This is a pain. I’m thinking of switching.

Anyways, lets recap this weekend, it seems like a good one. Most of the time I don’t like weekends. More people in the house, I never sleep in, I get bored, etc. This one was different though, and that probably has to do with the fact I was busy for a lot of it.

Saturday was by far the best. I had the opportunity to attend Dave Brosha’s Yellowknife Scenes Workshop, which took us all around Yellowknife and taught me a lot. I have to say Dave does any amazing job teaching and I’m very glad he is willing to share is knowledge. I will have a full write up on YkOnline.ca about my experience and what the workshop was all about. The workshop started at 7:30am and finished at 6pm with drinks at the bar beside his studio. I think I’m going to write more about Dave in the coming days because not only is he an inspiration for photography, but he is also a great motivator. I can’t thank him enough.

Sunday started off as a haze, I felt as though I had a hang over. I slept for 10 hours, 4 more than I normally do, and because of that overslept and had a headache. To try and get rid of the head throbbing I decided it was probably better to get outside rather than work on the computer. I head to the backyard where I started messing around with the 12′ boat we have. The trailer has always been in bad shape, I thought I should try and change that this year. The trailer is a make shift one and is lite enough to be pulled by the smallest of cars. It has 2 runners on it and a rest at the top of the tongue where the nose of the boat sits, which are normally covered in carpet. Well, over the years the retro 70′s carpet which once decked out this trailer is now gone. After removing all the old rusted staples I meant to go out to the dump to find some more carpet, that never happened, I got lazy. Instead I pumped up the flat tire,  hoped it would deflate again and left it for the time being. For the rest of the day Taylor and I took off around town to skate. We ended up at a spot he refers to as the “C ledge”. There he and his “homies” skated while I photographed them. Some photos didn’t turn out to bad, but the sun was in the wrong place and I still need to play with the camera settings more. Of course to finish off Sunday I watched Lost, who didn’t. I feel I need to rewatch it, or have it explained more to me. I feel they finished it, but I’m still a little Lost, for lack of better words. I would really like to see an interview of the writer explaining their thought process of the whole show and finale.

So here we are on Monday, our last day off. I slept better and woke up refreshed, because of that I did do some work. I actually felt in the mood to write, the words were flowing. I started to write up the featured post of Dave’s work shop and made it half way before I realized that there was a bbq event happening at City Hall I wanted to cover. I grabbed my brother and off we went. We went to the BBQ and then to Pilots Monument because I needed some photos for another upcoming post. While down at pilots monument, I got a phone call from someone selling a Truck Camper, which I was looking for, out at Prelude Lake. A spur of the moment decision and we were on our way up the highway. Unfortunately we couldn’t find where this house was, with the camper. We searched everywhere, but it was no where to be found. After phoning them and getting no response and asking the gate keeper of the campground, we gave up and headed back to town.  At least the drive was enjoyable, when we weren’t bouncing all over the place.

That brings us to the now, or at least the now as I write this. The sun is glorious and warm. I am, so, ready for summer.

I have often wondered what these people do with there photos. I have a specific use for them, YkOnline. Do they take these photos and then try and sell them? Are they just taking photos becuase it is something they enjoy doing? I needs to know, because to me, that a little more creepy… you know what I mean….

Then it occurred to me, this is mine. This is my site, I can write what ever the hell I wont.

I’m not going to try and update this site more often, with shorter posts, but longer than 140 Charactors. Join me for the ride.

That being said, I’m not going to review them like a food critic would. I was careful to say “Profile” as I’m not in the business of handing out negative comments. That is not to say I wouldn’t include tips on things that could be improved or something that wasn’t right for me, but the overall feel and appeal of each profile would be positive.

Here is a list of restaurants I would like to profile over the next couple months:

• Fuego’s International Cuisine
• The Trader Grill
• Latitudes
• Le Frolic
• Le Hertiage
• Bullocks Bistro
• The Wildcat Cafe (when it opens)
• Coyotes Bar & Grill
• Diamante

I’m sure I have forgotten some, so please comment them below. Have any suggestions, let me know.

If you are interesting in joining me on this adventure to profile Yellowknife’s restaurants, just give me a holler.

