Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

january 28, 2022. Pretty typical lunch for me. Some squash, a tin of sardines, bread, dried mushrooms, some cheese and an egg. And of course I like to watch Stephen Colbert while I eat. Finished my upgrade to gRSShopper so I can now run it as fully SSL on Reclaim Cloud, or on my desktop, wherever. Finally the tool as I wanted it to be! https://flic.kr/p/2n1gqUD

January 27, 2022. I went into the office today and this is what my beautiful geranium looks like after almost two years of neglect. Otherwise, the office was exactly as I left it. I went in to access the corporate intranet, as I need to take a test for a course required to allow me to run my project. The intranet was inaccessible and the trip into the office was a complete waste of time. Some things about the office never change. Otherwise, I managed to pick my way through a series of tiny problems to finally get gRSShopper in a Docker container working properly on a fully certified https domain. That's a first, and made up for things a bit. https://flic.kr/p/2mZxefW

January 26, 2022. This is an assortment of stuff on my office shelf, gathered from various places over the years. Tried to record my gRSShopper video after a long and tiring day and for some reason it failed on the second-last step. Disappointing. https://flic.kr/p/2mZxuRH

January 25, 2022. This is a close up view of what my world looks like most days. It's where I spent the entire day today, which a full-on push to get the code exactly right to support installing and configuring gRSShopper on a cloud network with property security certificates. I ended the day very pleased with my work, which may mark a turning point for me, because now I am much more easily able to share what I've been working on. P.S. the mug is to remind me that I want to go bikepacking through north-east England one of these days. https://flic.kr/p/2mZjbgk

January 24, 2022. This is the waiting room at the dentist's office. Yes, it was back in to have a small problem fixed quickly. Easy-peasy in and out. More work on the gRSShopper system today, setting up server_test so it can set up a database on the fly. Looks good. https://flic.kr/p/2mZkk5Z

January 23, 2021. This is an angel at the cathedral in the centre of town. I went for a short walk today instead of the usual hike, because of the cold weather. Otherwise, I spent the entire day working on gRSShopper and watching football (it turned out to be a remarkable weekend of football this week, the NFL at its very best). https://flic.kr/p/2mYT2RF

January 21, 2022. This is a chickadee at the feeder in the back yard. With the recent extremely cold weather, the birds have been flocking to our feeders. Today I spent a full day indoors working on gRSShopper, getting it set up for my next MOOC - my first (I hope) to be offered from the cloud using Docker containers. https://flic.kr/p/2mYZBU5

January 21, 2022. This is Julia waiting to play with the string. Today was no-meeting Friday, which allowed me to get a ton of work done preparing for upcoming work on data literacy. Very productive day. https://flic.kr/p/2mYTVGN

January 20, 2022. Today was a dentist day. This is the x-ray that looks inside my jaw. One minor cavity this time, so I'll have to come back. Today was also Costco day. And I even got some work done, with a newsletter and some background reading on data literacy. https://flic.kr/p/2mYKd6V

January 19, 2022. View of the brush near my home in late afternoon. I was on my regular walk after a workday that included a number of long meetings. I also produced a decent issue of the newsletter and made some progress fixing the gRSShopper container (I addressed the Ubuntu update, but there's a login issue I need to solve - I don't know how these things can just stop working, but there you have it). https://flic.kr/p/2mYixZs

January 18, 2022. I don't think there will be any traffic across this field. It's literally piles of dirt covered by the foot of snow we got yesterday. Maybe it was meant to be put on the other side, where there's actually a road leading into a residential area. Today I added some quite interesting items to my newsletter, which took most of the morning to read, and then did a video on Docker in the cloud, followed by experiments with gRSShopper (it has broken since I last looked at it). 2 km walk after work. https://flic.kr/p/2mXYCod

January 17, 2022. I was up bright and early today and this is what greeted me: nothing but snow. This is the view from the front basement window, my view as I do my daily work on the exercise bike. Today was a day for administrative stuff - I got my NRC email backlog down to zero, updated my files, even cleaned the office a bit. I spent a little time with reclaim cloud, preparing for my upcoming Data Literacy course. And I took an NRC course on financial signing authority. Oh yeah, 117 page PowerPoint, that's the course! https://flic.kr/p/2mXM5zJ

January 16, 2022. It has been freezing cold all day with a clear blue sky - here's the scene looking outside my home office window. We're expecting the storm to hit overnight, but we have all our provisions stored and are ready for it. Today I played some FIFA, made a couple of videos, and watched more football. Quiet day, which is exactly what I needed. https://flic.kr/p/2mXM3xY

January 15, 2022. Yes it's another photo of Charlemagne climbing on my shoulder. Dig that huge claw! He basically has an opposable thumb and I've seen him pick things up with it (like, say, string). Today was a rest day. I wrote a blog post and then spent the day playing No Man's Sky and then watching football (including that pasting the Buffalo Bills gave the New England Patriots - warms my heart). https://flic.kr/p/2mXyBtW

