Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Process

Well the auditions are done, the cast is cast, well almost, and the process of taking words on page to full stage production has started.

I always love the process, I will always take a audition snapshot and hold it in my head, then sometime on the opening weekend think back, it’s an amazing process.

I am going to try and give a on going blog update on this process, an insight to what goes on in my head.

So first off, auditions, what was I looking for? Did I see what I wanted? How to decide? Well for Deathtrap there was a not bad turnout as, as small shows go, had to do a pre audition audition due to commitments by small people, not always the easiest thing to do, but had to be done.

So you have a few people for read well, fit the role, overall pretty darn good, what to do. Start to look at things like looks, voice, small reactions to words. Still tough call, but a call has to be made and I know I made the right one, but still makes the phone calls tough, if it was not for their voice it could have been them.

So now we wait to fill the one last role, how long to wait, who will I get? Hopefully will be fully cast before the first read through. We shall see.

Monday, September 07, 2009

Is the UK pricing itself out of the tourism market?

15 pounds to enter Westminster Abbey, 17 pounds to ride the London Eye, 20 pence to use the toilet and that’s all just before the 22 pound sandwich lunch.

We have all heard of hour expensive it is to visit the UK, but to me it really is starting to get out of control and I wonder if people will start to not visit, or it will only be a place to visit for the rich and famous. We just got back from a week trip and I was, for some reason, even more surprised than usual at the cost.

So going back to my opening, we came up the stairs from Westminster Tube Station to the grandeur of the Westminster Tower, yes the tower the houses the bell called Big Ben. Snapped a few epicures just as the rain started, and boy did it rain. We need some shelter and where better to heard for shelter when in a storm than into a church – ding 60 pounds or in good old Canadian dollars $53.95, but oh well the rain was heavy and Westminster Abbey in an iconic building both in size, age, and shrouded in history. So now we try to wander around, not an easy feat, there are so many people in there it was almost claustrophobic, seems that really did not care how many people where in the building as long as they got their 15 pounds per person, unlike the natural history museum a few days later that did a count in/count out so that the building was not so full as to be a a waste of a visit.  - plus it was free!!! Yes all the museums in England, not sure about the other 3 countries, are free. The government feels that these places of history should be a available to all, yes even foreign tourists and for that I can only commend the government and maybe Canada could take note… cough cough… entry free into our national parks!!!

It is really heard to estimate how many people were in the building but if I had to low guess I would say 2,000 and there was a constant line up outside of people entering all paying their 15 pounds I would say  one very couple of minutes - Now that’s a chunk of change in any currency.

Now I totally understand that a place such as this costs money to upkeep, but if this place is part of a nations history surely it would fall under of funding just like the museums in the UK, seems logical to me. So time after time we found ourselves converting back to Canadian dollars, something you should not really do, but we did, from just a snack, to a meal, to a entry fee.

So with all these costs, the UK is really starting to make it unaffordable to the average person, it really makes places like Poland, Cuba and even the US the place to spend your tourism dollars. I wonder if place like Westminster Abbey really think it through when they charge these crazy fees.

So my advice if you want to go to the UK. Save up, start saving now for the trip in 5 years, then when you get there don’t even bother trying to convert back to your home currency, just enjoy the place.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Spending cuts follow Alberta premier's no-tax pledge

 Spending cuts follow Alberta premier's no-tax pledge

Oh my… to all of you who voted Tory at the last election, when are you going to get your head out of the sand and see that this government does not have a clue when it comes to the finances of this province.

One day they are spouting how we will not increase taxes, another day they cut the liquor tax, costing millions in revenue, the next day they are giving money way to the gas companies, then they tell us there will be cuts. Then in the same week MRI units are told to do less MRIs, hello!!!!!

Please explain to me how this kind of confusing talk is good for us as citizens and investors alike.

Klein of course says he would cut government spending across the board like he did in the nineties, something that still hurts today. Funny how the government can make a mess that everyone is part of then use government workers, who had no choice, to fix the mess. I think if the government tries that again you will see people leaving this province in droves never to return and I am talking teachers, doctors and other professionals.

To be honest despite no having much of a opposition, I would rather give them a chance, heck they could not do any worse. We go from a province with billions coming in to what we are quickly becoming, as great big mess.

