Just thinking...by Mark J. McArdle

April 5, 2007

Around the world again…

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This week, I’m on a business trip to Cork, Ireland and Bangalore India. I’ll be spending Easter weekend in London. When I planned this trip, I didn’t realize that it was occurring over Easter, and by the time I figured it out, I couldn’t change it because God knows when I’d get the chance before the summer to take care of this agenda.

Sometimes I feel like my calendar is a big practical joke. I was supposed to be traveling less now, but since the New Year, it’s been as much as ever.

That said, aside from being away from my wife and kids, which is becoming much harder and harder to take, I enjoy visiting these spots. Ireland is a beautiful country, and the people there are among the friendliest in the world. There’s something about the Irish accent that makes even bad news sound ok. They always sound so happy. Or maybe that’s just how I hear them.

It was a bit of an adventure upon arrival. I missed my connection because it was put into my Blackberry an hour later than it actually was (I guess a DST issue). So that meant I had to wait 2 more hours for the next flight to Cork. I didn’t sleep on the flight to Heathrow from London (big mistake). I normally take a sleeping pill, but by the time I had dinner, and finished reading, there was only about 4 hours left, and I thought taking a pill for that would not serve me well upon arrival.

Anyhow, I finally got to Cork, and then confronted my first new challenge of the trip. As in the United Kingdom, in the Republic of Ireland you “drive on the left, and sit on the right”. I’ve driven that way before in the UK, but never with a manual gearbox. Well, cool, I like to drive, and I love a manual gearbox, so it should be fun. Well, I thought it was fun until I saw that they gave me a mini-van (“people carrier” for the Brits). I really had no idea where I was going, but the signs for the motorways were pretty good. Roundabouts are trivial, and highly efficient. We need more of them in Canada.

But, upon entering downtown Cork, the signage disappeared. I broke stereotype and asked a nice local chap at a red light where my hotel was. He pointed at the building right across the street. “Bloody tourist” I’m sure he thought as I signaled for my left turn. Can you do a left turn on a red in Ireland? Well, I chose not to try lest I find myself in a Limerick prison.

After a few productive days in Cork, including some quality time with a great lad named Paul, I headed back to the country of my birth. The flight was an hour and a half delayed due to an “equipment problem” (airline speak for “something broke”). I landed, and rushed to get my rental car as I had several conference calls lined up in short order.

I got the car, and the nice lady at Avis happily gave me directions to my hotel. Sadly, they were COMPLETELY WRONG. Rush hour around Heathrow ain’t the place to be scrambling to find your way. I did 2 or 3 excellent laps around Terminal 1 (I think I did set a track record on lap 2), and then found myself on the M25 south seeing farms and cement factories. Clearly, not the directions I was looking for. I popped open my Blackberry and checked the emailed directions I received from my admin. Yup, totally wrong direction. So, off I went, back towards Heathrow, and then ultimately, after bobbing and weaving my way through roundabout traffic, found my hotel.

My calls are done, and I think some good things were taken care of today. My wife will be pleased with one aspect relating to the summer that I made progress on today.

BTW, I brought my MacBook with me, as I do now whenever I travel. I just love it. Between iChat and Skype, I can always see my family when I’m on the road. I got some virtual quality time with them tonight. I even watched my son as he played a game on the computer, completely engrossed in it and ignoring me! It’s technology like this that gives this industry it’s soul to me. I can’t hug my wife and kids, but I can see them, and their smiles, and that’s pretty damn fine.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. I’m not with my family, so all I’m looking to achieve is “OK Friday”. Traffic is supposed to be horrid, so I think I’ll leave the car and take the train into London. I may catch a show, or go to a museum, or just walk around. I really love London. It’s got such a rich history. And being born in England, I feel a strange attachment to this country, even though I haven’t been a resident in well over 30 years. On Saturday, I may venture out in the car and see some sites. On my list of potential vists are:

1) Hospital of my birth
2) House I lived in before moving to Canada
3) Top Gear Race Track
4) Silverstone Race Track
5) Brands Hatch Race Track
6) Williams F1 Team HQ
7) McLaren F1 Team HQ
8) Oxford University
9) Stonehenge

Dunno where I’ll go, but I’ll keep to the left when I do it.

mJm

March 17, 2007

The Magic Kingdom

Posted by stackunderflow under Disney, KSC, Wonder
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“When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are …” – Jiminy Cricket

I am home now after spending the most incredible week with my family. We all went to Walt Disney World together for the first time. My wife had been there when she was a child, but it was the first visit for me and our kids. Our adventure would start with 3 days playing at the Parks and 4 days on a Disney Cruise ship!

