father’s day, with family at my sister’s house. the kids played together for HOURS. Awesome.
Tag: family
grandson
Evan got to spend a whole bunch of quality time with his grandparents over Christmas. He was thrilled – his favourite Christmas ever.
la familia
some of the extended family, gathered at a local factory restaurant to celebrate one of the young’ns’ birthday.
siblings
my brothers and sister. one of us is now a grandfather. I feel old.
christmas at the normans’
some of the decorations on our tree, collected over the past 40 years or so.
family
The family got together at Thai Sa-On on 10th Avenue, to visit with my oldest brother while he was (briefly) in town.
Experimenting with Flickr for a family event
My mom is turning 65 on Sunday, and we’re throwing a big bash at the Tuscany Club – about 75 of her closest friends will be there, and we’re going way over the top with a chocolate-themed party.
I was initially going to attempt to document the event myself, and then it hit me – I use Flickr and the like for collaborative documenting of events/conferences. This isn’t any different, except that many of the people attending may have never heard of Flickr, etc…
So, I started simple. We all gathered the recipes together for the items we’re putting in the buffet, and I put together a simple recipe book .pdf document that everyone can document. Then, the experiment begins. I created a very simple web page to act as a launching point (and download vector for the recipes) to direct people to Flickr to share their photos. I’ll beef up the page a bit after the event.
I was also toying around with the idea of a live wiki to act as the recipe book – even went as far as installing MediaWiki on my Godaddy account and researching recipe templates – then realized there’s no freaking way I should inflict a wiki on this group. I’ll keep the wiki there in case I need it though.
Should be interesting to see if/how people contribute their photos…
My mom is turning 65 on Sunday, and we’re throwing a big bash at the Tuscany Club – about 75 of her closest friends will be there, and we’re going way over the top with a chocolate-themed party.
I was initially going to attempt to document the event myself, and then it hit me – I use Flickr and the like for collaborative documenting of events/conferences. This isn’t any different, except that many of the people attending may have never heard of Flickr, etc…
So, I started simple. We all gathered the recipes together for the items we’re putting in the buffet, and I put together a simple recipe book .pdf document that everyone can document. Then, the experiment begins. I created a very simple web page to act as a launching point (and download vector for the recipes) to direct people to Flickr to share their photos. I’ll beef up the page a bit after the event.
I was also toying around with the idea of a live wiki to act as the recipe book – even went as far as installing MediaWiki on my Godaddy account and researching recipe templates – then realized there’s no freaking way I should inflict a wiki on this group. I’ll keep the wiki there in case I need it though.
Should be interesting to see if/how people contribute their photos…
Happy 7-0, Dad!
We spent the day in the mountains with my folks, celebrating my dad’s 70th birthday. seven-oh. We had an awesome day at their timeshare cabin at Banff Gate just outside of Canmore (not far from Banff). Got lots of great pics, and Evan had a blast.
The coolest thing about today was that dad wasn’t supposed to make it to 70. He was diagnosed with a serious case of polymyositis in 1997 (?), and was given under a year to live. His body was digesting all protein in his system, slowly taking his internal organs apart and secreting the remains into his blood.
Well, he basically blew all of us away with his recovery. Dad went through a lot of crap, with his body falling apart from the inside out. All kinds of drug cocktails, side effects, cocktails for the side effects. Therapy. Rest. And now, years later, he just keeps getting stronger, and isn’t slowing down at all. He even had a heart attack last year, and while that was a pretty big scare for everyone, he shook it off, followed doctors’ orders, and keeps on truckin’. Awesome. Looking forward to the big eight-oh, nine-oh, and beyond. Keep on keepin’ on, dad! I hope I’m going as strong when I’m your age! I give my dad a hard time – we relate primarily through sarcastic humour – but we’ve been through a lot over the years (some pretty severe ups and downs), and I admire him in so many ways, and love him more than words can express – certainly more than I could ever say to him. perhaps he’ll see this entry sometime… or, I’ll get up the nerve to say this to his face…
Today was good on several levels – great to have a quality day with my folks. Great to have an awesome day with my wife and son (and Evan was totally amazing today!!!). And, I’ve been in the middle of a neverending shitstorm on a Major Project (well, Two Major Projects With Overlapping/Conflicting Deadlines/Demands). It feels like the entire frakking world is on my shoulders, and it was freaking awesome to get a day (well, only a few hours actually) without having to really think/deal with the bullshit thrown my way. One of the reasons I went back to working at the University was the concept of cycles – there are periods of extreme demands/productivity, but it’s followed by a brief period of lesser demands, where you can catch your breath, regroup, decompress, debrief, grow, and then head into the peak of the cycle refreshed and ready to go. The trough part of the cycle has been absent for me for the last year, so I feel like I’ve been running at 100% for the full year. Nearly burned out. Nowhere near as productive as I could/should be. Both Major Projects are winding down (for now – one permanently, the other hopefully dovetailing into a new cycle). Looking forward to the trough…
On a less Deep note, I was using my sister-in-law’s camera today. She took off to Vegas for a week, and didn’t want to lug her camera around, so she borrowed our small Fujifilm e510, leaving her Sony Cybershot DSC-F717 for us to use. Normally, I’m not a fan of Sony cameras. Hate memory sticks. We hates them. Tricksy! False! wait… OK. So, the Sony camera is a high-end consumer “enthusiast” camera. Not quite SLR, not quite point-and-shoot. It’s got LOTS of nice features (a ring for adjusting focus/zoom, really fast booting and responding to shutter release, awesome low light handling, great battery life, etc…) I’d never buy the camera myself. Although it’s really nice, it uses a silly storage medium, and the beautiful Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lense is built into the camera (on a swivel, but built-in), so that’s annoying – it wobbles and makes me really nervous.
