Ottawa Rambler

So today was the big anti-proroguing rally day.  I attended the Ottawa rally with my trusty camera and got some nice shots.

The RCMP estimated around 3500 people out on the hill.  Apparently more than what they were expecting, though I heard Toronto had 6000.  In total, I am hearing a total of about 50000 protesters across the country.  All in all, not bad.  However, this is far short of the 200000 people signed on to the Facebook group.  Granted I was not a member of that group, as I am not on Facebook, but it does reinforce the message of Canada’s general apathy of all things political.  Still 1/4 turned out, that isn’t bad.

Here is a shot of the majority of the crowd just before Michael Ignatieff was about to speak.  By this point Jack Layton had already spoke and apparently a few had left.  Still an impressive turnout.

A shot of Jack Layton, leader of the NDP:

Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada:

The thumbs up from Paul Dewer, NDP MP for Ottawa Center (my MP):

Finally some random signs, etc:

Only a week late!

Some of you might be asking what is this an update for exactly?  Read on.

For the last two weeks I have been on a diet.  I had wanted to do a weekly update on my progress but last week proved busy.  I am using the loseit! app for the iPhone to track my calories.  Similar to the calorie spreadsheet I used to use in years past, as I always have my iPhone around its handy.

A diet, you ask, but you are a svelt and fit individually, are you not?  Sadly I am not.  Before and during the holidays I had “let it all hang out” so to speak, and have decided to whip myself back into shape.  While I am not horribly out of shape, I could stand to lose a pound or 55 or so…

So far so good.  I started weighing in at 255.  Then a couple of days later I went up to 258 (that was a data entry error).  After the first week I was down to 251 then by mid week of week 2  I was down to 249.

As of yesterday morning I was 248, down a good 7 pounds since starting.

Of course for the last two days I have been sick, and still am sick, so exercise is not happening, but my appetite is not great either so I am holding steady.

Anyway check in next week for my next update.

OK, so I just went and saw this in IMAX 3D in prime seats.  In a word:  “WOW!”

This is the future of movies and TV!

The movie itself was a sci-fi retelling of a combination of “Pocahontas” and “Dances with Wolves”, but with more emphasis on the environment and the interconnectedness of life in the story.  However, its not the story, its the special effects and the cinematography chosen to show off the 3D that makes the movie great.  And of course the 3D technology itself.  The entire movie was done in 3D.   However the truly commendable thing is that despite the fantastical alien topology and the aliens themselves, you become immersed into the world, without thought that its all CGI, a miraculous achievement given that it IS all CGI.

If you haven’t seen it yet, go, I want to go again already!

anew.

The start of a new year, a new decade and a new blog focus.

I know I say it every 3 months or so, but I do plan to post more often, more often than not with training updates.

What am I training for you ask?  The Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour and a triathlon.  Not sure which triathlon I will shoot for yet but I plan for the Olympic distance.  A full triathlon.  So 1.5KM swim, 40 KM bike and 10KM run.  Wow, that seems like a lot, never mind the Ironman distance!

Why?  That’s harder to answer.  I guess like last year, it’s to motivate me to shed a few pounds.  I’ve always done better when I write things down.  It helps keep me accountable to me.  Also,  I need a focus.  Without a public declaration I often lack the ambition to see something through.  Anything.  So I am publicly stating this as my New Year’s goal.

I’ve always enjoyed biking, and last year I came to like the swimming, but running has always plagued me.  In 2006 I did run successfully, following the running room program, more or less, but aside from then, I’ve never been much of a runner.  I don’t know why but  I have a few months to work on that.

I am also taking this semester off from the photography school to actually take photographs.  As far as equipment is concerned I am set, so plan to see at least one photograph a week.  I am preliminarily dedicating Tuesdays to that endeavor , so Wednesday might be a good day to check for it.

Otherwise 2009 was a great year.  I got married!  To a beautiful and wonderful woman.  ‘Nuff said.

Given the above, it’ll be hard to top that in 2010.  However, life shouldn’t be about relative comparisons year over year, but instead about enjoying the good moments when they do come.  And they do come, you just gotta have patience.

