Day 31: Southpaw

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/40, ISO 800)

It's another Katelyn pic!  Wooo!  She's definitely becoming a lot more aware of her surroundings.  Over the last two weeks she can - when asked - point and identify who say, daddy or mommy is.  When asked if she wants to go outside her first reaction is to nod and point to her ski pants.  

Caught a picture of her scribbling in the living room today.  Lo' and behold!  She may very well be left handed!  Just like her uncles!  EXCELLENT.  Lets hope it sticks that way.  Aside from my brother I'm the only other left handed member of my family - extended or otherwise.  With him in Vancouver, it's just me to hold down Fort Southpaw.  It has spread amongst my friends too, who occasionally rib me for being of the not-right group.  Mind you, this is all in good fun.  No one actually 'refuses' to sit next to my left, but nonetheless this is a good opportunity to speak out.  POWER TO THE LEFTIES!  We're different and damn proud of it! ...or at least I am.  

What's wierd about my dexterity though is that I'm not a pure lefty.  I eat and write left-handed, but for almost everything else use my right hand.  When I played sports, everything with the exception of serving in Volleyball was right-handed.  Batting, glove, frisbee throwing.  

Of course with photography, everything is pretty much right-hand oriented.  For what it's worth however, I do shoot left-eyed.

Weekly grind starts tomorrow.  Hell yeah.

Day 30: Stickler

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/60, ISO 400)

Okay, so I mentioned yesterday (or technically, earlier today) that I don't necessarily work for compensation.  Of course, a little 'here and there' isn't so bad. :-)

Above is a USB stick presented to me.  It complimented the food quite well.  

Just a quick post today.  More tomorrow.

Day 29: The Human Factor

(Nikon D60,  35mm DX, f/4, 1/100, ISO 200, Flash @ TTL-BL)

What a day.  I was somewhat expecting good things from the OBC Competition host at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson today, given the swift series responses that I received from the competition's co-chair Marius Sobrepena.  

The day started as any Friday would.  9:00 AM HST802 class in Kerr Hall East.  That's where the commonalities ended.  First my prof was 'late' - he arrived within Ryerson time (classes started at ten minutes after the hour), but wasn't his usual punctual self.  To compensate he opened up with one of his (in my opinion) pretty decent World War 2 jokes.  This man is just so awesome.

After that class came the Job Finding Club.  It's basically a workshop to help students find work (I know, you're probably all "no duh asshole").  Why am I taking such a workshop?  Well you see, I don't have as much work experience as I would like.  Thus, any methods to help find work, find what I want to do, and find it fast is appreciated.  Ideally I'd like to stand out as much as possible from my competition, because jobs have been scarce as of late.  I'll let the picture below explain why, in case you've been living under a rock for the last year...

(Nikon D60, 18-55 VR @ 22mm, f/5.6, 1/50, ISO 200, Flash @ TTL + 0.3EV)

DING!  Point for the OBC group that wrote that on the board!  Anyhow, it was a pretty decent session at the workshop which will hopefully lead to a job or some contacts.  Finished a little late at 11:15 but regardless, OFF TO OBC!  ... ... after freezing half to death outside in this recent cold-spell.

I hit the seventh floor pretty much running.  Marius was RIGHT there with media 'ID' in hand.  +1 TRSM lanyard too.  Me like.  After some introductions and checking in my coat/bag it was off to the 'chillout' room where I was treated to leftovers (pictured at the top of this post; yes, those were the leftovers) of breakfast.  Hell yeah!  Snapped a few photos before heading down for some lunch.

Technically this has not been the first time I have been compensated for my photography.  I had a couple meals paid for on my behalf over the summer, but this was big!  Gosh.  It wasn't knock my socks off food, but it was pretty damn good for free food.  Sorry I didn't grab a photo of that... I was too busy eating.  The next few hours after that were pretty much characterized photographing guest speakers who spoke to teams that weren't presenting to the judges.  Despite my lack of sleep the night before I still managed to learn an interesting thing or two from the industry professionals, albeit from an HR perspective.

After presentations by the finalists came the social event which largely consisted of walking around, scarfing food fast so I could still operate my camera with two hands, and popping off shots of people mingling.  The night concluded with a few shots of the Buzz Hargrove and the Human Resources Students Association team (below; I think one person was missing).

(Nikon D60, 18-55 VR @ 18mm, f/3.5, 1/60, ISO 800, Flash @ TTL)

To reiterate, a really great day.  One that reminded me why I picked up photography and continue to pursue it.  I don't do this for the sole purpose of one day earning money from it.  I do it out of passion and the ability to help preserve memories.  If I am asked to take photographs for someone, I try to do the best I can possibly do in the shortest timeframe possible.  It's not a favour that I feel like I'm doing for someone, but rather an overwhelming sense of obligation to deliver because they've entrusted this duty to me.

