Dance your cares away...
As you may know, Carolyn and I have been taking dancing lessons for almost 2 years now (minus several business trips, vacataions, and European treks) at the Fred Astaire dance studio. We started because we wanted to learn to dance for my sister's wedding, but we just kept going, because it's fun and it's exercise, and we can do it together (awww, how sappy). Well, we had a test last week (along with 30 other students), where the owner of the studio marked us as we went through the typical six dances (waltz, foxtrot, tango, rumba, cha cha, and swing). Normally I don't like sharing this stuff, but I'm pretty proud to say that we averaged about 90% on our dances, ranging from 88% to 93%. Yay team! And, if you haven't tried dancing, you should give it a shot because you might be surprised.
Word of the Day
Today's word of the day is: proprioception.
Proprioception is, as defined by our friends at wikipedia:
"the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body".
So essentially it's knowing that your hand at your side, without having to actually visually check. Now, imagine trying to live without that sense. It does happen.
And you thought you took your five senses for granted.
Proprioception is, as defined by our friends at wikipedia:
"the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body".
So essentially it's knowing that your hand at your side, without having to actually visually check. Now, imagine trying to live without that sense. It does happen.
And you thought you took your five senses for granted.
Feline photos
Some cat pictures, taken over the past few weeks.
Jack taking a cat-nap in the sun.
Oscar
Oscar again, looking a little dopey.
Fez helping Carolyn out with knitting.
Soleil was not amused by my antics.
Silhoutte of Pippin in the window sill.
I could swear that this is Jack, but turns out that it's Eek! looking lovingly at Carolyn.
Whenever you need to get something done...
Jack taking a cat-nap in the sun.
Oscar
Oscar again, looking a little dopey.
Fez helping Carolyn out with knitting.
Soleil was not amused by my antics.
Silhoutte of Pippin in the window sill.
I could swear that this is Jack, but turns out that it's Eek! looking lovingly at Carolyn.
Whenever you need to get something done...
Park Pictures
Last Friday, Ryan and I left work before the sun set and sauntered (well, you can't really saunter properly when it's that cold... it just sounds more dignified) around Victoria Park, taking a few snaps. I got a little more mileage out of my macro lens, which, in case you didn't know, can most certainly be used as a 'regular' lens. With a maximum aperture of 2.8f, it's quite fast, so ideal for the low light situation we were in. It also has VR for when I was too cold to stop shaking.
I love the entanglement of branches; it reminds me of veins and arteries, or perhaps the nervous system.
This shot is of the oft-photographed park benches. You can see the mist hovering above the river.
A leaf in the snow.
The following shots are some closeups of icicles, with the sun as a backdrop. I wasn't so much utilizing the macro capabilities, as I was experimenting with aperture and focus.
This first one is just a plain closeup. If you look at the full image, you'll notice it's not quite in focus; but considering the lack of tripod and the frigid temperature, I think it's good enough.
I'm filing this one under 'abstract'. I think it looks hand-drawn, and it has a wispy/misty feeling thanks to the out-of-focus branches.
This one is a pretty poor composition, but I really like the colour of the sun. It also looks like that icicle was just pasted on top, or shot against a blue-screen with the sun added later.
And here's a knowledge nugget to file away somewhere: Queen Victoria became the de facto first Queen of Canada. The Dominion of Canada was created in 1867, during the reign of Queen Victoria, making her Canada's first sovereign.
I love the entanglement of branches; it reminds me of veins and arteries, or perhaps the nervous system.
This shot is of the oft-photographed park benches. You can see the mist hovering above the river.
A leaf in the snow.
The following shots are some closeups of icicles, with the sun as a backdrop. I wasn't so much utilizing the macro capabilities, as I was experimenting with aperture and focus.
This first one is just a plain closeup. If you look at the full image, you'll notice it's not quite in focus; but considering the lack of tripod and the frigid temperature, I think it's good enough.
I'm filing this one under 'abstract'. I think it looks hand-drawn, and it has a wispy/misty feeling thanks to the out-of-focus branches.
This one is a pretty poor composition, but I really like the colour of the sun. It also looks like that icicle was just pasted on top, or shot against a blue-screen with the sun added later.
And here's a knowledge nugget to file away somewhere: Queen Victoria became the de facto first Queen of Canada. The Dominion of Canada was created in 1867, during the reign of Queen Victoria, making her Canada's first sovereign.
Something I've learned during my week of candy abstinence
I'm never giving up anything again, especially chocolate and candy. I just had a Snickers, and it was delicious. Please continue to support our fine confectionery manufacturers, so they may continue to delight our taste buds as they have ever since they wrapped the first banana in that clever yellow package.
