Capitalism Update and Film to see

It turns out i'm only a grinch with a small 'g'. I put up the Nintendo Wii on ebay and a guy from Kitchener emailed me with an offer of what I paid plus $100.00. I think I could have got more if I left it up, but he really wanted to get for his kids and 'had almost given up'. We made the deal and I have $100.00 more dollars to my name. Not too shabby.

With some of the money, I took Julie out on a date. We went to see the film 'Blood Diamond'. This is probably the best film I have seen in recent memory. It has everything you want in a great film: action, acting, good plot (although a big goofy at times, just like any hollywood movie), and a wider purpose. Seriously, GO SEE THIS FILM!

Adventures in Capitalism

Today I was at Futureshop returning a gift Julie and bought our sister-in-law which she had already received. I was at the customer service desk and looked to the left as some commotion was stirring. Several middle aged parenty looking folks were gauking at pile of about six brand New Nintendo Wiis which the store had just received from their supplier. I quickly jumped in the line, as I heard that these things were selling for well over twice the retail price. I got the second to last one. The lady behind me was angry with me, as I told her my intention was to post it on Ebay to make a profit. "How could you do such a thing? So many parents are waiting in so many lineups waiting to buy their children this." I smiled, as I thought of the oodles of cash that would soon be flowing into my coffers.

Check out my ebay listing here. Happy Bidding!

Great Post

Well, I've hit a wall of sorts with this blog. I find myself having tons of ideas, but they take time, time that I can't squeeze in. I was chatting with a friend today (Michael, link to his blog on the right, at which you will see a photo of a manequin of Pavoratti) who concurred with the lack of blog inspiration happening right now.

Anyway, one topic I have really wanted to talk about was Social Justice. Julie and I are trying to be much more conscentious of the world market and how we as consumers in the west impact lives in the third world. We have given up Wal-Mart, have gone all free trade coffee, are trying to get educated in the world of textiles, slave labour and the backward world markets.

As a Christian, this really hits home, as I feel we are not only called to love other North Americans, but all those around the world, and our actions (ie, the things we buy) make a major impact on the people of earth. One of the greatest bloggers I know of is Nathan Colquhoun, and he has a post called How Do we Change this Horrible System regarding poverty. This is a great post.

He blogs a lot, so it might be a few posts down.

READ IT! Comment over there or here or wherever if it floats your boat.

First CD

Was just working here at my computer with itunes shuffling randomly through my music library. Reminded me that the first Compact Disc I ever owned was the soundtrack for Apollo 13, and that I still, to this day, enjoy the music from it.

What was your first CD? (not your first album, your first CD, tapes don't count) Do you still listen to it?

One of Those Days, Pt. III - The Conclusion

This is the conclusion to One of those days parts 1 and 2. Read those first if you haven't already.
I wrote this on the night of Monday October 16:


I then showed everyone the tear in the screen and they too were convinced what had happened. The proprieter of the hotel gave us the runaround (the first thing I noticed when entering the room to drop off my stuff the day before was the sign which reads "La empresa no se hace responsible de objetos perdidos". You have one guess what that means. The people at the hotel had left the back window open (accidentally), making it possible for someone to come in and take my wallet (Drivers license, Sin card, health card, Visa, US$180.00, and others) and my black CD case along with my backups of the first three days of shooting. I now had a laptop with photos on it that were not backed up. That meant that if the laptop crashed (or say, was stolen), my work from the first three days would be toast. This is a scary thing for a photographer on the field.

My first order of business was getting these photos backed up on some sort of media. Robert only had a handful of CD's (not nearly enough for the 12 gigabytes I had accumulated so far). Tacuba doesn’t have anywhere to purchase DVD's. We decided to drive (based on information from the proprieter woman) 40 minutes to a town. We found the supermarket she was talking about, but they didn't carry DVD's. Time well wasted.

So here I am, 11:00pm, typing out this little entry. I'm backing up all I can on Robert's CD's and we'll head into that same town tomorrow when the stores are open. Unfortunately, we have four stories to cover tomorrow, which means a long, long day as it is. So tomorrow night I get to stay up and backup 5 discs worth of material (at about 40 minutes per disc to burn).

