And Thus It Ends

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Well, folks, Blogathon is over. Most of us left workspace sometime around 6:30am yesterday. I went with Rebecca and John back to their place, and we got there probably close to 7am or so. While everyone was totally fried, there was brief talk about watching a movie for a while to help the brain ramp back down to sleep mode. I laid down on the couch then, and woke up a few hours later to some of the sounds of downtown Vancouver. At that point I adjusted some blankets, and fell asleep again, waking up sometime around 12:30pm. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really sleep anymore, so I decided to just ...

Entry #23 – Home Garden

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I moved into a new apartment in January, and for the first time in ages, had a decent sized patio. Since my patio faces south (and subsequently, receives a lot of afternoon soon), I figured I would try growing a few different vegetables. When I started, I had just a few planters, and it looked something like this: When things started sprouting, I got excited and decided to plant a few more things. Here’s a shot a few weeks after I started: I haven’t taken any photos of it in a while, but here’s a shot I took a few weeks ago. Since that time, a lot of tomatoes have formed on my tomato ...

Entry #24 – The Half Way Point

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I took a quick 20 minute break from blogging, mainly to lay my head down on the couch here at Workspace at try to rest my brain. Compared to the noise levels nearly 12 hours ago, when Blogathon began, one might think that it’s basically over here. People are still blogging away (so much so that when I closed my eyes briefly all I heard was the tappity-tap-tap of fingers scurrying across keyboards), but I think at this point most people are rather exhausted. Most people probably think that writing entries every 30 minutes is fairly trivial. The truth is the opposite — it is extremely demanding, ...

Entry #25 – Coastal Mountain Range

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While I was taking a quick break from blogging, Keira Mellis decided to help me out by writing an entry. So, this is a guest-entry by Keira. You can read more of Keira’s writing over Keira-anne.com Jordy and I have been at Workspace for several hours now, bringing candy and cheer to Duane and Rebecca as they blog for their respective charities. The space is quiet – almost too quiet – as everyone keeps their heads down, writing at frantic paces. Despite being so focused, it’s hard not to notice the view out the expansive windows facing north. Living in BC, and Vancouver in particular, ...

Entry #26 – Vancouver Lights

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Years ago I came across a poem called “Vancouver Lights” that I really enjoyed. Since I’ve down a few Vancouver centric posts, I thought I would also bit a few bits of Vancouver literature up as well. So without further ado, here is “Vancouver Lights” by Earle Bidney: About me the night moonless wimples the mountains wraps ocean land air and mounting sucks at the stars The city throbbing below webs the sable peninsula The golden strands overleap the seajet by bridge and buoy vault the shears of the inlet climb the woods toward me falter and halt Across to the firefly haze of a ship ...

Entry #27 – Black And White Photos

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My camera is a digital SLR, and by default captures color instead of black and white images. That being said, once and a while I do take the odd photo that I think would work well as a black and white photograph. I actually converted this photo into a black and white, but didn’t really think that much of it. After uploading it to Flickr though, it became one of my most popular photos — currently 43 people have indicated it’s one of their favorites. Based on the response, I ended up printing out a copy for myself and put it on my wall at home. It should also be noted that the image has a ...

Entry #28 – Sun Is Going Down

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It’s slow, but the sun is slowly going down out here in Vancouver, which means we’re not only past the half-way point, but it’ll soon be dark. I imagine it’ll be a lot harder to stay awake when it gets dark here, but who knows. Here’s my current view in Vancouver: I’m going to venture down to the Lamplighter in a bit and grab some beers. I probably won’t crack any until the wee hours of the morning, mainly because my stomach feels like it’s about to burst from all the food that’s in it. But it would be nice to have a beer or two at the end of the night in celebration of a very ...

Entry #29 – Mojave Band Warming Up

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Mojave band is here doing a photo shoot right now. Once they’re done they’re going to be playing a few songs for us, which will totally be cool. Paul is actually a web designer too, and we almost had an opportunity to work with each other a few months ago. But we still hang out from time to time at coffee shops whenever I’m in town: I’ll take some photos during their set and post a few online. But I recently bought Mojave’s new CD from iTunes, and it’s a great listen, so make sure you pick it up. ...

