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The Road Trip Formidable

2010-08-11T04:16:00.005+02:00

Coconut Records - West Coast

Time flies. And soon, so will we.

It seems like, roughly, forever ago that I started ruminating on the possibility of a trip back to the motherland. Fast-forwarding to the present, today, I find myself a meer fortnight removed from donning my size 12 travel shoes to make size 350 (ppm) carbon footprints as we head around the globe in fits and starts resulting in me, ultimately, ending perched upon the concrete aerie that is SFU for several months of deep thinking.

Despite the prospect of following up a southern hemisphere winter with a northern hemisphere autumn, we have been greatly anticipating our return to the west coast. Of course, there's nothing like having somewhere to be to draw out all the reasons to stay exactly where you are, and this trip is not proving to be any exception. Happily, we have been making the best of opportunities domestic and international, taking in a great Temper Trap show in Sydney a few weeks back, where our run of good English opening bands at Aussie concerts continued thanks to The Joy Formidable (streaming below). We also took the time to explore our mouse-sitting (no, no typo there) options for whilst we are 'overseas'. Who knew two little fuzzballs could be so difficult to off-load for a few months?

We're also applying a little strategery to merge our opportunities into a nice work/play trip to Europe before settling into the groove in Vancouver. Kyla received an (expenses-paid) invite to a function of some persuasion at the London School of Economics, which quite conveniently coincides with a promising 2-day conference on uses for the web in science research and collaboration. As an aside, it's sponsored by Mendeley, who make what is billed as the iTunes for digital references. If you're an academic or just have heaps of PDFs that need arrangin', this may just change your life!

Following our stint in Ol' Blighty, Kyla is joining me for a short jaunt around Warsaw, where I will be presenting research by me and my colleagues at my first proper 'international' conference. I hope I don't get all logey on sausages and pierogis and fail to perform on the international stage!

From there it's on to Vancouver (via Calgary to partake in a good friend's Rocky Mountain wedding) and our downtown sublet from late Sept until New Years. Kyla and I will be working at different universities for the first time in around 5 years, which I fear means that I'm actually going to have to make my own friends. Bother.

Happily our extended stay means that we'll be able to rekindle many a dormant Lower Mainland friendship, and our central location means that there won't be any early departures to catch the last bus out to the suburbs. Or, at least, we'll need to think up a better excuse to duck out on people ;)

See you all in a few weeks!
Kyle

Summer Dreamin'

2010-06-27T14:10:00.006+02:00

For those of you reading this on BookFace, click here for the proper post.

Well, I said it, I did it! The picture above was taken at the "Big Guitar Gig" a little over a month ago, where I did my best impression of young Neil Young with a "for the ages" rendition of Londonderry Aire (cue sniggers) along with another piece of classical guitar. That's right,after more than six months of guitar lessons I now possess the ability to play more than one string deliberately. Not neccessarily correctly, but it's a start. The facial hair pictured lasted only slightly longer than the gig did, with my pleas of "Winter's Coming! Winter's Coming!" falling on Kyla's very deaf ears. The same deaf ears that undoubtedly accounted for her ability to sit through the entirety of said guitar gig.

How can one tell that winter has come to Australia, you ask? Why, by the ads for Winterfest of course! Nothing says 'hello Old Man Winter' like eating poutine while ice skating in 20 degree heat in the shadow of the opera house. I totally can't wait for next weekend! Undoubtedly Winterfest will be only marginally less culturally stimulating than our other planned trip to Ye Olde Opera Haus: to see Sir Ian "You Shall Not Pass" McKellen tackle Beckett's Godot.

There's nothing like the harsh bite of winter to make one reflect on warmer days, like our trip around the local water feature, Lake Burley Griffin, round about last Valentine's Day (+/- a 2 week rain delay). Thanks to the usual urban problems (coliforms, algae, bogan spew) preventing more traditional recreational uses of the lake, it took us more than two years of Canberran residency before we finally managed to explore the wetlands on the eastern shores of the lake (at least those beyond the Burger Shack).

Of course, seeing how we will be spending much of the upcoming fall in the diffuse sunshine of Vancouver, perhaps we should embrace this autumnal climate and get our brood on for the next six months. To jumpstart the moping, I'll get shoe-gazey with the help of the mob known as Mt. Desolation.

Where you been?

2010-05-21T14:04:00.007+02:00

For those of you reading this on BookFace, click here for the proper post.

It's been a pretty busy last few months, but things seem to be falling into place on a number of fronts. With the purchase of a new computer thanks to a bit of back pay (amazingly enough, my first compy purchase), I hope that I'll be spending a bit more time writing detailed updates here instead of firing off my usual 50-character social networking one-liners. On that note, social networking has provided me with some mirth recently thanks to my inclusion in a tribute to an Amsterdam landmark by an ambitious Flickrino. While I lack the airbrushed refinement of some of the other included pics, I think I really capture the joie de vivre of the 'Dam. Either than or someone mistook the shoe for a public pissoir and I am trying ever so desperately to escape. It is right by the red light district, so you can never be sure. In fact here's a tourist protip: give the giant clog a shake before you hop in. It's like the hygenic equivalent of checking your boots for scorpions in the desert.

A great deal of my time recently was spent prepping for my PhD mid-term review (I passed!) and generally just going about my PhD business. I have a few more deliverables before I am fully past this major milestone, but I certainly feel good about where things are heading. Or at least where I think they are heading!

The good news about the successful review is that we can now start thinking about our plans for later this year. After recently finding out that Kyla was awarded a visiting scholarship to the Liu Institute at UBC this September, it looks like we'll be back in Vancouver for the autumn. Assuming I can nail down the last details, I should be cross-town at the same time. All I'm saying is that she better keep her head up at the Shrum Bowl!

Speaking of my better half, Kyla's had her fair share of milestones recently as well. Besides her first royalty cheque clearing (now living with the ease of a hundred-aire&trade!) she also celebrated 2 years down under with (what else?) a wander around our local nature reserve with camera in tow. After years of talking about it, she finally managed to get the coveted 'ear hair' pictures of some of the local fauna, as well as some lovely silhoutte work.

We're also working on our silhouettes at the high-tech gym in our hood, where they have USB sticks instead of personal trainers. I'm getting my fair share of personal time through the probiotics study I am participating in at the Australian Institute of Sport. There's a 66% chance I am getting the good stuff, and a 33% chance I have to knock back 2g of sugar laced placebo. Win-win either way!

I should probably wrap things up now. I need to do my mental prep for tomorrow's big guitar jam as part of the Canberra music festival. I'll be the guy with the scruffy facial hair looking at his shoes as he rocks out to Londonderry Aire. So I'll leave you with some nice mellow tunes to bob along to.

To Ohio by The Low Anthem

More The Low Anthem music on iLike

Kickstarting the Blog! (Or "You know where this reminds me of?")

2010-01-16T04:40:00.013+01:00

For those of you reading this on BookFace, click here for the proper post.

Well, contrary to our intentions round about 4 years ago, our plans to make it back to Vancouver for the Olympics (notwithstanding our dual 'no' votes in the referendum and the general social boondoggle it has expectedly turned into) fell through, so it seems that we will be cheering on all those Canucks from the comfort of our 35° Australian homestead. Although we won't be in Vancouver next month, Kyla did manage to make it to Montreal a few months back where she snapped this very patriotic bit of street art.

She also arranged a rendezvous with her parents in San Francisco on her way back to Oz where she was able to make up for the critical lack of live music in Canberra by taking in the free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park. She managed to see one of her current favourites (Neko Case, below) and one of my favourites (Elvis Perkins) in one sitting at the Star Stage.

Upon her return we switched over to socializing mode for the latter part of the year with two (count 'em) visits from overseas friends. Never one to miss an opportunity to get out and visit Australia's flora and fauna with camera in hand, Kyla set about devising itineraries involving sun, wine, and marsupials in varying measures. One friend got Kyla's copy-righted "East Coast Swing" from Canberra to Sydney (including the spectacular panoramas of Kangaroo Valley shown below) while our other friends unknowingly signed up for the 6000km SE Australia deluxe package.

Prospective visitors may be wondering just what, pray tell, is included in the deluxe package. Well, allow me to answer that hypothetical question. First off is three+ weeks of fun and sun down under, with several days of rain thrown in for good measure. Lows of 10, highs of 43, and miles and miles of spectacular countryside populated with the most distinct mix of people, places, and things that you will see anywhere. In this case everything kicked off in Melbourne where jetlag was combated with healthy doses of eating, drinking, and shopping, as well as copious quantities of vitamin LP in order to figure out what we were going to do for the next several weeks. We actually headed down to Melbourne a few days early to take in a very entertaining Jarvis Cocker show and to take our new telephoto lens for a spin. Given Kyla's proclivity for stalking "anything with earhair", early results indicate the lens is meeting her exacting standards.

The first highlight of the trip was the "Great Ocean Road" in its entirety. Being more closely tied to our former British overlords, Australians tend to be a very understated bunch not prone to hyperbole (save when something happens to the "Largest _____ in the Southern Hemisphere") so when they collectively name something Great, you would do well to look into it. I mean, the Great Barrier Reef isn't exactly a dinky breakwater, and the Great Sandy Desert is bigger than Japan. Ah so desu ka!

The eastern end of the Great Ocean Road is home to some of Australia's legendary surf beaches , Bells Beach being one of the biggest names of the lot. The surf beaches quickly give way to surf outlet malls before transitioning to a very picturesque stretch of coastal roadway that, while easily driven in a day, offers sights that could fill a month of Sundays. We spent 3 days zigzagging inland and along the coast, be it testing the microbrew suds in Otway Estate, watching Avatar in 2-D (suck it, fanboys!) at a coastal cinema with the world's dodgiest toilets&trade, or snapping a british billion photos of koalas in varying states of sogginess.

The western end of the road follows the contours of the "Shipwreck Coast". Again, given the Australian penchant for understatement (a stretch of beach they lost a serving prime minister off of is considered so safe by locals standards that it's a popular family vacation spot), we weren't in the slightest bit surprised when we drove up to the Twelve Apostles and watched the relentless rip of the Southern Ocean lash the rocky coastline.

Our route continued westwards to Halls Gap, situated in the Grampian Ranges where the scenery and the wildlife continued to impress, thanks in no small part to fortuitously-timed releases from upstream reservoirs ensuring that the waterfalls were suitably waterfally. Our growing reserves of wine also ensured "les bon temps" were rolling quite smoothly as well.

A mad dash further west saw us arrive at the port hamlet where the ferry to Kangaroo Island left the mainland with just enough time to get a roof over our head for the night. Over the next few days we had a great time touring the natural and gastronomic sights of KI, and were left to contemplate the paradoxical efforts the locals to protect an introduced species (Ligurian Bees) while we imbibed their produce.

In terms of local critters, KI didn't disappoint. While the ridiculously expensive ferry fares kept many Adelaidians away, it didn't impede the animal life from recreating. A trip to Seal Cove delivered in spades, offering up a great guided walk along sandy beaches populated by scores of sea lions of all shapes and sizes.

And speaking of delivering, the Remarkable Rocks, situated on the SW corner of KI, were certainly remarkable. A very well timed sunset visit to the rocks, once trod upon by Daniel Radcliffe ex-Hogwarts, produced some fantastic panoramas and a general sense of wonder at the scale of this place called Aus.

We also got around to some of the touristic things, such as the eucalyptus oil distillery and the more grown-up spirits distillery, where the vodka vs. grappa debate raged on about as long as the debate about touristic vs. touristy did. A guided night tour of Little Penguin nesting grounds rounded out our time on KI, which we had visited unguided earlier in the day to sneak a few pics while there was light.

A cannonball run back to Canberra (1400km in 2 days) saw us arrive in the nation's capital on Christmas Eve. We celebrated our first summer xmas with a fantastic Christmas BBQ lunch (prawns and kangaroo for those so inclined) and then spent the next few days either washing clothes or replacing them at the boxing day sales.

Recharged after a few days off the road we jumped right back into the thick of it by heading to Sydney to take part in the hoopla surrounding the New Years Eve fireworks. Arriving well in advance of the big show, we grabbed a spot on the stairs of the Opera House to people watch and work on our Dutch for the afternoon in the lead-up to the show. Well worth the wait, if not the cost of the hotel, it was nice to finally see in person what I would see on TV year after year growing up on the west coast of Canada (aka the last place to ring in the new year).

We capped off the trip by joining roughly half of all Sydneysiders in heading up into the Blue Mountains for a little open air, where we spent some time bushwalking under waterfalls, raced a steam train downhill on foot, and explored an impressive limestone cave network, all within two hours' drive of the Harbour Bridge.

A short stint back in Sydney concluded the whirlwind trip, and we used to time to delve into the cultural offerings the big smoke proffers up. Be it a multimedia theatre production directed by Steven Soderbergh, Icelandic songstress Emiliana Torrini in concert (with the best-natured crowd in the history of ever), or just random sightings of street art (below), we basked in the sights and sounds of Sydney in the summertime before wishing our friends a fond farewell as they returned to snowy Europe.

Well, anyways, enough rambling for now. I'll let Elvis Perkins in Dearland wrap up 2009 for me. Happy new year everyone and see many of you in 2010!

Doomsday by Elvis Perkins

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Lest we forget

2009-11-11T23:52:00.002+01:00

Grave of an unknown soldier, Vimy, originally uploaded by Kyle Horner.

A tribute in words.

A tribute in pictures.

The World Comes to Canberra

2009-09-22T05:23:00.003+02:00

Who says nothing ever happens in this sleepy little hamlet we're calling home? The UCI World Mountain Bike and Trials Championships rolled into Canberra at the start of this month, bringing the best of the best to town to tear up Stromlo Forest Park's trails.

It was a pretty impressive lineup on the day we dropped in, with the Elite Men's Cross-Country race (above) as well as the preliminary 20" Trials heats going on all day. It's always great to see the top athletes in action, and we had glorious weather all day long. Hopefully that is an indicator that spring is finally on it's way down under! The Aussies certainly took advantage of the weather (and home field advantage) taking several medals in the downhill and 4-Cross.

As you can tell by the infrequency of blog posts, that has really been the biggest drama in our lives for some time. The thesis work routine is developing, and I am in the process of finalizing my thesis proposal. So, after 10 months I should have some idea of what I'm going to do :) Kyla is off jet-setting across N. America at the moment (without a surprise visit from me, this time), but once she gets back and the Aussie sun is shining, I am certain we'll have loads of stuff to revive the blog. Mind you, it might be several months before we actually get around to posting it!

In fact we have started lining up our ducks for late-year travels. Plans are definitely shaping up for a December adventure, taking in the south coast of Australia from Melbourne to Adelaide, before winding back through the mountains to Canberra and Sydney. As much as I'd like to show off, I'll save our travelling companions from a trip through my field area as it is about as exciting as driving from Saskatoon to Regina. Except without being having to suppress a giggle every time you say Regina. But not to worry, there are plenty of silly place names in Australia. And I'll giggle at every one of them!

Melbournication (or, H1N1 here I come)

2009-07-13T03:52:00.005+02:00

Ah, the student life. After spending several months in Canberra, Kyla and I made the executive decision that a little winter get-away to Melbourne was required. So we dutifuly booked our sojourn and headed out to Austrlia's boho capital in late June.

As with many urban centres, Melbourne has seen a great deal of gentrification in recent years. While the city's famous laneways have managed to hang on to a great deal of their history and character, the CBD and Docklands (below) are otherwise modern, populated by the usual assortment of convenience shops and upscale retail joints (with a few notable exceptions lingering on the fringe). Happily we had the inside scoop on which suburbs were worth visiting, and spent a fair bit of time in the inner suburbs of Carlton and Fitzroy (plus anywhere else with an academic bookshop).

Our first impressions of Melbourne were much more favourable than those of Sydney, as Melbourne has a large amount of green space in the centre of the city, particularly along the Yarra river, and a network of tourist-friendly trams criss-crossing the metropolitan Melbourne area.

Doing our best to fill in the Melbourne Checklist we spent a morning in St. Kilda cruising the open-air crafts market, then took part in an Australian rite of passage, catching an AFL match at the MCG.

I am happy to note that we will be giving Sydney a chance to redeem itself this coming weekend as we have conscripted a friend and long-time Sydneysider to show us the ins-and-outs The Harbour City. We missed a lot of the nicer bits on our previous visits, so I am sure there will be a lot to see and do :)

Something about Animals

2009-05-30T08:36:00.004+02:00

Call it inevitable, but Kyla managed to snap (quite) a few more pics of the wombats at the RSPCA. Max and Harry have been emerging from their burrow every weekend and, in between bouts of climbing on each other to get to the tasty grub, posing for a few candid snaps.

Not merely satisfied to volunteer her time, Kyla has started conscripting an army of domestiques to help her raise money during the annual RSPCA Cupcake Day fundraiser this August.

