2008.05.26
Posted in House and Home, Photography at 8:18 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
Calgary is an interesting city when it comes to the weather. Perhaps my favorite weather-related joke about the city goes as follows:
In Calgary, winter is only 2 weeks long. Too bad it happens 20 times per year
In any case, I was out with the camera over the Victoria Day weekend, enjoying the weather. It’s a good thing, since this last weekend was rather wet and gray. We’re supposed to see the sun again sometime soon.
That would be nice. It’s been raining for about a week now. You’d think this was Vancouver or something. Yeesh.
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2008.05.08
Posted in House and Home, Technology at 7:29 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
For a number of reasons it was long-past-time to upgrade my copy of Photoshop Elements. I was running version 2, and I upgraded to version 6.
I should have guessed from the download size, but wow is version 6 ever a behemoth.
Version 2: 186MB
Version 6: 2.5GB
Ummmm….. Good thing I’ve got (or rather I had) plenty of free disk space. Yeesh. And bear in mind this is Photoshop‘s Little Brother.
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2008.04.15
Posted in House and Home at 9:32 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
It was time for a spring tune-up, so I took the bike into the shop, and got it back today. As I was picking up the bike, it started to snow.
This wouldn’t be remarkable, except the exact same thing happened last year. I picked up the bike, and had to ride home in the snow. Though last year the snow was heavier than this year.
At least this isn’t as spooky as the whole Thrice Three thing that happened to me two years ago when I flew to Fort Myers, FL. I guess we’ll see next year…
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2007.12.04
Posted in House and Home at 1:46 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
I had last Friday off work, and I’m also off all this week. I’ve been taking advantage of being home during the day and running my errands then instead of in the evenings. The difference is quite shocking.
On Friday, I took my car in for an oil change, picked up the last of my Christmas gifts, and also picked up some Rubbermaid containers to reorganize my linen closet (oh yes, I sure do know how to have fun). I was able to do all of that in about 2 hours. On a Saturday or Sunday, that would have taken at least 4 hours.
Even more noticeable was the errands I ran today. I went to renew my vehicle registration, and there was no line up. None. In and out in about 5 minutes. And, the coup de grace, Safeway on 10% Tuesday.
On the first Tuesday of every month, Safeway gives you 10% off your entire purchase as long as you spend at least $35. The downside of this is that the store is absolutely nuts. I normally avoid shopping on 10% Tuesday since the $7 or $8 I save is more than offset by the fact that it takes forever to get through the checkout lines. Nope, sorry, I have better ways to spend my Tuesday evening than standing in line at the grocery store.
But going before 11:00am was a totally different experience. The store was nice and empty. And, there was no lineup at the checkout. I just walked up and the cashier started ringing me in. Nice. I’m sure I would have hated it around 6:00pm.
Running my errands during the work day has been a good reminder that there is a definite downside to working a 9-5 type job. I do like having evenings and weekends free since those times are when my friends are also off work, but running errands definitely takes longer than it does during the day.
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2007.07.31
Posted in Board Games, Friends, House and Home, Parties at 8:34 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
In mid-July of 2006, I took possession of my condo. Just over a year later, I finally managed to have a housewarming party. Though I’m not sure it can still be called a housewarming party since it’s a year later.
In any case, it was a fun evening. A total of about 20 people showed up during the course of things, and somehow I managed to end up with more liquor than I started with. Funny how that happens.
The evening started rather routinely. Collin was already here, and Jason dropped by around 5:30 so we could get a bite to eat. My choice of a black tank top proved to be very poor given the stifling heat. I nearly melted by the time we got to Thai Thai, and it’s only a few blocks away. The bubble tea helped to cool me down a bit, and after we got back to the condo, I set about doing last-minute preparations (mostly dealing with food). Dave called at about 7:30 to say he would be late, then showed up at the door at about 7:50, which was technically 10 minutes early (the party officially started at 8:00). I had just gotten out of the shower, and Jason and Collin were playing Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation while I finished up with the food prep. Dave started playing against Collin after that, and they finally put the games away only when about 12 or so people had shown up.
The majority of folks showed up fashionably late around 9:00 or 9:30 (as I expected), and by 10:00 the place was pretty full. For my part, I spent the evening showing people my place, trying to keep tabs on food (thanks Collin and Jason for doing this), and trying to socialize with everyone. I invited a number of different groups of friends, many of whom had never met each other before, and it was interesting to see how people mixed.
A few things about the party stand out in my mind still:
- We went through nearly 1kg of trail mix,. Some people (I’m looking at you, Michael) were picking out the Smarties and leaving the rest. Others ate only the cashews. So at the end of the night I was left with 200g of peanuts, raisins, and almonds.
- Almost nobody ate the veggie dip, but the veggies themselves went quickly.
- Coffee flavoured beer is disgusting (yes, Brian, it really is).
- A new cocktail was born. Kristi has dubbed it “Blue Steel”. I have to say it was quite tasty.
Thanks to everyone who came by and shared in the fun.
