Flashback: Elora
It's fitting that my next installment of images from the archives is from the Elora Gorge in 2005. Sadly, I was still shooting JPGs back then (instead of the digital-darkroom-friendly RAW files), and on top of that, I wasn't very good. Or rather, I was consistently poor. I have two shots of interest from the hike we took 4 years ago, and the remaining shots are from later in April of 2005. This post represents almost 5% of my photos from April 2005, so that's not a bad ratio. Hopefully we see that increase to 10% over time.
A simple cropped snapshot, near the entrance to the Conservation Area.
My wife (girlfriend at the time) creating curtains for our apartment. Look how keen we were back then! ;)
These next two photos have been posted before. Meet Orange and Orange II. Which versions do you prefer?
Elora Photoroam
Another photoroam, this one with Richard last weekend while Carolyn was at a scrapbooking retreat. We had originally intended to visit Elmira and partake in the annual Maple Syrup Festival but the chill in the air was not enough to drive the hoards away; thus, we gave up on a parking spot and headed towards the great beyond. Halfway to the great beyond we realized it was closed for renovations, so we turned around and headed to Elora. Click here for some shots from the trip:
For fun I took a series of shots to see how well they would stitch together into a panoramic image. Here is the result. The second image is simply a cropped version of the first.
The man with the plan...
Caught unaware
Ok, just try to tell me that - at first glance - this doesn't look like a Klingon Bird of Prey. Be honest.
For fun I took a series of shots to see how well they would stitch together into a panoramic image. Here is the result. The second image is simply a cropped version of the first.
The man with the plan...
Caught unaware
Ok, just try to tell me that - at first glance - this doesn't look like a Klingon Bird of Prey. Be honest.
Kitchener photoroam
I haven't been able to concentrate for too long on the computer, but I've managed to post some photos from a photoroam I took with Ryan a couple weeks ago. We walked around downtown Kitchener one evening after work.
Ugh
Let me paint you a picture: imagine taking Q-tips, and wrapping them in gauze or cotton balls... and then shoving them as far up your nose as possible, and then some. Spray them with water so that they expand to fill your nose (which is now twice the size it used to be), and for good measure, stick a straw up one of your nostrils too. Oh, and then wrap some gauze around your head so it keeps a good steady pressure on the stuff in your nose. That would be a pretty good simulation of my life right now.
I suppose it's time for a recap. My surgery was scheduled for Monday at 10:30am at St. Mary's Hospital. We needed to be there at 7:30am for registration, so you can imagine that neither Carolyn or I were happy about that. I must admit though, the OR waiting room process is much more expedient than the ER process. I don't think we were waiting more than 2 minutes in any place before being taken care of and escorted to the next location. By 8am I was in my scandalous hospital gown, lying down on my bed in my semi-private "room". Really I just had a wall of curtains, but that is more than I expected. And I had Carolyn waiting with me, so that was awesome.
By 10:30am I was strapped onto the operating table as the anesthetic percolated through my system. I awoke 5 minutes later (although I was told surgery took about an hour) in the recovery room, feeling surprisingly not nauseous! I had mentioned my previous unhappy experience with anesthetic when I had my molars removed and they were able to pump in some anti-nausea medication into my system. I can't tell you how delighted I was about that.
Before long they wheeled me back to my semi-private area. (Side note: getting wheeled around in your bed is a lot of fun. I think somebody should incorporate the activity into a video game: The Fast and the Furious - Hospital Bed Drift). Normally patients hang around for another hour or two to make sure they are stabilized after surgery, but it was during this time that I found out I'm a bleeder. My surgeon came around to check out the problem and she ended up redoing the packing in my nose (see first paragraph). Now, I'm all for sticking things up one's nose, but even I have my limits; unfortunately my surgeon has no such bounds. But I must admit it worked: the surgeon got her kicks and my bleeding reduced substantially. Shortly after 6pm I got a wheelchair ride down to the car and we went home.
The rest of the story goes like this: George preoccupies himself for 4 hours, takes his Tylenol 3 meds, and repeats. Today I finally get to take the packing out of my nose, which will be glorious but likely very bloody. I can see why they stress the need to be at home for the week following surgery. Anyway, this blog post has left me exhausted.
I suppose it's time for a recap. My surgery was scheduled for Monday at 10:30am at St. Mary's Hospital. We needed to be there at 7:30am for registration, so you can imagine that neither Carolyn or I were happy about that. I must admit though, the OR waiting room process is much more expedient than the ER process. I don't think we were waiting more than 2 minutes in any place before being taken care of and escorted to the next location. By 8am I was in my scandalous hospital gown, lying down on my bed in my semi-private "room". Really I just had a wall of curtains, but that is more than I expected. And I had Carolyn waiting with me, so that was awesome.
By 10:30am I was strapped onto the operating table as the anesthetic percolated through my system. I awoke 5 minutes later (although I was told surgery took about an hour) in the recovery room, feeling surprisingly not nauseous! I had mentioned my previous unhappy experience with anesthetic when I had my molars removed and they were able to pump in some anti-nausea medication into my system. I can't tell you how delighted I was about that.
Before long they wheeled me back to my semi-private area. (Side note: getting wheeled around in your bed is a lot of fun. I think somebody should incorporate the activity into a video game: The Fast and the Furious - Hospital Bed Drift). Normally patients hang around for another hour or two to make sure they are stabilized after surgery, but it was during this time that I found out I'm a bleeder. My surgeon came around to check out the problem and she ended up redoing the packing in my nose (see first paragraph). Now, I'm all for sticking things up one's nose, but even I have my limits; unfortunately my surgeon has no such bounds. But I must admit it worked: the surgeon got her kicks and my bleeding reduced substantially. Shortly after 6pm I got a wheelchair ride down to the car and we went home.
The rest of the story goes like this: George preoccupies himself for 4 hours, takes his Tylenol 3 meds, and repeats. Today I finally get to take the packing out of my nose, which will be glorious but likely very bloody. I can see why they stress the need to be at home for the week following surgery. Anyway, this blog post has left me exhausted.
Set septoblasters to stun!
In roughly 24 hours, I will be going under the knife at St. Mary's hospital for a surgical procedure called 'septoplasty' - or, by my more ruthless friends, a nose job. But it's not the kind of nose job you're thinking of. It's an entirely non-cosmetic procedure (yes, I've learned to love my big schnoz) designed to straighten my nasal septum so that the nasal passages are of equal size, thus allowing me to breathe "normally". It's taken me a couple decades to realize that having a permanent cold is not normal.
The surgery is out-patient, and it should only take an hour or so. It's a relatively risk-free surgery, so I'm not worried about that, but I'm not looking forward to the excess bleeding that should subside after a few days, nor the tremendous pain that comes along with cutting out bits of your nose. I've taken the week off work to recover, although I said I would work from home for most of the week... we'll see how well that goes.
I'll let you know how surgery goes, although it will be a few weeks until I can get the splints out to find out if I can breathe better. Here's hoping.
For more information about septoplasty and how it affects you, click here!
The surgery is out-patient, and it should only take an hour or so. It's a relatively risk-free surgery, so I'm not worried about that, but I'm not looking forward to the excess bleeding that should subside after a few days, nor the tremendous pain that comes along with cutting out bits of your nose. I've taken the week off work to recover, although I said I would work from home for most of the week... we'll see how well that goes.
I'll let you know how surgery goes, although it will be a few weeks until I can get the splints out to find out if I can breathe better. Here's hoping.
For more information about septoplasty and how it affects you, click here!
