Personable Information about Owen Minns
—photo by C.K. or M. Minns.
My episodic memory is sub-par, so I lean on a written journal and on photographs to remember my experiences. This memory is heavily weighted to my first undergraduate years, since that's when I wrote the most and took the most photos. Since then I have become much less social—I used to go out frequently, but now I rarely do.
At Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, I sampled a few academic subjects. Like many others enduring and enjoying a liberal arts education, my opinions and intents were flexible, and I lighted temporarily on Computer & Information Science before settling on Psychology. To supplement book learning, I launched into other involvements, first with the campus newspaper, the Queen's Journal and with a few clubs, and then at the Alma Mater Society's Publishing & Copy Centre for two years, first as a staff member and graphic designer, and then as Assistant Manager (Publishing). These experiences led me toward my later involvement and election.
—photo by Reiko Muranaka.
In the convocation ceremony at which I was awarded my first degree, my classmates and I were invited to join the broader world, to leave campus and use what we had learned in other communities. As it turned out, I chose not to leave my adopted home, and I spent two more years on campus. While taking classes toward my second degree, I served as a managing Director of a number of campus services, and then in an especially educational February, Sarah Corman, Lisa Aunger (née Mori) and I were elected on a slate to the Alma Mater Society's Executive. Alongside with hundreds of volunteers and paid staff, we served all 12 101 AMS members as leaders for the 1999-2000 academic year. In that role, executive and strategic management for a non-profit service organization, I learned much about my own work styles and working with others. Here is a transcript of a Queen's Journal interview of me from 2000-01-12 about being AMS VP(Ops).
After leaving Kingston and working for several years in the for-profit business world, I finished off my second degree by commuting to class in Kingston from where I was living and working in Toronto.
Life has treated me well to date (knock on wood). Of course, I have some regrets: bridges burned, names never to be known, and so forth; primarily frail and poignant memories that become only more so as they wear away to nothing under nostalgia's relentless polishing. I miss too many things that never were, I am embarrassed at how little I have accomplished with the opportunities I have unearthed, and I look forward to improving upon this.
A number of other interests also consume hours of my time; these include: learning about things (often on the internet, e.g., via the King William's College General Knowledge Quiz 2008, Wikipedia); photography; writing (including occasional observations, like this examination of what some proportional representation might have meant in the Canadian Federal Election of 2008 or this look at Olympic Summer Games 2008 medal counts per capita; reading; making crafty things; cooking (or even just 'preparing'); playing computer games (e.g., Baldur's Gate, Pharaoh or EVE Online); providing helpful instructions for various minor technical tasks (e.g., how to remove the inner tray from a CD jewel case); designing graphics, such as this free Gnutella logo; growing things; suggesting that we waste less; suggesting how to name files; measuring things; international news and policy; and travel. Oh, and I like having friends and making new ones, though neither has advisedly been called my forté. I have a list of internet pointers that I use often; these may provide further insight into what I think about.
I also have a number of colourful images that I like. I think you might like them too, especially if you like saturated colours and symmetry and things that are visually appealing.
