What Have I Been Up To?

Well not everyone will really care what I have been up to but some people might find something I have done interesting or fun. Though as I sit here at my desk waiting for Services Canada to receive my Record of Employment so they can quickly send out my Employment Insurance cheques (used to be Un-Employment Insurance), I thought I would try and figure out what I have been up to in the past 3 weeks of my extended, without pay, vacation.

Product Reviews

I still dabble in reviewing various high-tech gadgets which are available to consumers. I personally really do enjoy playing with the new toys and writing about them. I am free to do more now, and I am also more free to hunt around for companies who are looking to have more feedback on their products too.

The most recent product I looked at was the Samsung HMX-R10 digital camcorder. It’s a pretty small, compact but fully featured camcorder that was fun to play around with. Have I mentioned that it’s Full HD too? I personally don’t have much interest in video but one feature I did like was the Time-Lapse it can do.

Samsung HMX-R10 Time Lapse Video Test from Tyler Ingram on Vimeo.

I’m not the best video editor out there and yes there is no sound, but I thought the time-lapse was pretty cool. It is shot from our balcony over a 24hour period. Granted I clipped out the boring parts and show you the evening, night and morning segments. You can check out the rest of the review over at ThinkComputers.org.

Day Hikes

Robyn and I love to get outside when we have the time. Our most recent day hike was with her dad and we headed up into Cypress Provincial Park to Hollyburn Peak. We started at the parking lot south of the Nordic area, walked to the old Hollyburn Lodge and proceeded up the Baden Powell Trail towards the top. It took roughly 4-5 hours to get to the top and back but the view at the top is definitely worth it.

The top is a great place to sit and have lunch. The view itself is pretty spectacular and shows off the mountain ranges north of Vancouver. You also can see glimpses of Cypress (including the ski runs), The Lions, Langford, Grouse, Mount Seymour and more. There are some steep bits you need to scramble up, so I do not recommend strollers. Though with the amount of wild blueberries along the trail up to the peak, I wouldn’t be surprised in seeing a bear or two. If you do go, just make sure you make enough noise not to surprise any of the furry animals. As for animals we did see there wasn’t too many, but we did see some grouse and grouse chicks, gray jays and a friendly chipmunk. Perhaps I’ll upload more of my photos from that hike.

Other Happenings

The fireworks are happening and so far they have been spectacular. As with my last post, Robyn and I will be venturing on a fireworks cruise for the South African firework display. I wonder if I’ll get any good shots, hopefully the water is fairly calm!

As for the employment front. I am just patiently waiting for my EI information to come though. I could be temporarily laid off for up to 12 weeks, after 13 weeks though I am entitled to my severance. I would like to take on more freelance work to help out in the meantime though. With our recent trip to Parksville for their Kite Festival, perhaps that can help me out in the finance department as I just finished getting some stuff together and mailing it. Oh how I would love to earn a living just with Photography, though all I ever hear is how hard it can be. Oh well, I can dream and continue to have fun with it!

So what’s next?

Who knows what is next? I’m just living the days one by one and enjoying the time I have off. I’m sure I’ll have to get out for more photowalks (don’t I always say that?) and see how I can get access to sporting events such as Football (yes I do mean both football and soccer), baseball and whatever other sports might be out there.

I want to work on my PHP coding skills. I haven’t really done any since I was laid off and do enjoy doing it. I also should get back into using Adobe Illustrator and finish my business cards, not that I can afford to have them printed at the moment. If anyone needs some WordPress work done don’t be shy to get in touch with me via my contact form here or over at DynamicShark Media either.

I would try and get out to socialize more, but with being REALLY strapped for cash makes me shy away from even meeting people for a quick coffee. Though the photowalks wouldn’t cost me money.

So in the meantime I will just going with the flow!