Journal | KyleWith's Blog

Archive | Journal RSS feed for this section

Kyle’s Internet Usage

By KyleWith on January 23, 2012 in Journal

Shaw Internet Usage

I don’t have Cable, but I do have Internet. For the last 9 months I have only lived with Internet and watch all the TV Shows I follow, online.

When I think back I would say on average I stream 2 hours of video a day and upwards of 6 hours on a weekend. That is a lot of streaming. I use all the Canadian Network Websites, other streaming sites and Apple TV (Movie rentals and Netflix)

On top of the streaming I do upload photos, podcast etc. on a regular basis.

It surprised me when I looked at my Shaw usage for the first time today. In the last 8 months I have only gone over 60GB in a month once. I’m not even sure why I went over, it seems my usage various by 10GB, odd.

This excites me because one of my concerns moving back to the NWT was the *higher* cost of Internet than I’m use to with Shaw. I have a bandwidth cap of 60GB in Yellowknife (apposed to the 125GB I had with Shaw), but after seeing my usage down here, I’m not so concerned any more.

What is your bandwidth cap?

Comments { 3 }

Starting the Moving Process

By KyleWith on January 14, 2012 in Journal

It is a daunting word, process. Processes are scary, but they have to be done and followed.

By now I’m assuming everyone knows that I have accepted a new job with the communications company Kellett Communications and that the job is based in Yellowknife. If you

didn’t know, then you should watch the video found here.

I’m excited I’m heading back to Yellowknife, but not so much that I will be living with my parents for a while. Sure, at 21 years old that is not a big deal, but it is to me. I’mindependent and I like my own living space. Heck I can barely handle roommate, unless I know them. I’m extremely thankful for my parents though and their house.

As I wont have my own place for a little while, the moving process has to be thought out a bit more. Do I take all my furniture or get rid of all of it? If I do take it, where will I store it? These are all questions I’ve had to ask.

I decided to get rid of my two couches, my kitchen table, desk and bed thing my mattress is on. I’m going to keep my lounge chair, because it is awesome, and my brand new bed I bought in August.

Then of course there is all the junk I have collected in the last year and a half. SO MUCH JUNK! I’m glad this apartment has a dumpster outside, because it will be used.

I find moving misleading. The packing of the vehicle or trailer is the easy part, but that is part we often see. What we don’t see if people pulling their hair trying to fit all their belongings in boxes.

I’m glancing around looking at all that needs to be packed and I see: electronics, kitchen ware, food, pictures, cookbooks, clothes and bikes. It sure doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up.

9 Days before the trek north. 9 days to get this small apartment packed and cleaned. 9 days.

Comments { 1 }

I have a big announcement, please watch.

By KyleWith on January 10, 2012 in Journal

I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to come down to Fort St. John and do what I love for a year and a half. I have learned so much about myself, the industry and how it works. With life, comes change though. I have announcement to make, please watch the video. The entire video.

Comments { 4 }

For the love of cookbooks!

By KyleWith on January 8, 2012 in Food, Journal

I need to stop buying them, I have enough now. I need to start cooking. Yet every time I go into the book store I stop in the cooking section and drool. I want this one, this one too, oh and this one!

Can’t I have them all!

I have been on a Jamie Oliver kick lately and want to complete my set of his books. So far I have Jamie’s Kitchen, Jamie Oliver’s Food Escape and Jamie’s Food Revolution. The ones I am wanting now are Meals in Minutes, which I find very useful, and Cook with Jamie. Then I think I should stop buying his stuff.

I appreciate Jamie’s books more than Gordon Ramsey’s because I think I subconsciously don’t like Ramsey because of his attitude on some of his TV shows. I’ve always seen Jamie as a happy-go-lucky cook. That being said I do have one of Ramsey’s books and it is quite good.

Speaking of British cooks though, here is something I have noticed. They don’t use a lot of beef. Here in Canada we have a lot of beef and I tend to think it is one of the most common meats to use here, but that isn’t the case across the pond. They use lamb and more seafood – I live in Northern Canada there isn’t much seafood here – which is stuff I don’t see myself cooking on an average day.

So my next steps, after going through all the books I now have, are to try to find some more “Canadian” cook’s with book. I have a Guy Fieri book, but he is a little extreme, I do like him though, so I am wondering about Michael Smith. I know he isn’t Canadian, but he might be more on my level.

