Hello! I’m Graham (he/him). I live on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, otherwise known as Vancouver, BC, Canada, and am one of those fairly rare Vancouverites who has lived in the Lower Mainland all their life (and hasn’t yet been driven out by the cost of living). I grew up in neighbouring New Westminster (Qayqayt First Nation). Fun fact: I lived on a sailboat in False Creek until I was around 2 years old and my brother came along.
I live in East Vancouver, with my partner Eryn, my stepkids, two cats (Eva and Argo), and two chickens (Bowie and Ozzy).
By day, I’m the Identity and Access Management Architecht at Simon Fraser University. That’s a fancy way of saying that I work on the systems, policies, and projects that that ensure that the right people have access to the right things at the right time. I’ve been at SFU since I started as a student (BA Geography) in 1997, and never left.
I have been involved with Scouts Canada since I was eight years old and my parents registered me in Cubs. Nearly 40 years later I’m still involved as a Scouter (an adult volunteer) with the 12th New Westminster group, working primarily with the Venturer (15-17) and Rover (18-26) sections. Scouting has taught me a lot, both in pratcial camping and outdoors skills (though I still can’t tie knots to save my life, but I can start a damn fine fire), and in organizational and management skills (particularly that I never ever want to manage people professionally 😄). I’ve had the opportunity to travel to different parts of the country and work on several large Jamborees (week-long camps with several thousand participants), most recently as the head of Adventure for the 2019 Pacific Jamboree on Vancouver Island.
One of my hobbies is homebrewing (that is, making beer at home). I’ve been at it since around 2011, and turn out some not undrinkably flawed beers. I’m currently the Secretary for the Vancouver Homebrewers Association (aka VanBrewers), the local homebrew club. You may see some posts here about my homebrewing adventures.
Cycling is a big part of my life. I’ve been riding bikes as long as I can remember. A core childhood memory is winning a boombox at a “bike rodeo” when I was in elementary school. When I was a kid I’d ride all over the place; Central Park in Burnaby was a popular destination for me an my friends. I participated in the Ride to Conquer Cancer five times from 2009-2013, raising funds for the BC Cancer Foundation and riding from Vancouver to Seattle. I commute to work at SFU by bike, year-round. I’ve done the Seattle to Portland ride three times. I enjoy getting away for camping trips on my bike, though not as may as I’d like. I’m fortunate to have a good group of cycling pals with which to get into all sorts of trouble. As we like to say, “decisions were made”.
Aside from here, you can also find me on:
- Instagram: @grahamb
- Mastodon: @[email protected]
- GitHub: @grahamb