Well, it’s not easy to change the early morning behaviour of my six year old, Olympics or not. Trying to get the young fella to “get cracking” so we could make it out to see the torch be run down Denman street was no easy task. I awoke to the sound of helicopters that were tracking Govinator Arnold Schwarzenegger through his leg of the relay in neighbouring Stanley Park so the mood was already heightened in our house. Shuffling down the street with sleep in his eyes and me time checking out loud every couple of minutes to make sure the he understands that the torch waits for no one.

When we arrived the sirens and rolling lockups of the police motorcycles was already in full effect. Squeezing in kitty corner from Olympia Pizza the we caught up with the corporate preamble and then there it was…the torch, team of support staff, and camera crews there were documenting the event. And then it was gone. In fact I don’t even know who was holding the torch for that leg to be honest. I was just trying to snap a few good shots and make sure that Noah could see the event without getting pushed about.

[Show as slideshow]

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Friday started of pretty crap to be honest. I got attacked by a spelling Nazi and was made to feel like shit for accidentally letting three typos get through on my professional side of life. I should not have let it but for some reason I did.

I should know by now not to let them under my skin but I guess I had my defenses down. Oh well I hope one day I’ll be strong enough to not let it bother me. Anyhow the title of this post is “The best one yet!” and that’s where I would like to move to.

Lets step back a bit to June of this year when I decided to get more of my photography out there in order to advance my sideline career as a photographer. Yes I know I am an interactive guy and all but I must admit I do really love the pure form of photography almost more than anything else and the secret fantasy of traveling with my family and shooting along the way does entice.

For those of you who have read my blog or no me personally you will know that I spent the summer of 08 in Spain traveling with my family. I shot a few thousand pics and one of them was deemed by Photolife Magazine worthy enough to place in the top five of the 2009 edition of Photo Life’s annual photo contest, Image International. Yep that’s right! It is a huge honor and spurs me to keep on shooting. It is my 5th time I have been published and by far “the best one yet”. Oh and the prizes were great too:

• DxO Optics Pro Elite software
• Sigma 55-200 mm f/4.5-5.6 DC lens
• Sony GPSCS3KA GPS unit.
• SanDisk Sansa c250 2-GB MP3 player
• Epson Stylus Photo R280 printer
• SanDisk Cruzer Micro 2-GB USB key
• QuickPro Camera Guides Digital 101 & Digital 201
• QuickPro Camera Guides Photoshop Elements 101

The whole day was a roller coaster of a day but in the end I won out over the troll. I would also like to say thanks to all my friends on Twitter that have much more experience with  comments, and blogging in general, that came to my side that day. @petequily, @monicahamburg, @hummingbird604 and @EmmeRogers [also a dyslexic] You guys rock!

Look for the dead tree version of Photlife in Feb/March.

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We are looking to move. That’s right this family has finally outgrown the amazing West End apartment that has been our home since 2002! We are a family of three and are very tidy, very quiet, non smoking, with out pets and have amazing references to back it up.

I work in the interactive business and my wife works part time in film. We have a six year old son that is quiet and does not break stuff and when he does it usually involves a Star Wars action figure at the most.

We are looking to live within the city centre of Vancouver in areas like False Creek, Fairview Slopes, and the Main street zone. We are giving up spectacular views of the city and the north shore and we are so so with that but know that the view is not everything…well it is a lot but not everything. We are interested in two bedroom plus den or three bedroom dwellings that a are not basement suites. We like quiet as we are quiet and like to be near shops so that we do not have to drive everywhere.

If you have an apartment for rent that you would like see get taken care of and be worry free of tenant hassles then give us a should and show us what you have in the way of conformable clean accommodation.

Oh ya one other thing that I almost forgot. If you had in suite laundry that would be amazing and you would most likely be referred to as a super hero by my wife.

