tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72000201512076638332024-03-13T20:12:44.719-07:00The Wandering OakThe Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-10000780859330303472013-07-18T22:18:00.000-07:002013-07-18T22:39:22.156-07:00We Rocked Those Shores Again<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <strong><span style="font-size: large;">A</span></strong> few days ago, the largest outdoor music festival to hit the Victoria region, Rock The Shores, took place and for the second year in a row I got to play a big part in the event's production. It was a lot of very hard work and there were some lessons learned along the way, but I honestly have to say it was a privilege to be part of such an amazing team and to be a part of something people will be talking about for a long time to come.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Over two very hot days, thousands of music lovers were treated to a barrage of outstanding performances from a dozen mostly Canadian acts such as: 54-40, Sam Roberts, Mother Mother, City And Colour, Jimmy Eat World, AWOLNation, Acres Of Lions, Reignwolf, The Sheepdogs, Matthew Good, Vince Vaccaro and headliners Weezer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> While a lot of hard work went in to putting on the event, the payoff was a collection of experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life. I reconnected with old friends and made some new friends along the way and I must have had a million conversations with so many interesting people. It wasn't all fun and games and beer, though. That came after we all worked our asses off to put on a show for 10,000 people a day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> It started several days before the show with setting up the fields and protecting the lawn from heavy equipment by laying down hundreds of sheets of plywood.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRnQIsgK54R7wmQ4y7ubQtN7MuR9d0-ulgsH4Ft94IMdO9nWlx3bG8wMqB-KYOoMHib2dk5RWUPlq-hC10Yp4osIedmcgUEv88ZUKrECBgWfz5qBECdA7UCxSghgj4iu57DxHGaAkh8h-/s1600/IMG-20130709-00227.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRnQIsgK54R7wmQ4y7ubQtN7MuR9d0-ulgsH4Ft94IMdO9nWlx3bG8wMqB-KYOoMHib2dk5RWUPlq-hC10Yp4osIedmcgUEv88ZUKrECBgWfz5qBECdA7UCxSghgj4iu57DxHGaAkh8h-/s640/IMG-20130709-00227.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> The mobile stage arrived the next day and was assembled throughout the afternoon, then the sound and light team took over and installed their gear.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygM7Ev-UaNcalgXfKaxgRlkQU74Pul2znG2WMt1ySnzbSogFd77f4845uuFSCDhgfU6uyUeFq_MiKaQAPx_khydvnY2eXv1_NffDll_G7Y30RVEGniKMi2aOcjFTthb6X2XSBdXceKB50/s1600/IMG-20130710-00228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgygM7Ev-UaNcalgXfKaxgRlkQU74Pul2znG2WMt1ySnzbSogFd77f4845uuFSCDhgfU6uyUeFq_MiKaQAPx_khydvnY2eXv1_NffDll_G7Y30RVEGniKMi2aOcjFTthb6X2XSBdXceKB50/s640/IMG-20130710-00228.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwYCRIkNKJNXZLoOq7uiFXfcZHQVp0fR0WZFmvTzKHQYnrZbKHq5Z7rX4cq1fCdoPvKRNLW33S4CUt05cgncuc8izQv_YBDdz2ze-TzTiTV9jcNkcpp-dP85lEidz6KuUV_XYIbw2HDOzA/s1600/IMG-20130710-00231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwYCRIkNKJNXZLoOq7uiFXfcZHQVp0fR0WZFmvTzKHQYnrZbKHq5Z7rX4cq1fCdoPvKRNLW33S4CUt05cgncuc8izQv_YBDdz2ze-TzTiTV9jcNkcpp-dP85lEidz6KuUV_XYIbw2HDOzA/s640/IMG-20130710-00231.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuby-rCgT13pDdoHvsdg92viT7BZKeiFnEHuUbnwbn3cgRsa8OFgxgF7bEcVSroWXuMz4SSEreqvru_PD4JT1ycACkxG_6QlJcVQeXewVMW1RPGm_ze9GZaI_pqZ2bg8QGjrmRgBv23Azc/s1600/IMG-20130714-00239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuby-rCgT13pDdoHvsdg92viT7BZKeiFnEHuUbnwbn3cgRsa8OFgxgF7bEcVSroWXuMz4SSEreqvru_PD4JT1ycACkxG_6QlJcVQeXewVMW1RPGm_ze9GZaI_pqZ2bg8QGjrmRgBv23Azc/s640/IMG-20130714-00239.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Once the festival kicked off I was assigned to roam around the upper portion of the field and help out wherever needed. I may not have gotten close to the stage, but thanks to the amazing sound guys I had no problems hearing and enjoying some of my favorite bands. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPFtNyYgoEV7kn6oRhPVyAVRPQWI9vwb_4sFNjKgGIqAi7SU6_OF_IO4QOMkT7hv7A2q5lwMMPI7VzpnRBh0UFy00zwRSxSJztbSHuzvg5alJNoM6Ip5c-J7E_ja7lK0E3aSw4Tar7hZc/s1600/IMG-20130714-00244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPFtNyYgoEV7kn6oRhPVyAVRPQWI9vwb_4sFNjKgGIqAi7SU6_OF_IO4QOMkT7hv7A2q5lwMMPI7VzpnRBh0UFy00zwRSxSJztbSHuzvg5alJNoM6Ip5c-J7E_ja7lK0E3aSw4Tar7hZc/s640/IMG-20130714-00244.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Headliners Weezer closed out the show late Sunday evening and played all their best known hits. By that time I was able to get closer to the stage and as my colleague Joe put it: "There's nothing like standing at the side of the stage and hearing 10,000 people just having fun!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Alas, all good things must come to an end and those of us on the crew all knew we had some more work to do before we could join the party backstage. Once the band left the stage after their encore, we had to make sure those 10,000 people got out safely and then start cleaning up after them. Not the most delightful task, but an important one nonetheless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> A few key pieces of equipment were packed up in their respective trucks so that the drivers could make it to the early ferries off the Island the next morning, and then, at long last, our bosses finally said it was beer o'clock. The party was on!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQSYIQcHJAaQYUEG-CpBxOF3zvjQCNXFxkImsjVAwEhAQTAVdAcuA1RF849lxA0njlA8WsmC7YTh9q5SaUkvMbjS5JTK7atxPJ1c5yW1YVhyPY3Ji78ZxbTHfOEPND-lqJwP_n9oxAq3s/s1600/IMG-20130715-00246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQSYIQcHJAaQYUEG-CpBxOF3zvjQCNXFxkImsjVAwEhAQTAVdAcuA1RF849lxA0njlA8WsmC7YTh9q5SaUkvMbjS5JTK7atxPJ1c5yW1YVhyPY3Ji78ZxbTHfOEPND-lqJwP_n9oxAq3s/s640/IMG-20130715-00246.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> As anyone who's hosted a big party will know, the cleanup the next morning can be a little rough, especially when burned out from the night before, but we promised Westshore Parks And Rec that we'd leave the field as spotless as we could and we delivered. The stage was dismantled and the tents put away. I even had a little group of helpers following me around as I swept the field!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpnfE4gWUowFREYQ-qxWAsdtAUrS3qE4kK68B281nXPQPuLdEME9ffzg8z_QtZ-lsvvz916sJSYHKcS7d0lfDYy3kcB8TgE_k5Qnw3sZ1A1Lhu6d8ysBcqc0Mzb4yWKYnpQ9-b8wvEXXt/s1600/IMG-20130715-00250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpnfE4gWUowFREYQ-qxWAsdtAUrS3qE4kK68B281nXPQPuLdEME9ffzg8z_QtZ-lsvvz916sJSYHKcS7d0lfDYy3kcB8TgE_k5Qnw3sZ1A1Lhu6d8ysBcqc0Mzb4yWKYnpQ9-b8wvEXXt/s640/IMG-20130715-00250.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1B3P1lv15PEILpX4jKV8CLPRJzThcrBTFIKuC4ee2TxM3desCMVqPDfUOIkDJwUGv4uNYU1ZfnIXBtsAp8tsNXYKT9lvKhptxoE8D0IJH0U5vrKOM13B7BfRpJdloR69pQQ2hX6Iz3UA/s1600/IMG-20130716-00252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1B3P1lv15PEILpX4jKV8CLPRJzThcrBTFIKuC4ee2TxM3desCMVqPDfUOIkDJwUGv4uNYU1ZfnIXBtsAp8tsNXYKT9lvKhptxoE8D0IJH0U5vrKOM13B7BfRpJdloR69pQQ2hX6Iz3UA/s640/IMG-20130716-00252.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> All in all, Rock The Shores 2013 was an incredible experience and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Well, maybe after a few days out of the sun eating home cooked food. There's only so much festival food a guy can handle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> Bring on Rock The Shores 2014!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-73789133743976106082013-05-13T14:43:00.002-07:002013-05-13T14:46:03.165-07:00So...it's been a while...<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><strong>I</strong></span>'ve done it again. I've let this blog sit idle for too long and visitor traffic has almost come to a stand still. Well, today I've decided to try to rectify that and bring you folks up to speed on what I've been up to lately. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My job at Target is going well. It's been over two months now and I've really settled into my role as a member of the store's logistics team. In simple terms you could say I'm a glorified stock-boy, but I don't like that title. I do so much more than just stocking shelves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I get along really well with all of my coworkers and am making new friends all the time. I'd say everyone there gets along well, actually. I don't see any animosity between anybody and it's so nice to work in a drama-free environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It's also really nice to continually hear how well I do my job. It's amazing just how much hearing the phrase "good job" can do for my morale. I've had other jobs in the past where my employers never did that and would only talk to me when I was doing something they saw as wrong, even if I was right. There's a reason those companies don't keep very many long term employees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Outside of Target, my involvement with this year's Rock The Shores and Rifflandia music festivals has already started. I've been contacted by the event producers and invited to work with them again this summer and I can hardly wait for that. Just the other day I helped the producers move into their new office downtown, which was a lot of work, but it was good to see everyone again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">As far as my own musical hobby goes, I can't really say I've done a lot of playing lately. I've really been suffering from a lack of inspiration these days and I'm looking into possibly getting new guitar effects hoping that will spark something. I'll write more about that next time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I am making a lot of progress with my model ships. My third ship, a US Navy command ship, is really taking shape now and is starting to actually look more like a ship and not just a hodge-podge of random parts. I've done a lot of custom scratch-building and detailing to make the model look as much like the real ship does today as I can and while it can be frustrating working with such tiny parts, the payoff is worth it. The unfinished model already has a commanding presence on my bookcase!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Speaking of my model ships, the video I made last year for my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ceir19qDUM" target="_blank">RMS Titanic</a> has had over 11,000 views and has received a lot of positive comments. I'm really quite proud of that one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> So that's about it, really. I know I'm not the most exciting blogger out there, but my life is stable. I have my wife, my friends, my health, and my home and I'm thankful for those things. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> I'll do my best to write more soon. To tide you over, here's a recent photo of my current model ship. This is the forward section of the main deck, loaded with communications equipment. There's a bit more to do, but I'm happy with how it looks so far!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Take care of yourselves, and each other!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-1769628303389778482013-02-25T16:00:00.001-08:002013-02-25T16:02:34.825-08:00Big Red Bull's Eye<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;">H</span>ello, readers!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> It's been some time since my last post, but I honestly haven't had a lot to write about until now. The weeks since I lost my job at the bookstore have been a little tough with the job markets being so lean. Anyone that's been out of work for a while can tell you how frustrating it can get, especially in this day and age of online job boards with vague postings and faceless hiring procedures. You send them an email or resume and wait for a response.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And wait. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And wait.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> Even though I have hobbies like playing music, photography, and scale model ship building, I still found myself getting kind of bored and stir crazy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> Well I'm happy to report that after almost two months of sitting idle I have found myself a new day job that I'll start soon. Not only that, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've also recently heard from some of the people I worked with during last summer's music festival season and they would like me to work with them again this summer! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> My new day job will be at a brand new Target store set to open here in Victoria this Spring. They hosted a hiring fair last week and I decided to go and meet them. The best part about Target I discovered is that they are very flexible in their scheduling. I told them during my interviews that I like to be a roadie in the summer months - which, by the way, they thought was "so cool!" - and they said there should be no problem balancing both jobs so long as I've got plenty of notice. Perfect!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> So, starting March 12th, I will be part of the receiving and merchandising team at the new store. Yes I'll have to get up pretty early, but it sounds pretty straight forward. The products come into the store and I help get them onto the shelves. Once in a while I'll be called upon to help a customer find something. Nothing I haven't done before. There's no commissioned sales or anything, so no worries there. I never was the strongest salesperson. I'll help a customer, but I'm not out to get them to spend more than they intended to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> I've got a little shopping to do before I start my new job. Anyone familiar with Target likely noticed the staff dress code of red shirts and tan pants. I'm okay with that and I look good in red, which is something else I joked about near the end of my interviews when I knew I had the job. It made them laugh and I know I scored an extra point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> I should be glad my new job isn't on the Starship Enterprise or that red shirt would pretty much make me a big red bull's eye!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image courtesy of Google.</span> </div>
