To celebrate my birthday, I decided to hike down to Bow Falls and the Bow River near The Banff Centre. The fluffy snow was falling, the weather wasn’t cold, and there was barely any wind. It made for a near perfect journey.
Here’s a short video filmed yesterday during the hike:
Snow. Plenty of it.
We didn’t receive as much as they have lately in some parts of the U.S.A. (April’s relatives in Colorado have been stuck inside for quite a while) or across the Canadian prairie provinces, but we’ve received enough to make one really start thinking twice about living here.
Of course, it makes the outdoors look somewhat clean and magical, and it’s great to ski and play around in, but at these amounts (and temperatures), it’s definitely no fun to shovel or work in! Thankfully, the snowblower is able to clear out large portions before we get down to the actual shoveling - which is one of the most physically exercises one can do. We’ve had snow since November 2006, so we’ve already gotten accustomed to it this season, but compared to last year’s mild (even warm) winter, this one certainly is one of the more frigid ones.
I was outside about 2.5 to 3 hours getting the sidewalks, driveway, and road portion clear enough to drive cars through.
My wife April and I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season in 2006 and that 2007 presents you with plenty of new opportunities, ideas, friends, family, and fun.
We spent our time decorating the house here in Edmonton (April decorated our place in Iowa before she traveled up here), visiting friends and family, watching movies at home and the theater, playing board and video games, shopping for and wrapping gifts, cooking and eating plenty of good holiday meals, and having a generally pleasant time.
We wrapped up 2006 by attending a get-together at our friends place in Edmonton. It has become a yearly tradition and this year, as always, there was plenty of great food and festivities. Between Taboo, Jenga, Jeopardy, and the Bookers’ Nintendo Wii (pronounced ‘wee’) and Nintendo DS, nobody was sitting around bored.
After spending more time with the the Wii, I am even more convinced it will help attract non-gamers into the world of video games and pry those “couch potatoes” up off the sofa. It’s revolutionary control system (Revolution was the unit’s development codename) requires the player to perform movements just like the real action. Well, in truth, you can still sit down and use wrist motions to do all of the action, but it’s more fun, and more exercise if you’re standing up and playing the game with the Wii Remote. Wii Sports, which ships with the system, includes baseball, bowling, boxing, tennis, and golf. Of all the games, we found bowling to be one of the most fun (your movements are comparable to holding a real bowling ball and sending it down the lane), and boxing to be a fascinating way of using the Remote and ‘nunchuck’ accessory. April’s Tae Bo skills certainly came in handy during that Wii game! And no, there weren’t any Remote straps breaking or controllers flying into the big screen TV, lamps, or artwork.
Look for photos to be posted in the Flickr album soon.
A big thanks to all the great people who have kept in touch, who have been checking out the blogs and projects I work on, and for providing feedback. Stay tuned for more blog postings this year and follow what is sure to be an eventful, and hopefully positive, year ahead.
Cheers!
Chad
I’m currently looking for work. Hopefully here in Alberta, but as always, I’m willing to consider all options. I’ll also consider working from home.
My specialties are in the creative fields but include:
You can find my resume at the following links. Please pass them around to those you know might be looking for a creative, hard working, and amiable worker.
Feel free to contact me with the ‘Contact Me’ form on this blog or by calling the number in my resume.
A big thanks for helping me out!
A few photos from our trip to Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday and Thursday:
Old Chicago Pumping Station.
Lake Michigan near Lake Shore Drive and Cedar Street.
Michigan Avenue Bridge and downtown Chicago.
Stones from around the world adorn Tribune Tower.
Lunar Sample display at Tribune Tower.
Nathan Hale statue at entrance to Tribune Tower.
King Tutankhamun sculpture outside of The LEGO Store.
Me with a filmmaker sculpture inside The LEGO Store.
April sits with a businessman sculpture outside of The LEGO Store.
April and I outside of the Apple Store, North Michigan Avenue.
You can check out the rest of the photos at this Flickr photoset link.
After a 6 hour drive from Creston, Iowa (filled with 4 tollway stops!), we arrived to enjoy a nice dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant with folks from Apple and various Midwestern U.S. educational institutions. Since we weren’t ready to hit the sack, April and I, guided by one of the other conference attendees, walked down North Michigan Avenue to experience the city’s nightlife. Chicago is very much ‘alive’ at night, and you can find people from all ages and walks of life strolling around downtown.