So if you have a super dwelling drop us a line via the email here>

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After the day spent at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary wandering around enjoying mothers day in the country we made our way over to Commercial Drive for a friends art show opening. After the show Denise took Noah to the playground and I made my pilgrimage to the Santa Barbara Deli. It is by far one of the most popular delis in Vancouver and if you have been you will know why. Both the no frills atmosphere and the amazing prices on a huge selection of meat and cheese. There is always at least a twenty minute line up on the weekends so it’s important to be there for more than just a couple of things.

It was mothers day and I decided that we needed to re-live a little Spain for dinner. I picked up Serrano Ham, Manchego cheese, Olives, fresh bread, wine chorizo and lentils for Spanish style lentil stew. It was an amazing meal and I think captured a some of the best memories of Spain that Denise and I share.

Happy Mothers day to my wife the mother of my son and to my mum who encouraged me to take the risks that I have today. I love you both.

More images from the day:

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Well I when to the Canucks game last night and wow did it suck! The night did not but the game sure did. I caught up with three friends that I have known for over 20 years. The one that I do when I hang out with these gents is laugh and that is a great thing. They put up with the fact I am not really a sport fan as such and they let me wear my old Naslund jersey that I bought a few years ago when I was on a playoff bandwagon ride. I double that will happen anytime soon what I witnessed last night.

I document the eventing on my iPhone QuadCamera app by  Takayuki Fukatsu. It’s sums up the night quite well I think. Notice the lack of game footage? Ya that’s not a accident. 

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[Previous Chapter Here] So now I have left the agency, performed best man and dj duties at Jon and Diane’s wedding and am now set to spend the entire summer in Spain with Denise and Noah. It really does not get much better than this. We are packed, the arrangement with my brother to water the plants is in place, the arrangement for my dad to hound my brother about watering the plants has also in place, Denise’s five week intensive Spanish lessons are complete and rent cheques are all prepaid. Let’s get the f*ck out of dodge.

We get to the airport in plenty of time and perform the great security dance. Belt off, shoes off etc. I am for the first time not put off by this ridiculous security charade. It’s a bright sunny day and have started this fantastic journey. And what better way to kick off this bad mamajama of a trip than with a sit down meal at the White Spot at the end of the terminal platform. One more triple O burger to send us on our way. Besides last time I was in Spain the hamburguesa was not so good and made into the hotel garbage can, after I had eaten it if ya know what I mean… 

The first leg of the trip from Vancouver to Toronto went well for the exception of the super cell that is now above Toronto and pummelling YYZ with a crazy deluge of rain and hail. The plane flew into the storm and touches down to the applause of the passengers. After touchdown the we are held on the tarmac for for what seems to be for ever and that nice buffer that I had planned between connecting flights is evaporating fast. I feel an episode Airline headed our way now for sure.

The plane disembarks and the flight crew tell us that we have to run as fast as we can to make our connecting flight. “That’s cool, Is the gate close by?” I ask. “No it’s not so you better run” She wasn’t kidding on how far the gate was. The distance that we had to run up stairs, down hallways and though gates all with a 5 year old and fully loaded Pokémon suitcase in tow was insane. We ran for no less than ten hard minutes to get to the connecting gate. Looking around I see that the holding pen for our flight is still completely full of people waiting to board. “What the hell is this?” I thought. I ask super helpful Air Canada attendant if this was gate for flight number “Get me the f*ck out of dodge for the summer” and “I thought we had to run across half the airport to in order to make it on time.” She answered in a wicked mix of Torontonian with a heavy dose Air Canadian “Yes it is and no you didn’t need to because there have been delays due to the heave rain. This flight will not be going anywhere for an hour or so.” she says with as little feeling as possible. Sweet Jesus we ran that 10k sprint for nothing? It’s a good thing that we are not in Toronto and it’s not f’n humid…OK enough time for beer and some snacks then.