I shoot out of passion, love, and dedication.

I shoot to create a memory others can enjoy.
I shoot because people say thank you.

Day 28: Through The Lens

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/320, ISO 200)
 

Finally, a Thursday off.  Ironically it only happened because of a scheduling conflict, which was caused by an appointment with the optometrist.  At least I got to sleep in.

The check-up was pretty routine.  Apparently my eyes for the most part have stopped getting worse (the left one went up a bit, but not too much).  Granted, my eyes are already FUBAR most likely from years of watching TV and staring at the computer screen.  I've always worn glasses since I was seven.  My world from then on as far as vision goes has been dictated by light entering through two pieces of plastic held together by a metal frame.  

I've since broken one pair because my face used to be a magnet for basketballs - a contributing factor to why I don't like playing basketball, or sports in general.  I've always been cautious about not getting my glasses hit and now it's taking a toll on me since it's the general reason why I shy away from them.  I've never worn contacts nor do I really give it much consideration.  Not only am I a clutz but I double as a lazy person which probably doesn't work well with inserting contacts into one's eye.  Glasses on the other hand can be taken on and off with ease.  With photography I've also been a bit annoyed by the smudge left behind on my lens should it make contact with the rubber eyepiece on my camera.  

Minor quibbles aside, I'm not at all soured by wearing glasses.  After all, they allow me to see.  Although my Physics teacher in Grade 11 made it a note to make fun of us nearsighted people by joking about how what we see isn't actually 'real'; it's an optics thing and one that I sort of forgot.  While I may not have absorbed much in his class he was nonetheless a great teacher.

Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have a new pair of frames.

Day 27: Windows

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/6.3, 1/40, ISO 200)

As per the standard thus far this year, I arrived to my class much earlier than usual.  I even thought I left the house later than usual today.  Nope!  Not quite it seems.  I still got to school at around 8:15ish - forty-five minutes before class.

Of course, my room was empty too.  It was then that I noticed the lone window.  It was facing south, towards Toronto City Hall.  If you looked straight you'd see the Marriott hotel.  I figure I'd shoot the pattern of windows and what not.  Apparently no one gets up this early, which is probably a good thing.  Didn't exactly want someone to look outside, ready to start the day only to have it spoilt by some asian kid staring at them from a window through a lens.

Go figure, just as I put my camera down a plastic bag came out of nowhere.  It was one of those 'flying plastic bags' that looked like it came off the roof of either the Ted Roger's School of Management or the Marriott.  Nonetheless, I failed to capture it and cursed out loud to myself for having missed the shot.

Optometrist tomorrow.  Woot.  My eyesight had stopped tanking for the last few years now, but it's about time for the usual checkup.  At least I get to sleep in tomorrow.

Day 26: SNAFU

(Nikon D60, 18-55 VR @ 18mm, f/8, 1/15, ISO 200)

Beeeeeeeeep.  Beeeeeeeeep.  Beeeeeeeeep.  That was a terrible but somewhat accurate representation of the fire alarm today.  Not your loud-ass KLANGING that usually occured in the elementary/high school.

Of course in elementary/high school we usually exited the building in a timely and serious manner, as opposed to one where several people ignored it and stayed behind.  Go us!  That, along with a pretty boring programming course comprised of most of the morning.

The afternoon was a bit more exciting or unconventional, whichever you prefer.  A quick subway ride to The Big Carrot - an organic market located on the Danforth (near Chester station) to grab some photos for the Commerce Times... BUT WAIT!  There's a power outage on that ONE little area the store is located in.  Ugh!  Rather than freeze for an hour, I decided to go back to Ryerson to camp out for a little bit.  Ironically whilst waiting and hoping the power returned, I ended up shooting a few frames for another writer's article on request.  Thankfully no power-outage disruptions there.

Back at The Big Carrot at around 3:00 PM, two hours after I had first gone.  Let there be electricity!  I quickly went through and caught a couple snaps.  I ended up returning to Ryerson to help another friend with some photos; spending a grand total of about ten hours in school/downtown.  Only three of which were actually in class.  I'm beat.  Alas, tomorrow is the last day of the grind.  Woot.

Day 25: Streaking

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/16, 10, ISO 100)

Yes.  I know what you're thinking.  How many more freaking times can I take a picture of my laptops? The answer?  It depends.  No seriously, that's what I learned in Marketing today.  "It depends."

What an awesome lesson.  To be frank, this is another 'filler' picture for one of those days where I had planned the photo at the last minute.  Granted, it is probably the one I've liked most so far.  I've always wanted to experiment a little more with light painting, and doing this has made me realize that I need to scrounge up another one of those awesome LED flashlights.