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<strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-52374065761879455252013-01-17T16:11:00.001-08:002013-01-19T09:42:53.775-08:00It Took Me 25 Years To Read The Hobbit<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"> I</span></strong> finally finished reading Tolkien's The Hobbit this week. It only took me 25 years to do it. Now to be clear, I haven't been carrying around the same copy this whole time. You know, reading a word a day. Could you imagine? No, what I mean is that after several false starts over the past quarter century I finally managed to read the entire story from front to back.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> My first attempt was when I was in fourth or fifth grade, about 25 years ago, though I can't remember clearly as I had the same teacher for both grades so it all kind of meshed into one year. Anyway, my teacher loved to have his classes do book reports and our class prided ourselves on being a well read bunch of ten year olds so we cranked them out. We were always free to choose our own books, but of course there were a lot of books that were assigned to us and The Hobbit was one of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Well, unlike everyone else, I just couldn't get into it at the time. Perhaps I wasn't ready for it yet, or maybe it just didn't interest me, or maybe my ten year old brain was too distracted by other things. Maybe it was all of the above. I don't really know. I do remember that the copy I was given was old and beat up and published in the sixties. To a ten year old in the eighties, that was <em>ancient!</em> Funny how all these years later I love old books, but I've grown up a lot since then, in more ways than one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> After a while reading the Hobbit started to feel like a chore and I really lost interest. Needless to say I got a failing grade for that part of the class. That would have been okay if my teacher wasn't such a dick about it. "I'm very disapointed. I don't know why you don't like it. It's such a good story. Everyone else was able to do a report on it." And so forth. I didn't know it back then, but perhaps I didn't want to be like everyone else. They all moved on to the the Lord Of The Rings books and I dove into whatever I could find that was as far away from that genre as I could get. I remember reading my first rock and roll biography around that time. It was on Bruce Springsteen!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Time passed and I eventually ended up forgetting about the Tolkien books until the early 2000s when nerds the world over wet themselves on hearing that the LOTR series was being made into films. Suddenly that was all everyone could talk about. To be fair, the movies were really well done and deserved all the awards they won - and this is coming from someone who hasn't read the books and therefore can't argue about what they changed in the films. I watched them and I enjoyed them as far as anyone who enjoys a good movie with great special effects and brilliant acting would, but I still couldn't get past that mental block put up by my ten year old self. Why the obsession?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I did eventually start reading fantasy novels by other authors such as Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan and I actually enjoyed them, especially Goodkind's books. His stories really struck the right chords with me. Seeing this, Megan gave me the Tolkien books on paperback a few years ago as a way of gently encouraging me to give them another try. I did attempt to, but again my inner ten year old made up as many excuses as he could to get me out of it and they've sat unread for a few years now in our bookcase. I didn't want to break Megan's heart, so I made her a promise that I would try again when I was ready.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Fast forward to present day. There's a new Hobbit movie in theaters that Megan would really like to see and she once again suggested I give the book another try. Add to this that I worked at a major bookstore that was promoting the hell out of The Hobbit with stacks of books and toys everywhere, I reckoned it was time to buckle down and cross it off my list of books to read and be done with it. Whenever I had bits of spare time to read I put my ten year old self in his room and told him he was grounded while my thirty five year old self wandered through Tolkien's world following Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarves through the Misty Mountains and into adventure. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> You know something? It really wasn't half bad. I can see now why the book is as highly regarded as it is - and Led Zeppelin lyrics even make a little more sense now too! I will soon move on to the rest of the series, but a historical mystery/thriller by Brad Meltzer has caught my attention and I want to read it first.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I learned two things from all of this: First of all, things are more enjoyable when it's your decision to do them and nobody else's. Secondly, in some situations you have to let go of certain memories and not let one bad experience or fear keep you from trying something new. You never know what adventures may await you.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Wandering Oak</span></strong></div>
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The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-14848966559168119802013-01-16T15:24:00.001-08:002013-01-16T15:29:18.420-08:00Short Chapter, Long Wait<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <strong><span style="font-size: large;">W</span></strong>ell, here we are more than two weeks into 2013 and I find myself in the same position I was in this time last year: out of work. I did have a part time job at the Chapters store in downtown Victoria, but it turns out my seasonal contract with them was far shorter than I anticipated. Once the Christmas and Boxing Week rush was over, I was laid off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Fortunately we parted ways on good terms and I do have the option of working there again when there's work available, so no bridges were burned. As I said on my Facebook page the day it happened: "It's not like I crapped on the manager's desk, set fire to the place, and ran out yelling 'Later, bitches!'." In fact, it was quite the opposite. There was a lot of friendly handshakes and a "see you again". I even wrote a nice little note telling everyone there how much I enjoyed working with them and pinned it to the bulletin board in the staff lunchroom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Since that short chapter of my life has come to a close I haven't had a lot of luck on the job search front. I've applied for a few jobs and am waiting for replies, but a lot of other seasonal workers are in the same boat I'm in so it's a tough market out there. As I've mentioned before, what's important to my wife and me is keeping money in our emergency savings account, so I really just need something that will help us do that. It doesn't even have to be long term since I'm hoping to get back into working in live music once festival season starts up again in the summer. Although all the work involved left me little time for my family and friends, which I felt bad about, there was something about finally being able to work in the music industry that really made me happy. Lucky for me my wife and friends understand that and have actually been very supportive. I love them for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> But that was last summer and this is now. Right now I just need something to fill the gap. I know that the connections I made this summer haven't forgotten about me because one of them recently sent me some information about upcoming training sessions for building mobile stages similar to the ones I worked on at various gigs. That is an option. I did enjoy working on the stages and being certified could open some doors for me, but I'm nervous about spending the money on the course. As you know, no amount of training ever guarantees one work. I know someone who spent all kinds of money in university only to end up working at a fast food restaurant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, having that extra point on my resume might look good. As my former employer told me, "This is a great opportunity to get your name out there, not only in Victoria, but throughout BC. Depending on your future plan it is up to you to determine what's valuable to you." I guess I have some thinking to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> One bit of good news is that same former employer has forwarded my information to the appropriate parties that run the various events, so they know I'm out there waiting to help again. I guess I impressed the right people, but it's still going to feel like a long wait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Another unrelated, yet still positive, note is that I've had plenty of time to spend on my hobbies. I've read a good book, started another book, and have made a lot of progress on my scale model ships. All of that I will write about another time. Until then, I'll leave you with this bit of live sound humor:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-75241549648345798262012-12-12T14:39:00.000-08:002012-12-14T18:55:05.096-08:00The Zone's Third Annual Toy Drive An Overwhelming Success!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><strong>F</strong></span>or the third year in a row now, I've had the pleasure of being a part of the </span><a href="http://www.thezone.fm/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Zone's</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Annual Toy Drive and I'm pleased to say it has been another successful event. I'm continually blown away by just how generous Victorians can be this time of year in spite of all the world's troubles. No donation was considered too big or too small because every little bit helps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> This was the pile about 20 minutes after I arrived. I can't even see the items I brought because it built up so fast!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHzvcvCFp8owy9dpVeZ2hmx-qK6z-qqN9jTaM8P9LQ6tNwrl9qyutQIc0cCwC8y2UZC5TPP4pqmBTgjbrDu_fQGfOZdFSkzWW9H-TFdZ1FD9JsfNCyYvZQSKT_NtH6uqQWJqdoMMlOU7p/s1600/IMG_3724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHzvcvCFp8owy9dpVeZ2hmx-qK6z-qqN9jTaM8P9LQ6tNwrl9qyutQIc0cCwC8y2UZC5TPP4pqmBTgjbrDu_fQGfOZdFSkzWW9H-TFdZ1FD9JsfNCyYvZQSKT_NtH6uqQWJqdoMMlOU7p/s640/IMG_3724.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> From the beginning this toy drive has been hosted by local radio station 91.3 The Zone and benefits the St. Vincent De Paul Social Concern Office, an organization dedicated to assisting the less fortunate. I enjoy taking part in this toy drive and I'll continue to do so whenever I can. I've had a few Christmases in my early youth that wouldn't have happened without the donations of strangers, so it feels good to be able to give back whatever little bit I can. As usual Megan and I bought a bunch of small, cute stuffed animals that are guaranteed to make some kids smile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> This year I even had a little help from my managers at the book store I work at and we put together a nice bundle of children's books for donation on behalf of the store. The books were gratefully accepted and many of the Zone's staff were delighted to see a book about space since the phrase "Spacebook!" often comes up in conversations about anything to do with outer space. Believe me, it happens a lot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I always enjoy it when I get to meet and mingle with the staff at the Zone and it's great that they will always remember who their listeners and friends are. I felt like Norm from the old show <em>Cheers</em> when I got a round of "Will!" as I arrived. Too bad I didn't have a witty line like Norm would have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> After dropping off the toys and books, I stuck around to mingle and watch as more donations came in then I helped to load the truck at the end. I even got to participate in a morning show game live on the air called Dylan vs. The World. Normally, listeners would call in for this game, but I think because the hosts were on location and not in the studio they decided to ask someone who was present and they picked me. In the game listeners go up against morning announcer Dylan answering general trivia questions read by morning show co-announcer Jason. The listener is asked to choose one of two categories and is asked the first question. If a player gets an answer wrong, the other player has a chance to steal a point if they know the answer. The questions go back and forth until one player gets two correct answers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> The category I chose was Charities, since we were at a charity event. After a strike each for both Dylan and myself, I got one point, he got one point, and suddenly I scored the tie breaker with my correct answer about Doctors Without Borders. I won! I won't say what my prize was as I intend to share it with someone as a gift, but it's still a victory for me. I almost never win anything! It's a Christmas radio miracle!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Enough about me. To use a real cliche phrase here, the real winners today are the children. By the end of the Toy Drive the pile was huge! There are going to be a lot of very happy kids this holiday!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This angle shows how all the bins, and the sleigh, supporting the pile were stuffed to capacity!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Thanks again to my friends at the Zone for letting me hang out and thanks to everyone who took the time to make a donation and a special thanks to Mother Nature for the dry weather. It may have been a little chilly, but it was nice to see the sun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I look forward to next year's Toy Drive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-40606696311011176062012-12-04T12:44:00.001-08:002013-01-17T12:51:35.743-08:00Missing Sock Comes Home<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <strong>W</strong>e've all lost socks in our laundry. It's a fact most of us have learned to live with and a lot of us have fun speculating on where they might go. Did they go to another dimension? Did gnomes take them? Did the machines eat them? Are they in Narnia?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Several months ago I lost a sock to the laundry gods, and I realize that's not such an interesting thing to write about, but would you believe me if I told you that my missing sock came home?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> In early August I was staying at a hotel in Comox, BC while I worked at the Filberg Festival. During my stay I visited my Mother-in-Law and her husband and took them up on their offer to use their laundry machines. That's when I figure my aforementioned sock went missing, only I wouldn't notice this until I returned to Victoria and unpacked. I didn't have time to sort and fold my clean laundry in Comox and simply shoved it all into my bag the night before I went home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Although it was only just a sock and not the end of the world, we decided to tell Megan's mother to keep her eyes open for it and I hung on to the spare sock just in case the mate turned up. It's a brand new sock that has only been worn once and looks nothing like her husband's socks. It was either at her house or I lost it at the hotel, though I'm sure I checked that room many times over to be sure I didn't leave anything. Traveller's OCD.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Two months passed and when we visited again for the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday in October someone mentioned the missing sock. Megan's mom had seen it but misplaced it again in the shuffle as she was clearing out old clothing. No big deal. At least it's still in this dimension.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Two more months have passed since then and out of the blue I got an envelope in the mail yesterday from Megan's mother addressed to me. I'm not going to lie, I had actually forgotten about the sock and at first I couldn't figure out what she'd send me. It was Megan that got it right away when she picked up the envelope. Sure enough, there was my sock wrapped in paper, still as gleaming white as the day I bought it, and pressed flat by the sorting machines at the postal station.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I'm glad I kept the spare sock.</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">"Re-united... and it feels so good!"</span></em></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Wandering Oak</span></strong></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-74410002341737000002012-11-06T13:02:00.001-08:002012-11-06T13:02:27.175-08:00Buried In Books<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><strong>It's</strong> hard to wrap my head around how many different things I have done over the last half of 2012 or how much my life has changed and keeps changing. As if going from a painter to a roadie wasn't enough of a change, I've now gone from being a roadie to working in the stock room at Chapters Indigo Books. </span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> The live music festival season is over for this year and there are no concert events that I'll be involved in for the foreseeable future, so it was necessary for me to look for a job that would carry me through the winter. In my past life as a painter I would normally just take the winter break, but my lack of work for most of this year really took a chunk out of the old savings account and Megan and I would really like to start saving again. Who doesn't, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> We've never been in danger of not being able to pay our bills or have food in our kitchen, thank goodness, because Megan has full time work and we both know how to budget our money. Also, in past years I qualified for unemployment insurance payments, but not this year. I simply haven't worked enough, so for the first winter in many years I needed to get a stable job, and I found one. It may not pay as much as my previous job, but it's okay. The fact that we can stop digging into savings is what's important.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> My new gig at the book store really isn't so bad so far. I haven't worked in the retail world for over a decade and I never was a great salesperson, so I'm relieved that the majority of my days will be spent buried in books in the stock room receiving all the deliveries and entering data into the computer system. If I do get stopped by a customer out on the floor I'll do my best, but right now there is so much to learn about the books and other products that I'll have to lean on my more experienced coworkers for some help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> The really nice thing is that everyone I've met there so far seems very nice, and I'm not just saying that in case they read this. They're all very knowledgeable, helpful, and they seem to get along really well. If last night's staff meeting was any indication of how well everyone interacts then I'm sure I'll fit in just fine. I already know one of the girls there, Jessica. I used to buy coffee from her in my old life as a painter when I was working on a condo development near her store. It's nice to be able to catch up with a friend in person and not just through social media.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> On that note, it's about time I had something to eat and got ready for work. Those books don't count themselves!</span><br />
