Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

April 19, 2024. Looking out the kitchen window to watch the goldfinch at the feeder. Friday, getting stuff done. https://flic.kr/p/2pMC5Ae

April 20, 2024. Maple suygar shack near the creek on Longtin Road near Casselman. Went for a bike ride today, only 30 km, but the strong winds and cold weather wiped me out (and gave me a bit of a minor oblique strain). https://flic.kr/p/2pMDZP4

April 18, 2024. View of the home office, where I'm comfortable and productive. I like half-dead plants, bright lights and open curtains, flags and mementos, electronics, wood and leather. https://flic.kr/p/2pMxCQL

April 16, 2024. Worked from the office today; one meeting, did newsletter posts, a little bit on the cloud site. Thrown off a bit by an in-meeting discussion on stress that felt a little too personal for me. Took a bike ride over the lunch hour, spotted this creek well above normal levels. Set up a European project meeting in the evening, and watched the ball game. https://flic.kr/p/2pKFpLu

April 15, 2024. Something about April showers. Looking east outside the window after my bike ride as the rain goes away. I choose to think of it as the start of spring. Wrote a presentation proposal today, and newsletter stuff. That is all. https://flic.kr/p/2pKH6kv

April 11, 2024. Today started with a meeting first thing in the morning, and this was the centrepiece on the meeting room table. I had a couple more meetings, but then the network began to sag (looks like they were running updates, to judge by my logs) so I went home a bit early. https://flic.kr/p/2pJN5qU

April 12, 2024. This is a souvenir from Australia hanging in my office. The plant in front of it is another from my Moncton office. I bought the artwork in Sydney; it was rolled in a tube. When I got home I got it nicely framed to display it the way it deserved. Work-from-home today, spent mostly on my newsletter and software. https://flic.kr/p/2pJN6Sr

April 9, 2024. The bicycle, photographed during a break on a small country road. We drove home from Bromont this morning, I put in a few hours of work, then I took advantage of the beautiful weather to enjoy a nice ride in the country. https://flic.kr/p/2pJmfTN

April 8, 2024. The eclipse, as seen from Bromont, Quebec. With cloud coming in from the west we got up early and drove out to Bromont. They had set up a hill in a park for viewing and conditions were nearly perfect. The photo doesn't do it justice; it was at once smaller and larger than I thought it would be. It was warm, then cold. Near the end of totality it was like the horizon was on fire. Magnificant. https://flic.kr/p/2pJjLBh

April 5, 2024. Grackles and starlings sitting in the top of a tree in the back yard waiting, as we all are, for spring. Woke up very early this morning for one meeting, then had a presentation to do for a second. Meanwhile trying to get the crust off my various websites. Long day. https://flic.kr/p/2pHGGiq

April 4, 2024. I did have a meeting scheduled in the city for today, but we had an early spring snowstorm instead, so we made do with Teams. Other than this I focused on cleaning up gRSShopper a bit more and working on my newsletter. https://flic.kr/p/2pHjars

April 3, 2024. Squirrel at Mer Bleue forest. Worked from the office today, got 8 years of tax returns off the table, and stopped by at the forest in the wind and the cold cold rain to take a few photos. https://flic.kr/p/2pH8TCh

April 2, 2024. The nice weather is coming to an end, as evidenced by the sky. Today was spend beginning to end solving a cron problem on my website, the last major issue remaining in the website move. It involved taking apart the authentication in the api script and rebuilding it. Took until 7 or so, but when I got up, the problem was solved. https://flic.kr/p/2pH9PpH

April 1, 2024. This is a church in Crysler called Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire, which I photographed while on a 37 km bike ride in the cold and the wind. I also spent some time on my European project. https://flic.kr/p/2pGGaZ3

March 31, 2024. This is a pitcher plant from last year seen along our walk around the pond in Glengarry Forest near Alexandria. The rest of the day I spent working on the Europe project. https://flic.kr/p/2pGB6vA

March 30, 2024. We visited my mother today while my brother Bill (centre) drove up with his family from their home near Elora. I also spent time working on my European project. https://flic.kr/p/2pGBwYW

March 29, 2024. Grackle in a tree about 100 yards from me, photographed while sitting in my office chair holding the camera (with the big lens) by hand. Just messing around a bit to test different ways of using it. Most of the day I spent reading articles; I kept feeling I should be working but I really didn't want to do much more than that. Watching baseball this evening. https://flic.kr/p/2pGbUmt

March 28, 2024. This is the Sun, photographed in late afternoon using my solar filter. There's a bit of horizontal cloud and a sun spot visible. I'm preparing for the Eclipse coming up soon. Learned so more things, specifically, that the camera produces a weird artifact, a diagonal line crossing the Sun. It's not something in front of the lens, it only shows up when I take the picture. I can minimize it by increasing the shutter speed, but even here, you can see it as a fuzzy shadow. It won't impact the eclipse photo itself, which is taken without the lens, but still... https://flic.kr/p/2pFZBoA