Two questions for you now: Who is your favourite Chef? and What is your favourite cookbook?

Comments { 2 }

So this is my 2012 Blog Post

By KyleWith on January 1, 2012 in Journal

It seems like the traditional thing to do, write a 2012 blog post. I see many other bloggers doing it, like Chris Brogan and his random 3 words of 2012 and Lisa Bettany and her Photographers Resolutions. Figured I could take a stab at it.

What was 2011

Lets reflect, for a second, on what happened in 2011. I think one of the first things I tried doing was the Photo-a-Day project and that didn’t work, so I wont try again.

I was learning lots living in Fort St. John, my role at Motion Media, from what I knew, was going well. After the success of my first big Social Media Workshop I was geared to do more, so off we went to Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson. I wouldn’t say they were huge successes, but successful enough and I was enjoying it. I learned that teaching is one of my strong points, I enjoy it and appreciate the outcome. I was also picking up more photography work and was even taking on more of a project management role. It was good fun.

The biggest thing for me in 2011 was that I lived independently from my parents for an entire year. I lived in 3 different places in Fort St. John before settling into my current tiny apartment. I have come to learn I love my own place, I love my own space and I’m picky about it. I even generally refuse to live with a roommate unless I know them before, I don’t like just roommates, I rather live with friends. I also don’t think I could live with my parents again for very long. I love them, I respect them, but their house is not mine and we do not live the same.

'Happy New Year 2012!' photo (c) 2010, Creativity103 - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Welcome 2012

First and foremost, happy new year. I hope this year, the year of the dragon, brings you joy, prosperity and wealth.

2011 left me with a lot of changes and undecided paths to take. So I foresee 2012, for me, will be the year of change and development. I will continue to do what I love, even if it may become difficult. I will be challenged, in new ways, ways that will better me in the future. I may fail at somethings, but as many have been quoted saying, that is what you’ll encounter on the path to success. Above all I want to have more self-confidence.

And speaking self-confidence, in 2012 I want to put myself out there more socially. Sounds a little awkward, I know, but for me making friends takes a lot and I want to overcome that. I need to have more of a personality in real life, give people a chance and not hide away in my home.

Honestly, going into 2012 has me nervous more than anything else. New things, of any kind have me on edge. And change, however good it is, scares me, I’m much more of a routine guy, that has been stated.

Anyways, whatever path you are on and whatever I take, I hope we cross paths at some point along our way.

Cheers to 2012.

Comments { 0 }

Christmas Morning Breakfast Tradition

By KyleWith on December 26, 2011 in Food, Journal

It is no secret I like to cook. I could do it all day if I had a good idea of what I was doing. So I have my own Christmas tradition, and that is to cook Christmas morning breakfast for the family. It has gone on now for about 4 years and I don’t plan on stopping unless I’m not here. Each year and I get fancier and fancier and try to improve.

Last year I had come up with the brilliant idea of Eggnog French Toast and it was good. So this year I wanted to hit it out of the park – which I didn’t – and found a recipe on AllRecipes.com.

Eggnog French Toast

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/eggnog-french-toast-2/

I’ll spare you the details of how to make it and just let you know, using the proper bread is essential. I didn’t, instead used fresh normal sliced toast and that failed. They came out to soggy and didn’t cook well. The trick is to use french bread that is stale or semi-stale, so it still holds it form when it the egg is cooking. Nevertheless though they still tasted great.

Creamy Cheese Scrambled Eggs

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-cheesy-scrambled-eggs-with-basil/

Scrambled Eggs are easy to make, a little milk in with the eggs, salt, pepper and done. They are hard to screw up unless you cook them too long. I wanted something different though, something unique. So again I hit up AllRecipes.com and found these. I had never made them with Sour Cream before, but I thought it as it still was a dairy product, the eggs would be fine, and they was. They turned out fine and tasted good, although the texture was different from regular scrambled eggs. These seemed to crumble more and I believe that is due to the Sour Cream. Good though.

The Meat

Of course no meal with KyleWith would be complete without meat. This is nothing special though. In a fry pan I just cooked up 1lb 1/2 of bacon and some breakfast sausages.