WarCrafted Out

A last look at my warcraft character.

My subscription lasted for two months and expired today or maybe tomorrow. There's a command that you can type in the command line '/played' that will tell you how much you've been playing or how much time you've invested in that character. You can have more than one character at a time.

Most of my time was playing in the realm (server) ShadowSong with the Charm city ref Justice FeelGood Marshal. The grand total came out to 11 days 21 hours 23 minutes 35 seconds with my character making it to level 50. Kind of scary if you consider the average person sleeps for 20 of those 60 days. The game really is so huge in that I've only explored 10 of the 70 sections and I don't even own the second expansion pack. Crazy.

Thanks to the great programmers at Blizzard and the detailed virtual world of warcraft some of the things I've done include catching over 500 fish, hugged a squirrel, made dragon breath chili (where burbing causes damage to foes engaging me in hand to hand combat), rode a robot ostrich (or maybe chicken), beat up a troll to death armed with a 17 pound fish, fell over 65 yards (and lived), base jumped off a dam, figured out how to fight unarmed, with staves, with daggers, and swords, taught myself how to create portals to different cities, earned 500 gold pieces through the auction houses, and interacted with real people from around the world (the real world).

While I love to play the game for all the little details and exploration I have to put it aside to get stuff done in the real world. So to all my warcraft friends "Adieu"

...for now at least.

Photo day on the Island

The Toronto skyline during the icy winter month of February

The first day of february which also happened to be Super Bowl Sunday was the day we went off to the Island as part of a photo meet up group. The time to meet 10:15am. The ferry to the island was at 10:30am and every hour after that.

Paul and I were the only two that showed up. Probably for three reasons. It was early (especially for a sunday), possibly the superbowl, and it's winter. Not a lot of people may think going to a frozen snow covered island for a few hours would be fun. Photography equipment gets cold, batteries don't work as well, a chance the shutter will be affected, might fall into water. Who goes out in conditions like these? It seems only two of us.

As it turned out, the weather was actually quite warm (at least while the sun was up). Once the sun went down my boots froze from all the water the leather absorbed during the day walking through puddles and knee deep snow. During the day the sky was clear and cloudless sometimes giving harsh shadows but otherwise mae for a great photo day.

I shot in the range of about 800 photos ranging for kids playing ice hockey on the lake, to a bunch of ducks being herded by geese, to th toronto skyline. Throw in some miscellaneous nature shots and ice formations and you've probably got our day covered.

We stayed on the island shooting until just after the sun went down (at 6pm) and after that walked swiftly back toward Ward's island to catch the hourly ferry. Once the sun went down ice formed along the road back. Think of march of the penguins but instead replace the cute penguins with two guys and a bunch of camera gear wobbling in the dark towards the ferry dock.

Thankfully a guy who walked by us earlier told the guys on the ferry to wait up for us for an extra minute. We heard the horn toot a few times and a voice coming from the boat saying to "Hurry up.". For the last few meters it was a mad dash across ice hoping gear didn't spill out of the bags. We made it.

The photo above was taken on the way back sailing through the ice towards the downtown core.

Piece by piece

a Super Mario Kart lenticular puzzle

For the last few days I've been rearranging the bunch of stuff that is known as boxes in my apartment. Primarily to make room for doing photography indoors while the weather is cold and snowy outside. People that know me know that this is no minor task as it involves moving some boxes of laserdiscs and other boxes of junk that I've been hording for years.

Some may think the term "Pack Rat" but I'm more fond of the "Saver" label. While they mean the same thing in the end the later seems nicer. Here are the pros and cons of going through stuff.

pros

1. You can finally let go of that version of C++ that's been outdated 4 versions ago, 3 versions ago, and 2 versions ago, etc...


2. That's what happened to my (Commodore Pin, Amiga Pin, Back to the Future sunglasses, you get the idea)!


3. You can make your pile of junk smaller if you can let go of stuff.


4. You can find other people's stuff and return it to them. (Robin, I think I found some knitting book of yours, only re-misplaced it by putting it in another box.)


5. There are those that say that if you let go of things you create space for more things or new things to enter your life. Why get rid of the stuff to start it all over again in a few years?
   


