The Blog According to Buzz

Jen and I are making our lists and checking them more than a few times before the big trip. We leave this Friday for a weekend with her parents in Toronto before 2 weeks touring around Paris, Normandy, Brittany and the Loire.

We’re pumped. And we’re packing. The plan is to have Jen and I share a bag, with Z having his own and then a knapsack for gadgets and daily diaper needs. Soooo .. who do you think needs more gear for 2 weeks away - Zacharie, or a tech obsessed daddy?

Here are the lists so far:

The Blog Acording to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

I had a chat with Wendy Rombough this week. She’s a photographer brought in by HP to show off their new Photosmart Studio Kiosks. You can print off pro styled photo books, calendars, cards and prints, in about an hour. The first kiosk is in Lougheed Mall.

Wendy also took some time to serve up photo tips for Spring Break. She’s a baby and kid photographer, has 2 of her own, and knows what to look for to get a great shot.

1. TURN OFF YOUR FLASH
If you love the way things look when you’re using your eyes, adding the flash will just wash things out. Instead of flashing, bump up the ISO on your camera.

2. LET THE KIDS BE KIDS
Get reactions from the kids, don’t pose them. If you want a big smile, have them goof off and make funny faces, then capture them laughing at themselves

3. GET TO THEIR LEVEL
They’ll be more comfortable (you may not be) when you’re on their level instead of shooting down on them.

4. ZOOM YOUR BODY, NOT YOUR LENS
Your body can move a lot faster than your camera can, so follow the kids around and don’t worry so much how you frame the pictures, you can always tighten up or crop a shot afterwards.

5. THE RULE OF THREE
When you’re managing your pictures afterwards, leave room in the frame for the subject to lead the shot. The rule of three divides the frame into thirds horizontally, and vertically. Try and get the main part of the image on one of the cross points.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

I’ve been tweeting back and forth with Meg today about her usual Friday Love List. She was struggling through it, and I started throwing down suggestions thinking I could get a guest posting stint on her site.

Then she got inspired and cranked out her own.

In the meantime, I had conjured up all this love and had nowhere to put it.

• i love making zacharie’s food

• i love dibs
• i love anything 2.0
• i love my great grandma’s simple scotch scones
• i love boursin garlic and fine herbs cheese. best.creaminess.ever.
• i love fresh blood in an old office
• i love listening to a hot new song 4 dozen times in a row and still not getting sick of it
• i love spending all night hacking css or php or html for a fresh new webpage
• i love the guitar riff at the beginning of new sensation
• i love megs lists
• i’d love it if you’d click on my donation box and chip a few coins in the cupboard for Team Diabetes!
• i love using lowercase letters, even when i handwrite
• i love walking around the house naked, in the middle of the day and embarassing my wife by shaking it in the front window
• i love the smell of chai sitting on the bedside table, curling it’s way towards my nose to wake me
• i love cracking the mic and spanking a post
• i love the angled early morning sun through a venetian blind
• i love perfect scrambled eggs. just a little moist and chewy and shiny
• i love yellow
• i love lululemons the first hour that you have them on, when they’re still tight and take your muffin top and squeeze into a hard, tight bottom
• i love the early early spring song of birds in the trees, before the street has awoken, before people are dragging out garbage, before the traffic .. just the quiet hush and .. the birds. reminds me of a golfcourse everytime
• i love billy crystal getting a chance to play for the yankees
• i love babies concentrating really hard with two hands to get one cheerio between 2 fingers and then trying to get it into their mouth, only to miss. and try again
• i love green tulip stems poking out from the ground and just.. starting.. to reveal the colour of their bloom
• i love the mist rising from stanley park between the rows of trees like mail in a letter tray
• i love cozy cozy blankets

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

My pal Meg likes to make lists. This morning, as I was playing with Z, I was reminded of some of his favorite things, so I threw them together in a list.

Richard Scarry Busytown poster - I sit in the chair with him standing on my lap and he climbs my chest to stand on my shoulders and face to get a better view - when he gets to the top, he flaps his arms and coos in glee. The best part? The poster is Jen’s from when she was a kid that we had reframed.

Trucks - He loves them. Garbage day is the best in his world

Apple Mango Tango - He has it for breakfast, a couple cubes of apple, one of mango and he’s off

Ikea Sparka Soccer Ball - This is, quite possibly, the GREATEST children’s toy ever created. It’s a super super soft soccer ball that is machine washable. We can throw it back and forth, he can chew on it and it is his favourite toy. Bar none.

Eating things - He’s teething, so everything goes in his mouth

Silvery fish - He loves standing at the windows of the Aquarium waving as the salmon swim past

Books by Sandra Boynton or Olivier Dunrea - He loves the ones about Hippos and Gertie

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

My pal, Meg Fowler, is famous for her lists. Today, I tackle the genre:

- taking my time grocery shopping - by myself
- trying new recipes for the first time
- my son’s face as a scream turns into a smile
- a hot sweat on a hot day 10k into a 15k run (been a while since I did that)
- tulips (used to be purple ones, now white ones)
- major sporting events on tv (could be the Superbowl, could be the Brier, could be Hawaii Ironman)
- my grandmother
- beer from Unibroue (9% in a reg sized bottle - w00t!)
- black and yellow workout gear
- hacking website code
- rss feeds
- trips to France (next one is March 21!)
- chill beats from Hed Kandi, Zero 7, Morcheeba and more
- new episodes of Rob & Big

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?