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</span><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Wandering Oak</span></strong>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-43855058243093845392012-10-22T16:17:00.000-07:002012-10-22T16:17:26.172-07:00Lately I've Been Listening To...<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <strong><span style="font-size: large;">J</span></strong>ust my luck. I start writing this post and the CD I was just listening to has ended and now I have to pick a new one. Yes, I still listen to CD's. I'd listen to vinyl if I had a turntable, but I don't. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I suppose I could just bring up the playlist of songs I have on my computer, or my smart phone that's sitting right here on my desk for that matter, but I like the fullness of the sound that comes from my living room stereo. Excuse me a moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> *sounds of CD player opening then closing*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> You're probably wondering what I picked. I went with the album "Build A Rocket Boys!" by the band Elbow. Even though the album came out in 2011, I only just purchased it earlier this summer and it hasn't left my little stack of most played albums since then. I really can't say enough good things about Elbow and I only just discovered them a little over a year ago. Turns out the Manchester, UK based band have been playing for 20 years!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Here is a live version of the song "</span><a href="http://youtu.be/xuFxgv87yYU" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Open Arms</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">" from that album.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> So what else have I been listening to lately? Actually, quite a variety of artists. It goes without saying that my work in live music this past summer has exposed me to a lot of new artists I've never seen or heard before, so my playlist is forever changing. When I say new artists, I mean new to me. Like Elbow, many of the bands I've recently gotten into have actually been around for some time now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> A good example of this is The Flaming Lips, a band I've mentioned a few times in my recent posts. Sure I've heard a couple of their bigger songs like "She Don't Use Jelly/Vaseline" and "Do You Realize" on the radio over the years, but it wasn't until I worked with them this summer that I really gained an appreciation for their wonderful weirdness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> It's hard for me to pick just one song, as they're all so different, but here is a great version of </span><a href="http://youtu.be/kP8snChgBKA" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The W.A.N.D.</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> from a couple of years ago that shows just how fun their live shows can be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Another band I've gotten into over the past few years is Metric. I had the chance to see them when they came to Victoria a couple of years ago and I thought they were great. The CD I was listening to when I started this post was their latest "Synthetica", and it's another one that hasn't left my "most played" stack. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Here is an acoustic version of the title track from the album "</span><a href="http://youtu.be/jvEoYsNQ44Y" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Synthetica</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Band Of Skulls is another great British band that I've really come to like recently, and is another band I had the pleasure of working with at the Rifflandia Festival. It was a real treat to help set up their stage equipment and then hang out with them later that evening after the show. They're the kind of band you just have to listen to loudly and they were a big hit at this year's festival.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Here is a clip of Band Of Skulls playing "</span><a href="http://youtu.be/fixjxDZJCqA" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Patterns</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">" at the Rifflandia Festival here in Victoria. Look close and you can see Wayne from the Flaming Lips hanging out stage side and enjoying the show.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Finally I'll mention another one of my modern rock favorites, Mother Mother. This band hails from right here in Beautiful BC and has had a string of hits that are always played in rotation on </span><a href="http://www.thezone.fm/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Zone</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> radio station and I can't get enough of them. They also played at this year's Rifflandia Festival and I really enjoyed meeting with them and helping them, and yes, hanging out with them after the show. We chatted about Quadra Island, which is where a few of the members of the band are from and is also where I met my wife back when we were teenagers. Lead singer Ryan thought that was pretty cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> One of my favorite Mother Mother songs is "</span><a href="http://youtu.be/50LShhlkTfw" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Stand</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Of course this is just has been just a small sampling of what I've been listening to lately. My long time favorites such as Led Zeppelin, U2, Queen, The Tragically Hip, The Foo Fighters, and Jack White will always have a permanent place in my playlist, but there are so many other brilliant musicians that I can't even begin to list here. I'm sure right after I publish this I'll think of some that I should have featured, but I can always write another post like this in the future.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> For now, I want to turn it over to you. Tell me what YOU have been listening to lately. Who knows, you might end up introducing me to another future favorite artist!</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Wandering Oak</span></strong></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-82497852826428175702012-10-11T17:34:00.001-07:002013-01-19T17:06:53.469-08:00Travels, Turkey Dinner, and a Twisted Hull<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I'm sitting at my desk with a mug of very hot hot chocolate, spiked with spiced rum, and the music of the Flaming Lips is coming through my speakers. Outside, the changing leaves and cool, damp fog might just be enough to convince Victorians that Autumn has finally arrived and that we can put away the shorts and sandals we were wearing just last week. My lovely wife Megan is at work and I have the condo all to myself. Well, not entirely. Our cat Merlin is at my feet demanding my attention making it very difficult to type this opening paragraph.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Since Rifflandia ended, my life has been pretty quiet. I find myself looking for work once again and I'm hoping I have better luck this season than I did last season. I really only need a part time gig to get me through the winter and I hope to get back into working in live music in the spring, so long as the Mayans are wrong and we survive past December 21st. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> It was nice to get away from Victoria over the recent long weekend, though. Megan and I visited her mother in Comox for Thanksgiving (Columbus Day, for my American readers, or whatever the day was in your part of the world), and we had a nice relaxing time there. I always enjoy visiting Comox and I get along really well with Megan's mother and her husband. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> A highlight for me was taking a nice, long walk along the beach on the Friday afternoon. The air was so clear and the only sound was the chatter of the sea birds swapping fishing stories - or whatever it is birds talk about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I also made friends with Megan's mother's newest cat Sneakers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the turkey dinner. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> In other news: I've also been spending my spare time working on another 1/700th scale model ship, my third, and the project is not without its challenges. The biggest challenge is dealing with a defective part of the kit. What you see in the next picture below is the main portion of the ship's upper hull from directly astern. Your eyes aren't tricking you, the hull is twisted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">Forgive the sloppy paint job around the portholes. Those details will be taken care of when I do all my paint touch-ups.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Lucky for me the lower portion of the ship's hull is straight and true, so I went ahead and joined the two components as well as the main decks and gently, yet firmly, clamped it all down. With a little heat from Megan's hair dryer the twist should work itself out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I still have a lot of work to do on the ship and I hope this issue doesn't set me back too far. There are a bunch of components left to install including the entire bridge and superstructure, the mast assembly, and a variety of equipment for the main deck such as sensor and communication domes, antennae, and weapons. In ship building lingo that would be "fitting out" and I enjoy that stage of the build. Wish me luck!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> That's all I'm going to write about for now, my friends. I've finished my hot chocolate and Megan just got home from work. My eyes have gone a little buggy from staring at the screen, or maybe it's the rum, and I need to stretch my legs. I was going to write about some of the music I've been listening to lately, besides the aforementioned Flaming Lips, but I think I'll save that for my next post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> Until then, take care of yourselves, and each other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-65039071610762763822012-09-25T08:37:00.001-07:002012-09-25T09:06:49.342-07:00The "Rifflan-diaries" - Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQlivJcYZ9XVUdaEt37K9KQUqRzmSnZkUHNslRW-Y3Q6gB0GILHgNsBiL-gBrqSci9TEu5PLwZqEmPw1ZXdeDB5chUU16-Rq_X-bNAC8UP_Ru5_R4LeximyIsShsx3GD16A233glqLZ94i/s640/IMG_3478.JPG" width="640" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <strong><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>s</strong> I look over my collection of Rifflandia 5 mementos, I find it hard to believe that over a week has passed since headliners Mother Mother took the stage to close out the festival at Victoria's Royal Athletic Park. Their blazing set of new songs and old favorites left the crowd wanting more, but sooner or later it all had to come to an end. By now the park is completely clean and all the building materials have been stored away in a warehouse for next year. The bands and their crews have moved on to other cities and the mobile stage they played on is likely already set up for its next gig somewhere on the mainland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Rifflandia 5 is now in the history books. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Based on what I've read and heard, the festival was a success. People in Victoria are still talking about it a week later and new photos continue to appear on Facebook and on the </span><a href="http://rifflandia.smugmug.com/Rifflandia2012/Royal-Athletic-Park" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Rifflandia website</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I still feel very honoured to have had a role in making sure the festival ran smoothly and I had a fantastic team of staff and volunteers to work with. It didn't matter what the task at hand was, everyone I worked with all jumped into it with a genuine, positive, and helpful energy that really helped to make everything come together nicely. I can't say enough good things about the staff and volunteers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> It goes without saying that anyone who attended, or worked at, this year's festival has a long list of awesome memories and will have stories to tell for a long time to come. I'm no exception. I could write about SO many things, but I know that the generation we live in has a short attention span and I don't want you to get bored.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Instead, I'm going to quickly rattle off a few of my favorite memories and some well deserved shout outs in point form and pop in a couple of photos. Short, sweet, and to the point. Here we go:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'm so grateful to the producers that as part of my payment for working at the festival I was given an extra wristband for my wife Megan so that she could come enjoy some of her favorite bands and keep me company as I went about my work. Megan also thanks you.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I got to go for a short ride in Sloan's tour bus. It was just around the neighborhood as I helped the driver find a place to park the giant bus, but it was still pretty cool. I would have taken a picture but something told me not to. Perhaps it was the friendly tap on the shoulder from the menacing looking body guard.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I really love being present when a band is doing their sound check in the morning. It's fun for me to watch the bands work out any kinks in the sound system. A lot of times I'll hear a loose rendition of one of their hits or they'll do a cover song. Cake covered Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On". Yes, you just read that. I was there.