Bryan Crosby Dot Ca

Pentax K-5

Bryan — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:25:06 +0000

I mulled about this purchase for quite awhile. The K-5 is probably the best DSLR produced by Pentax to date, and it caved in the competition when was first released. It is a 2010 model though and part of me was desperately in love with the silver edition (why Pentax doesn’t make this absolutely gorgeous camera standard is a PR move I’ll never understand…they would probably make a killing if they did). At $1700USD plus associated duties (as it is only shipped out of the USA) it would have probably clocked in at over $2000. A bit steep.

However, a solid tax return, an ancient (circa 2003) second hand Pentax*ist DSLR and the knowledge that whatever Pentax comes up with to replace the K-5 in the next year or two will have a whopping price-tag, persuaded me otherwise and my brand new K-5 arrived in the mail today. This will be my fourth Pentax. My first was the venerable Spotmatic F which belonged to my late-uncle and it was this unit which pushed me toward Pentax as my camera of choice. I always like the ability of a Pentax body to use virtually ANY Pentax lens ever produced. I can mount 40 year old lenses on to my K-5. I then bought a K-100D when I lived in Nanjing. It was an awesome camera which I supplemented with a 18-250mm lens. I dragged that K100D across Asia and would still be using it today if I hadn’t dropped it on a glacier in India during my 2009 trip through the Kashmir. It wasn’t easily repaired and I was not able to scrounge up the cash required for a replacement. I needed a camera though and ended up purchasing a used Pentax *ist. The *ist was the first Pentax DSLR and it unfortunately doesn’t have much tiger blood, which I blame partially on it’s silly name. It did not jive well with my 18-250mm, was an atrociously slow focus and could be substituted as a war hammer in a tight situation. Still, it worked and I’ve used it since 2009, taking some nice shots of Kingston, the Rockies and my hometown. One thing I did like about it was the insanely loud old school shutter click. An unintentional throwback to the old SLR’s. She’s a beater though…it was time to upgrade…especially since I’ll be moving to Fort Nelson and the Northern Rockies for the summer.

I just have the K-5 out of the box and haven’t had much time to mess around with it. I’m impressed so far. It lacks the use of AA batteries which is kind of a bummer since I always like the ability to use a power sources that is easily found all over the planet. All camera units seem to be going proprietary lithium-ion, and I can see the advantages, but I like the freedom of the AA. She’s light, fast, quiet, has live-view, a smooth and quick interface, a classic Pentax green trim, has a new camera smell and even looks sharp with my 18-250mm.

I’m looking forward to some mean shooting this summer.

Technorati Tags: camera, dslr, k-5, k100d, Kingston, money, nanjing, pentax, photography, tax

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Last weekend of the season!

Bryan — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:57:25 +0000

Just about ready to blast out to the hill for the last couple days of the 2012 season! The slush cup awaits, as does my first BCIT examination on Monday…soils…booo.

Going to try out Pilsner Urquell this weekend. Apparently it is the original pilsner beer and thankfully isn’t spelt the same way as Steve Urkel.

Put in roughly 15 days this season, with jaunts to Jasper and Big White with good friends from planning school.

Maybe a seasons pass for 2013?

Technorati Tags: azu, beer, british columbia, canada, mountains, powder king, skiing, sports

Pineapples II

Bryan — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 03:13:54 +0000

Pineapple season (missing photo) was always something I looked forward to during the Nanjing days (most the few posts have been referencing times past…must be feeling nostalgic). Arriving by the dump-truck load, the pineapples would be piled into every nook and cranny of your local street fruit/vegetable merchant. A whole pineapple would set one back about 2RMB (~.20 cents). Peeled and sliced included in the price.

It’s pineapple season again, even way up in Fort St. John. My pineapple @ the local Safeway…$3.99, which is probably close to 25RMB. Out of season these suckers would probably push $10 per. If any of my friends from China still read this blog…what is a street pineapple retailing for now?

I bought some Bitburger today, although I was hoping to find some Czechvar (out of stock, of course). Naturally ended up on Wikipedia this evening. Bitburger led me through yet another Wiki-surf. I wasn’t aware that Budweiser, or Budweiser Bürgerbräu is a style of beer from Germany that was copied by Anheuser-Busch for the American market. Hence why the standard omnipresent Budweiser is sold merely as “Bud” within the European Union. Throwing this out there, I’ve always viewed Budweiser as a bit of a hick beer, but it appears to have strong roots in brewing history. That doesn’t mean I forgive the taste.

