Stomach Update

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You may recall that I posted about having some stomach problems a few months ago. I'm still having issues with my ability to eat certain foods - so after a few months of waiting for various doctor appointments I went in for a gastroscopy on Friday afternoon. For those who aren't in the know, that means they put me to sleep and stick a tube down my throat so they can take a look at what's going on in my tummy. It wasn't a painful procedure or anything -- though it certainly isn't comfortable. I believe I wasn't totally asleep during parts of the procedure and I have a hazy recollection of the tube being removed and someone saying they found something. However, the results haven't been told to me yet. It sounds like they took some samples to run a biopsy on. So the results should be in on Monday and maybe I'll finally find out what's going on. It'd be really nice to know what it is -- and hopefully it is treatable, whatever this is. Heraldk

24 Hours of Flickr

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The 24 hours of Flickr. Boy does this look cool. I'll have to make a point of taking my camera out and see if I can't get a couple of good photos to contribute. It would be pretty sweet to have one of my photos in the commemorative book that Flickr will be putting together. Admittedly, chances are slim to hopeless that I'll take one of the winning shots - but it would be pretty darn sweet! Heraldk

More Shopping

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So I'm rather enjoying my new camera lenses. Enough so that my interest in photography has been piqued to the point that I would like to be able to take my camera around with me to my daily activities so that I can get some photos of the cool things I see once in awhile. This means that I needed a bag. I literally spent a couple days looking at various camera bag options on the internet -- comparing features and capacity. At first, I thought the best plan would be to get a minimal bag that wouldn't bother me when I carried it along with my other gear (or perhaps one I could fit into my regular day backpack). But most of these solutions didn't really work for me. They either didn't fit quite enough of my gear, or they were too bulky looking (it is hard to tell looking at them online, but I had a tape measure out and spent time visualizing these things). Finally, I made the switch in thinking ... what if I bought a bag that replaced my day bag. If a bag existed that had some dedicated camera space, and perhaps a spot for a laptop, it would be an ideal carry-on type bag for travelling as well as a good day bag for my day-to-day activities. Eureka! There does exist such a bag! The Crumpler Sinking Barge. It's a tad pricey, but with the amount I spent on my camera/lenses, I think it's totally worth it. I can't wait for it to arrive!

Heraldk.

Flickr Gathering

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On Sunday there was a gathering of Edmonton Flickr-ites at the Muttart Conservatory downtown. It was a rather fun gathering -- it was certainly good to meet some people from around e-town that like to take photographs. Overall, roughly 10-12 people showed up. We chatted for awhile, took some photos, and then a small group of us went to the Sherlock Holmes pub downtown to have some food and talk for awhile longer. I left around 4:00, but it looks like (from the various photos of people I met) people stayed for quite awhile longer (and quite a few more beers). I got a chance to try out my new lenses, and they're pretty cool. I especially like the canon 50mm f/1.4. It's a pretty sweet lens. Here's a photo I took with it:

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Heraldk

Lenses!

Today I ordered a couple of new lenses for my camera. The first was an easy choice: a Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM - which will be my main lens when running around indoors. I'm actually a little disappointed that I didn't start my research on this until really late or I might've had the chance to order this lens *before* the reunion which would have been beneficial several times. Oh well, I will have it soon! The other lens I ordered took me awhile to decide upon. I ended up choosing this guy: a Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.5 DC. There were several other lenses I was seriously considering, including a Canon 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM and the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 EX. In the end though, the one I chose won out because of its very reasonable price and the combination of features it has. There seems to be a lot of mixed reviews concerning the Canon lens. Some people love it, but a lot of people seem to hate it. The 17-70 I chose didn't seem to have these polarized opinions (though there is some concern over getting a good copy of the lens). The 24-70, on the other hand is a really nice looking lens. However, you may have noticed that I do a fair amount of scenery photography, and I felt that I would dearly miss the wide-angle capability that I can currently do with my kit lens. When I go travelling, this is the lens I will be moving around with so I settled for the 17-70.

If you've got any comments for me I'd love to hear them -- I'll hopefully get the lenses soon and will give them some in depth tests while I still have the option of returning them.

Heraldk

Bayne Family Reunion

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Well I got back yesterday from the first family reunion on my Mom's Dad's side of the family since 1989 (or something in that area). It was held at Camp Nakamun, which really was the ideal place to hold a family reunion. It was away from the big city, but had all the luxuries that you don't find at just any camp setting. I was totally impressed with the facilities and the comfort was definitely appreciated since we weren't really out there to be camping! The story of the weekend? Photos, and good food. I ran around with my camera for most of the weekend taking photos of people taking part in the various activities. More than a few turned out really well so you'll be seeing some of them hit my flickr photoblog soon enough. The meals were also pretty awesome. We were called into meals at specific times and were treated to a very satisfying selection of food to choose from -- and there was plenty of it!