Did you know every year residents of Alaska get a rebate from the oil revenues, and in Norway all higher education is free, even for international students. How do they both do that? Well they treat the resources' of the country, oil, properly and make the oil companies pay for it. This attitude of the Tory government letting oil companies push them around has to stop. Tell the oil companies these are the royalties, take it or leave it, they will not go far for long, the may short term make try and make a point, but they will be back, and the oil and has is not going anywhere.

Well that’s my rant for the day. Just remember when it comes time to vote again, think about it.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Microsoft drops Windows 7 price to take on £20 Snow Leopard - Mac software - Macworld UK

Talk about a huge company giving the EU the finger. I laughed so hard when I read this… go to the article and look at the sub headline. There will no deal for people in the EU, this goes along with a news item a few weeks back when Microsoft saying there will not be including a browser, the thing you use to browse the internet, ok for the geeks in the EU, not so good for people like my Dad.

A few years ago Microsoft was fined by the EU for bad business practice in that their browser, which was/is part of the OS, was a monopoly and it should be removable. The whole things was started by the company that makes the Opera browser, what they are wanting is for Microsoft to include other browsers within the OS so people would have a choice. Well guess what, Microsoft is basically saying nope if we have to put other browsers in we will not put any in.

Of course this may backfire on them, but what they are hoping is that people in the EU will be pretty upset at no browser and upgrade/discount for current users and those people will contact their EU MP. Guess we shall see.

Microsoft drops Windows 7 price to take on £20 Snow Leopard - Mac software - Macworld UK

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

ISPs must help police snoop on internet under new bill

Came across a couple of articles of the past couple of days…

I think we are going it a little to far, I have always believed that things like CCTV camera were something which could be used to help catch criminals who have committed a crime, but these powers that the government is looking is way over the top. I have yet to do some digging into what they are truly looking at, but a face value this scares me. The thought of the websites I visit being tracked by the police is scary, how many times has some surfed the web and ended up at a page they really did not intend to go to?

… and again the end of the year comes by

The years here in the IT Department seem to go by so quickly, I guess it’s due to, in part to, how busy we are. This summer is heading to be as busy as ever some of the projects on the go for the department are:

  • Deploying Microsoft Forefront Client Security, replacing Trend.
  • Install 100 Smartboards
  • Fully Deploy SCCM and how we deploy updates
  • Deploy computers to the new Maude Clifford School
  • Migrate to a new library system, L4U
  • Setup student email for the high school
  • Start the wireless installation for all the schools
  • Package and deploy a number of new software title including iTunes
  • Start the whole implementation of the server refresh

… and the list goes on and on.

So as the teachers and support staff enjoy a well deserved break, the IT Department continues on to renew, refresh and add new systems to the very highly complex tech environment that we currently have.

If you work in the district and want to swing by and see what we are up to, doughnuts are always welcome :-)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Much Needed Progress and all that…

So it was 6:40am and was woken up by the sound of a gas powered saw cutting away at the sidewalk behind our house on 84ave. Yep 6:40am on a Saturday morning. So I look out the window and see a number of Aquatera vehicles and workers, one assumes doing some work as they start the fix up and twinning of 84ave, I have to say a much needed project.

Much needed. Does this mean that we let common sense out the window? Yes the work is needed, the roads in the city have been a in state for a number of years, and 84ave has been really bad, the city has been working hard to address this, despite thinking otherwise at times. - The roads were bad due to neglect of a councils of the past.

Should we have to put aside common sense for what are years of work just because the works needs to be done? Should the noise by-law apply to Aquatera, the city and it’s contractors if the work is not an emergency? I think it should apply. The work is needed but during the process we should still have a quality of life and the noise by law is there as part of ensuring the residents of the city does have a quality of life, and being woken up before 7am on a weekend does not fit in with what I would call quality of life.

I am awaiting a response from Ald. Bill Given and will keep you posted on my thoughts. BTW I think Bill is one of our better councillors, through his Facebook and Twitter updates you can actual see what he is doing as a member of council.

