I Haven’t Found Them…
By tom | May 24, 2008
Hey Jason - I’ve been looking everywhere and I still haven’t found your glasses. Sorry man!
Topics: Backstage | No Comments »
Things That Keep Me Up At Night
By tom | May 23, 2008
Trouble sleeping - I’ve been wondering if these trees still made a sound if they hit the ground when no one was around:
Topics: Backstage | No Comments »
Report From The Road (Part 6) - Worn Out
By tom | May 22, 2008
After 2 days worth of walking on glaciers, through forests, and hiking though waterfall carved canyons, I was worn out. I couldn’t do more than just post a few pictures yesterday while I had dinner - only a few of the hundreds I grabbed. I remember the days of watching the little counter on the back of the camera count down from 24 to 0 as a roll of film was getting used up, taking care to shoot only the very best pictures. Now, the counter on the LCD starts at 1200 (2GB worth). You have to shoot video to start using up all that space (which is, of course, something I’ve been doing). Post processing video is a lot more work than uploading pictures, though, so I’ll have to do that when I get back.
I’ll post more after today’s train journey from Jasper, Alberta to Kamloops, British Columbia - provided the hotel will have internet (fingers crossed).
Topics: Backstage | No Comments »
Report From The Road (Part 5B) - An Explanation!
By tom | May 20, 2008
Thanks to a link sent from my good friend Cathy from Old Town School classes and our weekly open mic on Wednesdays at Bad Dog Tavern, I have an explanation for the railroad car warning. Apparently, there is a railroader’s inside explanation which had nothing to do with what I was imagining. I suppose I thought it had to do with stacking cars or containers on top of one another. From a very good article explaining the warning “DO NOT HUMP” at straightdope.com:
It refers to a common method used to sort freight cars known as “humping,” which involves the use of a man-made hill, or hump. A track heads up the hill and branches into numerous parallel tracks on its way down the other side. To make up new trains, a switch engine pushes a string of cars to the top of the hump, where the cars are uncoupled one at a time. Having determined the car’s destination, a worker in a nearby tower pushes buttons or throws levers or whatever to get the track switches (you know, those things where one track divides into two) lined up properly. The car is then given a nudge, causing it to roll down the hump and onto the right track.
There’s gotta be a song in this somewhere…
Topics: Backstage | 1 Comment »
Report From The Road (Part 5) - Obey This!
By tom | May 19, 2008
Passing a rail yard somewhere in Ontario, I spotted this strange rail car. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good professional railroader’s definition of what I saw, but for the layperson (no pun intended) it looks funny.
Here’s the rail car:
And I’d obey the instructions stenciled on the outside if I were you:
Check out more pictures from the train journey on my Flickr page.
Topics: Backstage | 2 Comments »