A working holiday

Loading up the camper and heading down to North Carolina... we're both looking forward to it.

Unfortunately I've been sick for this past week so I'm not as organized as I like to be. But I do have some great things to look forward to over the next two weeks. On top of finally getting to ride Stumpy I will also be trying out some new products and will be writing up some articles based on how they work.

First up is the Crank Brothers Kronolog dropper seat post. It has 5 inches of travel and is one of the few designs that has the cable at the bottom. It's a nice and tidy package, now lets see how it works. Here's a photo... notice the small trigger mounted on the left side of the handlebar

Crank Brothers Kronolog

The one I'm really looking forward to checking out is the GoPro Hero3 Black Edition. The newest camera from GoPro, the Hero3 is smaller and more versatile than the previous two editions. The folks at GoPro sent along most of the important accessories including: the wifi remote, the LCD back (with appropriate back covers), the Frame (used to mount the camera where you don't need to use the the waterproof case) and an assortment of mounts. They also included a 32GB micro SD card so I'm all set to test it out.

A lot of goodies to try out...

A tidy little package

My View

Looking east toward downtown Toronto, getting to watch as plane take off and land. I've spent time in the area when the Midweek club was holding their criterium series on Tuesday nights (and while I was still racing). Now I'm seeing it as the folks who've worked up in that area (known as Creekside) have for that long or longer.

Two things about the photo I like:
1. the CN Tower. Always makes me feel I'm close to home when I can see it.
2. Well... that would be the Westy in the parking lot. Talk about feeling close to home!

The 2013 Canadian Hillman Award

This is the 3rd year that the Hillman Foundation has been honouring Canadian journalists and I have to say that this year was the best so far. I feel honoured to be included and I have Andrea to thank for that. It continues to help me raise my personal standards and expectations.

Started in 1950, The Hillman Foundation has recognized some of the brightest talent in the U.S. for their insightful journalism. The Hillman Award and "The Sidney" are highly respected honours.  Up here in (currently cold) Canada, there have been three winners sine it was introduced in 2011.

The first winner was Steve Buist of the Hamilton Spectator for his Code Red expose. In 2012 the CBC's fifth estate team of Diana Swain, Timothy Sawa, and Angela Gilbert took it for their "Scouts Honour" work. And it was great to see previous winners at this years event. I think the turnout was bigger than before and the mix of people was amazing.

I imagine winning the 3rd Canadian Hillman was harder than it was in the previous 2 editions. The number of submissions was significantly higher, the quality of all of them was on par. Honourable mentions were stories that needed to be revealed and are very telling about the importance of journalism at these levels.

If you have any doubt, check them out.
Katie DeRosa, Special Report: An investigation of Canada's refugee policy, Times-Colonist
Elise Stolte, Why aren't First Nation's kids in school? Edmonton Journal

And the winner is:
It's a story that's been brewing for a couple of years and really needed some in depth knowledge and experience to reveal. All of the layers have yet to be peeled back although it seems it's close to the breaking point. The idea and core principles of democracy as we know it were shaken by these events. And yet... who knows what the final outcome will be. The story goes on.

Congratulations to Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher, Investigation of robocalls and voters suppression in the 2011 federal election

Bike Show. And Back At IT.

I am constantly amazed at how life changes.

My last post was about accepting a job similar to what I was doing before I retired. Between then and now I've become a corporation, covered a bike show, arranged to get my camper back on the road, finalized some details for a concert in June, dialed in my new bike, and started that job.

I still have a lot of the cycling events I have been covering these past years on my calendar. I made a point of providing it to my new client so they knew what days I wouldn't be available and it seems ok so far. Having said that, I'm all of one day into the new job.

Very little of what I learned today came as a surprise... I guess I haven't forgotten much about what I know of IT while I've been away. I think that bodes well.

Anyhow, here are few photos. A couple from the bike show and one from this morning before I headed out. From a job interview to a live interview on tv and then getting into a new/old role.

Covering a trade show

About to be interviewed live (on Global TV)

 

Ready