Designated Substances

As everyone knows by now, I have started a new job in my field at DST Consulting Engineers here in Ottawa (though they also have offices in Thunder Bay, Kenora, Sudbury and Dryden). I am currently working on Designated Substance Reports (DSRs) although I recently wrote a mould report as well. There are 11 designated substances that are regulated by the provincial government and consists of: Acrylonitrile, Arsenic, Asbestos, Benzene, Coke oven emissions, Ethylene Oxide, Isocyanates, Lead, Mercury, Silica, and Vinyl Chloride. The reports I am writing are primarily concerned with asbestos, benzene, lead, mercury and silica (as well as ozone-depleting substances [ODSs] and polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs]).

So far, I am doing my best to understand the terminology used for each of these substances and trying to see what everyday items have them as a constituent through the pictures taken from the different sites we have surveyed. I think I am picking some things up already as I am starting to see items differently already, sort of similar to how I now think of catch basins as CB or CBHD (the cell names in Miscrostation) from my CADD monkey job with the City.

I hope I am able to get the theory part of this job down with all these reports I am writing, though I am still a little scared of the practical components as I have never really worked on those before. Hopefully I will be able to pick them up quickly and effectively too.

Layout

I am currenlty screwing around with the layout of my blog - trying to find something that works best with all the features I want to incoroporate. I want certain ones to be really obvious so people see them and hopefully participate but I don't want anything to distract from my actual posts.

So, basically I will be moving things around and if something you like gets moved to a place you don't like, let me know. Any suggestions you may have would also be appreciated. Thanks.

*Update*
September 29, 2008 @ 1:17pm
Changed blog template from dark dots to rounders 2. Let me know what you think. I was just getting bored with the old look and thought a facelift might be needed.

*Update*
September 29, 2008 @ 8:09pm
I added a personalized title block. I think it is kind of neat, though pretty standard still - no real special effects or anything like that. :)

*Update*
September 30, 2008 @ 11:21am
I changed the poll and added one more answer (sort of at Chris' request). Please check it out and put in your two cents.

*Update*
September 30, 2008 @ 11:54am
Yep so I am really screwing with it now. All the features have disappeared and I have three coloumns. I will be putting things back in place as I configure colours and try and get more division in the coloumns. Hope things go well and I can get it to look how I want. :) Bare with me please.

*Update*
September 30, 2008 @ 2:21pm
I have more or less stopped moving things around and changing colours and whatnot. I ended up with 3 coloumns and multiples sections within each one. I will add those as I deem necessary. I think it looks pretty neat actually and I really like it.

Story of a Clown

In April Dave and I bought tickets for Cirque du Soleil’s travelling performance, Corteo. It was making 7 stops in North America and one was here in Ottawa. There was a little drama with the tickets when we first moved into the new house, involving almost losing the tickets completely (you know how it is, you put them in a ‘safe place’ so you won’t lose them and then forget where that ‘safe place’ is) – but all in all I was fairly impressed that we didn’t lose the tickets or forget what the date was and miss it entirely.

Corteo is a big top show, which was set up in the St. Laurent parking lot. The atmosphere is always magical and just wonderful in general. The show was amazing and I would suggest everyone go see it before it leaves town on October 26, and heads for Miami (the next, and last, stop). I would give more details about the specific acts, but I really don't want to ruin it for anyone who is going to, or might be going to, see it in the near future.


If you have ever been to a Cirque show, you know how the clowns often bring the audience members into their acts at the beginning of the show as well as during the intermission. In the beginning the clowns were playing with Dave`s hair and measuring him (to fit in one of their props) unfortunately he appeared to be too tall for them and was not used. The clowns did, however, climb over us and through the audience around us, which was really neat. They also danced right in front of us and a guy who I swear looked and sounded just like Andre the Giant just about stepped on my poor little feet.

It was a great show and getting our tickets so early allowed us to get awesome seats. We had seats in the middle price bracket but were right behind the highest price seats. We had an aisle in front of us, hence the clowns walked and stood around right in front of us, which lead to tons of legroom. They were amazing seats and from now on, nothing less will do.

For more information on the show, and to get tickets visit the Cirque Du Soleil website. If you really like Cirque, I would suggest joining the Cirque Club, which is free. That way you will get emails for when shows are coming near you and be able to get great seats like we did. Enjoy.
*Images from Cirque du Soleil website

East Side

Dave and I went out to East Side Mario's last night with Chris. The food was good as always, but we realized that they have changed the way they do things ever so slightly.
It used to be that the food took so long to come to you that you could fill yourself right up with the free salad and bread without having to rush or eat from a crowded table. Now, however, the food gets cooked quickly and you don't have the same time to eat the free stuff. Since the good food is sitting right beside you, most people eat their entree. I am of the habit of not really touching my entree and keeping it for leftovers - so I fight the temptation to eat my entree, but it isn't easy.
Darn those restaurant chain owners for realizing how people eat at their establishment.

