I spent the night with Imants Krumins' friends

One of the posters floating around Hamilton

About a month ago one of the best derby fans died thanks to brain cancer (stupid cancer). Imants Krumins I would find out later that he was also a major fan of the punk rock scene. I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise as there seems to be a lot of overlap (at least with my friends). I knew Imants from the various derby games. He was usually at all of them and if he wasn't it seemed weird. He also kept track of seeing me at games. Not just Hamilton, derby in Toronto, Kitchener, London. Yep, he got around.

He was also one of the fans that actually kept stats on all the skaters. I'm not saying he pulled out a book and read you details of each jammer, from his brain he would recall derby events and recount stories of a jammer's or team's past accomplishments. Usually this would come up when I asked him how he thought a game went or who would win the game being played.


Poster at This Ain't Hollywood.

Tonight a memorial was being held at This Ain't Hollywood. Friends would come and watch bands that Imants would go to see play in the past. It was a great way for the various bands to give tribute to one of their biggest fans and friend. Money was donated to help fight brain cancer.

Friends of mine that knew Imants...


Craig


Joe


Leah


Al


Candy

and some bands that played that night...


Boojies


The Let Downs


The sign at This Ain't Hollywood

Jeff Healey Park

I went down to Woodford park for the festivities. They were changing the name to Jeff Healey park in honour of the Canadian musician that grew up in the area. To be honest I really didn't expect anything other than a sign with a drop cloth over it and a "Ta Da" noise to accompany it.

I wasn't even sure I knew how to get there. Were the directions I got accurate? Was Delroy drive going to be a dead end? As I got closer and the road started to dip down hill I could see people wandering around. Then noticed James in his car beeping at me. Okay If I'm lost than he's lost too. A comforting thought.

As the view opened up I noticed trucks and a stage set up. There were kids running around an inflatable playground air mattress and people sitting around the stage on the grass eating hot dogs and other foods. Even the fire department made an appearance.


Woodford park


Watching the stage

I suppose it's no wonder that musicians were at this thing. It was for Jeff Healey after all and most of the people there were his friends or in my case friends of friends. It was a nice turn out. Enough people to make it look busy but not so many people that it was hard to move around.


Danny Marks aka the human juke box

I had missed the opening musicians by the time I made my way to the park and to be honest I was eating a goat roti that I picked up near Dundas West station on my way to the park. I sat around listening to the music and ate. I did manage to have my gear out by the time Danny Marks got up onto the stage. The last time I saw him was at the Jeff Healey Rock tribute and until now noticed that there are no photos of him on my blog entry. This is a terrible over sight as he's quite a talented individual.

For the kids and the rest of us, he performed a rendition of "Twinkle twinkle little star" switching his sound between Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and himself. It was so incredible to hear. Posting in the blog with words really doesn't do him justice.


The Mississippi Queen

Behind me in all the chaos of kids running around with ice cream and older folks lounging in lawn chairs I noticed this strikingly attractive women dressed in red with a red umbrella. It was hard not to notice. The red on the green background jumped out at you like a sore thumb. So of course like any good photographer I had to ask if I could take a photo of her. (see above) As it turns out she runs a food company that, yes you guessed it... Cajun food (okay maybe you didn't guess it).


The Comic Juggler, Craig Douglas

There was a point where a juggler took the stage. Juggler? Yes juggler and a funny one. Really?
As it turns out he was pretty funny (and could juggle). He got the whole park laughing. Yes, even the adults. If have an event, and it doesn't have to be a kid event, and you need entertainment... hire this guy. (www.comicjuggler.com)


Roger and James laughing at the Juggler


The Jazz Wizards


Unveiling of the sign

There actually was a drop cloth with a sign under it.


Rob Quail friend of Jeff and the brains behind the operation

Jeff Healey park would still be Woodford park had it not been for Rob. He's really the guy that spearheaded the whole thing. I'm thinking Jeff would have liked this.

Captain Hill versus The Banana Chip

Captain Hill with a freshly made banana chip.

