Devauld.ca

Last weekend was a blast. Heading out to Fairmont, for a stay in the Riverside Condos, some visiting, and some site seeing was a good break from the daily grind.

The drive out was the worst part. The weather systems battling around Banff lead to a crazy amount of snow falling, and at times we had to stop because we could no longer see the road. Slowly but surely we managed to make it to our destination. We weren't a whole lot of fun on Friday as the week took it's toll, and we crashed in the king sized bed rather early.

The villa was quite nice, with a full on kitchen, radiant in floor heating, nice hardwood furniture (of which not a single drawer opened) and very well designed decor. The walls had a wallpaper on that was very cool, and very hard to tell it was wallpaper.

Saturday we went out to the Hoodoos (sand and silt pillars) to take some pictures. The sky didn't co-operate, and not very long into the trip it started to snow. After that voyage we headed out to a natural hot spring (with a bizaar name), and soaked in the sulfur laced water while it snowed. It was all very relaxing, and there were other people out there enjoying the hot mineral water. A snowball fight, and a dunk in the river tuckered me out, and we were on our way home.

Over the course of the weekend, I took over 400 pictures. From the Hoodoos, to the springs, from the gift shop to the villa, and finishing off with some big horn sheep, I managed to burn a great deal of digital film. I'm hoping to get some of the better ones off the camera to share soon, but the crazy season is starting up, and time is at a premium. I know it's a piss poor excuse, but I'm sticking to it.

This week's Photo Friday challenge was of the variety that are difficult to fill. I have tonnes of pictures of children, but nothing really reeks immature. I was thinking I could put up something from my university days where someone was being a complete jackass, but I don't think that would lend to great publicity. That, and the photography isn't all that good.

I settled on this picture of a not quite a kitten, not yet a cat that I took when out on a farm in Priddis. Enjoy

As more and more snow can be found on the ground, I find that more and more things are in my schedule, and time is moving faster and faster. I've pretty much tied up all time from now to the new year, and already the weekends on the other calendar are starting to pack up.

A quick rundown of what's been going on:

• Last week work was having it's annual United Way campaign. I took some pictures at the obstacle course event, you can see them in this flickr set
• I attended the two day seminar that Blair Singer put on in Calgary regarding his team building, leadership and sales techniques. It was a great learning experience, he is an excellent teacher, if at times way over the top.
• Went to the Art and Craft sale at the Telus convention center. It was packed full of really nice items, although; I'd need another full time job just to pay for some of the items that were being sold there. A lot of really nice one of a kind gifts are available there, if you've got more money than ideas.
• Helped Sonja move. That was a day packed full of picking up, putting down, cleaning, packing, steaming, and re-wiring.
• I went over to Jeff's place to play on his newly purchased Wii. Initial impressions are very good, but I won't be getting one anytime soon, as the X-box I have is way more machine. The Wii will probably be in my house someday, just to enjoy a Nintendo only title, but from the initial release lineup, there wasn't anything overly cool.
• Went to watch The Flames beat Chicago 4-1 last night

This weekend Sonja managed to get a weekend at the resort out in Fairmont. It's going to be a nice relaxing weekend.

I was checking out Steve Pavlina's web site, and came across an interesting article which basically outlines the benefits of being self employed and working for a more passive income. He makes some excellent points, one of which I want to outline here:

Getting a job is like enrolling in a human domestication program. You learn how to be a good pet.

Look around you. Really look. What do you see? Are these the surroundings of a free human being? Or are you living in a cage for unconscious animals? Have you fallen in love with the color beige?

How’s your obedience training coming along? Does your master reward your good behavior? Do you get disciplined if you fail to obey your master’s commands?

Is there any spark of free will left inside you? Or has your conditioning made you a pet for life?

Humans are not meant to be raised in cages. You poor thing…

I find this to be an interesting point. Nobody works a nine-to-five because they want to. We are in effect being domesticated into a work life. I've been a big proponent to being self employed as long as I can remember. My parents, during my lifetime, never worked for someone else. We went from lumber yard, to rental yard, through farming to finally end up with a custom meat cutting facility. Technically my mother now works for someone, but if you think her job is ordinary, you've got another thing coming. Currently I do have a corporate master, but I also have two other businesses in which I contribute some time. The first is a partnership in photography, and the other is as an independent adviser.

I wouldn't go so far as Steve did, and say that you should never get a job. I think they fit into a great deal of people's lives, and most projects can get done in less time with more humans working on them. Skyscrapers would never get built if one person didn't pay a bunch of others to build it. What should be done, is find a job you love, then it feels less like work. I currently enjoy my daytime pen. The work is challenging, the people are fun. It is true that at times it is frustrating, but that comes with the territory. If you think that being self-employed means it's all just a bunch of roses, you are dead wrong.

Everything of value in life, takes time to get, I believe we just need to be efficient in the time we spend. It is, after all, the only commodity we have in limited supply.

Aside from attending Glen and Nicole's house warming, and marveling at their castle like house with ramparts and 10 foot ceilings, I passed a gaming milestone on Saturday. After much thumb madness and a few nights cussing at the television, I managed to cross the 2k mark with my gamerscore (If you don't have a live account you check it out here).

Although I prefer to compare the actual achievements that an individual has obtained, than the actual gamerscore, it felt pretty good passing the 2k milestone. My X-Box can tell you all about it, on his blog. The two games that have contributed the most to my score are: Saint's Row and Dead Rising, with the two of them counting for over half of my points. I've pretty much finished with the single player for the Row, but I can see a bit more time with Dead Rising. Although I'm not sure how much I'll be playing either, now that I've got my hands on Gears of War.

Truth be told, I don't have a whole lot of time for either, with Christmas quickly approaching, and all sorts of professional and personal obligations to fulfill. Althought, I'm sure I'll still find an hour here or there to cut up a zombie or chuck a couple grenades.