The Brown Knowser

DW didn't think it could be done. "It'll never fit," she said when I told her what I'm bringing to Portugal . Two D-SLR camera bodies Three lenses Tripod Three-metre monopod Two video cameras and accessories Mini-tripod Camera suction cup and mount Multi-port charging station and cables Laptop Three t-shirts Three short-sleeve dress shirts Two long-sleeve shirts Three pairs of pants Rain jacket Swim suit Three pairs of socks Water shoes and walking shoes Pajamas Three pairs of underwear Toiletries Ball cap Expedition hat I don't like to check bags at the airport, so it all has to fit in my carry-on suitcase and small backpack. I bought a new pack that matches the dimensions of what I'm allowed to take with me on the plane that we've booked in Portugal, to fly from Porto to the Algarve. "It'll never fit," said DW. "Don't take two D-SLRs, that's crazy."...

What was the distance between Tunney's Pasture and Westboro Station, along the transitway? Was it 400 metres? A half-kilometre? I'm talking pre-LRT. I'm thinking about 2001, when DW was at home, on parental leave, when Kid 1 was a newborn. Twenty-one years ago, I used to take the bus to and from work because DW needed our vehicle and we only had one at the time. In 2001, I worked at Corel Corportation, on Carling Avenue. In the mornings, I would take the bus from Fallowfield Station, in Barrhaven, and would get a good connection so that I could transfer to a bus that would take me right to the office. In the afternoon, my connections wouldn't be that great and I'd often find myself on a crowded bus, especially the one to which I'd transfer, at Lincoln Fields. But I discovered that if I walked down Churchill Avenue to Westboro Station, I'd be able to get on an express bus that would take me all the way to my neighbourhood (Fallowfield Station, at the time, wa...

Slowly but surely, I'm getting better at editing my videos. When I look back on some of my earlier YouTube videos, I sort of cringe and tell myself that many of the clips are too long. I literally speak out loud, saying, "All right, we get it. Move on." Fortunately, I'm not the only one who shows clips in their videos that hang on just a bit longer than necessary: sometime, much longer than is required. Because I've been watching countless videos of Portugal for DW's and my upcoming vacation, there are times when the videographer hangs on just a bit too long or overexplains something. If it happens too much through a video, I'll stop watching and move on to the next video. No one wants that. We make videos to be viewed to the very end, or at least until the signoff. I'm hoping that viewers of The Brown Knowser YouTube channel are entertained or informed, and that they want to watch the video to the very end. And to that end, I'm trying my bes...

DW really took control of the situation on this one. Indeed, there was no pre-planning, no lead up to this vacation, 11 years ago this week. It still goes down as the most spontaneous trip that our family has ever taken. It's also the first vacation that I shared on The Brown Knowser . We knew that the summer was wrapping up and that the kids would soon be heading back to school, and we wanted them to have some good memories to take back with them. But because both girls had been in competitive dance and we had used up some of our vacation time in travelling to various cities for competitions, we only had a week to enjoy to ourselves before everything started up again. We had barely wrapped up our Saturday breakfast when DW exclaimed that she had found a place. "How long would it take to drive to Cape Cod?" she asked me. I consulted Google Maps. "At least nine hours of straight driving, so let's say about 11, taking in for traffic and rest stops." "Quic...

There's nothing better than receiving a surprise care package delivered to your front door. Especially, on a Friday afternoon, when you'll have the whole weekend to enjoy it. That's exactly what happened to me, last Friday, as I was thinking about the weekend. Spearhead Brewing Company, in Kingston, has been very good to me for many years, sending me packages that contain their newest releases, as well as a few favourites thrown in. I don't know what I've done to deserve such generosity (a few kind reviews, perhaps?) but I'm always happy to support one of my favourite breweries and I hope they don't stop surprising me. The latest delivery contained three new brews and three familiar beverages. They went straight into the fridge (after the following photo was shot) because they arrived warm from the summer heat and I wanted to tuck into them as soon as possible. One of the cans that caught my eye immediately was the bright yellow can. I had seen tweets from S...

The last time I walked out the doors of Century Public School, I told myself that it would be for the last time . I even told you the same thing in a blog post, more than five years ago. And then I was back in my kindergarten classroom, checking in for my second booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. I now have a blend of three vaccines: AZ, Pfizer, and now, Moderna. It's a cocktail of protection. I entered through the same door that would lead me to the kindergarten class. The tiny desks were stacked in the area where we used to hang up our jackets and stow our outdoor shoes. Larger tables were spread out in the classroom, with plexiglass barriers and volunteers waiting to help me. My kindergarten classroom, from five years ago. "This was my kindergarten classroom," I told the person who scanned my health card. Even his neighbouring volunteer heard and took notice. "Although," I added, "it seems that they've lowered the ceiling since I was a young st...

Mango margarita in Mexico. "Why wouldn't you just have a margarita?" DW saw me approach her and the shopping cart as I walked from the aisle that was filled with craft beer, two cans in my hands. "Those look colourful," she said, eyeing the bright-green, patterned can. In bold, white letters, the name Bongo was the most prominent word. "Is that the beer you tried to order at breakfast last weekend?" She was referring to the previous Sunday, when she, Kid 1, and I met with my parents for breakfast. We were able to sit on the patio of Big Rig Kitchen and Brewery, on Iris Street, near IKEA. When we were seated and our server asked us if we'd like coffee or something else to drink, I asked him if they were allowed to sell any of their beer at that time of morning. I had noticed that the breakfast menu had included some morning cocktails: if the brewery could sell those, perhaps I could have a light, fruity radler. It was a bright, sunny, and warm morn...

I'm so exhausted from this weekend and, as I wrote this post, last night, I already knew that I was going to be hurting today. So let me say it: I'm hurting today. But it's a good kind of pain, and my exhaustion comes from good activities. As I wrote in a previous post, DW and I are trying to get in shape for our upcoming vacation, in Portugal . Because two of the cities that we plan to visit are full of hills—Porto and Lisbon—we've been going for walks in parts around Ottawa that have hills. We need to prepare our legs for lots of climbing. We've walked around Hog's Back Park and Vincent Massey Park, which are neighbouring parks that are separated by hills, and they've given us a bit of a workout. But we also need to do some good cardio work, and this weekend saw a lot of it. Saturday morning started early, when I hopped on my bike and cycled to Metcalfe, about 35 kilometres to the southeast of Ottawa. It was a cool morning and I rode through cool fog...

This post might not be suitable for viewing at work. I'm pretty sure it isn't, especially since I added the final photo, which is full-frontal, to the post. Yup, definitely not for viewing at work. And so I'm going to post this warning, as I did for a previous post . You've been duly warned. The last low-key photography meetup that I did was in 2019, with BC model Olivia Preston. It might have been the best model photo shoot that I've done, mainly because Olivia is easy to work with and basically just does her own thing. As I said on Tuesday , I haven't done anything with these photos since I processed them. I sent them to Olivia but that was about it. So, for Photo Friday , I thought I'd share a few of them. Some are implied nudity: others are explicit. And I hope that you find them to be tasteful. Let me know how you feel about me sharing these photos on my blog in the Comments section. As always, thoughts and comments are welcome. Happy Friday!