About a month ago I got an email from Coast Hotels asking if I’d like to partake in an all-inclusive weekend in Victoria with a few other bloggers and social media people from Vancouver. Given how much fun I had in Victoria last summer with Arieanna and Ianiv for the BC Festival 150 concert, I jumped at the opportunity, especially since Coast Hotels was supplying the accommodation and transportation. The trip will start off on Friday morning at the Coast Hotel in Vancouver — everyone is meeting and boarding a bus for the Tsawwassen Ferry terminal. From there, we’ll all travel to the Tsawwassen ...

As many people know, there are protests going on in Iran, and the Iranian government is actively trying to stop the flow of information both in and out of the country. Twitter has been instrumental in helping getting the word out about what is going on there, so much so that they recently postponed a critical maintenance period simply so Iranian users could continue to use the service. A few hours ago I saw some requests on Twitter from Iranians asking for international proxies such that they could continue to use the Internet. Creating the AMI on EC2 Given that I have an EC2 account, and that ...

I’m going to overhaul this website again, most likely starting in July. To be perfectly honest, writing content just isn’t as satisfying as it once was, partially because I don’t have as much to write these days, and partially because I am just enjoying other aspects of my life more (such as going outside to hit some tennis balls around or heading up to the lake for lunch). Something I’ve always wanted on this blog, and that I’ve never really been able to achieve, is to have something that’s predominantly photo-centric. So my goal in July will be transform this blog into something ...

So this was my second full week at the gym. Other than Wednesday (where I missed going because I had to go to Vancouver), I was there every day this week. I’m definitely noticing an improvement in fitness, since my heart rate has come down while doing cardio, and I find it harder to get out of breath when I’m whacking a tennis ball around the court. I’ve been doing my normal routines in the morning, and also trying to get out and do something in the evenings as well (either go for a walk, hit some tennis balls, or rollerblade). I generally eat fairly well when I’m at home (depending on ...

“These beauteous forms, Through a long absence, have not been to me As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye: But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into my purer mind, With tranquil restoration: — feelings too Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps, As have no slight or trivial influence On that best portion of a good man’s life, His little, nameless, unremembered, acts Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust, To them I may have owed ...

Part of the reason I moved back to Chilliwack was so that I can finally have the proper time to eat decent food and hopefully get some exercise on a regular basis. While my current apartment is the only place I ended up considering, part of the reason I did so was because it’s only about a 5 minute walk from a gym. And while I did my best to go outside and get exercise in Vancouver, I generally worked a lot of hours and didn’t really have a ton of time. I’ve had a gym membership out here since about April, but haven’t really been going more than once or twice a week. My main problem is ...

I bought a new BBQ a few weeks ago, and have pretty much used it everyday since. My favourite food to cook on the BBQ are peppers roasted in a bit of olive oil. Second favourite thing would be a good steak. I don’t eat a lot of potatoes, but I’m thinking about doing up some nice little potatoes in some type of dill sauce or something. Anyways, I’m looking for awesome new BBQ recipes. So, please drop a comment with your favourite thing to cook on the BBQ, and possible include some information on how to make it! Thanks. ...

I haven’t slept that much lately. In San Francisco the sun would rise around 6am and wake me up. Normally I’d be ok simply falling back asleep, but that just hasn’t been working lately. Surprisingly though, I haven’t been tired. If anything, I’ve found myself a lot more energetic than usual. For example, this morning I woke up at 7am and decided to go to the gym. It was a bit tough, given that I hadn’t had any real food yet, but I felt pretty awesome when it was over, especially considering I started my work day at my usual time and had already got some exercise in. I think I’m going ...

Tomorrow I’ll be packing up and making the long journey back home. Truthfully, I’d probably rather leave tonight if that were at all possible — not because I’m not having fun here, but mostly because tomorrow is just going to involve sitting around and killing time before our flight. I fly out of San Francisco in the early evening, and will land in Seattle sometime around 9pm. From there, we have to find my car and drive back to downtown Vancouver so I can drop Rebecca and John off at home. While they’ve offered me up their couch for the night, I’m looking forward to hitting my own ...