The cab drivers drive with insane purposes, and about half of the pedestrians don’t wait for walk lights. I’m surprised there’s not more accidents there. But it seems to be the key method of transportation in the “windy city.”
Leaving the city was no easy feat. Roads lead everyplace but where you need to be going, and the roadsigns are either not clearly marked, or not placed far enough in advance for drivers to plan their routes. We had a map from Google which proved ineffective since we took a modified route and ended up an hour North of where we needed to be! 4 more tollway stops, and 10 hours later, we arrived back home in Creston.
Next time, we’ll be sure to take our Honda Civic with built-in GPS navigation!
Despite the difficulty getting out of the city, it was a short, but enjoyable journey and we both look forward to visiting Chicago again.
The Nexus energy ribbon passes through here in the US…
Quite the difference in temperatures (Celsius) between here in Creston, Iowa and back home in Edmonton, Alberta.
Photos from goofing around with Apple’s new Intel-powered iMac with built-in iSight camera and Photo Booth software.
Say “cheese!”
My wife had to travel to Mt. Ayr, Iowa, to take care of some professional matters, so I joined her on the day trip with our friend Al. He wanted to show us a cool 50’s-themed restaurant, but we arrived to find it closed for the day. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go inside some other time, because looking through the windows revealed some great retro decor.
Photos © 2006 Chad Kerychuk.
Here’s some photos from a trip to Bettendorf, Iowa where I attended an Education Technology Conference with my wife on June 21 and June 22.
We stayed at The Lodge, a European-styled hotel with lots of fantastic wood carvings, furniture, artwork, and architecture. I didn’t have a lot of time to take photos, but I was able to capture a few interesting shots. April also managed to snap a few photos of the exterior from the vehicle on our way home.
Apparently, Iowa can lay claim to the ‘World’s Largest Truckstop’…
Satellite dishes outside of Iowa Public Television…
Photos © 2006 Chad Kerychuk.
We have a Mulberry tree in our backyard in Iowa, so we decided to pick some of the berries that were ready. As usual, one of the cats (Monique) decided to join us.
Photos © 2006 Chad Kerychuk.
I’ve always wanted a Venus Fly Trap and we know a few friends who might like to have one, so we picked up a few today. April and I were supervised by the cats while we transplanted the Fly Traps into larger pots.
Photos © 2006 Chad Kerychuk.
April met The Woz last night. How cool is that?!
April showing Steve a poster of himself, his son, and some PowerBooks.
Kerychuk and Wozniak. Gurus of technology and education!
Evening at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
April and one of her work associates attended an AIM Institute banquet in Omaha where Steve was the keynote speaker. After the speech, Wozniak hung around to pose for photos and graciously sign Macs, Apple II’s and other historic Apple and Woz-related items. She said he was not only an entertaining speaker, but also listened attentively to guests and welcomed their own stories.
Steve Wozniak: a class act all the way.
Update: My wife has posted her recollection of the event in the comments section, while another Woz fan shares his experience at Applemacpunk.com
Hello all.
Between working on a film set and catching strep throat and a flu, helping out family and friends with work and projects, and trying to get other stuff finished, I haven’t posted much on my personal blog here in about a month. We’ve also got a huge dump of snow in the last few weeks here in Alberta (not to mention most of Canada) and it generally slows one down.
So while we thought we were nearly done with winter (mild as it may have been), we knew better. Right now with all the snow, it looks as if we’ve been in winter for months on end when it’s really near springtime. Oh well, at least the ski resorts and farmers should be happy about it!
As I’ve mentioned though, I’m working on the Mark Schultz interview and some other fun posts to make up for the lack of posting. I think you’ll enjoy them.
Note: If any of you DDM blog readers have actually ordered anything through my Amazon links (not just clicked on them or performed searches), please drop me a line and let me know. I think I’m having some difficulties with the tracking reports generated by Amazon.
Thanks!
Yeah, I’m still here folks. Got some new posts coming soon, including interviews, beginning with author/illustrator and Xenozoic Tales/Cadillacs and Dinosaurs creator, Mark Schultz.
Stay friendly.
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