my job

i was saying to someone the other day about how much i love my job. i get to play with all the coolest technology, i get to listen to some of the best presenters on the planet, i get paid to learn and i get to live the lifestyle of a jet-setter, (although the remuneration doesn't quite reflect this). the biggest disappointment about my job, is the fact that i often don't have time to explore the cities that i travel to. in fact, i often don't get outside at all, apart from moving from the airport to the hotel....... if anyone out there loves their job half as much as i love mine, they are indeed very fortunate.

work, work, work

crazy busy right now. hardly have time to breathe. been on the road for two weeks, and my last stay at home only lasted a day and a half, after having been away for a week. i am going to be home for a single day this weekend, then i am gone again for another 11 days. so please forgive the sparse nature of my postings...... the above image is called "camera ape", simply because the guy in the image seems to resemble some sort of simian with the movements he is making. i have been working at a government technology conference this week, and there are a few things that got me excited over the last day or so.... yahoo pipes free knowledge wikinomics, and its' associated facebook group and because i am always hungry for new information, i am almost OBSESSED with this site hope you find at least ONE of these links to be of interest to you.......

i had too much to dream last night....

this is a very strange one! i dreamed that i was late getting to the airport to fly out to quebec city. i was driving a truck of some sort, and realised that the lawnmower in the truck was out of gas. so i pull over, and proceed to march over to somebody's front yard, and grab the gas cannister that is conveniently sitting there. it turns out that the container is filled with banana-scented gasoline. i took the cap off of the gas tank of the lawnmower, and there were a few frogs swimming around inside. i filled the tank up, and then realised that i had lost the cap fro the lawnmower and spent some time wondering how i was going to get the lawnmower back inside the truck without spilling the banana-scented gas or the frogs. double you tee eff? anyone have any suggestions?

on the road....

believe it or not, i am actually posting this from the very top of whistler mountain. it is 2183 meters above sea level, and is the second largest ski mountain in north america--dwarfed only by it's next door neighbor, blackcomb mountain. the average snowfall here is around 10 METERS!!! unbelievable!!! if you go HERE, you can see the large chalet that i was posting from. it is supposed to be a "LIVE" webcam, but after many attempts at getting myself captured by it, i discovered that it only refreshes every 15 minutes or so. i even took a singer from quebec city with me, so that we could both be in the picture that i was intending to post here, but alas it didn't happen....(you can see her page by going to pascalepicard.com. she is a brilliant singer in both french AND english, and i have pasted a video of hers below..... you heard it here first - this girl is going to be HUGE. i saw a family of bears doing some pre-hibernation grazing today, but unfortunately i didn't get a chance to get a decent photo of them, because i had trouble with my camera, and the gondola was moving fairly quickly.... i am running around the country a lot lately, and have been taking some pretty cool photos, and i hope to post them in a big pile when i get a chance. keep checking back with me to see what's going on!!!!

mixed bag

it occurred to me not too long ago that the word multimedia is a bit of a redundant phrase. isn't the word "media" ALREADY plural???? and here is some footage straight off of my new phone it may be difficult to see in the video above, but the shadow of the plane is constantly visible as a little tiny spec on the ground. i just thought that the shadow on the clouds, (of the plane), was really neat! new phone ROCKS by the way...... expect to see lots of stuff from it on here in the future. my friend lorrie, (who is practicing MMA), and i have been obsessing over this song lately....... you may D/L it here : When in Rome - The Promise both "L-Dog" and i are wishing that someone would write a song like this for us.....

something to declare

i was on a plane today, (in fact, i am on the plane right now, flying from calagry to montreal, as i write this), and i was listening to the safety announcements about emergency exits, and how the floor lights up along the aisle in a situation of emergency. i was watching the flight attendants go through the motions of amazingly coordinated hand gestures, and thinking to myself how similar they looked like synchronized swimmers, (without the nose plugs and bathing cap). and it occured to me that not only is this something that they are legally required to do before each gtake off, but they must have to go and take a course on very specific hand movements that are universally understood. sort of like how you can tell which washroom is for men, and which one is for women, or how you are not allowed to smoke in certain areas, no matter what language you speak. anyway, they get to the part in the presentation where they explain, that in certain situations, parts of the ceiling will open up, and oxygen masks will drop out. if this occurs, you are meant to place the mask over your own head first, (before worrying about assisting those around you), make sure it fits tightly, and breathe normally. this made me giggle. i turned to the person beside me, and pointed out, that if we were in an emergency situation, and the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, the LAST thing we would be doing after we put them over our faces, would be breathing normally! we continue to taxi down the runway, get into out final position, and the captain comes over the speaker system, and tells the flight crew to sit down and prepare for take off. this element of the flight, is always my favourite, since the plane has to be travelling somwhere in the neighbourhood of 300 km/h in order to get off the ground. in fact, the larger planes have to reach a speed of about 340 km/h in order to get the necessary lift. so, we are hurtling down the runway, and just as we are about to start our ascent, the pilot hits the brakes. HARD. he activated the brakes so hard, that some of the people on the plane smacked their faces on the seat in front of them. but surprisingly, no one made any noises of surprise or pain. everyone was surprisingly quiet. perhaps they were all expecting to be told that something very bad had happened the captain then comes over the speaker system, and announces that he had to abort the take-off, because someone was on the runway in front of the plane, that the authorities have been called, and that they are on their way to intercept this man. after about a minute or so, i see the guy on the right side of the plane just casually strolling along another runway. then a truck shows up, and stops in front of him. the guy gets down on the ground, and another truck shows up, and the drivers of both vehicles get out, while pointing shotguns at him. (that is what you can see in the picture, although it isn't very clear, since i had taken the photo with my phone, and had to rely on the poor quality digital zoom). i guess that is pretty well the end of the story, apart from the fact that we had to go back to the gate that we left from in order for the brakes to cool down from the stress they just went through. and we also needed to re-fuel, since the pilot had to put the engines in such a heavy reverse thrust, in order to get the plane to stop in time. strangely, the only information i was able to find to prove that this actually happened, (and to follow up on what happened with this poor guy who was on the runway), was this little story.