The countdown to fun … Disneyland & Legoland !

Well , it’s almost here , the vacation we’ve been waiting for for a few years now 🙂 One more day to go and we’re off ! My son is so excited, he is at the age where he can now go on all the cool big rides and still young enough to enjoy the magic. As for myself , well, I am a big kid at heart and love doing fun things with him all the time. This trip should be a blast .
We went through the planning and booking of everything online using a number of different websites including the main Disneyland website , Legoland website, Westjet & Elite Parking
There are a lot of cool packages available and the sites were filled with a ton of info on where to stay, what to do, what to expect , etc.
Once our new iPad came in last week , I downloaded a few apps to help plan things out as well. A few of my favorite ones are :
Parktastiq for the iPad

It has a great map and tons of info on what is happening while your there.

Anaheim Vacation Guide

This has been a ton of help but leaves me wanting to stay for the entire summer 🙂

Disneyland iguide – Walkee

This is a Fun & useful guide for the iPhone ( which is much easier to carry around the park )

It should be quite an adventure. We’ll be sure to post some pics !
For those of you that have been there any suggestions would be appreciated or perhaps share a fun story from your adventure 🙂

Best wishes and thank you for stopping by – Namaste – William

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Miss You …

Photo by : Virginia Ateh
“Memory is a treasure … When it hurts ”

Miss You …

The playful laughter of a pillow fight
the sweet delight of daylight lust
a chocolate fondue and the taste of you
moonlit walks with a warm embrace
the sight of myself in your eyes
and the sparkle of your soul
the light caress of your skin
and a silence that screams ~ i love you
the sharing of dreams and memories,
of nightmares and desires
the surprising little love notes
tucked away in my pockets
the gentle touch of your lips
and the warmth of your breath on my neck
the intoxicating smell of your perfume
and that crooked little grin…

but
who are …you

a dream
a desire
a hope
a shadow that lingers
but is forever out of touch

have we met
or will we meet

the heart aches
time marches on
maybe our time has past
hopefully it has yet to come

where did i find these words
you ask
they are forever in my heart and soul
squeezing
tearing
turning
my very being into a wretched nightmare

then there is hope…
the love that was
the love that will never be
the dream of hope
of desire
of delight and
despair…
that dream
forever haunts this tortured soul

we stare at the moon with wonder
we glance at passers by with unspoken words
we walk through destiny’s garden
forever wanting
waiting
wishing
is it you i love ?
or love its self…

the fates laugh
“is it worth it ?”
we ask
what else is there…
this
is what I miss…

~william ~ july 2oo6

The poem is reprinted from my original website , I haven’t written much poetry as of late , maybe I am in need of inspiration ….
The photo that accompanies the poem is from one of my favorite Photographers. This is one of Virginia’s earlier works , be sure to check out her website , she is extremely talented and her works speak volumes and touch the heart & soul .
She was kind enough to let me use this in my website, please always remember :
Ask permission before you copy photography from the net and always include links to the persons website and give credit where credit is due. This is their livelihood and creative people deserve your respect … Thank you Virginia 🙂

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Alberta Human Rights Act

This has always been one of my favorite pictures and something I’ve always believed in and stood up for.
It seemed kind of fitting today when my son brought home a letter from the Edmonton School Board about the Alberta Human Rights Act and how it plays a part in Education. Although the death of Osama bin laden brought a feeling of justice to millions of people , the human rights act reminds us that he is only one man and he does not speak for all people whom share his faith, or lived in the same region of the world as him.
All too often is see people getting treated badly because of their attire , skin color, gender , religious beliefs or sexual orientation. It’s hard to believe we are in the 21st century at times…
Quote from the letter :
“On September 1,2010, Section 11.1 of the Alberta Human Rights Act comes into force. The section requires school boards to notify parents where “courses of study, educational programs or instructional materials, or instruction or exercises include subject matter that deals primarily and explicitly with religion, human sexuality, religious themes or sexual orientation.”
School boards must provide parents with the opportunity to exempt their children from instruction that primarily and explicitly involves this subject matter.”
You have to be kidding … Exclude ??? Why would a parent want to do that ? Oh yeah, I remember now ; it takes a license to drive , a license to hunt or fish , but anyone can be a parent !
Getting back to Mr. Bin Laden , I would like to thank all the brave Soldiers whom helped rid the world of this hate monger and all the wonderful people working in the war torn areas helping the innocent people caught in the middle of this big mess. I hope this is the beginning of the end and we can see everyone home safe and sound soon… But please don’t forget a turban does not equal hate and neither do crosses, anchs , star of david’s , different shapes, sizes, colors of people , etc ….
To quote from Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves :
” did God paint you ? (little girl)
For certain little one (Morgan Freeman)
Why ? (little girl)
Because Allah loves wondrous variety (Morgan Freeman)

