Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

December 27, 2018. This is Rideau Centre the day after Boxing Day. We took the train into the city and rented a car so we could do shopping and other errands. We also checked in at the dealership to make sure they repaired the car (and in another photo you can see what's left of the tire). https://flic.kr/p/2cuNv7F

December 26, 2018. This is my office, where I play, erm, I mean, work. The inside lights are soft, I get a nice view of lawn and trees outside the window, and the main idea is to make it comfortable. It works. Today I spent time setting up Windows Hyper-V so I could install and run Electron in a Linux environment. Also updating and making Docker for Windows work properly. Getting there. https://flic.kr/p/2cMyBef

December 25, 2018. This, on the screen, is play for me. Specifically, I am learning Electron, a Javascript-NPM based framework for building desktop applications. It's just at the right level for me - a challenge, because a lot of the scripts don't work (having been tested in only one environment, etc), but easy enough (because I know Javascript pretty well) that I can solve the problems and make it work. https://flic.kr/p/2dTw8uz

December 24, 2018. I'm the sort of person who gets really immersed in what I am doing and forget to do other things. That's been the case with my E-Learning 3.0 course, which completely captured my imagination, and while I was (mostly) taking my photos of the day, I wasn't uploading them. This is me in bed, Christmas Eve, catching up on editing and uploading my photos. https://flic.kr/p/Q3Ae36

December 23, 2018. We discovered today that it is impossible to find a car to rent on Christmas Eve. So we'll be spending the next couple of days at home. This is the Mark Stone t-shirt that was a giveaway at the Senators game we attended. It was good marketing - seat discount plus t-shirt plus quality opponent makes for a fun day. Except for the bit where I blow out one of my tires. https://flic.kr/p/Q3A5nv

December 17, 2018. Shot out of the window at a red light on Blair on the way home from work. My days these days are focused on my course and on gRSShopper. It's going really well, but I'm quite distracted by it (and not paying attention to things like getting good daily photos). https://flic.kr/p/2cFEzUL

December 22, 2018. In the afternoon I had the wrap-up video for E-Learning 3.0 and in the evening we went to the hockey game. On the way home we blew out a tire on the Queensway. CAA came through with the tow and Uber got us back home to Casselman for a reasonable fare. It was a good game despite the Washington's 4-0 win. https://flic.kr/p/2dMzQ76

December 21, 2018. The HCI team went out for lunch today to an Indian restaurant near our office. I'm not really a fan of Christmas events at work but it's nice to have some different food. https://flic.kr/p/2coUZuB

December 13, 2018. This lovely photo is Alex drinking from a water bottle in the sink. That's my coffee cup beside him. We do give the cats nice fresh water in their water bowls, but they prefer this. Because cats. https://flic.kr/p/2coUtRZ

December 16, 2018. This is one of those days where I was so busy I only had time for a quick photo outside the front door. I've been making a lot of progress on gRSShopper, integrating badges and blockchain. https://flic.kr/p/2coU5ak

December 15, 2018. This is the plate I eat supper on every day. It's actually a shallow bowl. My supper consists of a piece of fish (tuna or cod) and some vegetables (peas, these days). https://flic.kr/p/RDF23C

December 20, 2018. Andrea has been picking up her baking skills recently and this was absolutely delicious. It also filled the house with the smell of fresh baking. https://flic.kr/p/Q2ndmt

December 19, 2018. Polly actually fits completely in this box, but she raises her head when I go to take a photo. https://flic.kr/p/2dLWzee

December 18, 2018. This photo is out of order, but I'm behind, so I won't worry about order for a bit. This is my office at NRC - I still can't really believe I have an office, but there it is. https://flic.kr/p/2dGsm1S

December 14, 2018. I've fallen behind in my photos of the day - just so busy with the course (that's a good thing, not a bad thing). I took this photo on the way to work, thinking "every day, I get to go for a drive in the country." I really do appreciate that. https://flic.kr/p/2dLVCW6

December 12, 2018. Some days when I'm in all day coding and such the photos get pretty random. Like today. I made a lot of progress on the RSS viewer and badge awarding system and the end is in view. I've had the time and space recently to devote myself more fully to this work and I feel it beginning to unfold in the way it should. https://flic.kr/p/2cs2JB7

