Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

October 30, 2022. We went to the Canadian Premier League final today. Our team lost to Hamilton, but the city was the big winner as we put 14,992 people in the stands, which for league soccer in Canada is a pretty big deal. It was interesting to compare this game with the football game the previous day, because the two experiences were very different. Both good though. Now it's hockey season and we're tempted to go to a game, but the team has been playing so well, we don't want to mess with their success. https://flic.kr/p/2nWn8sK

October 29, 2022. It was the last game of the season today and our last hope to see a win. Did we see one? No. The team went a perfect 0-9 at home this year. Maybe next year; the games are still fun and I hear that winning makes them even more enjoyable. https://flic.kr/p/2nWs2o8

October 28, 2022. Anyone who lives with cats knows that their lives are regulated by the carts. There's 'string time', 'lunch time', and as illustrated here, 'the petting zone', meaning I must go downstairs at routine times and pause to play with at least one cat through the railing. In between scheduled interactions with the cats today I worked on an instructional methods project, reading a number of background papers on design taxonomies. It's interesting, but I also feel I step back a couple decades when I do project work. https://flic.kr/p/2nWr5EW

October 27, 2022. These plants are (or were) growing in the back yard, right up against the house, but as you can see, we had a couple of hard frosts this week and now they're just husks of their former shelves. Wrapped up work on the bookmarklet today, niggling over a troublesome graph update issue (which exposed a flaw in my graph code generally). I'm also having web server issues. https://flic.kr/p/2nWqMJG

October 26, 2022. I liked the way the tree stood out against the clouds in the background in this early morning shot (it doesn't really come out in the photo - the Pixel 4 is good but I'm pining for a new Pixel 7 pro, not yet in stock at Bell). More work on bookmarklets today, as I spent the day trying to make fetch() work in a bookmarklet. Maybe others could do it, but I wasn't able to find a good way to avoid CORS, so I streamlined it and wrote a backend solution to scrape web data. https://flic.kr/p/2nWpJxN

October 25, 2022. Chairs stacked in the Costco. I haven't actually been inside the Costco for months, but I needed to accompany Andrea today. I thought I might get a Pixel 7 pro, but the store doesn't have the Bell booth any more, so have to go elsewhere. More meetings today, and more puttering with bookmarklets. https://flic.kr/p/2nVXHYi

Octobert 24, 2022. Looking out the sliding doors behind my kitchen table spot in the afternoon, after work, as the light fades. The idea of making bookmarklets has caught my imagination and so I spent a good part of the day figuring it out and learning how to select attributes of a page and send them to a remote service using Javascript. Also a couple of meetings. https://flic.kr/p/2nVTqC2

October 23, 2022. We went for a hike in the Forêt-la-Blanche Ecological Reserve today, 4.6 km and 314 m of elevation gain. It felt a lot easier this time than the last time we were there. Beautiful fall day, warm and sunny, still with some good colour. https://flic.kr/p/2nUQEov

October 22, 2022. These are growing in the front yard despite the hard frosts that we've had recently. I spent the day messing around with the bookmarklet and finishing my video series playing No Man's Sky Waypoint edition. https://flic.kr/p/2nUJQvR

October 21, 2022. This is the new cat cave we got the other day and in an unexpected display of sharing the two cats were seen side by side inside it. Worked on my bookmarklet more today and solved most of the major issues parsing indieweb code. https://flic.kr/p/2nUM54c

October 20, 2022. This is a close-up look at the cedar hedge beside the house. It's on the healthy side (which has not been trimmed to death and then poisoned by the neighbour). Spent the day attending the final day of the Open Education conference and also looking into how to write bookmarklets. https://flic.kr/p/2nUMpih

October 18, 2022. Generic coloured leaves on a tree at a shopping centre. Today was a fairly busy day with meetings and such, which is why the photo isn't that amazing. It happens. My days are full. That's a good thing. https://flic.kr/p/2nUiwbt

October 17, 2022. This is our front door, with Son of Bones hanging from the lamp, the gravestone and pumpkins array about. It's really the only seasonal decorating I do; I'm not big on the other holidays. Reasonably productive day today catching up on email and following up on overdue work. https://flic.kr/p/2nUisPU

October 16, 2022. We went for a hike in Guindon Park today, not too long. In the fall we have to stay in public parks to avoid the hunters. I also spent a good amount of time working on my slides for Tuesday. https://flic.kr/p/2nTJSsQ

October 16, 2022. The recent windstorm blew the cover off the wasp's nest in our apple tree, revealing what was inside. Pretty cool. Today was mostly a day off, spent playing No Man's Sky, though I did work on my slides a bit. https://flic.kr/p/2nTG948

