What is On Jeffs' Mind

Final day of 2011, it really does feel at times that time does go by quickly. Where did the year go.

2010 I felt was a bad year for me, but 2011 was a pretty normal year, so I will take it. Nothing really jumped out at me as being overly special.

The highlight was the trip Tao tao and I took down to Yellowstone park in August. We went for a week, and spent some time in Montana and Wyoming, and it was nice. Not a big type vacation or anything, as we did not hit any major cities, but something that we could afford. I found a peaceful trip personally, as no stress of having to keep a schedule. We just sort of arrived when we arrived. The driving was pretty laid back, we spent a lot of time in the park hiking, and over all it was relaxing. I might not have felt it at the time, but I think it was a great trip that I needed, as I think it helped me get to a calmer place.

The Podcasting front was a bit of a let down. I started up my collecting Podcast JediJeffs Basement, but after a few episodes, I had to stop, as I ran into equipment issues. Basically I purchased a new mixer, as the previous one I could not record in stereo. I had the same issue with this one, as I cannot record in stereo. So I am sort of at a loss right now on it. I am working with the vendor to try and get it to record in stereo, but not going well. I really would like to do my podcast in stereo as it is a bit of a pride thing with me, so that is why I am not releasing anymore until I can get them recorded in stereo and sounding good. So I am hoping that in 2012, I can find some sort of resolution to this and get back to my collecting podcast. Champodcast is still going, we did more podcasts this year then last, but I think Jason and I want to commit ourselves to a better schedule and a more polished podcast.

On the work front, it was not the year that 2010 was. I would not call it a success at all, but more a realization about where I am with my career. I think I am ready to take another step in my career, but realize that it will not be with my current employer. So I will start the year more actively looking for other jobs that I feel I might be qualified for or that I find interesting, and see where it takes me. I was also talking to a co worker of mine about possibly a career change, and might look at going back to school if possible, and getting into some sort of engineering field. I also had another enlightening conversation with another coworker, who told me, where you really get ahead financially and maybe even in a job sense, is not what you do from 8 to 5, but what you do after those hours. So I want to also focus myself on trying to find more jobs in the website side of things, to do after hours. I am hopeful by 2013, I have made some moves in some direction to change up my life in the career area.

So looking back, 2011 was a pretty low key year. Nothing really jumps out as me at being overly memorable. But for being middle aged now, maybe that is alright, I might have needed the year, to get me prepared for 2012, and hopefully some changes.

Tags: Champodcast, Jason, jedijeffs basement, Tao tao, Yellowstone

Been awhile since my last post. Missed the whole month of August.

Had a good summer. Tao tao and I went on a trip to Yellowstone National Park in August. Was very cool to see a National Park that was different then the ones we have in Canada. We were there for 3 days , and saw a lot of the park. I left feeling I saw everything that I needed to see there, so that was good. I have to say I was very impressed that it only cost 25 dollars to enter the park, and pretty much everything in the park did not cost anything more. So often these days, it feels like an admission price gets you in, and then everything else costs extra, so this was refreshing. Lots of wild life as well, which was cool to see, and we had a few very close encounters with some Buffalo on the highways. In the evenings we stayed in West Yellowstone and Gardiner, they were nice towns, and the expenses there were not to high.

Also on the trip, Tao tao and I were able to do a bit of shopping, Tao tao picked up a new iPod she wanted to get, and I was able to find an exclusive B-Wing fighter at a Kmart. So that part of the trip was a success as well. We were in Montana/Wyoming for most of the trip, and they are not very busy states, so pretty easy to get around to where we needed. The last time I was in the US, I wanted to go to Jack in the Box, but missed it a few times on our travels. Unfortunately, there are none in Montana, so it will have to wait for another trip.

I have to say I am looking forward to the fall, it is my favorite season of the 4. I think I like that it is cooler and I like all the color changes for the leaves on the tree’s. I am hoping it will be a good Autumn, and that I am able to get some things done that I want to. I have to get back to my collecting podcast, so will focus on that the next month or so and try to produce a few podcasts to make up for the ones I missed.

I am hoping as well to post some more posts which might be more informative, or on interesting topics, more so then what I am doing or feeling. As a person can only read so many of those

Tags: Autumn, B-Wing, iPod, Tao tao, Vacation, Yellowstone

Here is my brief review of Super 8. It is an awesome movie. I went with Tao Tao today to see it, and we both really liked it. I think a lot of what made this movie click for me, was that it was very nostalgic. It was set in the late 70′s, the cast were roughly the same age I was, and it made it very relatable for me. Part of the plot were that over the summer, the kids were making a film they wanted to submit to a local film festival. Those scenes between the kids, really reminded me of the excitement I felt at that time. I was not a film maker like they were, but it reminded me what those times were like at that age, when you had an imagination, and at times felt like it could take you anywhere.

