Who’s a bad dog

Selena and Heloise NOT enjoying this particular camping experience. They did quite well, but couldn’t understand why they had to stay connected to that big tree!

Technorati Tags: Dogs, Daschunds, Selena, Heloise, Vacation, Camping

The mountains are wet. Awesome long weekend!

Just a brief post to fill the void. I’ve been in vacation mode and not posting…here’s why!

We took off to the mountains for the August long weekend. Lots of prep. time required…it’s the first time in years that we’d gone camping. Had to dust off all the gear, test it, patch it and pick up some new gear.

I’ve posted the gallery of image of the trip, including a rather dramatic run through a police roadblock / road closure due to excessive sleet / snow as a result of extreme weather.

Of course, on the last day of the trip, the weather cleared and was absolutely awesome! Isn’t that always the way.

Anyway, I’ve dumped the images in to my flickr account, and they’re visible here too.

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Canada, Mountains, Jasper, Camping, photos, holiday, outdoors, bears, Jasper National Park, Parks Canada, Alberta

Kinda offline. ‘Vacation’ and kitchen demolition

I was hoping I’d have more time to post regularly during my vacation, but sadly, that’s not proving to be the case.

We’re in the midst of kitchen demolition for this and next week, in preparation for a new one to be installed in July.

It is interesting, as we are kinda camping. All our food is in containers, we hike upstairs to the fridge, we are BBQing more. Washing dishes (no dishwasher) 🙂

Anyway, you’ll see stuff when I can get to it, and yeah, I’ll have before and after photos.

Technorati Tags: Kitchen, Demolition, renovation, vacation, blogging, blog

Guilty vacation pleasures — here’s my top 10 list

Being on vacation is not really conducive to creating a blog post; it’s more about unwinding, relaxing and having fun. So, since I am on vacation, I thought I’d blog about some of the guilty vacation pleasures I’m enjoying…things you don’t normally find the time to do in your everyday hustle and bustle. So, in no particular order:

1. Become reacquainted with my camera — this is cool. Last year my loving wife surprised me with a Panasonic Lumix FZ-30. Yes, I’d been drooling over it for a while and fully expected to get one before Christmas. Was I ever pleased that she picked one up for me last spring! I’ve had the year to become comfortable with it, but being on vacation allows me to spend some significant time applying some of the things I’d read about over the last year.
2. Visit the relatives — I’ve got some cool inlaws in the BC Okanagan. It’s great to hook up with them again, find out what they’ve been doing, and share a good meal or two.
3. Review the personal Five Year Plan — ah yes. Free time to think about where I’m going and what I’m going to be doing in five years. I should probably do this more often, but it seems I rarely get enough time to clean out the work-crap that builds up in my head…it takes me about a week to get clear of it. But once I am clear, then I find it easier to build a plan to focus on the future.
4. Start to get back into shape — This last eight months has seen me fall off the fitness wagon. Again, the free time afforded by a vacation lets me start getting back on. And I have time to explore new fitness routines..etc. Get rid of the Chub Rub.
5. Catch up on my podcasts — This is kind-of work related, but I never have enough time to listen to For Immediate Release in my daily commutes.
6. Play computer games — Ok, so this is something I do when not on vacation too; I’m a Guild Wars gamer, regularly playing with our good friends and former neighbours. We have a very tiny personal Guild (http://hairymoofers.com). But, what do I do when on vacation? This guilty pleasure revolves around Warhammer: 40000 Dawn of War. It’s a neat real-time strategy (RTS) game in an interesting universe. The three expansions all add new characters and units. Fun if you like that sort of thing.
7. Spend the day reading — a few years back I discovered the Eisenhornomnibus, a collection of three Warhammer 40000 novels by Dan Abnett. Another guilty pleasure.
8. Go to a play or musical — Just saw Godspelllast night. Fun!
9. Enjoy a beer at two in the afternoon — especially a beer that you’ve not tried before.
10. Spend quality time with the ones you love — and this is the best part. Doing things together is more fun than apart.

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Holiday, Top Ten List, List, Guilty Pleasures, Reading, Computer Games, Video Games, Outdoor, Beer

A Working Vacation?

National Post Vacation Article
May 8th, 2003
Brad Grier

Breath deeply. Savour. That wonderful scent on the breeze is the smell of Holiday Season “ the period of time between the May and September long weekends when colleagues and co-workers juggle schedules, meetings and workflow to ensure that come Thursday afternoon the work week is over and the reward of a long summer weekend lies ahead.

Or does it? This summer, more than ever before, many Canadians feel it’s no longer an option to completely disconnect from the workplace while on vacation. Projects continue, clients need updates, and issues arise.

This begs the question; do you really need to stay connected to the office? Perhaps. For many people, keeping in touch with the workplace offers them a greater sense of comfort, enabling them to relax and enjoy their vacation more, rather than worrying about projects back at the office.
There are new tools that can make working on vacation less painful. Workers have the option to effectively participate in critical meetings or collaboratively revise that marketing plan from the comfort of an Adirondack chair on the deck, rather than miss the meeting, or have commute in to the office.