October 15, 2022. This is the Aberdeen Pavilion as seen from the upper north stands at TD Place at Lansdowne Park during the RedBlacks game. It was quite an entertaining game but we still managed to find a way to lose. I otherwise spent the day working on my slides for the Open Education conference on Tuesday. https://flic.kr/p/2nTJrah

October 13, 2022. The photo doesn't really do it justice, but we had a pretty good local windstorm for a bit this afternoon. Power even went out for a bit (but not during any of the many meetings I had today). Yesterday and today have been pretty productive, but tomorrow will need to be even more so if I don't want to work on the weekend (and I don't, I'm done working on the weekend for my employers). https://flic.kr/p/2nSHNnZ

October 12, 2022. This an inside hallway at an extended care centre. I visited a number of them today looking for my mother (I'm really not good at remembering names and addresses). This was after having my car tires changed and having an online meeting at the dealership. The care centre staffs were all very nice. I was given a Covid test at this centre (negative, yay). But I never did find my mother, who I assume has been moved to a different care centre. https://flic.kr/p/2nSHLrQ

October 11, 2022. I'm up early enough this week to see the dawn. I don't like it. Not the dawn - I like the dawn. But I don't like being up early. But I'm back at work after an extended leave and have a lot of catching up to do. https://flic.kr/p/2nSHJSN

October 10, 2022. This is my spaghetti container, viewed from the top, on my kitchen counter. I don't eat spaghetti as much as I would like because the carbs mean weight gain. Today, Thanksgiving in Canada, was a quiet day indoors doing some work ( which I'll exchange for some warmer weather biking later this week) and playing of No Man's Sky. https://flic.kr/p/2nSeMDG

October 9, 2022. This is a sora, spotted at the Parc national de Plaisance, on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, where we went for an 8 km walk today. It was cool and windy, alternating between bright blue sunlight and heavy clouds. https://flic.kr/p/2nRTAE6

October 8, 2022. We were all watching the game, even the cats. This was a bit before the play that tied the game. It was a pretty shocking outcome, and it's tough to say "wait till next year" so early in the playoffs, but that's baseball. Otherwise it was an indoor day playing with the new No Man's Sky update. https://flic.kr/p/2nRQfDi

October 7, 2022. This is the west side of a cat looking very intently east. Charlemagne on the cat shelf behind my kitchen chair. Good day today, productive, even, aside from a sudden and unexplained bout of nausea during supper. Also, the less said about the ball game, the better. https://flic.kr/p/2nRoQyA

October 6, 2022. This is my cache, last seen on Anticosti Island, returned by bus parcel express by some kind bikepackers. They picked it up when they were driving aorund the island and sent it back to me once they returned to the city. I picked it up from Gatineau on my way back from Mont Tremblant today. Still a bit sore from yesterday's hike, but way better than the last time the mountain and I crossed paths. https://flic.kr/p/2nReMpS

October 5, 2022. We went on a gruelling 6 km hike (with 318 m of elevation gain) today on the Tour de Timber trail at Mont Tremblant. This is a seldom used trail off the beaten track, and while the trail was quite difficult, the forest was beautiful and well worth viewing. https://flic.kr/p/2nR3c56

October 4, 2022. Had a very slow day today, but we did make it to the top of Mont Tremblant for a walk around. I woke up with a massive headache which cancelled any plans of cycling I had. Not whether it was dehydration or too much mountain sun or what. feeling somewhat better by evening. https://flic.kr/p/2nQU9kX

October 3, 2022. This is a small unnamed pond near Domaine Saint-Bernard at Mont Tremblant. After giving a presentation to Maskwacis Cultural College this morning I went for a ride through the area; 250 meters elevation gain over 23 km (which is a lot for me). Simply gorgeous scenery. Meanwhile, Andrea went out earlier this morning and as I write she is just finishing climbing Mont Tremblant, which is a significant accomplishment. https://flic.kr/p/2nQCFTS

October 2, 2022. We're in Mont Tremblant for a few days to get in some hiking and cycling during the peak of the fall season. Today was spent mowing the lawn, packing the car, and getting to the village, https://flic.kr/p/2nQCBNH

September 30, 2022. This was a scene on my bike ride today, a shortish 30km effort. But I made sure to wear orange. I also spent time mowing the lawn (part of it; it has to be done in segments). And playing No Man's Sky. https://flic.kr/p/2nQoxSS

September 29, 2022. Every evening I play 'string games' with the cats, and their preferred strategy is to dive into this hollow doughnut and leap out at the string as it passes by. Today was spent doing project paperwork and preparing to be out of the office 10 of the next 11 days. https://flic.kr/p/2nQoam1

September 27, 2022. This is a Dairy farm on the road to St,. Albert I cycle frequently. Today I completed the third of three presentations within a week, this a panel appearance online. There has been a lull; now I'm relearning the whole process of creating presentation pages on my website. https://flic.kr/p/2nQo61N