If you're curious about how to generate an image like this, it's pretty simple: Set a very slow shutter speed (several seconds; this one was 10) and make sure your camera is on a tripod or resting on a stable surface like a table!  Triggering the camera is probably best done wirelessly, I used a Nikon ML-L3 (for all cameras from the D90 and down, I believe) on a two second delay.  After that, turn on your flashlight and let the fun begin!

Day 24: Rained Out

 (Nikon D60, 18-55 VR @ 18mm, f/3.5, 1/10, ISO 800)

Sort of an anticlimactic end to the weeekend, what with my JDC experience sizzling out rather than ending with a bang.  Nonetheless, it was still an interesting experience.  Didn't get a lot of frames today, but still have a couple hundred from Friday.  Unfortunately Mike (writer whom I was working with) and I ended up waiting several hours to before we managed to get to talk to some students.  At least he got a few.   I came away with a bare handful of pictures; nothing like Friday.

The photo above was taken on our way back to the parking garage, on Dundas Street West amidst a light rain.  We're right in front of the Canadian tire; Mike is on the right.  As usual, the huge screens of Toronto Life Square are demonstrating how much energy they waste.  Pulled the white balance a bit for effect. 

The weekly grind starts tomorrow.  Or, I guess looking at the time, today.  It's 12:02 AM.  Time to get a few hours rest.

Day 23: KISS

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/50, ISO 200)

Simplicity.  We need more of it.  While the photo above speaks only about communication, it can be applied to other aspects of our daily life.  We spend so much of it freaking out, worrying, and complaining about either things out of our control or minute problems that are so trivial.  I mean really, is saving two minutes really important enough to necessitate cramming into a subway train when there is another one on the other side of the platform (going in the same direction; I'm referring to a station at the end of a line, like Finch, Kennedy, or Downsview Station in Toronto) that has empty seats?  Does saying "yo man that course is so gay, so much work" make it any easier?  I think not.  

"Keep it simple, stupid" - a concept I was introduced to this concept during programming class in Grade 11.  I don't think it's something that should be just limited to programming though; people of all walks of life could use a dose of it.  By far my biggest pet peeve with the more recent part of my generation (Generation Y) is their tendancy to complain about everything and how they feel that succeeding is a right rather than a reward.  An excellent example of this is the school system.  How many kids fail in elementary or high school?  How many teens get into University not because they earned the right to but because they sweet-talked their teachers into boosting their grade because they failed to earn it?  Most of my friends got into school fair and square; I can only recall offhand one friend who asked for a grade bump and he at least had the decency to surpass the minimum entry requirement by a fair margin.

When I graduated High School, I did not have the grades to enter University.  In fact, the string of mail addressed to me in May and June was really just a spat of rejection letters.  The only reason I got in the following September is because I applied for an extension and spent half my summer in school to get my Calculus grade up.  I fought my way in.  I fought my way into a program I didn't even like and pretty much wasted the year (in terms of academics and finances) before switching into my current major.  I bet if more kids spent half the time they did complaining and put that into solving the very problems they were complaining about they'd have the other half to do as they pleased.  Simple.

Don't even get me started with photographers.

Day 22: Kickoff

(Nikon D60, 18-55 VR @ 24mm, f/4.5, 1/60, ISO 400)

In following yesterday's trend, what could've been a mundane day turned out to be pretty damn interesting.  It kicked off with History, which is a surefire way to start the day.  The following two hours were then spent handing out issues of the Commerce Times, which wasn't too bad overall. 

Afterwards, I proceeded to go grab some Greek food.  It was satisfactory, and only barely.  The salad was meh and the biggest dissappointment were the potatoes.  Now, I don't have many Greek friends, but the few times I've had the opportunity to enjoy home-cooked Greek potatoes were simply awesome (props to my friend Kosta's mom for that).  I never looked at Caucasian-prepared potatoes the same way ever again.  The souvlaki seemed pretty decent, but I don't have an awesomely sophisticated enough palette to be able to discern bad souvlaki from good; they all taste the same to me, albeit they all taste good.

Whilst consuming what was fast becoming sustanance rather than food, I checked my email to find that all systems were go for covering the first JDC Central event, that was happening in the Ted Rogers School of Management.  Hell yeah!  Something Commerce Timesy that didn't involve handing out papers!  I got home as fast as the TTC would permit and slapped together every lens in my arsenal (all *three* of them), popped the flash in my bad and got back to the area as fast as I could.  The opening ceremonies were to begin at 5:00 PM.  I arried at 4:40 PM.  All systems go?