Yesterday was WordCamp San Francisco, and Rebecca, John Bollwitt, John BIehler, Dale and myself all attended. The night before we thought it was a good idea to sit around and drink margaritas until around 2am, so we were all a bit tired during the event. But it was a great event, and we’re all glad we made the trip down. Several fairly exciting things happened during Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word Presentation. First, Matt showed a slide which displayed some of the new profile information that is going to be coming to WordPress.org — BraveNewCode has actually been helping with that ...

So, here I am, in San Francisco. I’ve actually been here a pile of times before, and I always find something new and unique about it every time I’m here. We actually went out for some wicked Mexican food tonight. The guacamole was $15 USD, but it was totally worth it. I’ve had some great guac in my time (thanks Keira), but this was probably right up there as some of the best I’ve ever tasted, and it was a really great meal. Dale arrived from Toronto at around 11pm, and him and I went on for a few drinks in Union Square. We’re back at the hotel now trying to sober up before WordCamp SFO ...

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other night, and she reminded me that it had been nearly a week since I’d written a post on here. Truthfully I almost forgot that I had a blog — I just haven’t had the urge to write much lately. Maybe it’s because my days all sort of blur into each other these days, something hopefully the summer will remedy. I hung out with an old friend on Sunday, and we basically just bounced around Chilliwack drinking the odd beer in the sun – it was good times. I even managed to whack a few balls up at the Cultus Lake driving range. Most of them ended up ...

A few months ago I picked up a pretty cool cook-book called the Low-Carb Gourmet. It was written by a Vancouver chef, and most of the recipes in it came about from some professional recipes used in some local Vancouver restaurants. I haven’t had a pile of time to create many recipes from it yet, but one of the ones I have used a few times is a really great recipe for Flaxseed muffins. I can’t really say that I’d eaten a lot of flaxseed in my life prior to making these, so first thing I did was do a bit of research about Flax on Wikipedia: Flax seeds come in two basic varieties, brown and ...

The kids and I cooked up a beer-can chicken on the weekend, and it was pretty awesome. Whenever I cook chicken though, I always think of the swedish chef from the muppets. ...

It’s a long weekend here in Canada, and I really had no plans. Originally, Rebecca, John and I were gonna go camping, but weather dictates that that’s no longer an option. Rebecca and John decided to come hang out for the weekend, which is obviously awesome, since I don’t get to hang out with them as much anymore. ...

I’m interrupting my photo entries for a quick post about my home garden. As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided the other day that I wanted to try growing a few things on my patio. I used to help my grandma with her garden when I was a kid, and I have fond memories out in the back of her house playing in the dirt. My patio in Chilliwack is about twice the size as my patio was in Vancouver, so I’m definitely sure I have the room now to grow a few vegetables. I swung by the garden center the other day and picked up a few things. First, I picked up some soil, since I don’t really have ...

I haven’t really had much to say on here in a while. Other than maybe a camping trip this weekend, and WordCamp San Francisco at the end of the month, the next six weeks or so are pretty booked up solid with some client projects. After that I’m going to take a bit of a break for the summer and do some camping or maybe even head over to Europe to visit some friends. So on that note, I’m going to take a break from traditional blog posts and do a week or so worth of photo entries. Comment if you like, don’t comment if you like 🙂 But enjoy! ...

As Matt recently indicated, there will be a developer day on the Sunday after WordCamp San Francisco down at the Automattic offices on Pier 38. Should be a good time — I’m looking forward to meeting some other developers. Hopefully the hangover won’t be too bad that day. Unlike last year, I actually scheduled a bit of breathing room this trip, so I’ll have time to check out the event and also catch a few sights in the Bay Area. ...

We whipped together a little script to scan the WordPress plugin repository for common errors. You can check out the end result here. Hopefully plugin developers can use it as a resource to improve plugins and let them be used by a wider audience. If you click the link and it doesn’t work, try again in a bit — I’ve been having a few server problems today. ...

Here’s a quick post dedicated to all the awesome moms. I’m heading out in a bit to visit my mom and my step-mom. My mom, Val: My step-mom, Cathy: My grandma, Nellie: Miss604’s sister, Jenny: Maura (photo by Jordan Behan): My friend Michele: My friend Jessica: My sister, Amanda: I’m sure there are a lot more out there, but those are the ones I found photos for easily. Happy mother’s day everyone! ...