January 16, 2006: Kathryn's Mouse


Here's a fine picture of my wife's computer mouse

January 17, 2006: A message to our neighbor

We live in an apartment. It's really nice, as a matter of fact, and we like it. A little small, perhaps, and it is mostly quiet. Mostly, that is, except for a certain neighbor upstairs who walks so heavily it sounds like there's a buffalo living there. She's not always so bad. I suspect during grazing hours there's less movement, but in the evening while we're preparing for sleep we can hear the migration into the bedroom. This sometimes causes aggravation. So Kathryn wrote a letter designed as an advertisement from a cheesy weight-loss business. I think she was at least half-serious about putting it in her mailbox.

January 13, 2006: our first baby clothes (years in advance!)


No, there's no new addition coming anytime soon, but while out on a shopping trip to Richmond Centre Mall, this little baby T-shirt was seen in Old Navy. Kathryn had to buy it. I think it's cute. Eventually we intend to fill it, but not for a few years.

January 15, 2006: a night shot of West Vancouver, from Jericho Beach


So there was no rain this evening, and in fact it was relatively clear. So I wanted to go to Jericho Beach with my camera and tripod to take some night photography, especially of downtown. Kathryn braved the cold (ok, it's all relative. 3 degrees may be a warm evening for Toronto in January, but in Vancouver terms, it's cold) with me to make the trek. I set the shutter speed slow, but what I discovered is that it's not wise to have your ISO set to 1600 if you want nice night shots that give the impression it's dark. This results in the picture looking like there's more ambient light than there really is, as well as lower-quality shots as detail is lost. Nevertheless, I thought this picture of West Vancouver was interesting, with the beach adding a somehow other-worldly, martian effect.

January 12, 2006: Mushrooms


Here's some mushrooms, freshly cut. I have to say I do like mushrooms...

January 14, 2006: Smiling wife

Here's Kathryn smiling for me.

January 11, 2006: Down by the tracks

So on my way to visit my parents, I like to walk along some railway tracks. So do every dog owner who lives within 5 blocks either direction of the old train route. While making this walk, I have to keep my eye open as to where I'm stepping, since the bylaw that dictates dog owners clean after their dogs is completely ignored in these parts. Here's a view of the tracks as seen from the perspective of a Chihuahua.

January 10: pink waves

This particular day it was raining. And dark. These are not conditions amenable to picture-taking, especially with a non-water-tight camera. So I hunted around the house for something at least moderately interesting and new. This is one of the better photos I took.

January 9, 2006: cleaning the bathroom

While a fine looking cat, Worf uses the litterbox an inordinate amount. This results in cat litter regularly being thrown on the bathroom floor.

January 8, 2006: going out

Here's my wife, waiting for me to get ready to go out, as I'm busy taking a picture...

Flute

January 7: Kathryn and her flute

As I said, Kathryn is a musician, and the flute is her instrument of choice. Here's a picture of her playing her relatively-new flute.

Bordeaux

January 5, 2006: a nice bottle of Bordeaux


Wine is a wonderful thing. The variation of flavours and textures that different wines have is one of the pleasures of this world. And to add to this, it has a decent alcohol content to boot. This bottle was given as a Christmas gift from one of Kathryn's patients. It's also one of my favorite French wines in a not-too-high price point.

Broccoli

January 6, 2006: Broccoli


Strangely, even as a kid, I never hated broccoli. This non-derision of the veg table has grown to outright enjoyment of it. There's rarely the day when a home-cooked meal does not include it.