March 27, 2024. Barn, as seen on my bike ride (nice day, finally). It followed a day of meetings and puttering. Typical spring day. https://flic.kr/p/2pFLbYq

March 25, 2024. This is Epsilon Base, my newest home in No Man's Sky, the video game I spend far too much time playing. In between bouts of playing the game I worked on restoring my web site and getting the newsletter software running again. https://flic.kr/p/2pFMdym

March 24, 2024. Cedar waxwings, high in the treetops (where they link to hang out), spotted on our walk in Guindon Park, near Cornwall. The rest of the day was spent recovering my website. https://flic.kr/p/2pFeB2E

March 23, 2024. The Moon, as seen from our backyard. Photographed using the 600 mm lens. Not as sharp and clear as I would like - I learned a couple things, though it was too cold to go back and try again. I managed to get my website back up today, after a week of downtime. Still quite a bit of file transfers to do, but I feel a lot happier now. https://flic.kr/p/2pF4P5n

March 22, 2024. Print by someone known as 'Ryan 100' in our room at the Brookstreet. I liked it, through it looked like it was water damaged. It was still the best art in the room. Worked through the morning, drove home at lunch (much easier!) and spent the afternoon working from home. I spent the day (as I have all week) mostly trying to get my website back online after a server move by my hosting provider toasted my full website. https://flic.kr/p/2pF332R

March 21, 2024. We went to the hockey game, unusual for a Thursday, but I worked from home, then we drove in, checked in at the Brookstreet Hotel (still not a problem-free check-in), and took the shuttle to the game. This is far easier (and safer!) than driving home after at night. I managed to get a photo of a (rare) Senators goal, as you can see. Good game in which the Senators outplayed the Blues all night but still managed to lose by three goals. https://flic.kr/p/2pF46EC

March 20, 2024. Mexican flag enchiladas, eaten at Feleena's in the Glebe on one of my visits to the bicycle shop. https://flic.kr/p/2pF5n4t

March 19, 2024. A look back at the back side of the office where I work. Had an interesting discussion on intelligence and worked to fix my site. That's about it. Still cold. https://flic.kr/p/2pEmNC7

March 17, 2024. We went out to the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary today for a short walk in the rain and snow pellets to take photos of birds. Even with the big lens, it's still pretty hard to do. Other than that, today was a work day. https://flic.kr/p/2pDRffx

March 13, 2024. This is a decoration inside Feleena's, a Mexican restaurant across from the bike shop. They had to drill out the broken bit of extender in order to fit my bike pedals back in. I also paid a visit to an accountant to get started on taxes. I ended up booking time off today as a personal day to get this done (though it could just as easily have been called a mental health day). https://flic.kr/p/2pDCcWd

March 12, 2024. This is a spot alongside a road a shade under 10 km away from home. It's where I was stranded when the pedal on my bicycle broke off and went flying. It wasn't the pedal that broke, it was just an extender. Took a taxi home. Still - even a 10 km bike ride helped my spirits improve. https://flic.kr/p/2pDAUdH

March 11, 2024. A stack of mini batting helmets that were filled with ice cream at a Blue Jays game. Watching or listening to spring training games is one of my favourite parts of the season. Today was another day with struggling productivity, but in the evening, after some email back and forth, I tweaked the website I was working on and maybe - just maybe - fixed it. https://flic.kr/p/2pDzJv6

March 10, 2024. Snow. Even worse than the day before. We didn't even hike because of the weather. I did a little bit of work. But still spent most of it playing video games. No cycling, obviously. The cardinals were nice though. https://flic.kr/p/2pDzEU3

March 9, 2024. Rain. No biking today. A quick photo of a woodpecker on the feeder, that's my creativity for the day. Spent the Saturday playing video games even though I should be fixing a website. Not that people are actually using the website. Despair. https://flic.kr/p/2pDBeYf

March 8, 2024. The crab apple tree in the evening light in the back yard. This time of year it doesn't take much to send my emotions spinning; in this case it was an issue with a website that sent me into despair. So here I ham now uploading this photo a week late. Still not 100% out of it, but I feel like this tree - hanging on, but still covered in lichen. https://flic.kr/p/2pDBQnX

March 7, 2024. Blackboard at the Starbucks near the office. Zipped in for a quick lunchtime coffee. Today was mostly focused on meetings around AI ethics. It's been a tough few days for me, like I can't really get on track. The back-and-forth weather doesn't help. Work doesn't help. Changing the clocks (as noted on the blackboard) definitely doesn't help. https://flic.kr/p/2pCcj6d

March 6, 2024. I bought this in a hotel in Bogota in 2008 or so. Now it sits in my office and I enjoy the memories. It was kind of a down day today, so I put aside anything that resembles work and wrote an article 'On the Sentiment of Rationality'. https://flic.kr/p/2pC3quT

March 5, 2024. This is the new bicycle; I've been out on it a couple of times now. Though it was a beautiful day today I had to skip a day because of an abrasion caused by the leather Brooks saddle. It needs to be oiled and broken in, maybe not the thing I want to be doing for my first rides of the year. The bike itself fits me perfectly, the saddle especially, and it feels solid as a rock when I ride it. https://flic.kr/p/2pBKzkf