What surprises me as I sit here writing this, is how I feel about the whole situation. I've never been robbed before. Not only am I thankful that nothing else was taken (that is a major blessing to be sure), but I can't get bummed about this, even a little. If anything, it has made the day pretty exciting.

Most of all though, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to even be here in the first place. Today we visited a family affected by HIV. The children are beautiful and I completely forgot about my own miniscule problems during the 3 hours we spent talking with them and playing with their kids (for me playing = taking photos). This afternoon, the stars aligned and I had some of the best shooting/lighting conditions so far on the trip, which got me so pumped. Plus, I talked with Julie, and she got a full time job for three months!

Being here has been so incredible. I absolutely love this work. It is difficult, and stressful, but it is the most rewarding work imaginable.

Tomorrow morning I am going to look out behind our little building and see whoever did this just took the cash and tossed the wallet. That would be sweet. Goodnight.

UPDATE:

Last week I heard from Febe who told me that the wallet had been dumped in front of the hotel, sans cash. I've already replaced just about everything, but at least it was returned and I don't have to stress out about identity theft.

One of Those Days, Pt. II

If you didn't read 'One of Those Days' yet, read it first. It is just below this post. Here is the continuation of a few of the adventures I had in El Salvador, I wrote this the night of October 16, 2006:

After dinner last night (Sunday October 15), I came into my room and was trying to de-mosquito it. I went into the bathroom for the first time and saw an open window (with a completely ripped screen). I thought nothing of it, as this place is pretty rustic. I just closed the window to keep the bugs out. I blankly noticed a bit of dirt on the shower floor. Again, you have to see this place.

During this two hour meeting on Monday morning I realized what had happened. During our 45-60 minute dinner up at the main building of the hotel (30 metres away), someone had slashed the screen, jumped into the bathroom, quickly grabbed my wallet and ran out the same way. I remarked at the fact that everything was in that room at that very time: my laptop, both my cameras, all my equipment and my ipod. This of course, was my latest theory, as we talked earlier about where the last time I remember having it was. The last time I actually used it was at the cafe, so I was wondering if I had been a dumbass and left it somewhere.

After the meeting I told my new theory to Robert and the others. They were naturally sceptical as I wasn't entirely sure if I even had my wallet at the hotel after our day away.

So we went off to our first story, a family who was a 1 hour (or so) trek away. We drove about 20-25 minutes through the mountain roads (no pavement, 4 wheel drive and holding on to something secure a must), then hiked 25 minutes through coffee plantations and over rivers [picture on the left was that very hike] on an equally treacherous mountainous landscape. We reached the family and did the story. This was a special family as they were affected by HIV. The woman had delivered a baby via c-section just two weeks before. We marvelled as we walked back to the trucks how she hiked these paths pregnant, and then newly cut after her delivery [Photo on the right].

Anyway, as I was packing up my gear to walk back, I started feeling pain; little sharp pains in different parts of my body. Then I saw them, little angry looking ants all over my shirt, arm, camera bag. I freaked out a wee bit. Balta and Robert helped brush me and my gear off, then we got on our way. I was still a little sore from all the bites.

The afternoon was really rushed. However, the lighting was beautiful and the setting was perfect. We got the story done in about an hour.

Anyway, we did our two stories for the day, and we came back to the hotel. I was getting my equipment ready to backup all the photos I had taken that day on the DVD's I had brought. I quickly looked around for the CD case in which I kept all 8 blank DVD's (one for each day of shooting) and the DVD's I brought for entertainment (Battlestar Galactica, Season 1). Everything was comfirmed. It was gone.

TO BE CONCLUDED

One of Those Days

Well, I arrived home from two weeks in El Salvador on Saturday night. I was thinking of posting on the road, but we thought we shouldn't (because there are people in this world who might take advantage of my absence by throwing a huge party in my home, and inviting too many).

It was a pretty grand adventure. Much more exciting and 'impactful' than I was expecting. I actually did a wee bit of writing on the trip, and will post it here in a series describing some aspects of life as a photographer on the field:

One of Those Days

I'm sitting in a rustic hotel room in Tacuba, El Salvador, watching the green status bar inch its way to the right on my memory card transferring it's billions 1's and 0's of data onto my laptop. It's late, about 10:30pm. It's warm, probably about 27 degrees, I'm finding it a bit of a battle keeping hydrated to tell you the truth. I'm pretty upbeat, which may be surprising after you hear what kind of day it has been. Today is Monday, October 16^th.