One last note, I just popped over to the city page on road work for this week, the week of June 20-27, and there is not work being done on 84ave… guess Aquatera does not have to pass that info on!!!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

butterflies

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

In the crowd

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Balloons how cool

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Just been moved...

Into the Oilers bench....how cool is that...eat your heart Dennis Vobeyda

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Cheeseburger in a can: bought, cooked, and eaten! | Doobybrain.com

Ummm…. this really does look very tasty.. . seriously, who comes up with this stuff?

Cheeseburger in a can: bought, cooked, and eaten! | Doobybrain.com

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Summer

Summer is coming… supposed to be here sometime on Sunday, although the weather has been pretty good this week.

A trip to Edmonton tomorrow to see Coldplay again, we saw them last year in Toronto after the cancelled their Edmonton gig, but now they are back and if it last year was anything to go by it will be a pretty awesome concert, plan to send some Blog pictures via my phone, so stay tuned.

Going to also do some shopping in Edmonton, use the gift card I got from Global knowledge, although I only have half what I should have got…grrrr But but the UK coming up need some new clothes.

This is a pretty boring post as I am going to close now…

Mobile Blog here we go

So as I try to Blog more I am going to try the mobile blog as well.

Britain proposes landline tax to boost broadband access

As one of the comments says Britain’s land mass is a lot smaller than Canada so to be able to offer Broadband to everyone with a tax like this is doable. It’s a shame Canada really does not have a vision when it comes to the country being connected by Broadband, would it not be nice to be able to go to any city and small town and access the web via your laptop or other portable device?

Britain proposes landline tax to boost broadband access

Saturday, June 13, 2009

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Lord Healey 'sorry for Thatcher'

Very interesting article, in some way Klein always reminded me of Thatcher.

 

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Lord Healey 'sorry for Thatcher'

New Library

I just updated my Facebook page to say a bit about the new library, but thought I would write a little more in my Blog.

 

So been in GP for 21 years and when I hear people moan about the cost of the new cultural centre I ask them how long they have lived here, many will say 5, 6, 7 years, so my response is that I have lived and paid taxes here for 21 years so I deserve something better than a used liquor store, yep the old library used to be a liquor store.

 

Grande Prairie is growing, ok slowed down a bit of late, and that growth has put a strain in everything, from the roads to facilities. Look how many new stores have gone up in the past 10 years, that’s a sign of growth, but it’s been a while since we got some good new city facilities. Yes we got the coke centre a few years ago, great for the sports people and I don’t be grudge them having the facility. It’s all part of growth, so the cultural in for another section of the community, and in a few years time a new multiplex which would be bother for the sports people and the families, a good balance I would say.

 

I guess the only thing missing from the cultural centre is a theatre, I hope that within the next 10 years there will be a theatre over in that area, 2nd street theatre is really past it’s best and well don’t get me going on the huge classroom they call a theatre over at the college… (sorry outside voice)

 

So to wrap up, a viable city is a place that has amenities for all it’s residents, be it young and and single, families, older and all in between. So as you wander around the new cultural centre thing of it as one of the spokes in a city.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Cricket – “The Rules”

 

Just listening to CBC radio before heading off to work, due to some issues CBC it’s CBC Vancouver!!

 

Anyhow they were talking about Cricket, such a summer sport were games go on for days, well a while back someone asked me what the rules of cricket were, simple I said;

 

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

 

Howzat!

 

So there we have it, pass it along.

 

Well off to work

 

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Observation on the police and traffic

 

Wondered about this one for a while and will preface it by saying I believe the police do a very good job often under difficult circumstances.

 

I have often wondered by when the police pull someone often the feel a need to cause traffic jams. Yes from time to time when someone is pulled over for a violation there is not really easy way to position the vehicles or no were else to park and blocking the road is unavoidable. Most of the times I have seen people pulled over this is not the case like today, just less than an hour ago.

 

So I am driving through downtown along 100 Ave, a trying drive most of the time when everyone starts to pull over to the left lane, near the coop slowing traffic to a crawl. I join the slow traffic as I needed the left anyhow, so the traffic is now backed up to the coop. As I get closer to 100St I can see a police car light on parked just about at the corner of 100Ave with the intersection of 100St. As I draw closer, remember everyone is going really slow I see there seems to be no accident just a jeep pulled over, parked right on the corner driver waiting for his ticket. The police car, it was actually a Peace Officer not RCMP or By-Law, completely blocked the right lane.

