sunny days

are always great, but when they are in the Caribbean part of the world they are even greater! I finally got my lazy bum down to write a couple words about my recent trip to Cancun. This was my first experience there and I have to say it's a great place to party and/or just relax and roast yourself on a picture perfect beach. Now the the typical discussion that takes place every time I go to one of these all inclusives is the number of days it's perfect to stay at one of these places. Well let me tell you... when you are standing in the crystal clear turquoise ocean with pretty little fish swimming around you and say to a perfectly fit Colombian stewardess in her yellow bikini "I think 14 days here is too much, 10 would be just perfect", at that time with the sun melting your brains it may seem alright. However when you return to Toronto and it's -5c with a wind chill on a good winter day you realize how wrong you were! 10 or 14 days is not enough and you want to go right back. So for next time I will personally have a number like 3 months in mind for that perfect number, who was I kidding!

despise poor quality
that is how I feel about cheap labour which spawns horribly poor quality. My laptops dead hard drive is a perfect example. I mean how good can it be if the bunch of poor suckers making the parts for it get paid peanuts, why would they spend any time at all ensuring the part is sound, for what reason? What is the cause of all this crap that's made in some remote locations where the person making the part haven't even heard of a computer before the factory was built beside his little village. What stands behind all this... well it's Globalization. We all know it and we all love it, until you get your car tire recall, laptop battery explodes, hard drive crashes after only two years of use, cell phone buttons don't work, etc. etc. etc. Well at least it's job security for the little village people who are quick to make the crappy replacement parts.

the day has come
when my laptop actually died... i think the hard drive is bust which is sad because that means I lost all my work emails and most importantly all my photos etc. :( this truly sucks, I still have hope in recovering it but it's fading with every passing hour.

I've been working on my photoblog for the past few days, I'll try and post a new image every day or every few days there... so go check it out, you can add it to your rss feed, if you know what that is. Anyway, you can rate the images if you like and leave a comment to, good or bad whether you like it or not, I'm all ears. If you want to go and see the previous posts you just need to click on the image itself or on the 'previous' link under the image. There is a calendar that shows on which date images were added and you can link to that day by clicking on it as well.

I'm now drained and am off to watch 'Heroes'. Since I hardly watch any TV this is quite a commitment. This new show is supposed to absorb my attention like 'Lost' did last year... I'm off that show now, it just never ends, there is no resolution it's like watching a movie where there is no end it just keeps going and going and going keeping you on the edge all the time. Next on the list is 'Entourage'.

Pacific coast HWY 1 drive from San Francisco to LA, I highly recommend, it's a very nice scenic drive



of all the wonderful memories of the places you see when you are traveling, how can you not want to move around this little planet of ours and just see different parts of it? I remember one time I met someone who mentioned to me in passing while I was describing my most recent escape from my local calling area that he's never been outside his province (Ontario). I was quite shocked to hear that. I mean we are not living in an age when you need three days horse ride to get to another town 1500km away, there is planes, trains and automobiles. You can of course argue, what if you just don't know where to go? Well, my impression was that at this day and age with all the media we're exposed to, not to mention good old books and especially the Internet you are bound to come across something that would spark your interest and subsequently get your buns off your well worn couch. All those who live in the still undiscovered and underprivileged parts of this Earth I exclude and excuse. Now this thought has never even crossed my mind before I heard that this loon never stepped foot in another major city even if it were in the same country. So no matter how shocking, there are people out there who have no desire to travel and experience something other than their home town. Beware!

my latest toy

2006 Toronto Zombie Walk

link to a small write up about the event where some of my images were used

present in focus

dead plant in the twilight

Algebra page

vote for Gosha ;)
and again if you like

what's the deal with
working, it is gobbling up our lives, there is hardly any time left to enjoy the day and the "simple things in life". You wake up, some of us at 5 others at 7 a.m., both equally horrid times if you ask me, drag yourself out of a nice warm bed with or without that 'special' someone beside you and hastily dress yourself for yet another day of labor. You may be one of the few lucky ones who work 10 min away from home or you are one of the not so fortunate who need an hour or more to get to that wonderful place we call work.

So there you are in wee hours of the morning in any given season and just about any kind of weather spending your valuable personal time to commute to your workplace. Then you get there and whether you love it or not it doesn't really matter don't kid yourself you're only doing it for the mortgage or to save up for one. No matter how much you love it, I'm sure everyone of us can always find more leisurely things to do. So... you stick around there for 8 hours at the very least. Sometimes you get to eat your lunch and take a coffee or smoke break (whether you smoke or drink coffee doesn't matter, you find yourself taking those regardless). You finish your day and take another hour or so to head on home in traffic perhaps or in overcrowded public transit both alternatives are equally wonderful and enriching experiences. Finally you happily step over the threshold of your home and guess what, at this point you have spent, conservatively about 11 hours of your precious day. Now let's round that off to 12 hours for the sake of unforeseen circumstances such as: the bus was late, the train had signal problems or it was raining or snowing and the general public doesn't know how to drive under those extreme weather conditions. Now here is a fact that's 50% of your day gone.

Here now, you think 'hey, that's not so bad' but as most of us unfortunate creatures need at least a good 7 hours of sleep (conservative here again, the doctors recommend 8). We'll listen to the doctors of course and now we're left with 4 hours a day. Now during these 4 you also have to check the mail the email, pay your bills maybe do some laundry. Let's give all that fun stuff an hour and I am being really charitable here. That leaves you with the best case scenario of 3 hours to enjoy whatever you want.

Then we get to the weekend. I won't go into details but amidst all the errands that pile up over the week which you weren't able to do because you were working, there isn't a lot of free time here either. I don't have to convince anyone that the weekends zoom right by do I?

There you are, you got your 3 hours a day and whatever on the weekend to enjoy life. 'Screw this' you may say... 'why am I doing this', well for the moolah of course which will allow you to pay your bills and have a home to return to every day after work to enjoy your 3 hours. A vicious circle... yes it is, so enjoy or... run for the border or... maybe you can figure out a way to only sleep on Sunday?