Sometimes the Internet is so Cool

Say what you will about the internet but sometimes it is so cool. Take today for instance. I woke up feeling pretty horrible with a migraine headache so I ended up working from home. Which is why I was able to answer the door to receive a comic book geeks care package from my friend Ryan in Austin, Texas.

In it were a plethora of delights for me including:

1) A signed limited edition Jeff Lemire print of The Nobody.
2) The first Irredeemable trade by Mark Waid.
3) A couple of Owly books that I will enjoy with Anna.
4) Ten issues of Tiny Titans that Anna and I will fight over :)
5) The Ambush Bug Year None limited series
6) Various issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.
7) A giant plush toy of Fone Bone!

Now besides this being an extremely generous gift for one friend to send to another there is something extra special about it. Ryan and I have never met face to face or even talked on the phone. The extent of all of our conversations have been over emails, instant messages and blog posts. I just think it is amazing that the internet gives us the tools to allow friendships like this to become established.

That said I hope to get down to Austin some day to embarrass Ryan with my Canadianisms and check out Austin Books which seems to be a great comic book shop from what I've heard.

So thank you very much Ryan, you are a great friend and now the whole internet knows too!

Guest Post over at The League of Melbotis

Over at Ryan's blog, The League of Melbotis you can find my guest post where I ruminate about digital comics for the iPhone. Specifically Irredeemable by Mark Waid produced by BOOM! Studios.

Summer Photos

The nicest thing about being moved into the new house is we can update all of our photos which we haven't done since January. Here are three new galleries:

Camping in New York

Summer 2009

Anna's First Day of School

Robert J Sawyer Book Signing

Last night I headed out with Alexandre Lemieux to the Clock Tower Pub to meet Canadian Sci-Fi author Robert J Sawyer. The multi-award winning Mr. Sawyer was there to promote the release of his new book, Wake.

Mr. Sawyer began the evening by reading, rather animatedly, the first chapter from his new book. In which the protagonist, Caitlin Decter, is a blind 15 year old girl living in Canada. Caitlin makes use of JAWS which is a screen reader for the blind. Oddly enough, at work, we are adding accessibility features for the blind and we are using JAWS quite heavily.

After the reading I got a chance to talk to Mr. Sawyer and get my book signed. I asked him if he researched JAWS by using it at home, to which he replied he did. Then I asked how long he spent in the mental institution afterward. This got an explosive reaction as he agreed with me that we are not doing enough to help blind people interact with computers. You see JAWS is the industry leader for screen reading technology but it is darn near impossible to use and crashes frequently.

Mr. Sawyer recognized quite a few people in the crowd on sight including Alexandre's friend Christian Sauve who was also in attendance. He answered quite a number of questions posed by the audience on a variety of topics including the future of paper books and the upcoming TV pilot for his book FlashForward. The show is based on the novel in which everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and has a vision of the future. Here is a teaser that aired during last nights Lost.



Flash Forward is one of my two favourite novels by RJS the other being Calculating God.

If you ever get a chance to hear Mr. Sawyer talk you should definitely take the chance to do so as he is an excellent author and genuine human being.

Anna at Alexsa's Ballet Birthay Party

On Saturday we attended Alexsa's 4th birthday party where all the kids got a chance to be ballerinas for awhile.



This kids all had a great time and the cake Anmar made was amazing!

Kilimanjaro Update

As previously mentioned a team of Ottawa executives and Doctors were going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Here are the results of the Ottawa team I received from Jim today:

Through your support I was able to raise over $15,000 in donations for breast cancer. The team as a whole managed to raise over ½ million for breast cancer and there are still several large corporate donations pending so we expect that number to grow significantly. I have included a short summary of our Kilimanjaro climb below those folks who didn’t have access to my climbing blog.

One of the unexpected outcomes of the funding raising drive was getting to touch base with so many friend and colleagues who I don’t see on regular basis. I would like to thank you again for your support of me and the breast cancer research & treatment. I am confident your generosity will make a real difference.