6. Less storage space required. Which also means that maybe you might have more space to actually live in.

cons

1. Less stuff also means increased heating and or cooling bills. It's more cost effective to keep solids cold than empty space. This tip works for the refrigerator too.


2. You find things you haven't seen in a while and maybe didn't want to see.
• Thesis notes - Wow! That's my writing? Geez, I was smart! What happened?
• Mold - for example. I have not found mold, just sayin'.
• Photos - of you doing something dumb and/or geeky when your were less fat.


3. Sifting through the junk creates reminiscing which means more time sifting.


4. You wonder why you've been schlepping this stuff around all these years.


5. You find something you haven't fiddled with in years and now find yourself fiddling with that item taking more time to sift.

I found a few lenticular puzzles I had bought at a book sale a while back. The puzzles were only 100 pieces each but were still a good distraction. Instead I could have been working on clearing out stuff.

HCRG vs Queen City

Buffalo, only one hour away from Hamilton

The first HCRG (that's Hammer City Roller Girls) game this year took place in Buffalo. The trip was actually quite nice in that it was short and crossing the border was quite a pleasant experience. It's always the luck of the draw when getting to the border as the guard can be angry and tired. Like most people if you catch them on the wrong day they can really make your day long and miserable, even if it is just getting your ID checked and cross examined. The two cars in front of us weren't as lucky. They were asked to pull over to the little building behind the guard stations probably to be asked more questions.

I think more that the trip was short helped. We left at about 4pm from Hamilton and arrived at 5:15pm in Buffalo.

Mental note: I really have to get more photos of the outside of the venues we go to as the only one I got in Buffalo was of the sign as we drove by it.

Inside the rink was a very dark environment for us photographers. It was brightened up by Kevin, one of the photographers that brought in his own florescent tubes to replace all the colored tubing owned by the rink. In order to shoot at 1/200 of a second I still had to crank the ISO up to 3200 at f2.8. Not very optimal and of course focusing in such a dark environment was tricky. I think this is the year I pick up the 200mm f2.0 lens. Yeessss... (as I tap my fingers together)... Now if only I had a first born to sell.


The Rainbow Rink

While not as retro as the rink in Wilkes-Barre, as it lacked the shag carpeting, it was still a dedicated roller rink that looked like it was from the 70s. Same size skating area for the most part as the one in Pennsylvania and complete with disco lighting. I love these old venues.


Disco lights.


The 2009 HCRG Travel Team

The game between Hamilton and Buffalo ended with a score of 73 to 49. There seemed to be a lot of wipe outs this time round. Most notably Judge Jody flying into the spectators and not getting up right away. In the end she seemed alright.

Ivy Rupted had her finger or fingers skated over. They were taped up so she could continue to play. Were they were broken or not? To be determined... but they were not deformed (as one of the Hamilton paramedics observed).


Judge Jody flies into the crowd head first.


Ivy Rupted with her taped fingers... and EMS person.

If you build it...

There are those that say if you visualize something there's a better chance of it materializing in the real world. (ie. "If you build it they will come") While I have had some luck last year getting my photos published in a magazine (thanks to the fashion editor at FAB magazine, Max MacDonald) and some newspapers this year I'd like to concentrate on getting more magazine work... with a studio budget.

And so with the help of a photo session taken yesterday with Ashley Wolstat, model turned actor, I've created this mock up of what might be seen on a magazine, somewhere, some day.

As a personal assignment it's good to know how to frame up a shot for a magazine cover as you need to compose the shot so that you're leaving room for the magazine's title and barcode spot. The beauty of shooting medium format is that you can just shoot, then later once the slide is digitized at 100 megapixels you and pretty much crop out what you don't need.

Since I wasn't shooting with a medium format, I was shooting with my D700, I had to set up the shot in advance in my head with the thought of where all the magazine text would be floating around.

So now that there's an example of work floating around the web ether we'll see if this affects the jobs I get flowing in. Fingers crossed.

If you're feeling a bit stuck in the new year and need help getting motivated out of your rut check out the motivatorman web site and blog.

It's crock pot month

If you've been poking around looking for updates on this blog lately you may have wondered if the blog has been put on hold or maybe even abandoned. This last month has been pretty non-eventful in that I've been staying at home for the most part playing WarCraft and cooking using the Crock Pot (the slow cooker I purchased just before Christmas).