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfVZGbBCAdYKxfY6s9tEWFACg83QjWY4d3NB3Ry0h7B8TDoKq9I4vHh7eIklbccZdisc1UJjupow-FjwAvRcH-jYptbgIdpN1GawCM46YNQbT2qZxjhhzmlVdLsBj5hV-5uHOtotnSNORl/s400/IMG-20120916-00131.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">Mother Mother's sound check was also fun to watch. "That would sound better if our voices were awake!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In exchange for helping the Main Street merchants and food vendors with anything from changing light bulbs to hanging signs, I was given a lot of free drinks, snacks, and swag. Not a bad deal!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I loved that we had golf carts to drive around the park before and after the shows. They made moving materials from one end to the other so much easier - and they're just fun to drive!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Shout outs to all the awesome food vendors. I tried to sample something from everyone, but I know I missed a few. All the ones I did try had excellent food!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A big part of my job involved working with each band's road crews. From load in and set up to strike and load out, it was an absolute pleasure to work with every one of them. Many of them had no problem sharing their knowledge and experience and I learned a LOT! So did the volunteer stage hands that worked with us!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'd really like to give a big shout out to every one of my friends at </span><a href="http://www.thezone.fm/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Zone</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> radio station. Many of the staff members I've known for some time now from previous events or through Social Media interactions and it was so great to finally meet the rest of the crew. Boss Man Johnny, if you get to read this, you have an amazing, friendly, and approachable staff that have become such a part of this city that if The Zone wasn't here, CERN could come to Victoria to study the black hole left in its absence!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Finally, it goes without saying that my best memories come from working backstage after the park was closed each evening and having access to the Artist Lounge and Green Room. Many of the day's performers would still be mingling about signing autographs or posing for pictures or just idly chatting with anyone lucky enough to be there. Although I kept my cool, believe me, it was hard not to get star stuck - especially when engaged in casual conversation with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-SSIihDXiBpG4cnKSiYMPEryyGCwT7HH4adNzU8hj3qjKKiiOawitaCqg10TqLflFmgccqEl6jElIs20byS4G5myI6sg3IqUBVO4-Ucz7fRtUl5sAsMH9bgI3ftOFR5TT4VvSI-8Yp45/s400/IMG-20120914-00117.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">Wayne Coyne autographs the Zone's "Star Guitar", which will later be auctioned off for charity. Photo by me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">Yours truly with the "Star Guitar" just moments after it was signed by Wayne. Photo credit: Webmeister Bud of The Zone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> All in all, my time at Rifflandia 5 will stand out as the biggest highlight of my summer. The producers have told me they'll keep me in mind to help out at future events, including Rifflandia 6 next summer, and I can't wait. It's sad that festival season is winding down for the year. I'm going to have to find myself a part time job to get myself through the winter, but I'm clearing my schedule for next summer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> To all the young volunteers out there that helped us present the biggest festival of the year, thank you for all your hard work. Keep it up and maybe you'll get noticed like I did and get yourselves put on the payroll. Who knows? Maybe next year you'll be hanging out with rock stars backstage at Rifflandia Six!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> I hope to see you there!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-75386871974118273562012-09-20T12:41:00.000-07:002012-09-25T16:22:29.357-07:00The "Rifflan-diaries" - Part 1<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <strong>I</strong>t was just moments before the most anticipated performers of the night, The Flaming Lips, took the stage to close out the Friday evening of Victoria's Fifth Annual Rifflandia Festival at Royal Athletic Park and I had a firm grasp on a giant net filled with beach ball sized balloons. I was with about a dozen other crew members backstage awaiting the cue from the stage manager to open the net and start tossing the balloons into the crowd and we were all buzzing with excitement. This was going to be fun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Up on stage my friend, and Zone Radio midday host, Pol Plastino led the crowd in a fun filled sing-along of the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song before screaming "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Flaming Lips!!!" at the top of his lungs. It was show time! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> As the band took the stage and started showering the crowd with paper confetti, we hauled the net out from backstage and suddenly Royal Athletic Park was an explosion of colour! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> My wife Megan was in the crowd and captured this amazing photo:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivEA3A0j2C2_akoAQLFLDsIW2GklnDFf6AHqxn4sxtqa6M8COaB7uCTuEpzJnq8ZglE_CX5P722KaOtisT-j14lmBOUsjbJNeljXAUtEDEj9mXRuej3dPHugwBhiAlSP6fTVhyphenhyphen08IvW0Bp/s640/IMG_3374.JPG" width="640" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> So what was it like being a part of the crew for Victoria's most talked about music festival? In a word: surreal. Yes, it was a lot of hard work, but the payoff was what my boss called "an epic weekend of awesomeness." It's hard to imagine that less than one year ago I was working as a commercial painter applying my skilled brushwork to everything from elementary schools to prominent Victorian Heritage buildings. I still can't believe how rapidly my life has changed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> It started with volunteering. Last Christmas Season, when my work as a painter ended for the Winter, I helped out with the Zone's Toy Drive for charity. That warm and fuzzy feeling of doing good things for others carried through to the summer time when the opportunity to volunteer for the Canada Day celebrations presented itself. That was when my hard work and great people skills got noticed. It wasn't long before I was hired to work at another big music event, Rock The Shores, and that experience changed my life. I knew then that I wasn't going to be a painter anymore!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> From there I quickly gained employment within the world of live music as a backline tech - or roadie, if you prefer - and I've been spotted working at a number of different shows and festivals ever since. Throughout the year, as I've been getting more and more involved in all these big events, the one festival I couldn't stop thinking about was Rifflandia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> If this was a movie, this would be the point where some magical force works in my favour because in early August I got the email I was waiting for:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">"Will,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I hope you are doing well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I would like to know if you are available to work for Rifflandia at Royal Athletic Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here is the information: ... (<em>This was followed by the shift schedules and my pay rate</em>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Please let me know if you're available and this will work for you and I will send you a contract. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Thank you."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Well twist my rubber arm. Of course I was going to say yes! I had no other gigs booked for that week, so my schedule was wide open. After a little back and forth correspondence, I got my full schedule and list of responsibilities. My new title for the duration of the festival was Production Assistant. This all-encompassing role meant I would be responsible for everything from stage set up to assigning volunteers to help with clean up and just about anything else you can think of that goes into a festival of this nature.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Although this year's Rifflandia Festival had been in the planning stages since last year's festival ended, we really only had just 3 days to get Royal Athletic Park ready for the big event. By the time I arrived on site on Wednesday morning, some of the tents were already set up and ready to be moved into position.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lSPF2juqeMiG6wxCtlZlUtP0pvz-g1zY7D7Nte_NIgyouni1iQwAW_5zm7MUkUYveDw3vm-wiSNFZxNaFGRSguQ_ohwmOXqQ3L3Dp9Q4K0jEYAcRrKl7LxsbA64SBDmWi1hAdfHIhqbZ/s1600/IMG-20120912-00079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lSPF2juqeMiG6wxCtlZlUtP0pvz-g1zY7D7Nte_NIgyouni1iQwAW_5zm7MUkUYveDw3vm-wiSNFZxNaFGRSguQ_ohwmOXqQ3L3Dp9Q4K0jEYAcRrKl7LxsbA64SBDmWi1hAdfHIhqbZ/s640/IMG-20120912-00079.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> My first task was to assist with assembling the main stage. Just as we did for Canada Day and Rock The Shores, we rented a mobile stage that was self contained in a standard sized transport trailer. Here's a photo I took showing the partially opened stage:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRuy9TMzoggBeRlWIidrlFuM-K3vnQjsTXHpUt2iTTEy_sMqQttKEcK21lU7-z2pkeIEWD8F2AaTnE1F7kRJ5hswp_bE1miLfrSITsxLeuN6dYaOMXt7SaIQgMxnybRbloFhu1OlHsATdf/s1600/IMG-20120912-00081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRuy9TMzoggBeRlWIidrlFuM-K3vnQjsTXHpUt2iTTEy_sMqQttKEcK21lU7-z2pkeIEWD8F2AaTnE1F7kRJ5hswp_bE1miLfrSITsxLeuN6dYaOMXt7SaIQgMxnybRbloFhu1OlHsATdf/s640/IMG-20120912-00081.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It took only a half a dozen people working together just a few hours to open it up and get it ready for the sound and light crew to install their equipment.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6X2-3X1Y2jiaAyOSA4BuO-XjigFdk76F1JjpzrP66bvWHHd_DWbqKzJmtSBYDpLupSCkOEs1Xj0G3bnHFwR-g3V7uXMvMbPgmLaOtoPnlReMhTvoIwFrbu4FOQWW_cBZlNxmUn6hyZ1J/s1600/IMG-20120912-00083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6X2-3X1Y2jiaAyOSA4BuO-XjigFdk76F1JjpzrP66bvWHHd_DWbqKzJmtSBYDpLupSCkOEs1Xj0G3bnHFwR-g3V7uXMvMbPgmLaOtoPnlReMhTvoIwFrbu4FOQWW_cBZlNxmUn6hyZ1J/s640/IMG-20120912-00083.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">I got to hang the big purple banners on each side of the stage!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Rifflandia is more than just a music festival. It's also an opportunity for local artists and merchants to showcase their stuff. For this purpose, the event planers set aside an area of the park that became Main Street. Once I was finished with the stage, I was on hand to help make sure Main Street came together nicely. One of the most popular stops along Main Street was "Zone Landia", an apocalyptic themed collaboration between the Zone Radio Station and Wolf/Sheep Arthouse. I snapped this photo of the crew raising the geodesic dome:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCtmzpdjAjsaWYVXiisiqZ4qSl1gbS87NSaHN3zMFT1iDsFisMmXmufN1vwDhs6Zs-601J3XSV6h1oN4ko8Buiv6fc8wofNjz5ZaubMhrJdmswzrxyjIKVBbpcBVUTuTyG6ko-m7EKUXG/s1600/IMG-20120913-00089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCtmzpdjAjsaWYVXiisiqZ4qSl1gbS87NSaHN3zMFT1iDsFisMmXmufN1vwDhs6Zs-601J3XSV6h1oN4ko8Buiv6fc8wofNjz5ZaubMhrJdmswzrxyjIKVBbpcBVUTuTyG6ko-m7EKUXG/s640/IMG-20120913-00089.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> There is a seemingly endless list of things that needed to be prepared for this festival that I can't even begin to list here, and I can honestly say I was directly involved in almost all of it! But, you know what? I was happy to help. I wasn't alone, either. We had hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers on hand that worked so hard to get everything set up, and by the time the gates opened on Friday afternoon we were ready to rock!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> I'm going to end Part 1 of my "Rifflan-diary" here before I start to ramble on too much. In my next entry I will share some of my favourite stories from the festival from giving hi-5's to the first people through the gates on opening day to drunken good times at the VIP Wrap Party, so please stay tuned for that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> In the meantime, I've come down with a cold over this past weekend - likely brought on by working like a machine and partying like a rock star all week - so I need to get some rest and have some chicken soup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"> Come back soon, my friends!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-67539864325253833432012-09-06T16:44:00.000-07:002012-09-06T16:44:58.561-07:00I Showed Him The Ropes<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I had the day off, so I decided to visit the cruise ship pier today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> At one point an elderly gentleman came up to me and asked me to explain how the crew handle the ropes that moor the big ships. I was caught off guard at first, mainly because I was listening to music in my earphones, but I really didn't mind answering his questions. As the crew hauled in the lines and tied the ship off, I gave play-by-play details of what they were doing. He seemed genuinely interested in what I was saying as we watched the ship come in. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> After I answered all of his questions, the gentleman then walked over to a bench where his wife was sitting and proceeded to explain everything to her as if he was suddenly an expert on the subject. I don't think he realized that she could hear me. The smile she gave me was priceless!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Elderly people are great!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Wandering Oak</span></strong></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-26060850186979950812012-08-24T18:37:00.000-07:002012-08-24T18:37:22.622-07:00Managing The Filberg Backline<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A First Hand Backstage Report from the
2012 Filberg Festival</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">*Author's note: This composition was originally written on August 8, 2012 and submitted for publication in an upstarting Vancouver Island lifestyle magazine. At present<em> </em>I have not heard from the publishers or editors, so I have chosen to share an abridged version of it here on my personal blog for the enjoyment of my friends and loyal readers.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">W.L. Aug. 24, 2012</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> I</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">t was a hot BC Day long weekend in the Comox Valley. The
guitars and fiddles were duelling while the drums and bass were shaking, and
the aging Baby Boomers were dancing in the aisles at the 30<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Annual
Filberg Festival in beautiful Comox, BC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This year’s milestone festival featured the popular juried arts and
crafts fair as well as a wide array of home grown musical talent with deep
roots in folk, traditional, bluegrass, jazz, rock and blues. I feel very
fortunate to have had the opportunity to work backstage with all of the
performers and to get to interact with them in such a casual, almost family
like environment.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The lineup of very talented Canadian
musicians featured: headliners Spirit of the West, The High Bar Gang, Michael
Kaeshammer, David Gogo, The Flora Scott Trio, Babe Gurr, Pear, and a long list
of other brilliant artists that can be found on the Filberg Festival’s website.