There was a time when I would buy beer, drink a lot of it and stay out all night participating in shenanigans. Now I buy beer and read about it on the internet.

*I’ve found a new plugin for Live Writer that allows automatic Wikipedia hyperlinks

Technorati Tags: beer, bitburger, budweiser, canada, china, food, fort st. john, money, nanjing, pineapple, wikipedia

Goodbye King Pen

Bryan — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:27:13 +0000

Despite running a tough-on-crime agenda, tabling the obnoxious omnibus punishment legislation, scaring votes out of the public and promising to BUILD sixteen billion dollars worth of new prisons across the country, our wonderful Conservative Government of Canada (note how I use their descriptive terminology of choice…because I sure do not feel they deserve the title of Government of Canada) is actually closing down prisons (and rehab centres too). The irony.

I lived next door to King Pen for two years as I slogged away at grad school. As far as prison architecture and location goes, it has few Canadian rivals. It was a great land use example of where NIMBY’ism crawls out of the suburbs and dies.

Technorati Tags: canada, king pen, Kingston, kingston penitentiary

White Screen of Death

Bryan — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:57:48 +0000

Apparently I am not able to automatically update WordPress which was function that I had been denied for the past several years due to security concerns from my web host. It is incredibly handy to be able to instantly install the latest gear. Unfortunately the site was blasted by the white screen of death on the weekend on account of some plugins that didn’t agree with the WP 3.3.1 release. Last time I was able to update I was on 3.0.4. Issue solved this evening.

I believe I am closing in on 10 years (inconsistent) year of blogging. I only have archives dating back to late 2003, early 2004 but I first begain posting using html and an error ridden website around late 2002, early 2003. Blogs still required a bit of coding muscle back then. Now a the blind can set one up. Which is awesome.

Here’s an old one from Jan 23, 2004. These are oldies…only exist on my hard drive in HTML format.

I still have that glass. In fact, I’m drinking out of it right now.

Man…and I had totally forgotten about the pine boughs…

Technorati Tags: archives, blog, white screen of death, wordpress

Notebook Death

Coffee in the Peace

Bryan — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 01:05:30 +0000

When I lived in Nanjing, I wrote a short piece on the various coffee joints found scattered around that great city (that must now be horribly out of date) and I did the same for when I lived in Kingston, including my not-so-flattering thoughts on the Starbucks off the 401. Lacking any decent cafe’s I spent some mercy on Mackenzie and opted out of rambling about black 7-11 industrial waste brew.

Fort St. John has five cafe’s that I know of…eight if you consider Tim Horton’s a cafe, nine if you thrown McDonald’s McCafe into that equation and probably ten if you happen to be brave enough to try the coffee at the Mile 54 Shell. Perhaps 11 if one is down for some God-fearing coffee at the local Christian bookstore.

A number of months ago I was listening to the Mayor of Dawson Creek ramble on about local government efforts to entice people to move north from southern British Columbia. At the end of the interview he rather condescendingly mentioned that they had a Starbucks in DC so one could easily get their caffeine fix. Northerners often complain that the south doesn’t “understand” the north. With simpleton statements like the above coming from our leaders, it is no wonder there is a labour shortage up here. But I transgress…

Fort St. John, like Dawson Creek does have a Starbucks, but it is one of those express-type joints nestled in the middle of a massive Safeway. It’s good for a quick grab n’ go but it’s hardly a decent atmosphere for typical cafe loitering. Fort St. John has yet to earn a Starbucks City Mug. You’re not a real city until you earn your own mug. Hell, Hefei has their own mug…and I just might buy it. That’s Hefei, Anhui Province, PRC. I’ve been there, so I can justify the purchase.

Next up the street would be the Whole Wheat & Honey Cafe. Not sure where the whole wheat is and no one has offered me any honey, but the coffee is good and the atmosphere is probably the closest to a an independent urban cafe one is going to find in FSJ. Want to mingle with the movers and shakers? This is your place. Downsides include the lack of street seating, closing at 4pm and not being open on Sundays. Expect howling kids from time to time.

East of WWH one can find Esquires Coffee in the soon to be old Fort St. John Hospital. I’ve never heard of Esquires before, but they apparently have locations all over the world. From Dubai to Fort St. John. Decent coffee in a typical franchise-style setting. Fairly quiet and never seems to be terribly busy. Downsides include the shitty country music that is always playing (such nonsense should NEVER be piped through the stereo system of a cafe). To be honest, I gave up on Esquires for that reason alone.