In a similar vein, we headed out on a glorious Sunday a few weeks past to take part in the other annual RSPCA fundraiser, the Million Paws walk. The official stats are: 3500+ dogs, 9000+ humans. It's always a reminder of how much of Canberra's population lives in the suburbs when you see the crush of people decend upon the city centre for an event like this.

That was one of the last nice weekends we had in Canberra before the winter really set in, which has inspired us to plan our first escape to "The Snow". Yes, it's so revered down under that it has been assigned a proper noun, much like "The Tennis" and "Big Things", both of which we also hope to see in the future.

Autumn is upon us!

2009-04-24T08:37:00.003+02:00

Well the fall is setting in here in the Antipodes, which means that it's time for some seasonal revamping of this here blog. Since there's so many great sights to behold in and around Canberra, and as I've got 2 22" monitors glowing away on my desk, I've opted to emphasize the visual elements, in order to better share the things that routinely knock my (and/or Kyla's) socks off.

As part of the my data management plan, I have been sorting and renaming all the photos I took during my field work last month, and I'm still blown away by all the amazing colours the Aussie countryside had to offer. Red earth, blue skies, and incongruously green countrysides leave me eager to get out for the next round of sampling, potentially as early as next month.

Kyla is well chuffed to be back in the company of juvenile wombats again, as Harry and Max make their debut at the RSPCA. Although their presence means they have been orphaned, they seem to be taking to their new home away from home.

Land Rich, Water Poor

2009-04-06T11:19:00.003+02:00

And so it begins - 6 weeks (or three paycheques, as I prefer to see it) into my PhD, and boy have we hit the ground running. Having already spent 2 weeks in our study area collecting samples from all manner of bores, wells, and water bodies (in the most scientific of manners, as seen above), I have resigned myself to the tedium of the lab work those 120-odd samples now require. At least the autumn weather is arriving in Australia, so there is less draw to the out-of-doors and more incentive to ensure that all the lab work gets done.

Having heard that the upcoming Easter weekend is the de-facto end of outdoor frivolity down under, Kyla and I hit the road last month and made it all the way down the the Victorian coastline for some camping and minigolf and coastal bush walking. We made it down to East Gippsland and Cape Conran Marine Park, where we managed to avoid all manners of creepy-crawlies while enjoying the spoils of our Christmas trip home.

The next few months will see me working feverishly in the lab to ensure that we have our preliminary results available in time to submit for a December conference in Perth, and perhaps embarking on another foray into the field to fill in any gaps in our current data set. Oh, and figuring out what my PhD will actually be on. So there's that to look forward to :)

Happy Valentimes!

2009-03-03T02:06:00.003+01:00

Central Park East, originally uploaded by Kyle Horner.

Suffice it to say, my phone call from LAX announcing my imminent arrival in Brooklyn came as a surprise to Kyla. Almost as much of a surprise to her as my general air of eagerness to get on yet another trans-Atlantic flight was to me 14hrs previously.

Not that the actual flight was a surprise to me, as I had been scheming up this trip to the City That Never Sleeps for the last 6 months or so - ever since I realized that Kyla's trip to New York for a conference coincided with Valentine's Day and (more or less) our anniversary (yes, anniversaries still exist if you're a 'defacto partnership'), and that my (still pending) Dutch tax return should largely cover the airfare costs. No, my surprise was more to do with the fact that I had managed to keep this whole sordid affair under wraps for almost half a year without telling anyone. Well, almost anyone (thanks Jenne!).

But manage it I did, and it was well worth the effort: 7 days in "Yes We Can" America bookended by 20 hrs of flying. I even managed to keep the jetlag under control well enough that I was coherent company at the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (*MySpace Link Warning*) concert at BAM the night after my arrival. We spent the following week hitting some of our favourite sites in Manhattan, and generally getting our culture on at all the museums and galleries we had somehow completely avoided during our first trip to NY.

New York's Finest, originally uploaded by Kyle Horner.

Mind you, I wasn't quite on top of my game as I lost out on the rather unspirited debate (Maggie Gyllenhaal vs. Ethan Hawke) which resulted in us both thoroughly enjoying a visually engaging and star-studded re-envisioning of A Winter's Tale (albeit from rather precarious stools perched high in the nosebleeds!).

The whole excursion made for a great 'hurrah' before settling back into the demands (and pay) of an academic life for the next 3+ years. I think I scored some serious brownie points (which seem to be holding strong versus other currencies in these difficult financial times) and had a great time immersing myself in the cacophony of NYC with Kyla (when the conference wasn't otherwise engaging her).

The Sound of Ice Melting, originally uploaded by Kyle Horner.

Finally getting anchored back in Oz, we are both looking forward to spending the better part of the coming years exploring the world outside our door, and have already made plans to capitalize on the upcoming long weekend with some camping and recreation in the one part of Victoria that isn't on fire. At least in our corner of the state things are looking good for this weekend and beyond. Let's hope that's a metaphor for the rest of our stay down under!

PhD Day 1 (or, at least I've got a job for the next 3 years)

2009-02-23T06:04:00.004+01:00

Just getting settled in after our return from the Big Apple (no, not the Australian one), I wanted to share a timely quote from a recently completed read:

There are wise people who talk ever so knowingly and complacently about "the working classes," and satisfy themselves that a day's hard intellectual work is very much harder than a day's hard manual toil, and is righteously entitled to much bigger pay. Why, they really think that, you know, because they know all about the one, but haven't tried the other. But I know all about both; and so far as I am concerned, there isn't money enough in the universe to hire me to swing a pickaxe thirty days, but I will do the hardest kind of intellectual work for just as near nothing as you can cipher it down -- and I will be satisfied, too.

Intellectual "work" is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward. The poorest paid architect, engineer, general, author, sculptor, painter, lecturer, advocate, legislator, actor, preacher, singer is constructively in heaven when he is at work; and as for the musician with the fiddle-bow in his hand who sits in the midst of a great orchestra with the ebbing and flowing tides of divine sound washing over him -- why, certainly, he is at work, if you wish to call it that, but lord, it's a sarcasm just the same. The law of work does seem utterly unfair -- but there it is, and nothing can change it: the higher the pay in enjoyment the worker gets out of it, the higher shall be his pay in cash, also. And it's also the very law of those transparent swindles, transmissible nobility and kingship.

So maybe the anti-monarchy punchline is a little out of context (or is it?), but otherwise Twain hits the nail on the head. Or, as the eternal contemporary Anonymous said more colloquially: a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work :)

Mrs. Tienhaara Goes To Washington

2009-02-03T05:59:00.007+01:00

Right around 2 weeks after the big to-do, Kyla made her way to Washington DC. It's not that she didn't want to be in town for the ~~coronation~~ inauguration; rather, she just wanted to be sure that W. had well and truly left the building before she arrived.

On the chilly east coast for interviews and a conference, she is no doubt dreaming of the all-together toasty climes of the ACT. Ever the soldier, she seems to be making the most of the trip, taking in a good number of the obligatory sights inside The Beltway before heading up to Beantown and Metropolis (the city so nice they named it twice) this weekend.

Having submitted the final(?) manuscript for her book earlier in January, Kyla put her spare time in Canada to good use, industriously scanning photos from some of our earlier exploits, including more than a few of our personal favourites, including:

Back in this nation's capital, I donned the green and gold for Australia Day festivities on the lawn of Parliament, where I was joined by some of Kyla's colleagues. The weather was cooperative, peaking in the low 30's, which to my sun-addled brain is actually a rather mild temperature compared to the 43° scorcher in Wagga Wagga (the hamlet so nice they named it twice) as I joined my academic supervisors to scout the field area for my PhD research.

Australia Day also gave me insight into the debate over racism and bogan hooliganism that reaches a fever-pitch around Australia Day (the debate and the hooliganism). The general air of 'anti-social behaviour', while isolated, was no doubt fuelled by the prevalent open-air, under-age drinking at the concert.

I have been doing my best to keep my immigrant status under wraps, enjoying several 'barbies' since I got home after Christmas and, while I haven't 'put a shrimp on' yet, I have cooked up a fair bit of other delicious Aussie-grown morsels. Hopefully Kyla will marvel at my veggie-kebab mastery upon her return to Oz later this month. Or maybe she'll be too busy soaking in a tub of ice water as her body acclimatizes to local conditions :)

Christmas!

2009-01-24T11:08:00.005+01:00

Well, as it turns out, no amount of mental preparation can quite prepare you for a 45 degree temperature swing, especially when it's a 45 degree drop. After leaving the balmy 30° heat behind in Canberra as I made my way back to Canada for Christmas, the very unbalmy -15° as I stepped off the plane in Vancouver was a fine how-do-you-do.

More welcome than the temperature, the substantial snowfall that blanketed the lower mainland made for my first white Christmas in several years, and my last for the next little while as we plan to spend next Christmas around The Barbie roasting tofurky with Mick Dundee on Bondi beach. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...

The snow, as can be seen above, did an excellent job of dressing up the glass-and-concrete architecture of Vancouver's various neighbourhood. It also made the natural scenery that much more picturesque. Having nowhere to go and nothing to do other than eat, drink, and be merry, I wasn't particularly put out by the climate, but when the weather finally broke after several weeks and the almanac-dominating rains returned to the lower mainland, I wasn't too sad to see the white stuff go. I do get the impression that a few people were, however.

Similarly, while I was remiss to (once again) leave behind friends and family (and for the next month or so, Kyla) I was certainly glad to get back to our pad down under where I have begun to acclimatize to the heat just in time for the Australia Day festivites here in this nation's capital. While it's no Feist-headlined show like we had in Ottawa a few years back, there's more than a few musicians at the big concert that I'm keen to see.

Dubbo ho!

2008-12-07T11:55:00.005+01:00

Well the work-sponsored tour of Aussie country towns took us to Dubbo last week, home of the Taronga Western Plains Zoo and 32 degree weather. While I was busy meeting with our client, Kyla was able to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the zoo.

While Dubbo is the Australian equivalent of a stone's throw from Canberra (400 km in a pretty much straight line), the drive did last long enough for me to acquire my first-ever moving violation (read: speeding ticket) as I was overly-enjoying taking the rental car through the country roads between here and there.

Better be more careful when I'm on back on Canadian soil this Christmas! FY collective I, I'll be in Vancouver from December 20th to Jan 4th, and PG from Jan 5 to 8. See you all in a few short weeks!

And now for something completely different

2008-12-01T00:28:00.005+01:00

Forget watering restrictions, it turns out that we are currently under Phase 3 of the National Continence Management Strategy (link goes to the Australian Government Bladder and Bowel website).

Feel free to browse the National Public Toilet Map (at toiletmap.gov.au) which I presume was developed during Phases Number 1 and Number 2. Sadly, the townships of Cumboogle and Come by Chance seem to be lacking facilities, although you'll be ok if nature calls in Humpybong.

Finally, a website worth buying an iPhone for!

ps. Did I mention that I ♥ Australia?

Over the hill (in a balloon, that is)

2008-11-28T02:06:00.003+01:00

As part of a grand surprise, Kyla had me get up at 4:45am on my birthday so that she could shuttle me off to the Canberra Hyatt for a 5:30 ballooning extravaganza. After mustering in the morning dew with the well-heeled residents of the hotel we eventually piled into the back of a well-used Range Rover and backtracked through our neighbourhood to a clearing along the well-trodden foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin where we set about the task of assembling our charriot.

We were sharing our launching point with several (all?) members of the Royal Australian Air Force balloon brigade, apparently keenly interested in marketing to their key "up before 5am" demographic. Assembling their balloon with, well, military precision, the RAAF seemed to eschew the more laisez faire approach adopted by our crew. Mind you, their discipline seemed to fly right out the window the moment they took off as they made a rather voyeuristic bee-line for the waterfront condos with floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

I must say that hot-air ballooing is quite popular in Canberra. Local scuttlebutt has it that Canberra is the only world capital in which one can balloon directly over Parliament without risk of miliary intervention. Ballooning is also a remarkable tranquil (weather dependant, I suspect) and warm (thanks to the liberal use of the burners in order to remain aloft) means of travel. Even the landing, shown below, was a piece of cake, thanks in large part to the tender turf of the Aussie-Rules pitch we set down in. In fact almost all local sports fields are open game for the balloonists, making for some interesting morning sighting for commuters.

We have actually been taking advantage of many of Canberra's attractions of late, taking in the Armistice Day ceremonies at the Austrlian War Memorial and taking the time to look around the permanent displays at the Museum, from the collections based around conflicts from the last 125 years, to the aptly-named "Big Things" exhibit.

Following on the heels of our first east-coast roadie earlier in the month, it feels like we're starting to get to know the lay of the land down here. I'll spend the next few days polishing the bronze medal the ANU volleyball team brought home from last weekend's tournament (look at that spike coverage!) and then I'm off for another work-related sojourn next week.

Cheerio!

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-12T06:43:00.002+01:00

A PhD, a book contract. Roos, wombats, whales (like every kind, apparently), sea turtles, orangutans, elephants, goats (mountain and urban youth) and a formative incident involving ducks, bread, and a sibling. Sailing around the world, flying around the world, North America, Europe (England twice!), Australia, South America, Asia, Africa, little atolls with no name, and basically everywhere else except NZ and Antrarctica (soon, baby, soon!). Snow shoeing, snorkeling, wind surfing, volunteering (bunnies, magpies, and red neck conservatives in Esquiamalt), watching meterorites land in the moon-lit ocean, and watching Obama get sworn in. Good job, great friends and super-duper bf.

All I want to know is when is she going to get around to doing something with her life? Not bad for a girl born *in* Niagra Falls ('cause like you, that joke *never* gets old). Happy birthday!

Going back home to the east coast

2008-11-06T01:02:00.004+01:00

Well, we have been the busiest of beavers as of late. Or the workloadiest of Wombats, to use a more geographically-suitable similie. Following Wally's release at Tidbinbilla, we found some pics of baby Wally during his early days with RSPCA cares. Damn, that's some cute stuff!

In honour of Kyla's recent PhD graduation, and my apparent pending PhD acceptance, we got dudded up in themed costumes (A Doctor and THE Doctor). In addition to the costumes, Hallowe'en saw Kyla attack the kitchen with her usual gusto yielding a wide-range of festive treats wholly inappropriate for people with peanut allergies. The icing on the cake, as it were, had to be the Hello Kitty going-away cake that she whipped up for a colleague.

In the early afternoon haze following All Hallow's Eve, we packed up a rental car with all our outdoor gear (that conveniently arrived early in the week with the rest of our shipment from Canada) and headed "down the coast", for our first proper taste of coastal Aussie life. Our annual co-birthday celebration trip was scheduled a litte early this year to take advantage of a state bank holiday, and the late-spring sunshine. While the weather wasn't entirely on our side for much of the trip (we now know the tent is tropical storm resistant), we had a great time, spotting a huge range of native critters and getting caught compeltely off-guard by the wildly diverse biogeography between Canberra and the ocean.

For example, the ~100m sandstone escarpment that Fitzroy Falls plummets down, which you mightn't even notice tucked away in the lush coastal rainforest as you whip down the ski-hill-esque switchbacks on the way to Kangaroo Valley. And then there's Kangaroo Valley, with its abundance of.... Wombats. It's like the whole Greenland/Iceland thing all over again. Although what else would you expect from people who named the eastern Australian state "New South Wales"?

Costal camping lead us to spotting bilbies, swamp wallabies, migrating humpback whales, echidnas, and a fair-sized goana (>1m long, seen at the conclusion of a trek up the top of Pigeon House) amongst many other unseen, but heard, nocturnal animals. Throw in the requisite game of mini-golf (a draw after 18 holes, according to Kyla's math), lots and lots of trail mix, and dehyrated camp-rations of Thai food (yum!) and you get a great roadie to start our Australian explorations over the next few years. We even made speacial note of the highlights in case anybody happens to be in the hemisphere in the coming days :)

Free Wally (or Wally Wally Oxen Free)

2008-10-17T06:37:00.002+02:00

Wally, originally uploaded by Kylamonkey.

Well, it was only a matter of time. With a feeling best characterized as bittersweet, Wally the Wombat was released into the wilds of Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve last week.

After spending almost 2 years in the loving care of RSPCA staff and volunteers, Wally was set free in an area rife with disused wombat burrows last Sunday (disused as a result of the 2003 wildfires that devasted so much of the nature reserve). He was less than impressed with the transportation process, leaving an aromatic 'farewell gift' inside his cage.

Wally was initially wary of his new enivrons, suddenly uneager to leave his cage (I suppose he didn't mind the smell so much). With a bit of coaxing (partly by the carers, partly by gravity), Wally was eventually dislodged from the carrier on the doorstep of his new pad. A few tentative steps later, and he'd taken up the deed to Casa Wally.

He amused us for a while with snuffling forays into the immediate landscape, sniffing and chomping pretty much everything in sight. He then pleased us to no end by settling in at the doorway to his new warren and posing for some well timed pictures in the waning light.