With a food dehydrator I've been making a constant array of chips out of bananas and fuji apples. The hamster seems to like this stuff. I figured tonight would be a good time to take some photos of the sampling of these chips.


Stuffing the banana chip in mouth.


Ready and looking for the next piece of food.


Found a apple chip


The Captain inspects my multi max receiver


Attempting to escape from the POD


Here's a good product placement photo for the Habitrail

Beef Jerky

While the world seems to be filled with roller derby somewhere. I spent the day cleaning and organizing the apartment. This was all just something to do while I was waiting at the various stages during the making of beef jerky.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I had my fill of banana chips and dried apple slices. I made some bagel chips from some of the Montreal bagels I still had in the fridge. Those didn't last long.

3D on the W3

The Fuji W3

Mix a few weeks of work with a small surplus of cash and a long weekend with nothing to do. Add to that a random sale on a specific camera and you've got one impulse buy for the month of May. I was showing the Fuji W1 to some people in the Art Department at my current work and a few days later (while supposedly drunk) one of the guys went online and bought the Fuji W3 at Henry's for $400.00. $100 off the regular price!


The Fuji W3 back

Today while stumbling around downtown looking for a few replacement trays for the food dehydrator (as I melted two of them while burning my finger and I still don't quite know how this happened) I went into Henry's to see if the camera was on sale in the store (and not just the internet).

I realize that going into a camera store would not find me food dehydrator trays. I've gone into camera stores while looking for trousers, not camera trousers just normal work clothing. So going into a camera store while looking for food dehydrator parts isn't a big leap out of character.

One thing led to another and "Viola", an upgrade from the W1 was made.


The built in HDMI 1.4 port will allow you to attach the camera right into a 3D TV!

The Fuji W3

The first thing one notices, other than the lower price, is that the power cable that came with the W1 is replaced by the battery charger for the W3. The W3 does not have a visible power outlet. Instead the power adapter is sold separately and fits into the battery chamber instead of the battery. This means you cannot charge the battery in the camera like the W1. Instead of a power output on the side of the camera there is an HDMI output (version 1.4 compatible with HDTVs with 3D capability).

The USB plug on the W3 is in roughly the same spot as the W1. Controls for the camera have been moved over to the right side. I suppose this makes for easier handling. One thing that they removed is the buttons that light up. Which in the end, while it might have looked cool, really didn't help the camera shoot (or focus) in a dark setting. Sure you could find the controls but the camera was pretty much useless without some external light to light up the subject so the camera could see it.


Since the W1, controls have been moved to one side of the camera for easier operation.


The Fuji W3 top


Convergence controls


The zoom and shutter button


The Fuji W3 bottom showing the camera mount and the battery and SD card slots.


Close up of the battery and SD card slots


The new NP-50 battery


The old NP-95 battery next to the newer smaller NP-50 battery


you can see the that the NP-50 is thinner too

Overall I like that the camera can shoot HD video. I find that the photos taken at higher ISOs are really grainy compared to my Nikon SLRs but it does fit into my pocket. Also shooting action photos really isn't this camera's strong suit. It takes a long time to focus on objects (even if they are well lit). So unless you're focusing in advance, I wouldn't recommend this camera for fast moving things.

For 3D though. Well there really isn't anything comparable out there is there? You could buy a lens in a cap for your Nikon or canon but it'll split your existing 4:3 image into two. The Fuji W3 allows you to shoot in 3 aspect ratios. 4:3 (3648x2736), 3:2 (3648x2432), and 16:9 (3584x2016). There are smaller resolutions but who really cares about them?

Food Dehydrator

Salton Food Dehydrator

Monday night at work, one of the snacks that made it's way to the craft services table was a bunch of banana chips. I ate some and took a few home to see if Captain Hill liked them. She did. This was the seed that started today's mission... "Buy a Food Dehydrator"

I reasoned that the food dehydrator would allow me to make banana chips from scratch thus eliminating any odd preservatives that might be used in the banana chips available at the grocery store. I did a bit of research and as the world of food dehydrators opened up to me I realized that banana chips weren't the only things you could make with one of these things. Beef Jerky, bagel chips, various dried fruits and herbs, I imagine you could even dry a pair of socks in one of these things. There's a web site that refers to the drying to lingerie. I don't own any lingerie (sorry to disappoint any of you out there) but I do own socks.