We finally board our flight from Toronto to Madrid and are almost ready to leave the jetway when all of a sudden there is a bit of a hubbub at the front of the plane. A bunch of  pysdo punk’esc types sprint onto the plan all sweaty and rushed. Sound familiar? The flight staff were all in a tizzy and there was one flight attendant in particular that was more attentive to the boys than I have ever seen on an Air Canada flight. She was flirting up a storm with the guys and everyone else on the flight was being nicely ignored as side effect. We had dressed up extra nice for the flights and I had requested that “If there was room that an upgrade to first class would be really appreciated.”. The staff told us that they would put our name on the list. When we did get on the plane we couldn’t help but notice that there were enough seats for a well dressed family of three likes ours and quietly held our breath for the upgrade;) Well now with all the commotion going on over the ‘cute’ punkers that had been mistakenly placed in the back with the rest of the common folk I new that our chances were now slim to none. It turns out that the band was “A Simple Plan” and they where going to Madrid for an European awards show and that they had been seated in economy by mistake. So ya we got f’d on the seats. Oh well it was only the first day and there wasn’t many things that would get me down today and besides the sweat from the 10k dash had finally subsided to a clammy glow.

We where exhausted and pretty much slept entire flight anyway. Still it would have been a sweet way to kick off the trip. On the decent into Madrid I grew more and more excited. The reality of this crazy idea was starting to sink in. I had not been to Madrid since 1991 and the memories I had were becoming more and more vivid with every kilometre of decent. I could not wait to explore the city again. This time as a father, husband and man on the run from the reality of this thing called a job! The countryside looked so hot and dry as I pressed my nose against the window. Just think an entire summer without the rain…it would be heaven I thought. When we arrived at the jetway the cabin door opened and hot arid air pushed through the cabin and it was at that point that the trip felt very very real.

To be continued…

Photo copyright JP Holecka

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I do mention in a few places in the Jaypiddy blog, the tagline specifically, that I am dyslexic. Well I am now beginning to explore what that all really means. The fact cannot be ignored any longer now that I am in business for myself. In business I have safe guards and systems that I use to manage the dyslexic spelling in documents etc. It is tough because when people that don’t know you see the errors in the writing they just assume that you are sloppy or stupid or both. I can’t tell you the amount of comments I get. So now I am addressing the issue in a more formal way. Feel free to ping my with corrections as I don’t mind. As long as the tone is a helpful one and not a snide one it’s fantastic.

My brother, who is also dyslexic, gave me a book called ‘The Gift” so that I could get a better understanding of what dyslexia really is and how to deal with it at this stage of my life. I will continue to publish the findings here on the blog and hope that it will initiate some dialog from the readers.

In my initial research I was surprised to see just how many influential people throughout history suffered with dyslexia and what there accomplished in their respective lifetimes. Some on my list are dead long ago and some are still affecting us in many significant ways today. 

Why not add to the list of people that you admire that have or had dyslexia.

  
See more: Famous People with Dyslexia

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Catchy headline and exactly what I did. I left my job at an up and coming web agency in Vancouver where I was in negotiations for partnership, ya that’s right. So let’s back up here for a moment and get some context. 

I had been working a large telco [TELUS] as an creative director for the in house web marketing team. It was roughly four years into that great job when  I was offered a job with promise of partnership at the talented up and coming agency that I had been outsourcing design and production to a couple of years. The offer sounded great and I knew the partners very well from working so closely with for the past 2.5 years on the TELUS projects. I thought about it, and thought about it, I mean it was a drop in salary and there are the large risks involved with joining a small agency after all right?. I conferred with my wife and decided to take the plunge into the agency side of life.

It was March 8th when I moved into the new role and it felt great and exciting to be part of a young agency that was making is way up the food chain nicely. Soon I would be part owner of this shop and that was even more exciting. The major life miles stone of turning 40 was fast approaching and this was a great way to usher in the ’second half’ I thought.