I woke up around 6:30am with the sun blinding my eyes. I am convinced that Tacuba, El Salvador is rooster Mecca. You know how cartoon roosters crow when the sun rises, well these buggers are jumping the gun by about 7 hours. Don't get me wrong, they do their job in the morning, but they are pretty anxious.

Anyway, I woke up and started getting ready for another day of shooting for World Vision Canada. I am here on a resource gathering trip with a journalist named Robert Vesleno. He and I get along marvously, which is fantastic. I got all my clothes and got ready to go for breakfast. My last item to add to my person was my wallet, which seemed a bit elusive, then even more elusive, then downright hiding on me. My adrenaline kicked up a notch and I started looking under beds, through my luggage and even in the bathroom. No luck.

I went outside to find Balta, a communications representative from World Vision El Salvador, and our driver for these two weeks. He had the key to the Mazda pickup which had become our beast of burden for the trip. I wanted to look in my spot in the back seat to see if It had somehow fallen out of my pocket. Nothing.

After a second go through of our room, and a crazed memory scan of where I last remember having it, I asked Robert for his international cell phone in order to cancel my Visa. I called Julie and told her I thought I may have been pickpocketed the day before at a city festival (it was our day off, and I had eaten some frog's legs, which taste exactly like...you guessed it, chicken). She of course showed her shock and surprise through a familiar 's' word that is her favourite for thoughtful expression. I concurred with her.

I talked with the other three of my companions: Robert, Balta, and Febe (pronounced Faybay, another communications expert from WV E.S. and our translator), and over breakfast (which of course included corn tortilla's, because EVERYTHING includes corn tortilla's, not that I don’t like corn tortilla's, but not three times a day for 9 days straight) we realized that I had it at a cafe/hotel we stopped at the day before on our way to our own hotel from the festival. We decided we would call once we got the ADP office.

ADP stands for Area Development Program, and World Vision Canada supports 4 of these (out of 18) in the whole country of El Salvador. Each ADP is in an area of the country which has the worst poverty rates. World Vision sets up an office in the area or municipality and starts supporting local people through child sponsorship, gift catalogue and other giving from supporting countries (like Canada).

So, this morning we were going to go to the ADP office's devotional time. The director of World Vision El Salvador (everybody's boss) just happens to be visiting this ADP the same time we are, so everyone was in good spirits for the worship and devotional time (none of which we understood in the least). After that was over, Febe called the cafe we visited the day before asking about my wallet. Nothing.

We then went into a meeting with the manager of the ADP itself to talk about the stories we would be covering. I have little to do with these meetings. They are more for Robert, who is covering the 'story' side of the 'stories', while I of course cover the photos. This meeting lasted like two hours. Me and Balta sat in the back helplessly wondering when we would get out to our two stories which we would be covering that day. Don't get me wrong, this time is important, just long for those who add nothing to it. It was during these two hours that it hit me: I knew exactly where my wallet was. To be more precise, I knew exactly how my wallet came not to be my wallet (or my money - $180 US dollars).

TO BE CONTINUED....
and don't worry.
I will be posting photos of the actual people.
I just have to go through them all to pick my favourites
(there are over 6000 photos to sift through).
Here is a small sample though

Apologies

Sorry for complaining on the last post. Everybody is just as busy, if not more busy than I am. So, Julie and I went away last weekend and I was making it an experimental photo experience. Here are some of the products of those experiments.

<-- A lighthouse on the very south end of the island.

Julie in the doorway nook of that same lighthouse-->

A sunset West Beach, looking out at Georgian Bay.

Posting for the rest of us

Ok. So I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Here is what is happening.

Julie and I had a very cool weekend. We stayed at a B & B on a native reserve on an island in Georgian Bay! It was interesting chatting with the lady who runs the B & B about native culture and current issues. We learned quite a bit, and got to go on a car ferry! We stayed in the Oriental Room

I am going to El Salvador with World Vision. This is a supreme opportunity for me, and it is pretty much number 1 on my priority list.

