Last Friday I met a pile of people from the Vancouver technology scene down at the Lamplighter pub in Gastown. Apparently that location is surrounded in controversy, since the Lamplighter has recently changed hands and has been transformed into a more "modern" establishment. I can't say that I ever hung out in it before, but it seemed like a pretty cool place on Friday. I would have shown up and mingled regardless, but on Friday I volunteered to drop by and take some photos of the Vancouver Technology Women for this year. That list was put together by none other than blogger-extraordinaire, ...

Tonight I met up with the gang to celebrate Amy's birthday down at Wing's on Granville Street. We had a few pitchers of beer and demolished somewhere on the order of 16 pounds of wings as a group (I'm now officially "winged out", so I probably won't go back there for a while). It was tons of fun, even though I ate that one hot wing that melted my mouth. Afterwards we ended up down at the Bowling Alley on Granville and played a few games. My head was still a tad sore from the night before (the danger of drinking for free at a bar), so my game was a bit off. I took a pile of photos the ...

For the last few months, we've all been hearing Clay complain about being out of breath and not being able to walk very far around the office. His general doctor did some tests on him and said there wasn't anything wrong and that he should just move past it. Eventually Clay got referred to a specialist since things just kept getting worse for him. Turns out he has a blockage in his heart which is why he's having problems. Tomorrow Clay is heading down for an angiogram, and will probably have to get a stent in his heart. My dad had something similar last year, and while the procedure is relatively ...

Here are a few photos from the photo walk along the beach yesterday. The rest of them can be found on my Flickr photoset. ...

In about 30 minutes, the beach photowalk near my place is going to begin. It turned out to be a rather nice day with some ideal light, so hopefully there will be a pile of great shots taken. The challenge always for me is figuring out what lens to bring and what exactly I want to shoot. I haven't shot film in quite a while, so I loaded some 160VC portrait film in my one camera and put my wide angle on it, and will bring my 70-200mm f/2.8L for doing some portraits near the water. I'm just making some coffee and making sure my cameras are good to go, then heading downstairs to meet people. I'll ...

Keira and me, photo by Miss604 Read about the fun and the magic over at Rebecca's website. Tonight is also Rebecca's birthday margarita party. Should be fun. ...

Ahh yes.. Friday.. So exciting.. This was a really good week. I hung out with friends, got some stuff done in the office, and have a pile of fun things to do this weekend. After work I'm meeting up with Rebecca, Kasia and maybe Keira for some wings and beer. Life's rough I know. Plus on the way over I want to buy a flash diffuser over at Leo's Camera on Granville, something that I used at the last wedding I shot and wished I actually owned. Tomorrow there are two parties, one for Rebecca's birthday and one for Kasia's. I have to make appearances at both, but I think I can pull it off. And on Sunday ...

Today is my good friend Rebecca's birthday. To be honest, I'm not really sure how old she is, but I'm convinced she is dangerously close to being a cougar. I've only known Rebecca for about a year now, but I'm thankful we've gotten to be good friends in that time. Happy Birthday Rebecca! ...

I have attended a few photowalks in the last year, most of which have been in or around the Gastown area. These events have typically brought together anywhere from 5 to 50 people, and have usually involved people walking around and snapping shots for an hour or two. They are a lot of fun, and always a great chance for people to improve their skills or just get out and stretch their wings a bit. I'm organizing one down in my neck of the woods for this Sunday. It will be mostly along the beach, eventually ending up near English Bay and the famous Inukshuk. Hopefully we'll even manage to catch a ...

Tuesday evening, Toronto blogger and artist Raymi (Lauren White) will be down at the Crooked Star showing off some of her art and meeting people. If you're in the Toronto area, make sure you pop by with lots of money. The event kicks off at 7pm, and looks like it will go into the wee hours of the morning. There's a facebook event associated with it, and you can find it here. Best of luck Raymi. ...

In 1997, I decided to mix things up a bit and took a summer job up in Whitehorse, YT, working at the weather station up there for Environment Canada. It was really my first time away from home in any capacity, and also marked the first time I was in a long distance relationship. Needless to say, when I walked off the plane way up north, I was a bit bummed, and a bit out of sorts. I spent the first three days living in a hotel room, desperately trying to find a place to live, since Environment Canada only offered to pay for three days of hotel. I finally found a small room in a trailer living with ...