Agency life was great and I was working on awesome projects, there was beer in the fridge and a giant LCD screen in the board room for Guitar Hero Fridays. There were the business and awards show trips to NY, SF, Toronto to name a few. Sounds great right? Well it was but that feeling started to fade and I became restless again. “Wait come back here great feeling of being successful and on my way up in the world” I quietly said to myself more than a few times. But no it would not return and I was faced with making some more hard choices, yet again.

The thing was that I had gone from being a creative director to account executive/strategist and that title just never really sat very well with me I guess. Every time I saw my business card I thought that doesn’t sound right to me. So those restless and unfulfilled feelings began to grow into an ever louder white noise in my head. But I had just sprinted across the 40 year mark planning to not look back. The was also this thing called rent and all that I to deal with, so I was feeling kind of fucked. How embarrassing to tell everyone that the partner thing at the cool agency wasn’t working out. I guess it’s kind of like calling off the wedding just before the big day. Oh wait ya it does feel a little like that as I have done that too.

So while driving back from a weekend stay in Seattle to take Noah to the Woodland Zoo I decided to run the whole “quitting my job” idea passed Denise. I have not quit many things in life so I was not sure how proceed with the bad news. About the half way point between Seattle and Vancouver while eating our Taco Bell drive through I turned to Denise and said with a stutter in my voice ‘Um I think I have to quit…” and without pause she cut me off with “Your job!?”. Huh? Wow talk about finishing my sentences, that was impressive. I knew there was a reason that married this amazing woman! That was a hell of a lot easier than I thought it was gonna be. She asked me only one thing in return…”Please take at least two weeks off between gigs this time would ya?”. Sure I could do that I thought. Two weeks would be easy to take off and it would be summer so ya I can do that for you and Noah. Well by the time we got to the border the two weeks had turned into two months and a major hit to the down payment on our dream home. It was going to be either Spain or Japan and that choice would come later when we did a little more digging on what would be better for a family with a five year old.

So now I had an endorsement from my wife to quit my job but what the hell was I going to do? Get another job or go solo…I had no clue. Both had pluses and minuses and I needed time to figure it out. So I told the partners that I was going to be “moving on” as it were and that once the projects I was manager were wrapped up I head out. I informed them that I was going to go on a trip and figure out the rest of my life. It did not feel like a mid life crisis on the inside but I imagine it sure did to the 20 something owners and employees of the agency. What ever it was there just was no stopping the feeling, so I dealt with it the only way I new how.

I did my time and finished up a big job for a bank in Alberta and transitioned  my other other clients to the new guy Patrick. As the end of June approached I was alive with excitement. We had decided that Spain was going to be the lucky country to receive us and the only thing between me and my ice cold cerveza in the sun was performing best man duties for my dear friend Jonathan. It was so close I could taste it. 

So the 27th hit and I was out of there. No looking back and no real plans looking forward. This was going to be either the best or worst thing thing I ever did. Regardless it would be an exciting ride that’s for sure.

So that’s my advice to anyone that has the white noise of discontent ringing in their ears. Get out and change the situation. What happens next will only be better that what you are dealing with today regardless.

To be continued…

Photo copyright JP Holecka

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Noah gets a Wee Wii from JP Holecka on Vimeo.

This was my son’s reaction to receiving the Nintendo Wii for his birthday last year. Not much more I can add to this!

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Well as we head into the new year and begin 2009 with a clean sweep of all things 2008 one can’t help but run into ghosts from the past. It seems that it was just yesterday that Noah was fascinated and could not get enough of all things Toy Story. It was only a year ago that the anticipation of going to Disneyworld to see Buzz and Woody was almost too much for the little guy. Well Buzz and Woody has been replaced by Luke and Darth Vader and the floors are now littered with light sabres and action figures. Even now I hear the familiar opening bars of John’s William’s epic composition blasting from the TV as he Noah dances around the room wielding his Jedi weapon. I miss the innocence that movies like Toy Story brought to our home. Oh well may the force be with you!

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