December 11, 2018. This is a view from No Man's Sky, a game I'm still playing several years after it came out. Those who panned it on its first release would eb astonished to see how it has grown. I find it a really relaxing way to spend an hour or so in the evenings, when I have time.The view is of an intergalactic portal - and I've built a base right at the entrance. The glyphs are my home world's address. I took the photo in case I might need them again. https://flic.kr/p/2dtvfMs

December 10, 2018. I spent a day working on my summary paper on Community, without much success. Cold day outside. This is at Blair Road on the way home. https://flic.kr/p/2cpKacf

December 8, 2018. I spent the day working on the badge infrastructure (yes, I'm still bogged down on that) but the highlight of the day was the Senators game in the evening (I will be happy when the team moves downtown - it's a long and stressful drive from east of Ottawa down the Queensway to the far west end to get to the game. https://flic.kr/p/PHEafx

December 7, 2018. That's my car on the hoist, finally getting snow tires. So it was a short day in the office, focused mostly on improving the feed reading workflow (but today I actually made some progress). https://flic.kr/p/2dquLMM

December 6, 2018. Today was dedicated to office stuff - a team meeting, a lunch for new staff, a visit by the NRC photographer for group shots (including of this room, the User Experience Lab, down the hall from my own office). https://flic.kr/p/2cj3ou9

December 5, 2018. This was extra food, after supper, because I was extra-hungry. Spent the day working on aspects of the course, including an interview with Pete Forsyth. Right now I'm trying to make the harvest-read-post workflow more efficient, in order to add the badging process to it. https://flic.kr/p/PDT8VX

December 4, 2018. This is some street art I bought while in Toronto last month. The sheen is from the covering. Today was one of those days where I wasn't very productive - dabbled with some code, did a but of writing, got the module on community started. That's about it. https://flic.kr/p/2djZd6J

December 3, 2018. The building where I work (but I don't work in that wing). Finished off a very-late article on Recognition. That was basically it for the day. Pretty tired after a long Monday. https://flic.kr/p/RgBNjE

December 2, 2018. I spent my Sunday writing a detailed article on the Badgr API. It might not have been the most useful article I've ever written, but it was a lot of fun to work though and write. The result is that I didn't have time for anything else, and so have only this late evening photo of our geraniums (now in their second winter indoors). https://flic.kr/p/2bX2pz4

December 1, 2018. We walked into town for the annual Casselman Christmas Festival today. This is Kumpa’nia, a drum group we watched giving a performance. Lots of fun, lots of people. https://flic.kr/p/Rcim3w

November 30, 2018. I went downstairs for my morning shower, walked through the bathroom door, and saw the neighbour cat staring intently within. No idea why. Sidenote: a perk of living in the country: bathroom windows you don't need to cover up. The day was spent figuring out images for badges. Yeah, a full day, on that. But I figured it out. https://flic.kr/p/2dfzBHL

November 29, 2018. Any time I leave the house I do down the stairs into the garage. Polly has learned that if she comes over and sticks her head through the slats then I'll stop and pet her on the way out. Since cats love ritual, this has become a ritual. Today was a breakthrough day as I finally got a badge to publish via API on Badgr. https://flic.kr/p/2dhrMCD

November 28, 2018. It's not very photogenic, but my online course has consumed the bulk of my attention over the last month. It has been a great learning experience for me and deserves to be at least one of my daily photos. https://flic.kr/p/2dhrfVB

November 27, 2018. This was a work-from-home day as it snowed all day and made the highways treacherous (especially on summer tires). The gnome started as a snowman made by neighbour kids the day before, but first it melted, and then the snow left a peaked cap on it, making it a gnome. https://flic.kr/p/2av77ZQ

November 26, 2018. Heading home after another quiet day in the office (though there was one meeting in the middle, an uneventful meeting, but meetings still unsettle me even so). This is the bike rack, right beside the electric car parking spot (which has now been painted over, so it's a nothing now - kind of like this bike rack (I asked last year for a rack with a roof so bikes wouldn't get rained on, but no go). https://flic.kr/p/2db7m1w

November 25, 2018. I spent the entire day working on my 'Resources' article, which in the end I was pretty pleased with. This left no time even for things like taking photos, so here is a nightstand pic. Coffee cup, reading light, and CPAP machine (because I have obstructive sleep apnea). https://flic.kr/p/R3Y9Q7

