Leaving Victoria

Buh-bye Vic! This has been a fun trip so far... Mostly walking around though ;) I updated my Flickr shots above to include the most recent pictures. And the one to the left is a shot of a neat old boat at Victoria harbor. Had a lot of sun on this trip, as you can see. Hoping we get the same amount of sun for the second half!

It will be kind of strange moving up from the big city here to the woods, but I'm looking forward to it...

Can't write much, headed out up north to Ladysmith area now. Talk to you all later! Feeling a little homesick but not bad ;)

Yay Victoria!

Hiya folks! Couple of days in Victoria now, starting to finally feel like I'm getting away from it all... The pictures up above from the Flickr flim strip contain some of the latest ones I've taken recently here in Victoria. Of course, once I take more later they will slide to the right, but just paw through them if you like to see. I also have some other goodies which I'll include in this blog post as links below.

Today we took a walk around Beacon Hill Park, which wasn't too far from our condo thingy we're renting (video of the condo coming later). It's larger than it seems, and not as pretty as it probably would be if it were summer. A little chilly but a nice walk overall, and good preparation for when we do our usual walking around the trails at the Lodge later in the week. Afterwards, I stopped at the Northwest Traders shop with my Dad and picked up my touristy stuff and candy ^^ (I love that Macintosh caramel stuff, and Aero bars too mmm!).

We then ate at a place salled Sam's Deli, and my sandwich looked pretty much like the one in the picture. Last night we had steak, which was as tasty as it sounds!

Think I'm going to read my book for a while, talk to ya later! Hoping to get some great pics of the lit up Parliament building tonight.

Here are a couple of streaming movies (they also work in SL if you are interested in watching them there):
All the ducks are swimming in the waaaa-terrrr...
Who needs to throw a stick when the dogs chase themselves in Beacon Hill Park?

and...

A nice panorama .EXE picture of one of the edges of the Park.

Updated another site

Hiyas, I recently updated my deviantart site, with some old scanned drawings and some short stories I have written. Check them out if you like :) I hope to add photos in there as well some time soon.

My upcoming trip, part two...

So, after a two hour drive on Sunday, we'll reach one of my favorite places in the world. Actually, it may just be my favorite place in the world. I'm talking about Yellow Point Lodge, near Ladysmith on the island. It's a very interesting place, for a number of reasons. Meals are served three times a day: breakfast is made to order from just about any typical breakfast foods, lunch is usually a buffet line with soup, salad, and some type of hot dish (meatballs, spaghetti, etc), and dinner is a sit down meal where they bring out pre-made plates of food (such as turkey, with potatoes, and a green, etc). They own the whole peninsula, and there is no TV or phones around except for one pay phone, and a TV they keep under wraps unless it's of major importance (natural disasters, etc). There are lodge rooms, and also cabins. My father and I each have a cabin, and they have electricity and woodstoves. The woodstoves keep things much warmer, as the cabins aren't really insulated. I just love the place... There's not much else to do but walk on the trails, read, nap, and eat. I, of course, am bringing the laptop (lol) but probably will just be using it to listen to music, as I don't think there's any wireless connections around there.

Here's some pictures my father took of my stuffed bunny Flopsy, on an adventure to there.

Here are some wonderful panoramas I made of the place: Outside the lodge, inside the lodge on the top floor, inside the lodge on the lower floor. It's not normally as sunny and nice as it is in the first panorama. Inside the lodge, you'll see the big fireplace, which I just love to sit in front of and read. I don't normally drink tea, but I like to grab a cup because it's handy for when I read. The lunch buffet is also visible there. Behind it, you can barely see a black piano. The first floor usually has people quietly reading and classical music playing, so I will probably be on the downstairs piano most of the time. It's a cute little thing, but still a lot of fun to play!

My upcoming trip, part one...

Okay, so where will I be during this time? Used to be, we'd spend the entire week at a place called the Yellow Point Lodge (more on that later), but lately we've been using the other half of the week to rent a place with a kitchen so we can cook some of our own meals, and for variety.