Back Down Under

2008-10-08T09:25:00.003+02:00

Well our wish is (4 days a week) Nature's command. Leaving Canberra for Kyla's defence we were hoping that the weather here would take a turn for the better before our return. Well not quite sticking to our time line, things have certainly started to look up since our return.

We haven't seen the mid-30's temperatures that coastal NSW has experienced but we've been flirting with 30 on occasion. It figures that I would find employment just in time for the summer! Good Grief! The sunny weather has made for great nature photos, with Wally (above) obliging us with a photo session on the same day that a rescued goat and kid were making themselves at home at the RSPCA (below).

The warmer weather also means that the flowers are blooming, and Canberra celebrates with the annual Floriade flower festival, a celebration of all things invasive and introduced (plus a small assortment of local flora and fauna).

In the evenings during the height of Floriade, there was a week-long movie and live entertainment thinger dubbed "Nightfest". We took in a screening of aussie icon Strictly Ballroom on a giant inflatable screen, followed by an interpretive version of Alice in Wonderland. Or at least that what I interpreted it to be.

Jolly Ol'

2008-10-01T12:27:00.006+02:00

Thames South Bank, originally uploaded by Kyle Horner.

So where's a girl go when it's time strut her stuff? Why to pop in to see Lizzy in London, of course! In true academic fashion, Kyla spent the week following her defence calling in with the in-house counsel at multinational resource companies and NGOs.

Happily for me, it was equal parts work and play, and we once more enjoyed the hospitality of Kyla's former colleague and good friend Francesco and his lovely wife (sorry again for missing the wedding!) In addition to housing us, Francesco even arranged an opportunity for Kyla to present her new research at the university he lectures at in Guildford.

Although Kyla's interviews took us all around London and its surrounds on any given day, we were able to hit a few of the obligatory sights as well as several of the off-the-beaten-path trendy spots. We'd visited London on a few previous occasions, so we chose to see a mix of new and new-to-us, including a stroll around the Design Museum on the Thames South Bank and a night out in the West End taking in dinner and a showing of Monty Python's theatrical version of The Holy Grail, Spamalot.

During a week pounding the streets of The City, we caught up with another Canadian expat chu Erin, who is well and truly settled in and is probably half-way done her PhD as I write this. And, I bridged a 30 mile and 14 year gap to see an old university friend Andrew who had ever-so-considerately started a career and family 10+ years ago in the same town that Kyla gave her university presentation in. Now that's planning!

After having concluded her last bit of business in Europe, well and truly overstaying our welcome, we thought it prudent to make haste back to Oz. To punctuate our return trip down under, we scheduled a stop-over in Singapore for a solid 24hrs of that wonderfully deep, jet lag coma sleep. We awoke to find they were in the process of setting the up streets for the 1st Singapore Grand Prix (the first GP to be run at night under street lights), which pleased our cabbie to no end. Philistines to the end, we were far more interested in the jumbo electronics malls where we picked up the router and network storage that will allow us to pilfer US television programming to keep us sane during the long summer nights.

With one more round in a tin can hurtling through the ozone for 8 hours, plus a wee puddle-jump into Canberra, we return triumphantly to our own bed after a three week absence. Several more days of jet-laggy sleep followed, between which I managed to secure gainful employment. Or it will be gainful sometime in the next few weeks when I get my first pay cheque.

So now it's well and truly back into the groove, racing rats and keeping up with the Aussie Joneses. G'day for now, mates.

Amsterdam, The Return!

2008-09-25T05:01:00.005+02:00

The trip to the defence was not without its ups and downs. Journeying from Helsinki to Oslo, there was a small snag in our travel plans. Instead of getting on an airplane bound for Amsterdam, instead we were directed to board The Mothership to Chocolate City. That's right, we ended up sharing a ride with the Atomic Dog himself, George Clinton, and the 2008 incarnation of the P-Funk all-stars. Happily, he refrained from "tearing the roof off the muther-sucka" since, I have it on good advice, this is not optimal behavior at 34,000 feet.

After spending approximately 0.35 nano seconds contemplating what George Clinton would do to pass time before the concert in Amsterdam, Kyla settled back to the pre-defence jitters. Fortunately she was somewhat distracted by a busy schedule in the run-up to the actual defence itself. Mind you, not too busy to fit in the requisite visits to Maoz and Wagamama, mainstays of our limited dining-out in A'dam. We stayed at the rather funky Qbic hotel which scored high for concept although left much to be desired in the execution department (are towel racks and a bathroom door too much to ask for?)

And just like that, it was time for the defence. While PhD defences in the Dutch system are much more of a formality than in the N. American system, Kyla still had to present a 10 minute summary of her thesis (475 pages in 10 minutes and 20 slides. I don't recommend trying it.), and answer 50 minutes worth of questions from her review panel. She hit her stride pretty quickly, and managed to get through the questions without a stumble, in no small part thanks to my constant vigilance in ensuring her water glass was always topped up :)

A few more formalities later (ornate robes, giant tables, and the ringing of a bell) and Dr. Kyla was introduced to the world! Or at least the ~50 representatives of the world that chose to show up for the defence. She was presented with her diploma during the ceremony, and the remainder of the trip became a fun game of "OMG, where is it??? Oh, nevermind". And you thought passports were fun!

We had a brief reception afterwards, and lavished the attendees with the finest wines and cheeses the VU catering service had on offer. Food aside, this was a real highlight as it was the first and best chance Kyla had to catch up with many of her former colleagues, one of whom traveled all the way from England to surprise her with a cameo appearance. 25kg of books and other gifts later, we managed to drag Kyla away from the receiving line to freshen up for dinner with her family and some of her committee, followed by drinks with friends in De Pijp. All the while the slow realization that it was over was beginning to creep into Kyla's psyche, although it will probably be months before she fully grasps that it's over!

She didn't spend 6 years at evil medical college to be called "Ms."

2008-09-23T08:33:00.010+02:00

For the record, after 29 years, 8 months, and 25 days, Kyla is now officially known as Dr. Tienhaara to her colleagues, Dr. Kyla to her friends, and esteemed candidate to her learned opponents (or at least the Canadian-based ones).

With a rousing motivational speech from her father ("40 years ago to the day I quit my PhD"), sympathy nerves from her mother, and a full water glass from me, Kyla faced off against her esteemed panel for 60 minutes and emerged in one piece, and more credentialed than me (yet again!).

*shakes fist lamely at the heavens*

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Kyla's triumphant return to the halls of Dutch academia was circuitously routed from Canberra via a 35-hour trip calling in Sydney, Singapore, Frankfurt and the Tienhaara Fatherland of Finland, where we spent several days working through the jet lag whilst touring Helsinki and Porvoo with our gracious hosts.

We had a very comprehensive trip of the well-known Finnish landmarks, as well as fitting in a goodly amount of time calling in at Nordic style icons such as Marimekko, Iittala, Finlayson, and other purveyors of sober minimalism that can only be begot by endless hours of midnight sun.

After a few days of taking in the sights we were joined by Kyla's parents. Getting Kyla's Finnish-speaking father to visit Finland for the first time was almost as much of a victory to Kyla as getting through her defence. Certainly the more enjoyable of the two, at least :).

Embracing the leisurely nature of the pre-defence vacation, we took the slow boat from Helsinki through Finland's southern archipelago to the coastal community of Porvoo. A bit of fresh marine air helped Kyla's parents fight off their jet lag, and the constant stream of boats sailing back to port in a very orderly single-file fashion provided a lot of grist for conversation.

Arriving in Porvoo after 4 hours on the poop deck, the six of us (parents and hosts in tow) had a leisurely stroll around the historical parts of the town, culminating in an excellent lunch of reindeer (me) and veggies (everyone else) before over-landing back to Helsinki for the night. Before anyone asks, no, reindeer tastes nothing like chicken.

A peaceful stroll around Suomenlinna and an evening concert of Baroque music wrapped up our time in Helsinki. With the reality of the pending defence just starting to dawn of Kyla, we packed up our ever-growing bags and hopped on the plane to Amsterdam and Kyla's date with destiny!

Oh sorry, I was just thinking about how much I love you

2008-08-19T10:45:00.002+02:00

I went looking for videos on how to tie a bow tie and ran across this today:

Point:

How To Be The Perfect Girlfriend

Counterpoint:

How To Be The Perfect Boyfriend

I am proud to report that as of 18:50 AEST I am capable of tying a bow tie and, furthermore, I now know how to make a "smokey eye effect".

Buy a ticket and get on the train

2008-08-18T08:46:00.002+02:00

Ten days and counting until we make our way to Amsterdam and other European ports-of-call for Kyla's defence. With Dutch weather not guaranteed to provide the vitamin D-inducing rays we're longing for, we're hoping that the weather in Canberra will start to heat up during our 3 weeks away. There's many signs of spring here in Canberra as blossoms are sprouting on the local foliage, and a small number of black swan cygnets are waddling along the banks of Lake Burley Griffin. Kyla and I took a short ride down the one of the local water features where I noticed one fowl family had nidificated and we happily wiled away part of an afternoon snapping shots of the fuzzy bundles of cuteness.

When not out enjoying the sunny (yet brisk) Canberran 'winter', Kyla and I have been reading through some Finnish promotional materials in anticipation of our first stop in Helsinki. In addition to the nigh-ubiquitous Marimekko and the well known Iittala, many other purveyors of Nordic minimalism await Kyla and her local tour guide in Helsinki's design district, which I suspect they will eagerly Lapp up.....[insert laughter here].

In other news, I recently had a second-round interview with a local consultancy about work with one of more of their water divisions. Everything went well and, fingers crossed, I'll be gainfully employed in time to pay off the visits to the afore-mentioned design district. As much fun as watching every moment of the Olympics live has been, I reckon it's time I get out of the house for a while :)

Sydney by the Sea

2008-08-13T09:37:00.003+02:00

It's been quite the week in running for me and my knees. Kyla and I headed off to Sydney last weekend under the auspices of purchasing Kyla a grad dress and having me run the City to Surf 14k. The course was great, although I wouldn't have minded running the course with around 60,000 fewer people in front of me :) While the organization was lackluster to say the least (no food at the finish line and no swag for a 50$ entry fee!)the course was spectacular, and I even managed to plod my way up all ~2km of "heartbreak hill". I am pleased with all the photos and videos available for the run, since Kyla got stuck ogling the surfers and didn't manage to get any pictures of me on the approach to the finish :P

In finishing the run, I managed to pass 500 miles run in the talking shoes. Assuming I recover in the next two weeks, I can make my assault on a 2hr 1/2 Marathon before month's end to give Badger something to chew on for September!

Of course, it wasn't all work and no play. Kyla did manage to get the dress she wanted from Bird Textiles, situated on the sketchy edge of Surry Hills in Sydney. I won't tell you which dress she bought, since there will be plenty of pictures from her defence in a month's time. I've started sourcing my dinner suit that I'll be buying for the defence. If we're ever invited out to high-rolling casino nights in Monaco, we'll be set.

We spent the rest of the weekend touring around the Sydney Harbour and taking a ridiculous number of photos of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge. Much like Vancouver, Sydney's a pretty nice city made spectacular by its natural setting. Architecturally, without the Opera House Sydney Harbour would be very ordinary. Very, very, ordinary. But add an iconic building to an extraordinary natural setting and everything comes together nicely. Stick on a tacky theme park with sno-cones and candy floss and you pretty much vault into legendary status. But don't take my word for it, have a look and judge for yerself :)

Aussie Filter, Part 1 of many to come

2008-08-02T08:05:00.006+02:00

Well, after a month of wombat, cockatoo, and parrot sightings, I finally caught sight of my first mob of kangaroos in Canberra whilst out running around the literally-named Red Hill the other day. Going more than 30 days seeing neither hide nor hair of one of Australia's most iconic animals (or vermin, depending on who you talk to), as stochastic as animal sightings are, was bordering on the improbable. Adopting a determinedly deterministic approach the following weekend, we followed up the chance meeting with a coordinated photo expedition (we do live at the foot of Red Hill, after all) that proved to be quite fruitful, photographically speaking.

We also got our internet connection at the new place (finally) which, when combined with the envelope of internet I received in the post last week, means we've been able to get back in touch with the outside world again. It gave me a chance to track down a few of the Aussie musicians we'd like to see in concert. Sadly, most of the musicians are currently in North America or Europe enjoying the summer festival seasons there, like Liam Finn (above) and Angus & Julia Stone (below), whom we saw in concert at last year's Latitude Festival in England.

Getting ready for our first trip to Sydney next weekend where we'll be meeting up with Kyla's former colleague from Amsterdam, Luke, and his wife who will be in town for a wedding. We're also using the trip to pick up Kyla's dress for her PhD defence (just over 1 month away!) and I'll be running the City to Surf (with Luke) on the Sunday. It's shaping up to be quite the busy weekend, all things considered.

I've also got a second-round interview with a consultancy on tap for the week following the run, so hopefully I'll have some kind of healthy employable sheen as a result of all this exercise. It's a position that could see me visiting the company's other offices in the Aussie capital cities (Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, etc), so it's got some real selling points other than the prospect of a wage of course.

Oh, one I suppose.

2008-07-02T11:21:00.003+02:00

Quick lesson in Aussie Idiosyncrasies:
Australian is to Australia as Canadian is to ???.

If you answered Canadia (pronounce most apropos as Ca-Nay-Dee-Yuh), then you might be of Australian lineage. It's an endearingly conditioned response that we get more often than not, and one that I've enjoyed from the get-go. To wave the Canadianian flag, Kyla baked up a batch of patriotic cupcakes (jingoistic post-processing by yours truly) and served them, along with a batch of maple walnut cookies, to her colleagues. This, naturally, sparked off a round of confectionery-inspired reminiscences betwixt ourselves and the other Canadianian at Kyla's institute.

But, I digress. We've finally settled into the new apartment over the past week, and my long silence is explained by the dearth of reliable telecom providers (globally). It would seem that we are now in the queue for an internet connection, and I have been getting my fix by visiting the Australian National Library to take advantage of their excellent selection of books and free wifi connection.

It's also been quite difficult to make minor repairs around the house as hardware stores have been banished to box-store land on the suburban outskirts. Fittingly for a town of bureaucrats, it seems that Canberrans don't like to get their hands dirty themselves.

I've been rekindling my love affair with Aussie public television programming. Last year, when I was in Perth, I extolled the virtues of The Umbilical Brothers and their Threatening Bear personae. This time around it's the more thought (and guffaw) provoking Gruen Transfer, a twist on the conventional panel-show, using ad execs to laud or skewer contemporary advertising (as well as the weekly challenge to sell the unsellable). Surprisingly funny, in no small thanks to the regular Americanian-sounding panelist.

There's also a semi-regular spoof interviewer that appears after the nightly news, merging Jon Stewart with Monty Python to produce some pretty irreverent takes on the daily news.

That's it for now, but I'll make sure to keep an eye open for more funny stuff as we wait for web access from the confines of our own domicile.

Cheers!

Tell your best friend Monica we just got an appartment in, erm... Manuka

2008-06-27T03:43:00.005+02:00

We can lay our fears to rest, finally, as we managed to secure a lease on a lovely little apartment in the Manuka precinct of Canberra. I should say that *I* secured the lease on a lovely little apartment, as Kyla hasn't seen it yet in person and will be moving in (after forking over a month's rent for deposit) sight-unseen aside from some pretty dodgy mobile phone pictures that I snapped during the inspection.

Of course, we had scoped out the neighbourhood before the inspection, and the location - in a newish building in one of Canberra's trendier neighbourhoods and right on top of a grocery store - was a selling (renting) point, as was the proximity to an affordable cinema (9$ vs. 15$ in the city centre). We'll be about 20 minutes from the Uni by bike, entirely traversed on vehicle-free bike paths through a park and along Lake Burley Griffin's southern shore (past several museums and national monuments). I'm pretty pleased to be within a 6's distance of the Manuka Oval, home to infrequent cricket matches (including the Prime Minister's XI in January of every year).

As you might notice from the pictures the apartment is completely unfurnished but does include a few white goods, so Kyla and I will be oot and aboot this weekend looking for the bare minimum of furnishings and electronics to get us through the next little while (plus some kitchen stuff while we wait for our boxes to arrive from Canada). It's going to be a capital-intensive next few weeks, but happily there is lots of low-cost entertainment options in Canberra. Such as (back by popular request!) hanging out with our good friend Wally the Wombat at the RSPCA and preparing all sorts of baked confections for upcoming Canada Day :)

Canberra! Crikey, I made it :)

2008-06-22T13:24:00.007+02:00

(Since Facebook doesn't seem to be importing photos or videos anymore, click here for the original version of this post)

Well, for the 100th post on this here weblog, it seems fitting that I have a load of stuff to share :) I've finally made the move from Victoria to Canberra and have been quite the shutterbug for the last few weeks. As a way to pass the time before I left Victoria (and partly at the behest of a former coworker) I spent quite a bit of time wandering about the CRD capturing little vignettes with my trusty new camera (and waiting for my trusty old camera to get out of the shop).