Writing: I would love to be able to write a good authentic article. I believe I would probably do well writing on something from the north or Yellowknife, because that is where my passion lies. I don’t know why I find writing so enjoyable, maybe it is the false hope that someone is actually reading it. It calms me and allows me to get out what I want to say. Actually it is more of a love-hate relationship. I do enjoy it, but struggle with it immensely. I rarely seem to be able to get a continued flow in my writing. I constantly go back and reread what I have written or forget where I wanted to go with that thought. It is a pain in the ass when you’re trying to get something done. I use to think I was an excellent typist, alas I am far from it. So when my thoughts get ahead of my fingers it all goes downhill. I have contemplated getting MacSpeech (Dragon Dictate), but the cost has always stopped me. The final issue I have with my own writing is, my lack of grammar and spelling skills. Trust me it drives me nuts!

WordPress: I have a fairly strong knowledge base of wordpress and how it works. I actually consider myself pretty smart when it comes to this CMS. The one thing I wish to improve on is my code skills. It would be lovely to properly know how to customize wordpress themes and understand how things work together.

Photography: This is something I picked up 2 years ago and then bought my first DSLR a year and a half or so ago. I always have the best intentions of learning a knew skill and slowly I have. I think photography and writing go hand in hand; I often meet or hear of photographers who are also freelance writers. Writing about Yellowknife all the time I often need photos to go with it. So learning how to take a beautiful photo of something happening around town is something I am really wanting to do. I try to keep my camera on a manual mode, but often get over whelmed with the little time I have to take the photo and put it onto a preset setting. I can’t seem to get it down, how to properly use the camera while out and about.

There you have it, the negatives of the things I want to do better at. The reason I wanted to point these out is so I could see them in writing. The solution to all of these is rather simple, and I even know it. It is time. All I need is time, or at least that’s what I believe. Five days a week I work five hours a day at a coffee shop and for the rest of the day I am responding to e-mails, writing the next days post, working on the back end of the site or dealing with something to do with the business. I end up getting into this routine around 1:30 and then I go until 8pm with a break for supper, it is none stop. My feed reader is constantly packed with over 900 unread blog post, my tweeting has slowed and so have posts on this blog. One solution to gain more time would be to leave the coffee shop but it is currently my only source of income and I depend on it to pay the bills and my school debt. I’m probably over exaggerating things, but I blame that on the lack of income in my business. If only I could start to get a little income to take some of the pressure off, then maybe I would be able to try and learn more about the things mentioned above.

The solution is in sight but far away. AHHHHHHH! Frustrating.

1) I received a call from a lady who wanted to pay a bill. I asked with “Hello” and she said “Hi, I would like to pay my hydro bill”. I was then confused and said “excuse me” which led the woman to say again “I would like to pay my hydro bill”. At that point I knew she had the wrong number and asked her who she thought she was talking to. She replied with “Isn’t this the City if Yellowknife” and I semi chuckled and said “No”. She then hung up without saying anything.

2) A man from southern Alberta call me asking for a Newspaper. That really confused me, I thought why would I have a newspaper. He explained that his friend had won a gold medal and he wanted a newspaper from every capital in Canada.  As I told him I didn’t have any, he questioned why a newspaper company wouldn’t keep any. At that point I was shaking my head, I then explained to him what YkOnline was. He told me I was the first website he landed on when he searched Yellowknife Newspaper. I thought I would help him out so I tried to find the number for the newspaper on their website, but couldn’t so I frantically rummaged around to find a two month old paper with a phone number in it and sent him on his way. I wonder if he actually got that paper?

3) The Final call was just this morning. A lady called me about the Snow castle, I thought okay, whatever, I’ll help her with the information I know but apparently that wasn’t good enough for her. She wanted to know how much snow was used to build the castle, and I had no idea. I said that and tried to explain how it was built, but she wanted to know. She told me that this is the kind of thing someone helping build the castle should know. That confused me and I apologized but explained that I really have nothing to do with the Castle or Festival except that I have been there. She replied well this is stupid, it said to call you for details. Now I was really confused, but I don’t know where she would have gotten the idea to call my number for details about the Snow Castle. In the video I said check YkOnline or the Snowking website for the schedule, but nothing else. I told her the best place to get a hold of someone would be the Snowking website, but she hung up on me mid sentence.

