Feline Narcotic Water

Tiki was not impressed with the water quality in her water fountain.

What happened was that Tiki knocked her catnip pillow into the water and the water turned colour because of the catnip in the pillow. That pillow is super gross too because it is covered in the saliva of probably half a dozen cats...

Tiki didn't drink the water, but she's not that crazy about catnip. Wonder if other cats would've liked it though...

You haven't missed much

Seems like my wheels are spinning in the sand. I really thought that I'd be farther in my life at this age.

Since I was last blogging regularly, nothing has really changed. I am in the same chair in the same apartment. I'm still in Toronto. Still doing my PhD. Still playing volleyball. Still single.

I'm definitely feeling old now since I keep meeting people in their late teens and early 20's through school related events. This has been the pattern for the past 7 years. I get older, but the girls stay the same age. I feel that I am the creepy old guy now.

Seems like life is passing me by. I guess I just thought that things would be a lot different when I was about to turn 29. Different city? Different relationship status? Different number of dependents? Different job?

Sure, career-wise, things are technically pretty different now since I'm running my own company (happy 1 year anniversary to my company 2 days ago!), but it doesn't seem that big of a change since it's actually quite similar to grad school in that I sit in front of my computer and do whatever I want. The difference now is that a lot more people go to my website, I make money when I dick around on the Internet, I meet with different people for advice, I receive different types of awards, and I do media interviews.

Is this a third-life crisis? You probably won't see me in a sports car, but I might skip out of the country.

P.S. If you don't know what's been going on, i.e. you're not on Facebook, here are some things you can read:

Toronto Star

Globe & Mail Podcast

Globe & Mail Interview Chat

U of T Article

Return of the Blog?

I think that I'm going to start blogging again. Or at least try to. I was thinking recently how I felt disconnected from long distance friends and that I didn't have my blog to have a discussion with them anymore. Then, Florence told me today that I should blog more. So, I am obeying her command.

This blog has been around for almost 6 years now! I don't think that I have any readers left since I haven't really blogged in a while, so we'll see what happens. I think I'm going to go back to using this as a personal journal.

1 Million Downloads of Shape Collage

Shape Collage has now been downloaded over 1 Million times! Crazy.

When I started playing around with the algorithm which would eventually become Shape Collage, I had no idea that this was going to happen. I thought maybe a few people would use it, but I had no idea that it would be this big.

I'll continue to fly by the seat of my pants, take things as they come, and see where this goes. Hopefully this is just the beginning :)

Last Day in Beijing

• I'm not ignoring you to be rude, it's because I don't understand you


• Snuck into the science museum and there was no one inside except a sleeping security guard. It was cool except that most things were turned off.


• Pissed that my camera ran out of battery


• Disappointed by the lack of animal cruelty at the Beijing Zoo


• Had dinner with "very handsome" and Don

One Day In Beijing

• girls here look at me and then blatantly look down to my feet and back up, am I dressed funny or something?


• broke my flip flop and limped around a UNESCO site


• gave up on trying to take the subway that hasn't been built yet, even though it's on the maps and ticket machines


• pointing is my main form of communication


• snuck onto a boat


• realized I was lost when I was in a tourist site and no one was around


• grabbed a pine cone for some cute girls


• hopped onto a bus without a clue where it was going, but lots of people were taking it, so it seemed like a good idea

Happy Birthday Tiki!

It was Tiki's 2nd birthday yesterday! I made this video of her from the many clips that I've taken of her...

Included in the video is Tiki playing fetch with a ball, jumping super high, running up a door, falling off a table, playing with toy mice, spiking a ball, drinking out of a glass, fighting with other cats (and me), drinking out of a glass, and being dressed up in different costumes.

Summer Travel Plans

June:  Hawaii
July:  Winnipeg
August:  China
September:  LA

Leaving tomorrow for Hawaii. Hopefully my gps device works this time...