I feel really guilty right now for not updating my journal as much as I thought I could. The last two weeks have been so busy. I think things will slow down a little now though (I hope). I really love doing this journal, and I wish I could do it every day in conjunction with traveling photography. That would be a pretty sweet job!

At this point I have loads of photos that I would love to show you. I'll do my best to get them on here. I'm so thankful for everyone who comes here and enjoys my photos, and for those who keep coming back. You people make my day, thanks to you all!
(If I start getting all weepy, somebody get over here and punch me!--Haa haa!)

Last week (Tuesday and Wednesday) we had big wind storms here in the West coast of Canada:



This poor little blackbird could barely stand up!

I had to work overtime on Tuesday until 8:00pm (I start at 7:00am) so I was really tired the rest of the week. There were trees down all over the place, and so we had to clear the ones off the road.

I was just reminded tonight why I dread filing my tax return. I always buy the tax software and this year was no different. The process of filling in the necessary fields on the tax form was simple like it always is, but E-filing--now that's a problem! Before I could E-file my tax return, I had to have an identification (verification) number. This is a 4 digit number that is supposed to be printed on my annual tax package that I get in the mail each year. The problem is, this year I'm almost certain I didn't get a tax package in the mail, ergo, no identification number. Bloody hell!

I noticed on the government website however that there was a special section devoted to people like me that are misfortunate enough to find themselves in this situation. "Click here if you need a verification number" it says. "Ok good, what a relief!" I though, as I clumsily navigated in that direction. But when I was directed to that page it indicated that for security reasons, I must type the exact number from line 150 of my tax return from 2002. Now I was starting to get a little frustrated. After turning my entire apartment upside down, I finally found last years tax forms. I found the number I'd entered in line 150 and input the number along with my s.i.n. and birthdate. They said it was wrong--that there was some inconsistency there some where.

Then I realized that I actually had 2 t4 slips from 2002, because I had two jobs that year. So I simply added the total income from both jobs and tried that number. It didn't work either. I now had only three chances left to get it right, or the security system would lock my account.

Here's the part that really sucked. I had to reinstal last years tax software and redo my taxes from 2002!! just so I could find out that number. I was also trying to phone their help line as well to see if they could give me another number, but it was busy everytime I called.

I completed last years taxes (again) and came up with another number. I entered it in, and they said that was invalid as well. I had only one chance left, and that was to load up the data from 2002 which is actually stored on an entirely separate hard drive. I managed to find the old file, updated the ols software and checked out the input field for line 150. I entered the number at it worked! At that point I was ready to give up.

If i had the option of being kicked in the stomach, or doing my taxes, I'd take the kick to the stomach!

I was a beautiful weekend, not without it's difficulties. I've been very busy ever since Friday night. I shot a lot of photos this weekend, and I think I drove about a million miles. The highlight of my weekend was going to Stanley Park with the cool people from Dunne and Rundle photo source for a photography outing. Lots of people came and there were cameras everywhere.

I have a bunch of photos I need to go through, and I'll post my favorites here as soon as I get the chance. Tonight I'm very tired though, and I'm up later than I should be. I gotta work tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. I'll leave you with one photo for now. It's a woman I saw sitting in Stanley Park, doing a crossword puzzle and enjoying her peaceful time in the warm sun. Seeing this makes me happy.