Feast or famine

...so I've got this cat.

He's my buddy, affectionate, quite vocal and very much a resident.

When Sir W. first moved in back in 2008, I was in the habit of feeding him high-end organic cat food. Several benefits of this included the peace of mind that I was feeding him good, quality food AND (my favourite) much, much less waste in the litter box at the end of the day.

Over time, he's become quite fussy - to the point that he won't as much as touch the organic food. I tried mixing it with grocery-store brands, but eventually he even turned his nose up at those too. It seems he'll eat a food for a few months, then turn snooty. I thought perhaps it was a difference in the batches, but really he's just plain fussy.

I recently tried a semi-organic food that the girl at the pet store said he should gobble right up. (Her cats apparently devoured it) but it was a no-go.

When we visited the vet for annual shots and exam last week, I brought up the subject. We concluded that he's simply fussy and that I should let the food stand; left hungry long enough, he should eat. Failing that, I should add water and make a gravy in the food.

Nope. In fact, given the choice, he would sniff the gravy mixture and go back to the dry... but only for a nibble.

I'm not sure what, if anything, is up... but he meows around the house like it's some kind of hardship. It's wearing thin.

Do I have a fussy cat, or could there be something I'm missing?

Angry Birds and the iPhone 4S

It's been out for some time now, time enough for everyone but me to catch on. Angry Birds is something of a Millennium craze I liken to Pac Man in the 80s.

You can download it free as an app on the iTunes Store, and up until recently I thought it was mildly amusing to amazingly lame. That is, until the other night when my youngest niece got hold of my phone and started playing.... and scoring big!

It was then that I discovered she was tapping the birds after they'd been launched, but while they were in mid-air. Some birds explode, some accelerate, while still others will drop like a stone as soon as you tap the screen.

Tonight was Monday Night Scotch with M. & D. and as we were leaving, D. and I were playing Birds in the elevator on the way to the lobby.

"I'm a Gamer", says D. who's just celebrated 42 years marriage to his wife of... 42 years! Yay! He hadn't played, and had hardly heard of the game. I think I hooked him.

So, for the guy (me) who rarely plays video games, I seem to have not only found one I kinda like, I'm also spreading the word to others.

Perhaps I could create my own app. I think I'll call it "Angry Apples" where you can lob a Magic Mouse at a PC tower and watch an army of Celeron Processor Protesters battle it out with the invincible force of Siri 4S Duo Cores.

I'm such a geek.

Feline fitness

A terrifying thought...

Fundraising mania!

The last couple weekends have seen us doing a considerable amount of charity work, seemingly in a short period of time only because a number of events that were spread out over the month of September last year were compressed into the last two weekends.

Although I swore I would never do "all nighters" ever again, it would seem that each weekend warranted its own 36-hour day.

Two Saturdays ago saw me out in Madden for the second wedding for a family in the last six years, and the third for the circle of Madden-based friends. After DJing until 2:00 AM Sunday morning, I ventured back to Calgary and, after a brief stop at Tim Hortons to refuel, headed straight for the Eau Claire Market to set up for the 2011 Terry Fox Run. It was the 30th Anniversary Celebration, and the turnout was a record 1600 runners and walkers.

Because it was so much fun, I repeated the performance this past weekend. We covered off three events this last Sunday: The Millarville Ride For STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society) in Longview, the Prostate Cancer Canada "Stick It To Cancer" street hockey challenge at Crossiron Mills Market as well as the Calgary Scotia Bank AIDS Walk for Life at Eau Claire Market.

I spent Saturday evening at the hospital with my Mom, my sister came in to sit with her while I went home to load the van, then I returned to the hospital until Mom was admitted - shortly before 2:00 AM. I was scheduled to be on site for set up at 5:00 AM, figured I wasn't going to sleep anyway, so I headed to the Market early with the plan to take my time with set up.... not to mention the traditional stop at Timmies for a sandwich and a coffee! My neighbour J. calls this "in-flight fuelling" - only he does it during the day between regularly-scheduled appointments.

The headlining house band for AIDS Walk For Life 2011 was "Burning the Ground" - an 80's retro electronica band. They were amazing, and so much fun to work with and mix. I can honestly say it's the first time I've mixed a band with a keytar!






The Calgary Men's Chorus dropped in to do two sets of a-capella tunes


We even had a pump-up session courtesy World Health!


And of course... bellydancers!



The Mix station













There were even people in costume!

















The Stage









The Roland V-Drum Electric Drum Kit - so VERY 80s!












The Synthesizer Station







The Keytar... also incredibly 80s!!







The best part?? This band had class... 80s electronica driven by a MacBook. (See... even the pros use Mac!)


...and Blogger's being dumb. The last set of photos will not line up with the text. Grrrr!!!!

The week in review...

A couple neat things to report...