No.  Not quite.  The writer I was working with wasn't answering his phone at the moment and I was frantically wandering the halls of TRS wondering how I'd get out of this little SNAFU.  Luck would have it that I'd run into some of the organizers and after a very brief explanation (which essentially was "I'm the photographer working with the writer) I had a press pass tossed to me and directed to Yonge-Dundas Square where the event was kicking off.  If only life were always that easy.

The rest of the night went pretty well, although like many events it ran on Asian Standard Time (also known as late starts).  I grabbed the shot above of the huge ads plastered on Toronto Life Square whilst I was waiting.  Lots of energy, fun, and perhaps a little too much bass for me, although I suppose I deserved it for walking in front of the speakers on like a dozen separate incidents.  Ironically, I spent most of the night shooting with my kit lens, the Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5 - 5.6G VR.  Sadly, I do not have a wider lens, but I was thankful that it did work out well.  My Sigma 70-200 worked out pretty decent too once I decided to 'steal' a vacant chair and use it as a stepping stool (Asians are generally pretty short, did you know that?!). 

Unfortunately I probably won't be posting any photos from the event until the next issue comes out, if any of them are to be used.  Alas, I opted for the shotgun effect for my photos, and ended up with a couple hundred to sort through.  Woohoo.

Work again tomorrow, as well as JDC coverage on Sunday.

Day 21: Between The Lines

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/60, ISO 800)

Before anyone gets any ideas, I did not get arrested.  Although I owe credit to my buddy Gerald for coercing me over so I could get a picture of him in front of the squad car.  This was the one just prior.  We had been walking to the subway stop when we saw it make a right at Yonge and Dundas (heading east).  Partially expecting some sort of awesome takedown (hey, anything can happen in the heart of Toronto), we were disappointed to find it appeared to be only a traffic stop.  Gerald, nonetheless wanted to his photo taken and proceeded to politely ask if he could do so with the officers (flashing his credentials probably helped a bit too). 

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/60, ISO 800, Pop-Up Flash)

Night and street shots are generally my weakest.  This probably isn't a terrible photo by any means; it fairly well and the flash worked fairly well as a fill light, but I don't feel like I've found the magic to shooting at night to take advantage of that awesome dynamic range.  Guess that's something I'll have to keep working on.

Oh, and yes I did purposely blow-out the car's license plate in the very top photo.  I make it a habit to do so for pretty much any license plate that worms its way into my photograph. 

In keeping with the title (and because I promised to), yesterday's day was largely centred on our Communication class.  To me it's one of those classes that belong in the realm of very useful but incredibly flat delivery (you know, like much of elementary school).  I like how I learn about how to properly write business letters and maintain good form; I'm a stickler for poor grammer and awkward sounding sentences.  However, to be taught in a flat monotone voice for several hours generally leads to a snoozefest, as mentioned yesterday.  For the last half of the class we wrote a claim letter as part of our first assignment (worth 15%!).

Writing what equates to probably a little over a dozen lines has never been so difficult.  Ever.  Hopefully it went alright.  Of course, being a Nikon shooter I wrote one 'addressed' to Nikon Canada.  Even though it was fake their PR and QC control have been spotty as of late, with Nikon Europe addressing a cosmetic issue with their new AF-S 70-200 VR II N issue today, not to mention the D5000 recall several months ago but I digress.

After Communication we settled in to do a Statistics assignment that had been assigned the day prior.  Completing that rather shortly (it was a pretty simple assignment) we proceeded to unnecessarily (as I found out today after speaking with the professor) beat our brains stupid trying to come up with a program for solving our Programming Class' assignment with the concepts that have been currently taught to us.  Go figure we didn't have to actually do a flowchart with code (as I was taught to) and could instead just use 'plain English'.

With the end of Wednesday (and to some extent today), my weekly grind is over and I'm somewhat on cruise control.  I still have not been able to enjoy a Thursday off though.  Maybe it'll happen some day.  More tomorrow.

Day 20: Lids Up

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/4, 1/20, ISO 100)

The grind is over, once again.  I pretty much napped through half of my classes today.  KG (left) and I pretty much resorted to jabbing and kicking each other to stay awake during our Communication class.  First he'd nudge me in the arm, then I'd jab him in the ribs, then he'd kick me, and then I'd shove him.  It was quite amusing and was working for some time.  I eventually won (or lost, however which way you may see it) by eventually falling asleep.

 (Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/4, 1/40, ISO 100)

After class we were largely relieved, since we had just completed (somewhat confidently) a chunky assignment in said communication class.  We settled down to finish a statistics assignment and then make an attempt at our programming homework.  You can see Andrei's attempt above.

I'd provide more details, but I'm about to pass out over my laptop.  So today's details will be posted tomorrow. 

