Jade Dynasty: Dinner together on last night before boarding cruise. Traditional Cantonese restaurant in central Chinatown, deserves more recognition for longevity. Ordered slightly too many dishes for variety, small box of leftovers to take home. (East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20260831

Bard on the Beach: Introducing play Merry Wives of Windsor, artistic director Christopher Gaze couldn't cast Yellow Labrador Retriever Mason as in prior year Two Gentlemen of Verona. Performance took liberties with text from 1601 CE, reset in a Vancouver athletic centre. (Vancouver, BC) 20260829

Joey Burrard: Intercept dinner with visit to Robson Square Dance Series. Predictable catching up on families, travels. Cheerful service in a buzzy atmosphere. (Joey Restaurant, Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC) 20260828

Contemporary Art Gallery: Coffee house aesthetic #DouglasWatt (2026) Painting on wall, with (2026) Mug sculptures. White enamel-painted rims with dark interior voids of mesh. Part of Mayor of the Village show referencing 1990s-2000s cafes. (Nelson Street, Vancouver, BC) 20260828

Pinche Taco: Inducted as a guest into #WestCoastFuturing in Vancouver, tracing subgroup from #CanadianForesightNetwork in Toronto. Disambiguated lineages and schools of systems thinking. Reviewed history with the SFI program at OCADU. (Pinche Taco, Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC) 20260828

Bali Thai: In pursuit of good beef rendang, opted for food quality over decor. Lunch in International Village Mall food court is a familiar venue in Chinatown. Leisure stroll cross-town for exercise. (International Village Mall, East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC) 20260829

The Keg Yaletown: Rooftop dinner, as sun set and temperature cooled. A 12-oz ribeye strip steak split across two plates was more than sufficient, twice-baked potatoes unusual on menu. Received Billy Miner pie complimentary for anniversary. (Mainland Street, Vancouver, BC) 20260826

Granville Street: After 9:00pm, looking north from Nelson Street, illuminated installations from FIFA remain after gameplay was completed over 6 weeks ago. Pedestrian mall during day, partygoers clustered around bars at night. Passed a few security guards along the way. (Vancouver, BC) 20260825

A Bite of Shunde: Cantonese restaurant featuring claypot rice. In Richmond, an embarrassment of riches in choosing Asian cuisines. Catching up on family news. (A Bite Of Shunde, Garden City Road, Richmond, BC) 20260825

Orpheum: One stop on walking tour of Granville Street on Heritage, Change and the Future, guided by #HeritageVancouverSociety, organized by #DowntownVancouverBIA. Learned about urban rezoning with compensation plans. In 20 years, might expect 44 storey tower on both sides. (Vancouver, BC) 20260827

Pink Pearl: Low stress Tuesday midday dimsum in East Vancouver, in restaurant with servers still pushing carts. Classic selections, limited options for a vegan. Close to neighbourhood where the families first lived. (Pink Pearl, East Hasting Street, Vancouver, BC) 20260825

Mountain View Cemetery: Learning different technique to fold hell money and form into cylinders, for more complete burning of offering. Gravesite of parents in Vancouver, since mother was still in nursing home on our visit more than a year ago. (Vancouver, BC) 20260825

English Bay Beach: Accessible beach mat enables wheelchair user to roll out over sand, when tide permits. Initially mystified at function of this feature, until reading the sign. Pedestrian 15,000 steps on first day on west coast, shopping for the week. (Beach Avenue, Vancouver, BC) 20260824

Craft English Bay: Celebrated actual anniversary day at the location of our first date in May 1984. Former English Bay Cafe transitioned to another restaurant by 1990s, then a brewpub in the 2020s. Seated at window seat for happy hour, first day on 3-hour time zone shift. (Vancouver, BC) 20260824

Wok and Roast: Two grad student commiserating on thesis writing, close to completion. Shared stories of updates in the world of systems thinking. Easy to meet on the east side, saving the commute to campus. (Wok and Roast, Broadview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20260820

Early visit for 41st time to fountain, as we'll be in Vancouver on anniversary day. Renewal of vows, lots of transitions in the past year. Opted for dinner in home, to accommodate little one. (Edwards Garden, Lawrence Avenue East, Don Mills, Ontario) 20260818

OCADU Graduate Programs: Second summer #SystemsThinking Ontario session for Synthesis Map presentation of "Fragmented Care: Mapping the disconnect across Canada’s health and social service systems". Content was crafted in different forms for master's class, client study, and competition.

