Tag: Life

Frozen Fern

Yoshi and I went for a walk at Thetis yesterday. Victoria has been cold here for a few days but I was still surprised to see the amount of ice on the lake. In fact, upper Thetis lake was completely frozen over. Yoshi didn’t really pay any attention to that fact, and certainly had a good romp.





At one point he needed a drink, and had to crunch through the ice to get to the water. He was a little confused by that. I can’t imagine how cold the water must have felt, but there he was standing in it drinking!



The overcast sky ensured that the forest was a surreal green. I found this one old tree that was covered in moss and ferns. Very cool. I was on a timetable though, so I didn’t hang around too long taking pictures. We had a birthday party to get to!







The walk wasn’t as long as Yoshi needed, but it did the trick. Today I hope to get him out again.

Account Busy

This post is an account of my day yesterday. At the time it didn’t really seem like I had done a lot, but when I tally all the chores and activities, holy smokes, I was busy.

  • I got up to feed the dog (I played Poker the night before)
  • discovered Sprout had what looked like Pink Eye so I took him to the clinic to get checked out (also meant we missed our first day of Sportball)
  • picked up sandwich platter for a baby shower at our house
  • dropped off Sprout’s prescription
  • walked Yoshi with Sprout
  • picked up drugs
  • went for lunch with Sprout
  • went on a photo shoot
  • made some dinner
  • got Sprout bathed after dinner then into bed
  • did some dishes
  • cleaned up Sprout’s toys

Productive day.  It was a good thing I had the energy to do this since now Sox has come down with a cold and has no energy for all this.  The Pink Eye also means Sprout is not in daycare today, and since Sox is sick, I  have been on duty for him today too.

Today (so far) we:

  • got up and had some breakfast
  • walked Yoshi at the park in the wagon
  • went to a coffee shop for snack time
  • had a nap while dad did some computer stuff

Sox had a conference call which is why we got out of the house for a bit.  Busy times, but the great thing about that is that it goes quickly, and I feel great when I reflect on how much I got done.

Chips Break


The poker gods were kind to me last night. I was short stack for such a long time. During the first half of the game I played poorly and paid for it. I just kept losing my chips.

I managed to hang on to fourth place for quote a while, and ended up being backed into a corner. I was at a point where either I had to go all in, or I would be forced to play a few weak hands to get enough to make a surge. I went all in at the right time, got lucky, and doubled up.

My odds were getting better, but I was still the short stack. I caught another break, and was dealt a JK. The flop was a nice 10QA. Ooooh, I just had to ensure I didn’t chase everyone away. Thankfully I caught one guy who had a pair of queens, and he went all in. I called, and won the hand. From there on out I was the chip leader, so I was able to play with a bit more comfort, and ended up knocking out the remaining two players.

Quite a fun night. I always need to remember to play smart, and to trust my gut. Most times when I try to convince myself to stay in the hand I end up losing. I also need to remember that it is never too late to fold, regardless of how much I have already put in the pot.

Package Sticks

The package that caused me concern when it ended up in Mississauga while on its way to Victoria from Richmond? Well, as I mentioned in a previous post it was RAM for the computer at home. I installed those sticks today bumping the system from 512MB to 2GB.

Nice and easy upgrade that is treating me right. Editing pictures now takes less time, Firefox runs better, and RSS Bandit is happier too. Now to install PaintShop Pro X2!

Unlucky Package

I’ve been extremely unlucky with shipping lately. Before Christmas I ordered a calendar that I made online. It was a Christmas present for Sox, and the website reported that it was sent on Dec 10. I never got it. I had to call customer service, and they reprinted it and sent it again. I then got it last week. :grrr:

Then, last week I ordered some more RAM for our home computer. I ordered it from NCIX based out of the lower mainland. Their Express Shipping, touted as 1-2 business days was 2¢ more than the next option so I got that. They sent it on Jan 8, and I still haven’t received my package. I have a tracking number this time, so this is what greeted me today.

WTF??!?

2007 Photography in Review

Time for the 2007 Photography year review. Choosing the pictures for these reviews is getting more difficult. Do I choose something that represent the month? Maybe I choose something quirky that catches my eye? Do I include family snapshots, or composed shots that took time and creativity? This year I chose to go mainly with creative composed shots, although some of them are snapshot like. I also noticed that this year all the shots were taken with my 20D, which is a workhorse of a camera. I love using it, I love the weight of it, and I love the sound of it. Most of all I love taking pictures with it.

January

While the weather was cold I was inside taking pictures with a lightbox I had built. Here are some coffee beans that I played with one afternoon.

