So, I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not, but whatever. I’ve been messing in garage band for about six months now, wanting to record something but just not sure what to record. I used to be in choir over 20 years ago, and I can sort of carry a tune. I know I need to have a ton of practice to get anywhere close to where I used to be as a kid (and most of my practice was pre-puberty, so I have to re-learn a deeper voice), but I decided to get over the hump and just quickly record something and take my beats for it. When I was out in Toronto visiting everyone, Raymi pointed me at this song ...

My mom just emailed me and asked if I had started decorating my apartment yet. I figured I’d throw a photo up just to show her and everyone else. Still have a ways to go, but it’s looking not bad. I have another strand of lights to put up somewhere, and I might get some for my patio. I also have some of those Christmas house things to put up, and I even have some fake snow for them. ...

I finished my antibiotics last week, which in theory meant I should have been completely fine and back to normal. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, something that sometimes happens with this type of infection I have. I spent a bit of time in the doctor’s office yesterday, and for whatever reason, they want a full spectrum of tests done again just to make sure they didn’t miss anything. Except for some cramps, it’s not really affecting me that much, but I’m anxious to be all over this. I’m heading down to the lab right now to get a blood draw, and then off to work. Going over to a ...

Well, it’s not very often I’ll write about TV shows, mainly because I don’t really watch a lot of TV. In an effort to get my expenses down a few months ago, I decided finally to pull the plug on cable, something that I haven’t regretted in the least. The only show I really watched last year was 24, and once that season ended, I just cancelled it all, saving myself $60 a month or whatever. A while ago, I went out and bought all of Heroes season one on HD-DVD. I thought it was a decent show, but there were a lot of characters I wasn’t interested in at all. The finale was pretty lame too, ...

I don’t think it’s really possible. Clearly a $5 Santa hat is what I was missing in life. Normally I’d just leave it as that, but I just did a semi-buzzed iChat with Rebecca and John, and we all just laid the smack down on the word CUTE, so I’m gonna post it here. Yah, you might as well logoff now because you got nothing on that. ...

There are some people who would say that getting excited about Christmas in November is a bit lame. And to them, I would say bah, humbug. Most of my best memories revolve around the Christmas season — either friends in my university dorm sharing some eggnog (with rum of course), opening presents with my niece and nephew, or watching it snow in Ottawa from my festively-lit living room. I don’t know why, but I just get excited when I start seeing lights up. So tonight Kasia (a friend of mine who also adores Christmas) and I went out on a quest to get me some decorations for my apartment. It ...

So, something happened tonight that kind of irked me a bit. It was completely offset by the fact that I went out and did a pile of Christmas shopping, but all the same. When I was 17, I was at a summer party in Chilliwack at this guy Geoff’s house. Of course, being in a small town, we were all drinking our faces off at that point. Thankfully, most parties back then were in houses and everyone just spent the night, so for the most part we were all safe. Anyways, in walked these two girls, one of which completely caught my eye. I spent a bit of time talking to her and her friend, and ended up ...

I first met Vancouver’s own Miss604, Rebecca Bollwitt, last year at the Northern Voice blogging conference. I had checked out her blog occasionally, and I recognized her from photos both on her blog, and ones taken during Matthew Good’s living room show last year. Being the social guy I am, and fueled by some liquid courage, I walked up to Rebecca (who was also on her way to acquire booze) and started chatting. Since that time, I have gotten to know Rebecca and John quite well, and am proud to call them both good friends of mine. Rebecca’s blog is a witty ensemble of local Vancouver ...

I’ve been stuck on the computer all day, so I figured I would go out and get some fresh air. Of course, like most walks I go on, I brought along my trusty camera. This is a shot of the sun setting over False Creek. ...

Well, I drank a bit too much wine last night, and I’m a tad hungover. So, to celebrate, here are a few fun photos. Thanks to Christie for the first one: You Fail And Rebecca for the second one here. Both of these make me laugh. ...

So this afternoon I headed down to a little church in east Vancouver to shoot some photos for Vancouver fashion week. Thanks to Urban Vancouver I have been able to acquire a media pass so that I basically have full access at all these events (something that I didn’t realize until today, since the pass I received today was exactly the same as the one I had on Thursday night). Today was a mix of dresses and lingerie, and I had a really great time hanging out with some of the people I had met at the opening night gala the other day. And to be honest, while I have seen some amazing fashion and some ...