Entry #30 – Another Photo, Fireworks

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This is one of my favourite shots. I took it down at the Celebration of Light two years ago. It was my first real time shooting fireworks with my camera. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a tripod, so I basically experimented all night with settings that would allow me to handhold a fireworks shot. I ended up with a few keepers, but a lot of the ones I shot ended up being a bit blurry (which is why a tripod is usually preferable). There are fireworks here in Vancouver tonight, but right now it’s a bit rainy. So we’ll see how things look around 10:05pm when the first few go off. ...

Entry #31 – Thunderbolts and Lightning

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Seems like the Blogathon gods are mad, and are punishing those people on Vancouver’s north shore who weren’t blogging today. From my vantage point, it’s pretty gloomy over there. We’ve been watching lightening strikes for a while hit the mountains over there. While John Biehler thinks he’s safe, I’m pretty sure he’s in for a world of hurt over there, but we’ll see. My mom called a while ago and said that it was pretty stormy out in Chilliwack. Given that I didn’t water my plants before I left, I’m actually kind of thankful to hear that. Hopefully when I get back tomorrow they’re ...

Entry #32 – Human Being Journalism

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I’m sitting here listening to Dave O talk about Vancouver’s “True North Media House” that will be forming for the Vancouver Olympics. To give you some context, Vancouver has demonstrated that it is at the forefront of social media. Many people here without true old-school media credentials have covered many events as members of the press. Rebecca has covered a lot of events simply as a representative of her website, Dave O has covered a few different Olympics, and I’ve covered a few music events, including the 2008 Canadian Juno awards. The Olympic committee basically turned down most ...

Entry #33 – Musical Interlude

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Taking a break to listen to a bit of music: ...

Entry #34 – Oops, Out Of Entries

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I thought I had a blog entry ready to go here, but apparently I didn’t. We just listed to Mojave Band play a few songs down here at Workspace, and it was really awesome. Given that I only had five hours of sleep last night, I should feel way worse than I already do. But strangely enough, I feel not bad. I went down to the Lamplighter and picked up a few beers with Paul, so I’ve been casually sipping a few while staring out onto the water. Anyways, I’m only $30 away from goal #2, so I’m hoping I hit that in the near future! Thanks everyone. ...

Entry #35 – 14 To Go

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I gotta admit, my brain is oatmeal right about now. I know it’s working because I can still type, but it’s not being very cooperative. My typing has been reduced from my usual 100 word per minute down to about 15, and every sentence is ripe with spelling errors. But no matter. The finish line is looming in the distance, and I’ve already (thanks to everyone here) reached the original goal of $1,000 I set before I started. So a big thanks is in order! I’m actually going on the radio Monday morning to report how well we all did for the BC Children’s Hospital, so it will be great to say ...

Entry #36 – Mojave Band Video

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Rebecca Bollwitt shot this video of Mojave Band. Enjoy. ...

Entry #37 – The Midnight Post

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Well, assuming my fingers can press the right buttons at the appropriate times, this post will end up on sliding down the tubes sometime around midnight. It’s dark outside now. The reason it’s dark is because it’s midnight, and the sun is on the other side of the planet. Surprisingly, most people are still here from this morning. Everyone is obviously a bit tired, but most people are soldiering on. I’m hoping to go to a housewarming tomorrow for a while, which means I need to find a place to hole up and get a few hours of sleep after this. Despite being tired, I’m fairly certain I’ll ...

Entry #39 – Tomorrow

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Tomorrow should be an interesting day. We’re going to leave Workspace here sometime around 6am. With any luck, I’ll be fast asleep sometime around 6:15am. Tomorrow there’s a baby shower on the north shore that I’d really like to attend, so as of now I’m hoping to hit that. But in the odd event I feel like complete garbage tomorrow, I’ll just head back home. But, assuming I feel ok, I’ll be swinging by the North Shore for a while tomorrow. I have a bit of work I need to do when I get home tomorrow back home in Chilliwack, so I’d like to be home around supper time if possible. But, ...

Entry #40 – Almost There

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I actually remember last year about this time, when I hit the 40 mark. It’s a good feeling, mainly because everyone can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we still have a bit more time here, so I’ll keep pumping out blog entries! Donations are still open, so if you’re still up and feel like contributing to the BC Children’s Hospital, then please do so — your donation will be appreciated, and will go directly to helping out the children there. There was a pretty wild sunset in Vancouver tonight, and I managed to grab a photo of it. So I’ll end this blog entry with a photo of ...

Entry #41 – Raw Carnage

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Welcome to my world: ...

Entry #42 – A Few More Shots

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Of Mojave Band: ...