Had a really great last couple of weeks in BC, with various send-off dinners with the friends, family, and cow-orkers. The weather left an awful lot to be desired (for springtime in BC), as can be seen below, but at least it meant that the Canberra autumn weather wasn't a giant step backward.

Actually, the Canberra weather has been pretty good, on the whole. Highs in the upper teens when the cloud clears (which is most days) dropping to near freezing over night. Layers are pretty much a must, since sunrise is at 7:30 and sunset is at 5, meaning that you get a ~20 degree arc during the functional hours of the day.

We were lucky enough to have a great, sunny weekend last weekend, which allowed us to take our new bikes on a lovely ride around town. Bike paths abound (at least along the major axes of the 'planned' city) and you can transit the entirety of Lake Burley Griffin's shoreline without crossing a vehicle lane. We explored some of the major suburbs (Aussies love partitioning cities into the smallest manageable units - Canberra as an individual location doesn't actually exist as far as I can tell) to get a sense of where we would like to live.

On Sunday, I trotted around the north shore of the lake while Kyla mucked out bird cages at the wildlife portion of the Canberra RSCPA. While there were no wallabies there, there was a baby wombat (named Wally, who was orphaned and is under RSPCA care until it gains another 25 lbs). He is incredibly adorable, with a penchant for nibbling shoes and legs. Not the best trait when you have a penchant for wearing shorts :) He does love a good neck scratch though. Through the marvels of telephone cameras, I grabbed a quick video of Wally chasing Kyla around the RSPCA ground. He is just cute as a button.

So as winter sets in we are contenting ourselves with house hunting, bird watching, possum seeking, job/PhD searching, and general planning for the trip to Amsterdam this September for Kyla's PhD defence. We'll be in Finland for a few days prior to the defence, joining Kyla's parents in "the fatherland" for some R&R and baroque chamber music, plus probably more than a little shopping. All is grist for the mill, as far as this blog is concerned. Probably got another hundred posts in me :)

Iran, so far away-ay-ay.

2008-06-05T05:52:00.003+02:00

Well, never a dull day it seems. Just a little more than 7 boxes to cross off on the calendar before I load my gear into a series of ecological footprint engorging aeroplanes and head to where the wild things are. Happy Environment Day, Earth.

Our stuff has been collected by the movers for its 14-16 week cruise, and I've got a mountain of laundry to tackle before I go. I was tempted to leave it unlaundered, but between my sympathies for the drug dogs they'll have checking out passengers arriving from Amsterdam and my thorough disinterest in dealing with the Australian quarantine inspectors, I decided to take the prudent course.

Since my last post, I started thinking about partaking in a few of the Flickr rites-of-passage, such as the ubiquitous 365 project, as well as the much more engaging (and at the same time daunting) 100 strangers project. The photo above is from my 365 prologue. It wasn't all photography, though, as I watched the lachrymose double-episode season finale of "Dr. House". I also learned the word "lachrymose". Who said TV couldn't be edu-ma-cational?

Also since my last post, I learned there's an outside chance I might be in line for a short contract stint in a far-off country. Being both intrigued by the project and superstitious about jinxing it, I'll just leave you with this ever so cryptic location clue:

.

(Click here for the Facebook version of the clue).

The force is strong in this one!

2008-05-27T23:52:00.008+02:00

Your Results:

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

1.	Secular Humanism (100%)
2.	Unitarian Universalism (98%)
3.	Liberal Quakers (85%)
4.	Neo-Pagan (82%)
5.	Theravada Buddhism (80%)
6.	Nontheist (67%)
7.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (67%)
8.	New Age (65%)
9.	Taoism (62%)
10.	Mahayana Buddhism (61%)
11.	Orthodox Quaker (52%)
12.	Sikhism (52%)
13.	Reform Judaism (51%)
14.	Jainism (47%)
15.	Scientology (35%)
16.	Bahá'í Faith (35%)
17.	Hinduism (35%)
18.	New Thought (32%)
19.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (29%)
20.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (26%)
21.	Seventh Day Adventist (24%)
22.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (21%)
23.	Orthodox Judaism (19%)
24.	Eastern Orthodox (17%)
25.	Islam (17%)
26.	Roman Catholic (17%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (14%)

What the??? Where's the Psychological Hedonism or the Raëlism? I call shenanigans!

A post of marginal interest to my Finn Fans

2008-05-14T23:56:00.003+02:00

Well, it seems like things are starting fall into place. For fear of jinxing it (and I'm mucho superstitious about these sorts of things), it looks as though Kyla's Ph.D. defense will be on September 4th (aka 4 September), early enough in the year for us to also consider a celebratory trip to Kyla's familial homeland once the festivities are concluded.

In Canberra-related news, Kyla has been on walkabout during her spare time away from the "Uni". As she puts it, her blisters have blisters from all the traipsing about. Fortunately the weather has been great (clear blue skies and 20 degrees) for much of the time she's been there, and she's snapped a few pictures while she's been out.

In her spare time she's been looking for rental accommodation for us, although public transit and realtors don't really keep the same schedule there, so the hunt continues. There are some super neat places we're hoping to live near or within cycling distance of, which of course requires that we get some bikes under our butts shortly after I roll into town. We're both pretty partial to the Dutch-style cruisers, although Canberra may necessitate cruisers with more than 3 speeds. Especially if we want to see the platypus pond.

So, as I pass the last few weeks before I head to the land where women glow and men plunder (which is marginally better than the sugar/spice/everything nice v. snips/snails/puppy dog tails land of my youth), I am burning up a stockpile of TV shows to watch since internet access in Oz is apparently both slow and costly. Harrumph! In doing so, I did discover that an American remake of Life on Mars is in the works. I'm not holding my breath that it will live up to the quality of The Office but who knows, maybe an existential time-traveling cop-opera named after a Ziggy-Stardust-era David Bowie song and set in 70's Manchester will translate well to US television. Or not.

The talking shoes turn 500

2008-05-08T23:09:00.004+02:00

File under: keeping out of trouble. Cross-file under: You'll feel this when you're 75.

505 km in 82 runs, works out to around 6k per run. Shoes still seem to be in one piece, so that's a plus. Probably going to pass by Parliament on my 'commute' home tonight. Something metaphorically gratifying about running away from work.

Ruminations on Relocations

2008-05-02T20:04:00.004+02:00

Since Kyla's getting settled in while I'm getting saddled up, it seems (to me) like a good time to share our initial thoughts on life in Canberra. Firstly, Kyla's thoughts upon arrival:

Canberra is like 'one big park with a mall in the middle'. Apparently the mall is quite large which, I gather, is a good thing.
The lake (Lake Burley Griffin), in addition to being larger than expected and having an awe-inspiring name (what's more awesome than a burly griffin? Other than a unicorn riding said burly griffin into combat against a Pegasus, I mean. Stupid, arrogant flying horses.) it is quite the hot spot for biodiversity. Unfortunately, by biodiversity I mean algae. Fortunately, we can use the algae (and a profligacy of vowels) to lure some of our friends to visit!
Birds abound!
There's a commie commissary. From each according to his means to each according to his dietary requirements. Oh, and plastic bags are soooo passé down under.
Everyone is nice, and has a funny accent.

And my thoughts on the prospect of moving in six weeks:

Two words: Summer Birthday! While being born nine-months-less-a-day after valentine's day has a certain romance to it, after 32.9999 years of building snowmen or drowning in rain on my birthday, I'm looking forward to fun in the sun for the next few years. We're even planning something of a trip for this year's birthday extravaganza to capitalize.
I'm going to be living on the East Coast for the first time ever. PG/Van/Vic, A'dam, and Perth have all been well and truly west coast living, and I don't know how I'll adapt to the hustle and bustle of east coast living. Plus, I have to learn to love a whole different kind of rap music. Crikey, indeed!
I'm going to have to start learning how to use a polarizer to take pictures.
I'm not going to be getting anywhere near the camera for the first few months as Kyla will be off shooting all the animals. And flowers. And mythical creatures fighting other mythical creatures.

I have been keeping out of trouble on the home front as I prepare for the move. I was playing with the multiple exposure settings the other day, which allowed me to take the picture of my single Indian stikfas getting down with his bad self. Some people are way better at it than I am :)

Also had a bit of time to pop over to the mainland the past few weekends to catch up with some long-time hockey poolies, as well as Badger and M as they passed through Vancouver on their way to PG. Apparently John outgrew his Eatery Underoos, so he had to make a stop by his favourite sushi place to pick up some replacements. Or something like that.

New adventures in photography

2008-04-25T07:02:00.002+02:00

Well, finding myself with a bit more time on my hands than usual for the next 6 weeks or so (since that's how long it will be until I head down-unda to join Kyla), I have been obligated to find a few new passe-temps to occupy myself in the interim (aside from the Wii and the Weeeeb). Happily, I've had a few things fall in my lap courtesy of the new video capabilities of flickr and the various functions of my new camera.

I don't really have much to contribute to the world of on-line video quite yet, but one of my coworkers captured the footage above at the end of the snow to surf race last weekend. Mostly I posted it so that I could try out embedding Flickr video on the ol' blog. Looks like that works. Probably won't show up on the Facebook feed, I suppose, but then that's why this link is here.

The other thing I'm getting into is HDR imaging, simplified by the D80's auto-bracketing feature. I wandered around Victoria with Kyla during her last few days around town looking for good locations with the high-contrast that HDR thrives in. Some worked (like the image below), while others I'll chalk up to "learning experience". I've included some "before" shots on Flickr for comparison.

I've also been meaning to post the photos of my grandfather in his days with the British Army during WWII that I finally had scanned (and Kyla got enlarged and framed for me!). I think they're dope.

Finally, to cap off this rambling post, I can't get enough Rilo Kiley these days. Yeah, yeah, it's like a year old. So sue me. Patric Wolf is cool, but a little lounge-y. Every think you know what somebody looks like based on their voice only to find out you are totally off-base? That's me and Patrick. Then ther'es Portishead, that's really new and good, although after a few listens I'm left feeling it's not as awesome as I would have hoped. But I'm a big Portishead fan from waaay back, just like the B-52's, who are actively rocking me in my boots. I hope they're on the soundtrack to the Wii Fit...

Snow to Surf 2008

2008-04-21T20:10:00.002+02:00

When the weather hands you lemons, make lemonade. In other words, despite the single-degree temperatures we've been experiencing, conditions couldn't have been much better for this year's Snow to Surf race in Courtenay/Comox. I got to join the corporate team, the SNC SLEIers (pronounced 'slayers'), for a weekend of multi-sport frolicking on the north island. The race was a 9-person, 8-event challenge, with alpine and nordic ski legs, 2 downhill running legs, plus mountain bike, kayak, road bike, and canoe legs, culminating in a 25m dash to the final bell (and beer garden).

Kyla joined in on the trip for her last weekend in Canada before heading down under this Wednesday to start her 3-year post-doc. From the looks of things, it seems that I will be heading directly to Oz to join her sometime in mid-June. Not sure what kind of multi-sport races they have there, but I'm practicing my kangaroo-riding just in case.

Badger Season is Open

2008-04-12T07:11:00.003+02:00

Consider this a warning, Sir. I'm coming to get you. You and your little bat-utility belt.

You know who you are.

You can run (and boy, can you run) but you can't hide. You can also chafe, blister, and pronate. But, as I just said, you can't hide.

Better take some more antihistamines.

Ha ha!

2008-04-08T01:07:00.004+02:00

Well it's been a long time coming. 6 years and 23 pools later, statistics prevail and I manage to win a fantasy sports pool. I don't have much else to say on the subject, I just figured I should do something seeing how (at this rate) it's going to be 2014 before I win another one.

That is all.

Heh

2008-04-02T19:57:00.002+02:00

Welcome Humans!
We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill!

Mozilla's at it again. First it was about:mozilla that resulted in a lizard eating earth, now it's about:robots (at least in Firefox Beta 3.5) letting us know that robots are onto us, and "they have a plan". I miss all the easter eggs that used to be common in software. I'm more than happy to see the Mozilla team keeping the torch lit. Mozilla! Klaatu barada nikto!

Our Vampire Weekend!

2008-03-24T05:37:00.002+01:00

Playing the role of tourist in our own neighbourhood, last weekend Kyla and I hopped the 1950's era ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington, gateway to Olympic National Park. On tap for the weekend was snowshoeing at Hurricane Ridge (where the photo, above, was captured), hiking a few of the easily-access trails along the north side of Olympic National Park, and tracking down the communities of Forks and La Push since they are featured in the Twilight trilogy that Kyla recently enjoyed (and I am currently enjoying). Nice to have all this stuff just a few short hours from our doorstep :)

Our accommodation for the weekend was at the wonderfully eccentric Red Caboose Getaway, where we booked into the Circus Caboose. It was an amazing experience, with a fantastic owner/chef husband & wife team (plus the ducks) turning what could have been a kitschy idea into a well-executed boutique-style B&B. I'd go on about how great the breakfasts were but, for those who know me, you'll know by the very fact that I actually ate anything (let alone everything) put in front of me that it was top-notch!

We used our caboose as a base for our weekend expeditions. First destination was dinner at Port Angeles' La Bella Italia, which was featured in Twilight and was well worth the trip. We stuffed ourselves silly on the first night, in preparation for the following day's snowshoeing trek up Hurricane Ridge. Conditions were fantastic (except for those vampire-friendly clouds), with a snow pack of more than 5m at the base of the hill. At the time of our visit, Hurricane Ridge had received over 402" (>10 m) of snow on the year, including almost a foot of fresh stuff in the week preceding our arrival. Suffice it to say, we had a heap of fun and were thoroughly exhuasted when we got the gas-pig Suburban back to base camp that night. Fortunately for use, though, the jacuzzi tub in the caboose was big enough for two, so no need to fight over who got to nurse their aching bones first!

The next day saw us head westward along the peninsula to Marymere Falls before heading on to Forks and La Push in search of vampires and werewolves. The weather was ideal for hiking to the falls (just 2km from the road), with heavy rains the night before giving the waterfall a little extra 'oomph' for the camera :) Kyla and I took the time to commune with the deer we saw just as we were setting out on the hike, and the deer, in turn, seemed pretty interested in the foliage and not much else.

After the hike we scarfed down some of the jumbo-sized candy we picked up at the local shops and then turned the SUV back westward for the short trip to Forks. I should say that Forks isn't painted in the most glowing of lights in the books, so it was great to see that the community had embraced the 'fame' that has come its way as a result of being the setting for the best-selling tales. Most impressive was the natural beauty of La Push, a native community on the rugged west coast of Washington State. We were able long enough to be buffeted by the easterly winds that constantly blow on-shore and account for a great deal of the impressive driftwood deposits that line the shore.

Another night's sleep and a ferry ride back to Victoria wrapped things up for that little sojourn. We are looking forward to getting back there another time, if only to track down locations from the yet-to-be-released fourth book in the series!

Cheers!

What we're listening to (like, a lot)

2008-03-13T05:47:00.003+01:00

While we wile away a while waiting for visas, name change documents, and Master's diplomas with MY name on them, we listen to a lot of music. Here is a small selection of the latest things burning up our MP3 players. If, for some reason, you are reading this on facebook and don't get the links to tunes below, just click here.

You want it, you got it :)

2008-03-13T04:14:00.005+01:00

Well, by popular request, allow me to take a moment to reflect on all things Canadian that have been keeping us out of trouble since we've been back in BC: Firstly, it doesn't get more Canadian than listening to Stewart MacLean reading his Stories from the Vinyl Cafe, now available on CBC podcasts.

Of course, we occasionally like to get out of the house and have a bit of a wander around, and snowshoeing is always high on our list of things to do. We snuck in a bit of time up at Mount Seymour the last time we were over in Vancouver (see below). It doesn't get more "local" than being able to see your apartment from the ski lift.

Of course, I don't have an apartment in Vancouver, so I've developed quite the relationship with my aunt's couch in Belcarra, which has a great trail network ideal for dog walking. On one of the several sunny days we've had since returning, Kyla and I walked Izzy and Simon (or did they walk us?) out to Admiralty Point, which looks northward from Belcarra out to Simon Fraser University. It was later that day, whilst celebrating my eldest cousin's birthday, that I got ambushed by a family member wielding neon-pink dollar store silly string.

View Larger Map
(Thanks for the map idea, Stefe!)

I've got my bike in the shop getting the wheels rebuilt, with the intention of taking a weekend bike trip to Saltspring Island in the near future. Kyla wants to go for the rural charm and quiet island living. I want to go to throw acorns at the unwashed hippies. Sadly, we didn't do any acorn throwing last weekend when we took a jaunty stroll along the upper reaches of the Galloping Goose trail, although there were several friendly dogs in dire need of a petting, and lovely views of the raging rivers from the top of the trestle bridges on the trail.

