Category: It IS all about me

Another guest post at Canadian Family, and another subscription to give away!

Congratulations to Judy of Mother, Wife and More who won the first of five subscriptions to Canadian Family magazine that I have to give away this week. I really love what she wrote in her comment, too:

The best tip anyone can get for photography is to remember not every photo will turn out, and not to get discouraged. Best thing my husband first taught me. Find something you like in each photo and learn to fine tune it. With kids it is guaranteed each photo won’t turn out!

So true! In fact, I’d say more than half of the pictures I take don’t turn out like I expected, and only a small percentage of those are worth sharing. The other thing I’d add to Judy’s thought, though, is to not be too quick to delete a photo. Sometimes the outtakes are as much fun as the keepers!

I’ve got another post up on Family Jewels, the Canadian Family magazine blog. Today’s subject is composition, filled with ideas on how to go from “taking” a photography (by simply clicking the shutter as soon as you put the camera to your eye) to *making* a photograph that tells its own story.

And I’ve still got four subscriptions to Canadian Family left to give away! I’m going to shake things up — to enter the draw for today, you’ll have to share this post on Twitter, Facebook, your own blog, or some other social networking site.

Here’s the fine print:

  1. Today’s giveaway is for one one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine.
  2. To enter, tweet a link to this blog post or link to it on Facebook or promote it on your own blog or some other social networking site before noon EDT on Wednesday July 14. IMPORTANT: You’ll have to come back and leave a comment to let me know you did.
  3. Winners will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org from eligible entries on Wednesday 14 July 2010.
  4. You must leave a valid e-mail address and allow me to share your contact information with Canadian Family magazine to arrange for the subscription delivery.
  5. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and posted here.

Thanks, and be sure to come back tomorrow for more photo and freebie goodness!

Guest blogging and a Canadian Family giveaway

I am so excited!

First of all, I am excited because I have a guest blog post up at Canadian Family magazine’s Family Jewels blog today. I’m going to be blogging there all week! I’m writing a series called “The Family Photographer” with tips, tricks and thoughts about how to improve your mad photographic skillz. Fun, eh?

Today’s post is all about light: how to see it, how to use it, and why I think it’s the single most important consideration in any picture. Go on, take a read and let me know what you think!

canadianfamily.ca

Second, I’m excited because Canadian Family has provided FIVE subscriptions for me to give away to all of you. How awesome is that? I waffled for a while on whether to give away one each day or all five at the end of the week. I think one each day will be more fun, and a little bit more fair to everyone.

If you would like to be entered in today’s draw for a subscription to Canadian Family magazine, leave me a comment on this post. I’d really appreciate it if you could include a suggestion, topic idea, tip or trick that you think I should share. Is there something you’d like to know about taking better pictures? Got a secret worth sharing? I’d love to include it in the upcoming posts!

Here’s the fine print:

  1. Today’s giveaway is for one one-year subscription to Canadian Family magazine.
  2. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon EDT on Tuesday July 13.
  3. Winners will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org from eligible entries on Tuesday 13 July 2010.
  4. You must leave a valid e-mail address and allow me to share your contact information with Canadian Family magazine to arrange for the subscription delivery.
  5. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and posted here.

Thanks to Canadian Family for the guest blogging opportunity and the fun giveaway. Don’t forget to check back each day this week — there are four more subscriptions to give away after today!

Thoughts on traveling safely

No, I’m not really thinking about seat belts and car seats and whatnot. Ever since we started planning our trip out east, I’ve been debating on whether to mention online when we’ll be out of town.

I’m torn on the issue. On the one hand, the house won’t exactly be empty as the dog and dogsitter with be there, and it’s not like I have posted my address on the blog. On the other hand, it just doesn’t seem to be prudent to broadcast to up to 800 visitors a day (and that’s not counting the twitter followers and Flickr friends) that I’m out of town. On the other other hand, I’d like to have the freedom to blog and post pictures and tweet as we go along and share the trip in real time. On the other other other hand (see, mothers really do need four hands!) I do not want to feel stressed about getting something posted just for the sake of it, and I know myself well enough by now to know that may become an issue. (Obsessive personality much?) On the other other other other hand (yep, I could use five hands these days) I will also dread facing a week and a half of blog constipation, let alone the anxiety of facing four thousand unposted photographs, if I don’t do it as I go along, and if I’m going to go through all that bother anyway, why not just post them as I go?

