Why can't we blow the years away?

Ugh.

I really should be wrapping presents. I hate wrapping presents. Seems like such a waste of time, wrap them, then they get torn open with no one appriciating the work that went into making the present look nice. I suppose that you can always do gift bags, but the price adds up after a few presents. At least the bags are re-useable.

I guess I can be thankful for one thing...I finished my shopping over a month ago, so don't have to spend any time in the dizzying madness that is the mall. Ya, Christmas, the quasi-holiday made possible by Hallmark, crass commercialism and some dude in a red and white suit. I am sure that Santa arrived in the stable just after the Three Wise Men had gone out for a bite to eat.

I am not completely grumpy about the holidays, I do get to see friends that I haven't seem much of in recent months. Andy is in town, and I want to try and see him some time over the next couple of weeks. Maybe go for beer, and try to make it to First Night to see SOTW.

Last weekend was a blast too, going down to Portland to meet with members of my guild on WoW. After chatting with some of them for almost two years, I finally put faces to names and voices. We did have a blast, with sushi night, pub night, breakie, and thrown in the middle, we actually got together to play a bit. I found it really amazing how comfortable I was meeting these people, and how the relationships that we have in the game translated into real life. Makes me happy to know that I have even more people in my life that I can call friends.

Next week, I will be working out at YVR covering one of the guys shifts. It will be a nice break from the hanger, to be outside again, doing line maintenance. I am sure that I will get addicted to that life again, it is a very rewarding job. Instant gratificaton, fixing the plane, watching the passengers and crew get on board, knowing that you did good work and that they will be safe on their flight. If I don't get to go back to France, I want to try and get out to YVR full time. Then I can move closer to Vancouver, and see friends a bit more often. So many variables in my life!

Well, think I will go start wrapping. Probably won't get far, but at least I can say I tried. =)

Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes

It has been an interesting week.

First, I actually had a good week at work, other than crashing my knee into a sharp metal object. I got to be a mechanic for a change, instead of a wash boy, or interior technician. Hydraulic pumps, lube units, pressure checks, and other fun mechanical kind of things made the week go by fast. We even had fun with Bob's tool box, that will teach him to take a sick day. =)

Saturday was the companies kids Christmas party, where I took the photos of the kids with Santa. I don't have my own kids, but I like helping and the guys really appreciate the photos I take. This year, the pics turned out pretty good. Having a new speed light for the camera helped, and the digital camera makes checking and correcting the photos easy, which helped make this year a success. It was also kind of nice to hang with some of my friends from work in a not-really-work kind of atmosphere to. And I got to see a few friends that have left the company, but still are dating or married to other co-workers. And of course, there are the new kids that showed up, including sweet little Brooklyn. She is the daughter of our receptionist, Tammy, and is only 4.5 months old. Cutest little thing!

Today was spent marching around the George C. Reifel Bird Sanctuary out on Westham Island with my buddy Al and our cameras. It was crappy weather, with crappy lighting; some clouds and some rain, but a lot of fun. I don't know what it is about flocks of ducks following you around looking for the bag of seed that you are carrying around with you that is so much fun, but I had a blast. We managed to get a few decent shots, but the lighting wasn't helping. Birds that are normally grey (sandhill cranes, pigeons) kind of turned out blue. I did get some great shots of the cranes, they walked right up to us and said hi. They posed nice and then got fed as a reward. But, then the rain came, and we headed out. Stopped being fun really quick.

There were some bad things though this week, other than the sore knee. Twice I was at my favourite restaurant when someone tried a dine and dash. The first guy was successful, I wasn't fast enough to catch him before he got away. The second guy I was able to corral, with the help of the owner. In the end, he was taken down by the police (they were called when he didn't have any money on him, and said that "he would be back"...ya right). After the second incident, as I was walking home, I saw another transient type of guy trying to break into an empty automotive shop, probably looking for a place to sleep. I scared him off, but I am sure that he probably came back. Then this morning, there were two people huddled in a doorway of an apartment building shooting heroin or something. I thought this was supposed to be a nice town that I am living in!

Oh, one last thing. At the kids party, our HR director was talking to me about France. Looks like our contract over there has been solidified until at least September 2008, and it is looking promising in me going back over there for 18 months. I just hope they get on the ball and let me know soon so that I can start looking for a place to keep my stuff, get my affairs in order and then sell my car. It is kind of scary moving away like this, but I know that I have a job to come back to, and that I will be better off with the experience that I will get in France.

Well, new week starts in seven hours, better get to bed.

Go to sleep

Hans, I still can't make comments in your blog. This is very disappointing.

Please fix this. =)

I also just noticed that I do not have a link from my blog to yours, I will have to remedy this.

But probably at a better time then at 3:22AM.

As you look around this room

Wow, I am pretty excited. And just so you know, it doesn't take much.

I just passed my 5000th view on Flickr!

Ya, ya, BORING!!! Well, for me it is a milestone. It has been just over a year since I joined Flickr, have uploaded 1756 photos (out of a possible 5000 or so, not including photos taken before joining Flickr), I have a whopping 14 contacts (six of which are just random people) and the top viewed photo has currently 179 views.

I have also managed to snag a showing in a travel guide, had offers to paint some of my Times Square photos and was asked to send in some photos and a story to a fire fighting webzine (never got around to that one). And of course all the nifty comments that I get from strangers too!

The coolest thing though is knowing that my friends and family can see how my life is going, and can explore the things that I do from the comfort of their computer desk. Of course, I would like them to come with me and experience these things with me, but not everyone can run off to France when ever they want.

Hopefully in the next year, I can improve my photo skills, maybe upgrade the camera to improve final image, and maybe even sell some of my shots for calenders or magazines. I would love to make a living at this.