CaptainOrange

Made a change to the blog today that will affect those of you who comment. I've enabled G+ commenting, which (as you may have guessed) means that Google+ now handles the comments. It has several benefits: you will automatically get notifications when your comments are commented on -- no pesky check boxes or "subscribe" options. If you share a post via G+ your share will appear on the blog (probably won't affect anyone here) you control who can or can't see your comments--including me--(assuming that concerns you). If you are familiar with G+ Circles  you will be aware that you can easily specify who can see your comments. It's interesting that an entire conversation could happen on a post that the blog author wouldn't see. So make sure you post "public" or at least to a circle that I'm in :) you can edit or delete your comments like most Google data, it can be downloaded via Google Takeout . Good info for this on Data Liberation . Th...

With the extended winter that we have felt this year in Saskatchewan (yes, yes... and many other places too) I have been in a bit of a funk. Trying to get over it usually involves pushing myself to some physical extreme. At Quest New Year, The Doctor mentioned that his brother had embarked on a mission to do his age in chin-ups, of all things. Checking my records... I see that my maximum ever was 16 in a row (currently at 10). That gives me a ways to go, but I have decided to work on it. At the same time, so my lower body doesn't atrophy, I have been attacking the Arts Tower with renewed vigor. The tower is approximately 50.22m  and I'll throw a little history lesson  (dates of construction etc...) in for good measure. For now, I'd love to make the assumption that the total height of the building, 50m, roughly equals the distance I run from the basement to the top floor. Sadly, for me, in 1996 I measured the height of a single stair at 18cm. My own internal measurements...

There aren't a lot of melt days during February in Saskatchewan. When it does happen, given my proclivity for being down in the dumps this time of year, I usually sprint for the door. In this case it ended with supper not being ready on time for the hungry hordes. But, it also ended with some awesome pictures of icicles. They are edible too, you know. Well... some of them are. On the left is the modest fellow that was clinging to my eavestrough. At 18 inches, not much to get excited about, but the sun was hitting it just right. It was enough to make me grab my camera. As I was driving Wendy to her office, she suggested that I stop by our old rental home. On the right, 518 Albert Avenue. Despite it's several rounds of renovations, it continues to have fabulous ice "problems" (if that's what you call it) in the winter. Unfortunately, the sun was too low on the horizon to give me the look I was going for. Downtown, the store fronts were clear of ice, but there...

Normally I prefer not to follow through and, if I do, I like to make sure it isn't in any timely manner. Nobody is perfect. I've been off work during the last week. Too much time on my hands means more creating and blog posting. Here is the set up for my creative process. You can see the 1st generation of the tripod mount in action--on top of a jar of whole wheat spaghetti. My iPhone 5 was mounted there while recording the video below. The setup Like me, this video isn't for everyone. It will likely be very boring. However, if you would like to see 12 minutes or less on how easy Shapelock is to use (no I don't own stock) or just how I go about doing one of my DIYs, this is the video for you. I will also accept "loves the soothing sound of Mike's voice" :) I'll put a few highlights for casual observers: "Finished" 36s is a description of parts for the project 3:44 shows some of the shaping process 5:23 is a knife safety mess...

Wendy suggested I record the kids debating this week. She wants to debrief them to enhance their skill development rate. To me, it just means sore arms as I hold my phone steady for 15 minutes at a time. So, in this case, Wendy really is the "mother of invention." And she has encouraged me to combine my love of four things: Shapelock , my iPhone, photography and creating It took me a while, but I eventually realized that I didn't need two rare-earth magnets to hold my phone in place. Now I just have a stainless steel disk on my phone attached with a really awesome two-faced tape. No the tape doesn't dry out. Yes, it's easy to remove. I suppose if you were a bit of a wimp or using a phone case already, you could just mount the disk to it. I like my phone sleek and scratchy. Going with a shorter bolt next time Parts:  Disk, Magnet and housing from Lee Valley 4" bolt - 1/4" threads Spiffy long nut - 1/4" threads Shapelock. I don't...

Pretty grand title for a post. I guess I'm feeling pretty grand. speaking of thousands... I ran into Mathemagic yesterday on G+ (which still not enough of you are using) via Keentalks . It's an hour long, so most of you are not likely to have time to enjoy it right away, if ever. The first 20 minutes are a math "magic" act. The last 40 minutes is a Q&A session (and very limited sales pitch) about how he does his thing. I found it really inspiring. Spent the last half of my day being sighed at by my family as I ran through the house pointing at people and shouting "Give me a two digit number," and then wrinkled up my forehead, muttering to myself. This was followed with an answer and some kind and a disclaimer. "3364! I don't know if that's right, but I want applause... right now." If you want to learn how, here is a description of the easy way to square any 2 digit number  starting at 25:46 in the video. Trust me. It's fun...

I've got a lot to cover here. Let's get right to it. One thing has dominated how our family has operated for the past 2 months. Leora's show. When last we talked spoke (for more than an instant) Leora had begun rehearsals for The Sound of Music.  We knew it was going to be a stretch for her and the family. Boy, were we right. On paper, we went into the commitment with our eyes fully open. Persephone was upfront and correct about the time required. It still didn't prepare us for how draining it would be on the family. The last couple of weeks of rehearsals were 12 hour days with a break in the middle. I would drop her off at the Ramai Arts Bldg., pick her up during a supper break, take her back to the theatre and pick her up at the end of the day. Factoring in waiting around etc... it worked out to about 90 min/day of driving/waiting. Leo missed several days of school. Then the performances actually began. She did 8 shows per week from Tuesday to Sunday....