In conjunction with the UMSU General Election, an UMSU referendum is taking place on the topic of UMSU fee increases for the purpose of funding some of the UMSU/campus groups.

There are 3 questions, as follows:

1) Should there be a $0.70 regular session ($0.35 per term) fee increase per student, with said amount donated to Engineers Without Borders University of Manitoba Chapter?
YES/NO

2) Should there be a $0.50 increase in the UMREG student levy?
YES/NO

3) Should there be a $2.00 regular session ($1.00 per term) fee increase per students, with said amount to fund icePIRG?
YES/NO

I am posting these here in the interest of disseminating this information more widely to University of Manitoba students and others (though this list should eventually make it into The Manitoban in print and online.)

Any questions should be directed to cro@umsu.ca.

You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don’t have. Drink ’til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does…

-Tom Petty

A hat tip to Bessam Mustafa for this one.

Wow, two blog posts in as many days. This isn’t to say that I’m resurrecting the blog just yet, but I wanted to share this video with those of you who still read this. It’s of a special general meeting to deal with an administrative scandal within the Simon Fraser University Students’ Society (SFSS). It’s exciting to watch (at least for me). It’s democracy in action.

Read more at studentunion.ca and sfssdemocracynow.ca.

It’s time for a change. I need something to dream about, to be excited about, to wonder about the possibilities. All I see right now is the end of things, the need to finish things up, tie up the loose ends, and prepare to close one of life’s chapters, all while being more stressed than ever before. I thought it would be a good idea to take a bit of time away from school once I was finished, to decompress and figure out what to do with myself. But now it just feels like I have nothing to shoot for. No exciting job, grad school prospect, or upcoming adventure, because I haven’t even looked that far ahead. I always thought that I didn’t live in the moment enough, and was always looking ahead at the next thing. Maybe I’m more correct than I ever could have imagined — maybe that’s what has kept me going this far.

That’s enough introspection for now. Back to the life at the moment.

The blog’s been silent as life grinds on, and I’m sorry — regular updates will have to wait until life eases at least slightly.

In the mean time, a photo of the physical incarnation of a bunch of work I’ve been doing (in part) for our final year design project.

Catch you on the flip side…

Weird Al does it again with a parody to “Ridin’ (Dirty)” by Chamillionaire.

Check out the goodness on YouTube. The video’s pretty sweet, and he’s got some mad rap skillz.

Of all the words to live by, “We’re all in this together.” seems like some of the best I’ve encountered — it’s a statement definitely worth considering when making decisions that go beyond one’s own self. I must credit Ben Lee for planting this in my head though a song of the same name.

If only more people lived by this mantra, perhaps the world might be a slightly better place…

In doing some research for UMES today, I was browsing the SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) website. While I guess I can see the need for all of the different tariff classes that they have for use of music, some of them seem a bit ridiculous.

Want to run an “adult entertainment club” with music for your “entertainers” to dance to? There’s a SOCAN tariff just for you. How about the music you hear when you’re placed on hold in a telephone system? You bet there’s a tariff. Even muzak has an applicable tariff, by the square foot no less. It’s a good thing elevators aren’t that big.

And you wonder why they say piracy is rampant.