It’s been cloudy in Halifax for almost a straight month. Been missing the sunlight pretty bad, and today it finally came out for a while. I’ve been using my elliptical a lot, getting back into a healthy lifestyle. When the sun came out this afternoon after already doing a 430 calorie workout, I decided to go for a long walk along the waterfront. I caught a bus and did just that.
Was a great afternoon. The sun was fantastic after a month of gloomy weather, and everyone was out. It reminded me of my first time in Halifax, when I was visiting for my interview at Longtail and had taken a long walk along the waterfront after the interview was over. Standing on the same spot today, it dawned on me pretty soon I’ll have been here a full year…
I walked around the docks and had lunch. Afterwards I sat on the edge of one of the docks and listened to a song off of Devin Townsend’s new album Ghost, very blissful relaxing music. I sat there for 10 minutes just watching the sailboats navigate the waters, listening to this relaxing song. It may have been the most peaceful 10 minutes of my life.
So a few weeks ago I got my raise and had the back pay applied to my check. I decided to treat myself and went out to buy a new pc. I ended up making a healthier choice and bought an elliptical. A really nice one. I have a gym membership, but it’s a hassle to get there after work, then bus home, etc. All I use is the elliptical anyway, so this just made more sense, and now I’ll use it much more often and lose weight
It was delivered on Tuesday. I didn’t realize how much construction would be involved, as it came as just a box of parts. Took 2.5 hours of construction to put it together. The instructions said it was a 2 person job but I managed on my own, with a few awkward steps like holding something with my elbow while trying to hold a screw steady with one hand and the screwdriver in the other, etc. Plus I had to hook up the electronics. Putting the thing together was a work out in its own right! And then it left me with a ton of cardboard. Took 3 trips to take it all out to the recycle bin at the apartment block down the road
But in the end I did get it together and got to break it in with my first workout that night. A half hour run that burned over 300 calories. This was a great purchase. I want to lose another 15 pounds over the 30 I’ve lost since Edmonton. Mainly the last of my gut and a bit of face-fat, lol. Wish me luck!
Spent this morning reading through the old blog I kept during my road-trip back in 2008. I can’t even fathom how much I’ve changed since then, as a result of that trip.
For years I’d felt the need to do something drastic, I felt trapped in my own life. At first it was a North American month pass for VIA Rails, and eventually it evolved in to a road trip. I invited my friends to come, and they agreed, but backed out at the last second. Although at the time it hurt, I decided to go anyway and it ended up being better that way. I needed to redefine myself, and you can’t do that with anyone watching.
During the weeks leading up to it, everyone including my closest friends and family tried to talk me out of it. The Dale they knew could not handle something like this, especially alone! They were just concerned, because it was so unlike me. It was a big thing to do alone, it was intimidating and risky. Not what I was known for. And even though I had my own doubts as well, I stayed determined, and when the time came I got in my car and drove headlong into those doubts.
It’s no exaggeration to say that none of my major accomplishments could have happened without those 2 weeks alone on the road. During those 2 weeks a seed was planted. I started to suspect I was capable of much more than I’d originally thought. During those 2 weeks I saw things I never thought I’d see, did so many things I never could have imagined myself doing, it made me realize all those limitations I’d placed on myself were illusions.
Suddenly I felt restless in my old life. I knew I wanted more. I decided to move to Edmonton for a change of pace and to get out of debt. I never would have seen that as a possibility before the road-trip, but now it was something I had no doubt I was capable of. Then working in the videogame industry watered that seed, and that suspicion grew into a conviction. I was capable of so much more than I’d given myself credit for, and life had so much more to offer than I’d let myself see when I lived in doubt.
Reading that blog was a revelation. In one of the entries before I hit the road, I wrote that I’d wanted this road-trip to be one of the most important things I ever did, a “spiritual odyssey, an existential exodus.” And that’s exactly what it was. Now I live in Halifax, I’m in a career I love and I’m climbing it fast, I welcome every new adventure presented to me with excitement.