Yeesh, I’ve stressed myself out just thinking about it. Aren’t you glad you’re not married to me? Poor Beloved, I really am like this a frightful amount of the time.

Yes, we’re leaving soon. Ish. (waffle much?) Yes, I’m excited. Yes, I have a bunch of posts half written and ready to schedule in case I do decide to go for a stealth departure. No, I’m really not very good with secrets.

What would you do?

Edited to add: Not exactly related to this post, but I had to laugh when I read this article in today’s Citizen about the top five most photogenic places in Maritime Canada. Number one? Lunenburg, five minutes from where we’re staying. And I’ve got three of the five on our itinerary. “No Beloved, I swear I did not plan the entire vacation around a photo op.” *pause* “Much.”

My blog and pony show

Back in late 2005 or so, I went to a Communications Community Office presentation on blogging. The CCO is a government communicators network, and the speaker was one of the leading experts on blogs as an emerging communication medium. I remember watching the presentation and thinking, man I’d love to have that gig some day.

Fast forward to 2010, and I have that gig! Today, I’m doing a presentation at ALI’s Government and Social Media conference downtown. How cool is that? I’m going to be talking about how the Army multimedia team is using YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and some of the other tools of social media. Here’s our abstract:

Social Media Is Not One-Size-Fits-All: How To Choose The Right Tool For Your Audience, Your Message, And Your Organization’s Goals

The secret is out – and now many government departments and agencies are considering launching their own YouTube channel or Facebook fan page. But how do you choose which tools are the right ones for your organization?

The Army News team in the Department of National Defence has posted more than 1000 videos to YouTube over the last two years and those videos have been viewed nearly 1.5 million times. Their channel is currently ranked within the top 75 YouTube channels for Canadian news and reporting. They’re also using Twitter, iTunes and Flickr to release information, and have plans to launch a Facebook fan page soon.

Social media is not one-size-fits-all. Not every tool is appropriate for each situation. In this session, you will learn how to choose the right tool for your audience, your message and your organization’s goals.
You’ll also review some common issues to consider when using social media tools in a government environment, including:

* Tweeting in both official languages
* Managing comments – and responding when necessary
* Giving your organization an authentic “voice” and personality through social media
* Developing content that is relevant, interesting and timely

It’s funny to think back to the days when I was first evangelizing social media in the workplace, and how I got an early opportunity to ghost-write our Minister’s blog (that was eventually strangled before birth by the approvals process) largely because I was one of the few people in our organization who had even heard of blogs, let alone who was actually sustaining one. Back in the day, I was really on the cutting edge with this whole government / social media movement. But the year I was at home on maternity leave with Lucas was the year that the social media became mainstream in the government communications community, and I fell out of the loop entirely.

And now I’ve come back full circle. How could I have guessed that my obsession with blogs, tweets and sharing pictures of my boys online would have helped me in my professional career? And how convenient that I learned the ins and outs of Photoshop just a few months before I found myself using it at work.

Funny how life works, isn’t it?

Ottawa At Home magazine features local bloggers

The summer issue of Ottawa at Home magazine has just been published, and there’s a fun article featuring a couple of my favourite “mom” bloggers: Andrea and Annie and Julie and Loukia and me! You can take a peek at the online version here — click on “Ottawa at Home” (second row centre) and page ahead to pg 30.

It’s a fun little article, but seriously, do we still have to keep using the “mom” adjective? Can’t we just be some Ottawa bloggers? But I digress…

And, speaking of digressions: Dear MSM, I am very grateful that you featured me and my little blog in your article. But, if you are talking about a Web site in a print article, it would be really nice if you put the URL into the article, too.

And if you missed the hand-me-down underwear debate, you can find it here. For what it’s worth, I’m still a little squeamish on the idea. 😉

Push-up challenge = FAIL

So DaniGirl, how’s that push-up challenge going?

*sound of crickets*

Yeah. I totally fell off the wagon on this one. Aside from doing two sets of 15 push-ups at the gym on Saturday, I haven’t done a single set in the last week or two. Push-up fail. Mind you, I’m still pretty damn impressed with myself that I can do 30 push-ups in three minutes, which is 30 more than I could do at the beginning of last month!

