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March 02, 2005
In like a lion...
It's snowing again--that sideways-blowing snow that gets in your eyes if you dare to raise them from your feet as you stumble along the unshoveled sidewalk (and occasionally the road when the sidewalk is too treacherous). I am ready for spring.
Today, I had a thesis meeting downtown with Ronan, where we exchanged our written work to date. I gave him my 20-page literature review on The History of Sustainability Reporting and he gave me a 3-page Random Thought Processes. Here's an excerpt:
Specifically, the project takes a close look at non-financial reporting, a growing and significant component of CSR, and how reporting can be used to make serious progress towards a socio-ecological sustainable society. We feel it is important then to set aside some time to both highlight the debate concerning the aforementioned dilemma of ‘multiple identities’, and to define our rationale for adopting certain positions concerning them. Debates concerning these terms will be ongoing, to be sure, in this era of change the very nature of the responsibility, sustainability, or globalization requires iterative appraisal against societal or cultural norms and scientific consensus.
Oh boy...
At any rate, we have another meeting tomorrow to discuss our survey/questionnaire. We're hoping to use an online survey format to gather input from 350 corporations using the GRI Guidelines to prepare their sustainability reports. Fingers are crossed, since this will be our primary methodology for primary data. An email to my previous place of employment has not yielded positive results so far...
While at the thesis meeting (at Wayne's Coffeeshop, when again my wireless internet did not work), we met several other classmates, who informed me that this evening I was scheduled to show Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to the class for the usual Wednesday night movie. So I had to scramble back to the apartment (where the electricity had mysteriously gone off) to grab the movie, then catch the bus back to school (slipping down the hill to the bus stop and getting COVERED in snow--not very fun). Once there I realized that I hadn't brought the DVD player part of my computer (instead, I had the extra battery inserted), so we couldn't use my laptop to hook up to the projector. Sigh. After all that, only two people showed up, so I just gave the movie to them to watch independently and went home, where the electricity had magically reappeared.
Roya was home, and she let me join in a delicious meal with her and Laura. We had a picnic on my bedroom floor (thank goodness I had swept yesterday night!), and got all caught up on Laura's recent move to Skarva. They are having a housewarming party out at the nature reserve next weekend, so it will be a good chance to see the place again.
After dinner, I spent some time catching up on email, but nothing too strenuous. I'm looking forward to going to bed and continuing reading The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. It's an extremely challenging book, but I think I like it so far. In short:
It is a compelling murder mystery, as young narrator Adso of Elk accompanies the wise William of Baskerville as he uses logic and semiotics to not only solve a murder mystery, but to decipher labrynths and hidden secrets of the vast monastery library. Interwoven with the murder mystery is a virtual course on philosophy and late Middle Ages religion, as Eco provides detailed accounts of the histories of various sects, includes scholarly debate on topics such as the poverty of Christ, and a history of the Catholic Church leading to the establishment of a papacy in Avignon, France.
I haven't gotten pictures from Oslo yet, so that adventure will have to wait for a later telling.
