Comixtalk, NanoWrimo, and Head-smashed-in (trip report part 2)

Check out Comixtalk; I did the header graphic for this month's issue. In case you're not familiar with this zine, Comixtalk is a comics blog with tons of great webcomic news, articles, interviews and other comic-related info. For you writers out there, it's also a paying market.

Plus NaNoWriMo has started, which means my comics should start appearing today. They hadn't updated the comics area when I checked just now, but hopefully soon!



Enjoyed trick-or-treating with my nieces yesterday, though there seemed to fewer trick-or-treaters out than usual. What about the rest of you? Same as last year? Less? More? I'm curious. Anyway, I was highly amused by the toothbrush that ended up in the candy somehow, imprinted with the name and phone number of a local dentist. Brilliant marketing strategy. :-)

I also noticed that the Halloween candy I never did like as a kid is still in use:



But back to my Alberta visit...



After 20 degrees Celsius weather in Toronto, I went to Calgary and woke up to -5 deg. temperatures the first morning! Cathy had to scrape ice and snow off her car before we set off. I was glad I brought my winter gear.



Ever since reading Parki's trip report from his cross-Canada motorcycle adventure, I've wanted to see Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump near Fort Macleod, Alberta (mainly because of the name, I guiltily confess). Cathy read that Blathering and asked me if I wanted to go see it.

The buffalo jump was used for thousands of years by the aboriginal plains people to kill buffalo by driving them off the 10 metre high cliff. The somewhat gruesome name, however, comes from a legend that a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the buffalo jumping off the cliff from below but got accidentally crushed by them instead.

Anyway, we had a wonderful walk outdoors plus the museum was fascinating, with lots of interesting exhibits and info.



The scenery on our drives and walks was stunning. Toronto has no mountains, and I spent most of the trip ooo-ing and aaah-ing over the incredible landscape. Right now I'm using the photo at the top of this Blathering and the one below as my desktop pictures:



Because of the mountain landscapes, I opted to use my Canon 17-85 lens as my walkaround but switched to the Sigma 30/1.4 in the evenings. All the Alberta scenery shots in this Blathering were taken with the Canon lens. The candy shots and the photo of Cathy at the bottom were taken with my Sigma.

We even saw some elk by the side of the road:



More tomorrow.

Links O' The Day

The Super-est: Cartoon "war." I was SO love to participate in something like this.

Got a Spare Head Lying Around? Put it to Good Use! (The Great Detachable-Head Website Showdown!)



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10 Things I Love About My Friend Cathy

Back from Alberta. The Air Canada flight there and back was pretty painless. Both flights had entertainment centres built into the back of each seat, where you could choose from a range of movies, tv shows, documentaries, games and audio channels. I was delighted by Once, a 2006 Irish movie that apparently got rave reviews at Sundance. It had romance, songwriting, and Irish accents...three of my favourite movie elements. The male lead, Glen Hansard, looked vaguely familiar to me and when I got home I found out why: he played one of the guitarists in The Commitments.



It was wonderful to see my friend Cathy again. As I've mentioned before, outside of family, Cathy's known me longer than anyone. I'll be posting more about my trip in upcoming Blatherings, but for now I'd like to post:

10 Things I Love About My Friend Cathy

Her laughter. She finds joy in so many things, which is one of the many reasons I love traveling with her.

She's an adventurous eater, willing to try almost anything.

Her imaginary rabbit, Buster. Ok, so maybe he's a real rabbit (a hare, actually) who supposedly frequents her backyard. But I never saw him during my visit despite my eager searching, so I've decided that Cathy's made him up. Like Harvey, except Buster is cuter and lives in Calgary.

Her love of colour. I envy her red couch and armchair, a wonderful splash of vibrant colour in her living room. I want to transport the armchair (the couch wouldn't fit) into my home office.



She's brave. When her company offered her a position out in the Calgary office, she decided to take it even though she didn't know many people out there. Her attitude: "It'll be an adventure!"

Her dancing. She's taken all kinds of dancing lessons (I hoped to get a merengue lesson during my visit but we ran out of time) and has participated in public historic dancing exhibits at Old Fort York in Toronto.

When she did move to Calgary, she had fun exploring the culture (I think she always had a little bit of cowgirl in her soul whether she knew it or not). Cowboy boots and hats, country music, horseback riding, the Calgary Stampede...she's embraced it all.

