18
Geotechnical News December 2010
CGS News
or where no one has fun. One of my
hopes is that when people, who know
me well, are asked to describe me that
they mention the “Becker” sense of hu-
mour. My kids and some of my col-
leagues will attest that I liken many ex-
periences and situations to a particular
Seinfeld episode, and there are many!
My wife Lori and I love country
music. If the truth was known, the pri-
mary reason we decided to come back
to Calgary about 8 years ago is that we
were tired of being “closet” country
music fans in Toronto. Sorry Jack, Les
and other Golder Calgary colleagues.
There are many great lessons to be
learned from the lyrics of new coun-
try music. For example, back in 2005
when I was CGS President, Craig Lake
asked that I present a Limit States De-
sign Workshop in Halifax and, if I was
up to it, also one in St. John’s. I’ve no-
ticed that as you get older, people start
thinking (or is it questioning?) one’s
physical abilities and stamina. I im-
mediately emailed Craig back quoting
the words of a Toby Keith song – “I’m
not as good as I was once was, but I’m
good once as I ever was”. There is
also the current hit by Billy Currington
about the importance of being good at
something. The man in the song rec-
ognizes that he’s not good at working
hard or long at a variety of things, but
he proudly states “but I’m pretty good
at drinking beer”. I love this down to
earth fashion of describing the good
feeling people have when they excel at
something.
To wrap things up, I want to again
thank the support and understanding of
Lori and our 4 children Debbie, Julie,
Krista and Matthew who tolerated the
many extracurricular activities associ-
ated with my career. I was often not
at home when I should have been. It’s
very important, but often difficult, to
achieve the right balance between your
home
life and work.
Thank you.
Ode to the Legget Medal
Winner
In honour of Dennis Becker’s receipt
of the Legget Medal, and based on
the content of his acceptance speech,
the following ode was written by
Richard Jackson, and was recited to
the attendees of the Legget Award
Winners dinner, which was held after
the GEO2010 conference:
Y’all can’t be a sing-
ing
cowboy
in
T.O.,
So Dennis left for the Bow,
This River inspired his soul,
A cowboy singer is now his goal,
But Golder wished they had
hired Hank Snow!
Canadian Foundation for Geotechnique
Introducing the Canadian
Foundation for Geotechnique
Website
The
Canadian
Foundation
for
Geotechnique (the Foundation) is
a registered charitable organization
that works at arm’s length from the
Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS)
to recognize and foster excellence in
the geotechnical field in Canada. It
does so by, among other things, funding
some of the CGS awards, prizes and
lectures, and by offering a National
Graduate Scholarship. In order to
fulfill its mission, the Foundation relies
on donations and interest-free loans
from the geotechnical community –
individuals, corporations, and the local
sections and technical divisions of the
CGS.
Over the past several years, the
Foundation has developed a website.
This brief article introduces the web-
site to you.
The Foundation uses its website at
to communicate infor-
mation about its activities and events.
Upcoming Cross-Canada Lecture
Tours (CCLT) are listed on the
Upcom-
ing Events
page. CCLT sponsors are
recognized on the
Home
page, with
links to the sponsor companies’ web-
sites. Recent articles prepared by the
Foundation and its Annual Reports can
be found on the
News
page.
The Foundation provides finan-
cial support for the CGS’ awards and
prizes, including the Legget Medal,
the Geotechnical Colloquium, the
many Technical Division Awards, and
student prizes. Descriptions of these
awards are posted on the
Awards and
Prizes
page of the website. Recently,
the Foundation introduced the National
Graduate Scholarship, a $5000 award
presented each year to a deserving
graduate student studying in the geo-
technical or geoscience field at a Ca-
nadian university. Three scholarships
have been awarded since the program
was introduced in 2008. Information
for graduate students wishing to apply
for the scholarship can be found on the
Awards and Prizes
page.
A list of the Foundation’s Trustees,
as well as the Board of Directors and
their contact information, are provided
on the
Contact Us
page of the website.
Donations to the Foundation can
be made by downloading the dona-
tion form found on the
How to Donate
page, and mailing the completed form
with a cheque to the Foundation’s Trea-
surer. Alternatively, donors can elect
to include a donation to the Foundation
when they register or renew their CGS
membership through the Society’s
electronic registration.
Work is now progressing on the
French website, with the intent being
to have it completed in 2011.
If you would like to learn more
about the Foundation and its activi-
ties, please visit the website at www.
cfg-fcg.ca, or contact Doug VanDine at
Upcoming Conferences
14th Pan-American Conference
on Soil Mechanics and
Geotechnical Engineering and
64th Canadian Geotechnical
Conference
The Canadian Geotechnical Society
and the International Society for
