So Kate (MyNameisKate) tagged me in a 2008 meme. Ironic that her #1 item is that she doesn’t like to do these things,  because I never tend to do memes either;)

Eight things you (probably) didn’t know about me

1. I used to be a Veterinary Technologist. At one time I had 4 cats, 2 rabbits, 2 rats, 2 budgies and 2 guinea pigs! That doesn’t include at other times the great dane and 5 mice. Once my kids were born, well attrition started taking its toll. I have one cat left and he’s 18 years old.

 2. My youngest child was 11 lbs 2 oz born at home with a midwife. There should be awards for that is all I have to say.

 3. I was born in Quebec. I’m half french and grew up saying one, two, tree and dis and dat for a little while, thanks to my father;)  I am not bilingual unfortunately, unless you count the ability to curse in french fluently bilingualism?

4. I’m very accident prone. I have broken my ankle, wrist and hairline fractures in my vertebrae playing basketball. I dislocated my shoulder skiing moguls at Marble Mountain in Newfoundland. Not to mention hundreds of sprains, pulls and tears often from basketball. One would say it might be wise to stop playing. I’ve never professed to be wise. When I go away somewhere, my family and friends all warn me to be careful;)

5. I’m a speed reader. Which comes in handy in trying to absorb what’s happening in the blogosphere.

6.  I moved to Ontario when I was 21 and spent 10 years there and moved back to NB 7 years ago. I love being back in NB and I think Atlantic Canada is a beautiful place to live.

7. Having said that, I have never been to BC. It is the only Canadian province I have never visited yet.

8. I struggle with loving tech gadgets and materialistic things with throwing it all away and living a life of voluntary simplicity. I try to maintain balance without feeling like a hypocrite.

In keeping with the Atlantic Canada theme, I’m sending this New Year meme to Harold Jarche (NB), Mark Dykeman (NB), Robert Paterson (PEI), Jane Boyd (PEI), Gary Kelly (NF), Megan Cole (Newfoundlander living in BC)  Chris Campbell (NS)  and Carolyn Campbell (NS).

Happy New Year everyone!

Earlier this week in the news, CBC reported that Saint John was the happiest place to live in Canada. Both Chris Nadeau and Harold Jarche commented on this as well this week. As both mentioned, everyone is feeling positive about some of the great technology coming out of Atlantic Canada (visit the blog roll). PropelSJ stays on top of business technology and events happening in the SJ area. The regular news updates show that the Saint John area is becoming a business hub. And of course there’s no doubt that Atlantic Canada has some of the most beautiful vistas in the world.

This recent news is fortunate because for the past year Saint John and the Atlantic Provinces have mostly receiving failing grades in Health and Academic matters. In October of this year, Saint John was considered one of the fattest cities in Canada, likely attributed to poverty. People living in Saint John have the highest obesity rate, at 24.4 per cent of the population over 15 years old. The report card style study tracked the quality of life of Canadian communities in relation to poverty gaps, health, housing and the environment.  Saint John was not marked on track for any of these items.

NB also has some of highest caesarian rates in Canada. According to WHO (World Health Organization), 15% is the average c-section rate, yet in NB it is close to 29%. With northern NB having twice as many c-sections. Women’s groups wonder if it is about a lack of health resources or health professionals to deal with long labour. And certainly if looking at Northern NB where many hospitals were shut down, emergency rooms closing earlier, it would seem likely that is the case. This coupled with general long hospital waits compared to the rest of Canada also leads to a lack of resources.

In education, students in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick all performed significantly below average in science and math.

Again, does this come back to poverty/lack of resources due to low funding?

So if that’s the case, how come we’re so happy in Atlantic Canada?

Maybe because money really can’t buy happiness.

I want to wish everyone a very wonderful Season’s Greetings from meshEAST.  I will be back next week with a recap of some items over 2007.

I think Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation had the best holiday greeting out there this year, so I leave you with that.  Share 2007.

All the best,

Lisa

As per request from a meshEAST reader: 

I was thrilled when the 1st AIM conference was held in NS last year. Although I found out about it too late to attend.  The 2nd Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference will be held in Moncton, May 4-6th 2008. I will definitely be attending.

From their website;

Who should attend AIM 2008?
From management, to the team that makes your website work, AIM 2008 will open your eyes to what you can and should be doing online - and how to get it done right. AIM is for anyone who needs to learn how to succeed online including:

• Marketing Executives
• Marketing Managers
• Media Buyers
• Tourism & Travel Operators
• Designers & Programmers
• Project Coordinators
• Business Owners
• Consultants & Strategists

The line up of speakers at this point looks very promising. Ken Munro, the General Manager at Yahoo, Jordan Banks from e-bay, Jay Mitchell from AOL as well as 28 other industry experts.  I was also especially pleased to see some Atlantic Canadian speakers including a few women speakers (although still a small percentage) . Cheryl Chappel, Vice President - Integrated Marketing, Bristol Online, Krista White, Cossette Atlantic, Sarah Oldford, Online Media Manager, Colour, Wilma Hartmann, AppleCore Interactive, and Stephanie Lummis, ISL – Internet Solutions. If you follow the web 2.0/marketing conference circuit, you’ll often hear that one of the complaints is that there are not enough women in the speaker list. I’d like to see more women speakers but this is a good start.

I think 2008 is going to be one of the best year’s yet for Atlantic Canadians with conferences in online media. If you haven’t already don’t forget to register for The Power Within and Online Revealed. In the New Year, we’ll also hopefully have news on an unconference event as well.