flashinthepan

I have been watching the commentary following the US Presidential Election with some interest. My wife is an American and the US is afterall Canada’s biggest trading partner. Being involved in the business world, I also realize that the US economy has quite an effect on economies around the globe.

The one thing that seems to be at the forefront of all the post-election media coverage is the fact that President Elect Obama happens to be of African American descent. I haven’t travelled throughout the US very much so I don’t really have a first-hand view. This coverage leads me to believe that racism must still be a really big issue in American society however, more so than in Canada where slavery never developed to the extent it did in the US.

It would be difficult to tell how much of a role ethnicity played in the vote itself, but it sure is getting a lot of press now. With the election finished, the other issues seem to have been put to bed.

Personally, I believe President Elect Obama ran a much better campaign than Senator McCain. I would hope the American people were able to get past the issue of race or ethnicity and vote on the issues at hand.

Regardless of the effect race or ethnicity had on the vote, I really believe that the candidate with the strongest campaign won in this case. No matter which candidate came out victorious in this election, the top man in the Whitehouse has quite an uphill battle over the next few years with issues such as the economy and the “War on Terror” to contend with.

It’s going to be an interesting four years.

If you’re a fan of theatre and the arts and you’re looking for a family-friendly activity in Calgary that is enjoyable for children and adults alike, StoryBook Theatre may be exactly what you are looking for.

Being the parents of five small children ranging in ages from 3 months through 9 years, my wife and I are always on the lookout for things we can do as a family. We found out about StoryBook Theatre from a friend who emailed us a copy of a poster for the Cookie Cabaret presentation of “The Fisherman & His Wife.”

The Cookie Cabaret performances are held at the Community Arts Centre on the Old Currie Barracks in StoryBook Theatre’s Easterbrook Theatre. These presentations are geared toward ages 3 through 6, but if the one we went to see is any indication, they are always fun for all ages. The “Fisherman & His Wife” was a very interactive production and was very professionally done. The set was painted very tastefully in bright colours that would appeal the the kid in any of us.

More recently we took in the Adventure Theatre production of “Harriet’s Halloween Candy.” The Adventure Theatre presentations are held at the Pumphouse Theatre and are for ages 6 through 12 years. We found that both our younger children and we ourselves enjoyed this one as well. Like the Cookie Cabaret, the set was bright and colourful, and was quite tastefully decorated. The performance was top-notch and included live song and some choreography.

StoryBook Theatre is definitely a family-friendly, fun-filled time and is worth checking out.

You can find more information on the StoryBook Theatre Web site here: http://www.storybooktheatre.org/

Two weeks ago, my wife and I visited Emerald Lake Lodge, one of the hidden gems of Yoho National Park. Located about 20 minutes West of Lake Louise near Field, BC, the historic Lodge graces the edge of beautiful Emerald Lake.

We had stayed at the Lodge in the winter time close to ten years ago as young married’s and since then, it hasn’t lost any of its almost magical qualities or charm. The main lodge, built in 1902 from hand-hewn timbers is surrounded by romantic cabins complete with balconies, wood-burning fireplaces and beds more comfortable than any I’ve ever experienced at a hotel. Whether looking out from your room, the dining room at the main lodge or the lake-view outdoor hot tub, the breathtaking views over the lake are second to none with the majestic Rocky Mountains as a backdrop.

The cuisine offered from the dining room is nicely presented and very tastefully prepared. Dinner selections are based largely on various types of game and the next morning’s breakfast buffet offers a wide selection with something for every taste.

A pathway around the lake makes for a nice walk at around 5 km with additional trails branching off from it for the more avid hiker. Various wildlife can be seen throughout the area and the natural beauty of the area abounds everywhere.

One of the nicest things about staying at the Lodge is that the rooms do not have televisions and there is no cell phone service in the area whatsoever. I left my Blackberry in my suitcase and was very shortly glad to forget all about it. We spent our stay with no distractions, enjoying each other, the great service of the Lodge’s staff and the beauty around us.

The Emerald Lake Lodge is definitely a place that we’ll visit again and again throughout the years to come.

Adobe^® AIR 1.1 for Linux is currently in beta and is almost feature complete. For anyone not in the know, the Adobe AIR runtime lets users run rich Internet applications from their desktop without a web browser across multiple operating systems.

There are some slick-looking AIR applications out there and I love eye candy, so when I heard there was a Linux version of Adobe AIR, I couldn’t wait to give it a whirl. Once I went to install it however, I was disappointed before I made it out of the gate. The installer for the Adobe AIR runtime for Linux requires that you are running a Linux distro with an RPM or Debian package management system. My distro of choice is Gentoo, so this wasn’t going to work.

Having run Gentoo Linux for a number of years, I am used to this sort of thing. Many software vendors shy away from supporting source based distros like Gentoo as they are “moving targets.” The element of choice introduced with such a source based distribution means that any two Gentoo Linux boxes could have dramatically different configurations.

The other part of being a Gentoo user however, means that I wasn’t going to give up in a hurry. I did some searching and some reading and managed to get Adobe AIR running on my x86 Gentoo laptop.

Here’s how I did it…

Part of the Adobe AIR SDK called ADL can be used to run Adobe AIR applications on non-RPM/Deb distributions like Gentoo.

Download the Adobe AIR SDK

1. Browse on over to http://www.adobe.com/products/air/tools/sdk/
   (thanks to thrstn for the updated link)
2. By clicking on the download link for the SDK, you are accepting the terms of the License Agreement.

Unpack the Downloaded Software

1. Create a directory for the runtime. I used /opt/AIR-SDK
2. Extract the AIR-SDK’s .tbz2 file in the directory you just created

cd /opt/AIR-SDK
tar jxvf /path/to/adobeair_linux_sdk_b1_091508.tbz2

3. Create another directory for Adobe AIR applications. I used /opt/AIR-apps

Download and Unpack an Adobe AIR Application

1. Download an Adobe AIR application. It will end in the extension .air
2. Create a subdirectory with the name of the application in the applications folder you created above. Example /opt/AIR-apps/application-name
3. Use unzip to extract the contents of the AIR application you downloaded

cd /opt/AIR-apps/application-name
unzip /path/to/application-name.air


Use ADL to launch your application…(the following is all on one line)

/opt/AIR-SDK/bin/adl -nodebug /opt/AIR-apps/application-name/META-INF/AIR/application.xml /opt/application-name

Enjoy your Adobe AIR applications!

Here are a couple of screenshots of AIR applications that I have installed…

I came across a really cool open source project a couple of years ago called MythTV. I thought to myself, “this is something I’d like to put together” so I went out and bought a Hauppauge PVR-350 capture card which then proceeded to sit on my shelf for about 2 years.

Recently, I decided I was going to finally do something with this, so I picked up a VIA Mini-ITX integrated motherboard and a snazzy case from Silverstone, and I put it together. Talk about slick. I only have a couple little quirks to finish working out and a little more desired hardware to add to it and my creation will be complete.

Well I have officially launched my blog. WooHoo!

Now that it’s up, I probably won’t have time to do much with it right away. The speed of life seems to be moving slightly faster than I am lately.

I’m supposed to be preaching tomorrow at church, but I have had one of the worst days I have ever had in my life and things just aren’t working. I am hoping that a friend will bail me out and trade weeks with me so that I can preach next week instead.