Anyways, we're formulating some get-away plans for this weekend and we've got tentative plans for a ski weekend with the cousins, so I am sure there will be plenty more antics to come :)

Cheers!

There's no place like home

2008-02-03T06:17:00.002+01:00

Wow, hey.... Is this thing on?

As my prolonged absence from posting suggests, I have been otherwise engaged since returning home before the holidays. It's been pretty whirlwind with xmas, Tam's wedding, New Year's, landing work, Chinese New Year, and celebrating Kyla's PhD submission. Happily Kyla's submission means I get the internet back again, and she gets to breathe a heavy sigh of relief :)

It's been fun being back and viewing life through the eyes of a repatriate. I'm not sure if I'm more sensitive to the little quirks on N. American living now that I'm back, or if things have gotten more exaggerated in my absence, but there are a number of things that I have noticed since returning.

Firstly, for better or worse, nobody does it like America. Being inundated with US media growing up may have desensitized me as a youth, but as I stopped into Chili's during my 8 hour lay-over in O'Hare airport, I couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed. It really seems that everything is almost a caricature of itself south of the 49th. Food dyed to look more food-like, meat processed to look less meat-like, and meals too large to consider eating. Perhaps the best symbol of this systemic caricature plays out on TV in 30 second chunks day after day: the National Collector Mint's collection of trinkets commemorating September 11th, in particular:

Words fail me.

On another topic, after grooving to Sirius Radio regularly over the last 2 months, I can assure you that internet and digital/satellite won't be the death of radio, crappy jingles will be. Satellite radio rules, and conventional radio is, for the most part, a sad, sad, parody of media stuck somewhere in nineteen suck-sty three. But don't believe me, try these on for size. I just hope there's digital radio in Australia.

Everything about being back is great, and it's actually entertaining to be sensitized to the minutiae of daily life on this side of the pond. Maybe it's insight into the root of my natural sarcasm, or maybe it's my bleeding-heart socialism kicking into overdrive at the thought of future generations being indoctrinated into a pale imitation of society. Either way, there's sure to be plenty of grist for the mill until we move down under!

2008-01-06T03:33:00.000+01:00

Hah! Well looks like my photo was good enough to make it into the Schmap online guide to Perth - Have a click around the map widget thingy above to find my picture under the "City Beach" section. Cool :)

Putting the pieces together, punctuated by random xmas themed videos

2007-12-31T06:44:00.000+01:00

Happy holidays to everyone :) Kyla and I are safely back in Canada, well fed during the holiday feasting period and well corpulent in its aftermath. With Kyla (seen here in Paris) bedridden while her immune system takes its children on winter holidays, I took the time to upload the last of our photos (the film ones) from our trip through France in November as well as from MuseumNacht 2007.

We are trying to put together a cohesive plan-of-attack for the coming months. A few things are certain: I am officially a MASTER OF HYDROLOGEOLOGY (and a distinct one at that), Kyla will be taking the job offer from ANU (crikey!), and I will have to wait another year to try turducken. Other than those three things, we know very little. I am currently shaking several trees looking for work, but all I have gotten so far are four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves, one very disgruntled partridge and a few bruised pears. Perhaps this is the wrong season for shaking trees. It is, on the other hand, the season for our annual-ish New Year's Eve Bollywood film extravaganza.

So no resolutions for this year despite the fact that Kyla and I are out running a 5k-er around Stanley Park on New Year's Day. I managed to log more than 300km with my talking shoes in the last 6 months, so like "yay me" and stuff. I'd be happy to keep that sort of thing going, but I certainly won't resolve to do so. I've got a photo shortlisted for inclusion in the updated Schmap guide to Perth, but it's out of my hands so no amount of resolving will help my cause on that front.

Anyways, best wishes to everyone for a great 2008! Hopefully fate (and Air Canada) will intertwine our paths again this year.

New Years Cheers!
Kyle :)

What about Bob?

2007-11-26T20:21:00.000+01:00

It seems like Bob and Leslie got on smashingly during their time together on this side of the puddle. So well, in fact, she has lent her visage and vox to Bob's newest offering at YouTube. Glad to see he landed on both feet after a disappointing outing at Melkweg a few months back. Stiff upper lip and all that. Good show.

And, on a seasonal music note, the Pandora Podcast for this week is looking at the origin and structure of some holiday classics

Clearing the Camera

2007-11-25T22:01:00.000+01:00

Purging everything in preparation for our departure, including the images captured on my trusty mobile over the past few years. The first batch were taken on the way to Kröller-Müller Museum when my family visited this past summer.

Further back in the archives I found some pictures I captured during the UEFA Under-21 World Championships that happened to be in Portugal during the 6-week field school I had there last, last summer.

And right back at the beginning of roll, as it were, our jaunt to Torino to see the Winter Olympics in all their alpine glory :)

Wow. Time sure flies. Sees like forever ago that I set out on this little jaunt.

Sinterklaas!

2007-11-18T16:59:00.000+01:00

Following up on a previous post, Sinterklaas floated into Amsterdam today on a tugboat sailing out of Madrid. How does an octogenarian (several times over) manage to sail a tugboat out of a land-locked Iberian capital and into the River IJ, you ask? Dude: It's Sinterklaas, who cares? Think of him as just another Spaniard here on his Erasmus year and get out your begging hat to load up on pepernoten before IND catches up with him!

Lest We Forget

2007-11-16T17:37:00.000+01:00

Photos taken on 11 November 2007 at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial

Gay Paris

2007-11-16T16:47:00.000+01:00

Well far from being a completely sombre trip to France, Kyla and I headed to Paris to celebrate our birthdays in style, albeit a somewhat impoverished style compared to the army of Fendi/Gucci/Prada/Louis Vitton wielding denizens of the Ile de France.

I am happy to report that waiting as long as I did to visit Paris paid dividends as all the cliches about the city seem a little past their expiry date. The people were friendly (enough), we had no problems getting by (or at least fed) with out conversational French, and the toilets weren't that bad. Sure the rooms were small and the showers smaller, but we've gotten acclimatized living in Amsterdam for this long.

Kyla had visited Paris previously, which meant I was free to wander us around aimlessly, and wander I did. We hit all the required sites, from the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame de Paris (where the gargoyles live) on Kyla's birthday, to the L'Ouvre and Centre Pompidou on my birthday. We ate very well despite the French penchant to include non-vegan ingredients in everything save the water, and that is only because no Parisian would be caught mort drinking tap water. But rest assured, as soon as they read this they'll start adding fish protein to the municipal water supply.

So now it's back to packing and paper finalizing (final draft submitted!!) in the coming weeks. I even managed to pass 250km with the talking shoes since this summer, which makes me pleasantly happy. Not sure how many more miles will come before year's end with the cold North Sea breeze a-blowin', but as we pack more and more of our electronic goods less and less things will be around the house to distract me:)

Cheers!

What I'll miss the most? The Concerts :(

2007-10-30T22:13:00.000+01:00

Link thievery from the good doctor. Music genius by The Arcade Fire, 2005.

Oh! And there's the NPR concert archives (audio only, methinks). And a lifetime's worth of material on the Beeb's website.

Also, I would like posterity to record today as the day that I discovered there is a subsection of the Flickr population that consider themselves apron "specialists" (to euphemistically use a wild-west term), at a friend's expense. So, um, sorry about that then.... I'll see what I can do.

We've Integrated!

2007-10-28T11:59:00.000+01:00

Well after years of railing against expat life in Amsterdam we let our guard down for a moment too long and inadvertently became assimilated, practically on the eve of our departure. Kyla opted for a more sensitive costume, while I opted for.... well, that's a subject of some debate.

Thanks to the good weather karma of visiting Canadian friends the autumn Dutch weather has been unseasonably warm, allowing us several opportunities to wander around our neighborhood snapping pictures. I also tagged along with Badger and M on their sojourn to Brussels last week, where I was struck with a profound sense of missed opportunity for having lived in Europe for so long without improving my conversational French skills. Merde :(

Brussels was amazing from a comic-book fan-boy perspective (aka "la bande dessinée"). Badger and I made a pilgrimage to the Centre de la bande dessinée which, shockingly, doesn't appear to have a website. There is an online guide to comic strip sights in Brussels (in French), and my personal fave TinTin (in many languages, 'natch).

In my search for all things illustrated, Badger and I hit Brüsel, the largest comic shop in Brussels. Brüsel classifies itself as a "Library Gallery" and it's not hard to see why, given the place of reverence that the large-format (think TinTin or Asterix) comics hold in Belgium. In addition to nostalgia inducing public-library friendly titles, there was myriad titles by contemporary European (Bilal), Asian (Kawaguchi), and American (Waterson) artists, and the most amazing selection of lithographs (from which I choose two historical covers from Le Petit Vingtième featuring - what else? - TinTin).

Now I just have to get done here, get a place to live, and then I can put them up. Baby steps, I suppose, baby steps!

Shouldn't you be doing something else with your time?

2007-10-19T21:53:00.000+02:00

Just browsing the Swift Family blog and I couldn't resist. In other news, there's a Muppet Show Wiki.

OK, back to my regularly scheduled thesis :)

Sorted!

2007-10-01T17:38:00.000+02:00

Ok, plane ticket booked using the modest quantity of air miles I acquired over the past few migratory seasons. I am getting back to Vancouver on December 13th, and hope to be tackling a few job interviews shortly after my arrival. Wish me luck, especially if you want something other than macaroni-and-glue greeting cards (or ramen-and-glue, depending on which is cheapest).

Some recent, expected correspondence let me know that the newest addition to the Swift family is already forging an online presence (kids these days.... I mean, really!) Chris, Jess, and Lucy are pleased as punch to welcome baby Holden into the fold. After catching Knocked Up in the cinemas last night, don't expect Kyla to follow suit any time soon :)

Some recent, unexpected correspondence reminded me first of Berlin (where the above picture was snapped), then of my interest in getting back to Co-Op radio once I get settled back into Vancouver living. Assuming that I'm not forced to resort to Quay-side busking to pay the ramen and glue bills, at least.

Also, congrats to Badger for finishing his first 1/2 Marathon in a frenetic 2hr 10min (and change), which puts him somewhere between a "Six-Lined Race Runner" and a "Mongolian Wild Ass" on the biological velocity scale. No, really!. While there is some uncertainty as to where his speed falls on an absolute scale, it is certain that he is several minutes slower than the 2001 model Horner (only available in off-white). I'd like to think that the cartilage grinding 10 mile ran we put down while he and M were visiting helped him reach these lofty heights, but really it was all down to the shark repellent and battarangs he carried in his bat utility belt during the race!

Oh, and Radiohead's new album is out in 10 days. Thom Yorke apparently likes Bat For Lashes, who probably woulda won the Mercury Prize this year if that bloody Klaxons song wasn't so catchy.

All Quiet on the Western Front

2007-09-28T17:56:00.000+02:00

Well, it's about that time then. Kyla and I are working away diligently on completing our respective ouvres in time for a Christmas return to the homeland. The tickets will likely be purchased this weekend, meaning that we'll have more certainty regarding the dates then.

Another idea we've got to get around to finalizing is a trip to Vimy Ridge for Remembrance Day followed by a few days in gay Paris for our birthdays (and likely our last "hurrah" for this stint in Europe). More on this to come as well...

In terms of deeds done, I can happily report that sound quality seems to have taken a turn for the better at our recent concert outings. It was a veritable Can-Con weekend recently as we caught Feist in concert, making up for the excellent but all-too-short 4 song set she performed at the Canada Day shindig we attended in Ottawa this summer. She had a *very* Canadian opening act, Bob Wiseman, who was certainly a few timbits short of a double-double but (IMHO) thoroughly entertaining.

We then (the next day) headed out to see Portland's now-legendary Decemberistsin a great show that included their first European performance of The Tain in its entirety (see the video below for some weird Chipmunk-cum-Anime cover of the 18-minute epic), their musical interpretation of the Irish epic poem Táin Bó Cúailnge. And they had their own Canadian opening act: Montreal's Land of Talk, a straight-up female vocal rock outfit.

It's possible to download Decemberist vocalist Colin Maloy's cover album of Morrisey tunes from the Internet Archive, if you're so inclined. It's also very possible to watch many of the Nation Film Board of Canada's brilliant animated films at the NFBoC website, including personal fave The Big Snit, iconic Logdriver's Waltz, and entertaining Cat Came Back. And don't even get me started on the vintage media archive at Hinterland Who's Who! Internet, you had me at "loading......."

It's like.... the perfect storm!

2007-09-06T20:54:00.000+02:00

First Caprica, now... EARTH! Run, puny humans, run!

Mike and the Meh-chanics

2007-08-27T21:09:00.000+02:00

I was surfing the internet a few weeks back when I came across a mention of Good Copy, Bad Copy, a documentary centering around the downloading of music. What makes this movie noteworthy is the fact that the producers put their money where their mouths are and distributed the movie via bittorrent while they shop it to television channels around the globe. It focuses entirely on the music industry, from early lawsuits over the legality of samples used by artists to the current RIAA frenzy to sue the pants off everyone with a bittorrent client on their compy.

It does seem obvious, even without watching GCBC, that the music industry needs to define a new business model for the coming years. Kicking and screaming like stage-coach drivers in 1870 or gas streetlighters a few decades later just doesn't really seem like a productive way to go about it. And I suspect that there might be a less hostile reaction from the public to issues of copyright if we were seeing a unified front in the form of artists and labels preaching from the same book. Case in point, a recent concert we saw - The Streets were playing a show at Melkweg when about 3/4 of the way through the show, the band asked all the people in the crowd with camera phones to record the next song, since it was his first time playing it live. They asked the crowd to email them the videos in order to make a proper video for the song's official release. Naturally a number of the solicited recordings made it on to the various video sites around the web. So... is that legal or what?

The sound quality of the recording isn't great, but then again the sound quality of the first 1/3 of the show was marginal. They did seem to turn it around for the latter parts of the concert, which is more than we can say for the sound at the Modest Mouse concert we caught last night. I have waited a long time to see Johnny Marr, but it sure would have been nice to hear the rest of the band as well... With 'professional' sound people crapping the bed at paid concerts becoming something of a routine for Melkweg it's small wonder people are allegedly spending less of their money on the products of the music industry. The real shame is that the bands really put on good shows.

Dispatches from the Fabian Socialists

2007-08-23T18:36:00.000+02:00

Hurrah for belated posting leading to marvelously eclectic content. Hurrah for belated posting joining the list of things I am doing instead of writing my thesis!

The extended family (pictured above) passed through my neck of the hemisphere recently, helping me to refine Kyle's semi-official tour of Amsterdam (tm). Given their G-rated demographic there are still aspects to the tour that need refining. Happily I'll get a chance to rectify that in a few short weeks when the Badger and M roll through town :)

And speaking of rolling through town, I've gotten all chummy with my talking shoes as of late. I am currently working on putting down my fastest single-mile run by the middle of September. As I am hoping to get a sub-7 minute mile (hey, I'm no Roger Bannister), I am screening all the ~7 minute tracks we have on the compy for suitable inspiration. Right now "Nightless Night" by Husky Rescue is leading the way, although if I could find something upbeat by Death Cab or The Decemberists I'd probably give them the nod. More on this to come....

In terms of non-widgety things, I have been doing what I can to keep up on the goings-on with The Internet. After neglecting my duties over at Unstuck Your Brain, I've gotten around to posting a little something that caught my eye the other day as I was looking for a good visual-pun to use on Facebook (aka "Why Kyle's Blog is So Neglected These Days Book"). Pulling myself away from all the various applications that aren't that great yet still consume vast quantities of time was challenging, but I've managed two blog posts in as many days, so the 7-step program is working wonders. Thank the gods that I never got into that fracking World of Warcraft. I mean, I *just* learned about Corrupted Blood, and that was like 14 years ago in WoW years... On the up-side, I don't have RSI or liver spots.

So other than that, just heading out this evening to see about getting on-board with a volleyball squad again - gotta have some fall-back plan if Facebook doesn't completely impede me from doing my thesis. After all, I gotta milk that scholarship for all it's worth :)

Cheers!

Latitude Recap

2007-07-28T16:45:00.000+02:00

Not long after touching down in Amsterdam after our whirlwind trip through Ontario, Kyla and I headed back to the airport, this time for the 45 minute puddle jump from Amsterdam to Norwich, England. Despite the flight being so short that we actually arrived before we departed (thanks to the wonders of time zones), we quickly wasted that extra 15 minutes trying to follow the directions we had from the Norwich airport to Henham Park, site of the Latitude Festival. The festival brought together an eclectic mix of poets, comics, authors, musicians, and colored sheep for a long weekend of slightly soggy fun.