Dundas St. E. Rail Bridge: Fresh paint on reopened bike lane, new asphalt under bridge. Incomplete with traffic cones not yet removed. A regular route westward into town. (Dundas Street East Rail Bridge, west of Logan Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20260801

Ignite Gallery: Misting by Arduino turned off on sculpture #AdewoleLouis (2026) Parking Lot, Satellite, Hailstorm 2, awarded for this #OCADU year. Digital image reproduced from Windows XP (Bliss) screen saver, 3D in aluminum and steel frame. Tall installation, heavy concrete base. (Toronto)

Royal Drive: Downhill southbound ramp doesn't welcome bicycles, as cars eastbound from Prince Edward Viaduct enter the Don Valley Parkway. Road named Winchester Drive prior to 1939 became Royal Drive, until roadbed was removed in the 1950s for highway construction. (Toronto)

MacLennan Ave Pedestrian Bridge: Most gradual ascent bike ride north over CP North Toronto Subdivision rail lines now only freight. Rail cars parked when construction scheduled all across city. South ramp along Summerhill Ave rises west and doubles back east, north ramp only short descent (Toronto)

Research dialogue lunch, encouraged by Dean of Design at OCADU. Learned about Hawaiian sacred traditions, speculated knowledge might be parallelled with Gen AI. For 2027 Problematique Dialogue, invited considering a team focused on indigeneity, foreshadowing formal call in November. (Toronto)

Book Bar: Toronto meetup for Canadian Foresight Network. Entry ticket to bring a signal of change for discussion. Shared patterns of shipping as infrastructure, gen AI collecting expertise in organizations, Chinese open source as good enough while Americans overshoot customer needs. (Toronto)

Toronto Sculpture Garden: Springing from the grass, #ChloeBegg (2026) Waiting Rooms & Roller Coasters mimics shape of toy in waiting rooms of doctors and dentists. Reinterpretation of scale of bead roller coaster as intersection of calm and movement. Competing forces of stillness and movement.

Front Street East: Smoky skies with Air Quality Index of 400 from Northern Ontario wildfires in early morning. Not the orange tint from prevous day with lower AQI. Sculture by Emily Cote (2026) Canadian Motif with fall-coloured leaves, as Gooderham Building under construction. (Toronto) 20260716

Pho Ngoc Yen 3: Dinner after Systems Thinking Ontario session on Magnifca Humanitas reviewing Encyclical by Pope Leo XIV, not just on AI but on humanity. Less constructing Tower of Babel, more rebuilding wall of Jerusalem. The in-person tradition monthly gives opportunity to catch up on projects

Scarborough Civic Centre: On street corner entering centre, Yoshio Yagi (1994) Cloud Sensor. Granite sculpture selected by expert-led panel integrating international artwork with municipal architecture. Stone a living repository of time, market bridges earthly landscape with astronomic sun + sky.

Albert Campbell Square: From civic square, Janis Karlovs (1994) Eruption was hard to find behind mature trees. Selected from the International Granite Sculpture Symposium in 1994 by the City of Scarborough. Installation was originally located more centrally in the gardens, and was moved in 2017.

Pape Station: Pigeons perched on rail in entry hall, as passengers ascend and descend the escalator or staircase. A preference for shade, warm sunny temperatures outside. Multimodal journey, using bike racks on buses on both ends of train ride to extend my range. (Toronto)

Daniels Building: In upper hallway, #PamelaMatharu (2026) Get Rich or Die Tryin': Stories from my Grandmother's Hands for my Father's House. Weaving history in memory of Sikh diaspora from partition through passing of loved ones. Grad Exhibition for M. Visual Studies degree at UToronto.