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Juris’s Page
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home Kootenays election work squash links
and philosophy
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Birmingham and other places
 Although I was born in Toronto, I grew up from a very early age in Birmingham, Britain’s “Second City”. Birmingham had, probably still has, a bad reputation in Britain, but I will always remember it fondly; for
better or worse that is where I spent my formative years. The City of Birmingham is going though a phase or rejuvenation, the
centre has been refurbished and is a pleasant place to visit (Madeleine can be seen soothing the savage beast in the
Bullring), though the inner suburbs will require much work. I managed to get
a good high school (secondary) education in a technical school, which matched
my interests nicely. I went on to the University of East Anglia to do chemistry and PhD in minerals engineering
back in Birmingham. During the university years I met and married Madeleine, my partner through life for over thirty years.
We immigrated to South Africa in the early eighties and had six enjoyable
years there, but it was not to be our home. We returned briefly to Birmingham before I found work with Cominco. My heritage is
Latvian, my mother tongue was Latvian, now a little rusty but I seem to find
opportunities to apply a little oil now and then. My Dad still lives in the
Midlands of England, but my Mum passed away in while we were in South Africa. Also I have a brother in Latvia; we grew up apart and met for the first time in
2001. I have managed to visit him and my new family a few times since then.
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Kootenays top
Living in a quiet and
rural Fruitvale is a stark contrast to the highly industrialized Birmingham and the mining city of Johannesburg. I will always remember the feeling of being on
holiday when I first moved here, even on the way to work. We have a beautiful
valley; the rainbow is a view from our deck. This feeling  lasted for a good seven years. Fruitvale now is
home. Fruitvale can be found in next to the 49th parallel half way
between Vancouver and Alberta. It’s in the Beaver Valley.
March 2007 Madeleine
and I have lived twenty years in Fruitvale; the time has flown by quickly.
The years have been good with the normal ups and downs. In 1991 we adopted
James at two months from Romania. When James was five he was diagnosed with a rare
degenerative epilepsy; this for us was one of the bigger downs. Nevertheless James has managed to teach me much about myself even
if the lessons were painful.
Madeleine has been active I the community, having been on
the Fruitvale Library, Trail Association of Community and Family Support Institute boards. Until now I have been content to live
vicariously through work, family and sports. Consequently, Madeleine’s activities had “shamed” me into trying for
Fruitvale Municipal office in a byelection; but was beaten convincingly in to
third pace. I would like to thank the voters who found the time to vote for
the five candidates and encourage those who did not vote to make sure their
ballot is counted in November 2008. I will be running for Councillor again at
that time. A link to my 2007 “platform” can be found just below:
election 2007
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 Work for me is the Applied Research and
Technology group, part of the Technology Division of Teck Cominco. ART has
great group of people in it. The place is unusual in that, I believe, every
single person wants to make a difference. The work, we do, varies from
“shaking test tubes” to travelling the world. I have had opportunities to
visit different parts of the world: north of the artic circle, Iran, high in
the Chilean Andes, Australia and South Africa to name a few. For the most
part I spend day driving a desk/computer, and discussing test work plans and
results with my colleagues.
Teck Cominco is a
mid-sized diversified mining company with interests in zinc, copper, gold,
metallurgical coal and oil sands. Teck Cominco is also investing into
diamonds and zinc recycling. The photo shows the zinc and lead smelters.
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Squash and other
activities top
Playing squash has
been my primary form of entertainment and exercise since 1980. Before I that
played basketball in high school and university; I also played a little bit
in Trail when I first arrived in the Kootenays, but through injury and time
commitments, something had to give. I supplement my exercise by playing
recreational soccer indoor and outdoor. I was part a cricket team for my
first few years in BC, that represented the West Kootenays in the summer games. (The main reason I played
was that I had the right accent and new the difference between a silly mid on
and a googlie). But I have played more cricket and football in Canada than I ever did in England or elsewhere, go figure? My squash is played at
a great little club Swingers in Nelson a 67 km drive from Fruitvale, usually at
night and in winter….great fun. The club is run by Kimberly and Duncan Macdonald. Telephone 250 352 1818.
Currently I have
been doing a lot of reading on philosophy, free will and determinism.
Consequently, I have started to gather some of my thoughts on philosophy, free will and
other ponderings.
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Fruitvale Village Teck Cominco
City of Trail Trail Times
Birmingham UK Squash BC
Juris’s Junk and Logs
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last updated
11 January 2009
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