last week, in order to get all of my crap sorted out in calgary, i rented a car (and my buddy jim will tell you, i paid about 100% too much for it).  i rented it for a week, because that would take me from sunday to sunday and i would have all kinds of opportunities to drive around and run errands and such.  and best of all, since i had rented the car from a place with unlimited mileage, as long as i could afford the $1.299/l at the gas pump, i could drive home for the weekend and visit my parents and possibly even some friends.

i've driven the highway 2 north and south more times than i can count travelling between edmonton and calgary over the years.  it's a pretty dull drive, but it does afford one a chance to take in one of alberta's greatest and perhaps most underestimated assets - its incredible sky.  on a clear day - hell, even on a cloudy terrible day - the drive across the prairie gives you one of the most awe-inspiring views of heaven that i've ever found anywhere on this planet.

even though this timelapse is meant to represent the trip from calgary to edmonton, my camera battery died when i got to leduc (about 20 clicks south of e-town), so this isn't really the entire trip.  however, if this were real-time, and not timelapse, then we would be travelling at about 3,360km/h.  even without the timelapse, i was averaging about 140km/h and would probably have made edmonton in under 2.25 hours, except for missing my exit back to the highway at red deer.

next time.

- g

song of the day for marvelling at the sky: big sky, john o'callaghan with audrey gallagher (agnelli & nelson remix)

there aren't too many people who would believe that i could be lost for words, but in my effort to communicate my experience of my first visit to new york city, words like "sublime" and "ineffable" keep coming to mind. i wrote a summary of each of the five days that i spent there in a journal, with the expectation that i would transcribe them to my blog, and thereby, communicate my feelings about this city to the interweb. but i've found that those musings and sentiments ring hollow without the context of that great city to inform them. i think that the best that i can do is to tell you to go and see it for yourself.

i've gone on and on in my blog about how i'm a "simple boy from the prairies" and how i wonder at the many achievements of mankind, but nothing in my life prepared me for the humbling experience of emerging from penn station in the middle of manhattan and seeing new york city for the first time. i took over 500 photos, and that was a far lot fewer than i would have because i would have loved to photograph every single building, street corner, and person i saw. i had to consciously refrain from taking a photo of every step from the moment i arrived to keep myself from having 500,000 photos and i would have had no time to see anything with my own eyes. ooo... i've never been so enthralled with anything in my life.

it's been over two weeks since i've returned from new york, to very relieved cats and the biggest city in canada that suddenly felt a lot like the wide open spaces of mill woods in south edmonton where i used to go to feel alone and like i was the only person in the world. i don't know why i so suddenly fell in love with a city that is so incredibly busy and impossible as new york - but love at first sight (well, with a city anyway) never seemed more plausible. all i can say is that if i could choose to live anywhere in the world, be anything i wanted, do whatever was possible - i would live in new york. i wonder if there's some way that i can make that happen?

- g

song of the day for loving new york city: "a new york city night", paul van dyck (featuring ashley tomberlin)

wow - i've been busy. i had all these great intentions of telling you all about my trip to new york day by day, but my new project in calgary has taken way more out of me than i had expected.  the work is very exciting and new and challenging and it's forcing me to look at programming and development for the internet in an entirely new and more abstract fashion than my experience has preapred me for and all of that has taken a lot of getting used to.  on top of it, i worry about leaving my cats alone for extended periods of time, and so in my off time, i've been doing more with them, playing more, doing more for them, and making the time that i have with them count more by being with them.  after all, they've given me so much and helped me so much through some hard times, the least that i can do take great care of them when i'm in town and around.

anyway - i'll get around to that as soon as i can. in the meantime, here's my latest timelapse video, demonstrating the challenges of blogging with two needy cats.

- g

song of the day for blogging with two furry interruptions: "wouldn't change a thing", jose amnesia with jennifer rene

ok - i couldn't leave without making one more timelapse video.

i'm excited because this afternoon, i was able to pick up a fanny-pack thing that has the perfect compartment for my camera, which MEANS... i should be able to take a timelapse video of my run around central park!!!  i so can't wait!!!

happy vacation everyone!!

- g

song of the day for saying goodbye to your cats for five days: hold on to me, armin van buuren with audrey gallagher

so i'm preparing for my first ever trip to new york city next week - the greatest metropolis ever known to mankind. i never would have imagined that a visit to a CITY could be so intimidating! i have five days to so and do almost anything that i can imagine. i've freed up all of my available credit; i've got three days with no obligations or commitments; i can do anything i want as long as it doesn't break any homeland security laws or land me in a hospital; and i'm going alone so i don't have to worry about doing things that are too boring or too esoteric to share with a travelling partner. all of this freedom is frankly terrifying!

i've had no shortage of recommendations of things to do from my friends who have been to the big apple before, but the fact remains that i'm stressed about wasting my opportunity to exploit this experience to its fullest. and in the back of my mind is the fact that i'll be leaving my precious cats alone for the longest period ever in about three years. central park! the empire state building! ground zero! the statue of liberty!!! the new york public library!!! wall street!!! broadway!!! times square!!! omg - my mind is collapsing just thinking about all the things that i need to plan to do next week! i've been procrastinating on setting my itinerary but i know i have to have it set before i leave or i will be limited to going to places within walking distance of my hotel, and that will be a tragedy of epic proportions.

this weekend, i took some time for myself to relax and enjoy myself. i watched some summer blockbusters like hitman, live free or die hard, and battlestar galactica... but my big achievement is finally getting to see what i do when i sleep(nap). i have some ideas for timelapse films in new york, but even that is stressing me out.

maybe this (my reluctance to self-indulge) explains why i have 14 days of unused vacation time over 2007 and why i can't focus on anything other than work and making a better 2009 than my current year will allow.

- g

song of the day for enjoying a lazy weekend nap with your favourite cats: "into the dark", ferry corsten with howard jones

ps. if you have time, check out my buddy jim's post on the toronto sun. chances are that wherever you live, you have a shitty tabloid newspaper rag like the sun that profits from fear-mongering and sensationalism. having empirical data to support your loathing of such an institution is a great great thing. thanks, jim!!!