I’m wondering if maybe I’m not clear about YkOnline and who actually operates the site. I’m a life-long resident just like anyone else. I have a passion for Yellowknife and want to share it with everyone. I have a large knowledge of the city but am not really affiliated with any group or organization. I am also not part of the City of Yellowknife. I’m happy to see that the site is gaining ground and more than willing to answer questions about the city and what is going on but am wondering if I should explain who I am a little better. What does everyone else think?

Well the boss is out of town at the coffee shop so the 3 of us who work there have been pulling together to keep the store moving smoothly. I have to honestly say, I do not know how the boss keeps her head on straight. She is amazing. She has been doing this for 10 years now and I wouldn’t be able to last 6 months in her shoes. Things have been going fine though, but I have been sticking around the store in the afternoons to lend a hand if needed.

Early in the week I received my advertising funding which in its self is exciting but then I thought I would take the first step. I became a member of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce and with that booked a booth at their annual Trade Show. That is one of the more exciting things, the booth.

I will be in the front lines of Yellowknifers for 2 whole days. Along with telling people about what it is YkOnline.ca and WiTH Media does, I am going over the idea of live streaming from the event. I could potentially have a bit of a studio set up in the booth with 2 mics and cameras. With that I could invite other businesses over to the booth and we could do live interviews (as well as recorded). I asked the other day about a portable audio/video setup and the idea behind that was to be able to walk around while streaming live, but at this point I don’t think there will be a reasonable solution. I’m very excited about this, if you can’t tell.

Friends are few, but support is strong. I hate using people, I hate depending on people so it takes a lot for me to accept help (it may not seem it, but is true). So when friends step forward so say they want to help and want to see me succeed, it means a lot. I know this will sound a little self-centered but the one thing that bothers me is people who don’t leave comments or feedback. I want to know if the content I’m creating it good or not. If it isn’t I will change it. Anyways, this week, one friend in particular, who I have known for many years from around town and more recently from the Mall and Twitter, came down to the store after a brief conversation on twitter. He seemed more excited about my possibilities that I was. He offered advice and a helping hand and for that I am extremely thankful. There have been others who are supporting me by encouragement and ideas. While I’m on the topic of thanking those who have helped thus far I need to mention my father. The man use to write proposals for a living and with out him there wouldn’t have been a chance in hell that I would get those proposals in let alone done. Sometimes I don’t say it enough, but thank you all.

The one thing that I have mentioned before is my social awkwardness, I don’t know if that is the right word but I’m going with it, around people I don’t know. Well it goes the same when it comes to business stuff. The main model for YkOnline will be advertising and what I struggle with is approaching people. Sure it is easy enough to tell me I just need to go talk to some people, but I can’t just do that. I over analyze it, remember, and fear to much about the outcome(I need to learn that it is alright for a person to say no). I’m to use to being on the other side where the client comes to you rather than me going to them. I have thought about what it is that would help me over come this dilemma which has be eating at me inside for weeks now. That is that I need a starting point or something to work from. In my mind, anyways, I come to the conclusion that if I see another people try and sell ad space to a business that I will feel better about the first time I do i. That and I might stop analyzing everything.

Well it seems I may have gone a bit off track, I blame the fact it is really late on a Friday evening and I have been up since 5:20am. Anyways the boss is out of town so we were all trying to do out best at the store, I received funding, became a member of the Yk Chamber and got a trade show booth, was encourage by a good friend who offered a hand and told me he wanted to see me succeed. I think there is more, but that will be for another time. So excuse the spelling/grammatical errors I’m just to tired to care. Let me know what you think. Cheers.

I thought for the longest time I disliked text messaging or IMing and maybe I do, slightly, but what I think I dislike more is how hard it is for me to get out what I want to say in these messages. Although however much I dislike these tools, I would like to use them so when I ignore messages it is because I am ignoring them.

Is any of this making sense, or is the lack of sleep I get, getting the best of me.