Day 19: The Difference is Practically Night and Night

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/20, ISO 800)

Despite ending class quite early today the inevitable happened.  I left the house in the dark, and came back to it in a similar form of lighting.  Alas, it was not all bad, since I had completed the two chapters I had set out to read in a realitively timely manner.  Not to mention I was not incredibly groggy since I had tried this highly experimental procedure commonly known as going to bed early.  Yes, for the first time in as long as I can remember I willingly went to bed before 12:00, thus allowing me to be fully re-energized after a quick powernap in my favourite study spot.

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/30, ISO 800)

Of course, on my way home I wasn't really thinking about what was for dinner or what I was going to do for the rest of the night.   I was in semi-panic mode because as usual the day was running down and I had not taken any pictures.  Crap.

Lucky for me, it allegedly snowed a bit while I was indoors all day; I could not confirm this because there was no window in the room where I was studying for the seven hours prior to my emerging from the subway (Finch) station.  While there wasn't much from when I got on the bus, it seemed to have accumulated by the time I got back to Markham.  Whoopie! 

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/15, ISO 800)

Much to my delight, it was wet variety.  Apparently there was a bit of a wind factor, because on my way home I started noticing one side of the trunk covered with snow.  As I continued down the street I was eagerly looking for the tree that had the right amount of snow without an annoying street light behind it.  Thankfully I found a few when I had gotten back to my street.  Like a pack of university students descending on any sort of free giveaway, I whipped out the camera.

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/30, ISO 800)

I'm pretty sure there were a few people either in their cars or houses wondering "who or what the hell is this kid taking a picture of?"  Alas, I made a few quick snaps, just slapped on Manual, fired a few bursts with the confidence that at least one of the three or four would be sharp.  Ironically, it was usually the first one, when there wasn't as much downward force from my finger depressing the shutter release.  There's probably going to be some quality lost because of the high ISO - so sue me; it ain't a fancy "see-in-the-dark" D3s.

 (Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/30, ISO 800)

Post-processing saved my ass.  In a bit of a setting-your-camera rush I (as per my normal behaviour) omitted setting white balance and left it on AWB (my friend Elijah never stops chewing me out on this; Zach Arias says I should slap myself for having a 'fix it later' mentality).  Still, I don't really like the presets; I'd rather have a direct custom Kelvin setting.  The original ones had some pretty nasty purply-reddish poop-smear all over them, so after applying my usual presets (all one of them, plus a little noise reduction) in Lightroom I dropped the colour temperature all the way to the bottom (to 2000 K).  Damn was I blown away.  There was a really nice coolness to it that just screamed 'awesome' to me.  So I stuck with it.  :)

All the photos were about five minutes apart, and the processing took about the same amount.  Not bad for ten minutes work and leaving/walking home in the dark on the same day.  Just goes to show that you really need to keep your eyes open.

Lastly, almost through the grind for the week.  One more 9 AM start tomorrow with a craptacular six hours in the same room.

Good thing I packed lunch.

Day 18: Someone's Got a Case of the Mondays

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/30, ISO 200)

Good times.  We were totally supposed to get work done today, but ended up accomplishing nothing.  Still, with the help of a red dry-erase marker, an empty room, and a lot of movies we managed to pass time.  Today was one of those days I guess.  I'm glad I had several hours of sleep "banked" prior to today.  It really helps with the whole "not feeling like dying" after your last class.

Of course, Mondays look like they're going to be my favourite day of the semester, even with class at 8 AM.  The week in general is made bearable by the fact that I'm with my good friends (like KG, pictured above!) and Monday adds to that by throwing in a decent amount of women in both my Marketing and History class.  Now, you may think that may come off as a bit wierd or that I'm some sort of creepy perv, but one needs to realize that the number of women in a program such as IT Management, or Computer Science, or Engineering is pretty low, and most classes are generally a sausagefest where you can count the number of women on one hand.  Two if you're lucky, but I digress.

Of course, I actually do pay attention in both classes.  Both professors are great, and despite being only two weeks in I'd totally recommend HST802 (Second World War) with Olivier Courteaux to any Ryerson students who are considering an elective and enjoy history even the slightest bit.  This ain't your father/mother's history class.  Still, waking up early and transiting has taken it's toll, and I'm beat.

'Nother 8 AM start tomorrow.

Day 17: Bundled Up

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/2, 1/40, ISO 100, Flash @ TTL-BL)

Katelyn is a lifesaver.  I had been pondering what to shoot for the last couple of hours before she arrived.  It's a pretty quick snapshot, but one doesn't get a lot of time with Katelyn and her winter gear on so what the heck. :) Short post today, early start tomorrow for the weekly three-day grind.  Woot.