Since the purchase of the crock pot I have not really eaten any solid non-mushy food at home. That's been a few weeks. Mainly due to experimenting with said crock pot and trying to find good recipes.

For those that don't know crock pots are a very forgiving kitchen device. Where baking may require objects to be in the oven for a specific amount of time (plus or minus 5 minutes), stuff in a crock pot has hours. Even some recipes say between 12 and 18 hours. A six hours difference! It's the perfect slacker cooking device.

person waiting to eat
"Is that pot roast ready?"

slacker cook
"I'll get to it after I level up my character in WarCraft"

....and surprisingly the food still comes out okay.

While this scenario is not far from true events, the food does tend to come out okay. Especially if you're making soups or stews. More experimentation is required for cooking meats however as I'm finding that the meats being made in the crock pot tend to be coming out a bit dry for my taste. More on this to come.

January has been pretty much a crock pot month.

Rice Pudding


Rice pudding in the crock pot

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cup cooked rice
• 16 oz half and half or light cream
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. cover crock-pot with thin layer of butter.
2. Place eggs in a bowl, add light cream, sugar & vanilla.
3. Mix until smooth.
4. add rice and raisins.
5. Pour into crock pot.
6. add a few dashes of nutmeg on top of rice goo.
7. Set crock pot on high for 30 minutes or cook on low for 2 to 3 hours.

My observation

This recipe turned out more like a rice custard than an actual pudding. It's tasty though. I think I've stumbled on how to make egg custard tarts.... yummy egg custard tarts. That may have to be my next cooking experiment.


Beef Burgundy

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds of beef stew meat cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 can of condensed mushroom soup
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1 can of sliced onions
• 1 package of onion soup mix
• 1 table spoon of minced garlic

Directions

1. Throw ingredients into crock pot.
2. Cook for 6 to 8 hours or until beef is tender.

The Experiment

I was wondering if searing the meat first would make the meat taste less dry so for half the meat I seared it in a wok, the other half I left alone throwing it into the crock pot. About 8 hours later I realized my experiment went wrong when I stirred around the contents to move around the mushroom soup. D'oh!

The meat sampled tastes a bit dry in some and not so much in other pieces. This could be due to fat content rather than searing. More research required.


BEFORE - the meat is in two sections, raw and seared


AFTER - can't really tell what is where thanks to stirring, d'oh.

Montreal makes WFTDA

Georgia W. Tush #40 oz of the Montreal Roller Derby

I just found out today that Montreal has just made the Women's Flat Track Derby Association. There was a race to see who could be the first team from Canada between Montreal and Hamilton for what seemed like a pretty long time.

As a Hamilton fan the first thing that came to my mind was "What happened?". As a Montreal fan I say "Woo woo!". Technically you have to be a fan for teams you have friends on. In that case I'm probably a fan of derby in general. Shouting "Texas, Texas, Kill, Kill, Kill", to the rhythmic thumping for the Liberty Belles, to the "H-C-R-G" battle cry. It's all great derby... and now some of it will be in Canada officially. Woo woo!

With the Montreal Canadiens 100th hockey year is seems only fitting that the roller derby girls make WFTDA to diffuse some of that hockey craziness. Roller derby a major Canadian sport? Why the heck not?

See ya later alligator

Ted's Range Road Diner

As part of my Christmas eat until you're stuffed food tour, I found myself at a restaurant some where near Owen Sound. As it was dark, and some of the roads were closed due to snow and flooding, and that James was driving I had no idea where we were. At least not on a road intersection kind of way. I did manage to get the GPS location coming out of the restaurant.

North 44.633952, West 80.662562

It's Ted's Range Road Diner.

What makes this restaurant interesting is that they have things like alligator and elk on the menu. They also have more "normal" meats like chicken, bison, an assortment of fish, and lobster to name a few. Your friends who might be less adventurous can eat without worrying about having something odd being digested in their system.

As soon as I saw the menu on the wall I knew I had to try the gator as an appetizer. It's rare these days to be able to eat something new and different without travelling to far off places. Eating gator in Owen Sound Ontario seems odd, kind of like eating a burger at a seafood house. It's not like there are gators crawling around in snow boots around these parts.



