Thoughts From My Life

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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 ...
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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
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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
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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

Crimson Lake - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-05 17:42:00
While camping at Crimson Lake in early September, my wife snapped this photo down off the dock. There is a "5-star" camping facility here that I would definitely recommend.Published on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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About Thoughts From My Life
2007-11-05 10:19:00
This site is essentially a notebook of my financial ramblings, photography, computer, and other ideas. As I learn something new or interesting and spend a bit of time on it, I have been posting it to this site. Hopefully it will bring up some discussion or other useful tips and I can even get a few bucks off my google ads. If you are wondering what my banner is about, I just picked a photo I liked from my collection. I took this shot in July 2006. It is the sunset looking west off a beach at Nungwi, a village in the northwest corner of Zanzibar, a small island off the coast of Tanzania in Africa. The sail boat in the picture is called a dhow. Most of the boats in the region look like this with the slanted mast. About Me I am a software engineer in Canada who has an interest in investing and financial matters for the average person. I have read the get rich quick schemes, investing strategies, and a whole set of other methods and am just trying to find the right mix...
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Chemainus River - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-04 17:42:00
My wife Cheryl took this photo on one of her relaxing days down at Chem ainus River on Vancouver Island. She grew up only 5 minutes from this spot and she was home visiting her parents there this August.Published on Sun, 04 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Waterbuck - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-03 17:42:00
This gorgeous animal was sitting motionless in the early morning hours. This was part of a tour through the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. This was part of my trip to East Africa in 2006. Published on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Earn Revenue Online - October Recap
2007-11-02 19:39:00
October is over and the results are in. It was a steady month again. I cleared the minimum payment amounts for both Adsense (again) and Kontera so I will be receiving hundred plus payments from both of them this month. At the current rate, I will receive a Google payment ever 3 to 4 months. My next goal is every 2 months. Thoughts From My Life Traffic Stats for October October's numbers and September's numbers are in brackets. Page Loads: 5239 (4476) Unique Visitors: 3049 (2679) Average Uniques/Day: 98 (89) Lowest Uniques/Day: 60 (39) Highest Uniques/Day: 142 (124) Traffic had very good jump this month, yet again. Not as big a jump as last month, but still pretty solid. It was still about 3 pages driving 90% of the traffic, but that's all good. I had an increase in surfers reading my new articles, which indicates RSS readers following along. I am getting closer to my April Numbers, but I'm getting closer. October Traffic Thoughts From My Life Revenue Overall, m...
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Beach At Nungwi On Zanzibar - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-02 17:42:00
The rock jutting out onto the beach framed this scene pretty nicely at Nungwi, in the north-west corner of Zanzibar . This was part of my trip to East Africa in 2006. Published on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Publish Your Photos With MyPublisher
2007-11-02 15:11:00
My wife and I go on a holiday ever year. We try to pick somewhere new that we have not gone to before and make an adventure out of it. Since we have been married, we have gone to South America, Africa, and just recently we traveled across Russia, Mongolia, and into China. The most important thing that we come back with, besides our memories, are our photos. We develop around 400 every time and place them into albums. Usually just 4x6's and the regular old photo album you can buy from the store. However, this year we tried something different. MyPublish er is an on-line store where you can create your own photo album using and have it created and sent to you. The album quality is quite impressive and the cost is reasonable as well. How To Create A Photo Book You basically go to their site and download their software application. Once you have installed it, there is a step-by-step process to get you up and going and creating your book. Basically you Select what type of boo...
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Ox On The Beach - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-01 17:42:00
These men were putting it to work along a beach at Nungwi on the north-west corner of Zanzibar. This was part of my trip to East Africa in 2006. Published on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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