Tag: Life

Seminar Mindset

Tonight was the emergency preparedness seminar. Great thing to go to. I have lots more ideas for the house, the vehicles, and work to prepare for an emergency of any sort.

The seminar was about 2 hours long and focused on a few different aspects of what hazards or disaster might happen in Victoria, and how we as individuals should prepare for those scenarios.

So far we are a little prepared, but have a way to go before I would consider us totally prepared. One nice thing is that the house we live in now, we don’t need to worry about a tsunami.

One thing I really took away is that doing something small each week is a great way to get moving on the kit. Being prepared really is a mindset.

The only downside to the seminar was one guy in the crowd. Right at the end he started posing a lot of questions about how the city and province are not instituting the correct policies for building codes. He definitely had an agenda and sounded like a bit of a fanatic. The hosts of the evening were able to shut him down quickly and effectively by reminding him that the purpose of tonight’s seminar was personal preparation, not provincial preparation.

Workshop Earthquake

A few days ago I signed up for an Emergency Preparedness Workshop. Hopefully tonight I will learn more about things I need to do around the house to be ready for a disaster.

We are not 100% ready, but we have a good start. We have an earthquake kit that includes food and water, shelter, tools, and first aid. We also added some extra clothes, diapers, and dog food. We want to add some more food and water to the kit. A friend of mine is investing in a Life Saver water filter, and some day I’d like to get one, or something like it.

We also want to add a large tarp, some ropes, a sharp knife, and other items. We also need to add contact numbers of family members, stuff for the kids to do, and make up a plan for what to do after the earthquake hits (ie when Sox and I are at work, meeting up with the kids and heading home).

LOTD – Christmas Rocket

Well, Christmas is officially over in our household. All the decorations are down, the tree has been undecorated and removed from the house, and today I took down the remaining lights outside and inside. The only thing left to do is get the tree chipped, and we have a charitable organization coming on Saturday to do that.

I wonder though. Is there still time for this? I’ve always wanted to fire a rocket.


via BoingBoing

2009 Photography In Review

This is the part where I am supposed to reflect on the past year of photography. Last year I wrote that I intended to try and rekindle my photography in 2009. Honestly, that never happened.

I still took pictures, but I didn’t get out for dedicated photoshoots. I still want to do that more.

I am still proud of the pictures, and still proud of my photography. My skills definitely came in handy when we visited New Zealand for 4 weeks. I came away with many stunning pictures that I will always cherish.

2009 also saw me get a new camera body. Again something that could have stimulated more photography.

What held me back? I was enjoying my young family too much. Weekends became family time and evenings are busy.

What do I want to do for 2010? I honestly don’t know. I’d like to try and get out shooting more. The kids are older and a little easier to take care of. Perhaps there will be more free time.

Barring that I will continue on like I did for 2009 and making the most of what comes my way. That is the great thing about photography, everywhere you go there is potential to make a great picture.

January

While on a photowalk in Napier, New Zealand I spied this jumble of nets and fishing gear. The colors and randomness attracted me.

February

Again in Napier I could sense a grand sunset was forming. I jumped in the car and drove to the opposite side of the bay we were on and was treated to something truly spectacular. I desperately wanted to do this sunset justice. I recomposed many times, but I think this shot shows how all encompassing the sunset was.

March

A walk in the local dog park. The honey bee provided some entertainment for me as I followed it for a bit hoping I could frame it on some of the flowers.

April

There is a massive cherry tree in our backyard and when we moved in I hoped that the blossoms on it would be worthy. Seeing this tree decked out in blossoms was pretty amazing.

May

Messy stinky dogs. I love them. Digger, you are such a photogenic dog.

June

A carnival was in town for the Oak Bay Tea Party. This is a shot of the midway.

July

Canada Day fireworks. Good fireworks shots are hard to come by. Next year I think I will try some composite shots and see how they turn out.

August

The house we moved into had the largest lavender bush I had ever seen. In bloom the aroma was almost overpowering. So was the sound of all the bees.

September

A sunset from my Mom’s house. The trees here frame the sunset nicely and add some depth.

October

I think this is one of my favorite shots of the year. My kids looking out over the water. They were both hopping off the fence at random times so getting them both like this was challenging. You can’t see what they are looking at which add to the mystique of the shot.