Closing the festival was the annual Great Canadian Songs Concert featuring Ian
Tamblyn and the festival’s Master of Ceremonies, Jake Galbraith. Every one of
those musicians is a master of his or her craft and I found their performances
very inspiring.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Filberg Park is a gorgeous venue
ideally suited to this type of relaxed festival with two stages: the Main
stage, where I worked, and the intimate Garden stage located at the other end
of the park near the Filberg Lodge. Unlike the massive music festivals seen in
other cities, the Filberg felt more like a gathering of friends playing a few
songs together while local vendors sold everything from jewelry and art to
traditional foods and delicious beverages. Oh, and those mini donuts… Mmm! All
of the proceeds from the festival go towards the Filberg Heritage Lodge and
Park Association which they use to maintain the heritage buildings and park
throughout the year.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many of the musicians have performed
at the festival in previous years and enjoy coming back to play at Filberg Park
every summer. Honestly, it’s not hard to see why they like it so much! I’ve
always enjoyed visiting Comox, not just because I have family members living
there, but because it’s a very pleasant little community with breathtaking
ocean and mountain views that never fail to amaze me. On every street you’re
very likely to pass by someone who will smile and say hello. You’re also just
as likely to come face to face with one of the many local white tailed deer
that have no problem stopping traffic as they wander about nibbling on the
buffet of gardens and well-manicured shrubbery. They seem to be very fond of
the geraniums on my mother in law’s front doorstep!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My involvement with the Filberg
Festival came about purely by chance and, quite literally, at the last possible
minute. I got a call less than a week before the festival from a contact I made
backstage at a recent show in Victoria, a gentleman by the name of Lu, and he
told me he was in a bind. He needed someone to step in and take care of the
Filberg gig because his other staff member couldn’t make it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although my experience in stage management is
very limited, I needed a job so I decided to accept the offer because I also saw
it as a learning opportunity I couldn’t afford to pass up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And believe me when I tell you, I learned a
lot!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While the performers were working up a
sweat on stage, I was working just as hard backstage making sure each artist
had everything they needed for their sets available and ready to use the moment
they took to the stage. This generally involves everything from setting up instruments
and amplifiers to placing guitar, music and microphone stands and so many other
responsibilities that vary depending on the needs of the performer. The colloquial
name for this is a “roadie”, but the all-encompassing industry title is called
the Backline. The term “roadie” is being replaced by cool sounding titles like
“guitar tech” or “drum tech” and “front of house sound engineer” to name a few.
I was the “Backline Manager” for the main stage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We started preparing for the gig four
days ahead of time. I met with Lu at his shop in Victoria and our first task
was to take inventory of some of the equipment we would be packing into the
trailer: Two complete 5 piece drum kits with cymbals and hardware; Four
different models of Fender combo guitar amplifiers; Two bass guitar amplifiers
with speaker cabinets; One full sized Yamaha CP-300 keyboard; One small
acoustic guitar amplifier; A handful of stage lights; A box of different cables
and plugs; and several other essential items one would expect to see around a
concert stage. Many of the musicians brought their own instruments - but not
drums or amplifiers, so we had to pack like Boy Scouts and be prepared for
anything!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lu gave me a ride up to Comox two days
before the festival began and he parked the equipment trailer in a position
just behind the stage that made it easy to load the gear in and out quickly and
efficiently. He then had to head down to Duncan where he would be managing the
backline for Sunfest, which also took place over the BC Day long weekend. I
would be on my own for the next five days! *Gulp!*</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I enjoy playing the guitar as a hobby,
so I already possess an understanding of amplifiers and pedal boards, which
meant I had no issues setting those up. Bass guitars and amps have a similar
set up too, so no problems there, either. However, I must confess I came into
the Filberg gig with a very limited knowledge of how drums are set up, so part
of my preparation involved a few lessons on how to properly assemble and
disassemble drum kits. It took me a couple of turns to get the hang of it, but
I’d say I picked it up fairly quickly. As each drummer is different, I generally
had to get the kit assembled and set up just to the point where it was ready
for the drummer to make his or her own final adjustments. Every drummer I
encountered was very pleasant and understood that I was new to this and many of
them even offered tips and advice on set up. It’s all valuable knowledge I can
put towards the next gig!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The festival kicked off at about 10 AM
on Friday, August 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> and at Noon the first headlining act to hit
the main stage was local favourites Spirit of the West. This very friendly
group of guys have been playing together for nearly 30 years and they’ve still
got it! Hits such as “If Venice Is Sinking”, “Is This Where I Come in”, “Crawl”
and the ever popular “Home for a Rest” had the crowds on their feet and singing
along and the happy energy they delivered in their show set the pace for every
other act that followed. They even signed a copy of their set list for me after
the show with personalized thanks for helping them with their gear!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Over the course of four progressively
hotter days, every performer braved the heat and played at their very best. I
admit I found myself just sitting and watching several times, which resulted in
a couple of minor mistakes on my part as I should have been getting the next
act’s equipment ready and paying more attention. I’m lucky the festival was so
casual and that everyone understood I was new to that kind of environment, but
I still learned my lesson and won’t make those mistakes twice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The festival’s Entertainment Director,
Bobbie Blue, dubbed me with the nickname “The Puppy” and she meant it as a term
of endearment. She knew that I lacked experience but saw that I have the
ambition to learn, the youthful energy to get the job done and the desire to
make everyone happy, have fun and make friends. Of course she also noted that,
like a puppy, I sometimes required some calm and assertive correcting and a
little bit of training here and there to avoid making any major mistakes along
the way. In good spirit I joked that it was a good thing I’m already paper
trained. Just feed me and walk me twice a day and I’ll be a good dog!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Overall I’m happy that I had the
opportunity to work at the Filberg Festival. It was a great initiation to the
world of concert festival backlines and the knowledge I gained from this will
help me if I’m asked to work at future events. I got a passing grade and
compliments from the promoters and producers as well as the occasional shout
out from the performers and that really boosted my confidence. When I did make
a mistake I took full responsibility and I’m told that’s what really impressed
everyone. At the crew’s wrap party, after all the equipment was loaded back
into the trucks and the bands and crowds had gone, Bobbie Blue toasted me by
saying “Here’s to The Puppy and all his hard work at his first music festival!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This puppy would like to thank Bobbie
Blue and all of the festival staff, and most importantly Lu, for the
opportunity to work with so many amazing people and learn so many new skills.