 

So why? Is it a power trip that they can just block traffic to give a ticket? Could the driver of the vehicle that has been pulled over be asked to move to a safer place such as the parking lot around the corner would this not be safer for all involved? We all know what a number of Grande Prairie drivers can be like, situations like this only cause these drivers to get frustrated and make stupid moves putting lives and property at risk.

 

Now maybe the reason is that the law states that they cannot move to a safe place to issue the ticket in which case maybe the law needs to be looked at.

 

Anyhow there we have my comments for the day on this subject, I would be interested to here what other people think about this, I know I don’t know any police officers personally anymore, I did a number of years ago as we had a fair number involved in scouting in GP.

 

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Grande Prairie Stompede 2009

 

Yep… not big enough to be called a Stampede!

 

So went to the Chuckwagon Races tonight, thanks to Lantech of Grande Prairie for the tickets, not a bad time.

 

So why do they have to set a bunch of wild horses loose and have some “matcho” men try and ride them, of course someone is going to get hurt, and they did, serious enough to be hauled off in a ambulance, hope he’s ok.

 

Grande Prairie Stompede-35

 

Question for you people out there that read this, why do people not have respect for their countries national anthem? Adults just continuing to walk around carry a case of beer….ummmm…come on people you live a in free country and many people have lost their lives so it continues to be free.

 

So the rest of the evening was fun as drivers duked it out in the heats to make it into the finals. Did not stay till the end but took a number of pictures so enjoy.

 

“Storm Watch”

 

Forgot about these pictures on my camera, this was of the storm that rolled though earlier this week in Grande Prairie. The storm was not that big and did not last that long.

 

Hopefully we will have a few good storms this year, seems to me we are due for a good storm year.

Wind…

What the….?

This wind is driving me nuts… seems like whenever we got a nice day in this city the wind starts… gusting up to 65 this morning… makes life outside not very fun…

Off to the GP version of the Stampede later today…. will try and give a full review with pictures later… we shall see…

http://gpstompede.com/

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Saturday Morning Work

It's Saturday morning here at the office,there is nobody around and the music can go as loud as i want.

I have been working most Saturday mornings since January and find it a great time to catch up and work on some projects that require a little thought. No phone, nobody popping in for a chat, all in all a good time for my sanity and the work load that needs to be addressed.

So if you feel you are stressed at work and home, take time out on a Saturday morning, yep it may seem that you are working in your own time, but when put into how much more productive you become as well as the lower stress levels knowing that when you go in on Monday, Tuesday in this case, you will be going in knowing those few little things that bugged you all lasthave been down and you will enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

City Taxes and Windows 7RC

In case you have not noticed the news, the property taxes will be going up more than then city expected due to the provincial budget, check out Bill Givens blog for more info.

City Taxes Going Higher

For those of you interested in technology Window 7 is a step closer to being released to the public. Windows 7 RC came out to the general public. I have been running the beta for a short time and have switched to the RC (Release Candidate) last week. -IT people could get it sooner.

Windows 7 is a nimble OS compared to Vista, it’s very fast and will be well worth the wait for those that did not go to Vista. There where many complaints about Vista and I would agree at the beginning it was a little problematic due to in part a lack of up to date drivers, but in the end Vista was a good OS.

Many people are saying that Windows 7 is actually Vista SP2 (although Vista SP2 comes out very soon) this new OS has the Vista under pinning's but has been very much reworked and you will see a nice fresh look with.

So when Windows 7 comes out later this year, those of you who are still on XP may want to consider and upgrade, assuming your hardware will run it.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Deathtrap… next season

Well I am back into the directors chair at Grande Prairie Live Theatre. Deathtrap by Ira Levin, murder mystery…going be fun. Once I have an audition date set I will update this blog, I do have a date, towards the end of Nov, but I have to run it by the theatre first.

So if you want to audition then watch this space, just don’t read the whole play as it will spoil the end.

Back soon

Monday, April 27, 2009

Will it ever happen???

What you ask? Well a consistent Blog. How about we aim for once a week for now and see were that goes.