Edmonton photographer Darlene Hildebrandt participated in the Edmonton Photo Walk and was selected as the winning photographer this year with her image of the Gibson Block building.

My personal favorite image is Darlene’s unique view of the siding of the Shaw Conference center where the world wide photo walk began. I’ve included it here.

32,600 photographers participated in the 2nd annual World Wide Photo walk this year, so she’s got some stiff competition for the world title.

Good luck Darlene.

Nobody seems to have expected this sudden change of heart by the Stelmach government, but it’s created a lot of happy campers. Beer campers that is.

I prefer red wine, but when I do drink beer (and I do enjoy the odd pint), it’s not usually domestic. I enjoy Corona, Heineken and Alexander Keiths, the only domestic beer I drink.

When the beer prices went up in April, a Calgary reporter Peter Akman to inquire about the price of a 12 pack of Labatts Blue.

A case of beer in Alberta was selling for $24.99, second highest only to the Yukon which charges $26.90. Can you believe that?

So now we’ve dropped $1.30 a case and we’re saving a few bucks while the government loses. Maybe we’ll just roll the savings back into more beer.

Whadayathink?

Darlene, myself, Paulette and Darlene’s brother in law Troy attended the Oktoberfest celebration this past Saturday night at the Shaw Conference Center. Doors opened at 6:30, but we left home at 7:30. We were wondering when they would stop serving food (how late I mean) and we risked it. It seemed that they kept serving to at least 9 PM. So if you’re wondering this yourself, I would risk it up until 9 PM for the years coming.

Music was provided by some Umpah pah band for the most part of the early evening and then David Wilcox for the rest of the night. Troy didn’t believe me that David is blind. I’m not completely sure if he’s blind, but I do know that after a show at the Edmonton Northlands Exhibition a few years ago, he had to be led off stage after his set. A guy came out, stood in front of David, put David’s hand on his shoulder and then led him off stage.

So at the end of David’s set, sure enough, a guy came out and led David off stage. Anyone have any confirmations or explanations on this?

Paulette borrowed a “Helga” outfit from a friend in Calgary and it was a big hit.	My girlfriend Darlene and Paulette a few drinks into the evening
This has been officially named the “Coop scarey face” by Koralee Nickarz.	This is where the evening begins to get a bit weird. A typical photo taken by Paulette. I should do a post of “just” Paulette’s breasts. I could fill a page.
This is the only photo completely approved by Darlene for showing. The top one I like, you know, the green Oktoberfest hat, great looking girl, etc, but Dar’s not too happy with herself in it. So, the top one of Us, I like and this one is Dar approved.Is Oktoberfest a Holiday? anyone know? Or just a celebration of sausages, beer and music?

My girlfriend Darlene is a professional photographer. A good friend had asked for some shots of her, her new boyfriend and his family, so we headed off to Edmonton’s Fort Edmonton Park. We got to the location when we began to be stalked by these two Turkey’s. They just wouldn’t leave us alone, and having just read about how Turkey’s are quite dangerous and can “snap your head off”, I decided to keep our small group safe.

First Rule In Turkey Safety

The first rule is to keep some large object between you and the Turkey. I had Darlene’s reflector (I am the “light guy”), so I opened it up and used it to shoo away the big birds. It barely worked. As I got them a few feet away and then headed back to the shoot, the Turkey’s just followed.

I then tried another approach. Talking to them. I walked away from the photo shoot and told the Turkey’s to come with me. They did. Now this was getting quite weird because as I walked away, they just kept following. They wouldn’t leave me alone. The shots you see here are from a good 150 feet away. I had to take the Turkey’s for a long walk, away from the group, around some buildings and then sat down hoping the birds would forget that I was there. Then I snuck away.

I used this approach a few times because each time I thought they were ok being alone, they would trot after me and the whole process would begin again.

Eventually it worked. I got them distracted behind a few buildings, snuck away and joined the shoot just in time as I was needed.

Everyone got a great laugh about 5 minutes later because when they finally found me again, they literally came running across the grounds at full trot.

note: I made up that part about Turkey’s being able to “snap your head off”. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet about Turkeys, Turkey safety or Dangers of Turkeys.

But, alas, I had to go a few years back and found Dr Baily Mack here in Edmonton.  He’s at the Kingsway Garden Mall.

Dr Mack is a dental God.

I have NEVER experienced any sort of pain after leaving his office.

Just the other day, I had to have two teeth pulled.  One was broken in half which happend just before I left for Africa to climb Kilimanjaro and I wasn’t able to see him.  I had his associate dentist patch the tooth so I’d survive for a few months.  Then just two days ago, I had it pulled along with a wisdom tooth.

no pain.  Quick, simple and easy extractions and no pain.

Dr Mack is my dental God.

After a good long year go at it, I was able to get a website for a client ranked Number one for it’s keyphrase Personal Trainer Edmonton.  I looked just the other week and was still number two.  My SEO ranking experiments seemed to have worked.  I was just about to employ another one, but I’m going to let the website ride it out awhile.

I posted an article on calorie counting by Tom Venuto on my website. The newest in a series of articles by Tom. Check it out.

I drove taxi for Co-op taxi in the years 1988 through 1997 in which time I attained a maximum weight of 475 pounds.  My story has been told on my website Formerfatguy.com where you can see my before and after pictures.  I was able to lose almost 300 pounds using Whole food herbal Products.  I worked as fleet supervisor at Co-op where I was trained as a level 2 collision investigator.

I left Co-op taxi to attend the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) taking Computer Systems Technology and gradutated with honors in April 2000.

I currently am employed as a Network Administrator for various clients throughout Edmonton, and formerly as Chief Development Officer and SEO for Market Web Solutions and in 2001 was asked to return to NAIT in order to teach a 400 level class, BCS450 (Web Application Development) in the same course I graduated from a year earlier.

In May of 2001 I was privilaged to attend a course by Harv Eker of Peak Potentials which turned my life in a new direction again. I realized that I had been sitting on the best opportunity in the world, these Whole food herbs that changed my life, and decided to pursue it as a career.  I can easily say that the Millionaire Mind Intensive is the best thing I’ve done for myself this decade.  That’s right, this decade!. I am currently working toward a full time career as a Wellness coach where I teach people how they can achieve their dreams of good health and financial success through the consumption of these herbal products.  Without a doubt, I will always have them in my life.

Update: Harv just released his new book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and you should go check it out!