Not that I would put socks into this thing as there's that whole stink thing they one would have to contend with, but if I had to MacGyver a solution for wet socks, well there you go.

As with any purchase being done with limited research I found it difficult to find a dehydrator for sale. The Bay, Kitchen Stuff Plus, Future Shop, Best Buy, Sears, none of them sold food dehydrators. I ended up getting the last one on the shelf of a Canadian Tire. It was $50.00.

Made by Salton there's not a lot to the thing. There's a base, 5 drying racks, and a cover with an opening that can be open to closed. I'm not really sure what the opening does as there's no mention of the vent in the manual.

Speking of Sax

Fred Spek plays the Dundas West Station

While transferring from the bus to the subway I heard the sound of the saxophone. It made me retrace my steps back up the 10 stairs I managed to navigate to find Fred Spek playing in the busker area. It was his birthday a few days ago and I thought I'd say "Happy Birthday" in person even though I was in a rush to get some hard drive cases before the computer store closed.

Himy for Mayor

Volley ball posts.

Ended up walking down to the beach today. It was rainy and it's been a while since I've been down there since moving to the other side of the city. Not surprisingly there was no one around. Torontoians are odd that way in that a bit of rain scares them off. Being a saturday they couldn't even use the excuse that they were at work.


The boardwalk

While walking toward the life guard station, in the distance I saw a figure moving rocks around. On of my friends, Himy, would make mazes or patterns out of rocks on the beach for the public's enjoyment. As I got closer the figure turned out to be Himy. What were the odds?


"Hey, It's my yogurt!" Himy

While talking to Himy I found that he was still head deep into Toronto politics. He even ran for office. He'd do a better job than Rob Ford just because he lives in Toronto and sees what the people of Toronto see. Hopefully our new mayor doesn't screw up the city too much by making short sighted budget cuts.

Hammer City 2011 Season Opener

Deep Fried Mars bar at the Jet Cafe

Today marked Hammer City's fifth season opener also known in some circles as Mother's Day Massacre. Times change and with it names. The 'Mother's Day Massacre' was dropped for the PC 'season opener'. Meh. I was told this was done to lure sponsors and to not upset overly sensitive fans.

One of the coaches of the HCRG had passed away. Affectionately known as 'Mister Dave', he had been a major influence in the early years of the HCRG training. His funeral was today. This put a damper on the season opener.


Breakfast at the Jet Cafe


Harlots at breakfast/lunch

I can't remember if I was invited or I hijacked the Harlots lunch. I think I let myself in, come to think of it as I bummed a ride from one J.J. who was driving in from Toronto. The deep dried mars bar had been cooked too long and any moisture had left the lump of battered chocolate had left at least two deep fries ago. The breakfast was good though.


I like the 'more beer' sign where the 'kids' are


Slamtastic Slam Wow and Demolition Dawn of ToRD


Diane!

Definitely one of the high lights of the day was seeing Diane. She's a girl that i keep bumping into in different cities and almost travelled across Canada west with her. As things worked out, or didn't, the guy with the car got someone else to drive it to B.C. and the person on the other end needed their car in B.C. for a wedding. So that all fell though. It's just as well. I managed to snag a paying job soon after.


Lunch lady feels the HCRG love

There were two games. The Lunch Ladies VS the Hamilton Harlots. The Thames Fatales VS the Eh Team. While watching the first of the two I thought to myself "Who are these people?". The freaky thing is then the same line, more or less, was verbalized by the guy behind me. It was the Derby Nerd.

It's true. I didn't recognize more than half the skaters. It seemed that the HCRG had been upgraded and I hadn't noticed until now. In both games the Hamilton teams got wallopped (see derby nerd for coverage).


Bitch Slap Barbie


Naughty Bee (#58) in action


Diane!


Slacker Smaker of forest city manoeuvres through the Eh team pack like a hot knife through butter


HCRG's Eh Team and the Thames Fatale