The pacing in the movie was great, typical of JJ Abrams, plenty of scenes to keep you guessing, as at times, the answer felt like it was just out of reach. The Action sequences were fantastic, especially near the start of the movie involving a train, stunning scene that I thought would never end, as it kept going and going. As well, it had the signature Abrams camera glare in a few scenes.

Watching this movie, gave me the feeling of watching movies from when I was a kid, it felt so big, and exciting. I enjoy a lot of movies these days, and they are all well done, but this one just felt like it had a little extra, that sort of sticks with you after, and gives you that special feeling well you walk out of the theatre.

Tags: Super 8, Tao tao

This Sunday turned out to a unexpected busy day. It started out quiet enough, as I woke up this morning and watched TV for a bit. I actually forced myself to actually do some exercise first. A few weeks ago, I bought Your Shape for the X-Box 360 Kinect. I had used it once, but thought this morning was a good chance to use it again. So I plugged it in, and spent about 40 minutes using the personal trainer. I have to say, it was quite a workout, and I was pretty tired and sore after. I will have to be more diligent on this, as I have really let my physical activity slide. After I was done my X-Box 360 workout, I road my exercise bike for 20 minutes.

After that I watched TV for a bit, as it was still early in the morning. I wanted to do some yard work this weekend, but it was just to windy, with wind gust up top 80 km an hour. That will have to wait for next weekend I guess. I talked to Tao tao for a bit, and we decided we would go out for lunch and pickup a few items. Well that was when the fun began for the day. We left and I drove out of the driveway, and the car was acting very strange. I turned around and went back into the drive way, got out and checked the car. The right side passenger tire was completely flat. I was pretty dejected about it, and to be honest, a bit of a loss of what to do. It was far to flat to drive to the service station to fill up, and I really did not have any good tools to change the tire. So after some debating, I went over to Canadian Tire to buy an air pump. I found an air pump and came home. I was able to pump the tire again. At first, I thought that possibly someone had let the air out of the tire. But once I had pumped the tire up, I had heard a hiss, and discovered a screw stuck in the tire. So I had enough air in the tire to drive it some place to get the tire fixed. I decided to go to Walmart first as it was the closest store to my house. I checked, but they were not taking any appointments today. So I went to Canadian Tire next. They took the car, but could not promise that it would be done today. I figured that was probably going to be the best I was going to get, and I really could not afford driving around on a tire going flat looking for a place to fix it on a Sunday. I left the car at Canadian Tire with my contact details.

Tao tao and I went for lunch at McDonalds, I was feeling pretty stressed about the situation, and even though McDonalds not the best for you, it is comfort food for me and helped settle me down. After lunch, we went over to superstore to buy some groceries. The wind was really strong, and when I got out of our second car, the wind blew my hat across the parking lot. So I had to run after it, and probably looked silly crawling under some shopping carts to get it. After we were finished shopping, we went home and I unloaded the car.

Even though I am pretty sure that we ran over a screw, I still not totally convinced that someone did not drive the screw into the tire. Our Garage door opener has been broken for a few months now and parking the cars outside. I started looking on eBay for what I think would be the replacement part to fix the garage door opener. So I looked at that for a bit, and then around 5:20 Canadian Tire called and said they were done. But I had to be there by 5:55 to pick the car up. So I had Tao tao rush me over to pickup the car. I got home I continued looking for the part on eBay and found one which will cost me 16 dollars shipped. I thinking it is probably better to keep the cars in the Garage then outside, so hopefully this part comes in the next few weeks and I can fix the garage door opener. If not then I will have to buy a new garage door opener.

I am not the best at handling bad luck situations, I was pretty stressed for a good part of the day. I am ending off the day working on my websites a bit. I was telling Tao tao this morning, that I feel more comfortable working in what I know, then in what I don’t. I am not a very handy person, so even something like a flat tire throws me off my rhythm.  I had been sitting on the garage door opener as well for sometime, but really would like to get it fixed, and would prefer not to have to spend hundreds of dollars to do so if I can avoid it.

I was telling Tao tao about a few projects around the house that I need to attend to:

• Fix the garage door opener
• Fix the bathtub faucet upstairs
• Build Tao tao’s Ping Pong Table
• Paint the Office and setup a Shelf as I want to put my computer and other things on it to clear desk space
• Setup Shelf Behind TV for Centre Speaker
• Patch Holes in back hallway and repaint

Probably to most people, those are really nothing tasks, but for me, they are challenging. But probably not a bad idea to attempt myself and see what I can do. Maybe If I have them listed somewhere, I can check them off and give me the sense I am working towards something.

Tags: Flat Tire, Garage Door Opener, House Projects, Tao tao, Xbox-360