Yours sincerely,

Jim



I returned from Africa last Friday and I am slowly getting back into the swing of day to day life here in Ottawa. I feel great. I don’t appear to have brought home any nasty African diseases or parasites. But like my climbing mates, I did lose weight in the climb (~10 lbs) but I am feeling none worse for it. Climbing Kilimanjaro was a powerful life experience. The mountain and climb were tough (both mentally and physically) but hugely rewarding. It did have its impact on the team, of a climbing team of 23, 20 of us summated. Two of our team (including the trip organizer) were overcome by Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) and were forced to descend. A third developed pulmonary oedema – a very dangerous condition where the lungs start to fill with fluid. As painful as it was (for rest of us and them) to give up on their dream of summating, there was no doubt that right choice was made for each of them. But to put this in perspective, the team had a success rate of over 90% which more than double the mountain average of 40% - no doubt a dividend on the months of training logged through 2008. The scenery on the mountain from jungle to ice field was breathtaking. The climbing team was a really remarkable and diverse group of people to spend 3 weeks with. Most the people on the team had never met before the climb but the common goal and bit of adversity really seemed to cement strong connections between us. The people and country of Tanzania were a captivating as well. People are warm and funny and quite a bit more laid back than a bunch of Canadian doctors and exec’s. We went on a short safari in the Serengeti after the climb. We were fortunate that this time of year the herds are migrating. We saw every African mammal I could name and lots ones new to me as well. Some like wildebeest and zebra’s we saw in herds numbering in the 10,000’s of animals. It is hard to find an aspect of the trip that wasn’t positive, that being said I am happy to be home and picking up the traces of my regular life which I am so fortunate to lead.

A ScotiaBank Place Filled Week

ScotiaBank Skate

On Sunday we headed to ScotiaBank Place to see the sens skills competition. The coolest thing to happen that afternoon was 11 year old Ethan MacLean hitting all four targets in the accurate shooting contest. He beat all the pros.

Then on Monday I played hockey with my Friday night group from Ottawa Rec Hockey. The game ended in a 7-7 draw with Luis, our goalie, making a game saving stop with seconds to go.

We were back once more on Thursday night for the IBM Family skate. Here are some pictures and a short video. Phew...maybe I'll get to see a hockey game there sometime.

Halloween 2008

Here are some pictures of Anna and friends in their Halloween costumes.

Halloween 2008

P.S. Still working on getting more pictures up. Expect the ones from France and Switzerland next.

Ottawa Team to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro

No, I'm not going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. However, Jim Davis will be in order to raise money to fund cancer research. Jim was my bosses boss at Nortel over a decade ago. He was also my bosses boss at Mitel and a big reason I decided to join Mitel.

Here are the details from an email I received from Jim today:

In January 2009, I will joining a team of 30 doctors, professionals and business leaders from the Ottawa area who will embark on the journey of a lifetime, the ascension of Mount Kilimanjaro, the summit of Africa. The ascent/descent will last 13 days (approximately 9 to 15 km of climbing each day). The climb will take the expedition through every climate zone on earth, with temperatures ranging from +40 C in the African Savannah to -45 C at the Summit of Kilimanjaro.

Each of the participants will look after their own costs of ascending Kilimanjaro and have also committed personally raise substantial donations for the “Reaching the Summit for Montfort” challenge. The expedition goal is to raise $500,000 to be invested in Cancer Care Programs with a particular focus on the prevention, detection and treatment of breast cancer. We all cannot help but to be touched by cancer in some way - personally, within our families or within circle of friends. Recent data shows that 39% of Canadian women and 44% of men will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime and despite all the advances in cancer treatment 1 in 4 will die from this disease. Cancer is a top healthcare priority for our society.

Personally I am excited to involved in such an unique challenge in support of such a worthwhile cause. From our experience working with Gerry Savoie (CEO of Montfort) and his team at hospital, I have been impressed with the Montfort’s willingness to take reasonable risks to achieve breakthrough outcomes. I have no doubt that the “Reaching the Summit” challenge will be similarly successful for all those involved – the precipitants, the donors, the patients and ultimately the broader community that will be touched by cancer.

I asking for your support in form of a donation to Montfort foundation (see details below). All donations over $20 are eligible for a Canadian tax receipt. 100% of the donations will be directed toward Cancer Care Programs at the Montfort Hospital working in collaboration with Cancer Treatment Center of the Ottawa Hospital.

Thank you for your support,

Jim

To donate to Jim, go to the Mountfort Foundation. Pick Sponsor Individual or Team. Pick Jim Davies. Pick Make a donation besides Jim's picture and fill out the donation form.

This is a great cause and it certainly will be an amazing accomplishment.

Good luck Jim!

Anna's Fourth Birthday

A collection of photos from Anna's 4th birthday party.



We had a small party for her attended by the Stuchberry-Pottle clan. Thanks to everyone who called to wish and sing Anna a happy birthday.

My First Triathlon

From Triathlon 2008

I did my first triathlon on Saturday with my buddy Paul Brun. I was a blast and I'm hoping that I'll be able to do some more next year. We were in the tri-a-tri category which is a 200m swim, 15km bike and 3km run. This is ideal for new tri-athaletes especially for those of us using our mountain bikes. I finished at 78 while Paul did incredible coming in fourth overall. Click on the photo to the left for more pictures.