I made it to Week 4 Day 2, I think, before I missed a day that stretched into two or three, and then I thought maybe I ought to backtrack a few days, just to get caught up, but didn’t, and then, well, life kinda happened and suddenly it was two weeks later.

Oops.

I’m waffling on whether to start up again. I figure I can start back on Week 4 Day 1 and just push (snicker) on for the final two weeks of the program and be done with it. One must finish what one starts, right? For the principle of it, if nothing else. But, did you look at the last two weeks of the program? Whimper. It looks (warning, whine ahead) haaaarrrrd.

Of course, the lazy part of me that is not overly keen on the whole physical exertion thing is pretty damn pleased with the progress to date and willing to call the push-up thing conquered once and for all. I mean, the original goal was to be able to do “some” push-ups at some unspecified future date. 30 in three minutes definitely qualifies as a reasonably impressive definition of “some” especially when compared to the previous standard of “none.”

Nobody seemed to notice that I didn’t even blog about the push-up challenge last week — does that mean that y’all have fallen off the wagon, too? I know Liisa mentioned on twitter that she has, um, stumbled recently, too. Solidarity, sista! 😉

Okay, bloggy peeps, whaddya think? Have I proven myself on this one, or do I have to face this down to the end?

An ocean of fear

So as I mentioned, we’re starting to count down to our Nova Scotia vacation this summer. We’ve got a beautiful seaside cottage booked that has all the amenities I could possibly want or need, save for one: the bed doesn’t have any seatbelts or restraining straps. Not for the toddler, which will be a separate challenge, but for me.

You see, I have this deep and primal fear of wide open spaces and deep water. And seriously, does it get any more wide open or deep than the ocean? Gulp. It actually makes me a little squeedgy just thinking about it, being right there next to all that wide open blue-ness, with only a thin wall and tiny strip of road between me and the abyss. My chest is a little bit constricted, and the back of my knees are twitchy as I type. Honestly, I can’t even use the satellite view on Google Maps to scope out our cottage rental without feeling a lurching sense of vertigo.

I’ve always had this fear of wide open spaces. When I was a kid, I read every single book in the public library on astronomy, but almost never went outside and actually looked at the stars, because every time I did I had to dig my fingers into the grass to hold on for dear life, lest the earth fling me up into the endless vortex of space. When Beloved and I first got married, we had a little red Sunfire and I loved that car because I could sit in the driver’s seat with my seatbelt on and look at the stars through the moon roof, strapped in and perfectly secure. You might be laughing, but I’m serious!

It’s not just the night sky, though. You know those really big satellite dishes, not the consumer cable ones but the really big mothers? Yeah. They make me feel a little squeedgy, too. Something to do with them broadcasting out into space, I think, although there is absolutely nothing logical about this particular phobia — it’s as irrational as it is deep-seated.

The fear of deep water I may have come by through nurture instead of nature. When I was a kid, I jumped out of our little 16 foot boat to retrieve an anchor that had come loose from its line. Growing up in southern Ontario, it was my experience that any body of water in which you could see the bottom must be relatively shallow, so I jumped over the edge expecting to thump into the sandy bottom under about four feet of water. Unbeknownst to me, the perfectly clear water was closer to eight or ten feet deep, and I plunged in way over my head without touching the bottom, startling myself out of at least a year’s growth.

And it’s not just about swimming, either. When I flew to Europe in 1995 and again in 1999, I had to spend a lot of time telling myself, “We’re still flying over Labrador. Still flying over Labrador. Still flying over Labrador. Don’t look, don’t look. Still flying over Labrador, it’s all good.” *pause* “Okay, flying over Ireland now, flying over Ireland, I’m sure we’re flying over Ireland by now.” For the whole flight.