Basically, what using this camera did was make me realize just how much I want a digital SLR. I found I (felt like I (?)) was taking better pictures with the Sony just because of the extra control/feedback/response. Just imagine how much better a Digital Rebel XT would be, or a 5D…
I’ll post the pics to Flickr when I get them off the camera. I don’t have anything that can read the stupid Memory Stick format, and the camera uses a USB connection that differs from any USB connection I have cables for. WTF, Sony? Have to wait to trade cameras back again, and get my pics offloaded for me…
We spent the day in the mountains with my folks, celebrating my dad’s 70th birthday. seven-oh. We had an awesome day at their timeshare cabin at Banff Gate just outside of Canmore (not far from Banff). Got lots of great pics, and Evan had a blast.
The coolest thing about today was that dad wasn’t supposed to make it to 70. He was diagnosed with a serious case of polymyositis in 1997 (?), and was given under a year to live. His body was digesting all protein in his system, slowly taking his internal organs apart and secreting the remains into his blood.
Well, he basically blew all of us away with his recovery. Dad went through a lot of crap, with his body falling apart from the inside out. All kinds of drug cocktails, side effects, cocktails for the side effects. Therapy. Rest. And now, years later, he just keeps getting stronger, and isn’t slowing down at all. He even had a heart attack last year, and while that was a pretty big scare for everyone, he shook it off, followed doctors’ orders, and keeps on truckin’. Awesome. Looking forward to the big eight-oh, nine-oh, and beyond. Keep on keepin’ on, dad! I hope I’m going as strong when I’m your age! I give my dad a hard time – we relate primarily through sarcastic humour – but we’ve been through a lot over the years (some pretty severe ups and downs), and I admire him in so many ways, and love him more than words can express – certainly more than I could ever say to him. perhaps he’ll see this entry sometime… or, I’ll get up the nerve to say this to his face…
Today was good on several levels – great to have a quality day with my folks. Great to have an awesome day with my wife and son (and Evan was totally amazing today!!!). And, I’ve been in the middle of a neverending shitstorm on a Major Project (well, Two Major Projects With Overlapping/Conflicting Deadlines/Demands). It feels like the entire frakking world is on my shoulders, and it was freaking awesome to get a day (well, only a few hours actually) without having to really think/deal with the bullshit thrown my way. One of the reasons I went back to working at the University was the concept of cycles – there are periods of extreme demands/productivity, but it’s followed by a brief period of lesser demands, where you can catch your breath, regroup, decompress, debrief, grow, and then head into the peak of the cycle refreshed and ready to go. The trough part of the cycle has been absent for me for the last year, so I feel like I’ve been running at 100% for the full year. Nearly burned out. Nowhere near as productive as I could/should be. Both Major Projects are winding down (for now – one permanently, the other hopefully dovetailing into a new cycle). Looking forward to the trough…
On a less Deep note, I was using my sister-in-law’s camera today. She took off to Vegas for a week, and didn’t want to lug her camera around, so she borrowed our small Fujifilm e510, leaving her Sony Cybershot DSC-F717 for us to use. Normally, I’m not a fan of Sony cameras. Hate memory sticks. We hates them. Tricksy! False! wait… OK. So, the Sony camera is a high-end consumer “enthusiast” camera. Not quite SLR, not quite point-and-shoot. It’s got LOTS of nice features (a ring for adjusting focus/zoom, really fast booting and responding to shutter release, awesome low light handling, great battery life, etc…) I’d never buy the camera myself. Although it’s really nice, it uses a silly storage medium, and the beautiful Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lense is built into the camera (on a swivel, but built-in), so that’s annoying – it wobbles and makes me really nervous.
Basically, what using this camera did was make me realize just how much I want a digital SLR. I found I (felt like I (?)) was taking better pictures with the Sony just because of the extra control/feedback/response. Just imagine how much better a Digital Rebel XT would be, or a 5D…
I’ll post the pics to Flickr when I get them off the camera. I don’t have anything that can read the stupid Memory Stick format, and the camera uses a USB connection that differs from any USB connection I have cables for. WTF, Sony? Have to wait to trade cameras back again, and get my pics offloaded for me…
On time “off”
I’m taking this week to spend with the family. Janice is out of town for much of the week, so it’s just Evan and myself baching it. It’s been absolutely great being able to hang out with the boy – we spent the morning at the zoo, and it was fun watching him get all worked up about the efants and muhkees. He’s almost able to carry a conversation, and it’s so cool to be watching him progress. He keeps surprising me about what he understands, remembers, or figures out.
Obligatory photo from the zoo:
Of course, my infojunkie addiction is so bad that I’m probably online almost as much as when I’m in the office. And I’m getting “volunteered” to be doing stuff in meetings that I’m missing 😉
I’m taking this week to spend with the family. Janice is out of town for much of the week, so it’s just Evan and myself baching it. It’s been absolutely great being able to hang out with the boy – we spent the morning at the zoo, and it was fun watching him get all worked up about the efants and muhkees. He’s almost able to carry a conversation, and it’s so cool to be watching him progress. He keeps surprising me about what he understands, remembers, or figures out.
Obligatory photo from the zoo:
Of course, my infojunkie addiction is so bad that I’m probably online almost as much as when I’m in the office. And I’m getting “volunteered” to be doing stuff in meetings that I’m missing 😉
Toboggan Boy
Trying the Flickr Blog This feature…
Hey. that worked pretty well! Easy peasy. Some more-complicated-than-necessary HTML in the new post, but that’s not fatal. Cool.
Trying the Flickr Blog This feature…
Hey. that worked pretty well! Easy peasy. Some more-complicated-than-necessary HTML in the new post, but that’s not fatal. Cool.