I'm going to PEI!

I've booked my hotel!
From June 29 to July 17, I will be staying at the Brackley Country Inn. This is an awesome little place that just so happens to sit right beside the Brackley drive-in theatre! Check out the satellite map here.

I will spend my time on the island doing a mix of tourism and pavement-pounding. By the end of my stay, I hope to have met with every interested, possibly-relevant, business owner in the greater Charlottetown area (and possibly beyond).

My very rough "people to call" list looks like this:

Federal government
Provincial government
Municipal government
Tourism associations
Universities and colleges
Museums
Real estate
Airport & airlines)
Musicians (albums, studios, venues)
Charlottetown civic centre
Arts district
Restaurants
Breweries
Property management groups
Construction

If I'm missing anything, let me know.



Then there is the 10,000km round-trip road-trip that encompasses my time on the island. I will be driving across Canada on my own. All told, we're talking about 30+ days away from everyone that I know and love. Words cannot express how excited and terrified I am.

As I see it, this is a perfect opportunity to commune with God. It also is a perfect opportunity for me to get out there and actually gain some people-skills.

Can you imagine me with the confidence to approach, talk to, and get to know complete strangers?
Neither can I... haha

This could be one of the greatest opportunities for change that I have ever had.

Find a job, move to PEI, shovel 10' of snow... big steps.
Approach someone that I don't know and try to make a friend... giant leap.


If you are in the habit of conversing with the Almighty, please keep me in your prayers.

Another photo

A good day in the office is a day out of the office...
Nothing like a mandated trip to Lake Louise to ease some stress. And, I must admit, I was only slightly disappointed when the organizers experienced some delays and I had to wait around for an hour or so longer than expected. I spent my hour walking and photographing the grounds of the Chateau Lake Louise.

Some lighting experiments

I haven't posted photos for a while.
I'm sure these won't be particularly interesting to most of you, but I'm rather proud of them.
All of them are unedited and were taken in the three-minute and forty-second long periods between pressing "Record" and "Stop" for my buddy Greg as he recorded his demo CD.

Two flashes. One on-camera, bouncing off ceiling behind me. One behind the board, hitting the wall.


Two flashes. One on-camera pointed directly at the glasses. One directly behind the flashes, bouncing off of the wall. Going for a purposefully soft/pastel look.


Two flashes. One on-camera pointed directly at the glasses. One directly behind the flashes, bouncing off of the wall. Also going for a purposefully soft/pastel look.


One hand-held flash. Fired four times during an eight-second exposure. One above the cup, one on the front of the cup, one from each side.


One hand-held flash. Fired four times during an eight-second exposure. One above the cup, one on the front of the cup, one from each side.

PEI Again?

I want to move to Charlottetown.
I need a job in order to move to Charlottetown.
I need to pound the pavement in Charlottetown to find a job.
I need a place to stay in Charlottetown while I pound the pavement.
There is no guarantee of a job.
All I have are my savings.
I won't have money coming in.
Those savings won't last long.
I can only stay for a short while.
All of the apartments want one-year leases.
All of the short-term rentals are expensive tourist destinations.
A much shorter stay in a hotel?
Problem solved!


So I'm planning a road-trip!

We're talking about a grueling, 10,000km (round-trip), middle of the summer (eww), month-long adventure across this great country of ours.

Calgary > Regina > Winnipeg > Thunder Bay > Sault Ste. Marie > Ottawa > Bangor (Maine) > Charlottetown.

Two weeks in Charlotte's town should be just enough time to reach out to a pre-determined list of potential employers and, hopefully, spend a bit of time touring the island that I love.

Then comes, what will undoubtedly be, a very tough drive back. I don't look forward to the first three days, fighting the urge to turn the car around at every U-turn opportunity that I see.




Lets see how long it takes for this plan to derail.

Hahahahaha

Plan A: Fail
Plan B: Fail
Plan C: EPIC FAIL!

There are some furnished apartments in Charlottetown... for $3000 a month!

I figured that a "furnished apartment" simply meant adding a ratty old couch and a 12-channel TV to the apartment and adding the heat and phone costs to the rent. WRONG!

"Furnished apartment" = "vacation destination".

At what point should I call it quits on the comedy of errors? Wouldn't a booming "NO!" from the sky have been easier than the complete and utter collapse of every idea I come up with?



Just as a side note: Every property manager in Charlottetown is named Wayne. It's actually a bit weird. I sent out a bunch of emails to various companies asking about their properties; Every response (phone or email) has been from a gentleman named Wayne (each with a different last name though).
[Edit: It seems that there is also one lady named Harma. She ruined my visions of a secret counsel of Waynes.]