Her love of all things Jane Austen. Not surprisingly, she's a member of the Jane Austen Society. On my last visit, she got me hooked on the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice.

She's a great cook. On my first evening, she made coq au vin. On her BIRTHDAY. Yes, I felt guilty but I still enjoyed dinner, which was delicious!



Her love of travel. She's been to so many places and always seems to be planning another trip. She's going on an African safari with another friend next year. She's also not afraid of traveling alone. Which brings me to the next thing I love about her...

She's independent. She has no problems seeing things or doing things by herself.

She's a good friend. Not only a great listener but also confides, and we've taken turns supporting each other. Balanced friendships are a rare animal, in my experience, because it takes an enormous amount of trust for both people to confide equally, and I value Cathy's friendship all that more as a result.

There are so many more things I love about Cathy, but I have to unpack and catch up with work. :-) More about my Alberta trip later this week.





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Darth Tater and Little Miss No-Name

I took the photo above at the the Strong National Museum of Play. I like Dave Huth's comment in Flickr: "Ah, the sinister Darth Tater. How he threatens our souls!"

As we browsed the National Toy Hall of Fame (which is inside the Strong museum), I tried to remember if I still had any toys from my childhood and was horrified to realize that I didn't. Even Jeff has his Flatmouse.



I remember a teddy bear I named John, whose limbs started disintegrating. I bandaged him up and gave him a crutch, but then what happened? I loved John dearly; why can't I remember? Were my childhood affections that fickle?

I wasn't really into Barbies, though I did have a Casey (Barbie's tomboy friend). My sister and I had a fight when we were little, and I was furious when she drew on Casey's legs with permanent magic marker. That's the ONLY bad thing that I remember Ruth ever doing to me in childhood, however, whereas I did all kinds of horrible things to her and her belongings, so I figure I probably deserved that Casey mutilation.



Some of the toys in the museum struck me as pretty creepy, but I suppose kids can get attached to pretty much anything. Like a doll called "Little Miss No-Name: The Doll With The Tear", dressed in a patched burlap dress and barefoot:



When her right arm was extended, it looks like she is begging for money. The doll was designed by Deet D'Andrade.

Apparently Hasbro launched Little Miss No-Name in 1965 but discontinued it soon after (I guess sad burlap-clad dolls couldn't compete with glamour Barbies). Out of curiosity, I did a search on eBay and was surprised to find lots of Little Miss No-Names available for relatively cheap, though many with their tears missing...probably removed by children hoping to cheer her up.

What about the rest of you? Do you still have any toys from your childhood? Which was your favourite? (or least favourite)



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Google tour and Google food!

Just got home...thanks so much to Walter for picking us up at the airport! I have a ton of e-mail and work to catch up on, but wanted to thank the Bohnhoff family and Andrew & Jenny for hosting us after the convention. Jeff and I felt incredibly spoiled, and it was also wonderful to be able to spend some time with friends we don't get to see all that often. More pics and details in an upcoming Blathering.



Above: Jenny and Andrew, who were married last September!




Speaking of Apple, we visited the company store with Jeff Bohnhoff, and I bought Logic Express 7 as well as a tutorial book on the software (Logic is one of JeffB's projects at Apple):



And while we're on the theme of technonerdboy friends, our pal William was kind enough to give us a tour of Google:



Jeff and I were both blown away. No interior photos allowed, sadly. This looks like a fun place to work, and I'm not just saying that because of the beach volleyball court, lap pools, massage rooms, tubs of coloured bounce-balls, whiteboards with plans for world domination, lava lamps, full-scale replica of SpaceShipOne, live projections of current search queries around the world, exercise bicycles, computerized toilets with heated seats, washers and dryers, video games (including classics like Asteroids), movies, showers with towels...



No, I'm saying this because of the FREE FOOD. :-) Holy toledo. There are apparently 11 Google cafeterias to choose from in Mountainview, and the food is all free to employees. Each employee is allowed to bring two guests per month. And the food is REALLY GOOD. I was floored by the presentation and quality of all the dishes, worthy of being served in an upscale gourmet restaurant. I had rabbit in couscous, tender lamb loin in some scrumptious sauce, grilled eel salad, other delicacies. If you're curious about what else is served at Google, check out this Google Food Photo Blog.

Hey, Google even has its own line of ice cream sandwiches:



Apparently Google worked with the ice cream sandwich company to produce a natural, locally sourced, trans-fat-free version of the treat.

Back to unpacking...


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