January 14, 2022. The cold wave has hit. These are shopping carts as viewed on a noon-hour trip to Costco. Had an unexpected meeting today, and otherwise started work on that last video. But mostly, it's cold. Cold cold cold. https://flic.kr/p/2mXBEu6

January 13, 2022. Long day. Here's the view in the Metro parking lot. Today started out crappy, with a long pointless and stress-filled meeting. I came back from that participating in a good presentation at the Heads of Learning Forum, and made the day a success by recording my 'Critical Stance' video. One video to go! https://flic.kr/p/2mXythk

January 12, 2022. When I went to Cornwall yesterday I picked up some wall hangings so I could block some of the excess light coming through my window. makes for better videos. Today I worked through the last of the slides for the 'Critical Stance' video. Getting there, slowly. https://flic.kr/p/2mXyoEp

January 11, 2022. I saw this view at the Tim Horton's drive-through in Monkland, and appreciated the display of stickers on the metalwork. I was on my way to Cornwall to get my booster. Andrea had her booster in Rockland yesterday and had a bad reaction (or may ate bad salad dressing, who knows?) and wasn't with me today. Other than that, I had meetings in the morning and have virtually finished my slides. https://flic.kr/p/2mX1QjT

January 10, 2022. The darkness outside and brick inside make it look like Julia is sitting outside while I'm inside. But we're all inside, of course. The basement ledge, which goes the full length around the house, seems made for cats. Today I spent most of the day working on the 'Critical Stance' slides for my course, the second last set of slides I'll need to produce. https://flic.kr/p/2mX2w2r

January 9, 2022. This was a spot along trail number 50 in the Mer Bleue forest today, the white snow and poplars contrasting with the orange, brown and green of the trees. It hovered around zero degrees all day and we walked a bit more than 7 km. https://flic.kr/p/2mWov85

January 8, 2022. A cardinal eats at the feeder in the early morning light. Aftre watchinbg birds for a while, I spent all day creating four slides for my still-lingering course. Sure, I played some video games as well, but most of my time was taken up reading and thinking about it. https://flic.kr/p/2mWra8B

January 7, 2022. I have inadvertently trained the cats to expect string games after supper each day. This is Emma dragging the string into position. She is very impatient and will not relent until I've tired her right out. Today was a work day; no meetings but I did some more work on cloud software and some research on critical approaches to ethics. Went for a walk but forgot the camera. https://flic.kr/p/2mWp63W

January 6, 2022. I usually celebrate the new year by preparing for the upcoming cycling season. Hence, I'm back on the exercise bike first thing every morning. This year I have a greater purpose; like last year I have a bikepacking adventure planned, but this year I hope to cycle across Anticosti Island and back.Yes, there's an element of risk, but I'll be prepared, be experienced, and be in shape. Notice the support I'm getting from Emma the cat. https://flic.kr/p/2mVXwnh

January 5, 2022. This is the local library here in Casselman. I like the way it is shared by two schools. My main accomplishment for the day was to get two videos for my course created. I'm now down to the final bits of the course. https://flic.kr/p/2mVZiPk

January 4, 2022. Something that is maniscopic extends, just like a telescope, but for manipulating, not for seeing. I have to think about that for a couple of minutes. This is at the construction site a few blocks from home, seen on my walk. Not so productive today, though I did finish the current set of slides. For some reason I was tired all day. https://flic.kr/p/2mVAMig

January 3, 2022. Bright, sunny and cold, and I was able to take a nice photo of these cones on my daily walk. Last day of the winter break. I made a video, part of my 'Stephen Follows Instructions' series, on creating a browser extension. Also the first newsletter of the year. Not bad for a day off. https://flic.kr/p/2mVnMBZ

January 2, 2022. This is the south loop at Warwick Forest. We were finally able to complete it now that hunting season is over. Fresh snowfall made it a bit tougher to walk, though. https://flic.kr/p/2mUXN6Q

January 1, 2022. This is the neighbour's cat, which we call Holstein cat, prowling through our back yard. I worked on my course a bit (still have a few videos to finish) and then we went to visit my mother and Bernie. I ate too much Costco lasagna (delicious). https://flic.kr/p/2mUSbWW

December 30, 2021. We both agree that the new neighbour's dog is beautiful. Costco day today, and I got a coffee machine with a timer on it to help me with training for project Anticosti. https://flic.kr/p/2mURN5U

December 29, 2021.We needed bread, but instead of going to the grocery store we decided to drive out to Alfred and buy a nice loaf from this bakery. It was about a half hour each way, but it was worth it. https://flic.kr/p/2mURJcU