Spent Labour Day in Kingston, Where It’s Awesome

Sep 6 2011

Spent the long weekend in Kingston, Ontario, visiting friends, a photoshoot with Suzy (I’m not allowed to show you anything yet) and celebrating a 60th birthday.

If you would like to get away for a weekend, come here. There’s 1000 Islands, 1000 things to do, and Kingstonians are known as party-ers.

Let’s start with these four places:

1 – Go there for a beer – The Toucan

2 – Buy your books there – Wayfarer Books (smells so good)

3 – Pan Chancho – get a coffee and chocolate croissant

4 – I never go here, it’s for hippies, but green arrow: she’s _still_ there :O

Or, you could go see me on the walls of here.

My favourite ever army suprlus store is here – Smith Army Surplus. If you’re lucky Kyle will be working, say hi.

I cruise through, sift through the patches, talk shop and swap lies.

You can shoot in Kingston, too. Well I can, you might have a bit harder time.

This was S&R – Canada’s oldest (50+) independently owned department store.

It closed two summers ago, which I went around for weeks proclaiming sad and wrong.

I wish I had video of inside here; places like this don’t exist anymore. I heard some mid-level-restaurant-franchise is going in. Golf claps.

70% of all Kingstonians own something from here, maybe one of those glass balls, likely received as a gift.

I’m being dramatic, but not really.

Where you should be buying gifts from is Dwell Boutique, which I should have taken a photo of.

It’s a great place for Morning Drive.

YA BUDDY! THE STUDIO LIVES!

Thanks Claus! <3

He also gave me silver dollar. I put it on my fridge.

I left it there though, my car. It’s no longer fit for the highway, not even I’m that wacked. So kinda cool eh….

Me – “Pardon me? Oh yes yes, I do keep a car in Kingston” :|

Ha.

This place below is my personal real estate brokering deal dream… it’s the old Psyc Ward down on the water.

Executed correctly, it could be one of the premiere mini-areas in Southern Ontario.

Kingston is a good-sized city that you’ll be leaning on a wall texting, someone strolls by you know, now you’re on a patio making jokes.

The streetlights are an inside joke.

Kingston is filled with buildings like this, Canada’s very first bank.

The arrow is pointing to my old apartment. I was the last person to live in it before the City took it over.

There was a restaurant on the main floor, who’d pass me ahi tuna on my way up the stairs, which I’d eat on the fire-escape (they removed it), from which I may have once thrown handfuls of mini-bouncy-balls from, to see what would happen (fun happens).

Go to Kingston, you’ll love it!

Things From My Break

Aug 25 2011

Thursday night I’d had it, that familiar feeling of GAH.

So Friday I packed a bag, walked down to the closet car rental spot (I’m still without wheels) and said, hi one car please.

Ended up with a Jeep. Won’t be buying a Jeep.

If you need a car though, go here and see Bedi, he’s awesome. It was his last vehicle, which he scrambled to get me, because as he said, “I want you to be able to walk down like this and know you’ll get a car”.

I got in and drove it all over.

I took tons of photos, here’s one.

That’s it for now, because I invented a Keri On Security episode using them, so I’ll post them in a couple weeks.

Great city to return home to.

I decompressed using:

My Summer’11 routine…I walk down to the water, see the yellow arrow? I tuck in behind there (you can’t see me from the path), and I make a sushi picnic.

Walked home and settled back into my plotting.

I’ll explain more via video next week what you’re looking at, basically it’s my masterplan for my two shows, and I was deeeep into it.

So I’m flipping between excitedly Sharpie-ing up calendars and spreadsheets, to very still, deep, concentration.

Hand over mouth always.

Like my nomenclature? Haha, I kill me sometimes.

And that’s how I didn’t notice the extreme storm coming in through my balcony door.

It’s almost okay today. That thing is old, a decade anyway. It’s the first ever Chameleon couch with wheels. They sell them with that option now, and that was allll me.

Can’t wait to start sharing my ideas with you, this security blog of mine, oh man, wait till you see. Haven’t been this excited in a while.

I Loved Last Sunday

Aug 18 2011

Not in the city anymore.

This is CFB Borden, our Forces largest training facility, and birthplace of our Air Force. I came to cheer on my friends who competed all weekend in a long range rifle competition.