Day 16: Some Assembly Required

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/2, 1/50, ISO 400)

Work started up today.  For the following seven weeks I'll be teaching the loveliness of Robotics to pre-teens.  It's been two years since I started working with LogicFusion, my first and only employer to date.  I teach two different classes at the Milliken Mills Community Centre: Cool Robotics Made EASY and Hands on Robotics.  The former was the one I was hired for when I first arrived and focuses on basic electronics and introductory robitics material.  Most of it is circuitry work, but towards the last half of the class there is generally a shift to a larger, more application-based project.  The latter is new, centred on the Lego Mindstorms product line (pictured).  It's more of an exposure-type course to get kids interested in this topic.

Working with children has had it's ups and downs.  On one hand there's the satisfaction one gains from hearing from happy kids (and happy parents) who really appreciate the work I do and the effort I put in.  On the other hand I feel as though I am somewhat witnessing the decline in the intellect of my generation.  I suppose that may seem a bit harsh for children, but all too frequently I witness kids who have absolutely no interest in class or worse, seek destructive/disruptive means to pass the time.  I believe that technology (and not solely video games as those 'analysts' on TV suggest) and other mass/recreational media are responsible.  I've overheard students discussing Family Guy, mainstream rap, and Halo (Watch out, that squealy kid on X-Box Live might be one of my students, har har har) during class time and have to wonder if this is just a phase in their lives or if they're really hooked on this crap.  I used to game a lot too when I was their age, but stopped pretty much within my final year of high school.  Likewise I recall that most of my friends were not that obsessive when it came to video games or mainstream media; but I suppose that might have something to do with the fact that one had to invest a fist full of money to get a decent PC or have a huge-ass satelite dish in their backyard.  Still, I imagine for some it's time to pick up the instruction manual to lifke and start reading it instead of going with this whole trial and error phase.

I imagine life (not the awesome game) is sort of like one of thoses TV commercials for kid's toys.  Accessories sold separately.  Requires batteries to operate. Some assembly required.

Day 15: Mutual Satisfaction

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/4, 1/20, ISO 400)

Okay, I tried really hard but failed to make a corny joke.  Har har har har.  Get it?  Corny?  It's corned beef.  I know... I'm awesome.  Friday has esentially become an awkward day, a bit of an 'F-U' reminder that my week doesn't end at 3 PM on Wednesday with a one hour class at 9 AM.  Nonetheless, I figured I'd take advantage of the lack of students studying and secure a spot in one of my favourite places settle inside the Ted Rogers School of Management.  Being alone however for several hours meant I couldn't get up at my leisure and walk to go get food, so I had to buy it pretty much after class. 

Thus, I traveled to one of my favourite spots to grab food near Ryerson, the Mutual Street Deli (152 Dundas St. East).  It's an awesome place, run by an awesome guy, with awesome food, for a respectible price (I bet you were expecting a fourth awesome there!).  Not a place I would go to everyday only because I can't afford to.  Needless to say, almost every one I've brought there has had a glowing opinion about the place (minus one friend, but he's always a tough guy to please).  You certainly can't go wrong with their Corned Beef Sandwich (pictured above).  Make it a combo and add some of their awesome gravy and you get a meal for about $10 that'll keep you going for several hours.  My only problem is the $10 part but for what it's worth (no pun intended) almost everything on the menu is under $10.  Among other things I've had there include Chopped Steak (I think they have one portion size: large), Fish and Chips, and their Big Breakfast (eggs, home fries, ham, sausage, bacon, toast). 

If you have time, check it out!

Day 14: Links

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/4000, ISO 100)

Despite being my day off, I still headed downtown to get some info for a photography thing.  On my way back, I realized that I had spent more time transiting back and forth than I had been physically downtown.  Bored, and not having my daily photo as usual I opted to head into the local park, since it was a nice day.  At one of the ends of the park was my local elementary school.  I was half-expecting the open field behind the school to be full of giant snowballs, but apparently kids don't do that anymore.  Either that, or the fact that there isn't enough snow on the ground. 

Failing that, I opted for the only other significant structure in the immediate area: a baseball diamond.  I used to play a lot during the warmer school months between 4th and 8th grade almost fanatically.  I hated rainy days because it meant the diamond would be either soggy or have a huge puddle where all the right-handed batter's box (which was basically almost all of us).

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/4000, ISO 100)

A lot of memories were had at this diamond, although most of mine are scattered bits, minus the time got hit in the lip by a bat that my friend couldn't hold onto and the other time I pretty much did a mid-air flip and landed flat on my back (Charlie Brown missing the kick style) when I tripped on a friend's shoe running to third base.  I started out using my cap for a glove and a plastic bat because I couldn't hold a wooden bat when I was eight.  Over time who and what I played with changed, but while many things had changed in those four years a few things did remain constant: our use of a tennis ball over a softball or a real baseball, charging out of the building during recess to take the diamond, and the fun.  Those were the days.