With that in my mind, I have a huge amount of work to do before I go. I want to

1. Finish up the wedding I did on September 9th, deliver that to the couple.
2. Complete several smaller jobs, including more work for Heritage Bible College and London
House Bed and Breakfast.
3. Freshen up my spanish that will make my job a lot easier in El Salvador.
4. Review/obsessively memorize all the material that World Vision has given me to prepare (ie, all the photos they need/want)
5. Prepare for and photograph a wedding this Saturday.
6. Complete an engagement session I did last week and give it to the couple.
7. Photograph and complete an engagement session i'm doing this Wednesday.
8. Find the time to continue my exercise regime (ie, I look sort of like a pear).
9. Blog about several things I've been hoping to blog about....such as (i'm not going to get to these until after I get back....sorry):
- Why I think Creationism is goofy
- A film about Jesus camps in the Midwest U.S.

Ok....so I'm hoping to get all this done lickity split.

Wish me luck! oops...I gotta go and get more work done....it's 10:18 on Sunday evening...and I have a lot of work to do before bed....

Podcasts 'R' US

So, as promised, I am letting you know about a nice little gem that I discovered several weeks ago. As you know (whether you care or not is up to you, as per usual), I'm hugely into podcasts, and listen to many hours of them each week while I work.

My latest discovery is what is called podcast novels. You can find them at podiobooks.com. I listened to the entire podcast novel called EARTHCORE, which is this science fiction, bizarro work by a guy named Scott Sigler. Basically, this mining company finds a massive deposit of platinum, which ends up [spoiler alert!....yeah like you care] being a big, 50,000 year old spaceship. It's inhabitants (crazy octopus, glowing aliens) are still alive, but are so inbred that they are basically the equivelent of cavemen, yet are still pretty creepy. Many adventures ensue for the folks who find themselves stuck in the massive underground highway system. I quite enjoyed it, as i'm a bit of a sci-fi junky.

Next I tried a podcast novel called 'The pocket and the pendant', and I got pretty bored with it, so I checked the next novel by the same guy who wrote earthcore. It's called Ancestor and involved a lot of Canadiana, which is cool. The main badguy is an ex Calgary Stampeder (CFL football) who is super crazy and likes killing nice americans. I found this funny, as I was starting to think that Canadians were nuts. Anyway, I just finished that one today and am now back to square one.....i need more podcasts! I need my fix!

Please help me.....please [whimper]

Off on another jaunt....

So, a couple of weeks ago I recieved word that there was a potential trip I could take part in (as a photographer). Things seem to be pretty much finalized now, which means I can tell you that next month I'm heading to El Salvador for two weeks to shoot for World Vision! I'm pretty excited about it as it's the first trip I'll go on since they made me a part of their extended team last year after I went to Kenya. Hopefully I'll be connected and can keep updates flowing through this blog.

Later....

Do Video Games lead to bad behaviour?

"Games don't affect kids; if Pac-Man affected us as kids we'd be running around darkened rooms munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."

Truth or Scare....

I often check ctv.ca for news updates and the like. I found the pole on September 10 very interesting. It asks:

Do you believe the official explanation of 9/11 or the conspiracy theories?

I had no idea that the conspiracy theories surrounding the whole thing were so pervasive. I know it isn't a scientific pole or anything, but only 41% of those who answered say they believe the official explanation. The majority either wholeheartedly believes the conspiracy theories circulating, a bit of both (conspiracy theories and the official explanation), or they think nothing anybody is saying, whether on CNN or youtube, is actually the truth.

I definitely have my suspicions regarding the whole thing, but I'm not sure I would be ready to say that I think there was a grand conspiracy. The evidence (of conspiracy) does make one go: hmmmmmmmm. There is this online film called loose change that goes through quite a bit of it. Parts of it are certainly far fetched, but it makes you second guess what was going on. I've read a few 'debunking the conspiracies' pages and they seem to bring up some good points. Here is one from Time magazine

..but I still have my doubts.

So, what do YOU think?

Podcastapalooza - part deux

Well, the wee drought has ended with the second episode of Podcasts I listen to and think YOU should listen to too.

