2010: A year in pictures

In no particular order, some highlights from 2010. My Mom celebrated 85 this year and I discovered I hadn't taken any photos! In addition to this landmark event, you'll find some shots taken at random intervals throughout the year:


NEW FLOORS




STAINED THE SHELVES IN THE OFFICE




NEW ROOF




MATT...




...TOOK ME FOR A RIDE IN A SIDECAR











MIXED TIM WILLIAMS AND THE ELECTRO-FIRES FOR THE ALBERTA WILDERNESS ASSOCIATION




MY NEIGHBOUR JIM BOUGHT A NEW TRUCK




AND USED IT TO MOVE HIS OLD ONE OUT OF THE YARD




MY NEPHEW BUILT A TURTLE USING LEGGO MINDSTORM




I DISCOVERED AN ALL-VEGAN MEAL REPLACEMENT DURING A BOUT OF NASTY DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS




WHILE MY NIECE PARTICIPATED IN HER FIRST BIG DIVISIONAL RUN



HAD BUFFALO BURGERS AT THE PATRICIA HOTEL

AND ATE AT "GARTHS IN BROOKS"... YUP, YOU GOT THE PLAY ON WORDS!

WHILE HELPING LANDSCAPE POWER STATIONS AROUND ALBERTA

EVEN TOOK PICTURES WHILE DRIVING...
\
...ONE OF THESE



MY BUDDY DAVE D.'S LISTENING ROOM

MY BUDDY DAVE D. IN HIS LISTENING ROOM

ON THE DAY HE GAVE ME THIS AUDIO RACK FOR MY LIVING ROOM...

...I HELPED HIM PULL THE GUTS




OUR ANNUAL HAUNTED HOUSE AT MY BUDDY DAVE B.'S



THE BOX I BOUGHT ON BOXING DAY



DWAYNE SHOWING OFF HIS PET PROJECT SPACE IN OKOTOKS

THE CONTROL ROOM




DISCOVERING THEY SERVE "$4.00 GRASS ANTS" (GRASS PINTS, REALLY) AT THE PUB IN OKOTOKS!



THE PRODUCTION I DID IN OKOTOKS THE SAME WEEK





MY BUDDY NORM AT HIS PROJECT SPACE IN COCHRANE

PREPARING FOR SOMETHING BIG



TO FILL SOMETHING SMALL (POST HOLES)

THAWING OUT THE GROUND






A CHRISTMAS TRADITION




HOW I SPENT MY NEW YEARS DAY 2010




HOW I SPENT MY 40TH BIRTHDAY IN BC






OBSERVING TRAFFIC (CAN YOU SEE HOW THE TIMING OF THE SHOTS WORKED OUT?)




REPLACED THE STARTER IN MY VAN - DISCOVERING WHY I'M NOT A MECHANIC. IT WORKED OUT OK, BUT WHO WANTS TO STAND ON THEIR HEAD UNDER A VAN TO LOOSEN RUSTY BOLTS???



CHECKED OUT THE MODEL TRAIN SHOW

KEN, ADAM'S DAD, WITH HIS Z-SCALE LAYOUT. ADAM'S WORKED FOR ME FOR 9 YEARS THIS YEAR.



BOUGHT MY FIRST SPLITTING WEDGE...

...TO TAKE ON SOME NASTY LOGS...

...TO MAKE LITTLE WOOD OUT OF BIG WOOD




CABLE BUILDING DAY AT THE OFFICE





THEATRE DAY AT MY NIECE'S SCHOOL




DWAYNE HELPING ME STRING MY YAMAKI GUITAR - THE ONE I GOT FROM MY BUDDY DAVE B.

DWAYNE PLAYING.... MUCH BETTER THAN I!




AT THE ANNUAL V-3 CONFERENCE YESTERDAY: NIQUE, ME AND SHARON. WE GO BACK... 38 YEARS?? ...BUT DON'T TELL THEM THAT!

The perfect day to buy a box

I've been in the sound industry for -mark- 24 years as of the 19th. Over time I've made numerous industry contacts and I've met a lot of people. One fellow I ran into at a charity event we do every year, J., is in his early 20s and super-keen. He does live sound for electronic bands - meaning bands who play a sort-of underground electronica with keyboards, synthesizers and electronic effects. He says these musicians are far more demanding of their sound guys than your everyday, run-of-the-mill musician.

J. helped me out with a live event I did back in September for a blues act. Blues guys, he says, are pretty laid-back as a general rule. From my experience with hyped-up punk-dude garage bands as well as folk and blues artists, I would concur. I've not had the opportunity to experience electronica musicians, nor by the sounds of it, do I need to.

J. is in Mexico and has allowed me to use his 32-channel Soundcraft LX-7 for a couple events while he's been away. When he showed up in September to help me out at the Red and White Club, I just about fell over when I saw his board tucked into the front seat of his car - without a road case!

"AARRRGHHH!!!!", I thought.

During his absence, I came across a used case for very, very little money. I was actually looking for one for myself, but this one was sadly too small in one dimension for my application. I figured it would, however do very well for J.

I've been emailing with the girl who had this case on line and finally found a time when we were both available to do up the transaction. As circumstance would have it, it happened to be today, Boxing Day.

What a perfect day to buy a box!


This is it - the box I bought on Boxing Day!






I had, I thought, carefully measured the board and the box. I knew it was going to be a "perfect fit", at best, but what I had neglected to notice was that the fins on the plastic sides extrude past the edge of the box! ARGHH!!