The lineup was fantastic, although the headliners on the first two nights were pretty low-key all in all, so it made for some mellow nights that the rowdy campers next to us were more than glad to compensate for once the dance tents let out at 3am. There were several classic festival moments as various artists combined forces for one-time-only performances (or at least few-time-only) or chose quirky covers, including Damien Rice bringing out the Magic Numbers to cover Bob Dylan, Jarvis Cocker doing "Eye of the Tiger", and Elvis Perkins bringing out everyone and the kitchen sink to perform "Doomsday". To be fair, this is the second time I've seen Elvis Perkins, Dearland, The Cold War Kids and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah do that track, but it was just as awesome the second time around! I couldn't find a good video version of Doomsday, but here's a toned down version for your listening pleasure :)

In addition to the the big name acts in the main stage, we had a chance to wander all around the festival seeing bands we'd heard of but hadn't heard, and also to stumble upon some acts we were completely unaware of. Some of the indie highlights had to be Au Revoir Simone, Camera Obscura, Angus and Julia Stone, Wheat, and Terra Naomi. Hopefully there's something in there to pique your interest as well!

Canada Day!

2007-07-28T15:43:00.000+02:00

Oh Canada :) Making the most of every moment I was back in Canada, I met Kyla at the Toronto Airport and we made the pilgrimage to Ottawa for Canada Day. It's nice to be meeting at an airport for once, rather that one of us watching the other head off to some spot on the globe seemingly chosen by a dexterous gibbon with a dart and a wall-mounted map.

We met up with our respective BFF's for a whirlwind long weekend filled with 10k "fun runs", poutine, and a little patriotic partying. One of the highlights of the Canada Day festivities should have been the Feist-headlined Canada Day concert in the park in front of Parliament, and it was great save for the fact that Feist only stuck around to play 4 songs in quick-fire succession with little crowd interaction. As you can probably tell by our recent playlist at Last.FM, we've been listening to her new album a lot and we were more than a little disappointed by her brief appearance. Happily for us she's got a concert coming up in Amsterdam so we can catch all the other songs we would have liked to have heard. (excessive use of the conditional past tense in that last sentence for the sole enjoyment of Stefan).

That one small hiccup aside, and the mediocre weather, and the 7:30 starting gun for the "fun run", my first experience in Ottawa (and Kyla's first Canada Day there) was awesome and I highly recommend everyone make the trip!

Hall / McKay Wedding

2007-07-28T15:23:00.000+02:00

Well phase one of my return to Canada went off smoothly, with Andrew and Megan's wedding in Vanier Park bringing together a great mix of friends from the farthest-flung corners of the globe to celebrate. Thanks to YouTube I can now catch all the action from the ceremony that I missed when I was taking shelter under my umbrella as the weather gods gave the new couple the rarest of signs - a thunder storm in Vancouver!

Click on the photo above to see a selection of pictures I took during the ceremony, or click below for a musical montage of people at the big do!

Back, and on the verge of updating!

2007-07-25T13:52:00.000+02:00

Well, back in Amsterdam, and stationary (mostly) for the next 6 months! I'll get around to updating when we get the pictures back this weekend, but until then entertain yourself laughing at my slowness with my running widget over there on the left, and make a Simpsons avatar for yourself

One week until I click my ruby slippers

2007-06-03T08:55:00.000+02:00

Well, right around 1 week to go down under. Work hasn't been as busy as I might have hoped, but it has given me lots of time to explore the many wonders of the interweb, and to explore long-forgotten links in my bookmarks (does anyone actually use them more than once?). This includes two (count 'em!) South Park character generators - one on the official South Park site, and the other (semi-official) with more options but no apparent backgrounds. Go figure... Didn't stop me from getting carried away and making one for Kyla (and more with the both of us!)

It has also given me lots of time to catch up with Aussie pop culture - my first trip to see a live Aussie Rule Football match! To the unfamiliar, Aussie Rules can look like a full-contact version of Calvinball, but after viewing a few games on TV and watching a live AFL match I can assure you that.....it's pretty much a full-contact version of Calvinball :þ If Aussie Rules had gone to high school it would have been voted "The Sport most likely to result in grievous bodily harm". But don't take my word for it: watch this, and this, and this!. Oh, and this. The Sweet Science!

Having already watched cult classic The Castle (you know, for good luck), I decided a viewing of The Rage in Placid Lake was in order. I half-expected another Napoleon Dynamite dud (boom goes the dynamite!), especially since the lead in the movie is Ben Lee, whose brand of bubble-gum pop doesn't exactly exude charisma or intelligence. Happily, I was off-base with my bias, as Lee and Rose Byrne (rrrrow) carried off a virtually cliche-free coming-of-age flick worthy of a repeat viewing.

So, with my time in Australia drawing to a close (for now, anyways), and with AFL, Vegemite, and Ute notches in my bedpost (metaphorically speaking) I am really looking forward to getting back to Amsterdam for all of 2 days before heading back to Canada for several weeks this summer. I am in Vancouver from June 16th to 29th, then in Ontario from June 30 to July 8th. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone when I am home, especially those of you wise enough to avoid Facebook!

Cheers!

This weblog post brought to you by the Threatening Bears

2007-05-27T04:30:00.000+02:00

Been soaking up a bit too much Australian TV the last few months (for want of anything better to do). I have been mildly amused by the antics of the Threatening Bears on the Australian Broadcasting Company's program Sideshow .

While a little bit hit-and-miss in terms of content, the bears (creations of The Umbilical Brothers it would appear) are reliably entertaining, most likely because they are only ever on for 30 seconds at a time :) Here's some clips for your enjoyment.

Ah-nold
More Ah-nold
Koala Meets the Threatening Bears
The Bears catch a cab

Insight into the human condition in Australia: this one's for you, Stefan!

2007-05-14T07:45:00.000+02:00

Like a llama, or and Emu!

2007-05-12T15:37:00.000+02:00

Phew! So it goes something like this: head north from Perth to a koala park (see the last post for a cute pic) in Yanchep (not making any names up, by the way) where we whiled away an afternoon snapping pics while the locals celebrated Anzac Day in the park. Then onwards to Pinacles National Park where a sunset snuggle under weathered limestone spires was interrupted by a pair of emus wandering through on their way do to whatever it is emus do (other than costing Gordon a million dollars).

We stayed in a nice hostel in Cervantes (a small coastal fishing town that has embraced its Spanish name-sake as much as a small coastal fishing town cares to) and I had a very Australian mutton-chops and mash meal, sans VB - the local tipple of choice. The next morning it was back on the road, this time hugging the coast line on a stretch of road well-traveled by the local vacationers. Spectacular, wind-swept stretches of coast-line and loads of persistent (yet otherwise harmless) flies awaited us as we worked towards Kalbari, which was much like a small Okanagan town but with cuter accents and the noisier hostels. Kyla was forced to come to terms with my dominating athletic skills (yet again) as I triumphed over great adversity (namely a somewhat tipsy groundskeeper) to capture the 1st annual K&K West Australian putt-putt championship . Afterwards I celebrated like all pro athletes....with a tramp...trampoline...

The next day it was off to World Heritage Site Monkey Mia, reknown for its docile dolphin population which Kyla captured (photographically) in all their glory. She even got a chance to feed one! No visit to a marine heritage site would be complete without visiting the stromatolite population (go, go algae!), one of only two living colonies in the world if the local signage is to be believed. We spent a good while in Monkey Mia until the turning weather encouraged us to get back on the open road (we *almost* made the fringe of the outback, and we *did* cross the rabbit proof fence!) and it was a good thing we did: we made it to Hutt River just in time for Prince Leonard's afternoon tour of his principality!

It was probably one of the more "off the beaten path" things one can do in Western Australia. Actually, considering Hutt River seceded from Australia some 30 odd years ago, I guess technically it wasn't even in WA. We got our passports stamped by Prince Leonard himself to prove it! A really engaging individual, spending a few hours with HRH was easily one of the highlights of a trip full of highlights - you could even say I left feeling "Double Engergized!"

Geraldton for the night following our departure from Hutt River and then another winding trip through another of Australia's wine regions (Swan Valley, just 30 minutes outside Perth) wrapped up the last of our car-bound travels in Oz :) Happily public transit server the rest of our needs during Kyla's vist!

Zippy three weeks

2007-05-08T11:52:00.000+02:00

Well a whirlwind three weeks came and went as Kyla visited me in the Antipodes. Due to some minor glitches/hang-ups at work (booo!) I was able to take a fair bit of time to travel with Kyla (yay!) up and down the west coast of Australia (ooooh, ahhh).

The first leg of our trip led us south along the Cape Leeuwin coast through Margaret River, the heart of Western Australia's wine country. On the way down, we encountered penguins (at penguin island, naturally) and our first herd of wild kangaroos, although grazing on the front lawns of a residential community probably doesn't fit the dictionary definition of 'wild'.

It was a lot of fun to see trees and animals and natural waterways after trouping around the rather manufactured Dutch landscape for the last little while. Making it all the way down to the south-western most point in Australia, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, I had a chance to bust some poses with the Pook Toque that the Badger and Michelle sent me. A cannon-ball run back to Perth concluded our first weekend roadie, and whet our appetite for what was to come :)

A brief history of groundwater in Oz

2007-04-19T05:21:00.000+02:00

Here's a little video clip courtesy of Australia's nation broadcaster ABC, who recently broadcast this piece about the water issues in Perth. Simon, interviewed in the clip, is one on my myriad supervisors here, and he does a good job of discussing the applications of the research I am involved with. Sorry to say it's a Windows Media Player file, and firefox users will have to right-click to get it to play, but hopefully neither of those facts will detract from the content :)

Tally-ho!

Blogging Matilda

2007-04-03T10:18:00.000+02:00

G'day! Two weeks into my stay in Oz and all's well. I have managed to get my internal clock on Perth time relatively quickly, since the sun and 30+ degree heat makes sleeping during the day somewhat difficult. I also quickly settled into the new workplace, which was a little too easy after more than two years on hiatus. Ah, student living is good times :) But enough preamble, let's talk shop shall we? What pray tell is going on in Perth other than the nice weather? I am glad I asked!

I am working with the Land and Water division of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO, to its friends) in the early stages of a project that is hoping to address part of the water supply shortage that Perth is facing. The last six years have been amongst the driest years on record in the Perth area (and indeed across much of Australia). 2006, as I understand it, was *the* driest year since convicts were first overheard saying "Yeah, but at least we're not in Canada. Pass the vegemite, mate."

In addition to the obvious lack of rain associated with droughts, there is also extreme stress put on what little available water there is - groundwater levels plummet as increasing volumes are extracted from the regional aquifers, and surface water is subject to evaporation as it sits in reservoirs eagerly waiting for people to ignore the watering ban. The project I am involved with is looking at ways to reverse the lowering of the regional water table and to retain water against evaporation by injecting water underground. As straight-forward as it is (and as established as it is in countries like the Netherlands), managed aquifer recharge isn't the first thing that pops into the minds of many policy makers.

The project is two-fold. The first part looks at a process called aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) - basically injecting surface water into aquifers well below the land suface (200-300m in this case), then extracting it again some time in the future. Well away from the evaporative powers of the sun, and deep enough that your local gas station isn't going to crap it up with their leaking tanks, water can be stored during the wet season and recovered at another time when water is less abundant. While ASR can be used to do some dodgy bookkeeping (not unlike a lot of carbon-offsetting schemes) it provides a great way to retain water for future use.

The second part of the project (and a little more "controversial" if you follow the local tabloids) is looking at the effects of injecting treated sewage water (notice the word "treated" there, since the tabloids often don't) to maintain the watertable in the most vulnerable aquifers. Since there are Gigalitres (Giga!) of fresh water annually discharged directly from the treatment plant into the ocean, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to wonder if it couldn't be put to better use. And fortunately for CSIRO, I am the least rocket-surgeony person I know :) While the treated water could be extracted in the same way as the ASR water, the "yuck" factor is too high for some people, so don't expect to be seeing the Mr. Hanky promotional campaign coming to a school near you any time soon.

For my humble contribution I will be working on physical (yay, columns!) and digital (yay, rows and columns!) models of the reactions that take place when these different waters are introduced into various aquifers - it's not quite so simple as inject and forget, especially when it comes to injecting oxygen-rich surface waters into oxygen-free aquifers. Hopefully we can come up with some solid data (complete with pretty pictures for the tabloids, of course) supporting the use of these processes in the Perth area. And if I get a tan in the process, all the better!

Hello America, how are ya?

2007-03-25T08:18:00.000+02:00

ArrrrroooooO!

Howling good times (har, har) during our latest sojourn. This time we headed back to the homeland (almost) with a trip to Chicago and New York (security alert status: Orange, if you care for that kind of thing). Like our long weekend in Berlin, this trip was prompted by one of Kyla's conferences (and the last of her Ph.D. career).

We had 5 days in the windy city, which was only slightly colder than a witch's *** when we arrived, and it didn't take a turn for the better when the winds picked up later in the week. Braving the elements, Adam and Colleen were kind enough to drive down from London (Ont) to see us for a few days, although I suspect that fiver I borrowed from Adam back in aught-one provided the motivation on their end :)

It was my second time in Chicago, and my positive memories from the first trip through (on the way to New Orleans for New Year's Eve 1999/2000) were reinforced on this trip. On our first day in town we took a walk through Millennium Park, where the "Cloud Gate" sculpture formed the focal point for a great outdoor arts and recreation park in the heart of "The Loop". After having a look around the obligatory Frank Ghery building (this time an outdoor amphitheater) we headed off in search of food that didn't involve polish sausages.

We were able to catch Gomez and Ben Kweller in concert during the week, and made the requisite pilgrimage to Second City (of SCTV fame) for a Friday sketch-comedy show. It was a brilliantly funny show where Kyla and I managed to avoid getting pulled up on stage which, I suppose, is one of the unwritten perks of getting upsold on the souvenir drinking glasses!

After whiling away a Saturday morning saying good-bye to the Aarbuses over brunch atop the Hancock Centre, we headed for the airport with the looming threat of flight delays or cancellations. The weather gods were smiling upon us, though, as our plane to New York departed on time through the same breaks in the clouds that made the lunch setting so spectacular.

We arrived in Newark Airport (where we spent more than enough time delayed on our trip through to Chicago) to find Anne waiting for us at the airport. She seemed invigorated from what she referred to as her "cultural experience" of taking public transport through New Jersey. A night of socializing was followed by a day of taking in the Brooklyn highlights, which included bagel eating (yum!) and seeing the "Broken Angel" building which was used as the backdrop for Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Coincidentally enough, Block Party was showing on TV on one of our first nights back in Amsterdam.

The first day in Brooklyn aside, our time in NYC centred entirely around Manhattan. Specifically, it centred entirely around the eating and shopping parts of Manhattan. And despite all the subway riding we did, we managed to walk what seemed like the entire length of Manhattan every day - including one nighttime trek across the Brooklyn Bridge! Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, Katz's Deli (of When Harry Met Sally infamy), H&H Bagels, NY's biggest bookstore, and many veggie dinners with Anne and Jenne (what up, Jenne!) filled our days and nights. Another pilgrimage to the 5th Avenue Toys R' Us and FAO Schwartz was just a little more entertaining than it is supposed to be for a 31 year-old, but Chewie seemed happy for the company. The only real down-side was a failed attempt to get in to see the Daily Show (but now we have the secret-secret email address for our next time through town!).

So yeah, cool times. Unlike the hot, hot times here in Perth as I write this. I got into town a few days back and have already managed to take in a large number of the sights, thanks to the family that is hosting me, my supervisor, and my good friend Madeleine (another alum of the NYE 99/00 trip to New Orleans - small world, eh?). Real work starts tomorrow, but I think it's about time I got around to actually doing some of that, n'est pas? Just hope I remember how!

Cheers for now!

My thesis, take....3?

2007-01-30T20:28:00.000+01:00

Well, a while back I wrote to the Canadian Government to see if I could combine my thesis research with their need for skilled hydrologists to tackle the water problems in rural native communities across Canada. I never did hear back from anyone I attempted to contact.

So, next on the plate was a potential project that would have seen me going to Kazakhstan to test some sort of remedial technology on behalf of the Dutch Government. I never did hear anything more on that one after the initial meeting before Christmas.

So now something much more promising has come along, this time in Australia (crikey!). The westernmost states of Australia are quite starved for water and, as the stress on their aquifers increases, they seem to be fixin' to do something about it. There's a good discussion of the problems at this blog from down under.

Anyways, nothing is finalized or even pre-finalized so I won't count my dingos before they they cross the rabit-proof fence. But here's hoping :)

Vive La Revolution!

2007-01-28T14:29:00.000+01:00

Well, as I have ranted about a wee bit, it seems that the digital media boom hasn't made better photographers, just more prolific crappy photographers. The open source revolution, on the other hand, seems to be helping me produce superior-quality academic works.

At the suggestion of Matt and Ben, as well as the insistence of my faculty, I have started using LaTeX to produce all my documents. Specifically I have been using TeXnicCenter for all my text editing work over the last year with excellent results. And now I have started using Inkscape for all my graphics needs.

