Huge changes are coming

At the end of March, this will be my new home for a couple of months.  I figure from April 1st to sometime in November, I will be living in my 2023 Jeep Wrangler Sport.  I’ll putting the two back seats down and basically be sleeping in the back of the vehicle.  I foresee a few obstacles that I will run into.  First will be finding a place to park over night while I sleep.  Second obstacle will be finding a place where I can go do my business at night.  I am 47 now and I need to go empty out the bladder multiple times a night.  Sometimes number 2 decides it wants to come out as well.  I’ll still be working for the government department until at least March 12, 2024.  Until then I want to start a content creation/editing business whether it’s photo or video.

I’ve been shooting photos and video for over 10 years now professionally as a side hustle.  I’m actually really bored with my regular day job.  It’s boring and the job is full of red tape.  I can’t even go to the bathroom without asking my manager.  It’s at least getting to that point.  I’ve been with the feds in some form or another since 2001 or so.  22 years.  In that time, I’ve been married, single and dating.  I’ve been single since May 2022 and at this point I just want to be alone.  With the current state of the world and society, there is absolutely no point in me trying to find a girlfriend.  I am just enjoying my time and being by myself.

Considering I’ll be living in a Jeep which has limited space so I’ll be using coffee shops to edit photos and videos in.  I have two options that I can edit on.  My Dell XPS 9700 laptop with a 17” 4K monitor or my 2022 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen.  For software, I’ll be using Affinity Photo ver. 2 and and/or Adobe Photoshop.  For video, it’ll be Luma-Touches LumaFusion.  Absolutely love that program.  

I’ll be doing a video later on today because 

Time for a change

So, I bought this Jeep Wrangler last weekend.  I am really sick of paying rent to some conglomerate company who doesn’t give a shit about me.  I want to do the nomad life in Ottawa here and I want to go places.  Plus I want to pay off some debt and paying $1,300 a month for rent is just nuts.  Plus you have hydro and internet to pay as well.

I have my 2022 Apple iPad Pro which has cellular capabilities along with my Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max.  I really want to start living the minimal lifestyle.  Just my cameras and my laptop and iPad.  

I’ll have to figure out where to park for the nights and if I’ll have to get hotel rooms for when it’s -40 degrees Celsius.  And of course where am I going to shower.  I’m figuring I’ll find a 24 hour gym with showers.  Actually go to the gym in the mornings before work.  Do a light work out and then shower.  

The next couple of months will be interesting for sure. I’ll be doing a lot more videos and posting them on my YouTube channel as well.

Coronavirus

This is not a pandemic.  It's a panic.  It's a bad flue people.  More people die from the regular flu than will die of this corona virus.  The governments and mainstream media of the world are just causing this pandemic.  Go out and live your life.  Wash your hands and sneeze into your arm.  Don't be stupid about this. 

My last I.T contract

Took on my last IT contract in Ottawa.  Haven’t started yet because Procurement is completely inept.  I’ve found over the last 4 years that working for the Canadian government is becoming a nightmare.  So much red tape.  So much BS in stopping you from where you want to go and what you want to do.  I’ve basically reached my braking point.

I’m starting my YouTube channel and getting to do more photography which I should’ve been doing anyways.  Yesterday I had some regrets in selling my Sony a7ii full frame camera and lens combo along with my Canon Vixia HF G40.  Today I’m realizing that I only need the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I’m hoping Apple holds its release date of Apple iPadOS to September 30th which is in a few weeks.  I hope the OS update includes drivers for the Sony RX100 Mark VII since the current version of iOS does not recognize the photos or the file system.  I have two external hard drives attached to the 2018 iPad Pro which are currently inaccessible.  IPadOS will change that of course.

In March of 2020, our lease is up on the apartment and it’ll be time to move.  I’m moving out west regardless if my girlfriend comes or not.  I just can’t stand Ottawa anymore.  I can’t stand the weather here anymore. The summers are hot and the winters are cold.  The humidity sucks here in the summer.  The bugs don’t help either.  Calgary doesn’t have that which is fantastic.  Hopefully I’ll be able to support us or myself on photography and YouTube.  I hope.  