One of the benefits of traveling so much is the frequent flyer miles. I have oodles, and used some of them to get of 4 first class tickets to Orlando from Toronto on American Airlines.

We departed early on Thursday, March 8 from Toronto. We were flying to Miami, then connecting to Orlando. The flight was great. The kids napped for part of it, and my wife and I enjoyed a mimosa and some quiet reading time. With about an hour to Miami, the captain announced that we were abeam the Kennedy Space Center. Oh wow, too cool. I brought my son over to my daughters window seat, and pointed out the VAB, the launch pads (39-A, 39-B) and the runway where the shuttle prefers to land. All the excitement awoke my sleepy daughter who strained to see these sights through sleepy eyes.

Right next to the KSC was Port Canaveral, and we could see our ship “The Disney Wonder” docked awaiting it’s departure for the 3 day tour. It would return on Sunday.

We landed in Miami, and made the trek from Terminal A to Terminal E. Man, that airport needs some people movers or large moving walkways. I was carrying my camera bag (see the previous post), which weighs significantly more than my son when fully loaded. It took us about 25 minutes to get to our gate. After a quick bathroom break in the AA Admiral’s Club, we boarded our A300 for the short 1 hour flight to Orlando International.

I always find it odd to fly on a large aircraft on a 1 hour flight. We had the same experience in Phuket on a 747 for the 1 hour flight to Bangkok. It speaks to how popular these destinations are for tourists. That said, it must be hard on the aircraft.

After a couple quick drinks and yippee! We’re in Orlando. This is where the Magic of Disney started for us. Our bags were tagged with Disney bag tags which meant they would be picked up for us and deposited in our hotel room. The check-in at the Transportation desk was quick and friendly. We all got in line for our bus ride to our resort.

We arrived at our resort “The Polynesian” and checked in. There were lots of papers to review and reservations to confirm, but we were soon in our room. Unfortunately, our bags were going to take a few hours to arrive.

Thursday evening, Mummy had arranged for us to go to a special Princesses and Pirates party at the Magic Kingdom. Our little ones were dressed up in their costumes for the party, and we got on the monorail and headed to the Magic Kingdom. Oh, oh, there it is! Cinderella’s Castle!

We went on a few rides. First was “It’s a Small World”, and then “Pirates of the Caribbean”. The kids had a blast finding the ‘X’ spots where they would find their gold encased chocolate treasure coins. The evening ended with a parade of characters, and an incredible fireworks show. These pictures are from the next night because I wasn’t happy with the ones I took without a tripod. In fact, I didn’t have my tripod with me, so on Saturday afternoon I took a taxi to a nearby Walmart and bought one. What a difference it makes in low-light conditions.

It had been a very long, and very exciting day, and the little ones were starting to fade, so we left the Magic Kingdom knowing that we’d be returning the next morning.

Friday Morning:

After a great sleep, we had a good breakfast and headed for the MGM Studios Park. My son and I were very excited about the “Star Tours” ride inspired by Star Wars. We walked straight into the ride, thanks to my wife’s superb planning and ability to somehow get a complete stranger to offer us his 4 fast pass tickets. The ride was awesome, and we left wondering how that robot pilot ever got his license to fly a ship.

We headed back before noon to the Magic Kingdom so that we could dine with Cinderella and the other princesses in the Castle. That was great. I was particularly impressed with Princess Jasmine ;) The kids’ autograph books were filling up fast!

After lunch in the Castle, we explored more of the Magic Kingdom, and went on a great ride called Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. We rode around in 2 person spaceships and had to use our laser guns to hit Zurg targets. You got points for every target you hit.
Mummy won that round!

After some more rides and exploring, we headed back to our hotel room by boat for a rest and to prepare for a special dinner. We were going to be eating while being entertained by dancers at the Spirit of Aloha show.

Saturday was to be our last full day on the Resort, and we had some special visitors coming. My wife’s brother and his wife and 3 daughters were driving from Ontario and were due to arrive at our resort in the morning. So we spent the afternoon with them by the pool enjoying the sunshine and the beach. They left around 4pm and we had dinner and started getting ready for our visit to Epcot!

more to come later…
mJm

March 4, 2007

Camera Gear

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I love to take pictures. I think one of the main attractions for me is the ability to do something artistic and permanent. Much of my professional effort is on things that are more ephemeral like organizations and product releases. Those things evolve very quickly and what was “new” and exciting is forgotten in as little as a year. Pictures are forever though.