– Namaste – William

Edmonton Public Schools

Alberta Human Rights Act

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The day has come ; get out & vote Canada !

Well it’s come again, voting season. Which way will you go ? Will you vote for a party or will you vote for your best local candidate ?
The amount of people getting out to the polls has been dissmal in the last two decades. People seem to think that their single vote really can’t make a difference or that the choices are all too similar or they just can’t find the time… Thankfully elections Canada has been hard at work trying to make it easier to vote. Check out the website : http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx
Social websites have also helped a lot in bringing politics to the masses. Communication is a wonderful thing ; spreading the word about what is important to you. Jobs, the environment, healthcare , etc…
For myself , I tend to look more at what the parties and elected officials have done so far. Spin doctors in advertising can make anyone look good ( well , almost anyone hehe right Liberals ? )
There are always lots of promises made during election time but seeing who actually follows through on things can make a difference on who you support.
In my particular riding (Edmonton/Spruce Grove) there are 4 parties to choose from :

the Conservatives

the NDP

the Green Party

the Liberals
There are a few more parties out there. For a full list with contact info and websites :
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=41ge/can&document=index&lang=e
If you want to see what other people are thinking do a little research. There are blogs and comments a plenty all over the web, and YES , there are plenty of great reasons to get out there and voice your opinion. Please remember that democracy is a gift that comes with a responsibility.
Without participation it just falls apart and we might as well just follow some dictator blindly …
No thanks !

Party websites:

Conservative : http://www.conservative.ca/
NDP : http://www.ndp.ca/home#enter
Liberal : http://www.liberal.ca/
Green Party : http://greenparty.ca/

Election info :

http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx

Still need a good reason to vote ; check out these amazing tweets !

https://twitter.com/jenbanksyeg/status/64878973116612608

Winnipeg Vote Mob. http://bit.ly/l43J41 #elxn41 #cdnpoli #votemob

— Rick Mercer (@rickmercer) May 2, 2011

https://twitter.com/katiewest/status/64875989959847937

Best wishes and thanks for voting ; Namaste – william

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What better way to escape for little breather than a great movie …

Dim lights, comfortable seating , your favorite snacks at the ready , everything’s set ; it’s movie time ! So what are your favorites ? A thought provoking drama, a sitting on the edge of your seat thrilling horror, a visual masterpiece filled with eye candy or a story that grips the heart and pulls it in every direction ….
Personally I love a wide variety, there is always something good to fit the mood. After tonight’s nail biting hockey game between Vancouver & Nashville a chilling horror seemed like the perfect fit 🙂
I tend to hate commercials so most of my movie comes from either DVD/BluRay, Apple TV or Netflix It’s handy having different sources for different devices. Apple TV has a few huge advantages such as saving the drive to the local video store and allowing people to store movies on hard drives which sure beats the ever expanding shelves of discs …
I have to admit I am a sucker for special editions though. LOTR keepsakes, my son’s Harry Potter wands, cards , books, it’s the little extras that can add some fun to a home theatre / games room.
I am 95% finished building one such room in my basement. It is all up and running , just a bit of paint touch ups and wiring to finish with the last of the furniture arriving on Wednesday 🙂
My son loves having a nice place to hang out with his friends on a cold rainy day. It sure is a nice change from the dingy old concrete room that occupied this space previously. We went with light colors for the most part to help give it a bright airy feeling. The laminate flooring was very easy to install and seemed like the perfect choice for easy cleanup, an important feature with kids and messy big kids 🙂

