Recently in General Category

I need to be more active on my blog. But in the interim, you can find me at these three social media sites:

• Facebook
• Google +
• Twitter

When I find interesting articles, I often post them on Facebook and Google +. Although I am not a frequent tweeter, I do post tweets about whatever I find interesting.

Lately, I haven't been commenting much on financial stuff because it has been risk on or risk off, depending upon what was happening in Europe. If, as it appears, that Europe is settling down, then I will begin commenting more.

Last night I attended Banff Summer Arts Festival: Dance at the Harvie Theatre in Banff Centre. For those who enjoy live dance performances, I urge you to go. There are additional performances tonight, Friday, and Saturday.

As an aside, after the performances are over, the prior link might be broken.

The Professional Dance program was developed in 2008 with Alberta Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Ballet Jörgen, Boston Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and, as of 2011, Ballet Kelowna. I enjoyed watching the young dancers who are all at the beginning of their careers with so much promise. The dance event was well attended with over three quarters of the seats taken.

For those planning to attend, I highly recommend going early at 5 p.m. so that you can enjoy supper at the Three Ravens Restaurant and Wine Bar. If you have tickets to the dance performance, you will receive a 20% discount. Not only is the food fantastic, but the views are gorgeous too. Then, after your meal, you should arrive at the Harvie Theatre by 6:45 p.m. so that you attend the pre-performance chat. On Wednesday, Lindsay Fischer, program director, gave an entertaining, informative, and helpful discussion. The dance performances start at 7:30 p.m. and finish at about 10:00 p.m. Please note that on Saturday, the performances start in the afternoon, so you will have to adjust the times.

I will quickly provide the titles of the five ballets along with the dancers. The dancers on Wednesday will repeat again on Friday. And those dancing tonight, Thursday, will repeat again on Saturday.

Allegro Brilliante (1956)
Miyoko Koyasu, Trevor Felixbrod

Cristina Graziano, Daniel Da Silva,
Maria Alvarez, Thiago dos Santos,
Emilia Cadorin, James Applewhite,
Helen Clare Kinney, Connor Gnam

Uprooted (2011)
Alexander Burton, Paul Calderone,
Esabelle Chen, Livona Ellis, Hannah Fischer,
Taylor Gill, Connor Gnam, Cristina Graziano,
Garrett Groat, Raelynn Heppell, Kate Houston,
Harrison James, Peter Starr

Intermission

Nocturne
Pas De Deux From The Dream
Hannah Fischer, Nicolas Pelletier

Sonate No. 5 (1970)
Pas De Deux
Larissa Khotchenkova, Harrison James

Intermission

Hold Me, Neighbor, In This Storm
Alexander Burton, Livona Ellis

Esabelle Chen, Trevor Felixbrod,
Connor Gnam, Cristina Graziano,
Garret Groat, Miyoko Koyasu,
Chenxin Liu, Nayara Lopes,
Thiago dos Santos, Peter Starr

On Wednesday, 20 July 2011, I photographed a view from Three Ravens Restaurant and Wine Bar and a view from within the Three Ravens Restaurant and Wine Bar at the Banff Centre. Because I have no pictures of the ballets, I chose to show pictures of the near and in the restaurant. If you click on my Flickr profile link, you will be taken to Flickr where you can see more of my pictures.

Because I have been too busy this past while, I have not kept my blog current. So this post is just a brief update.

I am looking forward to summer. Here in Calgary, we have enjoyed a long winter and cool spring with temperatures much below the seasonal norms. In fact, there is still significant amounts of snow on the ground. Consequently, I have not been outside nearly as much as I would like.

Once summer arrives, I look forward to getting out and biking around the city, hiking in the mountains, and taking pictures. I hope that once I have new pictures to share, I will be posting more often.

I hope everyone has survived their winters and is already enjoying their summers.

Happy New Year 2011!

I wish everyone a terrific new year, one filled with success, health, and happiness.

I hope this past year has treated you well. The financial markets continued to be challenging with threats of China hitting the breaks too hard, the Euro falling apart, more political fun in Washington, high unemployment, and, of course, overleveraged consumers were doing their best to deleverage.

Unemployment remains unacceptably high, and Bernanke is doing his best to reignite the economy and reduce unemployment. While I have my doubts that money printing and low interest rates are the right course of action, I hope I am wrong and he is right. We would all enjoy seeing unemployment reduced toward normal levels. Although I expect 2011 to be another challenging year, with a little luck and good fortune, we should see the economy begin strengthen.

On Saturday, 28 June 2010, Laine Slowski and I went to Drumheller to our photo shoot. The photo shoot was opportunistic in the sense that we did not have a set game plan. Instead, we headed out to Drumheller, looking for a suitable location. After much driving around, we settled upon a location slightly east of the hoodoos.

Working with Laine was great because she was fun, relaxed, and willing to try different poses. We shot at this general location for a couple of hours, and then headed off for supper. When I last her, she was getting ready to head off with a friend to a warm foreign location for several months. So she is likely missing our cold and instead enjoying their hot weather. I hope she and her friend are having a great time.

On Saturday, 28 June 2010, I photographed Laine Slowski near Drumheller, Alberta. If you click on my Flickr profile link, you will be taken to Flickr where you can see more of my pictures.

Today is the first day of winter 2011. I know what you are thinking. Winter doesn't officially start until December 21. You're right, of course. However, I think of winter as beginning today, and then lasting for one hundred days. In early March, according to my schedule, winter ends. So one day down, and just 99 short days left until spring.

Since it is winter, I thought I would show a picture of Anya taken during summer. We headed out to Banff National Park and I took this picture of Anya overlooking the Banff Springs Resort Hotel. I hope summer 2011 is a bit warmer than the summer we just enjoyed.

Switching topics, the markets were certainly wild today, weren't they? The TSX in Toronto was up 195.47 or 1.51%, and in U.S., the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up 19.47 or 1.64% and 51.20 or 2.05% respectively. People were feeling more optimistic on the back of strong China manufacturing report and similar comments from U.K. and Germany. Many expect the European Central Bank will take positive actions to address the PIIGS problems. And, in the U.S., holiday sales and employment picture are showing signs of strength. I hope we are on the mend.

I hope our winter is relatively mild.

And, I wish everyone Happy Holiday Season and best wishes for the New Year.

On Wednesday, 23 June 2010, I photographed Anya in Banff National Park. If you click on my Flickr profile link, you will be taken to Flickr where you can see more of my pictures.