Blog Plug

As I am sure you know by now, I am taking a photography course at night at Algonquin College. It has been really great so far and I am so happy that I decided to take it. I am definitely going to look into taking more too, I already know it! Anyway, I will be posting about this class on my photography blog and I hope you will venture over there to learn all about it (there are also some tips from things I have learned in the class so far).

A Fortnight

In 2 weeks Dave and I will once again have the house to ourselves...finally. We impromptly decided to let one of Dave's old classmates live with us back in Late July and though we believed he would be gone sometime mid September, it turned out it lasted until early-mid October.

That being said, I can't wait to get my house back again! I haven't been able to set up the basement or use it how I was planning on and doing laundry has been rather awkward. I am very much looking forward to getting back to how things were supposed to be from the get go and especially getting my elliptical back again!!!

Inconsistent

Well, I suppose my inconsistencies when it comes to blogging has lead to even less readers for the great abyss and it's sister blogs stephanie beach photography and the road to a better me. It is my fault - I just wish you would all come back, that's right all 5 of you. Vote in the polls, comment here and there.

New Features

I have added a couple new features to my blog page and hope that you, the reader (as few of you as there are), will participate in them.

1. Poll. Not really a new feature, I have had one up before but I want to try and keep new interesting questions on there to try and get some different opinions on some sometimes controversial topics. Once I get a decent amount of votes I will blog about my opinions on the topic and invite you all to reply to it (of course).
2. Watchers - though I am not entirely sure how it works and I will have to work out the kinks as I go. If it turns out it is only Chris' name, then I will probably remove it. (pathetic huh).

I am trying to make my blog a little more interesting for you guys as well as for me - in a somewhat silly attempt to get me to use it more and hopefully get more hits. But as I have said before, my blog is really just a cathartic outlet for me and less an attempt to get lots of people to visit it.

***EDIT***
I placed the poll in a more obvious location on the top of the page right above the most recent post...you can see it now...no excuses not to use it :)

Fall

Fall is my absolute favourite season for many reasons. The first of which is of course the beautiful fall colours. They give pictures a wonderful backdrop and pop that the regular greens do not.

A perfect example is the above photo that I took this past weekend at Beechwood Cemetery here in Ottawa.

I also love the season because it gets to the perfect temperature - not too hot or too cold. You can wear a sweater and not sweat to death and you can go outside for long leisurely walks without fear of getting burned. The only thing I dislike about fall is that it means that winter is coming soon and my photography seems to dwindle a little in winter - although this year I plan on making more effort to keep it alive, I still believe it will decrease significantly with the cold weather and mass amounts of snow. Snow is really only pretty in pictures if it is perfect, crisp, white snow, but here in Ottawa we get a lot of mucky, rock-filled, grey snow slush piling up beside the streets and it leads to ugly photos.

For now, however, I plan on taking full advantage of my favourite season while it lasts and going out to different places every weekend with my camera in hand.

Wedding Pictures

To see more pictures of the wedding (taken by both myself and David Koning) visit the following links:
Tyler and Lynn's Wedding I
- rehearsal dinner, rehearsal, the night before, guys preparation, girls preparation

Tyler and Lynn's Wedding II
- pre-wedding photos, wedding

There will be more as I still need to upload the receiving line pictures, post-wedding pictures (both at the church and at Burchat House), reception pictures and of course the gift opening pictures from the 14th.

I also intend on editing some of them in Photoshop and creating some compilation pictures, but those will be a little while longer.

Basic Digital Photography

I started my course two weeks ago and have already learned a few things from it - such as what a couple of the advanced buttons do on my camera and how to use the histogram (that's what I am learned in the ways of the histogram!). It is the latter that I am using the most so far as it lets me know right away whether or not my photograph needs more or less exposure - so neat!

The class is scheduled to use the portrait studio, go on at least one field trip and of course, have several assignments. I actually wanted to take this course (if not to take later courses for which this is a prerequisite) so that I could get some assignments and hopefully have to leave my comfort zone to take them. I want to take photos of things I don't normally take. I am thinking of it as shooting outside my 'photo-box'.

DST Consulting Engineers Inc.

On September 9, 2008 I started on my way to my professional license. I finally have a job in my field and am earning valuable experience towards my P.Eng. I know work at DST Consulting Engineers Inc. as an Environmental Scientist. So far I am just writing lots of reports as the company finishes up a big project they have been working on for quite some time, but eventually my job will also entail completing surveys for designated substances (including asbestos) and other jobs revolving around indoor air quality and building environments. I am looking forward to learning more and becoming more involved with the jobs.

Part of the Family

On September 13, 2008 Lynn Burchat officially became Lynn Beach thus adding her to the Beach Family. My brother is so lucky to have found her and I couldn't be happier for them both. I was fortunate to have been part of the wedding (as a bridesmaid) and therefore couldn't do much in terms of photography but luckily I taught Dave everything he knows ;) and he was able to take the reins for me. He did a wonderful job and I believe the above photo proves that.

Congratulation Tyler and Lynn, I know you have a happy future ahead of you.