Big thanks must also go out to all the volunteers for their help moving some of
the heavier gear around the stage and carting stuff to and from the Garden
Stage in such a timely manner.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If the staff will have me, I would be
delighted to come back again and manage the backline for next year’s Filberg
Festival. By then I should be a well-trained dog!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></span></span></div>
The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-74550560984761080182012-07-17T22:11:00.000-07:002012-07-18T17:06:14.441-07:00The Shores Were Rocking!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <strong>O</strong>n Friday July 13th, the first ever Rock The Shores concert took place just outside of Victoria in Colwood and I got to be a part of it. The all Canadian show featured headliners The Tragically Hip with Sam Roberts, Current Swell and Jets Overhead. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. As life would have it, it's taken me until now to finally sit down and write about my experiences. To be honest, I just haven't been able to figure out where to start!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I suppose I should explain how I got involved in such a big event. During my time volunteering for the Canada Day celebrations on July 1st, I spoke to the promoters and told them I was interested in helping out with future events like that because it's something I can see myself doing and enjoying. I must have impressed the right people because I soon received an email telling me they'd hire me to help build and strike the big stage for Rock the Shores. You can't imagine how thrilled I was, especially since I haven't had a job for some time now, so I said I'd be there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> We started work two days before the show. The concert took place in a large sports field, so our first task was to arrange enough plywood to cover where the big mobile stage was going to be set up. The stage itself was contained within an average looking 53 foot truck trailer - a big white box on wheels. But once the operator fired up the hydraulics it was like something you'd see Optimus Prime towing...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> A second flat deck trailer was delivered that carried additional frame sections as well as the black and gray walls. Some assembly required indeed! Once we got it all put together it was ready for the sound and light crew...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I had the following day off, so fast-forward to the day of the show. Because I wore a stage crew ID badge, I was allowed backstage to hang out for a while, and I did, but my wife and some friends were in the audience so I chose to enjoy the show from up front with them and we had a lot of fun. I can't say enough good things about the artists. Local band Jets Overhead opened the show and used the opportunity to debut some new songs that were well received as the crowd trickled in.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5ygTqDNUfbMGFnyLMumc-_S2D6U9-CDSvCmZrGLXZ5SPtyKvgQRASko31u1TLOG9gRgaJXPPnn4ZOQ0UDRZ7tS4q3Hpz72m1DgG9JbYlJE0tf-5bHJ-wKWOo4pbn3kHOdSDmJQgziqCb/s1600/IMG-20120713-00334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5ygTqDNUfbMGFnyLMumc-_S2D6U9-CDSvCmZrGLXZ5SPtyKvgQRASko31u1TLOG9gRgaJXPPnn4ZOQ0UDRZ7tS4q3Hpz72m1DgG9JbYlJE0tf-5bHJ-wKWOo4pbn3kHOdSDmJQgziqCb/s400/IMG-20120713-00334.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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Up next was another local act Current Swell. They also played a very good set and are really nice guys, too. Since I was getting a snack during part of their set, I wasn't able to get a better photo than this one.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpHRwV4Cn5G91ZowYXN2DX4fIB_BmWvkrRf-axjuI_YXbW7rSOIMump55mWFe-hqhlWlcTbaQ4eywC3lReE6y1suGKUCawNPQk_c1bPrBuk_oMv2G1HtdhcQb6bpzaFPr_24JCBrFESxX/s1600/IMG-20120713-00340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpHRwV4Cn5G91ZowYXN2DX4fIB_BmWvkrRf-axjuI_YXbW7rSOIMump55mWFe-hqhlWlcTbaQ4eywC3lReE6y1suGKUCawNPQk_c1bPrBuk_oMv2G1HtdhcQb6bpzaFPr_24JCBrFESxX/s400/IMG-20120713-00340.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> The third performer of the evening was the always terrific Sam Roberts Band, but Mother Nature had her own plans and the show came to a halt mid way through his set.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Mr. Roberts was a good sport about not being able to play a full set saying nobody can control the weather. A rare, yet spectacular, thunderstorm rolled over the site that produced a lot of lightning, so for safety reasons we were all told to wait. And wait we did. Not counting people stuck in lines for food and drink (I'll address that a little more in a moment), most people were in a good mood during the delay. We even broke out in a spontaneous rendition of O Canada!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Once the worst part of the storm system passed, The Tragically Hip finally took the stage only half an hour later than scheduled. Those of us who stuck around were rewarded with and incredible performance by the band that included many of their best known hits. I sang along to every one of them! Even Mother Nature had a change of heart and would occasionally punctuate a song with well timed flashes and booms behind the stage!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">My view of guitarist/vocalist Paul Langlois was obscured by the stage frame, but at least I had the big screen overhead. This man actually said hello to me backstage before the show! Being a fan, I was a little star-struck. All I could do was smile and nod politely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> All in all I had a great time, even when it rained, but I feel I should take a moment to address something I find rather heart breaking, for lack of a better term. While people like myself and many others enjoyed the experience, there is a disturbing number of people who have done nothing but complain about every aspect of the show. The biggest complaints seem to be about the lineups for food, water and, not surprisingly, beer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I stood in line, just like everyone else, but I guess it didn't bother me as much as it bothered some people. I guess I had good timing or something because I really didn't miss a lot of the show and I figured it didn't matter anyway. If I couldn't see the stage, I could certainly hear what was going on. They were pumping a lot of power through the speakers!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> When I read the postings on the promoter's Facebook page over the last few days I felt sick. It seems that for every person that left a positive comment, several more would dump all over them with nothing but negativity and misplaced aggression. I posted a comment suggesting people take a moment to consider all the hardworking volunteers and staff that had to clean up the next morning and a girl replied with something that basically said she didn't give a crap about those people because "that's what they signed up for."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> That pissed me off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Yes the lines could have been more organized, maybe more food and water stations, but this was the first time an event of this scale has been attempted at that location. I only got a bit of food and didn't even go for beer. I had to be up early the next day to help take down the stage and clean up the site. Beer was my reward <em>after</em> all was said and done. Why do so many people feel it's important to consume mass quantities of alcohol at events like this? People complained that they ran out, which wasn't true. Perhaps if people would limit themselves to one or two and not ten that wouldn't have been an issue. There were kids present for crying out loud! Kids that watched plenty of drunk people falling around and puking everywhere while getting a good second hand dose of certain smoky vapors. Come on, people!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> It's unfortunate to hear about so many people that didn't have as good of a time as most of us did and I wish those people didn't feel so compelled to rain on our parade. For me, this was a personal milestone because it stands out as the biggest event I have ever taken part in. This could very well be my first step in attaining a very cool career as part of a production team and I am not going to let the whining of a few disappointed spectators ruin it, no matter how hurtful their words may be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Thank you. Good night. *drops microphone*</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Wandering Oak</span></strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-71002666023211523712012-07-02T22:17:00.000-07:002012-07-03T15:49:45.823-07:00A Roadie For Canada Day<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <strong>C</strong>anada Day is one of my favourite national holidays and this year's holiday will stand out as one of the best I've ever had. Because I'm still without work, I decided to volunteer to help out as a stage hand for the Canada Day celebrations in Victoria's Harbour. Simply put, I was a roadie for Canada Day, and I loved it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Now, in my previous post I mentioned that I was interested in advertising and marketing. Really I was hoping it would help me to tap into this city's rich arts and music scene. As it turns out, it may not be as simple as I thought it would be to get into advertising. People I've spoken to in the industry say that it requires all kinds of schooling and warn that even with all of that education there's no guarantee I'd be able to even find work in the field when I graduate. Although I'm willing to take the courses, I need something that <em>will</em> guarantee me future work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> That's when the volunteer opportunity presented itself. I've always had an affinity for live music, and being a music nerd, it's not surprising I'd have an interest in the logistics of big concerts and events. Needless to say, I was pretty eager to sign up. This has turned out to be the best decision I could have made. It is the <em>perfect</em> way to get into Victoria's live music scene and meet not only the artists themselves, but other important people like event coordinators, stage managers, concert promoters, publicists and even local media staff members.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It was fortunate that Canada Day fell on a Sunday this year because it gave this city the opportunity to create a two day celebration that drew record crowds to the harbour. I was given the opportunity to work at two locations. My first day was at Ship's Point and I found myself doing everything but help out around the stage. In fact I did everything from mopping up excess rain water to taking out garbage from all around the site, including the food vendors. It may not have been what I signed up for, especially since there was another group dedicated to housekeeping, but I was told at the orientation that even stage hands could be called upon to help out everywhere regardless of what it says on our ID tags. So I went with it and I did everything I was asked to do and then some. It felt good to be doing something productive and it felt even better to hear how much my hard work was appreciated. It's been a while since I've heard that!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It wasn't long until I finally took up a more permanent residence backstage helping the bands load their gear on and off the stage. This turned out to be my element and I took to it like a duck takes to water. It helps knowing a thing or two about guitars and amplifiers because I found it easy to communicate with the musicians to ensure things were set up the way they wanted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> My experience at Ship's Point was only just a primer for my second day at the Main Stage in front of Victoria's Legislature Building. This was the big show. Six and a half hours and nine bands leading up to the big fireworks finale. As soon as I arrived at the site I was immediately assigned to help the stage manager switch the gear between each band's set. This was rewarding in so many ways. Not only did I learn a lot, but I got to meet every performer and I had the best seats in the house while they did their thing. Some of the artists were very impressed with my hard work and one of the girls in the band Sidney York told me they'd never had so much help with their gear. I said it was nothing but the rock star treatment for our performers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> As if my day couldn't get any more awesome, one of the sponsors gave a big speech thanking all of the volunteers throughout the entire site. Then she called another volunteer and myself up on stage where we were given a huge round of applause from thousands of people as we received small gifts (I got a really nice ceramic mug) as tokens of appreciation. I can't describe the feeling of that many people cheering for me. All my co-volunteer and I could do was take a bow!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I really think I could get used to doing what I was doing that night, so I signed up to volunteer for future concert events. I was told that's the best way to do it. Volunteer, work my ass off, and someone will notice me. And if I impress the right people, it won't be long before I end up as a paid staff member. I may never be a rock star myself, but there's something to be said for being a part of a crew that helps performers bring their music to their audience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Without the roadies, there would be no show.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Wandering Oak</span></strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-23758803462594512442012-05-22T20:53:00.002-07:002012-05-22T22:07:57.100-07:00Everything's Coming Up Milhouse!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<strong>Y</strong>ou know when life just isn't going your way and it leaves you feeling rather uninspired? Well that's what's been happening in my world and it's the reason I haven't posted anything lately. I won't get into any details, but my current state of unemployment has motivated me to make some changes in my life. It's time to leave the trades.</div>
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I've spent the last few months exploring several different options and so far none have panned out. Federal budget cutbacks have eliminated certain programs that were offered by local schools, so I've had to change my plans more than once. It's an exercise in frustration to say the least.</div>