NaBloPoMo I hardly knew ye. I missed a day and it entirely killed my momentum. I was so close!

Indeed it seems that 2009 has almost come to a close. New Years is but a couple of nights away.

Christmas has just past and I got many nice things, but $100 in GCs at the local camera shop sent me out today to spend them on a new lens. The purchase was planned and had come down to the Nikkor AFS 16-85mm f3.5-5.6 VR or Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC.

I found the Tamron sharper in the center, but the Nikkor sharper in the corners. The Nikkor was also wider and longer, and weighed slightly less than the Tamron. I also found the AF of the Nikkor to be quicker and quieter.

Otherwise the Tamron was an excellent lens. The constant 2.8 apeture is a boon for certain types of photography. The VC was just as effective as the VR in my limited testing, but the Tamron implementation visibly shook in the viewfinder as it worked. Odd but that’s the way it works. Nikon’s VR does not shake the viewfinder. The only other con is that I found it’s metering to overexpose. The first few shots were OK but then the entire viewfinder darkened (though the lighting didn’t change) and it borked the in camera meter and overexposed a few shots.  That was odd.

If I didn’t want to do landscapes where border sharpness is critical I definitely would have got the Tamron.

Instead I have the extra mm on the wide end and extra 35mm on the long end. Combined with the 70-300mm VR I bought in July I have a nice two lens kit, with 35mm f2 and 50mm f1.8 primes for low-light situations.

I may buy the Tokina 11-16 or make due with 16 on my wide and wait to go FF.  I also want the 85mm f1.8 or may opt for the 60mm AFS F2.8 Macro to get me close to the 1.8 and give me macro capability.  Anyway a first sort of the new lens at 16mm.  Given the relative darkness of the room, I used VR down to 1/2 sec shutter…  This was quite sharp given it was handheld.  VR can be quite useful, its too bad it also doesn’t stop motion.

New Lens

Sometimes you just gotta plow through and write something. Anything.

It gets easier to write as the days go by, but this will be my 3rd gimme post. Thankfully NaBloPoMo is almost done

1 more week!

The latest song in my head is the piece entitled “Take Five” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.  It has infectiously stuck in my head since hearing it on the CBC Radio 2 show Vinyl Tap yesterday.  Thank you Randy Bachman!

It could be worse, it is a catchy tune!  I hope the video above doesn’t spread the disease!

He rested.

If it’s good enough for the big guy, it’s good enough for me.

So I am taking today off.

But please tune in tomorrow for more of my zany adventures.

Another Saturday night, another classic movie.

Tonight, we watched The Band Wagon starring Fred Astaire. Famous for his movies from the 30’s with Ginger Rogers, by 1953 Fred was considering retirement as his career was on the wane much like his character in the movie.

Instead, though the movie was only a modest financial success, it was critically acclaimed and kept him going for at least 3 more musicals for the rest of the 50’s, including another favourite of mine, Funny Face.

This movie came from our purchase of 17 classic films last week using a gift certificate given to us for our wedding. The Big Sleep from last week was also one. Including the 5 titles we got as a gift, that makes 22 classic movies to start our collection from the golden age of Hollywood.

Fitting as it was a classic movie that brought us together for our first date. Even if it wasn’t considered a real one at the time.

There is a new show on ABC called Flashforward. It’s a Sci-Fi show that chronicles the events of FBI agents investigating the cause of a globalwide crisis that kicks off the show.

That crisis, a global unconsciousness for ~2min. During that time the unconscious people dream of their own future 6 months from now. Almost of if their consciousness left their body in the present and went 6 months into the future for 2 mins.

So now everybody in the world knows exactly what will happen to them 6 months from now. Well almost everyone. Those who are dead 6 months before don’t have a flashforward and see nothing.

Amongst other things, the show of course wrestles with determinism vs free will and human choice.

Many people accept that what happens 6 months from now is written in stone and that their choices don’t matter, in effect negating freewill.

Nevermind that theologians, philosophers and scientists have debated this topic for millenia, we’ve now got a TV show tackling it!

My thoughts on the debate?

I’ve always been a determinist but I do have a hard time thinking that freewill doesn’t exist. That would make me a compatiblist.