We used to drive up to Vancouver Island, which is about 12 hours, not counting for the US/Canada border crossing time. Yes, there's a ferry trip in there too, of about two hours. However, since neither of us feel much like driving that distance (and making the return trip in a week) we are flying for about 3.5 hours. Should be very strange, as we've driven all these years and never flown in before.

This year, we picked a spot right in Victoria called the "Thunderbird Suite". It's kind of a condo, and it looks very cool... It's really close to everything that Victoria has to offer, which is just perfect. Normally, I do a lot of reading on these trips, like around 3 or 4 books during the week, but I hope to get out there and wander around the town a little too. So, we're there until Sunday afternoon, when we rent a car and drive to the Lodge...

My upcoming trip, background...

Okay, sorry to always bring this up, but I hardly ever travel, so being away from home a week has made this trip on Wednesday the foremost thing on my mind... I thought I'd take this first post to describe this history behind this trip.

Since about 1988, my father and I have been managing a book trade show once a year here in the northwest. There are actually two shows, but the Spring show was so much smaller, the organization didn't need our help. The show is a way for independent bookstore owners to congregate and place orders with many different publishing houses all in one weekend. My dad actually was one of the founders of the PNBA Tradeshow--Northwest, since he was a sales rep for Doubleday back then, and there was concern that no tradeshow existed up here. We were primarily responsible for things related to the actual exhibit hall: where the tables and booths would be set up displaying the Christmas book selection. I started helping with the database work, creating mailing lists, and helping assign table space. I eventually graduated up to something of a Floor Manager, where I would troubleshoot space problems and arrange electrical and phone hookups, etc. We were also responsible for shipments of exhibit materials to the show, for which we charged a certain amount for each box. The money from this was used to pay off the storage and shipping costs to the actual exhibit hall, with the leftover cash being used by the two of us to take a trip in late January.

Well, last October, we did what turned out to be our last show. My father is wanting to retire, and I wasn't very interested in doing it anymore either (I'd rather be focusing on music, in fact I missed out on being part of the MTV segment Frogg was in because I had to leave for the book show). So, since we no longer need to fund the next year's show (mailings, etc), we are taking the whole profits from the shipping and using it for this trip.

Monday morning blues

Hooray for Monday? Well, not really... At least there's no show tonight, but I am visiting a friend for a movie tonight. Hopefully I don't get back too late, it's a bit of a drive :) Still, it will be good to see my friend again before I head out for a week's trip starting Wednesday. My father and I are flying up to Vancouver Island for a week, coming back on Thursday the 1st. Usually it's a fun trip, and it will be nice to get away from the PC for a while, although I am bringing my laptop and new antenna booster just-in-case! Probably will work from Victoria, but not from the lodge for the last half of the week.

Anyway, just thought I should write and say hello to you all :) I'll write more about my upcoming trip later on.

Hectic as usual, with rewards :)

Sorry I haven't been posting much, but my life lately has been pretty hectic. I need to go on a trip with my father in about a week (January 24th) for about a week (until February 1st), and I don't have enough vacation time, so I've been working overtime at work to make up the difference. Also, there has been a show a night, pretty much, until I go, and I just haven't had much time for myself. Trying to make time though, so don't worry! A relaxed cat is a happy cat ^^

So, if you don't see me around, just leave me an offline message and I will be getting back to you. On my trip I'll have my laptop but most likely no internet access a lot of the time. When I get it I'll fire off a bunch of emails though :D

The most interesting show coming up this weekend is the one Frogg and I play in Secondlife at the Elbow Room, run by the illustrious Elex Dusk, for their anniversary! When I first started SL back in June 2005, I was looking for a place where I could hang out, in a Cheers-bar type environment. Well, it's there at the Elbow Room! My favorite part of my time spent there was the Mystery Science Theater 3000 shows. I love spoofing movies ^^. Then, I bought some land, and got occupied with that, then came the music and concerts, and now between shows I spend most of my time with a small collection of friends visiting. I still hold a very soft spot for the Elbow Room, though, and I'm honored to be asked to be part of their celebration. There's a full day's line-up of musicians there tomorrow, and we play at 7pm-8pm. I wish we could have played for two hours, but we have two other one hour shows that day, and four hours of playing is just too much!