This month I treated myself to a magazine subscription. The magazine is called Relevant
and I've never actually read one. BUT, I have listened to the weekly podcast they do and it is seriously a lot of fun.

If you might enjoy a candid picture at western culture from a young, Christian perspective, you will enjoy this one. These people are kooky, a bit too go-america for my sentiments, but still entertaining. It's probably the podcast that makes me laugh the most out of all of the podcasts I listen to.

Enjoy! And please please please let me know what podcasts you are into....I am constantly looking to broaden my podcast library!

Next time (on this feature): Brand new discovery in my podcasting experience....it's exciting, and it involves ancient caveman aliens.

Some Real News

This news will be more or less significant depending on who you are. Julie and I have decided to move on church-wise. We have been at Parkview Church pretty much our entire lives and have decided that it is time to step out into another arena. We have absolutely nothing against any person or people at the church, leadership or otherwise. It's actually quite a great place full of great people, and we will be around until the end of September.
After that, we will be going to The Meeting House and are excited about it!

If you have any thoughts or opinions, leave them. If not, then have a nice day!

Scammers be Warned!

I heard news recently that a photographer comrade from the same town that I work in was the target of a Nigerian scammer. I found it interesting being a photographer myself, and having never heard of small, local photographers being targeted. The guy told her to photograph his wedding (or something) in London england and he would pay for everything. She just got into the business and was of course extremely excited about it, knowing that other photographers (like myself) are often given similar opportunities. He turned out to be a scammer, and it all fell through. Too bad for her, but a good lesson was learned.

It got me interested in the whole thing and made me wonder why I often hear Nigeria in connection with spam scams and other fraud cases. I did a little googling and came across some interesting stats. Basically, Nigeria is considered one of the most corrupt nations on earth, and fraud constitutes an estimated 5 Billion US dollars annually, making scam the third largest industry in the country! I got this information from this site.

I came across this awesome site where this woman plays their game and makes them spend money on their fake money orders. She has recieved almost $400,000 US in fake dough! Please check out the correspondance she had with one lady here having her convinced that she should sell her some 'garden wolves'. It's pretty funny.

Anyways, be warned and don't get scammed!

Weekend Trip!

A weekend off is a big event here at the Goodwin household. No running around mad trying to get my tie on correctly, no frantic battery charging or name memorization before a wedding.

Instead, we like to rewind and recoup by going away camping for the weekend. This involves running around mad trying to get everything packed, frantically charging batteries for holiday photos, and stressfully deciding on which books to bring, podcasts to update, and playlists to include on the iPod.

This weekend was originally going to be a backtrekking trip up to Alonquin Park. When we called the good people at Parks Ontario, they told us that we had to find somewhere else to do our recouping, so we looked elsewhere, only to find out that everywhere else pristine would be crowded with weekenders whose only purpose in the grand scheme of things was to ruin our mood.

Anyway, in the end we just decided to go and see where we ended up, having the general idea that we would car camp at a provincial park or conservation area somewhere in a general northerly direction.

To the left you will see us ready to go, not knowing where we will end up and quite happy about it all. It is here....that our story....begins....










It is here....where our story....stops for a minute to check the map.












We had found ourselves in Port Elgin for Dinner....unsure of what was next, but figuring we'll watch the sunset at the beach. Our waitress had something else in mind....basically to take an eternity to get us our food and subsequently earn a meager tip from the disgruntled wanderers unable to watch our celestial light bringer drop below the horizon next to a large body of fresh water.

From here we headed north, and were rejected by every campground we came across. Bereft of any dwelling place, we kept heading north until I came across a wee piece of information in the deep recesses of my memory: my uncle has a cottage very close to a town we were heading to. We headed in the general direction fearing our long shot would result in us sleeping on the side of the road in cottage country, only to be eaten by a bear or some hungry Torontonians who had fought traffik all day. Alas, with some handy info. from our good friends Aimee and Nick back home whose good friends had a cottage up the dirtroad from my uncles, we found what we were looking for...sort of.

