I’ve been so busy lately I’ve barely had time to breathe! So far my “week off” has turned into a whirlwind of phone interviews, in-person interviews, errands, cooking, working out, being behind the camera at photoshoots, setting up my new Blackberry Curve 8900, going skating, finalizing some organizational details for the Big White trip, and getting ready for the Sun Peaks trip this Friday. Phew! And it’s only Tuesday.

So yes — I did pick up a new Blackberry Curve 8900. I made the switch to Rogers from Fido. It was a necessary move. So far I love the new Blackberry. I think it is actually nicer than the Blackberry Bold… MUCH easier to type on. It doesn’t have the 3G but the nicer screen, camera, and slim form of the phone make up for it by far. And it’s miles above the old Blackberry Curve I had for a while. It actually kinda feels nice to have a personal Blackberry instead of a work Blackberry for once If anyone out there is on Blackberry, feel free to add my PIN to your BBerry Messenger: 24A3C393!

In other news, my photography portfolio finally arrived from Blurb. I’m really happy with the way it turned out, as with the other books I’ve done through them. The new ImageWrap cover is really nice, and I love the large landscape format. The pictures came out super crisp and gorgeous, and not grainy at all (it may look so in the image but that is from my camera being at a high ISO taking a picture of the book, not the actual pictures in the book ). If on the off chance you’d like to order my 184 page portfolio, you can do so here.

I did want to talk a little bit about the new photography book I’ve put together.

It’s called “West Coast“. The book explores the beauty and wildness that is the West Coast that we know and love — all the way from Tofino to Vancouver to Washington, Oregon, and California. The book is a large format landscape which is 13 by 11 inches (much larger than a standard book or piece of paper), and comes with premium heavy weight glossy paper. Note that this on not the same as my portfolio above. This book is strictly West Coast photography.

I thought I’d throw it out there in case anyone would like to help throw a couple extra coins at me in this tough times. I’m not in a bad situation by any means, but every little bit helps! I would really appreciate it. I only make about $20 off each book but even that would help a lot. It also makes a BEAUTIFUL coffee table book, or a nice book to have at your desk at work. And it shows you love where we live!

To help me out and purchase my West Coast photography coffee table book, please click the link below to go to the Blurb bookstore.

West Coast

Exploring the Beau…

By Allie

Book Preview

Thank you! Sorry for the shameless self-promotion.

Well, my interviews continue this week and maybe next, so I will be sure to update everyone on my job situation of course. Thanks to all of you for your kind comments, and also some of the nice e-mails I’ve gotten. You really brighten my day

It does seem like there’s a lot of waiting these days. I have some somewhat significant (bad and good) personal news to share, but it’s going to have to wait a bit.

My photography portfolio book finally arrived and I’m so excited to see it. I can’t wait to get home to see how it turned out. I’ve been editing the Holiday Boarding short mini snowboarding HD movie and it’s about halfway done. I should have it up tomorrow if all goes well.

In my gaming life, I finally finished Gears of War 2 (also finished Horde mode), and Prince of Persia. Both were fantastic. Next on the list: Trying out Left 4 Dead, Too Human, and eagerly awaiting Resident Evil 5.

Hockey/skating is going well in the mornings. I’m really enjoying the progress I’m making, albeit rather slowly. It feels good to skate around early in the morning before most of the world wakes up, and to get some exercise. I wish I was a better skater and I could just focus on the hockey portion, but sadly I’m having to start skating and stop being such a newborn deer As for snowboarding… yes! I am going up on Sunday to Cypress on some free passes which is always nice. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates (I hear that it won’t).

I no longer have my work Blackberry and so I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do about my personal cellphone. I have a really, really old Nokia from 6 years ago and I’m on Fido. The problem is that Fido doesn’t have any Blackberries, just the iPhone. I’m rather anti-Apple so that’s not really an option. Will Fido ever get Blackberries? I could switch to Rogers, but then I’ll lose the $240 Fido dollars I’ve accumulated. Argh. What should I do if I want to get a Blackberry?

In other Vancouver news, EA Black Box laid off 150-200 people today. They are closing down the studio. Also today, Microsoft announced they are going to lay off 5,000 employees. Scary, scary times. Let me tell you — no one is safe.

But I’m not all doom and gloom today… LOST was on last night and it was fantastic.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED LAST NIGHT’S PREMIERE EPISODE OR IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW LOST, I SUGGEST YOU STOP READING NOW.

Last night blew my mind. LOST never fails to deliver on season premieres and finales, but last night was special. I feel like, for the first time, I’m actually starting to understand the series. And I love it.

Best Moments of Last Night:

• Hurley throwing a hot pocket at Ben, and Ben’s subsequent eye squint
• Sayid nailing a guy with a frying pan right into sharp knives in a dishwasher
• Hurley’s gas station shirt
• Hurley’s 60 second recap to his mom
• Frogurt’s epic flaming arrow death (click here for animated GIF)
• Seeing Marvin Candle and Daniel Faraday in the same scene

Points of Interest:

• Richard Alpert gives Locke a compass to be Alpert’s “constant” during the time traveling. In previous episodes, Alpert gave the boy-Locke a test between a number of objects, including a compass. Alpert was intially excited when the young Locke picked up the compass, and was visibly disappointed when he chose the knife.
• The older lady from the end of the episode may look familiar. You’re correct. We saw Mrs. Hawking during Desmond’s time shifting as the lady who refused to sell him a ring for Penny, and as someone who tried to teach Desmond about the rules of time. You can read more about her here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ms._Hawking
• Also of note about Mrs. Hawking is that she appeared to be doing some time calculations in the room under the church. She appeared to be plotting the locations of where the island has been. In Season 3 producer commentary, she is referred to as a “temporal policeman”… aka a TIME COP. COOOOOL! How cool would it be with a time police war? Mrs. Hawking and Ben vs. Widmore and co. Yes. Please.
• Is Jin dead? I really hope not. If he is I’m going to be REALLY upset. Some bright signs: His name shows up in the beginning credits for both episodes (usually reserved for main characters) and in the recap episode, the voiceover said that Sun “believe” Jin is dead. Maybe he’s not? Although showing the explosion again was almost confirmation that he is dead.
• In Season One, Locke found his legs not working… and in the premiere episode we saw him standing just about in the same place where this happened when he got shot.
• Desmond now an incredibly important character. The hatch implosion un-stuck him from time and fate, and so the rules no longer apply to him. It’ll be interesting to see how him and Faraday play out over the season.

Interesting Theories I’ve Read:

• That the numbers, which were of great importance in Season One, are part of the Velanzeti equation. They predict when the wortld will end. So perhaps Dharma Initiative’s goal was to change one of the values of this equation so that they can prevent the end of the world.
• Is Miles (the creepy guy who can talk to dead people) Marvin Candle’s son?
• The sickness and crazy behaviour that the French lady’s crew was talking about is actually time travel sickness, the same that Desmond had and now Charlotte is experiencing?
• Are the whispers on the island simply the survivors being able to hear themselves, except in the past or future when they time traveled?

MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!