Sadly, these resources don't absolve me from having to fill the well laid-out and illustrated publications with actual content, but if I end up with a steaming pile of academic poo at the end at least it will be aesthetically pleasing. And if the end result does pass muster I intend to post bits of it in Wikipedia, the new face of open-source bureaucracy.

Oh for the love of.....

2007-01-25T18:32:00.000+01:00

Ok, so here's the catch. My university, let's call it the "VU", aka Vrije Universiteit, aka The Free University of Amsterdam, isn't recognized by the Canadian Revenue Agency for "tuition tax credit purposes". So now they want some money back...

Oddly enough, the Vu *is* recognized by the branch of the federal government that issues student loans. So, robbing Peter to pay Paul I re-routed some of that student loan money that I got to attend university to pay the CRA since, apparently, I'm not attending university.

But, they assure me, there is an appeals process. All *I* have to do is have the VU write to the CRA to get some r-e-s-p-e-c-t, erm, recognition. To help me with this, the CRA gave me..... an address. No forms, no list of useful documents, no criteria for recognition. Just an address. And a PO Box at that... Hrumph.

So, since cussing out the tax man isn't always the most productive activity, I have decided to get old-school on them... I've decided to share with them the finest profanities the Good Book(tm) has to offer. Witness my new tactic in action, excerpted from a the transcript of a recent call:

CRA: Good afternoon, Mr. Horner, how can we help you today.
KH: Yeah, hi, I'm calling about my tax return.
CRA: Ok, is there something specific?
KH: I'll say! Take heed, O ye love-crazed Gittite, for you will go on a diet of crunchy, unsweetened locusts!
CRA: Um, do you have the column number that corresponds to.....
KH:Harken, O thou child of Jezebel, for you will be smitten with all-over boils!
CRA: Sir, can I remind you that we do have your address on file?
KH: Behold, thou shalt beget difficult teenagers, thou son of a Philistine!
CRA: If you will just hold for one moment sir, I'll get my supervisor....

Anyways, not one of my finer moments, but dang if it doesn't beat kowtowing to them...

Back in Amsterdam (for now....)

2007-01-17T11:40:00.000+01:00

And now for those photos I promised :)

Back again from another amazing trip. I am almost thinking of doing a Ph.D. just for the perks. Of course that would mean that I would have to work and Kyla would live a life of leisure, so.... nahhhhh!

We were put up in a gated resort community about 20 minutes away from the interesting parts of town, so when the conference was over we Kyla and I promptly packed up and went back to our favourite hotel from last year's travels, the Wida Hotel right neat Kuta Beach. Shaking off the traumatic memories of last year's surfing debacle, I was able to return to the beach where it all happened. Of course, having spent so much time (too much time, frankly) in Kuta last year, we only stayed long enough to sort out "transport" to desolate tropical island #1 of the trip, Gili Air.

Gili Air is one of three small islands off the NE coast of Lombok (aka "the new Bali"). We chose the quieter of the three islands for our recreational activities, which included working out (for no longer than it took to capture on film) in a rather novel gym facility (see below).

Plenty mellow after almost a week on Gili Air, we headed back to Bali to catch our flight to Singapore, where we made sure to stake out all the best shopping locations for when we returned for NY Eve. Lack of pre-planning combined with the holiday seasons (Xmas, New Years and Eid were piled on top of each other this year, pretty much) meant that our plans to go to Malaysian Borneo were quashed by high air fares and low availability of other transport options. Happily, a quick foray into those shopping centres previously mentioned resulted in a purchased copy of Lonely Planet's beaches of Thailand (2006 edition) and a mischievous glint in Kyla's eyes.

So, onwards to Kuala Lumpur it was on what can only be described as one of the most luxurious yet poorest scheduled bus networks the civilized world has ever devised. With business class seating for all, even for the cockroaches (don't ask), these busses leave in the middle of the night and arrive in.... the middle of the night. *Harumph*

KL, as it's affectionately known, was a much bigger dose of SE Asian urban reality than Singapore. More in line with our experiences in Jakarta (and free of that Nanny State police force that defines Singapore) KL was chaotic, frenetic and just a wee bit pungent. The contrasts were not quite as stark as in Jakarta, but there was no questioning the influence of the "new money" influx resulting from the tech boom of the 90's. The Petronas Towers and environs are at home in any major metropolis, though the fact that they almost stand alone in the urban landscape underscores a city interrupted by recent regional financial crises.

Another poorly scheduled (and poorly fumigated) bus ride later and we found ourselves in southern Thailand's regional transit hub on our way to desolate tropical island #2. Ko Tarutao National Marine Park is located off the SW coast of Thailand and the 50+ islands in the park are very well preserved by the efforts of the Thai government. One island in the chain, populated prior to the granting of National Park status, is the home of resort development in the park. While we opted for rustic eco-tourism within the park boundaries, the other 99% of the ferry passengers chose the resorts. Go figure. I mean, who would possibly want to stay in a place that looks like the picture below when there are resorts with, like, amenities and stuff?

The park facilities were fantastic, and provided a great opportunity to see hornbills, dolphins and GIGANTIC RED JELLYFISH AND NO I WON'T GO SNORKELING WITH THEM... erm, and a 1.5m monitor lizard that probably thought I looked quite like a tasty morsel. Things get mighty big in the tropics, including me when fed a steady diet of fine Thai and Malay cooking :)

After another therapeutic week of near solitary vacationing in Thailand, we headed back to the south for New Year's Eve in Singapore. Souvenir shopping in Little India, China Town and electronics malls far larger than reason would necessitate filled the short time before the renown Singapore fireworks extravaganza, which coupled fireworks over the bay (akin to Symphony of Fire) with synchronized fireworks launched off the tops of the office towers in the Central Business District. And Lasers :) OOooooOOooooh!

And then, our time was done. Barely had a chance to get a New Year's his n' hers manicure before settling in for the long flight back to Amsterdam and a resumption of our his n' hers studies.

I hope everyone had a great holiday, and I can't wait to see everyone this summer when we are back in Canada!

Cheers!

Belated Holiday Wishes :)

2007-01-07T15:07:00.000+01:00

And we're back! While I am waiting to spend a load of money developing pictures from our trip (remind me why we don't totally switch to digital?) I thought I could share with you the small selection of pics we did capture electronically. Kyla has posted them on her site, and you can pop over there by clicking the chocolate fighting robots below!

Keep in mind we have 13 more rolls at the photoshop, so there is much more to come.

So, in lieu of christmas/hanukkah greeting cards or other sentimental schlock, here is a very festive holiday greeting all the way from the internet's deepest realms: You Tube.

Happy New Year, everyone, and more to come when we get the pics back :)

Cheers!

Berlin Berthday, erm, Birthday

2006-11-30T23:26:00.000+01:00

Well, after many many months of dealing with what I figure to be a faulty light meter on my old camera Kyla got me a shiny new (old) camera of identical make and vintage via some shady dealings on "the internets". So, with Kyla's presentation keeping her occupied for a partly cloudy Saturday in Berlin, I took the liberty of wandering around and seeing the sites through the lens of my new (old) camera.

Happily, I can report that as of this posting any future photographic blunders will fall squarely on my shoulders as the new (old) camera worked like a charm. And with Kyla shooting plenty of supporting photos with her camera and good old (new) digi-cam, we should be all set for Asia this xmas, thanks :)

Lots of amazing things to see in Berlin - yet another European centre that lives up to its billing (and reputation). Berlin really feels like it has a reverence for the past but is not dwelling on it. The monuments ranged from from classical and iconic to contemporary and sombre. Some monuments truely captured the spirit of modern Germany while other sites completely missed the point. At least, I hope they missed the point...

Anyways, not a lot to ramble on about today as I have been busy preparing for (and writing) my final exam ever (wee-ow!) and helping Kyla move our possessions down 1 entire floor to our new appartment/flat/whatever, officially registering as the easiest move I have ever taken part in. And we now have 2 days to get sorted in the new place before heading off for Kyla's conference in Bali, followed by our xmas travels.

So, in light of that, I will leave you with a few moments of G-dub, who would make us laugh a lot more if we weren't busy crying as we realize he is Prezident of Da Werld.

Sushi Sudoku Yoga, or, What I Did On My Summer Vacation

2006-11-11T18:43:00.000+01:00

Ah, I love Vancouver. It's like east meets east meets east, but without the lingering fallout of recent nuclear tests. Until the wind shifts, at least...

My temporary, albeit extended, homecoming was sprinkled with numerous domestic cultural experiences. It all started with a Zero7 concert at the fab-u-lus Commodore Ballroom. That was followed up by an sojurn to the Vancouver Comedy Festival showing of David Cross' Tinkle, featuring a cameo by Janeane Garofolo.

But all of these things paled in comparison to the tour-de-force that was cinema auteur Uwe Boll challenging his critics to a boxing match - one man's quest to take shallowness to new depths. It would have been an all new low for society if only Bill Shatner had come to sing the national anthem. But instead we got children playing with swords and overpriced mini-donuts. At the prices they were selling at, you would almost expect them to be made of printer ink...

Anyways, after more than two months enjoying the hospitality of all the friends and family in BC, we made it back to Amsterdam well rested. All that extra energy can now be focused on panicking about the looming deadlines we are both facing for our respective theses. I guess I should probably get a topic then....

But instead of being productive, we caught The Knife and Mates of State in concert at Paradiso almost as soon as I got back into town. The Knife make fun music, but really weren't that engaging live. Mates of State on the other hand pretty much rocked the place, which is saying a lot considering they are a two-piece comprised of drums and keyboards.

Those shows may be our last for a while now that I have paid tuition and the monsoon season seems to have started over here. I think we will pretty much be shut-ins for the next several months. Well, we do have the birthday weekend extravaganza to keep us pre-occupied this weekend.... Then Berlin the following weekend.... So we should be cool until we leave for Indonesia in December...

I suppose this is a good time to extoll the numerous virtues of the BC and Canada Student Loan systems, eh?

Speaking of birthdays, a special thanks goes out to Anne from "A bluer, smarter, America" for the prompt birthday wishes - Kyla had a silly grin on her face when she got the text. Please wish the Honourable Governor of Iowa all the best in his upcoming presidential campaign. And also, tell Mr. Soros that the United Kyle College Fund is always accepting contributions.

Anyways, that's that for now. When I get a moment, I will put up some links from the Badge's wedding this summer, as well as some excerpts from the speech I gave as BM (or bff, as Jess would say) at the wedding. I have totally been getting milage out of the cool moneyclip that all the groomsmen received, what with all that student loan money and all.

Cheers!
Kyle

My new side project

2006-11-10T22:33:00.000+01:00

No, not owl-craft.

Like all artistes I have diversified my portfolio. While I am not as creative as Chris who ended up with 2nd place in the Salazar Awards last summer, I still do my thang undaunted. And in italics.

Thanks to a kind invite from my friend Jenne in the Big Apple I have joined in as a contributor to a new weblog designed to distract, inspire, and amuse the weary net-izen. In short, go check out Unstuck Your Brain while I remodel this here page. It's like a Be-All-dot-net, but with updating. And a girl.

You will be mildly amused.

See you soon!

Taking the slow boat....

2006-07-28T12:16:00.000+02:00

The time has come, the (aspiring) hydrologist said, to talk of many things. Of snowshoes and trips to hear wedding bells and to visit cabbages and kinks.

I get back into Vancouver August 1st at 2:30pm and, assuming that customs cooperates, I should be imbibing a cola squishee by 3. Man, I miss those things. Oh, and all you guys of course :P I have a whopping 2.5 months of couch surfing ahead of me, to be punctuated by time in local libraries and university reading rooms as I work on the various research projects I have been assigned. In a show of solidarity with the internet proletariat, I am planning on posting some of the material I have been commissioned to write for bachelor students on Wikipedia once I get the go-ahead.

In a show of solidarity with the Canadian proletariat I am planning on taking public transit (aka the Loser Cruiser, aka the Prolechariot - thanks Dale) a bunch whilst I am back home, so if you live near the skytrain or b-line you should probably set an extra place at the dinner table for the next few weeks... Which reminds me of the "Mass Transit is for Suckers" campaign Chris was working on with some of his pals from Danger Kids, who apparently think website content is for losers at the moment. Artists are such....artists sometimes.

Anyways, I digress. I look forward to catching up with everyone when I am back, especially those of you who live near a sev'.

Cheers!

Charge!!!!!

2006-07-10T16:28:00.000+02:00

Well, I made it back mostly in one piece. Mostly...

The field school blog, updated in the field by the staff and students, worked out really well, with some good anecdotes (if you like hydrology anecdotes) and pictures designed to lure future students to the program. Check it out to get more of a sense of what one does in Portugal for 6 weeks in the middle of the summer (other than get tanlines between one's fingers).

When last I updated I had just left a salt cavern located 230m below the tourist golf courses of southern Portugal for the more temperate climes of the north. The picture below was taken of a carving made in the walls of the salt cavern by a art professor acompanying his asthmatic daughter to the salt mines for some vaso-therapy. No, really.

Travel from Faro to Aveiro via Lisbon led to our final field destination, and I gathered all my pictures of Coimbra, Porto and other cities into one location for ease of perusal. Some of the pictures even include my better half with a rather fetching medieval flower wreath in her hair. Of course, some of the pictures feature me with a rather fetching mediaeval flower wreath in my hair, so be warned.

The last part of the trip in the north was more labour intensive than the first. When we weren't watching football or lounging at the beach, that is. We spent the first week setting up all our hydrological equipment (for measuring rivers, rain, groundwater and most everything else we could think of), so that we would have something to do for the last few weeks other than try to figure out where to have lunch and playing with the fish-eye camera...

We had great weather for the last bit, including a few major thunderstorms - the first real weather I have seen in a long while. Amsterdam is just a little too much like Vancouver for my likings in that regard. The rain made for some good measurements, although that meant the final reports were waaaaay longer than we had hoped.

But in the end all is well - I am getting my life sorted so I can spend the next 2.5 months back in the homeland. Looking forward to seeing everyone, not least of all Mr. and Mrs. Swift with their nuptials recently passed, The Badgers with their nuptials imminent, and Demian with his nuptials recently announced. Come to think of it, my sidebar is quite the hotbed of matrimonial activity.... Anyone wishing to have their link removed can contact me at their leisure :)

As for me, I am sure that my 24 karat visage and my 4 carat smile will be more than enough to keep Kyla content for the long-run. Am I right or am I right?

Cheers!
Kyle!

I need a vacation from this vacation!

2006-06-05T23:57:00.000+02:00

Well, sheesh, where to begin? I wanted to give a quick update in case anyone wondered if I fell of the face of the internets. We are just past the midpoint of my time in Portugal - 3 weeks down, three to go. Kyla comes into town this week (woot!) and we are going to Porto and other terribly romantic places.

Portugal has been brilliant thus far (weather, people, fruit, etc, etc, etc). The first two weeks we spent in the southern Algarve region were loads of fun, with eating, beaching and working getting equal priority (if not exactly equal time, sadly). It was a classic mediterranean coastal community, with white-washed buildings and farmer-filled cafes. We even delved into a salt mine 230m below ground (200m below sea level even) via a vertical shaft. Fortunately for me, I was aboveground when the power to the elevator cut out.

Our transition to the north was via Lisbon where we spent 36 hours zipping about seeing the many sights. We then rushed to Aveiro (where we will finish our work) because the UEFA Under-21 round robin match between the Netherlands and Italy was taking place. Happily for everyone involved (see the above picture) the Netherlands won. A semi-final victory over France and we booked our train tickets to Porto to catch the final match of the tournament. Result? NL:3 Ukraine 0! Bedlam and mayhem rolled into one! Brialliant match dominated by the Dutch and apparently we (dressed in the finest orange!) were seen on TV screens across the EU. Jessica even ended up gracing the pages of the world press! I swaped caps with some friendly Ukranian fan, and now know what the official colours of the Ukraine are (blue and yellow, if you get it in Trivial Pursuit)

Anyways, please peruse the pics I have put at at my usual spot. I promise there is more to come in the near future. You can also check our the course weblog lovingly (or soon to be lovingly) maintained by everyone!

Hope that all is well!
Cheers!

Kyle!

Field School Turn-Around

2006-05-10T18:25:00.000+02:00

Well, back for a quick break (6 days) between the first and second field courses this summer. And I don't use 'summer' liberally - it's downright hot currently. 25 degrees in Amsterdam, and more than likely hotter in Portugal.

The first field course was a lot of fun. We stayed in cabins at a campsite located very near to the Dutch/German border. On our 'free day' last Sunday we hopped on the bicycles and rode into Germany and visited the sandstone castle at Bad Bentheim. It was neat because the castle was constructed on and out of an outcrop of the sandstone we were using as the base of study back in the Netherlands.

