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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
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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
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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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Outside the Sugar Bowl Cafe - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-20 17:42:00
I was in the Sugar Bowl cafe in October of 2007 and stepped outside to go home. A nice autumn scene in Edmonton, Alberta I thought.Published on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Cafe , Sugar Bowl

Earning Money As A Hobby Photographer
2007-11-20 08:11:00
I have always wondered if I could earn a little bit of money in photography. I am a software developer at heart and that is my job, but I do like photography as well. Sometimes if you can earn a few bucks it can help justify that new lens you want or actually spending the time to go shoot something one afternoon. In regards to earning money as a hobby photographer, there was a recent article that hit some of the social media sites called How To Keep Your Job And Be A Part Time Photographer . A lot of interesting tips and suggestions. One of the interesting ones is supplying microstock. These are general purpose photos that could be used by anyone wanting to publish them for something. Perhaps a picture of a sewage drain that an environmental article might want. That is just an example, but you get the idea. Where To Go I have done a bit of searching and a site with only a couple articles is Earn Microstock. It is basic, but gets the point across. The author discusses taki...
More About: Money , Hobby , Earning

Wake Surfing - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-19 17:42:00
A beautiful day on Tie Lake in British Columbia. I laid down on the back of the boat and caught a picture of some wake surfing. While one guy is wake surfing, there is always a spotter that is ready to catch or toss back the tow rope.Published on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Surfing , Wake

Improve Your Blog With Blogging Resources
2007-11-19 17:38:00
I have been doing some research lately for what other features might be nice for my blog. There are a lot of different sites out there and information to look at. Probably the best I have found so far is the Blog ging Resources page at Daily Blog Tips. This page is seriously awesome. There are over a hundred good quality links that the author has maintained into a collection of various categories. Here is the list from Daily Blog Tips Feed Directories Blog Directories Free Blog Hosts Blogging Platforms Traffic Generators Article Directories Social Bookmarking Sites Press Release Sites Blog Networks Money Makers Online Forums Web Hosting SEO Blogs Blogging Blogs Podcasts Wordpress Themes Web Analytics Wordpress Plugins Published on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:38:42 MST. - 0 Comments
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Bathroom - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-18 17:42:00
My wife and I recently helped redecorate my parents' main bathroom. It involved repainting and new everything basically. I thought this was a cool photo. Take from the corner it shows the new curtain hooks and looks down into the bathroom.Published on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Bathroom

Stanley Park - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-17 17:42:00
I was hanging out in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia back in October. A cold, rainy day. Pulling out of this harbor was a massive cruise ship on its way up to Alaska most likely.Published on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Notre Dame In Montreal - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-16 17:42:00
In May of 2007 I was in Mont real doing the tourist thing. Just before the Notre Dame was being closed for a service I was able to get in and take this photo. The lighting was dim so I set my camera on the floor since I did not have a tripod. Published on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Notre-Dame

Back From Anaheim
2007-11-16 09:08:00
In case you didn't know, I was gone for most of this week. That is why I was not posting consistently. I was attending the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition put on by the Society of Petroleum Engineers. It was fairly interesting. It took place in Anaheim , California at the Anaheim Convention Center. Beautiful facility to have it in. Lots of space and amenities nearby (including Disneyland, which I did not have time to go see unfortunately). The conference consisted of a variety of presentations both technical and from a business standpoint. They all revolved around the oil & gas industry. On the first floor was the exhibition where there were many different companies with booths erected and lots of swag to give away. The weather was great and it was a great time, but it is back to the usual for me now.Published on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:08:03 MST. - 0 Comments
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Rabbit - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-15 17:42:00
This fellow comes almost every day around lunch and has a nap for the afternoon in a shrub outside my office window. His fur is almost completely white now, but this show was taken a few weeks ago. He was scratching his face or something, but it gave an excellent side profile. I was using my 18-200mm Nikon VR lens zoomed most of the way in. I was laying down on my office floor on the other side of the window, but he could not see me because of the reflection off the glass.Published on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Montreal Aiport - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-14 17:42:00
I have been into the "low to the ground" shots lately. Gives a different perspective for a lot of shots. Anyhow, this was in the Trudeau Airport in Mont real , Quebec as we waited for our flight. I set the camera on the ground and zoomed in as far down the hall as I could. I used the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens again.Published on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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My Sidewalk In Fall - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-13 17:42:00
I wanted to try and capture a bit of the autumn look around my neighbourhood. This is the sidewalk on the south side of my house in Calgary. Leaves were scattered around. I used my 18-200mm Nikon VR lens and set it on the ground. The zoom was most of the way out and the aperture as wide open as it could be.Published on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 1 Comments
More About: Photo , Fall

