Thoughts From My Life

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Monkey At The Zoo - Photo Of The Day
2007-12-07 17:42:00
This gorilla was sitting with his back to the glass at the Calgary Zoo. The keeper told us that is a sign of trust to the people watching when they show them their back.Published on Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Book Through AirMilesShops For More Air Miles
2007-12-07 17:05:00
I just learned of another way to get air miles at no extra cost by using the site airmilesshops.ca. This site, which is part of the Airmiles Official Site allows you to use your Airmiles collector number and look for retailers which offer AirMiles on-line. This is above and beyond the usual stores you can think of like Shell, Boston Pizza, and Westjet. I also shop at Dell and Expedia which are on-line stores that do not directly let you collect Air Miles with them. You can get points from them at airmileshsops though. How AirMilesShops Works When you click on a retailer on airmilesshops, you are taken to a page that explains the Air Miles you will receive if you make a purchase on-line. You can then enter your AirMiles Collector number if you haven't already and click on a button that redirects you to the retailer's site where you can shop as you normally would and make a purchase if you want. If you place an order on-line then they give you a certain number of Air Miles ba...
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Chopping Wood - Photo Of The Day
2007-12-06 17:42:00
This fellow was chopping wood during a camping trip this year and I caught him in full motion coming down on this block. Loved this expression. I had my 18-200mm Nikon VR lens on with the shutter speed as high as it could go. The shot has almost no blur except for the end of the axe.Published on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Aeroplan Bonus Offers
2007-12-06 16:26:00
Aeroplan points are a great way to get a little bit of a return on your purchases. You need to be careful though. Never spend more money just to to get Aeroplan miles (or extra Aeroplan miles) unless the value of points you are getting are more than the extra money you have to spend. I have written a number of articles on this including Collecting Aeroplan Points and Their Value, Aeroplan Versus Air Miles - Comparing Them, and New York City Using Aeroplan Points. One great way to squeek out some more points is to find coupons and Aeroplan special offers that are going on. I was looking around the other day and found a few places that offer Aeroplan deals to get more points. Air Canada Aeroplan Special Offers Check out the Air Canada Aeroplan Special Offers page. I just found this on their Air Canada website. This is a page on their website that advertises deals that are currently on. For example, as of December 4th, 2007 they have extra Aeroplan points available for booking...
More About: Bonus , Aeroplan

Sailboat At Saxe Point - Photo Of The Day
2007-12-05 17:42:00
This sailboat was just coming in off of Saxe Point Park in Victoria, British Columbia. Just over to the right of where this photograph was taken is the Esquimalt Canadian naval facility.Published on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Okiwi Web Brower For The Nintendo DS
2007-12-05 16:21:00
I have been using the DSOrganize web browser for the past little while. It works reasonably well. I decided to try the Okiwi homebrew web browser out at as well. It is in version 0.2 alpha right now. It was simple to get running. It has a nice interface and is fairly simple to use as well. It renders the text and background colors, but I notice there are no other images and I could not actually click on the links for this site. I surfed to a few others sites and the links worked just fine though. How Does It Compare To DSOrganize It definitely isn't as polished, but it is a good start. He is actively working on it as well, so you can expect features to be added. Getting It To Run The setup is very simple. Make sure to check out the site and go to the Okiwi Blog if you have any other problems or want further instructions. It is written partially in Spanish and English, so you will need to skip through to the parts you can read. Download the latest version from the Okiwi ...
More About: Nintendo , Nintendo Ds