Well , it’s getting late , the movie is coming to an end, it’s bed time…
Good night all , thanks for stopping by , come again or say hi on twitter ( the fun alternative to Facebook )
Be sure to suggest your favorite movies in the comment section 🙂

Namaste – William

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The perfect travel companion : ipad2

Photo above found at the Apple website Apple.com

I was delighted a few days ago when a fedex driver showed up at my doorstep a week early with my new ipad2 🙂 The timing was perfect as we are set to go on vacation next week and this gave me time to set up the device and become familiar with it.
So far my experience with Apples newest toy is amazing. Not to sound cliche but it truly is magical. Easy to use , versatile and so very portable, the iPad is a perfect travel companion.
I already own an iPhone so getting this set up and learning the basics was a breeze. The initial sync is time consuming depending on how much you are loading up onto it. I quickly filled the iPad’s memory to the brim and then went through and deleted apps and extras that I thought were better suited for just the iPhone. It’s a good idea to leave yourself a good chunk of available memory for the programs and media that you will undoubtedly add as you use it.
The app store on the iPad shows you which of your apps can be upgraded to the larger versions. It is really handy although I found that it didn’t quite find everything that it could have. A little browsing around quickly remedied the situation though. I am still using a number of iPhone apps on the iPad which fill a portion of the screen unless you hit the magnify button which enlarges the app. This is handy but results in some blurriness which is workable on some apps and not so much on others. Hopefully most apps will be available in both sizes quite quickly, the numbers seem to be growing rapidly 🙂
I have approximately 150 + apps loaded on the iPad at the moment ; and yes , I am an app addict hehe . This is my first post using WordPress on the iPad, it sure is much handier than the computer I find. The built in keyboard works like a charm and if you prefer the wireless keyboard from Apple is available. I have one set up with a dock and speaker. It took all of a minute to get it up and running which was nice and it’s great to have the option of using either input method.
I also tried a few other accessories such as the camera kit and hdmi adapter. The camera kit is easy to use and small enough to fit in any camera case easily . It’s great that so many companies are now using SD cards, the plethora of card readers in the past was getting insane. My son’s Wii, DSi and camera all use the SD cards as well as a Sony camcorder I picked up at Christmas time. The HDMI connector which allows you to hook up the iPad to a big screen tv is a lot of fun. Lego Harry Potter and Infinity Blade sure look cool on a 52″ LCD ! One drawback is that a long HDMI cable will cost as much as an Apple TV, so hopefully in the future Apple will add AirPlay functionality to apps like it does with movies and other iTunes media.
I put a screen protector on the iPad today , after learning my lesson from the iPhone. My poor phone gets quite a beating at work and without some sort of protection the glass gets completely destroyed after a while which is a very expensive fix. Of course with kids a screen protector also helps tremendously, especially when they are playing a game and have munchies at hand… Think peanut butter and / or Doritos 🙂 Of course we adults can be just as bad at times !
I was shopping around for a protective cover today. The local stores seemed to have plenty of iPad cases but mostly for the 1st version, it might be best to shop online for now until retailers catch up with this new device. There are tons of options available out there to suit every style and use. Some cases even come with built in keyboards for those who do a lot of typing.
I have been reading a lot of articles regarding the new iPad and how it marks the beginning of the post PC era. Personally I agree somewhat. If you sit down and list the types of things you’ve done on a computer in the last month, you’ll probably find that there is very little that can’t be done on this little touch screen. Around the house and at work , the iPad can be a great alternative to a big bulky desktop or rather expensive high powered laptop. Sure , I was drooling over the newest MacBook Pro when it was released but now that I think about it , do you really need one ? Don’t get me wrong, we haven’t quite reached the point where home computers are obsolete, my many photographer friends can attest to that. There are still a number of things that tablets such as this can’t do yet and that’s where a higher horsepower computer comes in handy . There is also the little problem of syncing all of these devices which is something you still need a computer for. Personally I think for home use, the perfect set up is an iPad for every day use, a Mac mini with a few external drives to act as a iTunes server and syncing device and an Apple TV to stream media to the home theatre. This is our present set up and it works beautifully . If I do decide to get back into professional Photography again one day then I will probably look at an iMac or MacBook but unless a person has a specific use in mine those computers seem more like overkill these days….
Well a few more days and we are off to Disneyland & Legoland 🙂 we can hardly wait to get away, it should be a blast ! We will be sure to be posting a few pics , videos and greetings during the trip .
Have a great weekend everyone ; best wishes , and don’t forget to keep smilin’ ( they’ll wonder what you’re up to hehe )
If you are looking at purchasing a new iPad and are curious about them here is the link to Apple website : http://www.apple.com/ca/ipad/
Namaste – William , thank you for stopping by , be sure to come again and stop by and say hi on twitter any time 🙂 twitter