Day 13: Ol' Pinchy

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/2.5, 1/40, ISO 400)

If there is one thing in this world that I love about Nikon and never have doubts about, it's their front lens caps.  Simply awesome.

Another exhausting day, largely due to an incredibly boring class on Communication.  Useful, but there couldn't be a drier form of delivery.  Pretty beat.  More tomorrow.

Day 12: Be Ok

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/2.8, 1/50, ISO 200)

Be ok.  Pretty much a good summary of what I was hoping for before an 8 AM programming class that was immediately followed by it's corresponding lab (for a total of four hours straight).  Alas, it turned out pretty decent, as decently possible for four hours of programming at 8 AM could be.  Alas, now I'm tired.  More tomorrow.

Day 11: Devoid

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/4, 1/25, ISO 400)

Anywhere downtown is empty even at 7:30 AM.  Fast forward even an hour or two and this hall would be populated by the flocks of Ryerson Faculty of Business students, but for now it stands empty.

Whenever I hear people complain about their schedule, I make a note (if it's convenient) to show them my schedule from my very first year at Ryerson (Computer Science) which essentially amounted to 9 to 5 days during the first semester and three 8 AM + 1 9 AM starts during second semester.  Granted, this semester (tenatively) is looking like that too, but it's only marginally more tolerable because I have a day off.

Nonetheless, I do enjoy leaving in the morning though.  There's usually not that many people on the bus, and even if all the seats are taken (as was the case today on what I believe was the first 53E) there is plenty of space to stand, and the driver tends to go a little faster since there isn't any traffic.  Subway is no different either; plenty of seats, although at Finch it's always possible to get a seat if you wait.  Needless to say, while I start early for the majority of this semester I'm at least glad that I won't be ending late.  There was nothing more demoralizing last year than leaving and coming home in the dark, with probably the only glimpse of sunlight through a window; being devoid of sunlight sucks.

Day 10: Stacked

(Nikon D60, 18-55 VR DX @ 22mm, f/8, 1/20, ISO 100, Flash TTL)

A quick inventory of pretty much all the books I've managed to obtain so far in University, that I should probably sell soon.

Day 9: Baby Steps

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/50, ISO 800)

My niece Katelyn was born in November 2008 with the prestigeous honour of being the first child of the next generation of our family.  She likes people, eating, and yours truly waving at her.  In some ways I feel she's almost like the little sister I never had.  It's even more fun now that she's walking - what with chasing her around and all.  With some assistance she can climb stairs too.  Personally I think she likes it best when she walks into uncle's room and then gets to sit down on the bed and choose which stuffed animal she likes.  I don't know, just a thought maybe. :-)

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/40, ISO 800)

Unfortunately I think the only thing that I've managed to teach her is how to wave back.  I basically wave my arm and in the beginning she used to only return my waves, but in the last couple months she does it whenever she sees me.  Now, this may seem like it's totally useless, but it holds a bit more value considering the fact that I'm not a morning person.  See, I'm groggy, not really happy about having left the comfort of my bed and generally a very undesirable person to be around within those first few hours.  I really hate getting up in the morning, but it's a little more tolerable when your neice waves bye-bye to you as you leave.

Day 8: A Sign From...

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/20, ISO 800)

Some higher power!  Nah, just the town of Markham.  Made the snap on my way to the bus stop at 7 AM in the morning.

Day 7: I Repair

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/2, 1/100, ISO 800)

Meet Andrei.  When he's not busy getting 4.33s, watching Dragonball-Z, or flip-flopping on decisions and opininons, he's often fixing computers.  At the risk of turning this into some psuedo post that contains a mini-biography and information that you could probably find about him if you either knew him or looked him up on a dating site (I doubt he has a profile, though you never know...), I will stop here.  More tomorrow.

Day 6: Back in the Game

 (Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/2.2, 1/125, ISO 400)

T'is the start of Winter semester again.  With a bright and early wakeup at 6 AM after a sleepless night.  Needless to say it was a very uneventful and shortened two classes today.  I always hate the beginning of things.  The beginning is when you have to handle all the formalities, get some papers signed, and generally not get anything accomplished because most of the first classes are cut short.

Although my day was made slightly better by the obligatory public electronic display fail! :)

 (Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/2.2, 1/200, ISO 400)

Day 5: State of the Desk

(Nikon D60, 18-55mm VR DX @ 18mm, f/3.5, 1/25, ISO 400)

I make it a habbit to try and take a picture of my desk at some point during the semester, and at the end of every semester it looks like this.  On the right is my beloved rotating stack of books, papers, and things.  Things that have been recently used are rotated to the top.  I am occasionally too lazy to toss out empty water bottles and I havn't used that corkboard in a very long time.  Had I a slightly wider lens you could probably see my second laptop as well as the huge mound of paper that can't be seen in the top right corner of my desk.