I think it’s time

Over the past year, I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on photography, travel photography etc.  I’m so wanting to do it.  Just go out and travel full time with just my cameras and document my life on YouTube.  The only thing I fear is a lack of income.  I make ok money selling my stuff on places like Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  But not enough to make car payments, insurance, buy gas, upkeep on the vehicle.  The thing that makes me want to do it is when I was out west in Calgary for 4 months back in 2017.  I want to do photography and shoot videos full time.  I don’t want a boss.  I want to be boss.  I hate working in a cubicle dealing with office politics, the pettiness and the other BS that comes with office jobs.  Especially here in Ottawa being a government town, it’s just a hundred times worse because Ottawa is a politics town since it’s the capital of Canada.

Tomorrow I want to get new tires for my vehicle since I need them badly before winter comes.  I bought an air mattress and a couple of sleeping bags thinking this summer I’d be doing more camping on weekends.  Instead I do nothing except go to church on Sunday because the girlfriend enjoys doing that.  I totally feel left out.  I think it’s time to make a whole bunch of changes in my life.  I’m getting up there in age.  I’ll be 44 in about 3 weeks and I feel like life is just passing me by.

My Sony RX100 Mark VII is almost setup.  I’m getting my Lensmate attachment today along with a whole bunch of filters.  Now I just need Apple to hurry up and release the Photo Raw updates so I can actually use the Sony RX100 Mark VII with my 2018 Apple iPad 12.9” and I can ditch all the laptops that I’m currently using

I have a question for anyone reading this and doing the full time travel thing.  Where do you get your income?  YouTube, Shutterstock, an online store, working temp jobs somewhere for a week or so and then leaving?  I am so open to suggestions.  Please let me know.

Windows 10 or any Microsoft operating system

Versus Linux, Mac OS, Unix, the Windows 10 operating system is a dysfunctional disaster.  It's a disappointment.  On my early 2013 MacBook Pro, the fans hardly ever ramp up.  Only when editing 4k footage, would the fans ramp up and run hot.  With Windows 10 running on my Asus laptop, just running Firefox the fans ramp up.  I can't wait to edit footage or photos on the laptop.  Windows basically is crap on a hard drive.  

I work with Windows 10 all day with my full time job.  It spies on you sending everything back to Microsoft.  It's the Google Android of the laptop/desktop computer market.  I've never had a problem with editing photos or 1080p footage on my MacBook Pro.  I cannot wait to get my Apple iPad Pro.  I think though with the bendgate problems with the iPads, I'll wait for the next itineration of the Apple iPad.  I can't justify a $2000+ product coming out bent out of shape from the factory.  No company is perfect but come on Apple.  The iPad comes out bent and it's a part of the manufacturing process.

I actually don't know if I even want the Apple iPad.  I have two decent laptops that can edit photos and footage pretty well.  Actually the MacBook Pro with Final Cut Pro X is pretty amazing.  I think this weekend I'll wipe the machine and do a clean install of Mojave on it.  Install all my regular programs and just use it to edit photos and footage.  Thankfully I got rid of the iMac.  That was an eyesore if I ever saw one.

I honestly don't know what 2019 will bring.  I know by April I do not want to be in Ottawa and Ontario.  I want to be in Calgary and be living close to the mountains.  I want to take two weeks and head down south thru Montana, Utah, Colorado to Arizona, up thru California and see the coast.  I would love to do photography and shoot some footage out there.  That is my goal for next year.

I am finally...

...getting some help at work. I've been back to my current employer for a month now and they've provided me with no help so far.  I was supposed to get help a few weeks back but the guys that they hired bailed on them.  I'm supposed to have a team of five but it's been just me.  I'm finding that working for the feds or quasi feds like the department I work for are getting worse and worse as tech and people go.  They're getting worse people with worse technical skills.  It's this multi-cultural, politically correct crap that is killing western society.  Companies now are hiring, not based on knowledge or merit but race, ethnicity or the sex of a person.  I know I don't know everything.  That's why I keep learning.  

I am totally sick of working in the I.T field now.  Companies are not helping you achieve success.  Everyone is after the Almighty dollar in the short term.  People and companies are looking just six months ahead or to the next fiscal quarter end.  I'm studying Affinity Photo more and more.  I'm saving up for the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I also want to get the Sony RX10 Mark IV along with the DJI Mavic Pro 2.  