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So what’s new ?

It’s been months since I’ve looked at WordPress. 2010 has come and gone and we are well into the new year.
We’ve had a number of changes in our lives; some good , some a learning experience…
I hope everyone is doing well, life is adventure and at times , quite a crazy one. Hang in there, it’s worth the ride !
My son & I moved back into our little home in Edmonton. We’ve decided to renovate the basement and turn it into a fun movie and games room. I planned everything out on my iPhone using a couple of cool apps. I’ll be sure to post the links and might start posting reviews of my favorites in the future.
Once planning was complete, I ordered the materials , arranged for help when needed and laid out the walls. I love seeing projects come together and David can’t wait to try out the Wii in the new space. The time frame should be 3 weeks….
For the first time in ages; we’ve planned a vacation. Over the last few years things have been a bit hectic and holidays have been limited to little weekend camping trips and such. This spring it’s Disneyland & Legoland ! David is sooooooooo excited 🙂 It’s fun checking out everything online. The countdown is on ….
My son , David, had his first day back at his old school today. Everyone was so happy to have him back. It’s comforting when things work out 🙂
That’s the news so far ; stay tuned for further adventures – Namaste
– William

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phone & internet readings

We’ve been busy updating my fiancee’s website lately. Guardian Angels Consciously. It’s great to see her business grow 🙂

Our newest addition is adding the paypal service to make readings online and by phone so much easier. It was quick and easy to do and has opened her business up to the world which is a great addition to local work she does.

Another new page is Guardian Angels Consciously on Facebook. This seems to be a natural addition to the site because she is a very social person and uses facebook regularly. To help announce to the launch of the facebook page , we’ve added a contest to win a free reading as well as an itunes gift card as a little bonus. Simply visit the page and give it a thumbs up , we’ll draw a winner Oct. 1st 2010

Her work is very interesting and she loves helping people.

be sure to stop by and say hi ~ Namaste ~ william

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Apple’s Ping

itunes logo copyright Apple Inc.

Apple has always impressed people with their amazing products. They continue to improve and expand on things on a regular basis.
I’ve been using quite a variety of their hardware and software offerings over the years starting with the Apple II , iPods, apple tv, Mac mini, iPhone , MobileMe , iLife , etc….
iTunes has grown quite a bit over the years, starting with music and continually adding content to include books, movies, tv shows, podcasts, apps , etc
It’s newest foray is Ping ; a stab at sharing which , like iTunes, started with humble beginnings.
Every day I see new Artists signing up to this service and it’s great to watch it grow , but the question is : did they start too small ?
People have come to expect a lot from this company , so many were rather disappointed in Pings meek start.
Myself, I am optimistic that Ping will grow much like iTunes and continue to add new features.
Social integration is a must have to get customers on board. A share button allowing posts to be viewed on other networks such as twitter, Facebook, & foursquare would really help.
Adding more than music would also be a great boon. Having people share all their iTunes likes such as favorite movies, apps, tv shows , etc would really draw people with varied interests.
Another hurdle Ping faces is that it is part of iTunes rather than a separate entity on the web… Wouldn’t Ping.com be cool; with links to iTunes and maybe even a MobileMe version. Tying all these together might be a feat but a variety of options would really help.
Beginnings are always tricky… People always want so much at the onstart , but like I said , I am optimistic and am sure if people stick with it, Ping will evolve into something really cool 🙂

If you would like to check out my Ping profile just for fun my email is : williamanddavid@me.com

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So, how was your summer ?

Hope everyone had a fantastic time 🙂 Here are a few pics from our summer :

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