For now it's now a short break to recharge, repack and relax before leaving for Portugal next week. Also have to hang the hammock for Kyla so she can enjoy the weather from our deck. Sadly there will be no Radiohead concert for us, though, as it was cancelled due to 'personal reasons'. Word is that it is re-scheduled for August when we are back in Canada, so Kyla is sad twice or thrice over.

So I hope that everyone is well - more news from me when I get set in Portugal!

Cheers!

Holiday Sight Seeing

2006-04-29T20:39:00.000+02:00

Year one done! Completed my last exams yesterday (Friday) and now I am preparing for two months of field school. I am happy to get out and about (10 days in the the eastern Netherlands followed by 6 weeks in Portugal) for field work after 8 months of deskwork under grey skies (with not a single stat holiday until easter!)

We made the most of the easter weekend by taking a bicycle trip along the local river to Muidenslot (Muiden Castle, I think), about 15km from Amsterdam. We passed the church on our way along the river, and made our way through the farmlands to Muiden. The castle and adjacent nature reserve were our intended destination, but there happened to be a tall-ship festival of sorts at the locks in Muiden, so we took some time to walk the docks.

We also got to see a bmx-jumping competition that took place on one of the pedestrian bridges spanning the Amstel - some spills, some thrills and some photos which I will post after I get some rolls developed after the first leg of my field courses.

So ttfn - it sounds like we will have internet access throughout the field excursions, so I will do my best to keep the pics up-to-date.

Cheers!

Working hard or hardly.... What, you're "Published"?

2006-04-10T21:31:00.000+02:00

Well, two and one-half years later and Kyla has managed to get her first ever journal article accepted - tell your local newsagent to make sure they have the November issue of Global Environmental Politics which is published by MIT Press, no less. JS can probably hook you up with the ISBN if you need.

On a personal note, I am really excited about this prestigious occurence. Not because, as a caring boyfriend, I am sharing in Kyla's joy for the academic peer acceptance this represents. No, I am excited because now I have a chance to get some idea of what it is that Kyla is researching :) An outside chance, but a chance nonetheless.

It should be obvious that Kyla did not consult me, my comma-splices or my blog-honed Engrish for this paper. The same cannot be said for my instructors and classmates who routinely consult me for pronunciation of various words. Generally their pronunciation is excellent, although I find that subSTract is always used instead of subtract, and the use of abstract in place of extract is commonplace. Less academically, the concepts of "borrowing" and "lending" are represented by a single word in Dutch, and double-digit numbers are expressed in a "reversed" notation (seven and thirty vs. thirty-seven), so there are regular stumbles when dealing with finances.

All in all, the Dutch grasp (and Kyla's for that matter) of the English language leaves me with little passive material for my weblog. Happily, the internets provide a cornucopia of material to work with.

The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills

2006-03-28T16:09:00.000+02:00

42

Kismet?

Prescience?

Co-inky-dink?

I've got my towel, just in case. This could be one wacky ride.

Music Filter Encore

2006-03-28T14:10:00.000+02:00

Okee dokee - in a plan to put my (read: Kyla's) money where my (read: my) mouth is, Kyla and I plan to grab some tickets to see The Organ when they roll through town next month. They will join the ranks of Snow Patrol and Death Cab for Cutie, both of whom we have seen in performance recently. Snow Patrol, alas, was better on album, but Death Cab was brilliant. Listening to them now as I type, as a matter of fact.

All this is overshadowed (in Kyla's eyes) by our acquisition of a few tickets to see Radiohead in one of their primer shows for this summer's N.A. tour. Heineken Music Hall's capacity is about 3000 people, so this show will be like seeing U2 playing in a pub. Um... Make that Radiohead. In a hall. But you get the point. And that point is that I love rehashing old posts. And stating the obvious. Like I just did. In the previous statement.

Kyla just told me that there will be a Radiohead cover album coming out asap - Sia from Zero7 covers Paranoid Android, and the Mark Ronson / Alex Greenwald (of Phantom Planet fame) version of Just is rattling around MTV. Sia, incidentally, has a new album on the way, as does Zero7, with the first single featuring Jose Gonzales. Looks like a good summer for new musics!

Also off to see Iron and Wine with Calexico (or is it vice-versa?) It's like the live version of a split-sided 45, which is in fitting with their joint EP released last year. It will be a good chance for me to see Amsterdam's neighbour city Utrecht on purpose, rather than accidentally as I did last week when my train didn't stop at it's normal station. Sigh. Full moon, what are you gonna do? Arooooooooo!

Finally, I have been enjoying the podcast for NPR's All Songs Considered, and they have a great selection of live shows from some top bands. CBC Radio Three's podcast is hit or miss, but their coverage of SxSW last week was one of their better shows. Of course they are all pale shadows of the the Beeb's massive collection, but at least they are trying.

Cheers!

ps. Thanks for the comment, Drew. It's nice to know my ramblings get the occasional glance from peeps.

pps. Hope none of you were planning on seeing Moz

ppps. Aroooooooo!

Gretzky Shoots, Jeebus saves!

2006-03-25T11:29:00.000+01:00

Well, well, well. Drew just told me that my weblog's success has resulted in the web's version of the sincerest form of flattery - specifically a sort of domain name-mimicry that cashes in on a slip of the finger when dialing me up! The offending website can be found at http://bannedintheredstates.blogpot.com. Ah, but before you copy-paste, I didn't hyper-link it for a reason: read on and discover, oh intrepid, erm, readers!

My first though was what to make of this site? What 'netizen' would be so zealous in their lust for web traffic? What purveyor of internet content would so righteously crusade for 'click-throughs'? Who suffers from such sloth and envy that they would covet the blogspot address so? An excellent question, my (metaphorical) brothers, and one which I promptly set out to investigate.

My first assumption? Adulterers. Nay, incorrect. Bearers of false witness? Nay, this site was not beget by such bearers. After extensive sleuthing, it was revealed to me that all subdomains of the offending "blogpot.com" redirect to a site extolling the word of none other than Our Lord (tm) Jeebus.

For those of you who may say "Gosh, he sounds familiar, but I just can't place him", I have included a picture to jog your memories (That's him in the white). I'll let you insert the punch-line here: _________________________________________.

So anyways, it seems that this Jeebus chap (and also capital-g-god) are getting a little less of the usual PR coverage than they deserve. Or at least the Jeebus and "God" observed by the proprietors of this other website. I think some of the other prophets have been getting more than their share of (illustrated) attention lately.

After briefly navigating this site, I now rest assured that whilst the Holy Trinity may find many things objectionable, apparently pop-ups and back-door ActiveX installations are not included on the list. For those MS-inclined intending to visit that site, Caveat Explorer.

All this has served to remind me of a different sort of diety (of the non-noodley variety, no less) whose word I have been enjoying as of late. Those of you who attended Peri's wedding may recall his gospel, and all others may tremble in fear at Cthulhu's righteousness. For as Ben sagely noted (sorry I didn't get those speed-skater pics I promised for your bday) "Cthulhu saves: so he eat later"

Music Filter

2006-03-11T17:00:00.000+01:00

Aight, so I spammed you all with the email about the awesomeness that is Dragonforce! Just in case you haven't converted yet, get on it! If you don't then Chuck Norris will roundhouse kick you in the dangly Nicklebacks.

Of course, awesome music might not be your cuppa. In which case, there are still some things floating around out there that may pique your interest - take, for instance, The Organ, a Canadian band other than The Arcade Fire to get some press over here. The Organ will be playing at Paradiso, probably one of the cooler music venues in Amsterdam (in addition to Melkweg).

Also, in sort of a blast from the past, the guys at Low Morale who put together the animated Creep video a while back have a new video that is getting proper MTV airtime. The song is a little bit simplistic in the spirit of Jack Johnson, but the video has Optimus Prime and Mr. T, so that's cool.

Home again :)

2006-03-11T15:38:00.000+01:00

Well, it's a few weeks late, but I have managed to get most of my pictures from the Olympics up over at Flickr , and Kyla has also done the same. We also posted some of our pictures from around Turin and Milan (or Torino and Milano, if you are interested in authenticity).

Our hats and toques are off to our amazing host (and his family) in Torino - I don't think we ever had a moment of time unplanned, and we certainly never had an empty stomach :) Thanks a tonne, Sindicos!

The whole spectacle was a blast - the mountain venues were spectacular, and transit to the alpine venues was a (3 hour) breeze.

The urban venues that we saw were equally impressive. The main arena for hockey was beautiful, holding 11,000 people at capacity. The secondary venue, while less impressive, was a fan's dream - with less than a 4000 person capacity, watching olympic hockey there was akin to seeing U2 play in a pub. Shame it was the same venue that Canada lost ALL of their games in by a score of 2-0.

We never bothered to take in the medals ceremonies as the effort to get tickets was too great, and there was far too much on our agendas anyways. A day skiing and snowshoeing at Pila and another part-day snowboarding at the epic Sestriere made great 'filler' to our time watching hockey, boardercross, and bobsledding. And eating. Did I mention the food?

Although I wasn't there to see the race, we were in Torino when Jess' cousin Chandra won a gold medal for Canada. I know more people than Brian Williams will be celebrating that win. After Lisa, this is the fewest degrees K (kevin bacon) that I have been from an olympian.

So yah, it was dope. Save me some space on the couch, and we'll see you all in:

Oh, and one more thing

2006-02-13T16:29:00.000+01:00

Happy (belated) birthday, JS :) Sorry I didn't get you birthday wishes on your birthday but hey, I live in Amsterdam dammit!

Here's hoping that you get even more gregarious and garrulous (in the best possible way) in your coming years, and that the GM brings you that Drilbu you have had your eye on (at a below-market price!)

Happy happy day!

Chocopass!

2006-02-13T15:49:00.000+01:00

T minus one day! Tomorrow (Tuesday) is departure day for Torino. A red-eye (at least I consider a 7am departure to be red-eye) flight to Milan followed by a short train ride into Torino, and voila!

In preparing for the festivities, we have been soaking up all the preamble and hoopla in the days leading up to the Olympics from the opening ceremonies (well, during Charmed commercial breaks) to the Top Gear Car Olympics from whence I scooped this picture of a rocket-powered Mini 'participating' in the ski-jump competition.

Kyla, in fulfilling her role of team worrier, has been packed since before the weekend. I, on the other hand, have a more dynamic packing system and prefer to use a loosely-stuctured mnemonic system (and quite a bit of karma) to ensure that everything I need for the trip ends up in my bag. A random sampler of my packing list is included below for your review:

Tickets? Check.
Accomodations? Check.
Chocopass? Not yet, but ASAP!
Consideration enough to cheer reservedly whilst Canada pummels Italy in hockey? Erm...

I have also tracked down a good compilation of professional photos from the olympics, and some amateur photos as well. I will try to keep things as real-time as possible, although I suspect that the Ceeb will be a little more organized than me.

The Big O (aka More Cowbell)

2006-01-27T17:22:00.000+01:00

Well, the tickets have finally arrived (all save for the Canada v. Finland game which we will be collecting in the 'will call' fashion) and I feel it is my obligation, nay, my blogligation to get back in the weblog saddle again. The pic above is a scan of some of our tickets (Kyla signed for them this very morning) while the picture below is a shot of some of my planned apparel for the week or so we will be in Italy. Being of discerning eyes, I am sure you will notice the patriotic cowbell: a must for any true winter sports fan or any recently emancipated, flamboyantly gay cowboy from, say, Red Deer. It's my understanding that recently emancipated, flamboyantly gay cowboys from America are more likely to be seen sporting Academy Awards(tm).

We are scheduled to fly to Milan on Feb.14th (happy Valentine's day to us!) and then off to Torino/Turin from there. A week of taking in Torino's sights and sounds await us and we plan to punctuate skiing in the Alps (Matterhorn here I come) with two men's hockey games (Finland, as mentioned previously, as well as the opener against perennial powerhouse - and host country - Italy), a day watching Boardercross (think full-contact snowboarding on a snowy BMX track) and Bobsledding (think men in tight pants in tighter spaces). If tickets prices and availability conspire to enable us to catch more events then we will try to take in Freestyle Aerials or ski jumping as well.

Clicking on the pic of the tickets will take you to my (growing) Olympic photo gallery. Stay tuned for pics of snow, pizza, gelato, mountains and (just for you, Benny) speedskaters :)

Cheers for now!

Ha! Ha! I am on the internets!

2006-01-20T15:42:00.000+01:00

Dispatches from the Netherlands

My Darling, I have recieved your letters, and the guys really enjoy hearing your tales of cold nights on the homefront. It may seem mundane to you but to us it is a whole world away, like a child first hearing of Ali Baba and his theives sleeping under the open sky. It seems like an eternity since I left Canada for the European theatre (has it really been less than a year?) and my time here seems never-ending. There has been a lot of waiting lately. Sarge says to enjoy it while it lasts. A couple of the guys, Paco and Chad, have started drawing some funny books to help distract us. I don't really care for them, but some of the grunts have taken to translating them so the locals can read them. Back in basic they told us to make friends, so I guess this is one way. Living together like this really brings out the best in some people. Everyone is still talking about Chris and Adam's performance at the talent show and the platoon jester, Donut, had the whole unit in hysterics when he started singing show tunes in the mess hall last night. Sarge made him do 12 laps afterwards, but he could probably use the excercise! Things sure are different here, that's for sure. They have this type of music that you have to hear to believe, and the art and dancing is amazing. It's just a shame I couldn't be here under different circumstances. Anyways, I should sign off here. Sarge has some things he needs me to help him with - like they say, the spuds don't peel themselves. We keep joking that we are going to rename the mess hall something witty, but we couldn't think of anything that rhymes with potato. I have included a picture I took of the platoon for you. Paco and Chad are there, with Adam and Chris at the back. That's Donut on the right in the Med Helmet, and he's not even a doctor! What a joker! With my warmest regards, Kyle

Home for a rest

2005-11-30T11:48:00.000+01:00

Hola and howdy :)

In response to a few emails I have recieved recently, I wanted to let y'all know that I will be making my way back to Vancouver for the xmas season. My schedule, as it stands, is for me to be around town from the 18th of December to the 10th of January.

With the exception of sorting out my election elegibility and attending an, um, concert in January, I really have very little planned. So let me know what is going on (especially for NY eve). Clean off your guest couches and be prepared for many lunch dates in December!

See you soon!

Well, doesn't this just beat all?

2005-11-27T20:34:00.000+01:00

So, Conrad Black wants to be Canadian again?

Let me be the first to say: Aw... Muffin! Oh, and "no thanks."

Link Thievery Corporation

2005-11-16T12:14:00.000+01:00

I don't usually do much more with the links that I find whilst surfing the web other than put them into one of the many categories I have on the sidebar over there on the left.

However, I came across a link to Overheard in New York and its sister site Overheard in the Office while checking out Metafilter the other day, and I figured they deserved a mention.

Neither site really contains gut-busting laughs or startling revelations into humanity, but I still find them to be really, really interesting - sort of like a "second hand" Found, but without that nagging sense of disbelief.

Here's a sampler:

Kid #1: Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!
Kid #2: "Bam" doesn't blow up, "bam" makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can't defeat that!

No, truly, you cannot.

Three - Oh

2005-11-13T16:44:00.000+01:00

Well, if one sticks around long enough, this sort of thing is bound to happen. Still, it seems somewhat fitting that I turn 30 while living in Amsterdam, where the St. Andrew's Crosses on the flag and the coat of arms have given the world the (in)famous treble-X, which now accurately represents not only my loose morals, but also my time accrued in this mortal coil.

My birthday celebrations were pleasantly muted by 30th standards, partly due to my lack of drinking, and partly due to a minor disagreement stemming from Kyla's steadfast refusal to accept the new line item in my weekly allowance for "prunes and incontinence supplies." Besides the above bicycle trip where we did some photo-taking and goat-petting, I was whisked off to Fifteen (Amsterdam edition) for dinner and then to a comedy club specializing in mocking the Dutch. Combined with a cross-town trek and caribbean dinner for Kyla's birthday yesterday, I would say this weekend was just right.

But listen to me ramble - I don't mean to hog all the limelight - after all, today is also the birthday of famous notables like my childhood friend Troy, who sadly lacks an internet presence, except for a few half-marathon results and something to do with his former employer. Welcome to your fourth decade, buddy!

Robert Louis Stevenson also called today his own, as well as Prince Charles and, um, Whoopi Goldberg. There are others, of course, but all in all a most underwhelming list (except for Troy and Roert Louis Stevenson, they are cool-i-o).

So yah, 30 here I come - Matlock, Metamucil and Minoxidil- the holy trinity! Ear hair, motorized wheel chairs and and no more having to worry about cancelling the turn signal.

I think I am going to like it here.

Cheers!

Happy Birthday!

2005-11-11T20:59:00.000+01:00

Best to be delicate here - let's just say that if age were only a number, Kyla would certainly have hers unlisted.

For today I will content myself in the the mere 2 year (and 364 day) difference between us, and brace for the age-ist onslaught soon to come my way!

Happy Birthday Sweetie! Love you!