November

I did a photo shoot at Beacon Hill Park in November. I had just learned I had been laid off and thankfully I had my camera with me that day. Instead of heading home I headed out on a photoshoot. There weren’t many flowers out, but I found thousands of these mushrooms growing in all sorts of flower beds.

December

This shot is stretching it a little, but I didn’t take many pictures in December.

Bonus Shot

This was taken in October up in Nanaimo at my Mom’s house (similar location to September’s picture). This is a beautiful sunset that feels lighter than the September shot. The lightness of the sunset is tempered with the boldness of the tree.

Mini Yikes

Where are the police when you really need them though? On Christmas day we saw the speed trap. When we returned from Nanaimo it was much later at night, and very dark.

We took our time getting home, and on the final highway stretch we were glad to be home. Until I looked over at the mini van that just merged onto the highway just south of Thetis Lake. The van had a couple kids in it, yet the driver was using both hands to text! Yikes. I wanted nothing more than to get away from that van.

It was so obvious at night too since their whole cell phone and slideout keyboard were lit up.

Police Trap

I saw something interesting, funny, and awesome on our drive to Nanaimo on Christmas. As we were pulling out of Victoria we saw a police car parked at the side of the highway. Figuring a speedtrap I checked the speedo and I was fine.

As we passed the car, Sox and I were baffled when we saw noone in it. The car just parked there sure made everyone slow down.

A little ways down the highway there was another police car parked in the middle median that was also empty. A third one was by the Costco exit in Langford, also empty.

Figuring the next one we see will be the actual speed trap I made sure I wasn’t speeding. We got out to Goldstream and hadn’t seen any other police cars.

Just North of Goldstream in the Southbound lanes is where we saw the trap. There was one police car, yet at least four officers. There was also at least a half dozen cars pulled over getting tickets. All on Christmas day.

Maybe they were getting warnings? I can just see the police driving out parking their cars strategically, then car pooling in the last cruiser out to Goldstream.

Entertained Order

I am a little late in writing this up, but Christmas this year was a lot of fun. The kids were the centre of focus, and they certainly had a great time opening presents. This year Sox’s mum was with us on Christmas morning, then when she headed home, we loaded up the car and headed to Nanaimo to my mom’s place. We were there for a couple days, then it was back in the car returning to Victoria.

This past weekend we entertained more of Sox’s family. It has felt like a very busy time, but it sure has been wonderful to see everyone.

I had one regret this year though. I switched photo printers. I was using Kodak Gallery, but they have had a few issues as of late, so I though I would give @shutterfly a shot. I’ve heard they have excellent picture quality, and outstanding customer service. I placed my order on Dec 10 which was a little late, and the prints were sent on Dec 12. This should have been plenty of time to get them to me. I was going to use them to make calendars for my family. Unfortunately, I never got them. I called today and they are reprinting and resending the entire order. I am very dissapointed in this, and will likely just use Costco for time sensitive items next time since I know they are quick and their quality is fine. In the next couple weeks we will see if I am happy enough with Shutterfly to give them more of my non critical business.

For Christmas I got a couple DVD’s, a new sweater, some socks, a cool tshirt, and more that I can’t remember right now. Sometimes I feel old when I get excited about new socks, but Sox’s mum knits the most awesomest socks ever.

In all it was a lovely Christmas full of fun, family cheer, friends, food and drink. What more is there?

Coffee Lottery

While cleaning up my work office, I found a pile of Starbucks cards hidden amongst the mess. Today I found another couple in my wallet. In all there were 8 cards, and I had no idea if any of them had anything on them.

I was at a @starbucks wanting a coffee anyway, so I asked the nice clerk to check them. Turned out one of them had over $6 and another over $4! Almost like winning the lottery.

Park Fog

We were in Nanaimo over Christmas, and we took the kids to a playground at Beban park (awesome playground by the way). Yoshi needed a spin so he and I walked through the trails at the adjacent wooded area (a participaction park).

We walked a ways, but I started to get cold so we headed back. Along the way I was struck with how the fog looked through the trees. Of course these cell camera pics don’t do it any justice, and if I had my real camera it would have looked totally awesome and spooky 🙂 Still, you get the idea.