White Jellyfish - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-12 17:42:00
These jellyfish looked awesome against the blue background. The display at Vancouver Aquarium really brought out the detail of these creatures. They slowly moved up and down in their aquarium and you could see the thousands of tiny little filaments waving in the water as they pushed along.Published on Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , White , Jellyfish

Give Your Blog A Facelift
2007-11-12 12:47:00
I released my new look for the Thoughts From My Life the other day and I have to say I think it looks awesome. I am not done all the features that I want to put in, but I thought it would be best to just roll out the layout and fix what I came across later. It looks pretty good so far I must say. Some of the changes I have done are: New Colors I wanted to make it look a bit snappier. The color is more brownish, but it looks more professional and clean then the old one. New CSS Layout I found a design on Open Source Web Design. This design was by Arcsin. I modified it quite a bit, but the original one was by him. I used CSS as much as possible. It is supposed to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) by removing more of the display data to the CSS file and leaving the actual content in the html page. Menu Bar Moved to the Right Side Most blogs seem to do this anyways. The article headlines and content grab your eye a bit more when the menu options are on the other ...
More About: Blog , Facelift , Give

Swan Grave - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-11 17:42:00
I took this show from the as low down as I could get on the ground looking up at this ominous gravestone. Located in a local cemetary, there were tombstones from the late 1800's. This one looked very foreboding against the sky. I shot it with my 10-20mm Sigma wide-angle lens. I had it all the way out at 10mm to really stretch the stone upwards.Published on Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Swan , Grave

Garden Worm - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-10 17:42:00
These peculiar creatures were sticking out of the sand in their aquarium at the Vancouver Aquarium. They were definitely aware of their observers because if you made a sudden movement they were shy away back into their hole for a bit. I used my 50mm 1.8D Nikon lens here.Published on Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Garden , Worm , Arden , Garde

Building Wall - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-09 17:42:00
During my walk around the cemetary there was an old building there. I don't know what it was used for, but it was a locked up. The outside look very neat. This was taken by picking the stone on this side of the door as the focusing point and shooting it with a 50mm lens, aperture priority mode, and an aperture of 1.8.Published on Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 3 Comments
More About: Photo , Building , Wall

FeedBurner Stats Are Up And Down
2007-11-09 17:11:00
I don't know what is going on with FeedBurn er, but my stats are going up and down like crazy. It seem to jump from 35 to 64 and then back down again on a regular basis. Today (November 9th) it is at 35 again. There have been articles recently on other blogs about the Feedburner stats dropping off randomly. John Chow was blaming the Google RSS reader for misreporting in one of his posts recently (I can not find the link for it now). I'm assuming this must be it, but you think it would have been figured out by now. It is almost like a weird timing issue where it registers one day, but it is off by a bit so doesn't catch the rest of them until the next day. I have not posted consistently this week either, so that might be the problem. Anyhow, if you know anything, post a comment.Published on Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:11:18 MST. - 0 Comments
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Grave Row - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-08 17:42:00
At a local cemetary there is a section for WWII casualties. The rows are perfectly aligned and there are several of them. I got down low for this shot and it gave a real feeling of the length of these. The aperture was the lowest it could go, but it still maintains fairly good focus on the first few stones.Published on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Grave

Blog Redesign - What Features Should I Have
2007-11-07 18:21:00
I am still working away at my blog redesign, but I am liking the new look. I was thinking of giving you all a sneak preview today, but changed my mind. I am going to throw a question out there though. What features am I lacking on this blog and do you have any ideas on what I should do? I have altered colors, moved the side menu, restructured the menu, cleaned up the layout, and added article totals to the categories. I am also adding the top commenter (with linkback) section, recent comments section, and recent articles section. I am looking at some different ad revenue sources as well.Published on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:21:55 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Features , Blog , Redesign

Montreal Tulips - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-07 17:42:00
Tulips were to be see everywhere in Mont real during the spring. They are outside civic buildings, in people flower beds, and these were planted in the meridian of a major street. I liked their colours and wanted to pick out one of them and snap a photo. Had to get nice and low for this photo. My aperture was the lowest it could go and I was zoomed in at about 200mm on my lens to add to the depth of field feeling.Published on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Link Roundup - November 6th 2007
2007-11-06 18:15:00
Here are some interesting articles recently. 40 Tips For Optimizing Your PHP Code Posting Lists Works Anything For the Perfect Shot Photos of people trying their best to get a good photo. Some crazy lenses out there as well. Photos of Bullets Using quick flashes to capture bullets in movement. Firefox Tips This is a video that shows variety of Firefox tips that I never knew. Published on Tue, 06 Nov 2007 10:15:25 MST. - 1 Comments
More About: Roundup , Link , November

Henderson Grave - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-06 17:42:00
I liked this shot. It was taken at a local cemetary in the spring of 2007. To get the depth of field so tight I used my 50mm 1.8D Nikon lens. It lets you pull out the letters in the middle of the name quite nicely.Published on Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Grave , Henderson , Enders