This weekend in Vancouver is the annual Vancouver Fashion Week. I had the opportunity the other night to attend the opening bash down at Bar None in Yaletown. I had a really great time taking photographs and interacting with a lot of the local models and clothing designers. There are events all weekend, so make sure to check out their main web site if you are interested in seeing some local fashion. I just got an email saying I was on the guest list for the swim suit portion today, so I may have to head out and check that out, even though I really don’t have much time this weekend. I also ...

Nearly one year ago today, four guys that I had never met before decided it would be a good idea to put my face through the plate glass window of a 7-11. Prior to that one moment in time, now forever etched into my memory, I was upstairs at the Railway Club in Vancouver, enjoying a few beers with some friends in celebration of their wedding earlier that night. Upon exiting the building, somewhere between catching a cab and eating a bag of nachos, I overheard these four guys harassing a bunch of girls just a few feet away from me. People have told me after the fact that perhaps I should have just ...

Normally I don’t take breaks at work, at least not many long ones. In fact, I usually buy a small lunch and eat it at my desk, using that brief time to catch up on blogs are read the current news. But yesterday, I suddenly got the urge to go outside and shoot some photos in the afternoon, so that’s what I did. I didn’t have my SLR, so I just shot with my point and shoot, which is always rather depressing. No matter – here are a couple shots of a surprisingly sunny Vancouver. And one this morning taken from my patio. PS – For all of you who are expecting free prints, they’ve ...

I’m so far behind on everything, it’s not even funny. Being in the hospital set me back over a week, and my recent trip out east set me back even further. I’m going to try and use this weekend to catch up. Here’s what I need to do. Tidy apartment and do laundry. I hate this part. Unfuck photoshop some how Mail photos to everyone Backup computer and free some space Install XP via boot camp so I can play games Finish wedding photos for Mike and Kim (sorry guys) Answer a bazillion emails that I haven’t yet. If I haven’t answered you, I’m sorry 🙁 If I have, feel lucky! Drink ...

The giant duck I bought last year at Christmas I am Christmas fanatic. I love hanging out in malls and watching people, or sitting at home listening to Christmas music. Last year I left my tree up until April, just because it made me sad whenever I thought about taking it down. I’ve been known to buy random stuffed animals (including this huge ass duck) to give away to people during the holidays. There’s a Christmas moose I bought who now holds my door open in my room. I once took part in several nationwide mathematics competitions, two of which I managed to obtain medals for (cue the ...

Lately at work I’ve been doing a few statecharts for things, so I thought I would repost the one I made last year that I did while completely bored last year. There’s a cool program (“cool” being an extremely relative notion in this instance) you can get called graphviz that can create these things fairly quickly. “Happy Times” State Transition Chart I had a cool idea for a contest too I’m gonna blog about and get some participation in. ...

So it’s not very often something can make me bust out loud laughing, but this did the trick. I’m a closet Star Trek nerd, and used to sit around and watch episodes with my dad growing up. One of my favorites is when Kirk takes sand and rocks and shit and blows up that Godzilla looking guy on that weird planet. He’s that good. I found this photo on Christie’s facebook page, and she told me it was cool to blog it. This thing still cracks me up every time I see it. ** Update, the green Godzilla looking thing is a Gorn. Thanks guys. ...

I just read an article online that did a comparison between a bunch of different machines running Windows Vista. You know who the winner was? A Macbook Pro. The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year–or for that matter, ever–is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro’s PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway’s E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook’s score is far more impressive ...

This is an obvious play, but I’ve been waiting a long time for it to happen. Samsung has announced a new dual format (HD-DVD/Blue-Ray) DVD player, which basically means it will play everything on the market: Samsung’s HD disc player was going to be the first to do both HD DVD and Blu-ray completely right. But now, it’s perfect: Samsung just sent us an alert saying the dual-format BD-UP5000 Duo HD player will come hardware-ready for BD Profile 1.1—at least 256MB of internal storage, secondary audio and video decoders, virtual file system. You realize that the rest of the Blu-players ...