February

There was still no good light outside, so I picked some Crocuses and put the in the lightbox, turned on the lights and start making my shots.

March

This was a fun shoot. We had these Daffodils in a vase on top of our tv. With the camera on a tripod I set the shutter for six seconds, and started popping the flash from behind the flowers. I was trying to get the flowers to look like lanterns.

April

I looked down and saw the smooth blades of grass, and loved how uniform, yet chaotic they looked. The green tones were very striking to me.

May

In May I shot my first wedding. The wedding was of two very good friends of mine. The weather was making me nervous, but thankfully it didn’t interfere with anything. It was challenging, and very fun, and we were all rewarded with some excellent pictures.

June

The tree, the shadows, the window sill in the background, and the orange color of the wall all combined to catch my fancy. I took this while sitting in my car waiting to pick up my wife after work. This is taken downtown Victoria and is the city hall building.

July

Myself and another gentleman from the photoclub made a visit to the Saanich Historical Artifiacts Society. They have a lot of old equipment scattered about their yard. I had a great time making images there, until I found this old firetruck. I was in heaven shooting this. The wonderful red paint that is chipped and peeling. I couldn’t break free of it lure.

August

I August my family and I made a trip to Ottawa. While walking over the Rideau Canal I saw this lone kayaker going against the wind. The dark water contrasted nicely against the yellow kayak.

September

During a trip to Beacon Hill Park I had some time to wander around with my camera. There had been a heavy dew that morning but it had all evaporated. Fortunately I found a couple leaves that still had some heavy droplets on them. I love the clipped grass, and the lovely globes of water on the underside of the leaf. Again, the green tones are stunning.

October

Walking my dog Yoshi through Oak Bay, I found the lantern plants at the side of the road. It was a gorgeous fall day with blue skies and colorful leaves all around me. The warm sun was pouring down on this plant, and the vivid colors here were more vibrant that anything else in the garden.

November

I awoke early one morning while in Maui and was fortunate enough to look outside and see this sunrise. I didn’t even have to leave the condo we were renting as I was able to shoot this from our balcony. I was afraid that if I took the time to run downstairs I would miss the light. Five minutes later the light was totally different, and ten minutes after this shot the sunrise was over.

December

Walking dogs at Elk Lake is always a good time, but for one reason or another, on this day Yoshi was behaving oddly. He and I broke off from the group and went on our own walk. I saw this miniature forest with perfect light, just off the trail we were on. I crouched down, then set the focus on the camera. With the strap around my neck, I then lowered the camera until it was only a few inches off the ground, and the strap was tight. Pressing the shutter I didn’t know what I would end up with, and after three shots were done, this was a result.

Commission Traditions

Christmas was lots of fun this year. Sprout was learning (actually learned) what presents are, and how to open them. We did Christmas morning at our place, headed to Nanaimo for a couple days, then over to Langley for 5 more days.

Lots of family visiting was planned, and I wasn’t able to partake in too much of it. I came down with a pretty nasty bug while in Vancouver, and thankfully this happened after Christmas day. I was 100% out of commission for 36 hours, and have spent the next 3 days recovering. I am still feeling pretty weak and tired and missed work today due to it. Not sure about tomorrow.

Enough of that though, back to the nicer things in life. I did enjoy the break, I enjoyed spending time with my family, and seeing Sprout start to learn about things like Santa and Christmas traditions. As a family we are trying to develop some of our own, so on Christmas Eve day Sprout and I went out to buy a cookie for Santa. Fun! That night we left it out for him, and on Christmas day only a couple bites were left behind (and lots of crumbs). Sprout agreed with me that Santa must have got full 🙂

Christmas morning we opened our stockings and had some breakfast then opened the gifts form Santa before heading to Nanaimo. Starting traditions like this are something that Sox and I are looking forward to.

One final note: Sox is the best wife ever. She totally took care of me while I was sick. She also got me a Christmas gift that I have been wanting for a very long time, a digital picture frame. Woohoo. I took some time to read the manual and load a few pictures on it. Now to find the perfect location for it.

Christmas Lens

Merry Christmas to me! Merry Christmas to me!

Today Sox and I were out, and I bought my new lens, a Canon 70-200 F4.0L IS.

The above picture is a crop of the first picture. Nice and sharp.

I’ve taken a few pictures with it so far, and I like it a lot. It seems lighter than the 28-135 I already have, and the focus seems quick. Most shots were of Sprout, and strangely enough, he was asking me to take pictures of him and his Bopp (blanket).

Now I can’t wait to use it on a real photo shoot.

I call this one “Spidey has a fling”.