Rock Climbing for Dummies

So I went indoor rock climbing on Tuesday night at Vertical Reality with my buddy Alexandre.

Before starting the night I went through my pre-climb checklist:

1. Greasy Chinese food meal - Check
2. Sprained wrist 2 weeks previous - Check
3. Intense fear of heights - Check

With all that in mind I was ready to go.

The cost of climbing for one night was $20. There is a $10 fee per night, $5 for a half hour of training and $5 for equipment rentals. The equipment consisted of a harness and climbing shoes. The shoes are ridiculously small and cramp your toes horribly which is apparently the way they are supposed to fit. Personally I think they are trying to take your mind off the fact you are about to climb a 30 foot way by putting your feet in constant pain.

Anyway, after the quick training session we were ready to climb walls. I was up first so I went about 10 feet up the baby wall. Then I decided that I'd like to find out what it was like to fall off the wall from this height rather than getting all the way to the top. Happily all the equipment was working and Alexandre slowly lowered me to the ground. This gave me the confidence to head all the way to the top of the baby wall.

After coming down it my my turn to belay Alexandre. We then took turns going up or trying to go up the various wall faces at Vertical Reality. We were able to make it up a couple of the easier walls but some of the harder ones were way beyond us.

All in all I had a great time and I'm planning on heading back when I have a spare evening.

Victoria Day Weekend in Boston

Over the Victoria Day weekend we headed down to Boston. We had a great time there visiting the New England Aquarium, follow the Freedom Trail to the Boston Commons and the Boston Children's Museum. The children's museum was particularly awesome. They did a great job of putting it together and the 3 story jungle jim was amazing.

We even lucked out and got to see my Dad, Sue, Chad and Allie while we were there if only for one day.

More pictures can be found here.

Halloween, Halloween, Trick or Treat

We headed up to Janice & Ted's house tonight to take Anna and Peyton out Trick or Treating. You can see some pictures of Anna in costume here.

Anna's First Skate

Our friends, Ernesto, Anmar, Andre and Alexa invited us out to go skating tonight. Amazingly enough this would be the first time that Anna would ever be out on ice skates. One quick trip to Canadian Tire to pick up some bob skates and a helmet and we were all set. Anna loved skating and we'll be heading back to skate night in a few weeks.

Pictures of the skate can be found here.

Anna's Third Birthday

Well today Anna turned three years old. We spent a quiet evening at home having supper with friends. We had a cupcake cake and opened presents after dessert. Her favorite present was a baby doll we bought for her that comes with it's own stroller and bassinet. I will post up some video of the event as soon as I have a chance to convert it.

Also, Anna got a real nice virtual birthday card from her aunt Cathy.

Next up is a pool party on Sunday with all of her friends plus Granddad Simon and Grandma Donna will be in town to celebrate as well.

Apple Picking

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early to make the 45 minute trip to Mountain, ON where we went apple picking at Mountain Orchards. This was the same place we took Anna for her second birthday and we wanted to get back there earlier this year as it would be a) warmer and b) more apples would be on the trees.

We started and ended the day with some of the delicious apple cider mini donuts from the bakery. But in between the kids had fun going through the corn maze, picking apples, riding the tractor and playing in the hay.

Click here for more pictures.

Peyton's Third Birthday

Today our friends Ted and Janice got everyone together to celebrate their daughter, and Anna's best buddie, Peyton's third birthday. We all hung out at Walter Baker Park in Kanata where the kids played in the sprinkler park and playground. Later we had pizza, a cake shaped like Lightning McQueen and opened presents. It took all of Anna's restraint not to blab to Peyton what her gift from us was.

More pictures can be found here.

I Ate Fish!

We stopped by our friends Ted and Janice's today so we could meet up Janice's cousin PJ, who I haven't seen in ten years, his wife Jan and their son Jack.

Jack in a box (pun intended).

It was real nice to catch up with them but the oddest thing is that over lunch, I ate fish. No big deal right, well kinda, considering I haven't eaten fish in 21 years. If only Mom could see me now.

Happy 140th Birthday Canada!

Kate, Anna, myself, the Poole's and Ganesh spent the morning down on Parliament Hill watching the Musical Ride and Snowbirds. From there we took a long walk up to the Museum of Nature to check out their dinosaur exhibits. Then we all had lunch at an Ottawa landmark the Cafe Colonnade.

Anna and Peyton, two patriotic Canadians.

Next step the fireworks!