I had no idea the places that road-trip would lead me, years after I thought it was over. I end this entry with a quotation from that old blog:
“Well, even though I have enough money to make it to the East Coast, it wouldn’t leave enough time to properly enjoy the cities remaining on my trip, especially Montreal and Toronto. So it looks like this is as far East as I make it for now. But I’m sure I’ll make it out there some day!”
A few years ago I had just moved in with my cousin Bill in Edmonton and started my job at BioWare as a QA Term Tester. I was realizing this was the industry I was meant for, and was really excited about it. Many nights when I’d get home I’d talk Bill’s ear off about how exciting it all was for me. He gave me great career advice and of course shared my passion and we often talked about random ideas or directions we’d like to see the medium of gaming take.
One idea I’d had for a while was for a band to release a “game” as a music video. A heavily scripted, interactive scene set to the band’s new song. It had a lot of artistic potential. Well a band finally did it, and they did it well. They took it one step further with adding user generated content to it, so it’s not just interactive but networked. I love seeing gaming as a medium branch in new directions and try new things.
Please check out the “video”! All you do is move around the mouse when the icon changes to look around and effect your environment. It is meant to be run in Google Chrome.
I switched my internet to FibreOp today. A few weeks ago I came home and checked the mail and had a flyer saying FibreOp was available to my neighborhood now. For those who don’t know, it’s a new infrastructure for internet that is still very new and not available most places. I immediately called. For only 20$ more than I was paying for my old internet I could get over 4x faster downloads and 30x faster uploads.
I had it hooked up today. Check out the difference:
Old:
New:
I’m downloading season 1 and 2 of community. A total of 10 gigs. Both should be done in a littler over an hour! I could get used to this.
As you can imagine, many photos were taken at my Dad’s wedding. My brother recently bought a nice digital SLR camera, but given my history with photography I was given that camera for a lot of the night. I’m no wedding photographer, and it’s been almost 3 years since I really did anything with a camera, but none the less, some of them turned out pretty nice!
Once I’d collected photos from as many cameras as I could, I adjusted the levels, cropped, bordered, etc, the good ones and made an album online for them. Anyone interested in seeing wedding photos from my Dad’s wedding in Winnipeg can find 284 of them here!
To view them, click HERE and then just keep tapping the right arrow to scroll through the photos. It starts with the good photos from the nice camera, and by the end it’s cellphone pics. Enjoy!
Two, count em, TWO new playlists today! UNPRECEDENTED! One playlist is another “Those Left Behind”, just a collection of older songs that never made it into a playlist. And one is an actual new playlist with new stuff I’ve been listening to lately. If you’re looking for new music, now you have a ton!
Today is Mother’s Day! Unfortunately I didn’t get to talk to my Mom today because she is on a trip to Ottawa right now, but I left her a message wishing her a happy Mother’s Day.
When I was in town last week, unbeknownst to her, I bought her a gift card for bath salts, etc, and hid it behind one of the pictures in our living room hall. On the message I left for her I told her where to find it. I think that’ll be a cool surprise for her!
Now time to get a bit sappy; I miss my Mom. She’s a big part of my life, and it sucks only getting to see her a handful of times a year. When I moved to Halifax, even though me leaving was a common thing by then, when she dropped me off at the airport I saw a few tears. I’d been living in Edmonton for 2 years, so me leaving after a trip wasn’t anything to get too worked up over, so I took it to mean pride. I was moving across the country to officially start a career. That pride means more to me than she’ll ever know.
She visited me in Edmonton, and it was great showing her what my life there was like. Giving her the tour of BioWare was great. And this fall she’ll be visiting me in Halifax! We may even take a trip to see Prince Edward Island! I’m really looking forward to it. I love visiting home, but it’s great to show her the life I return to when I leave Winnipeg.