For those of you who know me, you will know that I am related to about 1/3 of all human beings West of Toronto (and 1/5 of those east). I knew that my mothers extended family had a cottage right next to my own uncles, and I immediately recognized it as we drove down the dark road. (We hadn't yet found my uncles place). Anyway, we stopped in front of this cottage and I figured I had a good chance of being related to the people we saw sitting inside, so I walked up and introduced myself as the Son of Pat Hazzard/Goodwin/Waring (her three last names) so they spared us and let us set up our tent on their front lawn.



Here is Julie attacking herself in front of the cottage as we set up our tent that night. This was done with a long shutter, and a flashlight!






So it turns out this little corner of my extended family are the most hospitable folks you could ever find, and they invited us to stay for breakfast the next day, and my second cousin Sarah (26 years old, beautiful, and single), their daughter enjoyed respite from all the oldness around her. We got up the next morning and had a full omelete breakfast, followed by a tour of my uncles cottage which is under construction.



<--This is their dog maggie.

-->This is my Mom's cousin Bob (who welcomed us in the night before) climbing to the observation deck of my uncle Dave's cottage.





<-- This is my uncle Dave giving us the grand tour of 'Le Chateau Hassard' under construction



--> This is Rufus, who gave me an excuse to play with my new camera.




After this, the young ones (Amber, Trina, Julie, Sarah, and myself) drove up to Cyprus lake to hike and take a dip in rocky Georgian Bay at the grotto. Just below are the girls getting underway.


Here we are after a frigid swim through a cave formed by many a wave hitting the rocks. Pic taken by Amber...


<-- Here we have Amber posing for a shot after our swim. --> This is my cousin Sarah chillaxin on a rockface....foshizzle.




Alas, my family's hospitality knew no bounds this weekend, as they invited us to have dinner with them that very evening. This motivated us to leave the beauty of Cyprus Lake area and head back to the cottage. We would have liked to stay longer, but were drawn by the thought of a full fledged roast beef dinner!


<--Here is Julie and I on our way back to ROAST BEEFness We arrived back to a house full of people preparing. There were some new faces, including my Mother's-cousin's-wife's brother (no joke)....

--> Here he is. He came with several bottles of wine that he had made himself....all of which was wonderful. He was also suffering from a bad case of 'dog-jaw' which he accidently passed on to Trina (you'll have to ask her what the symptoms are, and how she got it from this guy). There were about 18 or so people at this dinner, and we were blown away by how welcome we were made to feel. We kept joking on how lucky we ended up and told them all that we were pretty sure we would be up every other weekend for the rest of the summer.

So, for a 'spontaneous' weekend, things ended up going pretty good! You gotta love family! It was such a great experience and will be remembered for a long time.
Sorry for the long post. Later

A New Arrival!!

I am very proud to announce the arrival of the newest member of our family! The D200! It is a beautiful new piece of photographic beauty which will bring us many years of joy and delight. We have already created a college fund for him (yes, it is a HIM). Thanks to all who have gone through the labour process with us and you are all more than welcome to come and hold him, coo him, and comment on how cute he is!!


Later

BIG NEWS!!!

Hey Folks - Tomorrow I will be posting a very important message regarding the future of Julie and Me, and OUR family!!!!! There will be a picture of something very very cool.

See you tomorrow.

Fly over Guelph

Julie took me flying for my birthday! You can check our photo website to see a few shots from the flight of places around town we happened to fly over. It was GREAT.

Some other birthday activities:
- Tennis (at the courts at Exhibition - aerial photo provided)
- Swimming (at Julie's Grandparents pool - aerial photo provided)
- Picnic Lunch with julie's Sisters
- A flight over Guelph
- Dinner at Del Dente's
- Movie night with Julie and Michael

Have a good weekend!

Death

Well, ten years ago today My father died. I couple of months ago I was laying awake at night thinking about it and got pretty scared. It was Father's day just before that and I just completely ignored it, putting it out of my mind. Post Secret had a bunch of Father's Day inspired secrets and one of them struck very close to home for me. It said "I wish I had gotten to know my Father." Regret in my life has been the sourest, bitterest of all pills I have had to deal with. Every time I think about the last month or so of my Father's life I feel like I'm a step closer to an ulcer. I have a few 'excuses' that help me, like the fact that I was fifteen and my brain wasn't yet fully developed, so I just couldn't handle the reality of it all.

