I've slowly been chipping away at my loans these last few years, hoping for that day to come when I'll be debt free. My net worth is positive, thanks to some RRSPs and the down payment I put into my car, but having debt hanging over your head obviously kind of sucks. I have a little spreadsheet that sort of tracks where I'm at. In April of 2008 I owed around $25,500 in both student loans and car loans. At my peak, I ...

I wrote an article last year about a girl named Megan who committed suicide after a boy named Josh on MySpace told her that the world would be better off without her. The tragic element of that tale is that there was never a boy named Josh - it was always a fake person, invented by a friend of Megan's and Lori Drew, that girl's mother. The two of them together gained Megan's confidence on MySpace, and then proceeded to toss insults at her, eventually leading ...

I have an appointment on Wednesday to get a few moles removed from my face. I've had them most of my life, and for the most part they haven't really bothered me. That being said, this last year I've found myself cutting two of them while shaving from time to time, which usually results in them bleeding for hours at a time (real attractive, I know). You can see two of them in this photo. The first is the one on my right cheek, and the second ...

Turns out that my friend Lynn down in Seattle has had a blog for years and years, but for some reason I never knew about it until recently. It's actually a really good read, with quite a few personal entries as well. So if you're looking for some new reading material, definitely head on over and check it out. She'll probably kill me for posting this, but I like living dangerously, so. Lynn was nice enough to send me some fruit flowers for my birthday years ...

About 18 months ago a few people encouraged me to put some of my photos online for sale. Given that my Vancouver scenery ones are the most popular photos in my portfolio, I've pretty much only focused on that. I've actually made a decent amount by selling them, probably enough to be able to afford a cheap lens, which is pretty cool. The next item on my wish list is the Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, which is one of the most affordable full frame cameras on the ...

Today is also my step-sister Alison's birthday. Strangely enough, I went through my Flickr photos and I don't really have any good shots of her, so I had to grab one from her Facebook profile instead. Tonight we're having a little BBQ over at my dad's house for her, which should be fun (although I probably won't be staying too long, as I'm pretty swamped with work). Happy Birthday Alison!

I was wondering today just how long my little garden has been growing for. Looking at my Flickr set, it looks like I had moved a few of the tomato seedlings outside on May 22nd. Here's a shot at the time: I took a few photos today, and wanted to do a little comparison. It's been roughly five weeks since I started, and here's what things look like today: As you can see, things are progressing nicely. I had a little mishap about a week ago where I ...

There are actually a few birthdays tomorrow, so I thought I'd mix the entries up a bit here by starting early. Tomorrow is my good friend Matt's birthday. Yesterday a bunch of his family and friends met at a little place in the country outside of Abbotsford and spent the day sipping a few beers, watching kids kick soccer balls around, and eating some really awesome grub from the BBQ. It was the first sunny day in well over a week, and it was pretty great to ...

..apparently came and went, and I missed it. I guess that means the days are getting shorter now instead of longer. Strangely enough, while I like summer and am looking forward to a few heat waves, my mind always wonders to the next season. For example, the other day there was a bit of rain, and it reminded me of sitting in front of the fire and watching movies a few months ago. Of course, when autumn rolls around I'll be thinking of Christmas and of ...

So, I gotta ask, and I'm probably going to get raked over the coals for doing so. I'm curious as to why there are so many technology events that focus exclusively on women? Some of them actually look pretty good, and I'm actually a bit disappointed that I can't attend. In fact, some of the people I really look up to in the community are female, which makes it all the more disappointing that I'm excluded by nature from some conferences. And that's really my question I guess ...