My Mom reads this blog, so Happy Mothers Day Mom! I miss you!
Airports are a familiar locale for me lately. Ever since things with Longtail started with a flight to Halifax for the interview, I spend about 6 days a year in airports and on planes. On a single-direction flight, like today's Winnipeg to Halifax trip, I see 3 to 4 airports (departure, arrival and layovers) and fly on at least 2 planes. I know Toronto Pearson International Airport like the back of my hand. The shoe shine guy remembers me whenever I decide to get a shine.
It's not like I'm some kind of crazy jet-setter living out of my suitcase, but it does give me a small window into what that kind of life would be like. I often overhear the flight attendants or pilots talking, forgetting what city they're in or what the local time is. I could see liking it, and hating it. I have no plans on going on tour for anything any time soon though, so it's all just fun what-ifs.
Today my layover in Toronto is 3 hours. I'm sitting in a cafe eating a hot dog and fries next to a window overlooking the tarmac. More than half the people here are using iPads.
I often meet people during layovers and have interesting conversation. Usually that's Toronto, but sometimes the layover is in Montreal too. There was one guy I met who was an admitted gambling addict who told me the story of the night he won 100,000$ and still managed to lose it all within the month. There was a couple from Germany who were traveling the world on her Dad's inheritance. A few creepers too who I regretted starting conversation with. I also have a frustrating habit of meeting really nice, cute girls on layovers. Frustrating because obviously nothing is going to come of it, once one of us has to leave for our flight we never see each other again. That's also kind of cool though, these spontaneous brief interactions.
You also see a lot of emotion in airports. The sorrow of a couple splitting for a long period of time, someone leaving their home for their ambitions, etc, but also the joy of couples reunited where they can't keep from crying and kissing like highschoolers, or someone returning from their tour of duty to their relieved family.
I should probably get out of this cafe and go to my terminal, boarding starts in a bit under an hour, and I want to get a seat in the waiting area before they fill up. I'll write an entry about my trip from Halifax, soon.
My trip in Winnipeg has been a lot of fun, and I will write a proper entry about it soon. But the main reason I took the time off work, bought the plane tickets and an expensive three-piece suit, and then flew down was for my Dad's wedding!
During my last visit for Xmas my Dad announced to the family that he'd proposed to Andrea, his girlfriend of about 10 years! I can't believe it's been 10 years! I still remember when he first started telling my brother and I he was seeing a new woman. A girl at work had introduced them, that girl was my now-step-sister, Ashley.
Neither of them are religious, and they weren't looking for a major ordeal, so they had their wedding at a very nice restaurant named Bailey's. It was a beautiful wedding, friends and family, and it was a great time. My Dad was beaming all night, I'm so happy for him!
I had a decent role in the wedding, which I wasn't expecting. As the first born son I was at the head table. It was my Dad and Andrea, with me at my Dad's side and Andrea's best friend at hers. I held on to the ring, was part of a small procession including the 4 head table members led by Andrea's Dad on bagpipes. I even signed as a witness! Derek brought his new Digital SLR camera so I took some photos. Using it made me realize I miss photography, though just as a hobby. The photos are on my USB but I won't be able to upload them until I get home in Halifax.
It was a great night, everyone had a blast, and everything went perfectly. We took a limo to and from the wedding. My Dad gave a great speech that blew everyone away, with some great jokes. The food was amazing, I had a steak, and much alcohol was consumed. Family came in from all over the place including my uncle Keith and aunt Sandra and their kids Jordan and Abby.
The next day I went for lunch with my Dad and Andrea before they left for their Honeymoon road trip together. The previous night they'd stayed at one of the nicest hotels in the city, and they'd gotten a complimentary room upgrade to the biggest nicest room in the hotel, with candles and rose pedals spread all over the room. So happy for them. Andrea is great, and I'm glad to have her as a member of the family. Her son Andrew is cool, and now my step-brother. We're going to try to go for drinks before my trip is over.
