunteering). I,...
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Back to school, back to reality
Yesterday marked the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year at UBC, and that also marks my return to undergraduate teaching again (from the summer hiatus). Being on campus is important to me, for many...
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Living my life as an open book: The Living Library Project at UBC’s @ikblc
A few months ago, I was invited by Glenn Drexhage (Communications Officer at the Irving K. Barber Library at UBC) to be part of the first-ever “Living Library” event on campus. I am both an alumnus...
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The future of my personal blog
photo credit: finchlake2000 I am in Toronto right now, in the middle of a Workshop Towards A Canadian National Water Strategy, surrounded by a number of incredibly smart scholars, activists and...
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World Teachers Day is October 5th, 2010
photo credit: hmerinomx There are few things that fill my heart with more joy than teaching. Very, very few. I am the seventh in a family of seven (Mom, Dad and five brothers) who has spent time...
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I love academic life
There, I said it. Spending a Saturday morning at my UBC office reading academic journal articles, books and book chapters. Soaking again in the waters of full-fledged research. Conceptualizing new...
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Blog Action Day 2010 on October 15th: Focus on water
photo credit: eutrophication&hypoxia Unless you really don’t know me or my blog, you’ll probably know that one of the biggest areas of research in my academic life is water (specifically,...
View ArticleWaiting for Superman (win tickets to the premiere Oct 13th)
Given that I am an educator and that I teach at a Canadian university, I thought it would be rather relevant to showcase the movie “Waiting for Superman”, by Davis Guggenheim. From the website’s...
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Productivity: Jump-starting your writing and research days
photo credit: Alexandre Dulaunoy Growing up with academics in the family always made me ponder what the best procedures were so that I could be as productive as my parents or my brothers. We were...
View ArticleWaiting for Superman (movie review)
I am an educator (and I have taught from high-school level to graduate level, Masters and PhD), and so I have a direct stake in the fate of the education system. So when I got an invite to see the...
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It’s the end of the university term…
And I need a good cry. So I listened to Mae’s This Time is the Last Time SERIOUSLY. No, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my life right now, so it’s not out of being sad. I just have been so...
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On advancing my field of research (in environment and public policy)
This post is probably most suited for my research blog, but I feel it has a personal element to it, so that’s why I decided to write it on here. I am cleaning my apartment and (quite obviously)...
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My goals for 2011: More time for reading
photo credit: opensourceway 2010 was a year that saw me battle the popular perception that all I did was blogging and social media, when the truth is, I’m an academic. I am happy to say that I feel I...
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2010: The year pollution control retook the center stage from climate change
photo credit: ARLIS Reference I was unsure whether I should post this on my research blog or on my personal one, but as I am thinking and reflecting on what 2010 brought to me, I must point out to a...
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Dr. Pacheco’s 2010 Year in Review: Academia, Teaching and Research
Why didn’t I say “Raul’s 2010 Year in Review”. Because I’m a snob, that’s why. No, I’m just kidding. Because in 2010 I made a purposeful decision to keep both identities separate, Raul the...
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My Vancouver Island writing retreat at the end of 2010
If you followed my Twitter stream, I semi-announced I was disconnecting for a few days in order to complete a major project. You’ll see, publications are the currency of academic life. You are not...
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The Dorchester Hotel [Best Western] (Nanaimo, BC)
I always have a soft spot for boutique hotels. For the most part, they don’t pretend to be the high-end, upscale resorts, yet they are always equipped nicely for a comfortable stay. I have nothing but...
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3 reasons for teaching
These are by no means MY own reasons, but I find it funny how the stereotype is that we (educators/teachers/professors) have holidays during the summer. In fact, we don’t. For me, the summer season is...
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The Point Grill (UBC Point Grey campus)
While I was a graduate student at UBC, and even as a faculty member, the usual “high-end” bistro for me (or anyone on campus) to take colleagues, visitors and family members for lunch or dinner used to...
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Open Access Week 2011
I was torn between blogging about this here or on my research blog, but I figured it would get much more exposure here. As an academic who blogs (and who often gets mistaken as ‘just a blogger’),...
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Enabling academic work through cloud computing
Graph credit: Bobbi Newman (Librarian by Day) on Flickr. Amazingly, someone who never used to be a big believer of cloud computing (you would see me bringing my USB sticks everywhere, or in old,...
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Improving the conditions of your academic travel
One of the things I do when I travel is prepare lectures, or simply read scholarly journal articles or books associated with my academic life. Long-distance travel (usually when I go to Victoria by...
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On being driven…
I am at an incredible point in my personal life and academic career. I am enjoying my research, I have a fantastic research team (incredibly smart, motivated, confident, independent and self-starter...
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Managing yourself: Do something every day that moves you forward
Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. - Marilyn vos Savant One of the things I have learned about life is that it often throws you a curve ball and that...
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Travelling for a week with only a backpack and a carry-on bag
I don’t think I ever want to do this, ever again. Particularly in Canada, and particularly in Eastern Canada, where the weather can change within hours, let alone days. So you may ask what is THAT,...
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Uptown Waterloo (Waterloo, ON) #TravelTuesday
I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t feature a Travel Tuesday post. After all, a vast majority of my blog is dedicated to travel. And even though my academic life is keeping me crazy busy, I wanted to tell you...
View ArticleSlayage: The Journal of the Whedon Studies Association 2012 Conference...
As an academic who studies public policy, I always have found it funny that there is an academic journal (Slayage) dedicated to study Joss Whedon’s work. There MUST be something relevant to be studied...
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Managing yourself: Surround yourself with the proper tools you need for your job
Ever since I knew that I would be an academic (probably around when I was 10 and realized that bookworms would probably end up being academics, be it professors, researchers or both), I figured I...
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