Gator nugget

The gator came to our table looking a lot like a chicken nugget or more accurately a tiny schnitzel. The meat was pretty lean and tasty. It was difficult to get a full on taste as it was surrounded by fried batter but it wasn't so off putting that I wouldn't try it again should the chance arise. Also it was yummy enough that the appetizer didn't last long. See ya later alligator.


Elk loin, the special special

As a main dish I ordered the Elk. Specifically the Elk loin special special. There were the specials then there were the specials of the specials known by the waitress as the special specials. The elk was covered in a nice meaty gravy and tasted like beef steak mixed with a hint of liver. As I'm not a huge fan of liver I wasn't really that impressed with the taste of Elk. However the one thing that was really good that came with the Elk steak was the homemade horseradish sauce. Not too hot, where you can feel tears running down from your eyes, but far from being bland. It was great stuff.

In the summer I'll have to return to try the food again.

Christmas Beans

Beans being soaked and prepped to be used as next test subject

About three days ago I bought a slow cooker also known as a crock pot. It's a 5 quart (what the heck is a quart?) version that I picked up at Canadian Tire for only $25. It's seems so odd that you can buy any kitchen appliance that cooks food for so little money but there you have it. Amazing! It's probably the best value I've gotten in years.

As it's only been three days, I've only made three things in it since cooking times range between 12 and 18 hours so far...

1. pork pot roast
2. chicken with tomato sauce
3. a two bean corn chili

After a few experiments cooking this way I am dumbfounded that the meat tastes so dry. After all it's being cooked in liquid for hours. What the heck? My pork pot roast tasted drier than my pork pot roast I cooked a while back using a conventional oven. It seems like such a shame to use an animal to make sub standard food.

The chicken, the second trial run, was just as dry. Eventually I fixed it by making it into a thick chicken stew, by adding more water and cooking it a bit longer. Both dishes tasted fine but the meat was dry.

After doing a bit of asking around the answers I have come across to solve this problem boil down to two explanations.

1. the meat being cooked is too lean
2. the food is not being left to cook long enough

I will have to do more research and get back to you. In the meantime I can say that the crock pot technology is great for making mushy carrots and celery which would be great in a soup or a stew of some kind.

I am currently cooking a bean chili. I'll let you know how that comes out. It smells good for whatever that's worth.


First test subject: carrots and celery on a pork pot roast BEFORE


carrots and celery on a pork pot roast AFTER

Winter Wonderland

Pumpkin, taken yesterday. It's cold but no snow.

The news sources predicted a big snow storm today. After playing a short session of Warcraft I decided by 1pm I'd venture out into the snowy blizzard. Specifically with the intention to head toward the beach. It's been a while since I've gone off to shoot down there in winter like conditions and perhaps thought that I was getting to be a little lazy, photographer wise, in the last few months.

I dressed for the part by wearing thermal pants (trousers for you people overseas), gloves, two balaclavas (head socks), boots, a polar fleece top, snow goggles and my EFC coat. My Earth Final Conflict coat is pretty old now but it's great to do crawling around in snow.


Today, cold and snow.

I left at 1pm. The walk down required a bit of effort as snow had already started piling up on some streets. The closer to the beach the more trudging involved. My goggles were fogging up and my hair managed to find it's way to the hole in the balaclava and started coming out. Stupid hair. I'll be happy to have short hair again.


Photographing trees facing the wind in a blizzard.


Empty playground


The safety fences.


some snow patterns on the boardwalk





Some neat patterns in the snow created by the wind.


Icy rocks and freezing water

At one point I took the goggles off to see through the camera. It was then I noticed my eyeballs being pelted by small ice pellets flying around in the air. The snow was blowing sideways and there was thunder in the air. I've never actually heard thunder during a snow storm before. I kept wondering if there was lightning somewhere.

I took some random photos all the way down to the shoreline. Next to a life guard station there were a bunch of rocks that had formed ice on them. I stepped up onto a cement slab to take photos. That was a mistake. I looked out at the water and noticed a huge wave hit the end of the cement. Rather than dissipating like the previous waves this one kept coming. Eventually I found both of my feet underwater. The wave had drenched my legs half way up to my knee. I felt water fill my left boot. It was time to go home.


Boot filling with water. I'm taking photos while running away from the lake.