Death is such a weird thing when I think about it sometimes. Like Jason Senechal. It's like the people who I cared about and died are swimming around my subconscious. I dream about both my Dad and Jason from time to time, but never in the same dream (that I can remember). Most always when I dream about my Dad, it is as if he never died, but just left home or something like that, or even faked the whole thing. I go out for coffee with him and ask him why he left, and he just says he sort of had to, and we leave it at that. It's funny though, because it's as if deep down I still can't accept that he's gone.

When I dream about Jason, it's different. The last one that I remember with Jason goes like this: I walked into a room with all my friends and Jason was there. I thought to myself, this can't be real because Jason died. I'll go punch him and if it hurts him than it must be real (the logic was, of course, infallible). Well, he didn't like the punch so I figured it must be real, which must have meant not that Jason was alive, but that I was dead too. This came to me as pretty good news, because I got to hang out with Jason. I was never really close with Jason, but it was still good news.

It does make me wonder if I'll ever see them again. I don't know what comes after this life. Golden streets in a bright, glowing ancient Roman'esque town seems like a bit of a pipedream. I would prefer a hammock by the beach, some divegear lying relatively wet beside me, sipping beer, looking forward to dinner with my Father...Jason said he might stop by too.

Ye Grand 'Ol Podcast Swap

Hi, my name is Andrew, and I'm addicted to podcasts.

Ok, so I would really like to start a cyber support group via this very blog for those who share this addiction, or even a tiny, eensy weensy little interest in podcasts. I am going to share a podcast I listen to each week or so for the next while....and why I listen to it.

The biggest reason of course is that I spend on average, 7 hours in front of this very computer every single day editing photos, communicating with clients, and generally doing what a good little photographer should be doing (other than of course, taking photos).
As you can imagine...it can get dull from time to time, so I have my ipod (to save system speed for photoshop, of course) and listen to podcasts. Any podcast I list can be found on itunes (which is free, and stupendous). Here is the first one!

CBC Radio: Quirks and Quarks
The host is a bit goofy, but this is definitely my favourite Science podcast. It is very educational, and often talks about pertinent cosmological theory. Of particular note (for any theists out there) is an interview with Jesuit astronomer Guy Consolmagno on theistic cosmology. For those interested, one of the very latest podcasts (I think three weeks ago) discussed the genetics of homosexuality: very interesting!

So, if you listen to podcasts (downloadable internet radio shows), let me know which ones. I am constantly looking to broaden my podcastsphere!

Another Quote

I just returned from Montreal checking out the Just for Laugh's festival there. It was extremely cool. Just to the left here, you will see my sister, Missy, and my niece (my other sister, Becca's daughter), dancing in the street at the festival wearing lovely headpieces. I am altogether really happy with the photos I got during the few weeks my sister Becca and her daughter, Arianne were here visiting from Hong Kong.

So, I have another quote from that book I am currently reading by Donald Miller. Please do let me know your thoughts on it if you feel so inclined:

"If I weren't a Christian, and I kept seeing Christian leaders on television more concerned with money, fame, and power than with grace, love, and social justice, I wouldn't want to believe in God at all. I really wouldn't. The whole thing would make me want to walk away from religion altogether because, like I was saying about Santa Claus, their god must be an idiot to see the world in such a one-sided way. The god who cares so much about getting rich must not have treasures stored up in heaven, and the god so concerned about getting even must not have very much patience, and the god who cares so much about the West must really hate the rest of the world, and that doesn't sound like a very good god to me. The televangelist can him for all I care."

What's in a Name?

The name of this blog may seem strange. I actually had in mind to make it a strict apologetical (reasons for believing) sort of site where I would research and report on various arguments for the Christian Theistic worldview. However, it has been hijacked by my personal life, and I honestly don't really feel that I want to get into that stuff right now, mostly because I seem to be at a bit of turning point as far as faith goes (it seems).

I have come to place where I really want to be real, and don't want to have to sift through piles of Christian doubespeak in order to find out who someone really is. I just graduated from Bible College, and throughly enjoyed that experience, as the school I went to wasn't a 'jam our theology down your throat' sort of place, and I learned quite a lot and became much more open minded after going through it (proof that God does work miracles). It has brought me to a bit of a crossroads, though. I'm not sure what faith is supposed to look like, or Church for that matter.