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Then, recently, it occurred to me that I should try to capitalize on the skills I already have and build on them to drive myself towards a career in marketing, specifically advertising. To those who don't know me very well this could seem like it's out of left field, especially since I've spent the last five years working in the trades as a commercial painter, but to those close to me it shouldn't be much of a surprise. I've always had a creative and artistic side to me and I've always wanted to find a way to use those strengths in fun and exciting ways. I love to write, make music, dabble in photography, and even make videos for YouTube. I've got a solid customer service background and I have great communication skills. Did you know that I even have a little experience producing radio commercials? It was a part time job I had back in the late 90's.</div>
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I know that it's not going to be easy and that I'm definitely going to need some formal training. Advertising companies won't just hire any random bloke off the street. In preparation for this, I've contacted several of the local marketing and advertising companies and asked for general information, advice really, on how I can go about breaking into the field. One of them has actually replied and offered to meet with me next month to give me some advice. That was pretty quick considering I sent them an email yesterday!</div>
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I've also taken the first steps in college enrollment for a marketing course that I hope to get into this fall by submitting my application earlier today. I still have to work out funding, but one step at a time. At least I've gotten myself going in the right direction and I'm happy about that.</div>
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My day got even better. Once I was finished with all that work on the computer this morning, I went for a walk around the lake near my home. On one side of the lake is a small boardwalk that extends out over the water and is a great place to watch the birds. Today was a good day for that! I happened to come upon a mother duck and her ducklings and I watched dozens of little tree and barn swallows fly around the lake like feathered fighter jets. Those swallows are probably my favorite of the small birds and it was such a treat to see so many of them fly so close to me. They're curious little birds and a few of them even landed on the rail in front of me to say hi before taking off again to chase whatever tiny bugs they can catch. Too bad I wasn't quick enough to get a photo with my smart phone.</div>
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Finally, after I returned from my walk, I got a phone call from a pizza place that we usually order from, but haven't in quite some time. The girl said that because it's been a while she would apply a five dollar credit to our account. I guess it's an incentive to order pizza again, but with limited income these days it might still be a while. I wonder how long I'd have to wait until they offer me a free pizza...</div>
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So, while things may not have been so great in my life lately, good days like today just make me feel like everything's coming up Milhouse!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOC2ZNiuW0asxcNfslT4wY1rjCZffcUBJ_xbP8_9bDqhrt9_pJO-2VBTd7KWnM9tOEmWMfZubqKVIOmPem-ycU8F3pQY2gfM95Jh5NQXjA5q2rg1M_wgdDprpPOH8jHDTPmNBYU5FxjiY/s1600/20090615084808!Milhouse_Van_Houten.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOC2ZNiuW0asxcNfslT4wY1rjCZffcUBJ_xbP8_9bDqhrt9_pJO-2VBTd7KWnM9tOEmWMfZubqKVIOmPem-ycU8F3pQY2gfM95Jh5NQXjA5q2rg1M_wgdDprpPOH8jHDTPmNBYU5FxjiY/s320/20090615084808!Milhouse_Van_Houten.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(c) Matt Groening / Fox</span></div>
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<strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-14008627234133987912012-04-26T14:14:00.000-07:002012-04-26T14:45:57.478-07:00Your Other Left<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">L</span>ife is full of those funny little moments of unintentional humor. Here's one from today:</div>
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I was a little bored this afternoon so I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. Along the way I stopped in at my local Tim Hortons to pick up a large double double. I go with the large, because a medium (formerly large) is just far too sweet. Anyway, after I paid for the coffee, the guy behind the counter gave me my change and said: "Thanks, that will be on your left."</div>
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But he pointed to my right.</div>
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I just smiled and after a second politely replied: "My right, your left." </div>
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The guy took a second to recall what he said and laughed. "Yeah, your other left."</div>
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The girl standing beside him nearly dropped my coffee when she heard this.</div>
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I guess you had to be there, but it was the funniest moment of my day so far.</div>
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<strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-69772452855963389572012-04-07T18:44:00.012-07:002012-04-07T20:14:57.695-07:00Small Scale, Big Project: Chronicling The Building Of My 1:700 Scale RMS Titanic<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><strong>I</strong></span>n 2010 a good friend of mine gave me a scale model kit of the famously ill-fated ocean liner RMS Titanic as a housewarming gift. His idea for this gift stemmed from a conversation we had long before I moved in which I mentioned that a ship would look nice in the den. I told him I used to build models as a kid, but back then it was aircraft and space ships that I'd slap together in a day and ruin the next day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> To some it may be a surprise that I never tried building actual ships when I've always had a love of all things nautical. The truth is I could never find any good ones that I could afford, and back then I was more into planes and science fiction so I bought cheap models that I could destroy and not worry about. And then I got into my teenage years and discovered girls and guitars and rock music, and that girls like guys that can play rock music on their guitars, so my model building days were over.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I didn't even consider model building again until I met both my friend and my step father in law, who are both avid builders and have impressive collections. Even then I held off on the idea until I knew I would have the space to build ships and a place to display them. Once I knew that my soon to be new home would have a den that would become my "man cave" that's when I knew I could start building ships.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I was very happy to receive the RMS Titanic kit and can't thank my friend enough. The kit is well made and at 1:700th scale is small, but still detailed enough to give a pretty accurate representation of the ship. It's not something that can be slapped together in a day, but thankfully I'm older and more patient these days so I didn't mind taking my time. I just had to wait until later in 2010 when my work as a painter slowed down enough to give me the time to work on the ship. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> At the time that I started building the model, I got the idea to take pictures of my progress so that I could present the build as a slide show video for my friends and family. Building the ship took me three months, but it's taken me almost 14 months to create the video. I gave up and re-started twice and was about to give up again, but then something clicked and it all came together nicely.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> The timing for this couldn't be better as we've almost reached 100 years to the day since that fateful evening when the real ship struck an iceberg, broke up, and slipped beneath the frigid waters of the North Atlantic taking 1500 souls with her. And even though a century has passed, the ship and her tragic story are still very popular today. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I present my video as a tribute to the majestic old ship and the lives she took with her, and as a sort of thank you to the friend who gave me the kit and re-sparked an old favorite hobby of mine. Since building RMS Titanic, I've nearly completed a modern US Navy destroyer (no video for that one, but you'll see photos soon) and I have a third ship in waiting. I'll tell you more about that ship another time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">And so, without further ado, I present: <strong><a href="http://youtu.be/5Ceir19qDUM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Building R.M.S. Titanic In 1:700th Scale</a></strong>.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-88277706717118594612012-03-22T21:06:00.000-07:002012-03-22T21:06:47.572-07:00For Lorene<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>T</strong>oday is a sad day among my circle of blogging friends. Sometime yesterday we lost one of our own. Lorene was a beautiful woman with three terrific kids and I can only imagine what her mother and family are going through tonight. At the time I'm writing this I don't know any details, but I do know that she will be missed by so many people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I never met Lorene in person, but I knew her well enough to call her a good friend. We "met" several years ago through an online community of like minded bloggers back when many of us were using the now defunct MSN Spaces platform. Her upbeat and funny posts had a way of touching us all and my best memories of her will be the little videos she made dancing to Britney Spears with her kids. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> We became friends on Facebook, and I'm sure a few holiday and birthday cards went back and forth over the years. She once told me that the relationship I have with my wife was an inspiration to her and I really think that's one of the highest compliments I've ever received.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I really wish I could say more, but I'm still feeling a little stunned by the sudden loss. I just hope that wherever Lorene is now, she's still dancing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-92027254394313087772012-02-26T17:14:00.000-08:002012-02-26T17:14:39.783-08:00Sentimiento de Nostalgia (Feeling Nostalgic)<div style="text-align: justify;"> There has been some strange weather in Victoria today. We went from sunny skies to snow then back to sun, then hail, then sun again, and now it's a little cloudy. It's also a little cold outside today, and it has me feeling nostalgic for Mexico. My wife and I were in Puerto Vallarta this time last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> We had a lot of fun, made some friends, and experienced so many new things. Even when it rained it was still very comfortable. I'd go back again in a heart beat. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzR24y8m7SH8Bha85QPzem4ukomcpMr2_0exIBHEGa2PBe3NuErts45-VqOK9C7DKRTpdH-zGfaLzy4lrRpuEP4uPxjuYOrsBtL_wGqYFdQIBb7x4PhfUhyphenhyphenx3LvX7OxjZBw4S1LctB1nx/s1600/IMG_1637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzR24y8m7SH8Bha85QPzem4ukomcpMr2_0exIBHEGa2PBe3NuErts45-VqOK9C7DKRTpdH-zGfaLzy4lrRpuEP4uPxjuYOrsBtL_wGqYFdQIBb7x4PhfUhyphenhyphenx3LvX7OxjZBw4S1LctB1nx/s640/IMG_1637.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9syWDPxlDNM_3GJTZcrF9IkRq0LBYRZKEt5YvFsb4qe5dGWsWuporWr3ezuSSmubV_B5E6455YQalf3cg6WZECNUQ86iG77i_2YOu0YLhuuxkuWedBOQr8QRSxQrHjIVNHM0in8YQZjkC/s1600/IMG_1450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9syWDPxlDNM_3GJTZcrF9IkRq0LBYRZKEt5YvFsb4qe5dGWsWuporWr3ezuSSmubV_B5E6455YQalf3cg6WZECNUQ86iG77i_2YOu0YLhuuxkuWedBOQr8QRSxQrHjIVNHM0in8YQZjkC/s640/IMG_1450.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>All photos taken by me except for the humpback whales and the sunset. My wife took those ones.<br />
Adios!<br />
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<strong>The Wandering Oak</strong>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-11390967342488654492012-02-09T10:29:00.000-08:002012-02-09T10:31:29.182-08:00How I Spent My 35th Birthday<div align="justify"> Yesterday, Feb. 8th, was my 35th Birthday. Normally I'd mark the anniversary of my birth by writing out a rambling blog about what I've done or learned in the past year and how I feel about getting older, but not this year. This year I decided to just get out of the house and go for a walk along Victoria's waterfront, specifically the Dallas Road and Ogden Point area. It's been a while since I've been down there, and you know, I didn't even care that it rained.</div><div align="justify"> My old compact camera doesn't take photos as well as today's fancy cameras, but I did get a few nice shots along my walk that I'd like to share with you. I'll write brief descriptions below each image.</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSjlFR3IGkp6razNqg6z0mXnz20oXTvW2i1GbFnl2PFPp-DRKbmq6JcLBrPA0JKyvXeQOlqsZTPBqaKJWh-bvgOve-uER5EWL-v0wcfDhOtitV0Cam4lOKmEeCMEWqK0KzC_rEH437cFG/s1600/IMG_2569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSjlFR3IGkp6razNqg6z0mXnz20oXTvW2i1GbFnl2PFPp-DRKbmq6JcLBrPA0JKyvXeQOlqsZTPBqaKJWh-bvgOve-uER5EWL-v0wcfDhOtitV0Cam4lOKmEeCMEWqK0KzC_rEH437cFG/s640/IMG_2569.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The view from Dallas Road looking roughly South by Southeast. Contrast and brightness have been edited. The ship on the horizon is one of Canada's Kingston class coastal defense ships, likely crewed by Naval Reserve officers and eager young cadets, on a routine training cruise. Any given day there could be several of these little ships out there. It's fun to watch them do rescue drills and play hide-and-seek with submarines.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHktwYjuzuuWw3T4nv0EGahmHJNiu54LrBwYDp8nxZDOFE3uQby1eO6L4rnT1o7UBH192dgQosSL2YsYiAo4sBNTRBTjWXBEBGBSKMbQZwFLOM_hy6RDwOml2NkFoCWd2A3l76PzGPJ4_T/s1600/IMG_2578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHktwYjuzuuWw3T4nv0EGahmHJNiu54LrBwYDp8nxZDOFE3uQby1eO6L4rnT1o7UBH192dgQosSL2YsYiAo4sBNTRBTjWXBEBGBSKMbQZwFLOM_hy6RDwOml2NkFoCWd2A3l76PzGPJ4_T/s640/IMG_2578.