November 24, 2018. We took a drive down to Cornwall to buy some parts to repair the toilet. Oh what fun! This is a town along the way, St. Andrews West. I spent the rest of the day trying to make distributed networks work for me. https://flic.kr/p/2c5HXhQ

November 23, 2018. This fabrication plant (at least, that's what I assume it is) was making a loud screeching noise as I left a little early today, so I snapped a 'before' picture. Turns out, there was no need to worry. Tough day today with a less-than-successful blockchain presentation. https://flic.kr/p/2dbHQsF

November 22, 2018. It's dark when I get home at the end of the day, but with the lights on and a full moon in the background the house seems warm and appealing. It's a unique house, with a lot of character. I spent the day working on blockchain stuff and doing a video for the course. I wanted to do more but the power failure and general network hiccups made it difficult. https://flic.kr/p/PkndzV

November 21, 2018. Today was spent working on distributed web applications (and making a video interview). This is Polly, the Grande Dame of the household at 15 years old. https://flic.kr/p/QXJoUs

November 20, 2018. I spent another day working on IPFS and Dweb and wrapped up with (what I thought was) a nice video. No time for rest, so today's photo is a cat photo - Lexi trying to get some sleep on top of the book boxes. https://flic.kr/p/2d3UXGX

November 19, 2018. This is a small corner shop in Gloucester mall where I took my jacket in to have its zipper fixed. It was a work day (aren't they all?) spent installing and experimenting with the Interplanetary File System (IPFS). https://flic.kr/p/Ph48zi

November 18, 2018. I am pleased to report that we won the big game. It was cold, but it was fun. https://flic.kr/p/2bBz4Sz

November 17, 2018. I have y RedBlacks hat and scarf on, and I bought a new heavy coat and boots so I'm ready for the weather tomorrow. Bring on the TiCats. https://flic.kr/p/2cYJMdp

November 16, 2018. I worked from home today because of the snowstorm and got the last of the harvesting and publishing issues worked out (I hope). These stars are in our front window and come from Germany - I wasn't invited back to Online Educa Berlin this year, so there's no Christmas markets for me this year. Too bad (but I don't blame them; they're in it for profit, and I didn't make them money last year). https://flic.kr/p/2cSTAro

November 15, 2018. I spent the day working on identity and harvesting, creating a video about digital keys. Lots of picky work today. This is a bad photo of the train going by our house. https://flic.kr/p/2abMo3G

November 14, 2018. This is Alex sitting on my desk impatiently waiting for me to pay attention to him. Today was another day focused on the course, mostly on course content rather than tech. https://flic.kr/p/QLQJaW

November 12, 2018. Today makes three days in a row working on the course and/or gRSShopper (it's a good thing I enjoy the work and find it relaxing). It was also annual flu shot day. These are eggs; I eat one a day at lunch (two on weekends). I can never look at eggs without thinking of George Orwell ( Eric Blair ). https://flic.kr/p/2btQ9pP

November 11, 2018. I spent the 100th anniversary of armistice revising a paper on the Cloud and making my newsletter look good in MailChimp. And having a long conversation about self and identity on Mastodon. A day of remembrance well spent. https://flic.kr/p/2cKXVyq

November 10, 2018. Quiet work-at-home day as I finished off the section on graphs. This is Alex wondering what I'm up to with the camera. https://flic.kr/p/2a48ARA

November 9, 2018. This is another one of Andrea's creations, a nice piece of cake, my reward for braving the snow driving home from the office. Spent the day preparing slides for an Intro to Blockchain talk. https://flic.kr/p/2a3cWeG

November 8, 2018. Back home, working from the home office, getting caught up on email and doing an interview for the course. I meant to do more but got distracted responding to emails for office-related stuff. https://flic.kr/p/P3xBrt

November 7, 2018. The flight home. Here I am in the small section of Montreal airport where they stuff people into mini-airplanes. The politicians headed to places like Moncton often flow through here. I find it interesting that politicians look, act and dress differently from everyone else, and the contrast with ordinary people (also pictured) is striking. https://flic.kr/p/QEZGoN

November 6, 2018. This is the lobby of the conference centre in the Kingdom Tower. Went to the conference in the morning, then out for a short walk (and some Pakistani food at a back-street restaurant) and then to bed at 4pm in preparation for my 4 a.m. flight. Oh joy. https://flic.kr/p/2boReGk