There are many things I want to blog about and talk about with friends, and whoever else finds themselves on this site. Credence is illogical in a lot of ways and I want to explore why.

So, for this first post regarding serious things, I would like to give some thoughts from a book I am currently reading, called Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. I took a picture of the book today (because I like doing such things) and would love to hear any thoughts you have on these quotes.

"The very scary thing about religion, to me, is that people actually believe God is who they think He is. By that I mean they have Him all figured out, mapped out, and as my pastor says, "dissected and put into jars on a shelf." You've got a bunch of Catholics in Rome who think one way about God, and a bunch of Baptists in Texas who think another, and that isn't even the beginning. It goes on and on and on like this, and it makes me wonder if God created us in His image or if we created Him in ours."

I have more, but I'll probably leave them for another day, so as not to overdo it.

Just one more thought and this is something that I have been thinking about the most regarding spirituality and Christianity. So I'll just quote myself:

The biggest challenge to the veracity of Christianity is the fact that so many different people reading the same source material get such different ideas out of it. You would think if there were a mediator (the Holy Spirit), they would agree much more than they do.

Weekend Off

So I didn't have a wedding this weekend (it is a nice little break). Julie and I decided to hook up with some friends and go camping. We had a pretty crappy site but switched it. Then I got out my camera and messed around with some of my new lighting equipment. One photo is above. We ran into Satan, and played some Phase 10 (he won).

Just thought I would scare the masses (all those who read this site, who, judging by the comments, is no one). Oh, if you are reading this, please leave a comment so I know i'm not a complete loser (well I do already know that, but at least I'll know people are watching me be a loser). Just look a little ways down where it says '[0] comments' and click on it. If your mouse button is broken, I'll understand.

Why Do Many Reject Faith?

There are, of course, many reasons that people reject Christianity. Here is a link to one (and likely a significant one).

CBC's Take on Benny Hinn

Impressive Friends

We are very proud of our good friend Trina who today completed her first Olympic-Level Triathlon at Guelph Lake. She beat her goal handily and has made it into the higher echelons of human achievement. Send Kudos to Trina for this amazing feat of unrivaled amazingness.

See more photos HERE

Western Canada

Julie and I had the incredible opportunity of travelling to Western Canada. We went out for work (I had a wedding to photograph, and the Bride and Groom flew us both out for it). The Bride was Theresa Oliver, who I spent five months on a boat with a few years ago with Mercy Ships.

We had such a great time exploring the beautiful landscape, and saw quite a bit of wildlife. There are a whole load of photos here. If you click on the first thumbnail and continue pushing the 'next' button, you can read through comments that I've made on many of the photos.

My favourite photograph from the trip is one that Julie took actually (I better be careful, if she starts up 'Julie Goodwin Photography', i'm going to have to find another way to make money). We climbed a mountain (with the help of a tramway that took us up 80% of the way) called 'The Whistlers', and Julie took a photo of me on a rock (it's the photograph that makes up the 'header' of this blog!). Anyway, if you're interested in animals, or picturesque scenery, or us, give it a look.

She has Graduated!

This is my wife Julie who just today graduated and is now a nurse! Okay, so I'm really proud of her because she was awarded a few awards and was on the 'Presidents Honour List' which means that she had the best overall average out of everyone in her entire graduating class! That's out of 200 students! Also, in order to get this award, you have to have an average of over 90%

So, send some kudos to Julie!

See more photos here

Cat

This is our cat, Rocky. We love his Green Eyes. He must be placed here so that I can have a photo on my profile. Userfriendly is something that blogger is not (i suppose it will once I get used to it though)

ART

So, I've been reading some folks blogs....and I just had to post this, because this guy has some really cool art. His site is here. I really like this stuff....and though he is a complete stranger, I thought it deserved another post from me, the non-poster (although maybe not for long).

First Ever

Okay, so I'm certainly not a big fan of blogging. I likely won't post for a long while. You'll just have to read and reread this blog everyday for many a month....enjoy!

Stupid blogger won't let me leave comments for others unless I have my own.....dumbdiddydumb.