A bit further east of Esquires is FSJ’s newest cafe, the Canadian Grind Coffee and Tea. Not sure if this is a franchise or not, but they sell Saltspring Island Coffee. Can’t find these cats on the internet, which is rather bizarre considering the importance of an online presence these days. I was quite excited when I heard about this new addition, however I’ve been rather disappointed. Situated inside a new development, this cafe loses points for choosing to inhabit an awful building that incorporates just about everything that is wrong with urban planning in FSJ. Another opportunity wasted for good design, but I am hardly surprised. Good coffee, friendly staff, but the cafe could really use some separation from the other tenant. Even a half-wall would work. Not much atmosphere and they built a goddamn drive through. No points for that right there and I will probably avoid this place on that principle alone.

Finally is Patch Java. I really want to chalk up Patch Java as the crew that hits the bean out of the park. They roast their own beans, have a cool variety of roasts and serve up some good sandwiches and soups. It’s their location, cramped interior layout (not necessarily their fault) and poor use of their limited street seating that takes away the ‘awesome’ qualifier. However they rebound with being the only joint outside of Starbucks that takes a risk and opens on a Sunday. Expect howling kids from time to time. They have a outlet located in one of the skating rinks, but I haven’t visited it yet.

The verdict. Decent outfits here in FSJ, but nothing that particularly gives me the coffee shakes. The fact that not one has anything resembling a decent outdoor cafe structure is frustrating, especially with summer approaching. Hours of operation are not too useful for anyone looking for some where to hang-out during the evening, but that is typical for FSJ outside of alcohol serving establishments. Be aware that many residents here view a cafe the same way they view the McDonald’s play area. Expect dumb parents with out of control children to ruin your coffee and newspaper. A win for FSJ coffee is that each cafe (with the exception of Starbucks) is within walking distance of most locations within the greater city. A fail is that hardly anyone takes advantage of that.

Technorati Tags: cafe, coffee, dawson creek, equires coffee, fort st. john, patch java, peace country, starbucks, whole wheat & honey

Earth Hour 2012–Fail

Bryan — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 18:31:59 +0000

The criticisms of Earth Hour are quite scathing and I generally agree with many of them. Still, might as well try to do something. Despite the slacktivistic nature of Earth Hour, choosing to observe it in a genuine fashion can be difficult within even the most progressive communities, and thus, damn near impossible in a location like Fort St. John.

I estimate I managed a 12% participation rate this year. I was late getting back from the gym and spent the first 14 minutes basked in fluorescent warehouse lights. Walking back home I briefly had my kitchen lights on for 2-3 minutes as I ate some yogurt. Not a believer in candles (probably worse that using electricity as a light source) I was relegated to a walk up the main drag of 100th Street, bathed in the ubiquitous sodium-vapour street light. Cars everywhere, I was not the least bit surprised that I was the only person on the sidewalk for the entire stretch of downtown. Score one for the planet and a lively downtown. At 100th & 105th I was stared down by a parked RCMP cruiser. As the only visible pedestrian it was clearly obvious I was either up to no good, too poor to drive or had lost my license due to alcohol related charges. Possibly all three.

Only 9:00pm. At this point I didn’t care anymore. Nothing non-alchohol related is open in Fort St. John past 7:00pm, unless one counts Tim Hortons. 9:12…walking back home with a disposable medium decaffeinated roll-up-the-rim-to-win coffee. I won a donut.

Fail.

However, this is what I did do…and probably is way more useful than a mere hour of ‘lights out’. I replaced all the bulbs in my rental apartment with compact fluorescents and changed my shower head to an ultra-low flow variety.

Maybe a win.

Technorati Tags: 100th street, downtown, earth hour, energy, environment, fort st. john, rcmp, tim hortons

2012–Dragon

Bryan — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:41:03 +0000

As good coin continues to be sunk into this website, it probably is good form (in the spirit of fiscal responsibility) to actually use it, lest it become yet another cobweb. As previously noted, I have yet to really pull together any real purpose although I believe it might lean more toward the local, with some hints of the international and perhaps some tasteful, professionally discrete and generally tame muses regarding public service in British Columbia. Actually, an anonymous group-written website cataloguing public service fails and quirky stakeholders would be absolutely BRILLIANT. Anonymous being the elusive word, of course.