This spring, my folks went on a two week cruise from LA to Hawaii and back, and while I envied them the experience of visiting Hawaii, there’s no way I could do it. The cruise, I mean. The idea of being on a ship without *any* land in view? That’s so never going to happen. I can’t even stomach the idea of flying into Hawaii, because it’s this little tiny island in that vast sea of, well, sea. It wouldn’t take anything to slip off the edge of the island and sploosh, into the drink. *shudder*

So why the hell am I so hell bent on visiting the ocean that I’m willing to subject the entire family to 36 hours trapped in the car so I can spend a week not sleeping without tying myself into the bed for fear of the sea sucking me out into its murky spaciousness? For the same reason I always loved astronomy as a kid, I think. Like a moth drawn to a lightbulb. Because what terrifies you also fascinates you, and what repulses you is also compelling, at a fundamental level.

Plus, I don’t like to be afraid of things. I’m stubborn that way. While there’s no way in hell I’m ever going on a ship across that ocean, or even a big boat that carries me out of sight of land, I’ll choke down my fear and hold my breath to stand ankle deep in the surf. And try really hard not to shudder in front of the kids.

I have three kids, so not much scares me. Snakes, blood, heights, enclosed spaces — no problem. Bugs give me the creeping heebies, but what scares me on a truly visceral level are things that are deep, and vast. Like the ocean.

What freaks you out?

Coffee overload?

The people I work with like to tease me about the amount of coffee I drink, I think because finding a way to adapt my at-work coffee habit was one of my first priorities when I got here. “Yes, thanks for the desk and computer, nice to meet you all, but where is the nearest Tim Hortons please?”

And, in the manner of so many addicts the world over, I am a little defensive about my drug of choice. I find myself bracing for people’s reaction when the topic of how much coffee I consume comes up, and ready with a quick justification. “Well, it’s better than heroin, right?”

So by now you’re wondering, how much coffee does she drink anyway? *twists toe in the carpet* Um, not much. Really, just two a day. Two, um, extra-larges each day. It doesn’t seem like a lot to me, but at 500 ml each, when you do the math that’s a litre of coffee a day. And a couple of days a week, I’ll find room for another large cup in the afternoon, or a big mug of green tea, which has less but still a significant amount of caffeine. If I’m at home, I brew a pot in the morning and have two mugs worth, and then likely have another cup, maybe two, somewhere later in the day.

The thing is, I know I’m addicted to it. Physically, mentally, psychologically addicted. If I happen to be feeling sick, even if I can’t stand the taste of the coffee I have to choke down a cup in the morning or I’ll feel really wretched. And if I’m off my routine, it’s important that I find a way to accommodate those precious cups of morning coffee, at least the bare minimum of one extra-large worth.

But really? I’m okay with that. Mostly. Like I said, it’s not heroin. It’s not crack. It’s not porn. There are worse things to be addicted to than coffee. It’s socially acceptable, easily accessible, there are health benefits in moderation, and the amount I drink is not doing a horrendous amount of damage to me physiologically. I think.

Health Canada recommends a maximum caffeine intake of 400 mg daily, which is about three 8 oz/250 ml cups of coffee. I figure my daily intake is around 500 – 600 mg, so there is some room there for improvement. I’m trying so hard to treat my body with respect, to be the healthiest me I can be. So on one hand, the coffee-lover in me says, “If you are living a life of moderation, this one isn’t going to break the bank.” On the other hand, I am intellectually concerned about any addiction.

I’m not sure I’m in a place right now where I am willing, let alone able, to give up coffee or caffeine entirely. Tiredness is my Achilles heel — I can deal with a lot of crap, but if I’m tired or hungry, I am irrational and incompetent. I know this about myself. Coffee is like a balm on my soul, a respite and a comfort, and I truly enjoy the experience of consuming it. But I don’t like being beholden to it. I spend a lot of time lately noticing how much coffee I’m drinking, and thinking. Just, you know, thinking.

So tell me, how much coffee do you drink? Are you a java junkie too? Or do you have another benign addiction that haunts you in guilty moments?

The one where she rides her bike to work

The very first day I started working at this office back in November, as I drove the short jaunt to work I thought to myself, “And hey, maybe I can even ride my bike to work in the summer.” Even as I thought it, though, it was in that “ha ha, not likely” kind of way. Once you get to a certain age, you begin to intimately understand your own peccadilloes, and begin to get a little cynical about your own optimism. (How’s that for a complex personality?)

