Today, the BC Court of Appeal released their reasons for judgment in my case against BC’s Ministry of Children & Family Development. In short, the Court allowed our appeal and we won. The Court declared the order made by the…
Read easy-to-share versions of this story, here: Twitter thread (please RT!) Facebook post GoFundMe campaign for appeal Remember when the BC’s Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD), after an anonymous report, decided my kids couldn’t ride the bus (or…
Each new underground parking spot costs between $50,000 and $100,000 to construct – costs that get added directly onto the price of your new apartment or condo, critically reducing affordability in already pricey new buildings
[Unfortunately, the VR tour referenced in this post is no longer available, as the provider, Van Chernen Real Estate Photography, went out of business. I’ve been unable to reach them, despite repeated attempts. My apologies.] One of the more frequent…
An interesting thing happened last week. Perhaps a milestone in notoriety for this site, or merely a part of its evolution. I’m still deciding which. CTV, one of Canada’s national broadcasters, airs “The Social,” one of those midday panel chat…
Apologies for the extended absence. It was a busy summer, as parents the world over understand. We managed to do some car-free camping on Saltspring Island and the kids attended three different summer camps concurrently, walking and aqua-busing their own…
Just last week the Georgia Straight – the main weekly arts and culture paper here in Vancouver – did a video interview with me as part of their “Open House” series. Open House is a new feature aimed at looking inside…
Today I was sitting at my dining room table working from home as I often do. The house was quiet except for some light music, the sun streamed in along with muted city sounds below and I was thoroughly engrossed in…
This is the second article in my Life Redesign 2016 series. Last time I wrote about how the kids are learning to cook family dinners (we’ve got another lesson starting in 40 minutes, as I write this). In upcoming articles, I’ll detail more tweaks…
The demise of a long term relationship is always a great time to take stock of how you’re embracing life. Even notwithstanding that, I was long overdue for a hard look at how I was living versus how I wanted to…
If you know me at all, you know that I’m a bit of a minimalist. It’s this sense of minimalism that might make you think I’ve been robbed if you come over and check out my place. But despite my minimalism, I…
Your car sits idle over 95% of the time. Your guest bedroom is occupied one week out of every 52. Your kids use the yard less than 40 minutes a week. Yet we consumers love to envision the maximum usage for…
Michael Mortensen, a Vancouver-based urban planner and developer, wrote an excellent blog post last week entitled “Making Apartments Work Harder: the Third-Bedroom Challenge.” He gives us a great look at how good design can uncover a third bedroom in most two-bedroom condos, simply…
I’ve got five kids, and in today’s one-kid society this means I get a lot of unsolicited advice that starts with “You’ve got five kids! You can’t possibly do [fill in the blank].” This is especially true when it comes…
The concept of renting something versus owning is so heretical to some, especially those of my parents’ generation, that it’s frequently labeled as “throwing money away.” The freedom of using an item anytime you wish, for “free,” is very compelling….
Finding the right dining table for a small space with a large brood is an ongoing evolution for us. The goal is to have something that scales to seat 7-10 people, without using up an inordinate amount of floor space….