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2007.06.10
Posted in House and Home at 11:27 am by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
I have a work deadline to meet at the end of June, so I decided to work from home for the month. While the short-term goal is to ensure I meet the deadline, this is also a trial period of sorts where I figure out if I want to work from home on a more permanent basis or not. As the plan stands, I will return to working from the office as of the beginning of July.
So, a week ago, I hauled home my gear from work, and got right down to it. I was quickly surprised at how much more productive I am at home, but that’s not the point of this post. Rather, I want to discuss my other observations so far.
I have several friends and also coworkers that I’ve chatted to over the years about teleworking, and it seems as though experiences vary widely. The most interesting thing I’ve noticed as that teleworking seems to be a very individual thing, and it won’t work for everyone. Further, exactly how well it works depends on how well you can build it into a routine that works for you. Here’s what I do, and it seems to work for me.
1. I work the same hours I would in the office: 8:00 – 5:00.
This is actually sort of a requirement imposed on me by my employer, but it works well for me in the end, and I think the biggest reason it works for me is that the rigid structure allows me to get a routine going that is very easy to automatically fall into.
2. When I wake up in the morning, I wake up at the usual time and still shower and dress as though I’m going into the office.
My office has a very casual dress code, and so it’s easy to dress as though I’m going to work. I also get ready for the day in the exact same way that I would as if I was going to the office. About the only difference is that I don’t have the commute, so I can eat breakfast in a more leisurely fashion. This morning routine helps me get into “work mode” mentally.
3. I work in a room that I don’t use for much else.
My computers are set up in the den, which is a room I don’t often use for anything else besides work and using my home computer. As such, when I’m in the den, my brain knows that I’m “at work”, and I don’t feel the temptation to do housework or other non-work things as strongly. It also means that when I walk out of the den at 5:00, that’s the magical moment when my brain says “I’m home!” and I’m no longer at work. It’s a separate enough place that it’s “the office” to my brain.
4. I try to get outside for a walk at lunch
Because I now spend so much time in my condo, getting outdoors for a break is almost essential. Plus, the weather’s nice this time of year and there’s lots of people around on 17th Ave.
5. At 5:00, I turn off my work computer and walk away. No ifs, ands, or buts
My work computer is a completely different machine from my home computer and so I can turn off the work computer at 5:00 and not look back. This is how I avoid the overtime trap that some teleworkers complain about. If possible, I actually physically leave the condo at 5:00 to go to the gym, run errands, or even just take a short (15 minute) walk.
Overall I find that this approach and routine works well for me. If the rest of the month continues this well I’ll likely want to make it a more permanent part of my routine when I’m able.
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2007.05.23
Posted in House and Home, Technology at 7:09 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
For the first time ever, I’ve allowed everyone’s favourite operating system into my condo. Up until now, the only computers I’ve allowed to cross the threshold are my iMac and Jason’s iBook.
Why did I commit this mortal sin, you might ask?
Ah, the things we do for work. I’m working from home tomorrow so I brought my PC home with me. Rest assured, it’s only temporary. My condo will return to pure Appleicious glory on Friday.
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2007.04.28
Posted in House and Home, Photography at 3:26 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
Based on the types of things I’ve been doing with my camera over the years, I decided that it was time to spend some money and start picking up some new lenses that will give me more options than the kit lens that came with my Canon 20D.
So, today I picked up a new lens – a Sigma 18-200mm that gives me a lot more room to play at the telephoto end of things while still allowing me to shoot wide-angle when I need to. As an added bonus, it’s quieter focusing than my other lens, and it’s not a lot larger (although it is heavier). I wanted something that I could travel with and take hiking, giving me lots of versatility without the need to lug around multiple lenses.
There might be another lens in the future for me, since I do like to play with macro photography on occasion, but the budget dictates that this will have to wait.
So far, I haven’t fully put the new lens through its paces – I’ve just fiddled with things here in the condo to get a feel for things and make sure that there’s nothing obviously wrong or defective about the lens (and there isn’t). I’ve posted three of the photos online – the one of the living room and the two of the entry hallway that show a red wall are the new ones.
If the weather holds, I’ll head outside tomorrow and spend some more serious time getting a feel for what I can do with the lens.
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2007.03.03
Posted in House and Home at 4:54 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
Some days I wonder if Calgary’s city planners aren’t engaging in a grossly distorted version of the Thousand origami cranes legend in Japanese culture. Everywhere you look in the city, there are construction cranes. The big question is: if we wind up with 1000 construction cranes, will the gods of infrastructure smile upon our fair city? Or will our infrastructure deficit just be that much worse once all the new buildings have been completed?
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2007.02.01
Posted in House and Home at 5:35 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
Today I received my 2007 property tax assessment in the mail. Since my parking space is a separate land title from the condo, I get two assessments: one for the parking space, and one for my condo. For 2006 I didn’t get a separate assessment, because my possession date was mid-year.
I was a little surprised at the value of my parking space. According to the city of Calgary, it’s worth $5,000. At that price, it’s pretty likely that the car I park in that space is worth less than the space itself.
I’m not sure what sort of commentary this is on the state of parking in this fair city, but given that Calgary has some of the most expensive downtown parking in the country (the median rate in July, 2006 was $19 / day), I suppose this is just another indicator. Too bad I actually have to pay property tax based on it.
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