I started taking pictures when we lived in California. We bought our first digital camera (a Kodak), and it went everywhere with us. Over time, we upgraded our digital cameras, but they were still fixed lens little jobs which mostly evolved around MegaPixel resolution and size of LCD.

In 2004, I decided to start researching DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras. I had never owned a film SLR (aside from one I picked up in a Vegas pawn shop, but that’s a whole other story). I looked at and read about all the latest cameras, and settled on a Canon EOS 2oD.

I’ll offer some free advice on equipment. I think for the most part, I’ve made great choices, but there are some things I’d do differently. First off, I would recommend looking on Amazon.com or Adorama.com because they consistently have great prices and great selections. If you know what you want, look there first.

So, here’s what I have:

Canon EOS 20D : Review here

Great camera, and no regrets about the purchase. 8.2 MegaPixels, 1.8″ diagonal LCD. It’s been replaced with the 30D, which has a redesigned body and a 2.5″ LCD. That LCD makes a big difference. Check out the 30D review here.

EF-S 17-85MM f4-5.6 IS USM : Review here

This is one of the 2 lenses that I keep on my camera. It’s the 2nd lens and I bought, and I’ve found it’s a great general purpose lens. I’ve used it for close-ups of people, as well as wider shots. It’s a very good lens, and I recommend it.

EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM : Review here

This was a mistake. When I bought the camera, instead of just getting the body, I decided to buy it with this lens. Well, the lens feels like a piece of plastic. There’s no mass to it, and the few times I’ve used it have produced uninspiring results. I’d recommend you pass on this. There’s a reason it’s bundled with many bodies, and that’s because I doubt anyone would actively seek out this lens.

EF 17-40mm f/4L USM : Review here

I just bought this lens recently. I’ve been looking for an ultra wide angle lens for large landscape shots as well as group shots. This has become my other “go to” lens. It’s a great piece of glass, and I used it extensively in Phuket. I rarely took it off my camera, and was very pleased with the results. It’s a substantial feeling lens, and the optics are fantastic. When I bought this lens, I decided to protect my investments by putting a good UV filter on them. I did this for my 100-400m zoom. I liked the results that the filter gave me. I haven’t tried putting both the UV and the Polarizer but I’m curious to see what happens (and how much light I lose).

EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM : Review here

This is a very heavy lens. But I’ll happily lug it around for miles because the shots I get with it are very pleasing. It’s certainly not my fastest lens, but for outdoor sporting use (like my F1 trips) it’s amazing. If you’re going to get a lens like this you must invest in a decent monopod. The stabalization in this lens is pretty good, and suits the task of horizontal panning with a car very well. I’ve put a UV filter on this one as well to protect the glass. It gets crowded in those great spots for F1 shots, so better safe than sorry. This is the glass that gives folks some lens envy. In fact I recently spent time with someone who insisted that “his was bigger”.

EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM : Review here

This is also a new lens for me. I have had great fun taking extreme macro pictures of insects, flowers, and anything else that strikes me as interesting. I need to get a better tripod than the one I have because this is a lens that will require great composition and preparation in order to get the best results. But in the limited experimentation I’ve done gives me high hopes for some great results with this lens.

CompuTrekker Plus AW

Now all this equipment isn’t light. And I haven’t yet developed the discipline to leave some glass behind (well, actually, I do leave the 18-55 behind regularly). So I have lenses, body, filters, cables, extra batteries, extra flash cards, external flashes etc. It’s a lot of stuff. I also have my 17″ MacBook. It would be great to be able to carry all this stuff in 1 bag. Well, this is the one! It’s not a small bag, but it will carry everything you need and then some. I carried this to the other side of the Earth and wasn’t bothered by it. It was heavy to be sure, but when you carry it the right way, it’s not a problem. I was worried that I’d have problems with Thai Airways because it is big and heavy, but nobody batted an eye. So it’s carry on luggage.

Manfrotto 679 Monopod

This is the companion for my 100-400mm zoom. It’s light, very sturdy and collapses to a size that makes strapping it to the back of my bag easy. It’s a definite must-have for anyone with a heavy lens.