I’ve been pondering a new design as well (well, pondering is kind of weak, I’ve decided I will have a new design). White backgrounds seem to be in vogue at the moment. Maybe a new host too. Canaca has been good for the past seven years but they’ve placed a lock down on their servers which has a nasty habit of cramping some of the more convenient Word Press options. Blogs seem to run themselves these days. I remember hand-coding my first one and having to mess around with every single post to make it fit right.

So yeah, 2012. The year of the Dragon, also known as the once-every-12-year Chinese baby boom. Auspicious? You bet! Dragons are associated with wealth, power and luck. Unfortunately, astrology doesn’t get along with demographics and dragon babies will have to face down more competition to edge ahead of their non-reptilian brothers and sisters.

*takes a sip of Qingdao (import). It’s not quite the same…probably because it just doesn’t have the right amount of formaldehyde for that cool, crisp, cancerous aftertaste.

TRAN continues to offer a never ending slate of surprises, especially in the Peace District where the Minister of Transportation & Infrastructure is just down the street, issues pop up faster that well-sites and people move positions like it is going out of style. I am hoping to see some SURP faces in this years round of TELP recruiting. I don’t believe you will be disappointed with the job organization. In addition to that I have somehow managed to find myself guest lecturing at a local high school and I will also soon be a certified ski patroller. Still not a huge fan of Fort St. John (to place it as politically as possible) but moving to Dawson Creek continues to be promising as that city appears to be more motivated, progressive and all-around ‘with-it’ as opposed to their northern cousin.

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HWY37N

Bryan — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:13:47 +0000

It has been a rather long time since I fired up MS Writer 2011 (a very underrated program, IMHO) and hammer out a blog post. One of the more exciting aspects of working for TRAN are the emergency operations (floods, fires, quakes etc.) that one is often required to respond to. In roughly five months I’ve muddled around in two flood events (mostly with Field Services) one in the Peace (Highway 97) and the other on Highway 37N, in Northwestern B.C.

Highway 37N is probably one of the most underrated travel routes in North America. I was initially planning to return to Fort St. John via the Yukon and Alaska Highway yet multiple vehicle failures and mishaps put an end to those ambitions.

Bell 2 – Bob Quinn Construction Zone

One of many, many bears.

Immediately south of Bob Quinn airstrip

Around Kinaskan Lake

Stikine River Valley on the way north toward Dease Lake.

Ningunsaw Valley (where most of the major washouts were located).

Ningunsaw Valley, south from Echo Quarry. The Northwest Transmission Line will pass through on the right side of the Highway.

Armoured banks along the Ningunsaw River to protect road infrastructure. We placed approximately 11,000m³ of rip-rap material.

Some more before/after imagery.

Safety Dog

MOTI A-Team

Open gate 30 days after event.

Technorati Tags: alaska-stewart highway, bell-2, bob quinn, dease lake, emergency event, flood, highway 37N, moti, ningunsaw

Canada’s Top Infrastructure Projects

Blog Futures

Bryan — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 04:17:30 +0000

This blog is on life support, and I am not entirely clear on what direction I plan on taking it. Social media is certainly a more efficient method with which to share items, thoughts and comments to a wide range of friends, family and associates. On a macro level, it’s been argued by some that blogs are dead, supplanted by faster, leaner and meaner services. On a micro level, I am finding I have l less scribble about than I did when I started this blog eight years ago, and less inclination to share. I have a lot of entries from my time as an undergrad (sadly, lost in a crash), my time abroad, and my time at grad school, but it becomes a different ball game when a good chunk of my activities are government-related. On a personal level, while I’m new to the Peace, I’m not new to Northern BC and posting things about an area I am intimately familiar with is not nearly as fun as writing about new experiences. I certainly miss those China and travel posts.

The design is also quite old (at least four years, by my reckoning) and I haven’t kept up with the latest plugins and other ‘must have’ WP add-ons. WP even has a new social-media platform called BuddyPress. It really could use a refresh to work in new formats and aesthetics (not that this site was ever an example of cutting edge design and style).

Maintaining an up-to-date WP foundation has also become increasingly less convenient since my host decided to permanently place their servers in safe-mode. With each WP release (and they seem to have new releases every month) I must manually insert the relevant files via FTP. Hardly difficult, but monotonous and annoying procedure nonetheless. It was an automatic process when not blocked by safe-mode. I’ve considered moving companies, but a complete migration can also become a big project very quickly.

So that is the latest regarding this popsicle stand. Maybe I’ll drag it out of its coma.

Technorati Tags: blogs, future, wordpress

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