Movies
Star Wars, Last Starfighter, Bladerunner, The Quiet Man, Company Business, The Professional, Grosse Point Blank
Music
Angus MacColl, Jeffery Phillips, Smithfield Fair, Feist, Harmony Trowbridge, Monster Magnet, Aerosmith
Television
Books
Mona Lisa Overdrive, Idouru, Burning Chrome, A Deepness in the Sky, A Fire in the Deep, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Worst Journey in the World
Activities
Research Interests
Database Design, Information Security, Application Development, Virtual Reality
Podcasts
TWIT, Command N, Net@Nite, GeekBrief, DL.TV, Buzz Out Loud, Diggnation, TikiBar, In Digital
SeptemberSep 7 Friday Fri 07
Book List: Book List
William Gibson: Burning Chrome
Short stories of cyberpunk
William Gibson: Pattern Recognition
The new face of marketing
Photo Album: College of Piping2005
College of Piping2005
College of Piping | Wooden Piper | Make Mine a Keiths | N Shore PEI | |||
SilverFox2 | Sunset PEI 2 |
Off to practice
On the road...again.
Pacing is Everything
I seem to be participating in that most American of custom's, overdoing it on vacation. The first week here in PEI is fantastic, but I might need to pace myself.
I've been able to meet up with lots of my friends from past years at the College of Piping summer school. Monday night was off to the "cottage" where my friend Kevin and his wife Carol are staying. Another interesting PEI fact is that they call their little vacation homes cottages. If you think about what we in the south call a "camp" and dress it up a bit then you get the idea. The cottage is a getaway out of the city where you can relax. Many of the cottages that I've seen here are near the water or even the beaches. I know it may seem odd to think of an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as a beach resort, but thats kind of what PEI is. We all went to eat at a seafood place in New London PEI. I even had fish. Usually, I forgo the seafood entries at restaurants. Having grown up for all practical purposes in central and northern Texas, the concept of fresh seafood is a little alien. I mean come on, how fresh can that stuff be when its eight hours to the closest body of water. In this case however, I'm setting in a restaurant that sits on a pier, where fishing boats are tied up. Fresh fish, alright, I can get behind that.
Tuesday night was a trip to see the College of Piping 2007 Highland Storm production. I'll probably go see it again while I'm here, so I won't dwell on it. The shows are pretty good. They feature piping and drumming, as well as highland and step dancers. This year, Patrica Murray is back at "The College". Patrica is a champion Gaelic singer and I always enjoy hearing her sing, even when I don't understand the words. There wasn't any narration to the show like the last version that I saw, so it took me a while to figure out the basic concept. There was a story line behind the show, but they were using piping, drumming, and the occasional song to tell the story. Basically, it was like an opera, only with bagpipes instead of all the singing.
Wednesday afternoon, I was off to Charlottetown with Kevin and Carol to see the Belfast Pipe and Drum band play in the harbor area park. I finally got to hit the highways of PEI in my rental car. We took the scenic drive along the north shore of the island. You can see out to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the beaches. The seascape was mixed in with rolling green hills and inlets (they call them rivers here, but they are really more like fyords in Norway). We drove through a town called Cavendish. This is the mecca for the cult of "Anne of Green Gables". If you wonder where the Green Gables thing came from, the older houses in the town (and in many places I've seen here) tend to be painted with white wash and have green roofs with, matching green gables.
When we arrived at the park in Charlottetown, my friend Kevin joined up with the band to play as they marched in short parade. Carol and I hung out at the park while they marched off, UP A HILL. Although I play the pipes, I myself don't do parades that don't involve a float and the throwing of beads. Well, actually its more like involves a float and the drinking of beer if we want to be honest about it. I did get to watch part of a sail boat race from the pier, and bought some pirate themed souvenirs. My goal to visit the Charlottetown harbor was achieved.
The guys from the Belfast band didn't really play much more after their parade, not that I blame them, I get tired playing and walking across the parking lot back home. We listened to a few tunes as they finished up their practice and then decided to go have drinks with the band. A fantastic tradition of pipe bands, the after practice trip to the pub. I don't usually get to participate because of my 110 mile drive home following practice. However, its a nice custom if you can play. The 15 - 19 degree Celcius wind blowing off the Northumbrian Straits also helped drive the decision to boogy. I don't know what that temperature is exactly in my native Fahrenheit, but it sure puts the urrrrr in Burrrr.
I drove Kevin and Carol back to their cottage. During this trip I noticed an interesting thing about their cottage, it has a street address. Well, that doesn't seem too weird. This street is narrow dirt road off of the country road. Still not too amazing, there are lots of dirt roads in Louisiana and Texas. This road turns to grass once you get to the bluff overlooking the river where there are about four cottages. Let me clarify the point here....the road is GRASS. They MOW the street. "What ya' going to do this weekend? Oh, I have to mow the road." I wonder if they fertilize it too.
That was the first four days of my trip. I can't even imagine what the next eighteen days are going to bring.
End of the Road
Kind of an ominous sounding title to this post, but fairly descriptive.
The Long, Long Road Back Part I
All good things must come to an end, unless you're independently wealthy that is.
MayMay 7 Monday Mon 07
French River PEI: The most photographed (and with good reason) spot on Prince Edward Island
Vancouver Island Coast: A shot from the western shore of Vancouver Island on a trip to Victoria BC
This Ain't Baton Rougue: Bowling Green Ohio, winter, it's freaking cold on a Louisiana boy.
TaeKwonDo Demo: Taken in the mid-1980's in Chun Chon S. Korea....just after a martial arts demo and just before an anti-government riot.
Sunrise over Sea of Japan and Mines: Beautiful shot of a beach mine field in S. Korea very close to the DMZ. Definitely, not the typical tourist spot.
AprilApr 18 Wednesday Wed 07