Starting with last Tuesday - I post about this one every year only because it's one of my favourite contracts. This year was the 20th Anniversary of the Charity Golf Tournament for the Tim Horton Children's Ranch at Kananaskis. For the past 16 years we've provided the sound and video for the live and silent auction and reception that follows the tournament.

I've been in the habit of donating certificates to the auction. This year, because I'm focused on bringing the live sound component of the business on line, I donated an evening's production services to the camp. I thought it best to showcase the Midas console so a photo too was also in order.



Work this last weekend was all out-of-town.

Friday, a wedding ceremony and reception at the Cochrane Ranch House


Ready for the ceremony



Dining room


Saturday, a wedding ceremony and reception at Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club:


Ceremony in a tent off the... 4th. hole??


Inside the clubhouse

Lastly, on Sunday I was down in Kensington and saw this brilliant guarantee:


The new website's up, with some flaws, but they will be ironed out over time: www.monarchmusic.ca

...more later, as we carry on, carrying on.

As the thought occurs...

A brief post as the thought occurs.

I'm sitting outside the University Bookstore contemplating the day as I usually do, with a coffee after a bike ride.

Seeing the Bookstore sign reminded me of Dad and his thousands of books, not to mention his veratious love for reading.

Today would have been his 87th. birthday.

He also loved teaching and education. That may be why I'm so comfortable here.

I think I'll look for something to read in his memory.

Where there's smoke there's fire Part 2

After I finished the first post, I went back to see what was happening. I walked down the back lane and caught this shot from the back of the house:


Then from the school parking lot across the street from the front of the house:









Ironically, check out the electronic sign at the school:


While I was snapping photos, the fire department escorted the home owners back into the house to survey the damage. Apparently no one was hurt, so "safe summer" applies here, methinks.

Time to buy a lotto ticket??

Where there's smoke, there's fire

I was at Mom's this afternoon for coffee. In the middle of our visit I received a text from my friend Dave to say that N.'s dad G. was in the hospital. When I left Mom's, I went to the Foothills to see G. Turns out it wasn't super serious and he was ready and waiting to be discharged... waiting on a signature. As we prepared to leave, the Mother of all rain storms swooped in along with slushy hail. I'm thinking to myself, "...am I in for a new roof again this year??" We decided to wait out the storm at the coffee shop by the chapel. I'd parked at the church, so D. & G. gave me a ride to my van. I took the usual route home up 24th. Avenue across Crowchild Trail. As I came up 22nd Street to cut through the alley to home, I was stopped in my tracks by this:



My heart started to race, wondering if I might not be able to get to my house. Morley Trail was blocked off by emergency vehicles and tape lines.


This is the best shot I was able to get - it's the house three to the left of the alley, beside the apartment complex, beside the strip mall:


I went around behind the school and across to my place from the west. I was able to go in the back side of the alley from my place:


The next three shots show the overhead water feed from the back of the house:




Neighbours, police and fire crew were in the back alley:

I went around the block to get some shots from the school and East-bound down Morley Trail:





Walking back to the house, I wasn't quite fast enough to catch the shot - the Number 10 bus has been re-routed down Cochrane Road.


...and here I was concerned about hail damage to MY roof. Puts a new perspective on things, indeed.

The Dude of Contemplation

Everyone knows I'm the lover of all things Mac. I'm the soap-boxer-extraordinaire when it comes to tormenting those poor, misguided Windows users. However, this morning I discovered something very frustrating about my little iPhone and that is that I too have become a victim of Autocorrect.

Autocorrect is a seemingly handy application designed to provide on-the-fly spellcheck-and-correct as you type text messages or make entries in application boxes while using your phone. Unlike spellcheck in Word for Mac or other such programmes, Autocorrect doesn't just give you the option to use its 'corrected' version of your misspelled word, but rather simply dumps it in. If you're not paying close attention, you may end up saying something you didn't intend.

Case in point, this morning I rode over to the University for a morning coffee (which, by the way I made at home before leaving - saving myself the $2+) sat outside the bookstore and proceeded to check email and of course, my Facebook. (Look at me, a guy over 40 checking in with "social" culture! ;)) A couple of my friends had recently used the "Check In" feature which allows you to post your current location as well as comment on what it is you're doing. I don't often use it - in fact, practically never - but this morning I figured... why not?

So I checked in at MacEwan Student Centre, with the intended comment attached:

"Sipping morning coffee with a side of contemplation"

Pretty simple, right?

As I look down to read the post, I notice a glaring error. Thanks to Autocorrect, my clever little post now read:

"Sipping morning coffee with a dude of contemplation"

At first I was furious. After all, I'd gone to some trouble (not really) to show to the world my cleverness. Then my mind raced to blame Autocorrect for not first checking the intended connotation of my post. Then I thought, hmm... a "dude of contemplation". As it read it wasn't all that bad, really. According to this I must be having coffee with some really deep dude. I guess I could live with that.

On my way home it occurred to me that perhaps Autocorrect is smarter than I give it credit for. After all, it knew I was indeed that dude.

Some Stampede Fun - story to follow