2007 is officially in the past now, and today was basically the start of a whole new year, at least in terms of my routine again. I spent the day at work today getting back into the groove again. Tomorrow I will most likely dive head-first into a fairly large new project, which should be pretty exciting. I still have some unpacking to do from my trip, and will most likely take the tree and decorations down this coming weekend. At that point, the holidays will be completely behind me. I think tomorrow Dustin and I are going to get together and hang out for a bit, and this weekend there will probably ...

Well, that's it folks -- 2007 is basically all over. For me, it was undoubtedly one of the hardest years in my life. I have usually always been able to find the good in things that sometimes turn out bad, but this last year is one that for the most part I am happy to leave behind. That being said, I have lots of good memories from this last year. Rob's wedding. Massey Hall show in Toronto. Crazy halloween eyeball smashing party. Las Vegas. The Dominican Republic. Drunk Camp. Finland. New friends. Old friends. Tomorrow night I'll be bouncing around Toronto, and for the first time in quite a few ...

Wow.. I'm beat. I made the mistake of staying up late last night, thinking that I would be tired enough to pass out and get a few hours. Unfortunately, I hardly slept at all last night, and am at the airport, completely bagged. It's 5:50am, and I have another 40 minutes before the plane boards. Clearly I was a bit tired last night as well, since I drove all the way to my landlord's house to drop off six checks that I somehow made out in the wrong amount on all of them (something that wasn't discovered until I got all the way back home);. Thankfully, I brought along a mild sedative, and as soon ...

I had a few people over sort of on a whim last night, and we all sat around listening to music and enjoying Christmas nachos. I'm not sure if this is officially year two or year three for the nachos, but I've been trying to up the ante each year to see if I can outdo myself. They Almost Don't Fit I had a few Christmas decorations sitting around in boxes, so we all took turns throwing a few up on the tree. Keira helped herself to R2-D2, and I think I got stuck with Yoda. Good times. Only five more days of work and then I'm off for a while. I'm getting excited about heading back home for a few ...

Last night I got together with some of my old high school friends for an evening of games and Christmas cheer. It was great seeing that old group again -- we don't nearly get together enough. We played "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader", which was actually harder than we thought. That being said, I demolished the competition and walked away with the "you totally fucking rule" badge. The final winning question, answered by yours truly in a display worthy of it's own Rocky film, was "What Year Was Toronto's CN Tower Completed?" 1976 Bitches. 1976. Tonight I'm having ...

Chad's party last weekend was the first of the Christmas bashes, but they are coming hard and fast starting tomorrow. I just picked up a new pair of dress pants and my altered jacket from the tailor, and tomorrow I'm spiffing it all out down on Granville Island. There should be a small little pre-party at my pad near False Creek, and then a small little ferry ride over to Bridges, which is a fairly nice seafood restaurant right on the edge of the marina. Kasia won't be coming to my place beforehand because she apparently needs a gazillion hours to get ready before hand, so we'll just have to manage ...

Sorry I haven't written anything for a few days, I've just been swamped trying to get my act together for December. First order of business is crazy Chad's Christmas party tonight out near Metrotown. Next week is my Christmas party at work, which is out on the water at Bridges, so that should be a good time. A Cleaner Version Of Me I'm now seven days without any type of booze at all, and so far I haven't really noticed that much. In fact, my bank account is in pretty decent shape thanks to not going out for dinners and drinks after work at all this week, which is rather nice. Thanks to the meds ...

Tonight I went down to the Republic to partake in the second Launch Party. It's basically a mixer for technology enthusiasts, and an opportunity for a few startups to showcase their new products. There were about 150 people that probably showed up, and it got rather tight and cramped at times, but it was cool meeting a lot of the people involved, and hanging out with a few old friends. The Sxip Girls I'm still on some drugs, so I refrained from drinking, which was actually rather nice in a way since I spent $0 at the function tonight. Maura On Television I'm not really sure why the TV people ...

Believe it or not, not one but two of my friends are celebrating birthdays today. First, is my good friend Jeff from Chilliwack. We've been friends for a long, long time now. Jeff In Costa Rica I actually sort of met Jeff in grade nine math class, when him and I would team up and blow spitballs into Margo's hair instead of doing derivatives. Good times indeed. And of course, today is also Keira's birthday. I haven't known Keira as long as Jeff, but in the time I've known her she's been a good friend, and she's obviously a great gal -- I wish her the all best for her 27th birthday. Last night ...