European Leadership Forum Resource Center

A few months ago, my brother discovered a wonderful website called the ELF Resource Center. Featuring speakers such as Jay Smith with the Brethren in Christ Mission, this site currently offers more then 600 hours of MP3 audio downloads of lectures in three main categories:

• Christian apologetics
• Leadership
• Theology

The stated vision of the forum is "Identifying critical leadership needs, and seeking to be a bridge to the best resources to meet those needs." The wealth of information made available from some of the world's foremost speakers is outstanding.

Photo Contest Win!

Recently, my brother and I entered a photo contest sponsored by the Polar Bear Habitat in Cochrane. The contest results were recently announced: I won first and second place, with my brother taking the honorable mention. Check out the winning photos on the Polar Bear Habitat website.

New-to-me Palm Zire 71

Last week, a guy I work with bought a new Palm to replace his slightly-buggy Zire 71. He gave me the Zire 71, which has a few glitches but otherwise is still functional, in case I could find some use for it.

Since I have been looking to purchase an MP3 player recently, I was happy to note this Palm includes that ability. Equipped with my 1 gig SD card, there's plenty of room for music and audio lectures.

So, I'm quite pleased with my new Palm...even if it's not perfect, the price was right!

Conflict of Seasons

Walking to the office this morning, the GM of the company where I work commented to me about an observation he made regarding the vehicles in the parking lot. The conflict of seasons at this time of year is evident by the fact some pickup truck beds still have a snowmobile, while other people have a 4-wheeler in back. Evidently, at this time of year it's hard to decide which recreational vehicle to haul around!

From the Photo Archives: June 2002

Sunset over Lake Commando, Cochrane, Ontario
Taken with my first digital camera: a 2.1 megapixel HP PhotoSmart 315

Dog + Unicycle = Stares

The last couple of days I have taken our dog Tippy for a walk unicycle around the lake in the middle of town. To clarify: I ride the unicycle and the dog trots beside me. Anyway, by now, most of the residents are somewhat used to seeing one unicycle (even two unicycles, when my brother comes for a ride as well), but when a dog is thrown into the mix, it's enough to make even adults point and stare! So, while the dog and I get some exercise, I'm glad to also bring a smile to a few people's faces.

Update: photo...

Must. find. snow.

Here is a photo of snowmobile tracks along and across a bare gravel road a couple of days ago. Obviously, someone really needed to get to the next patch of ever-depleting snow!

Have a Satellite to Launch?

A company called Sea-Launch provides a service to launch spacecraft from a platform in the ocean. So far, they have performed 18 launches, with another scheduled for April 11. Obviously someone has lots of cash available! This is not something I ever plan on using, but a fascinating concept none-the-less!

He's Divin' In!

On Saturday, Cameron, his friend Jed, and myself took advantage of the spring-like conditions to haul out our bikes and go for a ride! After various planned and un-planned wipe-outs, the collection culminated with this one by Cameron into water !

View the short video clip here (~1.3 MB)

Office 2007 UI

Update: I realize today is a unstable day to post information online! However, please rest assured the following is not meant as a joke or hoax...

As someone who uses Microsoft Office almost every day, both at work and at home, I was looking forward to more information about the re-designed UI (user interface) expected for Office 2007. Recently, Microsoft released a ~13 minute video showing Office 2007 in action:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/ui/demo.mspx

Looks like it will be a great improvement...now we just have to wait for the (ever changing) release date!