I have a few assorted accessories as well. I bought the battery grip because I like the shape of the camera better, as well as the longer life I get because I’m doubling up the batteries. I have a Remote Switch for macro shots and a few extra batteries. I shoot with an 8GB fast CF card, and have 2 2GB backups.

Finally, one thing that was driving me nuts was sensor dust. No matter how careful you are, sooner or later, you’re going to get dust on your sensor. It’s not going to be visible with your lens wide open, but when you shoot something at f/22 or higher you’ll see those dreaded blotches in your picture. They’re especially clear when you’re shooting with a bright homogeneous background like the sky. Well, I did some tests, and my sensor was seriously dirty. At f/22 I took some pictures of a white sheet of paper, and it looks like someone sneezed on my sensor.

I did some research, and found a Canadian company VisibleDust that sells both wet and dry sensor cleaning kits. I ordered one of each, and can state confidently that these tools work very well. Cleaning your sensor is an intimidating task, but if you follow their instructions it’s pretty simple.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m sure I’ve missed something, but I’ll fix it later.

mJm

March 1, 2007

Austin City Limits

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I’m on my way home! My work in Texas is finished (until Monday, when I have to be back). I’m at the Admiral’s Club in Austin Airport awaiting the departure of my flight home. I’m connecting via Dallas and I’m hearing on the TV running CNN about a “severe weather warning” for the midwest/northeast.

I called home and my wife told me to expect to be driving home through a snowstorm. Well, I at least like her optimism that I’ll be able to land in Toronto this afternoon. We’ll see. You gotta roll with the punches on the road, and realize that you can’t control things like the weather (or mechanical things like the altimeter).

I’ve been trying desperately to get iChat working from the 2 hotels and airport lounges I’ve been at on this trip. No dice. Funny, it worked like a charm from Japan and Thailand, but as soon as I get back to the US it starts failing. Maybe it’s all the latency caused by the NSA monitoring every packet moving around the Net.

I’ve just downloaded Skype in an attempt to have a “plan B”. Apple clearly has some problems with iChat video. Just do a search on ‘ichat error “-8” ‘ and you’ll get the picture. It’s pretty much my only criticism of my beautiful MacBook Pro.

Hey, it’s 1 week until we all leave for Disney World! Can’t wait! Unfortunately, there was a hail storm over the Kennedy Space Center, and the External Tank was damaged, scrubbing the upcoming March launch. I don’t think we had a chance of seeing it launch, but my wife’s brother and family had a shot at it. Such is the schedule predictability of the space program.

Well, it’s almost boarding time, so I shall pack up my troubles and get to my gate.

mJm

February 27, 2007

Travel Fatigue

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It’s 4:28am CST, and I’m in a hotel in Plano, Texas. I really wish I could get my body back on a normal sleep rhythm. You see, I travel alot and the last few weeks have been particularly challenging. I’ve been on business trips for the last 9 weeks. I’ve mainly been traveling to California, but I have also been to Boston, Dallas, and of course Thailand.

The jet lag from Thailand was pretty bad. I got home late on Monday night, and Wednesday morning was on my way to California. Just enough time to kiss the kids and to do some laundry. I woke up at the strangest times, and found myself dying for sleep around 8pm. One night, I awoke and was completely disoriented. I’ve heard about that happening to people, but had never experienced it. I was looking around for my wife, convinced that she was here, but having no idea where “here” was. It was like that feeling you get when a word is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t remember it. That was me trying to tell myself exactly where I was at that moment.

That Friday, I returned home, but took a very unconventional route.

I flew from San Jose to Portland, then Portland to Seattle, then Seattle to Vancouver. Then, finally I took the red eye back from Vancouver to Toronto. There was a good reason for the stop overs (work stuff), but it was certainly a “thrill” going through airport security 4 times in one day.

So today I’m in Plano, and Wednesday I head to Austin, then home on Thursday. I just learned that I have to fly back out to Plano early next week. Great!

The one trip I’m really looking forward to starts March 8. We’re all going to Disney World! I’ve never been (and neither have our kids) so there’s much excitement and anticipation.

Anyhow, I’ve been Executive Platinum for 7 years, and almost always fly AA. I’m also Platinum with Hyatt, Starwood and Gold with Marriott. I look forward to the day when I don’t have that status.

Well, I’m going to try and get to sleep. Today will be a busy day.

mJm

February 26, 2007

My Oscar Scorecard

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And now the results….

