Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sunday assortment

1. I went and fired the first rocks of the season on the ice. It's strange that makes me so happy, but after more than six months I'm looking forward to playing my first game next week. The ice also appears to be in good shape, no apparent weirdness, although it looks like the fucked up painting the rings a bit. Ah well, it's not the end of the world.

2. I notice that I got my 50th follower today on my blog. No idea who it is, but thanks for signing up. I can't believe I have 50 followers. I realize more than that actually follow the blog, but it's the notion that 50 people take the time to sign up to follow that makes it kind of cool.

3. Megan was the first to notice this, but the Canadian Blogging Awards have started up again. Follow the link and enter some of your favourite blogs into the different categories. There are some great ones in Nunavut that are worth considering nominating. If nothing else, when the long list of nominations come out next month there will be some great new blogs to take a look at.

4. Despite living in Iqaluit for more than four years, and taking lots and lots of pictures, the one thing I've never shot is the northern lights. It's odd, but I just haven't done it. It was either not having the right camera, or not having a good tripod, or it being too cold or one thing or another.

However, last night Cathy came back from walking Boo and said the Northern Lights were spectacular. She suggested we should go out and try and get some pictures. So I figured why not. Got the camera, the tripod and the remote for the camera and hopped in the car and headed up to the Road to Nowhere.

I screwed up several shots because the aperture was set incorrectly. And at that point I was getting cold and I had no idea how much life was left in the battery. However, I managed to get two nice shots, I think.




I'm pleased with my first real attempt at trying to do this. The one thing I will note is that the lights actually weren't that green. They were more whitish, I thought. But it still looks good. I'll try and get some more and dress a little more appropriately next time.

Last Five
1. Washing of the water (live) - Peter Gabriel
2. So cruel - U2
3. Got to be more careful - Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster
4. Honey don't - The Beatles
5. Six-fingered man - Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint*

6 comments:

Megan said...

I think my favourite thing about the Canadian Blogging Awards is that I always find some awesome new blogs. The ones I like usually don't win, because they're smaller and don't get enough votes, but that's not really the point for me anyway.

Anonymous said...

typo in the first paragraph... patronizing comments to new follower (who cares who they are anyways, eh?)... how the blogosphere is coming to perpetuate the world outside... so many people talking but no one listening...

yeah... don't publish this comment... just read it... and do be more conscientious in the future... might do to read and converse with the bloggers who take to time to read and comment on your site... cause no you're back to 49...

;)

Clare said...

Woohoo curling's back. Nice shots of the lights Townie.

Megan said...

Boy, Townie, it sounds like you've lost a reader who would really have been AWESOME to have around. It's truly our loss. I especially like the inventive approach to spelling and grammar.

towniebastard said...

First thing I read this morning was that. I was going to respond then, but I was waaaayyy too fuzzy in the brain to do it properly.

Yes, criticizing my grammar while making their own mistakes. Classic.

And, you know, I would have made a big deal over the 50th follower. I've been curious for months as to who it would be. And then, through a quirk in Blogger, who normally lists the new followers right at the top, it didn't this time, so I had no idea who it was. Kind of frustrating really.

Finally, I do converse with people who come to my blog. I've never been anything less than thrilled that people take the time to come here, read what I'm writing and leave a comment.

But every now and then, you get something a touch odd like this comment, or Indigo's bizarre lament a few weeks ago that I wasn't ripping out my heart and throwing it on the keyboard every single post like I did when my grandfather died, so she was out of here.

I normally ignore stuff like this, but I guess it's Monday, so there you go. I still don't think I get them in the sheer volume you do, Megan.

Megan said...

Nah, they've slowed down since I switched to the new system. For example, I haven't had any death threats from anti-sealing weirdos in over a year.

Now it's mostly people who want to see their own writing featured as "reader-submitted complaints". Sometimes they warn me ahead of time that they're plotting complaints.