Hippo At Calgary Zoo - Photo Of The Day
2007-12-04 17:42:00
This hippo was laying listless in the water in the Africa exhibit at the Calgary Zoo.Published on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Geo Tagging Your Photos - GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Lite
2007-12-04 15:12:00
Tagging photos with GPS information is becoming more and more popular with photographers and just enthusiasts with GPS. If you do not know what GPS is, it stands for Global Position System. Basically it involves a device that can detect satellites and determine the exact latitude and longitude of its location. Digital photos contain extra information (called EXIF) in the file that includes info on the date, camera settings, and other data regarding the photo that was taken. Geo tagging means adding the GPS information into the EXIF data as well. I have written about this in the past, but there is a new device out called the GiSTEQTM PhotoTrackrTM Lite . There is a contest to win one of these right now where you basically write an article like the one I did here. You can check out the details at Win a GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Lite. Why Geo Tag Photos ? There have been countless times I wish my photos were geo-tagged. My wife and I have been on several trips in the past few years. A...
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Notre Dame - Photo Of The Day
2007-12-03 17:42:00
I managed to rest my camera on a large wood shelf to get this photo. I didn't have a tripod and it was super dark in Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal, Quebec.Published on Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Earn Revenue Online - November Recap
2007-12-03 17:26:00
Well, here is November 's results. It was a great month for my passive income! New records which I am happy with. I received payments from Kontera and Adsense for passing the $100 thresholds. Thoughts From My Life Traffic Stats for November November's numbers and October's numbers are in brackets. Page Loads: 5754 (5239) Unique Visitors: 3016 (3049) Average Uniques/Day: 100 (98) Lowest Uniques/Day: 73 (60) Highest Uniques/Day: 129 (142) Traffic leveled out a bit more this month. My days are definitely more consistent with the 100 uniques/day being the average. November Traffic Thoughts From My Life Revenue Overall, my earnings for November were $127.04. Here is the breakdown with last month's numbers in brackets. PayU2Blog: $55.00 ($70.00) Adsense: $41.71 ($34.62) Kontera: $23.38 ($14.53) PayPal: $6.95 ($0.00) LinkWorth: $0.00 ($14.00) My Adsense and Kontera set records for monthly earnings. This is my big plus as these are more the passive income sources for my...
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Bay In Victoria - Photo Of The Day
2007-12-02 17:42:00
This little bay was on one side of Saxe Point in Victoria , British Columbia. I liked the scene and some of the houses with the nice view. Published on Sun, 02 Dec 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Roux - Photo Of The Day
2007-12-01 17:42:00
Roux, a doberman, was laying out on the grass. About two feet away was a volleyball court so I think he was just pretending to sleep. I took this with my 10-20mm Sigma wide angle lens. Really stretched him out and made his face look big, but the rest of his body small.Published on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Wake Boarding At Tie Lake - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-30 17:42:00
One last spin around Tie Lake in British Columbia. I had the ISO setting on my camera at 1600 and the shutter speed as fast as I could get it to try and get him. Still a bit blurry, but I like the shot nonetheless.Published on Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 1 Comments
More About: Photo , Wake

Add A Recent Articles Section To A Blog
2007-11-30 17:19:00
I added another component to my side menu bar. A Recent Articles section just under my RSS feed icon. It shows the most recent 5 postings. Why Did I Add Recent Articles? It is a bit of an experiment really. I enjoy going to other blogs via link to a specific page that I am interested in. It bypasses their homepage however and a recent articles section on every page lets me get a quick overview of what they are writing about right now. Most of my traffic is coming from search engine results so the first page a visitor comes to is not my home page. I thought this would be another way to expose them to my current articles and maybe get them to stick around longer. I will keep an eye out for my page views per visit to see what happens. What Else Can You Do To Encourage Longer Visit Times? I have only really done two things in the past to encourage surfers to stick around. Use Internal Links And use a lot of them. I have been bad at this, but any article where I have used them...
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New York City Using Aeroplan Points
2007-11-29 18:30:00
My wife and I have just booked our first trip every to New York City using Aeroplan points. We leave in March of 2008 and are staying there for a few nights. I am quite happy with our deal as well. We used our Aeroplan points and received a very good return on them. I am really picky when I use my travel rewards like Aeroplan and Air Miles because I want to get the most money out of them as possible. I have already written articles about the value of an air mile and the value of an Aeroplan point. Anyhow, I normally value an Aeroplan point around 1.6 cents each. Our flights to New York are giving me 1.96 cents each. That seems like a small difference, but it is 22% more value than I usually expect. How Do I Calculate the Value Aeroplan Points ? It is a simple formula. Take the raw dollar amount of money you save by using Aeroplan points and divide it by the number of points you used. Make sure to take into account the taxes you will pay using Aeroplan and if you have an ...
More About: New York City

Morning Coffee - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-29 17:42:00
This fellow was sipping his morning coffee at Tie Lake one morning.Published on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Coffee , Morning

Wakesurfing At The Lake - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-28 17:42:00
The boat had plenty of people for a day on the water. Everyone was standing on one side to tip the boat a bit. It helps build up a rolling wave behind the boat for someone to surf in. I had to break out my 10-20mm wide angle Sigma lens to try and capture most of the scene.Published on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Thoughts From My Life Turned One Year Old
2007-11-28 17:05:00
I forgot to write an article about it, but on November 19th, Thoughts From My Life turned 1! That's right, a year has gone by with me blathering about whatever on this site. It all started with my article on Insurance Policies and then I just kept rolling after that. What turned out to be my most popular articles (and largest Adsense earners) have been these four articles. Collecting Air Miles and Their Value Collecting Aeroplan Points and Their Value Aeroplan Versus Air Miles - Comparing Them Best Nintendo DS Homebrew Overall, I feel it has been a success. My original intent was to use this site as a tool to learn more web programming, have a diary for whatever I was working on or just thinking about at the time, and have it make enough money to pay for itself. The blog now earns over $40/month in passive income and an extra $50/month in sponsored posts that I write. Not bad, considering my costs are $15/year for the domain and $5/month for the web hosting. What Articles...
More About: My Life , Year