The solve will be to remove the plastic sides. On more careful measurement, I've discovered that the board will fit in the box - without the plastic sides, right-snug inside the foam liners. If J. is OK with it, I will proceed. He should be, considering what I scored for him!


So here's J's board as part of "control central" at a Christmas theatre production which I may get around to blogging about sooner or later... most likely later.


It worked great for the kids because the channels are split - much like a split keyboard for a computer. There's a group of channels on the left and a group on the right separated by the sub and master controls. We sat two students at the board so each could run a section of it for their Christmas play.

As Boxing Day draws to a close, I'm pleased to say that as tradition holds in this part of the world, I did indeed go shopping for a Boxing Day bargain, and managed to also avoid the mass panic at the mall.

Christmas Bliss

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. I kept a whole string of potential blog posts in my phone as I was working daily in Okotoks on a really amazing contract that has somewhat renewed my love for my work. Life has been full and rich to the point that I haven't had time to assemble the posts. "Full and rich" can mean fulfilling as well as flat-out crazy... just so you know.

Christmas Eve dinner was early this year, December 23rd, with our traditional fair of Smoked Black Cod and Scalloped Potatoes. Mom and I headed up to my sister's for the 12-person feast. Mom and I gave a ride to Mom's friend, M. My Aunt M. (Mom's cousin) with whom I share monthly Monday Night Scotch nights arrived sporting a tray of fresh veggies and dip.

In my haste to get Mom settled in the kitchen and all the packages toward the living room, I answered the door when the bell rang, only to meet the Bishop and his wife while holding both a 1-litre scotch bottle and a 1.5 litre bottle of rum. Yup, that's the way to greet a Bishop, alright! "Come on in!", I cheered... trying to make light of my oopsie. Later, as I was pouring a scotch for Aunt M. and myself, P. approached and whispered in my ear, "I bet the 'Bish' would like one of those..." I look back on that and laugh...

Yesterday I visited with my long-time friend, N. and then Mom and I went to the early service at St. A's followed by our traditional Christmas Eve "Burger and tea".

The plan was to be back at my sister's for Christmas Brunch this morning, however my Nephew seemed to have acquired the flu. As a precaution both Mom and my B.I.L.'s Mom stayed home for the morning. We got the all-clear about 30 minutes ago so I'll be joining Mom for lunch at her place and we'll head to my sister's for supper.

It's been busy, but a great Christmas time, despite not getting all the lights up.

Perhaps in time for Winterfest.

Collecting and purging

If you've been following along over the last few months, you'll notice something of a theme to my posts. Restoration and purging. Most people who move on occasion tend to rid themselves of the stuff that clutters up their lives each time they change locales - easier to get it gone than to bother packing and moving it only to have to contend with it at the new place.

I haven't moved.

Period.

When I moved out of Mom and Dad's. I moved here and here I've stayed. Hence, when it was required of me to "move out" over the summer to refinish the hardwood floors, it was my prime opportunity to do that all-important purging. It's taken a great deal more time than I had anticipated to move in again - more importantly, to get settled. If you've never done it, let me tell you it takes a great deal of time, energy and mental focus to methodically go through every scrap, every bit and to save only that which is of value enough to keep. In the end, it's worth it, every minute of it.

I may have mentioned it in previous posts, but I don't remember posting photos... I collect vintage audio. Specifically, pieces that have contributed to my life in some way. Each piece I have has a story that relates to my life.

A few weeks ago I was poking around on E-Bay. I've used other local buy-and-sell services, but I've never bid on E-Bay. I thought I'd give it a try. One night I was surfing around and found an inexpensive piece. I thought it might make the perfect test pilot piece. I set up a Pay Pal account, placed a bid and waited out the six days until the end of the run. I won the bid and paid for my piece.

Today, it arrived in the mail - my first E-Bay purchase: $11.00!


The seller noted that they package their items really well and that it may affect the shipping cost slightly, but that they've had great success with buyers receiving their items undamaged.





Inside the flap, before I even got to the packaging, was a letter thanking me for my purchase and reminding me to please re-visit the E-Bay site to rate the seller. Love that marketing!



Several layers in, here it is!



Ta Da! One JVC KD-A33 Cassette Deck! I know this excites you!! "A cassette deck??", you ask, "but... why???"



Remember the vintage audio theme? Shown here is another piece I bought earlier this year on Kajiji.

And remember that I said each piece I collect has something of a history with me? This particular cassette deck is the one I first learned to DJ with back in... perhaps I'd best not say...

OK, 1982. Yes, back then we used cassettes. "What's a cassette??", you ask? You can look it up here if you don't know. Back then I was getting my feet wet in the audio world. The fellow who owned the DJ company that I would later model mine after owned these JVC cassette decks, or more accurately, the KD-A55 which also had lights behind the cassette door and little LEDs in the play, pause, record and FFWD and REW buttons, otherwise, identical.

The Yamaha EM 200 mixer shown here is also from the same era. It is the mixer I learned to mix on when I was 12. I found this one on Kajiji back in January. A fellow who lives in Winnipeg had it and agreed to bring it to Calgary on his way through to Fernie to go skiing. The transaction went down in the Mountain Equipment CO-OP parking lot at 9:00 PM the day after I returned from my coconut cream pie adventures in B.C.

I'm currently restoring a set of speakers that were matched to the Yamaha mixer. Eventually the house will be outfitted with speakers in each room, all vintage pieces.

To everything there is a story.