March 3, 2024. Our walk today took us to Pine Grove forest. It's still showing the effects of the derecho a couple years ago, and it looks like they removed a lot of the downed trees over the winter. We listened to the Blue Jays lose another spring training game. Relaxed day overall, with an evening spent playing video games. https://flic.kr/p/2pBG6xR

March 2, 2024. The frozen surface of Dow's lake with a sheen of meltwater on it. This was a view as I took an 11 km ride on my new bicycle today. First ride of the year, first ride on the new bike. The bike exceeded my expectations, and though it was cold and still icy, the ride was a great start to the year. https://flic.kr/p/2pBgiGM

March 1, 2024. This is CN6200, a train (obviously) on display in front of the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, now for some reason called Ingenium. It was my absolute favourite museum when I was a kid, though I haven't been back since it was closed and then redeveloped a few years ago. I miss the old Atlas rocket that used to be in front, but it was deteriorating in the weather. I was just nearby getting a nice bike rack fitted for my car - I paid more, but it will pay for itself protecting both the bikes and the car from damage. This I did during my lunch break working from the office in Ottawa, where I spent the day working on a presentation we're doing for the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards in a few months (I'm doing it with other people so I can't just leave it to the last minute like normal). https://flic.kr/p/2pBfohE

February 29, 2024. This is from the Edmonton Interpub Dart League (South Central Division), winter 92-93. We finished in 4th place. The trophy has been broken several times and repaired (you can see the tape holding it together). It's from a time when I took darts pretty seriously and was pretty good (though not nearly as good as the really good players). Today was a pretty relaxed day, with no looming deadlines for stuff, which is a nice change. On the other hand, the power went out in the high winds in early evening and was out all night. https://flic.kr/p/2pB8CN4

February 28, 2024. This is artwork on the front of Feleena's, a Mexican restaurant on Bank Street. It's across the street from the bike shop. I was there in the afternoon after spending the morning and lunch hour preparing then delivering my seminar on open online learning. Late afternoon featured record warm temperatures then huge dark clouds and a thunderstorm. https://flic.kr/p/2pANwT7

February 27, 2024. This is the illustration on a wooden box of smoked salmon I bought ages ago and which now decorates my office. Honestly, I bought it for thr artwork, not the fish. It's as distinctive as it gets. Today was a work at-home day with a meeting and time spent working on my presentation on open online learning for tomorrow. https://flic.kr/p/2pAHB8A

February 26, 2024. I saw this out the window first thing this morning and snapped a photo before it went away. And it did go away, and there was no snow after 7:45. Tough day today, lots of work to do, especially on the Agora project before work and in the evening, but also a good amount of work on my day job, plus a gruelling visit to the dentist, 1.5 hours in the chair. Ugh. https://flic.kr/p/2pAr8xQ

February 25, 2024. Some very tall spruce trees in Larose Forest west, just north of Limoges. We were there for a 5 km snowshoe hike this afternoon. Probably the last snowshoeing of the year. Ball game was on. Fixed an emergency issue on the Agora website. Listening to some alternative electropop music. All is well; still waiting for spring. https://flic.kr/p/2pA92p2

February 23, 2024. This is a chocolate easter bunny, I know, I'm jumping the gun on the holiday a bit, but, chocolate. Meetings today, and I wrote a blog post rebutting the objections to AI in education. https://flic.kr/p/2pzU6jY

February 22, 2024. These fish decorate the parking garage in the Glebe, which is where I went over lunch to look at a bicycle, a 56 cm that will fit me properly. I was pretty happy with the fit and put down the money. Also, I finally finished my literature review on context, which is a load off. Also watched the first spring training game of the year (which L.A. started by scoring 8 runs in the first inning, bleah). https://flic.kr/p/2pzGina

February 21, 2024. Wen t to the dentist this morning and while it was all OK it sort of set me off for the rest of the day. I got a little work in but nothing like what I wanted to do. It's like I'm passing time waiting for winter to be over. I see some people about a bicycle tomorrow, and after that the first ballgame of the spring will be on (Blue Jays start Saturday). https://flic.kr/p/2pzwSTJ

February 20, 2024. Where the tracks cross the side road, just outside town, as seen on my daily walk. It wasn't quite as dark as depicted here but I wanted to emphasize the clouds and the afternoon sunset. Today was another full day working on my literature review; it's almost done and really is in the process of final crafting. Four days till the first spring training ball game. https://flic.kr/p/2pzk92R

February 19, 2024. This is a close-up of some wall art we bought at an auction a number of years ago. But mostly it's me testing how closely I can shoot using my 50mm lens. Worked from the home office today, mostly on the lit review, partially on some tech. https://flic.kr/p/2pzbEDf

February 18 2024. It was snowing in the forest today where we went snowshoeing, a bit more than 4 km. Not too cold but snowy and blowy. https://flic.kr/p/2pyWwk4