it was nearing dark, the lights came on and i flew!

Woot for Hipstamatic App

I've discovered a new app that turns my phone into a Holga!

The Latest Update

This was a wee Christmas Concert we attended.

This is how I feel every time I step outside.

This is Edmonton for 16 hours of the "day."

A Viking Christmas Carol

Slashing thru the snow, Valhalla’s on its way,

Ready axe and shield, for it’s time to slay!

Swords and armour ring, making spirits bright,

What fun it is to fight and sing this slaying song tonight!

Ohh, Viking helms, Viking helms! Charging o’er the snow,

Spear and axe and village attacks is all we ever know!

Ja! Viking helms, Viking helms, through the driving sleet,

All the foe will ever know is the cold edge of defeat!

A fortnight’s time ago, I thought that I’d been slain,

An arrow struck my neck, alas I felt no pain.

The Saxons cry was proud, but soon they were a’feared,

For I (of course) am a mighty Norse, with an arrow-stopping beard!

My Week of High Adventure... and It's Only Wednesday!

On Monday, I stopped at Transcend roasters for a cuppa and low and behold, I stepped right onto the set of Global Edmonton's morning show. It went something like this:

"Ok, five minutes until we roll... places everyone." We take a seat behind the cameras up against the wall. The reporter practiced her smile a bit, the baristas are posed at the coffee makers. Three styles of drinks were laid on the counter. And action! Perma-smile from the reporter until she realizes that they are indeed rolling. She interviews the movembered barista to her right (who happens to be third best in Canada) and he explains the drinks. The reporter notes that people are lining up outside the door! That's because the film crew is keeping people out of the shop. Then she signs off and I finally get my coffee, which has a slight bite of blueberry, mild bitterness and finishes with a smoky smoothness.

Today as I was coming down the stairs at work, two guys were wrestling an oxygen tank at the top. I heard a noise and turned to see the 5 foot cylinder skidding down the narrow steep steel stairs towards me! With milliseconds to act I jumped into the air, the bottle narrowly missing my legs. It then was stopped by a copper pipe which was squished flat. Afterwards, it was evident that the bottle dented the steel grated floor at the bottom of the stairs as well. If that thing had hit me I surely would have been out of commission.

Cute Little Fox (This Time I'm Referring to an Animal)

As I was working up at Suncor in Fort Crack-Scurry I heard my co-worker Vladmir Ilianovich Kalasnikov (not his real name) yell "Rrronan! Zerre ees a fox!" And sure enough tere was this cute little fox curiously poking around our pumping station. If I ad a leash I could had taken it ome. I already had a name picked out too. Fjearguss the Fox. Since we didn't feed it, Fjearguss took off down the road. We saw it later tat day in an incredibly busy part of the site. We pulled over so I could capture it and it bit my index finger clean off.

Why I Love Windows

Today I plugged my iPhone into my laptop at work and this message came up: "One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it." Oh no!! Malfunctioned?? What do I do? Well, the recommendation is as follows: " Try reconnecting the device. If Windows still does not recognize it, replace the device." Is this a clever Bill Gates joke?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

These are some of my photos from a roll of slide film I shot a while ago, when the grass was green and the air was fresh.

Photos From the Life of a Power System Electrician

I'm Going to Kathmandu!

As the title so helpfully suggests, I am going to the Himalayas to hike to my hearts desire! So far I've booked the trip, bought my flights and insurance and now it's just the painful waiting for the day the plane leaves. I suppose I should get into shape now, eh? Annapurna here I come!!

Yay! My Life Didn't Suck Today! (And It Could Have)

Although I am not feeling overly jocose today, I am still inspired to attempt to make a blog post. I am afraid I have been quite slack this summer, not because nothing happened, but because everything happened.

You by now are thinking "Okay, okay, get to the point. Why doesn't your life suck today?" Well well well. I was up in Swan Hills doing an investigation on a relay that was tripping and not two minutes on site and we had found the problem. So as we were heading back to Edmonton, we went through Barrhead as it was "quicker." It also has a school zone. It also has two police cruisers driving through said school zone. It also has Ronan doing 80km/h when he hit said school zone. Thankfully the RCMP hired a nice policeman and he let me off without a ticket, but that could have been bad... exceedingly bad.

Vintage Skimboarding

These shots were taken in April of 2006. Kinda dated and crappy but I have not much else in my library worth posting. And posting videos on the web is H-core! lolz!

Bungee Jump

Here is a video of me jumping off a bridge near Nanaimo BC. The bridge is 140 feet high with 80 feet of free fall. I wasn't going to do it but Jessica went so I couldn't let her show me up. Note the fear in my eyes as I look death in the peepers.

The View

Trivialities

Edmonton downtown. Look at all the empty space!

I believe this was two days after we had a powerful windstorm... some people never learn.

I thought I was lucky to have three sets of twins for breakfast. Apparently the whole carton was doubles.

And they trusted me in the operating room. Here, the invisible man gets a heart transplant from the Wizard of Oz Tin-Man.

Edmonton Street Performers Festival

Rodeo Wain, right?

I know this is really delayed but here are some photos from the ro-day-oh.

iPhone Madness

So three weeks or so ago, Mitch used my phone to check his Facebook... and forgot to sign out. I thought about all the wonderful things I could make mischief with, and finally settled on changing only one subtle thing: I changed his status to "Interested in men." I left it at that and waited... and waited... and I had forgot about it until last night I hear a "WHAAAT?!!" coming from downstairs. Mitch had finally discovered why he had been getting so many gay pride and sexy boyfriend adds popping up in his sidebar.

Photos in Mill Creek Ravine

Clouds

I was working out at Drayton Valley and saw some pretty awesome cloud formations. 

my painting

I am painting a picture. It is still unfinished but here it is.

Under the Microscope is Soooo Cliche!

I recently purchased an antique laboratory microscope. It is in great working condition and smells like old oil. I soon discovered that my phone has a small enough lens to photograph the images through the eye piece of the microscope. 

Old Not-so-faithful

The 100 year old water main shot filthy water thirty feet in the air.

Creepy Church Time

When I was in Winnipeg we went to an old church that had suffered a fire in the past. It was very eerie and made for some interesting night photography. Some Riel guy had a tombstone there as well.


Kyle and Cameron exhibit the photographers dance.