Watching for pigs on the wing

Made it home in one piece.

My trip to see my parents and grandfather was very nice, I sure enjoyed seeing them. The drive was interesting, the mountains had a bit of frozen rain, but I managed to avoid it. Coming home was nasty, hit some snow up in Manning Park, but it wasn't too bad. The wind and rain down between Chilliwack and Abbotsford was down-right scary. The road actually looked like it was moving under my car in waves. I think that the visibility was pretty much nil, and the drivers around me freaked out from it, slammed on their brakes, and those of us behind nearly drove through them, because we couldn't see them. It was nice when they all moved to the slow lave to follow each other, leaving the fast lane open. I took it. Managed to get past all those freaking out, and got out of that freaky weather.

Well, after that little bit of babbling, time for bed.

Soaring high above the breezes

Ahh...holidays.

It was so nice to walk out of work today, knowing that I get a week and a half off for Christmas break. Do I feel guilty knowing that most of my co-workers are still working the rest of the week? No. =)

So I am off to see the parents and Grandpa in the morning, then back home on Thursday. It's only a three to four hour drive, so it won't be too bad. I am really looking forward to seeing Grandpa, he is getting on in his years and I really don't want to miss any opportunity to see him. I didn't get to see Grandma before she passed on, and I kinda feel guilty that I didn't make a better effort.

Andy is in town tonight, and I got together with a bunch of friends and him for a bite to eat in Vancouver tonight. Didn't recognize him at first as his Mom guilted him into chopping off his hair for his brothers wedding. I am hoping to get a chance to go skiing or something with him some time in the next week or so. This holiday season is gonna be busy!

Megan and Hans are also in town, and although I have seen them twice already, I would like to see them some more. I really miss Meg, so need to get my refill of her smiles and laughter before she goes home again.

So it looks like I am gonna be busy the next little while, which is good. Even gonna get to spend better part of Christmas Eve and Day with my brothers. Probably be eating, drinking and video games, but it is with my brothers and that is what counts.

Yup, it's gonna be fun!

Oh, and on a side note, I finally gave up on SETI@home, they have changed the processing software, and I didn't feel like running it any more. So, I managed to get around 6000 units processed in the five or so years that I ran it. It will be nice to have that little bit of CPU back again for other things.

Misty morning whisperings and gentle stirring sounds

Ahh, Christmas.

The time of frazzled nerves, packed shopping malls, irate tempers and short fuses. It is inevitable. But please remember that before you get in behind the wheel of your car, that there are others out there that are feeling the same stresses as you, and are just a stressed.

Take a deep breath, relax.

There is no point in rushing through the almost red light, blindly running stop signs, and cutting other drivers off just to save a few minutes.

Deep breath again.

We want you home with the family, we want you to be happy, and most of all we want you in one piece. Christmas is no fun if you are spending it in the hospital because you where driving too fast amongst the other burnt out drivers and lost control.

There, that wasn't so hard. Be safe, relax, enjoy the season. Remember to be POLITE to others, show some RESPECT to those that are working in the stores and shops, and SMILE at strangers. Most of all have some PATIENCE with others around you.

We all want to make it through this to the new year.


Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday's.

You can drift, you can dream

So, today is the one year aniversary of my Blog. Hard to believe that a year has gone by so fast! And what do I have to show for it? A trip to NYC, a nice houseboat vacation with good friends, a new toolbox, a new camera, less pain in my knees (thank you accupuncture!) and a whole lotta wasted time on World of Warcraft. So, I am gonna try not to waste so much time, and be a little more creative, and get out a bit more. I need to find more things to write about, get out there and explore this here world that we live on.

So, hopefully next years anniversary, I will have more to talk about. =)

Everbody is working for the weekend

Ahh...Friday night. Got the night off work, and what am I doing to celebrate? Housework.

Seems silly, but I have let the place go the past month or so. And with the holidays coming up, I might actually have one, maybe two friends stop by for a visit. Highly unlikely, knowing that they think that the 45 minute trip to visit me is too far, but I rather chance it.

Actually, I will be giving Bonnie a call soon, she now lives nearby, and I think that I need to take her out for some Chai or something. Maybe a movie, will have to see what she is up to.

I have also started putting photos on Fark.com's Farktography online photo contest on Wednesdays nights (it starts at 8:00PM ET on TotalFark, but hits the main page, Fark.com, about an hour or so later). So, if you want to see how I do, go check it out. BTW, the above link goes to the Farktography website, so you can see what the up-coming contests is, but the actual contest takes place on Fark which you can access in the right column. (I am linked on Fark as Lovesandwich, in case you were looking for me...)

Well, better go and finish up the cleaning I was working on.

And all that you see

I was driving home from the Hell that is known as the shopping mall during Christmas season, when I spotted out over the buildings, the coolest looking crescent Moon. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me, but I was close to home, so I drove a bit quicker than I should have, ran up, grabbed the camera, and run out only to see the Moon ducking behind some clouds. Well, I wasn't going to give up that easily, so I jumped back into the car and drove out to work where I know that there is a good clear view of the sky. The sky got darker, and I sat there waiting for the Moon to peek out again from the clouds, all the time cursing myself for not grabbing the tripod too. Eventually, the Moon came out of hiding, and let me get off a few shots. But, by this time, the light was fading, and it was getting harder to shoot a long exposure without shaking the camera. But, I managed four out of 20 shots that look okay. I also managed a good sunset shot that turned out without too much blurring.

I still need to do some more reading in the manual about my new camera, to learn how to manually operate aperture and shutter speeds. Been using old film SLR's for so long, that I find that this D70s doesn't do things the same as the old Minolta's that I have. For example, the Minolta's are all manual focus and aperture. The D70s is all camera controlled, there is no aperture ring on the lens! (the lens is digital, it "talks" to the camera body) So, I might have to find a course in learning how to use this camera.

In the mean time, I have been adding photo's to my Flickr account, even had to buy a Pro membership so I don't run out of upload space. Please go and enjoy my photos, I and I really like comments about them, so feel free to let m know what you think.