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker (although I’d rather Peter O’Toole win)
Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (I loved Slums of Beverly Hills)
Best Actress: Helen Mirren (The Queen is supposed to be great)
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (cause I recognize her name)
Best Animated: Cars (amazingly awesome, and the only one I saw)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese (because Goodfellas didn’t direct itself)
Best Picture: Letters from Iwo Jima (although I think The Queen could win)

So, 4 right, 3 wrong. That’s 1 better than half right. I guess I’ll stop thinking I’m some kind of psychic when it comes to the Oscars. I didn’t watch much of it. I miss Billy Crystal.

Some girl who was rejected on American Idol won the Oscar for Supporting Actress. Go figure. It’s good that Marty won both Picture and Director. I was guessing that the Academy would only give him 1 of the Awards because the I can only assume the reason he doesn’t already have an Oscar is that he seriously p#$$#d someone off years ago at the Academy.

Well, it’s back on the road again today. Off to Dallas and Austin. Later next week, we all go to DisneyWorld (for the first time!)

mJm

February 25, 2007

Oscar Night – My Pix

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I’ve seen basically none of the movies nominated, so here is my clearly informed prediction. I’m doing this mainly because I have this belief that I’m really good at predicting the winners, so while I figure out this blogging thing, I’ll record my major picks here. We’ll score me later.

Oh man do I hope that Borat wins for Best Adapted Screenplay. The network censors will be poised with fingers on the red button the moment they hear Baron Sacha Cohen’s name. Hopefully he points out that his movie was satire and not a documentary. Wow, some folks are really stupid.

February 25, 2007

F1 Nut

Posted by stackunderflow under BMW, F1, Montreal
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I am something of a nut for motorsport, specifically Formula 1. There’s just something about the combination of advanced engineering, speed, aerodynamics, exotic locations, supermodels and high performance brands that gets my adrenaline going.

As a kid, I watched F1 on and off, and followed Jackie Stewart (because he sounds like my Dad), Nigel “Il Lione” Mansell, Piquet, Villeneuve (Sr.), and Senna. There was always something very exciting about watching guys race close to 200mph wheel to wheel. If you’re interested, there’s tons of web sites relating to F1, but my favorite is Autosport Magazine.

In May 2003, I was in Monte Carlo for a work related event with my wife. It was the first time I was ever there, and it was a place unlike any other for me.

To stand on the apex of the “Lowes Hairpin” and know about the rich history of this amazing street circuit gave me chills. We were staying at the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel (now the Fairmont Monte Carlo). It was a short walk to the Casino, where James Bond and his like were seen playing Baccarat. I couldn’t find the nickel slots anywhere.

Anyhow, back to F1. Seeing the circuits in person, especially Monte Carlo really helped me appreciate exactly what these drivers are made of. The street circuit in Monte Carlo is open for regular traffic throughout the race weekend, and in places, it’s only about 2.5 car widths wide. Imagine doing 200mph heading into a blind corner with steel armcos on each side. Skill or lunacy, or maybe lots of both.

I’ve been going to the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. That weekend is always one of the highlights of my year. I have gone each time with a good friend from my U of Waterloo days who lived in Calgary and would fly in for the event.

Our first souvenirs would usually be a yellow piece of paper signed by some guy named “Officer Lalonde” from the Cornwall OPP. Let’s just say that the 14.7″ cross drilled brakes in my M5 usually get pretty well tested when they start looking for customers. My last invoice from the OPP was for 134km/h in a 100 zone. Under “heavy braking”. As an aside, the M5 is electronically limited to 155mph (248km/h) but I can state with some confidence that the limit on some of them is a bit higher than that. ‘Nuff said ;)

Montreal is a great city any time, but during the F1 weekend, it takes on a city-wide party atmosphere. Crescent Street is closed to cars and becomes a total F1 house party. Bands, beer, fashion shows, beer, exotic cars, beer, F1 art, beer.

In 2006, I managed to secure some tickets to some private BMW events. We got to visit the BMW Pit Lane Park when Jacques did his laps in the wet.

Poor guy, they put full wet rubber on his car and expected him to go do donuts for the crowd. There was just too much grip with the full wets. I had my big 400mm lens on my camera and got some very good pictures of Jacques in the cockpit with a less than pleased look on his face as his pit crew pushed him back from the wall.