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A wider view looking Southeast from Dallas Rd. That little ship is now just a dot on the horizon.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAskYKXmvHrIOb8lpFfTAzbmctg0DGjbDO7vKem8kM2mwD3VVRglbBIjq03hTmtxBGhA-ylbhZiQYGyQpTV0KTePbBND2VUITL4OxzJBG_lbkDFmffbH8LUo39ouCLYss7trO6M113paJ/s1600/IMG_2581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAskYKXmvHrIOb8lpFfTAzbmctg0DGjbDO7vKem8kM2mwD3VVRglbBIjq03hTmtxBGhA-ylbhZiQYGyQpTV0KTePbBND2VUITL4OxzJBG_lbkDFmffbH8LUo39ouCLYss7trO6M113paJ/s640/IMG_2581.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Ogden Point Breakwater.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdpYe_M9mRijO73TIAJFhXINTdRDhYKANWNGWNvSdGwFFEzzVm8cKEwqGp9AbQQxeQxns8gxwKcv56ux_oZ6wJerh-I9VuRayoNnraUauPP6OwQ0dG_Dfv1xiofHmk-lIw6hK_A9SsV8Pn/s1600/IMG_2590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdpYe_M9mRijO73TIAJFhXINTdRDhYKANWNGWNvSdGwFFEzzVm8cKEwqGp9AbQQxeQxns8gxwKcv56ux_oZ6wJerh-I9VuRayoNnraUauPP6OwQ0dG_Dfv1xiofHmk-lIw6hK_A9SsV8Pn/s640/IMG_2590.JPG" width="472" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The lighthouse at the end of the breakwater.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMi9LCZJGp7uvyUEhM_F0DsRlfGBxd7lAihCyoRATsyJuQwi0XJvH2rp3pGabG4sgtH3NNBhLqM2IIblvoPfAYqqwuZYJzmhKIOTzN1sXAsl3HvP56WEUfe2eSle4GzfSXdAuR1PlAOPe/s1600/IMG_2608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMi9LCZJGp7uvyUEhM_F0DsRlfGBxd7lAihCyoRATsyJuQwi0XJvH2rp3pGabG4sgtH3NNBhLqM2IIblvoPfAYqqwuZYJzmhKIOTzN1sXAsl3HvP56WEUfe2eSle4GzfSXdAuR1PlAOPe/s640/IMG_2608.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is the MV Dry Beam. She limped into Victoria this past weekend after suffering damage from a rogue wave on her port (left) side while on her way to Asia.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10iusLcKvRwXlt5VoxwbuRPsrYCHtYTROoeh_SO4YOYMNSsQJ0ZMQjFsIT87IW7oo0SDsS3ZOA7Uk1zMUkzaapkvIESfZxN2MPOjQcRK9bTY7BPvRLBv6JSBAzXXfdj924uBMYDwR8sCw/s1600/IMG_2611.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10iusLcKvRwXlt5VoxwbuRPsrYCHtYTROoeh_SO4YOYMNSsQJ0ZMQjFsIT87IW7oo0SDsS3ZOA7Uk1zMUkzaapkvIESfZxN2MPOjQcRK9bTY7BPvRLBv6JSBAzXXfdj924uBMYDwR8sCw/s640/IMG_2611.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A closer look at the ship's damaged port side. Note the bent vertical support beams and shifted load of logs. The news report said the ship was in the open Pacific just outside of Vancouver Island and that the wave was 10 to 15 meters tall. Basically Mother Nature just bitch-slapped this ship and there was nothing the crew could do the prevent it. Fortunately nobody was hurt. The huge, black white and red Seaspan cranes towering over the ship's grey cranes are on a barge docked next to the ship and are in the process of transferring the logs off the ship.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTnW_PIwhs90I-UVxM5AoPyJvV0C-lOLNEwCI9Sg088udvE_wHxg_7GeJ8hfiZo6CrLvVhgUXiHYoGEzRVQ84wXPvJ1tUJ5T9b4aGsVU88KUZnbHCzCUuLD83P5Y1KlOH8sQigvRVb2W1/s1600/IMG_2613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTnW_PIwhs90I-UVxM5AoPyJvV0C-lOLNEwCI9Sg088udvE_wHxg_7GeJ8hfiZo6CrLvVhgUXiHYoGEzRVQ84wXPvJ1tUJ5T9b4aGsVU88KUZnbHCzCUuLD83P5Y1KlOH8sQigvRVb2W1/s640/IMG_2613.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Just as I was about to leave Ogden Point, this rainbow appeared over the harbour. What a nice way to end my walk!</span></div><br />
And that was how I spent my 35th Birthday.<br />
<br />
<strong>The Wandering Oak</strong>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-7869876806920620432012-02-01T13:02:00.000-08:002012-02-01T21:56:10.436-08:00Seven Years Later, I'm Still Blogging<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">S</span>even years ago today I stepped into the blossoming world of blogging. I always like to mark this anniversary because it was through blogging that I got to know and become friends with so many wonderful people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> The title of my first blog page was Inland Shipwreck, an oxymoron of a name that I came up with while living in the middle of Alberta at the time, and it was hosted by the now defunct MSN Spaces. At the time, almost everybody was using that service because it was so easy to access through one's MSN Messenger account.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I published my first post on Feb. 1, 2005 and it took a few weeks before I started to notice any traffic in my visitor stats. Of course I forgot to set my page to public at first, so once I changed that then I started to see the occasional comment on my posts. I think everyone can agree that it feels nice to see comments on your material. It's like: "Yay! People want to share their thoughts on something <strong>I</strong> wrote!"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Slowly at first I developed a small following of regular readers, and in good karma I would read their blogs and leave comments. As time went on, my regular group of readers expanded and it soon became a daily ritual for all of us to surf to each other`s pages and leave comments. I think it became an addiction for many of us. At the time there were so many users on Spaces that it was far too difficult to follow every new blogger out there, so eventually my friends and I just started to stay within our little circle. It was like a friendly community of like-minded bloggers and it really was the Golden era. We even had a name for our little group: Spaces Boulevard.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I made so many friends through that blog of mine, and I don't just mean cyber friends. In many cases a lot of us got to know each other outside of Spaces, exchanging emails, instant messages, text messages, phone calls, exchanging holiday and birthday cards, and even meeting in person. I can't imagine my life without some of those people. You know who you are.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> And then Facebook came along. The bubble burst. Suddenly one could write notes directly on Facebook, and easily share photos, so there was no longer a need for a blogging page. All of my blogging friends migrated over to Facebook and I went with them. Suddenly we were all able to share so much more with each other and that became the new addiction. It wasn't long after that Spaces eventually folded and was swallowed up by, what was it? Wordpress? I admit that it kind of sucks that all the work I put into that page is now lost in cyberspace, but at least I kept my friends.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Then, about three years ago, a few of us caught the blogging bug again. The constantly changing Facebook made it a hassle to post neatly formatted blogs, and, speaking for myself, I wanted something a little more formal. That's when I learned about Blogger. By that time I had moved back to my home on BC's West Coast, so the name Inland Shipwreck no longer applied (though I kept it as an email address). After humming and hawing for a while over a name, a light bulb came on and The Wandering Oak became my new moniker.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> The rest, as they say, is history.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6eCZUIV9aENsyMrXdidQp0PUVUg_GvhSXGbA2CHgy4FgiZv82e06f_jU-dDKNszuI8WZnhNiGlZQEg21VEyf_MzJTLk9PsSaqXFuoa2FF2tK9GNSZRzOzaf5lc1kgEhpzdPQHazwpTQx/s1600/Inland+Shipwreck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim6eCZUIV9aENsyMrXdidQp0PUVUg_GvhSXGbA2CHgy4FgiZv82e06f_jU-dDKNszuI8WZnhNiGlZQEg21VEyf_MzJTLk9PsSaqXFuoa2FF2tK9GNSZRzOzaf5lc1kgEhpzdPQHazwpTQx/s400/Inland+Shipwreck.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Memories from my Inland Shipwreck days.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-9616435789257223992012-01-18T20:46:00.001-08:002012-03-02T20:23:31.743-08:00Snow Days<div style="text-align: justify;"> <strong>T</strong>his week Victoria has been getting a blast of winter weather, the likes of which hasn't been seen since...last winter. It's Canada. It Snows. Even on the West coast. Nevertheless, despite the fact that it's only a few inches of snow and the temperatures are only just a few degrees below freezing, my poor city is crippled by what the rest of Canada would consider just a dusting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrFzRtDGaqz5gAxecfQXOmJ7eScLe1R1sU_RNzR4ZvDZ3eXH_Tb9vOq48ad6O6MjQYxGHF05rIj1oFrmB4IftwOXCU3EdFXLW6WoW7h84gZEw6XfYfHEXkH381mFaC8QucuDnleZBA2ttA/s1600/IMG_2535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrFzRtDGaqz5gAxecfQXOmJ7eScLe1R1sU_RNzR4ZvDZ3eXH_Tb9vOq48ad6O6MjQYxGHF05rIj1oFrmB4IftwOXCU3EdFXLW6WoW7h84gZEw6XfYfHEXkH381mFaC8QucuDnleZBA2ttA/s400/IMG_2535.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Although I'm not really that bothered by the snow, (I used to live in Alberta, so I've been through worse) I'm content to spend my snow days inside listening to my favorite music and building a model of a Navy ship.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1j5yenMB8N814ACbr5OuKDFul8qM_a38dflKErbGH7haf2AxgsD3yrQfJXpMSKoTZswyrJxMr2796h80gdwNUOyiw3aVGz4SX0Tx9FuCWyV_bCiV3EE1nV8FgZ7g0KWgk5pRww3BsUvk/s1600/IMG_2539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1j5yenMB8N814ACbr5OuKDFul8qM_a38dflKErbGH7haf2AxgsD3yrQfJXpMSKoTZswyrJxMr2796h80gdwNUOyiw3aVGz4SX0Tx9FuCWyV_bCiV3EE1nV8FgZ7g0KWgk5pRww3BsUvk/s400/IMG_2539.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Yes, my virtual shipyard is my kitchen table. It really is the only spot in our home I can use for this. I get a lot of natural light from the window, and it's much roomier than the desk in our office/den. The table is also a great working height for me. My lovely wife has no issue with this since I always keep things tidy and have the table cleared off well in advance of any meals. Sandwiched between the two white cloths is a thick layer of newspaper for extra protection. I use water based acrylic paints, and not those smelly enamels. The glue is also non toxic.<br />
I'm not the only one making the most of my snow days. Even our cat likes playing in the snow!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwGEy70cx7SiL-q0_uXrQtOsLDEEdV6d-ecOvIB9CB6dENemgCSSDKtfy5gLDxLUgeFH9qsrSK2ZnfDhyphenhyphenbjAnsW-KLFixXzVVokHRRDq-3sdwVqNacPb-o6rPJySf6IRO7Kvlj3MYRcNXF/s1600/IMG_2544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwGEy70cx7SiL-q0_uXrQtOsLDEEdV6d-ecOvIB9CB6dENemgCSSDKtfy5gLDxLUgeFH9qsrSK2ZnfDhyphenhyphenbjAnsW-KLFixXzVVokHRRDq-3sdwVqNacPb-o6rPJySf6IRO7Kvlj3MYRcNXF/s400/IMG_2544.JPG" width="300" /></a></div> If the sun does appear tomorrow, as is forecast, I think I'll go for a walk down to a nearby lake with my camera. I can already think of a few spots that would look spectacular all dressed in white.<br />
Stay warm.<br />
<br />
<strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200020151207663833.post-76193975032815917002012-01-11T11:35:00.000-08:002012-01-11T11:35:37.319-08:00Making Time For My Hobbies<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">I</span>'m finally getting around to writing my first post of the new year. I know we're already eleven days in, but I've been keeping myself busy and haven't really been able to compose a new blog. So far 2012 has been good to me. It's the time of year when I'm on the Painter's Winter Vacation Program, so I've had a lot more time to get back into some of my other favorite hobbies and activities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I've been able to indulge in my nerdy hobby of building model ships, (I currently have a modern US Navy Destroyer on the go, in case you were wondering), and I'm also working towards bettering my own health by getting back into jogging and even working out. For my entire adult life I've always been on the slim side and this year I've resolved to try my best to put a little more meat on my bones.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> At a recent consultation with a trainer I was told that my Body Mass Index is a little low for someone of my age and height, though I am still considered healthy. It's not like you can play the xylophone on my ribs. Ideally I could stand to gain about 15 to 20 pounds and I'd be okay with that. I've never wanted to be one of those huge steroid monkeys you see in magazines with veins popping out everywhere and more muscle definition in their fingers than most people have over their entire bodies. I think that looks kind of gross. I will look into natural supplements though, and if anyone out there has any advice I'd be happy to hear it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> In other news, I've also been picking up my guitar a little more often these days, though I haven't done any recording or songwriting or anything like that. Lately I've been on a quest to bring the sounds I hear in my head to life, so I've been looking into getting new effects pedals such as a <a href="http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/m101-phase-90"><strong>phaser</strong></a> and a <a href="http://proguitarshop.com/electro-harmonix-stereo-pulsar-tremolo-pedal.html"><strong>tremolo</strong></a>, and perhaps a nice boutique <a href="http://proguitarshop.com/black-arts-toneworks-pharaoh-fuzz.html">fuzz</a> or <a href="http://proguitarshop.com/black-arts-toneworks-black-forest-overdrive.html">overdrive</a> pedal to compliment my amplifier's sweet, tube driven tones. My birthday is just four weeks away. Just saying.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> One challenge I've been facing is organizing my pedals. Like many guitarists, I have a little case that I keep my pedals in that doubles as a board, but over time I've been finding it just isn't working for me. My cat has ripped up the inside lining, and there are no pathways for running power cords and patch cables, so it's looking rather messy these days. To save myself some money I'm trying the D-I-Y approach by building my own custom board out of some scrap wood I've acquired, but that isn't working out as well as I hoped it would. I have the skills, but lack the proper tools and space needed for such a project. I may just have to save up and buy a pre-made one like <a href="http://lytpedalboards.com/featured/lyt-24.html"><strong>this model</strong></a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> I know that it won't be long before I get called back to work and I'll have to put these ideas on hold, but for now it's nice having a little me time. My hobbies keep me out of trouble and I enjoy the unique challenges they present. It's better than wasting my days in front of the TV, or even the computer for that matter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Now go outside and play.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Wandering Oak</strong></div>The Wandering Oakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671394417701249927noreply@blogger.com1