But as winter gave way to spring, I’d drive along the route to work imagining what it would be like to be coasting along on my bike. It’s not a long ride, just a little bit shy of ten kilometers. It’s flat, which is nice. Despite the fact that the road is busy and crowded with fast-moving and frankly terrifying traffic the whole way, you can traverse just about the entire distance on either a bike path well removed from the road or through an idyllic little suburb of tree-lined, sidewalkless streets where cars are not welcome during the morning rush.

So as April gave way to May, I began to collect what I’d need to actually ride my bike to work instead of just spend inordinate amounts of time thinking about it. I acquired an extra-large thermos, because the need for hot coffee is fundamental. I got a shiny new red bike with commuter tires to replace the 15-year-old mountain bike with knobby tires that slow you down. I got a rack and some panniers for the back, so I could transport my coffee, and my camera, because I won’t leave home without either. I got a new lock, and I upgraded the seat on my bike. I planned the route, and took a couple of test rides through the neighbourhood to see if my 40-year-old ass was going to survive a 10 km bike ride after almost a decade of non-riding. And then the weather turned crappy and cold and rainy and I had a good excuse not to ride.

This morning, though, the skies were brilliant, the forecast was fair, and I had no excuses left. I made arrangements for Beloved to pick up the kids from daycare in the afternoon. I packed my gear and a set of dress clothes in my panniers, brewed a pot of coffee while I showered, and filled my thermos. And, with a giddy sense of broken routine, I took off into the early morning sunshine on my shiny new red bike.

I was just getting into a nice rhythm when I hit a moderate bump and something went SPROING and nearly yanked me off my bike. The hook that is supposed to hold the pannier in place somehow came loose and got wrapped around the axle of the rear tire. I managed to pull it out, but I think I’ll be taking that one back to the store. I’m just glad I didn’t go ass-over-teakettle, or I would have never convinced myself to get back on the bike again.

The rest of the ride was idyllic, I have to admit. I love early mornings, and riding through the perfectly still but brilliantly sunny morning was heavenly. I cruised past the horses in their paddock that I admire from my car each morning, and could smell the earthy, grassy smell of the pasture. I kept a moderate but steady pace, and the hard core cyclists flew past me.

I was about half way when I realized that I’d forgotten my dress shoes at home and would have to wear my gym shoes with my dress pants for the rest of the day. Oops. That’s always a classy look.

I made it the rest of the way in without incident. It took me a little more than 30 minutes, including the time it took to pry the pannier hook out of the axle and wash the axle grease off my fingers in the dew-soaked clover. I had another issue trying to lock my bike in the warehouse of our office when I could not force my key into the new U lock I’d bought, and it was a good half-hour later that I realized the reason the key wasn’t fitting into the lock was because I was trying to fit my filing cabinet key into my bike lock. Small details. And I realized that if I’m going to be riding through shady, tree-lined streets in the early morning, I should learn to breathe with my mouth closed. I ate my first bug this morning, too.

So, in the end, the actual experience of riding my bike to work was extremely pleasant, while the details of getting myself to work in presentable condition for work were a little more challenging. Did I mention I also forgot to put on deodorant this morning? Bad day to forget that one. But my butt only aches a little bit. That’s a good start, right?

And let me tell you, even with the breakfast bug and the sore butt and having to wear my gym shoes with black pants all day? Still a million times better than riding the bus to work.

The 100 push-ups challenge – week four!

Maybe it’s because I had to call a do-over for week 3, or maybe it’s because I’m starting to build up some actual upper body strength, but you know what? The push-ups weren’t so hard last week. In fact, on Day 2 of Week 3, I just about breezed through my sets, cranking out 52 of them, and then went on to crank out 57 on Day 3. Woot! More than half way to the goal of 100 push-ups!

Just when I was feeling all full of myself and my newly discovered awesomeness, I got knocked down a peg or two at the gym. I’d dropped down on the mat and pulled off what I considered a completely excellent 20 push-ups in a single set (!) when I looked over at a guy in the corner. He had a heavy ball that he was rolling back and forth from hand to hand in between each push-up. As I watched, he did more than 20 without pausing, and I have no idea how long he’d been doing them before I noticed him. So I waited until he’d gone, got my own ball and tried it out — and I think I still have the bruise on my sternum from where I fell on the ball. I think I’ll stick to the regular push-ups and try not to get cocky from here on in.

How are y’all doing?