This morning, the Canadian flag is flying outside Giant Birch Manor. The one day a year I risk offending my neighbours in a demonstration of my national pride.

In some ways, Canada Day serves as the start of my new year, just as much as the start of the school year in August/September does. It divides the year in half, and provides a celebratory marker when the weather is likely good enough to have a good party.

I had a look back to see what I posted on July 1 last year, and found that the only post was one related to GrabPERF, announcing the termination of the PubSub measurements, as that company was in the midst of its death throes.

Over the last year, I have seen significant personal upheavals and changes, most notably the diagnosis of my mental condition as Bipolar 1. After talking with some people I know who also suffer from this disorder, I realize that I have a very mild form of it, but even in its mildest forms, it can be crippling. I can say that having access to better medication (I AM PAXIL FREE!), and the world’s best therapist, I have come a long way in understanding what in this life I can and cannot change.

Watching the red and white flag fluttering in the morning breeze, I realize that there are days that I really miss Canada, and all of its foibles and unique cultural issues. But for now, I live where I am, and I have come to accept that, even with all of its uncertainty (still no closer to my Dream Green Card).

So, I wish you all a Happy Canada Day, wherever you raise your maple leaf.

Tags: Canada Day, paxil, bipolar, year in review, green card, Canada, new year

Some would call it old school. I call it classic.

I love pencils. They have a depth of emotion that you can’t get with any pen. But the highest standard in industrial pencils are not the 0.5mm mechanical pencils that everyone uses. No, it’s the 2mm leadholder.

I first used these in my drafting overview in Grade 8 shop class. I sucked at drafting, but these felt good.

I just rediscovered them, and have found that there are many people who share my love of these old leadholders, including the folks at leadholder.com.

The most prevalent ones are the Staedtler 780s, and their cheap copies.

The pinnacle of leadholder lust: the Caran D’Ache Fixpencil 2.

Tags: leadholder, Staedtler, Staedtler Mars, Technico 780C, Caran D’Ache, Fixpencil, Fixpencil 2

And, thanks to Matt Mullenweg, the header logo rotates for each visit. For someone who wants to improve performance, this is a simple attempt at vanity. Enjoy the home-brew headers.

Tags: re-design, pierzchala.com, pierzchala, logo, matt mullenweg

Come over and join the conversation at blunderWERK Design Notes.

Tags: blunderwerkz, design, architecture, blog

Oooops.

Ooops! A pseudo-blog. No feed.

Dwell: Get with the program.

UPDATE: Apparently it does! There is an RSS graphic at the bottom. But that’s not the feed link. Oh no!

You have to click the image to go to a page that has the page that has the RSS feed in it.

No. The feed is part of the blog. It MUST appear on the same page as the blog. Making it hard to find defeats the point of the process.

How lame is that?

For some, it’s ether; others, mescaline.

For me, it’s modern design and architecture magazines on glossy paper.

Feel the silky smoothness — empty the mind — buy — it’s what everyone — strange rumors.

This is a series of three volumes that contain 999 of the modern design classics. It’s one of those things that you have around, you pick up, and you go “wow”.

But at between $75 - $100, it’s pretty darn low on the priority list right now.

Picture by: baobee