En route to the range, I saw this.

They were filming a helicopter scene, kinda neat. Here’s the IMDB page, here’s some good photos at BlogTO.

I doubt this applies to me. Carry on. Keri on.

Found my friends, watched the award ceremony. The ORA is 130 years old this year; that’s old.

That’s how long range rifle wins are celebrated.

Bet you an Eos has never before been photographed in this setting.

We always go to Tim’s after.

These guys have been my pals for years, and they know me well. Left is Mark and on the right is Andy, to whom I gave the first quilt I ever made, click here to see.

While I was away from the table they put part of my cookie in a tiny ziploc bag. Then when taking this photo, I turned back and they’d been holding it up for the camera.

I’m not even gonna try to explain the joke, but all of Borden heard my laugh. That ziploc is on my fridge now.

Then I came home to these giant Twitter threads.

I found this extremely funny.

The green arrow points to what kicked it all off, and this will likely make zero sense to you, but just know: the top right was how it was.

Twitter has changed a lot, back in 2008 it was just… different. If you don’t use Twitter you won’t understand this.

Actually, if you don’t, I don’t understand you. It’s the great equalizer! Like, you _do_ realize you can now reach anyone in the world. That’s never existed before.

Then to cap off my fantastic Sunday, random fireworks #GoodSign

Things From Vegas

Aug 11 2011

A fast preface – I didn’t take many photos, I never do.

I don’t see the point of photographing things I know are online, and prettier, than I can take.

Here’s what I did document.

You can take beers for a walk on the streets here.

I stayed at the Paris. It’s a sister property to the Rio (where DefCon was held), which means I had a shuttle available to me, to move back and forth.

The people were great there, and I’m not going to diss the place, but will tell you: you get what you pay for.

If possible, you want to stay at a Wynn property, to my eye they’re the only ones that have been maintained as a Vegas casino should be. This comes from years of eyes, this had to have been my tenth trip to Vegas.

I don’t even really like the place, I just seem to always end up there, much like how I end up at Jays games. I was at another Jays game just last week actually. That’ll be a fun post.

Here’s the front steps of Ceaser’s, a former Wynn hotel.

I read once that Steve Wynn is so exacting, he used to have the white parking line painted crisp white every single day.

Was this place ever cool, even opening day? Doubtful.

$10 says these branded slot machines were part of the movie marketing plan from day one.

For goodness sake do not get sucked into the giantism slot machine, worst odds of all.

Video poker has some of the best odds, maybe THE best.

I have in my head a video to make about video poker, while doubling down and testing the green screen studio I’m going to build.

I find many life lessons are parallel with video poker strategy.

If you ever would like to give me a gift of jewellery, this is my favourite.

I am easily satisfied by the very best.

Top left is sunlight in a casino, very rare, bottom left is the dinner I took myself to on the last night, to celebrate success.

I’ve said it before – it’s important to mark your successes and wins, to stamp them.

That was my cab driver after said dinner. When I got into the car he exclaimed, “I drove you to the Rio earlier!?!”.

We freaked out, what are the chances of that! So we documented it with this photo and some awkward posing.

I’ll leave you with this, taken on my last day.

It’s not possible to be happier with life than I am here.

Things From My Trip

Aug 10 2011

On the left – my excellent packing job.

The green arrow is pointing at my new favourite dress, which I think I’ll also wear to the Stella party. It’s almost too short. Almost. Smirk.

On the right are two travel essentials.

The water is gone before I board, and… oh wait – I have the perfect video about passports, hang on…..

Look at that – I was defeated by… my own lock. Can’t remember the black password.

See the symbol the blue arrow is pointing at? That’s what you want.

It means airport security has a universal key to open your lock. Otherwise, if airport security needs to get into your bag, they have to cut it off, now they’re frustrated with you, now your bag is getting tossed around accordingly.

I know this to be true because of the many nods of approval from the airport security people when they see it.

Action shot of my new show being designed. Down to the wire indeed.

There was so much to do before I left. Kinda wished I’d documented it a bit more. There was no time. Last week I was vibrating literally for days before. Oh no. As I type this a memory of the Olympics -After-Math coming back. The Crash. Moving on.