life as it happens...: 2004-12

2004 highlights

april 23 - arrived in manila after spending 5 cold months in winnipeg.

april 30 - landed in edmonton to start a new job in IT. my first IT job on a foreign land; on my adopted country, canada.

may 3 - first day at work, excited and was a bit tensed. our receptionist's first impression of me... "you look sharp!". i overdressed--suit and tie, people here don't wear tie. edmonton is a cowboy city =) but better be over than under on your first day.

july 1 - canada day. went out to watch the wonderful fireworks, with tens of thousands of other expectators. the crowd reminds me of the centennial independence celebration in the manila in 1998. this event inspired me to buy a camera =)

july 8 - bought my first digital camera, canon powershot S1 IS, 3.2MP, 10x optical zoom =)

sept 4 - flew to winnipeg on a long weekend to meet with the kind folks that helped us settle in that city. had a hard time finding an IT job there so i had to look somewhere else =( i had the chance to visit my old workplace, and had the opportunity to join a camping trip.

sept 12 - moved in to my new apartment. i have no furniture nor appliance yet, just one empty place to sleep. i had to buy foods from a nearby chinese resto and i drink on a two-liter bottle of nestea, i have no plates nor drinking glass either =)

sept 18 - bought furnitures and appliances for my place, spend four trips on four different stores. first time in my life to buy a coffee table. darn, they're so lovely i wasn't able to resist them.

sept 22 - created my first weblog entry. it was crappy, i have no idea how to blog and i don't even know what i was saying that time. actually, i think my blogging skill hasn't improved that much even until now, lol!

sept 26 - nel arrived from manila

oct 8 - edmonton centennial. spent a good night with nel at churchill square.

oct 19 - posted my first photoblog entry. here's my recent if you wanna compare =)

oct 31 - first real trick or treat experience. it only happens in posh villages in metro manila, and in the malls. but they're nowhere close to this typical western tradition.

nov 29 - first birthday in edmonton, got some cool gifts. nel and i had a dinner too. missed my close buddies, thoughtful ex-officemates weng and jhune, they always have presents for me. missed the bday surprises of my other group--hazel and the gang. missed the "kantyaw" from my WHO-WPRO IT group. most of all, missed my kids, first time celebrating it without 'em =(

dec 7 - got my canon digital rebel from mcbain camera, tested it right away and posted my first pair of shots

dec 25 - first christmas in edmonton, it was great!

dec 31 - definitely gonna be a blast!

am looking forward to a better 2005, happy new year everyone!

Epson P-2000, dream portable multimedia storage album

i know this is too much, but if i am to find one at my doorstep on chrismas day, i'll be ecstatic! it was launched last month and currently out-of-stock everywhere, so there is no way my wish could come true, even with my own assistance, lol! Futureshop is too lame for this kind of gadget to be available in their store =(

640x480 TFT LCD screen for viewing all your uploaded images, with 40GB of capacity to fill-up before you run out of space and stop shooting with your digital camera. of course, you still need at least one large capacity memory card and a not so large back-up for the whole shooting experience to be almost inlimited. my canon 300D with a 1GB CF card would be able to shoot around 120 RAW images, uploading that to the gadget would take 7-8 minutes, and that could happen while i shoot using my other 256MB CF card. Wow! this is way much better than going on a trip with expensive CF cards. 5GB of CF cards could cost $500, same price you would spend on one P-2000, doesn't need a genius to decide, eh?

am i gonna have one? that's for us to find out =) i'm really not aiming for one soon, it's winter and i don't foresee any trip happening until april of next year. so until then, i am happy with the CF cards =)

crazy weather

canada's experiencing a crazy weather today. it's noon and it's relatively warm so i decided to go out and shoot. the sun is visible and the tee and light jacket that i'm wearing seems enough. but just after a block of walking, the wind started gusting. it was so strong i decided i have to go back. why not, all the litter on the street are flying, signs are dancing, and overhead cables seems to be breaking loose. and just right after i stepped inside our apartment, hail starts to fall. i can't believe how quick the weather had changed.

left with no choice but to stay home, i decided to check the weather channel. guess what? there are strong weather warning all over the country. it is -18 in the toronto area, but feels like minus 28 because of the strong wind. minus 30 in the northern ontario and manitoba and they have frostbite warning because of the windchill. there's a gusting wind warning in the vancouver area. and in edmonton? it's +9!... and calgary is +13! it can't get any weirder than that.

my old camera

camera humor

at a certain thread at pcreview.uk, a potential buyer's question to the seller with regards to the Canon Powershot A40 he's selling:

Chris: "Does it take pictures quickly (i.e. not 3 seconds of holding your hand perfectly still)??"

happy ending... he purchased the camera for 65 pounds and (presumably) threw away his dad's old camera to the waste basket. here's one of his other posts:

"dads digicam takes 3 seconds to take a photo, and unless you have a tripod or a VERY steady hand, your guaranteed a VERY blurry photo."