NHL Hockey Rinks
2007-11-27 18:39:00
This is kind of neat. A Google map of all the NHL hockey rinks. They are all flagged on the map and then the site has included links below for information about attending a game there. Check out Rinktour.com. It is interesting to see the distribution of them. Definitely a large concentration in the east. I recently attended a game in Anaheim, California. It was the first time I had ever seen a game outside of my home province of Alberta. It was interesting to watch two different teams play and see the atmosphere. I definitely recommend it if you are on holidays to add it into your plans. Published on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:39:17 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Hockey

Green Snake - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-27 17:42:00
This was a vibrant green snake sitting behind glass at the Vancouver Aquarium. The lighting was pretty dim so I had to put on my 50mm 1.8 lens and jack up the ISO on my camera.Published on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Snake , Green

Red Jellyfish - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-26 17:42:00
These red jellyfish looked awesome. Each tank had a nice blue backlight which really let you see the detail on them. This was taken at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park.Published on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Getting Music Off An Ipod
2007-11-26 13:54:00
If you have ever had your hard drive crash or purchased a new computer, you realize that your new installation of iTunes will want to erase your iPod. This is because it is already associated with another iTunes installation on another computer (or old hard drive, etc). Apple needs to try their best to prevent piracy of music so I can understand why it works like that. Everyone would be pulling music off each other's iPods and sharing music all over the place. This didn't work for me the other day though. My hard drive crashed and I needed to recover all of my music. Otherwise I would have been an unhappy camper. I found a useful tool that does the trick nicely called EphPod. It is a handy little utility that can do a number of things, but more importantly, it will take the music off your iPod and save them as mp3 files. For a full tutorial on how to use it to get music off your iPod, check out the tutorial on Engadget. It provides screenshots and a step by step guide o...
More About: Music , Ipod

Sea Lion At Vancouver Aquarium - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-25 17:42:00
This massive beast was just hanging out on a cold, rainy day at Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park.Published on Sun, 25 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Lion

Isabella - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-24 17:42:00
You gotta love that hair. With the hair and the nice lighting I really liked this photo.Published on Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Isabella , Isabel

Canadian Capitalist Anniversary
2007-11-23 19:00:00
I read a blog frequently called the Canadian Capitalist. Good articles that contain a national flavour to them. Anyhow, he has just posted an entry for a contest celebrating his 3rd anniversary of starting this blog. He is giving away an iPod and some gift certifications. You can read the article on about the Canadian Capitalist Anniversary to see the details. I would recommend subscribing to his blog and reading some of the articles if you have interest in finance or other topics. Here are a few of my favourite articles thus far. For those of you who have come to my site for the Aeroplan and Air Miles articles, Canadian Capitalist has also posted some articles around this topic long before I started doing it. Comparing Loyalty Programs Are Credit Cards Worth The Annual Fee Changes To Aeroplan Loyalaty Program Reinstating Aeroplan Miles (this was his first article) American Express Costco Cash Rebate Card Citi Drivers Edge Mastercard Published on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:00:...
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New Puppy - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-23 17:42:00
My wife is holding a new puppy that some friends of ours have recently got. The little furball is pretty cute.Published on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Beluga Whale - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-22 17:42:00
The trainer was working with a beluga whale at the Vancouver Aquarium. I managed to catch a 15 minute show on an rainy October afternoon.Published on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Whale , Hale

Air Miles for Everyone
2007-11-22 17:40:00
I was recently emailed from someone concerning the Air Miles for Everyone event currently going on. It is for their 15th anniversary event. I thought Air Miles were around longer than that, but maybe I'm just getting too old. There are a set of anniversary coupons you can receive. You have to enter your collector number to get them and then you get bonus air miles depending on how many you use. The second part to the event is a story submission section. Basically, individuals submit their heart warming stories about how they have used their Air Miles and people vote on them. The best story will receive 15,000 Air Miles. That is enough for a return trip from Calgary to Victoria or a number of other destinations depending on where you live. Definitely check it out for interest's sake and if you want some more coupons to help collect. Remember my math on how much an Air Mile is worth. If the coupons aren't giving you enough of a deal it might not be worth it.Published on T...

Dragonfly - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-21 17:42:00
This dragon fly was resting on my wife's sandal while we were relaxing at Stanley Park in Calgary one afternoon. He was still just long enough to get this photo before flying away.Published on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Dragonfly , Drago

iStockphoto Rejected My First Application
2007-11-21 08:23:00
If you read my article yesterday on iStockphoto called Earning Money As A Hobby Photographer then you know I spoke about microstock sites. Sites where you can upload your photos and they are available for downloading for a fee. You then get a cut of this. Anyhow, I applied to iStockphoto and went through a fairly involved application process on-line. At the very end, you upload 3 sample photographs. I uploaded a few of my favourites and I just found out today that I was rejected. That's right! My photos were not of a high enough quality for their site. When you sign up, there is a mini tutorial that you go through explaining quality and other copyright issues when submitting photos to your site. I thought that most of the photographs I have take on my Nikon D70s would be good enough no question. I thought it would be more on composition, but I am wrong obviously. I am still able to go ahead with my application though. I just have to upload new samples after a 3 day waiti...
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