ARCHIVE: April, 2008

So this past weekend went by way too quick. It was a great weekend, but felt really short! I had my girls this weekend (dogs), so that was a nice treat curling up with them watching TV, listening to Sally snore a night, and taking them for walks. Met up w/ my buddy Rob I used to work with for a few beers on Friday. Sunday, I helped a friend move, then Sunday eve (last night), I had a "Canoe Trip Meeting".

A quick update on my camping plans. Temagami... solo.... in May? Not gonna happen! However, instead, I'll be doing another trip. Not solo. Not Temagami. Not May. However, it will be a kick ass trip, to say the least! We're going to paddle across Algonquin, something I've always wanted to do. We met last night to discuss plans and it's looking like late July, early August. The first route we mapped is 165 KM with 55 portages, totalling almost 32KM's worth of portage! Yeah! :) More to come on this. Anyway.... just wanted to write a quick update, let everyone know things are going great, and I'll call it a short update. Cheers!

----- 04.15.2008 --------
I'm so excited that spring is finally here! This weekend was beautiful! Unfortunatley, a lot of yesterday was spent indoors at a poker game at a friend of a friend's. There were 21 of us, tournament style Texas Hold'em. I was doing great for a while... I was even chip leader, but eventually I made a few dumb moves, has some bad luck tossed my way, and the next thing you know, I was out of the tournament :( Oh well.... there's always next time.

With the warm weather, I'm jonesing to get out camping! I am working on a plan for another solo canoe trip. I'm thinking Temagami in May. Yes, it's pretty early.... but I want to beat the bugs this time! It's tough to find the right time.... right now is too soon since the lakes are still frozen, and June is too late based on last year's experience with the bugs. Although this winter was a lot long and harsher... maybe that will work in my favour. I picked up a new digital camera for it. Something very rugged that is also waterproof that I can use for snorkeling/scuba diving as well. Just to clear up some confusion, there are no plans for snorkeling or scuba diving in Temagami.... I'm thinking of that for future vacations! The camera is an Olympus Stylus 1030 SW. So far, I'm very impressed with it. I'll leave the big, bulky DSLR & pelican carrying case behind this trip! That's 10+ lbs I don't want to lug again! I mainly got the camera for video, but also for it's total weather-proofness. Knowing my luck, I'll get another storm system! But this time I want to capture much more, regardless of the weather. My last solo canoe trip, I had some comments that I didn't show enough of my route. This time I aim to bring a much better video! This will be my 3rd trip video log, so I have some ideas to make it even better :)

Anyway. I'm in full ramble-mode, so I think I'll end here. It's still pretty early.... I'll probably watch a movie then call it an early night. Later!

----- 04.15.2008 --------
This past weekend I went down to London to help put a cork floor in my sister Nicole's basement. All day Saturday & Sunday, as well as half of Monday were spent working on the basement. But in the end, we got the floor in, trim down around the doors, baseboards in, as well as some other miscellaneous stuff. It was great to hang out with my parents since I don't see them all that often since they live in Windsor and I'm up in Toronto. I could put some still photos up of the job, but since I had to leave before everything was cleaned up, I really don't have any great "after" shots. But, I did setup a tripod and grabbed some various shots from the weekend to whip together a time-lapse video. The idea came to me, so action was taken to make it a reality. I posted it up on YouTube, and it should be right here, embedded. At the time of this posting, the video hasn't been made available by YouTube yet.... but it will be soon. Enjoy!

Other than that, it's pretty much been work and the gym. Oh... wait, there's more. I was taking a course at George Brown: Business of Photography. The class wrapped up last Tuesday and I ended up with an 80%. But what I'm really happy about is the logos, business cards, letterhead, and business plan I now have for Argee Images. I have no intentions of trying to swing into this full time. I just wanted to take something else I am passionate about to the next level and this seemed like the way to do it. I look forward to taking a couple more photography classes and finishing the certificate program. 2 electives left :)

I guess that's all. Hope you enjoyed the video.... I look forward to hearing your feedback. Cheers!

----- 04.06.2008 --------
Spring has sprung, and it is a beautiful weekend! And a great, action-packed one as well! Yesterday was the "Harry's Spring Run-Off", a 5K (and 8K) race to raise money to fight prostate cancer. I ran the 5K race and I had 2 goals: Not walk, and finish under 30 mins. I was very happy that I had acheived both :) Being my first race, or atleast the first race in the last most 20 recent years of my life, I was a little nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect and since I hadn't been running outside at all, I was concerned about how the cold air would burn. But yesterday was a beautiful 12+ degrees and it was perfect for running in! My time was 28:17. I doubt this will be my last race this year.... time to up the anty :)

Afterwards, I headed over to my buddy Steve's and we BBQ's some chicken, ate well, then went boarding! He's got a new long board (read: 4 foot skateboard) so we hit the streets to play on it, ending up in a freshy paved parking lot with no cars. Jackpot! I haven't skated in YEARS, and never on a long board. It was so much fun.... I felt like a kid again. And in the best day yet of the year, I couldn't have hoped to have been doing anything else.

But wait, there's more! After boarding, we went over to Steve's buddy Dave's place and played some "Rock Band" on XBOX 360. I've played guitar Hero before, but this was my first time on Rock Band. What a blast! 4 of us could play at a time, each choosing a different instrument: Vocals, drum, guitar and bass. It was awesome! I favoured Guitar most, but did make my way through every instrument, with vocals being my least fav. And probably least fav for those around me!

Today... another gorgeous day, is an important day for me. I moved my stuff out of my "Parkdale Palace", where I had been staying the last couple+ months, and back into the townhouse. I look very, VERY forward to a few things now. For starters, having an Internet connection will be great! Also, having my full computer setup is another major plus, including access to my Mac so I can start banging out some 3D works. But most importantly, I look forward to a sense of normalcy (sp?) and stability on the home front. Living out of a suit case is NO FUN! And I'm back to walking distance (2.5K..... 25 mins) from work and the gym.

Also... yes, I'm not done yet... my buddy Mike moved in with me today. It'll be interesting to live with a room mate since I haven't for over 10 years. Anyway, more on this as things pan out. For now, it's time to stop procrastinating (ie. this long winded update!) and continue working on my business plan, which is due for my "Business of Photography" class on Tuesday. The class has run all year long and it's all built up to this one, final project. A lot of stuff is in handwritten notes from class, but it's time to tie it altogether. So... that's what I'm going to do now... and unpack and get settled back in. And rearrange the bedrooms. And. And. OK... hope you're all doing great! Cheers!

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