Well, after nearly 13 years, I’m finally back home. It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride really, looking back over that period of time. I left Chilliwack back when I was 18 years old to attend university. When I graduated, I moved myself across the country and spent a few years in Ottawa working in the high-tech sector out there. Then I moved back home and did a bit more school, and finally ended up at CounterPath, where I have spent the last five years working away.
The move was pretty uneventful thankfully. My dad came out in the morning to help, which was totally appreciated as it turns ...
CNN posted some videos from the Airbus plane that ditched into the Hudson the other day. Ditching is actually a fairly common practice for military aircraft, obviously less common for passenger aircraft. To pull of a successful ditch, you basically have to have a perfect landing such that the wings don’t dip and hit the water. Thankfully the pilot pulled it off, and every single person survived this incident (which is rare for a commercial passenger jet).
Embedded video from CNN Video
Kind of strange though that this current incident was caught by so many independent cameras, and yet the airplane ...
I left Vancouver yesterday afternoon to head into Chilliwack and pick up the keys to my new apartment. On the way, I stopped and met a really old friend of mine from high-school, and we had a few beers and a plate of nachos. I have to say, it was a rather strange feeling being in my apartment all alone after the landlord left. I sort of just stared around at the empty apartment, trying to digest just how I felt. Without a doubt, I am excited. I am definitely looking forward to what the next year or two will bring, and to enjoying life at a slower pace for a while.
I spent the night at my dad’s ...
Yes folks, in only six more days we’ll be forced to close down registration for WordCamp Whistler so that we can give our final numbers to the Fairmont. Tickets are still available, so if you’d like to come, make sure you sign up now. Included in the price of a ticket is a full day of WordPress and social media related talks, lunch, a few drinks at the social event, and a piece of one-of-a-kind WordPress schwag.
The participants of WordCamp Whistler have also been extended an invite to a Beer For Bloggers event up in Whistler on Friday, the 23rd. So if you’re up in Whistler by then, there ...
Well, last night was interesting, to say the least. For those of you who follow around here, about a year ago I decided to host my blog from home instead of on some shared hosting account. My main reason for doing that was that I had been through around 3 shared hosting providers that year, and all of them had let me down on more than one occasion. So I figured I could do it better myself.
Which was true to an extent. However last night, while I was packing boxes near the server, I guess I accidentally bumped the power cable, causing my server to reboot. Normally, that’s not a terrible thing, ...
Just waiting for a shirt to dry, and then I’m heading into the office for my last week of work. Hard to believe it’s coming up so soon to be honest. I have a few meetings this week where I’ll finalize the hand off on a few of my projects, and then I’m done.
On Wednesday night (two days!) I’ll be heading out to Chilliwack and getting the keys for my new place. I haven’t even really thought that far ahead yet, but somehow I’ll end up out there and my car will stay there going forward. I haven’t even really begun to pack yet, so this will be interesting. I’d like to take my laptop ...
I went out with a few friends last night, which was fun. I ran into my good friend Kasia at the bar, which was pretty cool.
It also reminded me how much I’m going to miss all the people I’ve gotten to know in Vancouver. But hopefully I’ll be out here from time to time, or people will come visit me once and a while.
Only a few more days. Still looking forward to it. Gotta start packing soon though. ...
Never leave a few episodes of heroes on your web server, thinking that some day you’ll want to access them remotely. Somehow someone found where they were on my server, and sure enough, I’ve been providing the bandwidth for a lot of happy viewers somewhere over the last few days. Novus emailed me last night and told me I was up to 100GB worth of traffic already this month, which is obviously fairly steep. Looking at my logs I found the reason in short order, and stopped all those pesky leeches. ...
In just four days, I get to swing out to Chilliwack and grab the keys for my new place. First thing I’m looking forward to is turning the heat on in the new apartment, as it was pretty cold there when I swung by for a visit in December. My furniture is supposed to be delivered on January 20th, but I think I’m going to put the call in to deliver it on the morning on the 15th or something. I have to leave work a bit early on the 14th to make it to Chilliwack in time to do the walk-through on my place, but I’d like to do that part myself and meet my landlord as well.
I’m planning on leaving ...