One of the highlights of the weekend was the game of human foosball we played. Some ingenious person setup this area where players strap themselves onto rods that are basically gigantic versions of foosball rods. The difference being that the players run back and forth and kick the ball instead of there being an outside player controlling it. The game is a lot of fun, but mostly the game is filled with hilarity as the players and observers alike enjoy the rather amusing situations.

It sounds like there might be another family reunion in 3 years, which I will gladly attend. Maybe I might start to learn the names of some of my relatives a little better and I might actually start to get to know some of them a bit better. Funny how an 18 year gap between reunions doesn't help you remember people...!

Heraldk

Tired

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This last week has taken a lot out of me. I've been quite busy working on this poker project -- the results are starting to look really promising, but I'm not gonna talk about that just yet. It looks like we're gonna have to get ready for an exciting event that should be happening in Vancouver in July. But you didn't hear that here first! I had a terrible downturn in poker so between that and the neteller trouble, I think I'm going to take an extended break from online gambling. (I didn't lose all my bankroll, but I might just cash out my money for awhile). I might use some of my PSO points to start a micro stakes bankroll from which to climb back up again ... we'll see if that's worth doing or not. In the meantime, I'm tossing around the idea of buying some lenses for my camera. The basic lens is pretty good, but it is starting to limit me in the stuff I'd like to try. So it is definitely time to purchase at least another lens. I'm kind of thinking a decent low-light/indoor lens with no zoom and a more general purpose zoom lens that borders on some telephoto capability ... If anyone has any helpful suggestions on good lenses or good place to buy such lenses, I'd really appreciate it! I haven't quite picked out the exact lenses I want yet. I'll be doing a bit more research over the next little while before I settle on something.

So that's where I'm at so far. This coming weekend Diane and I will be joining my family for a big reunion. So I won't be in town for most of the weekend. Should be fun, though it might be awkward since many people will be there that I should know/remember. Oh wells. Perhaps I will take my camera down and practice some photography! Hmm - maybe I should buy that 50mm lens I've been looking at *before* this weekend ...

Heraldk

Run Run Run

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Last night was crazy. I had two campus rec intramural playoff games, one Volleyball and one floor hockey which were at almost overlapping times. I decided to play the volleyball one because if we won, then we'd make the final which was the same night. So I went there and we lost really fast. It was 8:00 - about the time our floor hockey game was to start. So I ran over to the bus stop and saw that the bus to get over there was there! I hopped on, and got to the gym to find my team down a goal with 3 minutes or so left. I grab a guy's stick and play the remaining two minutes straight -- unfortunately we couldn't tie the game up. *sigh*.

So then I go home and sit down at my computer where I code a script that will help the development of the poker bot I'm working on ... and don't finish that until 3 in the morning. I'm TIRED.

So if you'll excuse me, maybe I'll go take a nap. Heraldk

Poker Bankroll Info

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I've created a new page (accessible from the top right menu, or here) that summarizes how my poker and online casino bonuses have gone over the last couple of years of playing. It is starting to look like a fairly impressive set of numbers, if I do say so myself! The particularly cool thing about these numbers is that my win rate at poker has skyrocketed in the last couple of months since I started playing no limit. No limit has totally been good to me - and I'm very happy to have made the switch (and so is my bottom line!).

Heraldk

Facebook

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Wow, I can't believe I've found a social networking site I actually don't hate. I can't stand myspace -- most pages are garish and poorly presented. Orkut became meaningless when people lost interest with it in the first couple months. So I never really considered joining facebook since I assumed it would be another waste of time. Eventually though, I heard enough people talking about it that I decided I needed to give it a try. Boy was a surprised. The first thing that struck me is that the site is well-organized and easy to browse. It is very much a web2.0 style done right. Just enough AJAX (I'm assuming) to make the elements of the page interactive to the right degree. Everything feels very easy, but the lack of full customization means that viewing other people's profiles is actually pleasant (unlike myspace ... *shudder*). So all in all it is an impressive piece of software.

The other big thing that struck me right away is just how many of my former schoolmates were on facebook already. I suppose mileage might vary depending on whether facebook has hit critical mass for the people you know. Definitely, however, a large number of people I went to high school, junior high, and even elementary school with are already on facebook. What that meant was within a few days of creating a facebook account, I already had more than 50 people on my friends list. Insane.

The last thing that I think facebook does amazingly well, is it gives you a big reason to login on a regular basis. When you login, you get a list of 'news items' for the people on your friends list. This means that whenever you login you are notified whenever someone adds a new person to their friends list, or when they update their profile, or ... all kinds of stuff. This means you can see what's going on with other people's friends networks and update your own if you see someone you know get added to someone else's list.

So, I have now fallen to facebook and it appears to be another good time waster. Just what I needed.

Heraldk