I’m truly sorry for the long hiatus on this site. I’ve just had a nightmare of a time getting the right parts for my computer, getting it configured exactly the way I want, installing all my old programs, formatting… etc etc you get the picture. I’m truly sorry for the delay and I hope it never happens again!

Anyway, the good news is — I am back up and running

Here’s a little bit of what’s been happening over the past week…

I love weekend breakfasts at Whitespot.. I just can’t get enough of Nat’s Hearty Brunch and a chocolate milkshake!

I got up to Cypress to shoot some B-Roll HD footage for the snowboarding movie and also to check out the snow situation and the new lodge. You can see the Cypress Mountain’s brand new lodge here (opening 2008/2009)… it looks AMAZING! What a big upgrade from the old one. It’s also in a much better location.. you can ski right into this one. Previously, you had to trek across the road and towards the parking lot to get to the lodge. Can’t wait to try it out.

It was pretty much deserted up there. There was this big exposed drainage pipe with yellow rope I couldn’t resist taking pictures of.

A desolate landscape… solitary chairlifts, sparse snow coverage, and exposed brush and rocks. Not a pretty sight for snowboarding but it sure was neat to be up there without anyone around.

The metal fences used for lift lineups.

This is what happens when you put Allan on an empty chairlift.

Ski resort sign posts just lying around.

Lo and behold, a solitary snowboarder! Pretty intense, considering the tiny snowbase and rocks. Kudos for him for hiking and boarding down though! I have to admit I was jealous since this was before I got to Whistler for first turns.

Crisp snowy footsteps leading into the sunrise…

The beautiful city of Vancouver has such a sparkle at night!

I picked up a new tripod since my old one was really bad for video panning. Not smooth at all. My new Manfrotto with 701RC2 head is incredible. Really smooth, stable, and durable.

We relaxed on the weekend… did some singing to Allan’s guitar playing and thought about funny snowboard songs we could make for the movie. On second thought, maybe we won’t put anyone through that suffering

Santorini, Greece

Cadiz, Spain

I’ve been following one of my friend’s Flickr photos recently. One of the best trips I’ve ever taken was to Europe in spring of 2002. I traveled to several different countries including Greece and Spain. One of my friends, Kyle, is currently touring around Europe and it is really bringing back memories for me! He’s got some incredible photos so I highly recommend you check out his photostream here.

My amazing friend from university Sandy out in Toronto surprised me with the sweetest gift! Lindt chocolates with an orange snowboard on the front. How fitting! Thanks Sandy you’re the best, it’s a really cool gift and I was completely surprised. You can check out her fabulous blog here.

Finally, the new computer.

I also debated with myself for a long time and talked to a few friends, and eventually decided to go with Windows Vista as my OS to take advantage of my new hardware (a Christmas present from Allan!).

For the other tech heads out there, here are my full system specs now:

- Gigabyte EP45-UD3P CrossFireX Motherboard (SATA2, DDR2, RAID etc)
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 Quad Core Processor 2.33 GHZ Yorkfield 4 MB
- 8 GB of DDR2 RAM
- A new Antec case and 650W PSU
- A new monitor (Samsung SyncMaster 2253BW)
- Existing: NVIDIA 7900 GS Video Card
- Existing: HDDs adding up to 2 TeraBytes of storage (mostly full though, probably will need a new HDD soon)

Is it top of the line? No. But it is definitely going to be better than what I had before, and it’ll handle HD video editing no problem, which was the main goal of the upgrade.

That’s it for now. The next few weeks are filled with Christmas parties, snowboarding, and lots of fun… I’ll be keeping up to date on the blog again now that the dust has settled with the computer craziness. Hurray! December is finally upon us.

On a side note. What in the world is up with the Canucks. Lately they seem to be falling just short. Four in a row… I think they can turn this slump around real quick, so don’t lose hope everyone!

As I’ve been mentioning, this year I’m planning to shoot a full-length feature snowboarding movie with some friends. Will it be shot with 10 thousand dollar video cameras? No. Will it feature professional riders? No. Will it be sponsored? Nope.

But it will be fun.

The first step is, of course, is for us to plan out what we want in the movie. We brainstormed some ideas for themes, visuals, titles, sequences and more. The premise is starting to shape up a bit… it’ll poke fun at snowboard movies with huge sponsors and product placement… and show a group of friends who aren’t pro riders and can’t spend every day riding… but are people who are just like you and me, and still live and breathe snowboarding and the outdoors. It’ll profile each rider, why they snowboard, and some of the activities they do in their every day lives. And it’ll feature Vancouver and the West Coast… and why we love the BC mountains so much. And it may even feature some exotic locations. It’s still up for debate. Oh — and it’ll have a killer soundtrack.

Allan has also been working on some storyboards. I think they are turning out fantastic so far. These are for the opening sequence. It’ll make more sense soon.

In other news, I picked out the Burton Zoom 28L camera bag/backpack as a belated Birthday gift from Allan. I think it is rad. It’s got fully protected slots for my camera and soon-to-be-acquired HD video camera. It’s got a vertical snowboard carrier, a spot for a shovel and ice pick, and a thermal pocket to keep batteries at their maximum life. Not to mention all sorts of other features.

I’m in love with it. It’s going to make shooting while riding much, much easier.

I’ve also been walking around in my snowboard boots for the past couple days and will continue to do so until Thursday. Gotta break ‘em in again. Yes — Thursday I’ll be up at Whistler for Opening Day. WOOHOO! Only 4 days left.

In other news, Canucks Captain Robert Luongo got injured today. Argh! Let’s hope our streak can continue without our star goalie.