Tomorrow (depending on when you read this), is Rebecca Bollwitt’s birthday (or Friday, if you’re looking for an absolute time). I first met Rebecca at Northern Voice 2007 I believe, and had just come out of my first round of surgery (thanks to those four idiots who put me in the hospital). It was a time when I desperately needed the support of others the most, and a role her and John took up instantly in my life. Since that time, Rebecca and John have become really close friends of mine here in Vancouver, and I can’t imagine my life at this point without them in it. In fact, of all the reservations ...
Don’t have much time this morning, but I wanted to give a quick update. First off, I had a shower before I went to bed last night. Unfortunately, I left the floor a little bit wet, something I realized at around 4am when I went to the bathroom and complete wiped out. Somehow I busted my hand open trying to stop myself from falling, and I bruised my shoulder pretty bad. I woke up with dried blood on my hand this morning, so I must have whacked it pretty good.
This is my sixth last day of work, and then I’m done. I haven’t even begun to think about packing yet, and probably won’t get a chance ...
There are only two more days left in the early bird pricing for WordCamp Whistler, so make sure you grab a ticket soon. It’s going to be an awesome informative event, and there will hopefully be a few parties to attend as well during the weekend. So grab your ticket today! ...
Last year I attended the 2008 Canadian Juno awards in Calgary, AB, as a media representative for Urban Vancouver. The media accredidation is open for this year’s awards show, which are in Vancouver. I would love to attend this year as a photographer again, but am hoping to be able to go as a social media representative for another company where the coverage can potentially reach more people.
I received a great deal of coverage both during and after the event, and was essentially one of the only social media people in the room who was using grass root’s technology to showcase the behind the ...
My mom reminded me tonight that at this time in exactly two weeks, I’ll no longer be in Vancouver. The time sure has gone quickly. I actually get the keys to my new apartment on the 15th, so I might head out on the night of the 14th and grab them in person.
I’ve been slowly organizing things in my current apartment, and strangely enough, I really don’t have that much stuff here. I’ll probably load up my car on the 14th with all my valuables and drive those out to Chilliwack myself. I also need to find my Shaw cable modem, which apparently I’m to bring back to Chilliwack for them to reactivate. ...
WordCamp Whistler is just around the corner, and we’ve already seen an increase in ticket sales these last few days. If you’re interested in coming, you should go ahead and buy your tickets now. Right now tickets are $35, but as of Friday, January 9th, they’ll increase to $40. The following Friday, January 16th, they will increase to $50, and shortly afterwards they will no longer be available. If you’d like to purchase your tickets, please visit our EventBrite page and pick up your tickets now. Included in the price of your ticket is a full day of WordPress-related talks, complimentary ...
Someone came to look at my apartment in Vancouver the other day, and their first comment about it was how noisy they thought it would be with all the traffic over the Howe Street on-ramp. I guess after living here for years, I’ve sort of grown used to it.
Truthfully though, it is really loud. While lying in bed this morning I heard at least three loud sirens in about ten minutes, along with tons of trucks, cars honking, and traffic over the bridge. I’ve never really been one for earplugs, mainly because I’m paranoid about sleeping through a fire alarm or something like that. That being said, ...
Jeff Pulver is not only one of the original pioneers of voice over IP (VoIP), but also a really great individual who dedicates himself to technology and meeting all the people involved in it. I first met Jeff in the lounge of the Fairmont San Jose where him, Erik Lagerway and myself all sat around drinking one night years ago. If I remember correctly, Jeff picked up the tab that night, so I definitely owe him a few beers.
Jeff will be up in Vancouver on the 10th and 11th of January. If you’re around and want to grab breakfast with him on the morning of the 11th, check out the Facebook event ...
Boris tipped me off on Twitter to a few articles about VoIP to ring in the new year. Here are a few:
2008, The Year That VOIP Died
VoIP is not dead
...
It seems that after eight years of university I’ve acquired a fairy large array of engineering books. Since I haven’t read any of them in years, I figure I might as well sell a few of them off. Here’s a list of some of them. If you’re interested, drop me a comment. Also, please feel free to forward this list on to any physics or electrical engineering students.
Materials Science and Engineering, William D. Callister
Digital Signal Processing, Emmanuel C. Ifeachor
Introduction to Electrodymanics, Griffiths
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Griffiths
Microprocessor Systems Design, Clements
Computer ...