Tag: Holiday

A Return To My Happy Place

For those of you that love my travel stories, this is the beginning of a new series of them. Once again I visited a new travel agent and had no idea where I was headed. The only criteria were the most affordable cruise to where I can add the most new countries to my list. This resulted in the Norwegian Getaway going to Rotan, Honduras, Harvest Cay, Belize, Costa Maya México, and Cozumel México. Checking in for the flight was different this time and in the end a lot easier. Online you need the address of the Hotel you are staying at, in the past this was only asked at the airport. The hotel I decided on was the Holiday Inn near the airport. I picked that based on price, that they had an airport shuttle, and they arrange shuttles to the port. Miami is very well organized as a home port town. On Saturday (Dec 9th), I woke up really early and had to do laundry and pack. I had meant to do that on Thursday night but for no good reason, that just didn’t happen. My wonderful sister drove me to the airport, dropped me off, and took…

The Life of the Party Must Be At The Party

The Life of the Party Must Be At The Party

On the spur of the moment I came up with a wild goal of getting to my work Christmas party on January 21st. I then told my Physio and OT that this was going to be my goal right after the Christmas holiday. Step 1: The Car Transfer Up to this point , I was barely able to slide on a varnished board but I gave it my everything to be able to do that. However, in doing that my muscles started to build more rapidly and I was moving on to being able to stand using a two-wheel walker, and walking a little with it with a physiotherapist. We had arranged an afternoon with my step-father that had a higher vehicle to get into to try with Physio to get the okay to go. The day I picked turned out to be a quite warm day for January and in one try I was able to get in and place myself in the sea. I couldn’t get my own seat belt on myself but it looked promising. Step 2: Arrange tickets My coworkers were visiting me in the hospital regularly and I got them to arrange to get me…

And It Peaked…

And It Peaked…

“Dream on, but don’t imagine they’ll all come true. When will you realize… Vienna waits for you?” –Billy Joel This is truly a special city. One does not really understand Europe without Vienna. This was the first of the several cities that were new to me on the Contiki tour. I was starting to feel like I was more the tour guide in some of the previous cities and they started to seem ordinary. Not, Vienna. It is September 16th, about 10 days to go until the fateful day and the greatest day ever. When we arrived in Vienna we checked into the a&t Holiday Hostel Vienna then dressed up for a night out. The night started with a concert with a quartet, opera singers, and ballroom dancers. Of course there was an intermission with wine. After this we went to Kern & Waldmann amusement park for dinner. I think the restaurant was called Schweizerhaus. The beer and the food was amazing.  While here others in the group went on rides as I watched. I was getting more and more depressed by the minute. I was really convinced if I went on a ride, that was it. A scene from…

The Two Festive Items So Wrong It Could Ruin Christmas.

The Two Festive Items So Wrong It Could Ruin Christmas.

Why yes folks now that Hallowe’en is over and Remembrance Day is soon to be forgotten, it is now the season that is supposed to bring the sparkle in every little child’s eye. Like most good things that are once good and holy bring out the worst in those that try to modernize and monetize classics. In this post I am going to focus on food items that are not only symbolic to the festive season, but flavours that you would not think could go wrong. Let’s start with the first item egg nog. This is my favourite holiday drink and each year the shelves are filled with thick, over sweetened, dairy goodness. That has its own still enjoyable light alternative. Warmed with rum and nutmeg makes a nice snack on the early winter night. If you think that they could not ruin that you would be very very wrong. This is where Earth’s Own comes to town with their Almond Fresh Nöel Nog. This festive joy comes in at 100 calories per 250mL serving. That assumes that you can actually stomach this. This tastes like almond milk with the hint of sweetness and nog  spices but is thin and…

Santa as Blackmail

In the sprit of the holiday season I would like to make this rant about the blatant misuse of Father Christmas by millions of parents world wide. Throughout this highly commercialized world of Christmas. The sweet jolly old man has gone from the symbol of joy and happiness, to be the evil judge of goodness that has in recent years has never cut any kid off that I know of. Face it people you don’t really need it! Hasn’t our generation learned yet from Disney’s The Little Mermaid that things don’t matter as much as experiences. Then again, experiences are the reason that every parent will get most kids anything they want. You may deny it but for the same reason that you all use Santa to blackmail the kids in the first place you buy them anything. You are self-centered! Using Santa as an incentive to behave provided you benefit. As much so a joy on their faces Christmas morning. So in closing, happy holidays, and get over yourself. Stop being self-centered you are not as important as me.

Daytimes of Christmas

Daytimes of Christmas

These elements were created in Corel Draw 12, Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe Photoshop CS, and Adobe AfterEffects 6. The goal of this project was by changing a few basic elements to an existing show design seamlessly blend in a holiday theme that still made the show look like the original. This project was first conceived on a Friday and needed to be ready to go on air live the following Monday morning. About 12 hours went into this project. The project consisted of re-editing the end of the existing show theme in Avid, a 10-second Bumper, a themed moving background, and a plain background for credits. And changes to the show CG elements of a logo change, a new bug, and show and remove animations. Logo Show Bug Bumper The images above may not be reproduced on any site other than cefm.ca.

Merry Holiday Day!

As the year winds down I would like to thank you for reading my site there has been many changes for me over the past year. Not to mention this site moving 4 TIMES!!! since this time last year. Hopefully this will remain my home for years. It is paid for till November 2004 anyways. Enjoy your December 25th it only comes once a year!