Glimmers of the past

This photo stirs up memories of a coffee shop on Roncy that no longer exists. I used to love the wild, bird-crazed garden out back, a mixture of streaming sunlight and cozy pools of gold-fleck-shaded tungsten lamplight inside, mismatched Formica tables, and the collection of thick ceramic 70s-era mugs they had amassed over the years from lawn sales, communes, truck stops, rodeos and various grandmothers’ kitchens.

Glad I captured this moment. 

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Blind faith?

I decided to repost one of my favourite posts of all time on Facebook. I felt like capturing it here because it was too easy to lose track of it otherwise. Because I think this post is a really  a good reminder to choose kindness every day, even when it is not the popular choice, even when it’s time consuming and you’re in a hurry, and yes even when the prospective recipient is making it challenging to do so by testing your patience or human decency.

Also, I really was overwhelmed and touched by the number of likes and comments I got from this note. It restored my faith in humanity a little, but, more importantly, helped me to restore some of my faith in myself. It had been a very difficult year, and this day still stands out to me as a corner I had chosen to turn for the better. About how one small act can have a ripple effect in a lot of unexpected ways. Of course, as with most things, that became more clear in retrospect.

Read the original post and comments in their entirety here.

Spotlight on a Landmark discovery: DMD is a stem cell disease

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

Late last year, a breakthrough study out of Ottawa made headlines around the globe as the first to show that Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) directly affects muscle stem cells – findings that are already changing long-held beliefs around the causes of the disease.

The study, entitled “Dystrophin expression in muscle stem cells regulates their polarity and asymmetric division” was published in Nature Medicine on November 16, 2015. The research concluded that muscle wasting in DMD not only is caused by myofiber fragility, but also is made worse by impaired regeneration due to satellite cell dysfunction.

Respiratory Health – Living Longer AND Better

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

People affected by neuromuscular disorders today are living longer than ever before – which is very positive news. But the challenge of these disorders becoming more of a chronic disease state is that while many of these people are living longer into adulthood, they continue to face major quality-of-life challenges.

One of the key things having a negative impact on the quality of life in these individuals is their respiratory health. Although neuromuscular disorders do not impair the lungs directly, they often affect the muscles involved in breathing, coughing and swallowing.

Keep Coughing! Maintaining Respiratory Health with Neuromuscular Disorders

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

Having a nagging cough can be really frustrating. But did you know your ability to produce a strong cough is actually a blessing in disguise? The act of coughing is something many of us take for granted, and is even seen as a nuisance. But if you have a neuromuscular disorder, coughing can be one of the most important things you can do to improve the quality of your life and slow down the progress of breathing problems, infections and weakness.

Enterprise video streaming, simplified in the cloud

By Gail Balfour, Unleashing IT

Increasing demand, growing complexity, numerous formats, multiple networks, and disparate devices: why moving your video delivery to the cloud just makes sense for service providers and the enterprise.

Do you have a Netflix subscription? Do you download movies to your tablet, or access YouTube clips on your smartphone? At first glance, these consumer video diversions may not seem very relevant to the world you work in. But the technology behind such innovations is being rapidly adopted by the enterprise, while becoming increasingly complex for service providers. As a result, it is causing disruption across the whole value chain—from media companies to advertisers—and is changing the global landscape for content distribution models, in living rooms, boardrooms, and enterprise IT shops. 

Aging and Muscular Dystrophy -Why you should consider physiatry

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

Most people are familiar with the terms “physiotherapist” and “chiropractor.” But a “physiatrist” is a particular type of specialist that you may have not heard of before.

A physiatrist is a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, who treats conditions involving muscle and nerves, with a goal of helping to maintain and restore abilities and function, says Dr. Rajiv Reebye, a physiatrist and staff physician with G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver. Dr Reebye was one of the presenters at Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s Empowerment in Action (EIA) Conference, held recently in Richmond BC.

Make sure your ERP is a business-led project, not an IT-led one

(From an interview with Shoshana Jamieson, Director of Consulting at Illumiti)

It’s no secret that many organizations struggle with ERP. Gartner’s recent whitepaper, entitled “Working Smarter, Not Harder Is the Key to Business Success With ERP” identifies the principal reasons why some organizations are so successful with their implementations, while others continue to experience challenges.