365 Days of Interesting Obscure Audio

Back in 2003, I stumbled across a blog that captured a strange bit of outdated audio every day of the year. (Take a look at it here)

Well, they're doing it again, and this time we can all get started with it early on! Keep watching this site here, for a new mp3 a day!

Hooray for Luskwood and music! =^.^=

Hi there folks! Last night Frogg and I played at Luskwood, in the Giant eltee Head Pub. Here's a picture to show you the wonderful crowd... :) Today is Michi Lumin's birthday (one of the Luskwood and Luskwood Creatures founders), and so last night we got to sing Happy Birthday for her and perform our version of The Gunner's Dream (a Pink Floyd song she said last time was one of her favorites).

As always in Lusk, there was a great audience with lots of wonderful furs and people on hand to dance and provide witty banter. ^^ I just love playing there; Lusk is one of my favorite places to perform. I'm honored each time I am asked to participate in a show there. I hear we even filled the sim, and did a pretty good job of filling Perry next door too with overflow listeners! Somebody mentioned that it might have been the biggest event they'd had to date, but I doubt that... As swelled as my head likes to get over such touching comments I suspect there have been other wonderful events too... For instance, the Halloween and New Year's parties had things jumping pretty good! I heard from many folks there that they'd love to have us back more often, and so I did my little happy dance ^^

I love lots of things about Luskwood: the sense of community and pride that is always present there, the wonderful intellectual conversations I overhear, the multitude of customized furs and personalities, and of course the awesome DJ'ing from folks like Kody, Gog, Shady, Zorin and Hervy (and many others I'm missing hehe). I guess I'm something of a fanboy, but I'm also very proud to have a small rental plot in Lusk, to feel more a part of it all, you know? I got my furry start in SecondLife, so for me Luskwood is the Washington D.C. of the genre, hehe. I know there's a lot more out there, and I'm starting to get more familiar with the different avenues of furry exploration, but I've fallen in love with SL in general, and so Luskwood itself will always hold a special spot in my heart.

Tonight we perform at the Blarney Stone, however, which is also a top notch place! They really know how to run a venue right, to be sure, and cover all the bases... It's a very relaxing show, knowing things are set and contingency plans have been made well in advance in case things go awry. It's also a two hour show, but it starts a bit early, so hopefully I'll get a little time after the show to visit and chat with people before having to turn in for the night.

Okay, that's a long entry for now, write more some other time! Thanks for reading :D

A post

It's been really rainy here in my town the last few days, and I think I'm coming down with a cold... Don't feel like writing much, but I felt guilty for not saying anything so I'll write about something.

I've been enjoying my time in a number of places, lately. SecondLife, of course. Also, in Skype chatting with lots of friends such as Rosa, Mel, Phishy, and Sporked. I've also been spending more and more time in FurryMUCK. FurryMUCK is one of the largest interactive role-playing games, and is primarily social, just like SecondLife. You can create a character, and use it to interact with others. However, it's all text-based, like a multi-user text adventure game. Since there isn't a visual aspect to it, what you say and how you say it becomes a lot more important. Generally, people will chat as if they were characters in an on-going novel. Anyway, it's been very interesting spending time there, and easier when I'm in a place that loading SL would be difficult.

Let's see, what else is going on... I go up to Canada with my father on vacation starting on the 24th, and going through the 1st of February. So, with luck I'll have limited internet access, but no way to play or anything like that.

Take care, folks, and I'll write more when I've got the energy.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone... I didn't make a resolution to write more in my blog, so hopefully there are entries in here from time to time.