We also managed to get 2 tickets to the BMW VIP party at Jacque’s restaurant NewTown (get it, Villeneuve == New Town) on Crescent St. We met many intersting (and some not so interesting, but very attractive) people.

The highlight was having a beer with Dr. Mario Theissen, head of BMW Motorsport and the Team Principal for the F1 team. We were really curious about how Heidfeld and Villeneuve could have done so poorly in Qualifying when they were putting in great lap times during the final practice. I readied myself for what I was sure was going to be a deep, technical explanation involving track temperatures, out-lap tire temperatures, downforce compromises in favor of speed. Dr. Theissen looked squarely at us and said “No, they drove too slow!”

I happened to have the aforementioned speeding ticket in my jacket pocket, and thought it would make a great souvenir if I had Dr. Theissen autograph it. Well, he did, but was disappointed though with the lack of pace I had demonstrated. Back to my day job I guess! And this year, I doubt the party will be at New Town since Jacques is now driving around afternoons making left turns in his new Chevy on the NASCAR NexTel league. He was replaced mid-season by the Polish test driver Robert Kubica.

The race was tremendous, and as usual, over the weekend I took over 1000 pictures. All the ones on this blog are mine. I’m a big believer in taking lots of pictures to help you figure out composition and ensure that you start to understand and recognize what makes a good vs not good picture.

I have my tickets in hand for the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. Unfortunately, my buddy won’t be going with me this year, since he moved to England last Fall. The good news is that I am planning to attend the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July! In his place, I will be bringing my wonderful wife to her first F1 weekend. I know we’ll have a great time.

But I wonder if I’ll be able to spend as much time with the “Budweiser Girls” as before…Time will tell!

February 25, 2007

Hello, I’m a Mac

Posted by stackunderflow under Canon, MacBook, PC, Photography
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A few years ago, I took the leap and bought my wife a Mac. It was a leap because for years I made fun of them as toys run by zealots who didn’t know that MacOS (pre-X) was junk. But the iMac was (and is) a very attractive object, and it fits very nicely with the decor of our kitchen. My wife really enjoys working with digital photos and home movies, and we quickly learned that the Mac was absolutely the best tool for these tasks.

I however, make my living mostly from PCs. I’ve been a Windows user since 1.0, and have “suffered” through years and years of building and managing the building of software for this platform. But wow, when I recently got a MacBook Pro (17″) my life changed. I love the Mac, and I love MacOS X.

I have for several years been very passionate about digital photography. I purchased a Canon EOS20d a few years ago, and have been diligently adding to my lens and accessory collection. The combination of great digital photography equipment and the MacBook Pro is beyond description.

It’s SO easy to manage, edit and publish pictures. So the Mac has become a very important part of my recreational life. In my recent trip to Thailand, I left the PC at home, and brought the Mac. Being 12 hours ahead of home was actually pretty good for us, because we were able to use iChat to see and hear our kids twice a day! In fact, sitting in the airport lounges in Phuket and Tokyo was actually fun because I could goof around with my kids who were literally half a world away.

I even had a video chat with them as I sat in a lounge chair on the beach in Phuket! This is technology with a soul, and one that genuinely improves human relationships. I heartily recommend the Mac to everyone!

“Mark has come to a sad realization about the PC, Accept or Cancel“

Click here to see the greatest commercials ever produced.

February 25, 2007

It Begins…

Posted by stackunderflow under Photography, Phuket, Thailand
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I promised myself after my trip to Phuket, Thailand that I would start a blog. It was mainly driven by my desire to make the many pictures I take on trips available to friends. Picasa does a great job of making photo sharing easy, but there’s no where to fit in my “insightful commentary”.

So who am I? I’m a Canadian guy who works for a large global software company. I will not be referencing anything in my blog that is work-related because I like to keep my peas and carrots separate. I’ve been married for 13+ years to a wonderful woman who has built a beautiful life together with me, and the greatest kids a man could ever hope for. My elder daughter is our future singer/writer/actor/dancer/scientist/researcher, and my younger son is “mini me” (how many 5 year olds do you know can name nearly all the F1 teams, drivers and constructor logos?). I live in a small town near Waterloo, Ontario, home of the Blackberry and the Perimeter Institute!

My apologies in advance for any meandering postings. I suspect I’ll be doing most of the writing at airport gates and Admiral’s Clubs around the planet. The power of the web is that anyone can have a blog. You must decide if this is a blog that you want to waste your time on ;)

mJm