Burnaby Lake Park

January 2, 2006: An outing at Burnaby Lake Park


Burnaby Lake Park is a place we like to visit every now and then. There's not a lot of variation in the paths to take, so we don't go all that often. Mostly, it consists of a main trail that circles the lake, and so is several miles to walk. We have yet to complete the trail all the way around in one go, which would perhaps take 2 hours to do at a reasonable pace, without lollygagging. It's nice to see it in the different seasons. The thing is, though, Vancouver largely has only 2 seasons: summer: which is in July and August, and not-summer: which is the rest of the year. Summer is usually charicterized by lots of sun, normally clear skies, and temperature highs that range 24-30 degrees Celsius. Not-summer is normally cloudy and overcast (sometimes raining) and temperature highs that are most usually 5-20 degrees Celsius, depending on the month. Rarely is there snow that is more than a dusting, or that lasts more than a day or two, so winter is almost non-existant here. In Canada, Vancouver (and Victoria, by extension) really does have the most temperate weather in the country. It's really quite pleasant, as long as you can get used to the clouds and rain...

A Boring Photo Of Worf

Januart 4, 2006: A boring picture of Worf


Yes, sometimes I am lazy in trying to get my picture for the day. This is Worf. Now one thing about this cat is that he is the most camera-friendly beast I have ever come across. I actually have a lot of pictures of him, he's always cooperative. Unfortuantely this is not one of the better pictures.

Borscht

January 3, 2006: Borscht


Before meeting Kathryn, I hated beets. Had absolutely no use for them whatsoever. But then she showed me the wonders of Boscht and converted me.

New Year 2006!

January 1: New Year's day at midnight!


Unlike New Year's 2005, we stayed up till midnight this year. Maybe it's because we're getting a little older, but I don't have as much interest in going out and partying as I used to... as a matter of fact, I enjoyed spending the night at home with Kathryn.

Kathryn, My Beautiful Wife

So here's my amazingly lovely wife Kathryn. We've been married for just about 7 months. We first met in a bar at a mutual friend's birthday party 3 1/2 years ago. Here's the story: The birthday party was being held at a place that is set up as a retaurant during the day and evening, then converts itself into a bar/nightclub at night. I got to the party early enough for dinner. Apart from the birthday girl Thelma, I knew nobody else there (nobody I knew bothered to show up for the dinner) and I didn't much like the group that was there for dinner. I got bored before long. A while after eating, when the dinner tables were taken away and the restaurant/lounge converted itself into a club/bar setting, I wanted to go home. So I told Thelma I was leaving, but she insisted I stay to meet some more of her freinds. Barely did she say this when Thelma motions toward a newly arrived friend. I turn around, and laid eyes on Kathryn for the first time. She smiled at me (because of my proximity to Thelma) and my life was never the same again.

While she works in heathcare, she is a talented musician. The plan is that she will pursue her music full time in college and university starting in a year and a half. on graduating, she wants to teach music.

A Prologue

So I'll introduce myself. My name's Eric. My beloved wife of (almost) 7 months is Kathryn. We live in the most excellent and beautiful city of Vancouver, BC, Canada. I currently work in telecom, my wife in healthcare. I am learning photography, and it's been progressing over the past 3 years into something I seriously enjoy. Kathryn is a musician and will go on to college in the next year-and-a-half and will teach music. I have a little sister and older brother. My parents and siblings live in Vancouver.

So there. that's a really brief synopsis on who I am. Many of my photos are focused around my wife, my city, and just daily life in general. I think now is as good a time as any to start posting some pictures...

Welcome!

Welcome to my little space, where I plan on posting some of my photos. I've been maintaining an MSN Space, but with only 30 MB of photo space, it's just not enough to hold a lot of photos.

So right now I'm in the midst of a personal project, which involves taking at least 1 photo daily. This is to chronicle all 2006, day by day through photography. It's good because it helps me to improve my photography skills through daily practice. It's also good because it's a bit of a reminder how every single day of the year can be eventful and unique. Lastly, it's helpful in encouraging me to improve my own creativity. Some days can require quite a bit of creativity to produce some sort of photo that has some interest. This past month of January has been especially challenging. Virtually every day has seen rain, keeping my poor camera housebound!

The result is some days may have either poor phot quality, are redundant, or simply uninteresting. So for now, at least, I won't post every single daily picture, just some that I think are all right.