Lonesome Cosmonaut

For me, the most pure form of ice skating is that done on ponds and lakes – the ice has character, the crisp winter air stings the nostrils, and the surrounding nature a nerve tonic for the world-weary. On a brisk Christmas day, I went out to Lake Louise to enjoy a real ice skating experience.

A light snow was falling on the lake when I arrived, and the parking lot was full of tourists (most of whom have totally lost their fear of motor vehicles). The Fairmont château had a truck cleaning the ice, and they had built a large ice castle in the middle of the cleared ice.

After skating around for a while, there was hot chocolate and sandwiches in the château. Not a bad way to spend a winter afternoon.

Ice skating is allowed as long as the ice is thick enough, so make a trek December through February to ensure you’ll get a chance to skate.

2011 has been a strange year, but no doubt I’ve learned plenty this year. As with previous years, I’ve collected wisdom that I’ve found along  the way:

• A new bed is worth it
  I had a lot of oddball injuries this year, but my body has felt a lot better since we bought a new bed. You don’t need a top-of-the-line model, just something better than your 8 year old IKEA futon.
• Make a conscious effort to find your weak spots
  I was having some issues listening to conversations in loud places, so I took a speech reading course. After just a few short months, problem solved.
• Don’t buy tech gifts for loved ones
  I’ve found that giving gadgets to loved ones just leads to eventual frustration, and isn’t worth the hassle. Instead, get them positive experiences – something they’ll remember getting years later. Skip the iPod.

• Do crazy things
  I went on the COP zip line this year, and I must say there’s nothing quite like the feeling of free-fall.
• Good things sometimes go away, so enjoy them!
  When I heard the Calgary Vipers had folded, I was heartbroken. Still, I got to go to a lot of games, and those memories will stick with me for a while.
• Learn another language
  After the lip-reading classes, I realized how important communication really is in life. I got a free account with Memrise and have been learning French ever since.

• Read more
  As a memory exercise I tried remembering every book I’ve ever read. I opened a Goodreads account to put my list in, and soon found myself using it to also store which books I own but haven’t read. After tallying it up, I’ve found I own 100+ books that I haven’t read yet (easily 2 years of reading material). I’ve taken to spending more time in the evenings reading and less time watching television.
• Treat all disasters as opportunities
  When my resident status was in limbo, I took the time out to really enjoy Calgary (in case I wouldn’t see it again). My immigration did finally sort itself out, and instead of worrying I got to see the beauty the city has to offer.

2012 is going to be an exciting year in a lot of respects, not the least of which is getting married. Here’s to another great year!

There’s a tall structure that most Calgarians are familiar with in the northwest corner of the city, and that’s the ski jump at Calgary Olympic Park. Used for the 1988 Winter Olympics, one would imagine that a ski jump doesn’t have a whole lot of use during the summer. As it turns out, there’s a zip line that starts at the top of the jump. That zipline happens to be the fastest in North America. And the ride? Fun as hell. Continue reading »

For fun I’ve been learning to memorize a deck of randomly shuffled playing cards. Sounds difficult? Nope! You can use mnemonics to make the memorization process easier, and with the table in this post you should be ready to go! Continue reading »

I gave a talk at LinuxCon 2011 in Vancouver this year with the topic “The Rise, Fall, and Rethinking of Linux User Groups.” My experience is on my programming blog dafyddcrosby.com