I have some serious cleaning to do...

Day 4: Beefed Up

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/1.8, 1/50, ISO 800)

A great way to cap off the holidays, that is if mine were actually done.  Still one day left before school starts up again.  Much of the afternoon was spent at Ryerson waiting in an insanely long line for a Metropass (Toronto's monthly transit pass).

The evening on the other hand was spent at Baton Rouge, a classy (and very dark as evidenced by the photo above) restaurant known for their grilled food.  Mind you of course this was a special event: my friend Kosta's birthday (as students we unfortunately can't afford to eat at Baton Rouge on a regular basis, shame).  Our entire table turned to beef, minus Vicky our vegitarian friend.  Everyone ordered one of those awesome gourmet burgers.  I chose to be different and opted for a 9 oz. steak, having had one of those half-pound Costco burgers earlier in the week.  Good fun, laughs, and especially Simpsons references were had by all; though the last one was really just Kosta and I.  It took eleven years to find someone like Kosta who could crack and pick up Simpsons references like a snap.

Days 2 and 3: Out of Sync

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/4, 1/60, ISO 200, Flash TTL)

(Nikon D60, 35mm DX, f/4, 1/100, ISO 100, Flash @ +1.0 EV TTL)

We`re only three days into 2010 and already my sleeping schedule is messed up.  The first few hours of Saturday were spent waiting for 5 AM to pass by, because that was the official start time for first year students to make scheduling adjustments for the following semester at Ryerson.  Go figure I didn`t get the slot I wanted, but at least all my courses were there and I`ve had worse schedules in the past.  Giving up hitting F5 waiting for the spot to open, I opted to go downtown in the wee-hours of the morning to attend a Henry`s gift card giveaway with the hopes of scoring a $500 gift certificate.

I ended up walking around the block twice, in and out of buildings/Path before I eventually gave up and stood first in line, afterwards a few people also arrived and we struck up an ad-hoc conversations for an hour and a half in the freezing cold.  Now, these coupons varied in value so it was very possible to get screwed over with $10 for waiting 90 minutes.  Such was almost the case, though I came out a little better with $25.  My three anonymous line-mates didn't fare so well.  I left shortly thereafter with a couple of SDHC cards.

A long transit, hot-shower, and quick nap later was a meet up with some folks from Ginseng Radio.  Much food, Dragonball, and audio-filter fun (pictured, top) was had by all. :-)  Back home, its about midnight and I frantically work to finish editing/burning DVDs for some friends with whom I shot softball for.  Finish at 6 AM, get ready to catch some shuteye and wake up to a phone call at 11:45 AM... (which was the time I had planned on arriving there).  Oops.  Had this been a paying gig I probably would be shitting my pants, and there will always be another day down the road to deliver them (I was informed "no rush", in a wierd twist of irony).  Fall back asleep and wake up at 5 PM today to realize it had snowed a fair amount.

Having nothing else to shoot and still somewhat groggy, I decided to take a photo (pictured, bottom) of Dojo (left) and Spike (right).  Fans of Bear in the Big Blue House will recognize Dojo as 'Ojo'.  I did not know of the show's existence when I had purchased Dojo at Disneyworld over a decade ago, only that the bear was named Ojo.  My older brother Vic wittingly named his Mojo and I, being a copycat chose Dojo.  It stuck ever since.  Even my parents remember their names.  Spike on the other hand, is several years older.  I got him when I was around five or six, I don't exactly recall.  I played with him a lot and used to carry him around practically everywhere.  I consider him to be the 'ringleader' of all of my stuffed animals.

Yes that sounded a little creepy but hey, everyone has their own little niche thing no?

Next stop...

Day 1: Resolution

(Nikon D60, 18-55mm VR DX @ 28mm, f/8, 1/5, ISO 200, Flash @ -2.0 EV TTL)

I am such a messy slob, errr- Happy 2010 folks! 

New year, first blog!  I had thought about doing this for a while, but figured I never really had much to talk about.  Not much has changed, except that I've now picked up a camera.

2009 would've been like any other year, were it not riddled with numerous pictures documenting it at various points.  Though I was happy with many of my photos, I felt that many of them were "serious".  Thus, in the spirit of the new year, I've opted to take on a challenge that is often discussed about in photography circles: Project 365.  In short, its essentially taking a picture for every day of the year.  Trust me, it tougher than you probably think, but I'm confident that I can pull it off, or very close to it.  I figure if I miss a day or two it won't be the end of the world, because you know how shit happens sometimes.  

And... that's about it really.   Sorry about the really crappy introduction.  Occasionally I'll post about things relevant to your typical Canasian but this blog will be primarily photography-driven.

Crap, first day and I've already procrastinated.