Having the Sony RX100 Mark VI, the Sony RX10 Mark IV and the DJI Mavic Pro 2 would be potent tools for me to get out on my own and actually push my photography business.  That is why I'm saving up my money.  That is why I'm studying Affinity Photo.  That is why I'm going to the gym to work on my health.  I want to concentrate on Affinity Photo and my health in the next five months so by March 31, 2019, I can move out west with my girlfriend and start a new life.

So today I forgot...

...my wallet at home.  All my ID's are in my wallet along with my bank cards, credit cards etc.  I'm all in a panic that I don't have any money today.  Or anything.  Than I look at my phone beside me.  And I think to myself.  I do have access to cash.  My Apple iPhone 8 Plus is going to be my valet today.  Who needs cards when you have your phone?????  Today I am also seriously starting to study Affinity Photo.  I know photography has to be my go to career now.  I have to pave my own way.  I cannot do the I.T. thing anymore.  I can't work only contracts.  Hire a photographer!!!!  Today!!!!!

Today at work so far...

I've deployed one computer.  Imaged three computers.  Brought up some Surface Pros to the third floor for the DSS team and I cleaned up my work area which consisted of packing laptop bags into one big pile.  I have one more deployment at two today and I get to image that one computer after I deployed the new one to the client.

I brought my personal MacBook Pro to work so that I can actually, maybe, possibly work on my own stuff.  I'm being interrupted by my boss and a couple of the on site technicians but it's all good.  I enjoy the company.  Us on site/deployment guys are pretty much the same.  We share the same mentality.  I was supposed to get a new coworker today but he bailed out last night.

I am taking a bit of break from photography.  I'm busy with life I guess.  Work and exercise always seem to get in the way of what I want to do.  Like I've previously stated, the next couple of months are going to be life changing.  I really, really do not want to live in Ottawa anymore.

I am trying to convince myself

I have been watching a lot of these Youtube videos where people live in their Jeep or another vehicle and just drive around North America and discover Canada and the continental United States even going up to Alaska and the Yukon.

I've had the itch for the past three years to do this.  I'd probably say the last 7 years.  Lets just say that when I had cancer back in 2010/2011, I've been wanting to go out on the road and just travel.  I don't get to do much since I work 5 days a week and just pay bills to keep my head just above water.  I don't want that kind of life where I just go to work and pay bills.  There is a lot more to see than just a cubicle and the 4 walls of your home living room or bed room.  Life is more than that.

I've been thinking that early next year, I trade in my 2015 Hyundai Elantra for a Jeep 4 door and just live and travel in that.  I'm very afraid of not being able to buy food or pay for my bills.  I've always worked and I hate living off of donations.  That's why I don't use services like Patreon or GoFundMe.  Those are great for raising funds for like AIDS or cancer research.  But to live off of the donations of others I find troubling.  I don't make a lot of money with my photography.  A few hundred bucks here or there.  I probably need roughly $3500 a month live after tax.  I probably make $200 a month with my photography.  The photography money is not steady either.  Some months I make more and some months I make less.  I make a few bucks a month with the blog, but again, nowhere near where I need to be.  I have a Youtube channel but I hate being on camera.

I would love to travel the United States.  Go from state to state.  But I can't legally work there and I would need to support myself.  You really can't travel in Canada in winter.  Last year when I left for Calgary in early March, I got stuck in North Dakota for 2 days because of a snow storm in a 95km/h wind storm. At one point it felt like my hotel room was going to fly away and end up in Kansas or somewhere.

I don't mind the snow.  I actually love the snow but I do like the weather in Arizona in the fall.  2 years ago I was on vacation in Arizona and fell in love with the state.

Right now, I'm trying to lose 50 pounds before the end of March 2019.  I feel like the next six months will be life changing.  I know the old saying of: the only thing to fear is fear itself.  And that's my biggest fear right now.  Not fear.  But the unknown of how I'm going to support my travel financially. If you have any thoughts or advice, just post it in the comments.

One of my better shots

A lone Arctic Wolf showing its fangs.  I absolutely love wolves.  My favourite type of wolf is the Timber Wolf.  Their fur in the winter is just amazing.  Absolutely love wolves.