A videoblog where I post clips about everything under the sun. Music, movies, random daily moments - quick and dirty vlogs from a homo in Toronto.

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Name: Lukas Blakk
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I'm a Software Development student in Toronto, soon-to-be Mozilla intern, genderqueer, filmmaker, videoblogger, computer geek, runner, bicyclist, aspiring long distance hiker, brunch chef, food geek, ex-smoker, michigan festival worker, and generally a busy person. As much as possible I try to share the stuff that excites me, angers me, piques my curiousity and/or is of some impact in my life. Currently I am in my 3rd year of a Software Development degree at Seneca College where I am taking Open Source development and working with Mozilla. What interests me most right now about software development is usabilty, accessibility and anything else that helps people access information and technology with the least pain and frustration.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

California Internship - Week 2

Happy Friday.

Last weekend, and most of this week actually, feels so long ago already. Tonight I went to see the Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian with some fellow interns and assorted co-workers. I'm a little underwhelmed. The theatre itself was a little low-budget and the ceiling lights remained aglow throughout the film, and the movie was kind of predictable and awkward in its pacing. I really need to find time to read the entire series though because I'm very interested in the ideas of the stories. Plus I want to know how it ends. It's hard to watch the movie and not know what happens unlike Harry Potter chapters.

Okay, so the week in review. Well - first off was my hiking day in Big Sur last weekend with Naomi. She picked me up in the morning and we took off down highway 1 (again!) this time a bit further south to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where we did the Ewoldsen hike.

I'm totally in love with the forests of Big Sur. Also, this blue jay was very insistent that I take his picture and kept coming closer and closer as I snapped away. This is with hardly any zoom - little blue show-off:

One of the switchbacks on the trailPerspective on a trunk holeThe very friendly blue jay in Big Sur

There are amazingly large trees, beautifully maintained paths and views like this:

Big SurThe oasis @ Big SurWearing a Judith-made hat in Big Sur

Here is Naomi explaining why there were so many burned and charred trees:



Then there was the Waterfall. While it was close enough to the parking lot to be kind of over populated with tourists - it was still a sight to behold. I was mesmerized by the waterfall and the waves smashing against the rocks. It reminded me of a set from the movie version of Lord of th Flies. Funny thing is, there were all these signs:

Really, you have to hold yourself back - you lemming!

These were posted every few feet - as though the view was so pretty that people were going to throw themselves down the cliff. Well, then I looked over and saw two people trying to do it - even with the signs! Fortunately they gave up after scrambling down a couple of meters of crumbly cliff side. The woman was wearing Uggs! Those are not hiking boots, and certainly won't help with what was essentially rock climbing. As they pointed out, and we had noticed, there were distinctly human footprints on the beach below - I imagine that there's a little sea creature down there with a foot on a stick making footprints to try and lure the tasty humans...

Here's a small video of the view in motion:



Final notes for the week - some office dog shenanigans and Bike to Work Day.

Julie has been bringing the dog she's caring for to work and it plays with Karen's dog Samantha until it's so tired that it must throw itself upon on of the many bean bag chairs and cushions in the downstairs common lounge. At that point the two dogs just play with their heads, determined pups they are.

Here they are when still able to stand on all four feet:



Zuri (the whippet) is incredibly fast as you can see by her dash:

Zuri Pre-dashZuri Mid-dashZuri End-dash

Maybe next time I will get a picture of her when she's not moving.

On Bike to Work week about 14 or so Mozillans took on the challenge. I've been biking to work every day and it's only 10 minutes each way for me...no big deal. Several people biked in from San Francisco on Thursday which takes about 3 hours! Here they are in their Firefox jerseys. I hope to have one someday but that will require that bike jerseys are made by a company that doesn't predispose itself to the physiques of slim europeans. Too bad, cause they sure are pretty shirts:

P1030691P1030698P1030659



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Thursday, May 08, 2008

California Internship - Week 1

So its been a while. Hi! I've got lots of little documentation of my first week here in Mountain View, California.

The intro: I'm doing an internship with Mozilla this summer and will be living in Mountain View for 4 months - until Aug 29. So hopefully I will not only work hard and have an amazing summer of development but I will also get to see and experience a bunch of what California has to offer.

First experience: the Pacific Ocean.

Joey picked me up in a PT Cruiser convertible and took me down Route 1 to Santa Cruz. On the way we saw surfers and we stopped in at Swanton's Berry Farm for a strawberry shortcake that was amazing.








Once we arrived in Santa Cruz we wandered around downtown with Maryasha. These caught my eye since I'm always a fan of fancy carving of fruits and vegetables.


We also tried to go to the "secret cookie" place which was sadly closed. It's apparently really good, cheap cookies that only the locals know about. Don't worry secret cookie place, I'll come back!

Afterwards, we went to the Boardwalk and rode the Giant Dipper - a super old wooden roller coaster. The Boardwalk is featured in one of my favourite childhood movies - The Lost Boys.



I love the palm trees in California, it's so L Word!

This first week was all about setting up my computer, and getting up to speed on what kind of work I'll be doing this summer. Here's a nice shot of my office (with my welcome gift) and my office mate - fellow intern Armen.







A funny aside - I've been referring to this summer as "My Own Private Gattaca (such an under-appreciated film) and this is what's on a fellow co-worker's cubicle...


And then, as I've been going on about - there's the snacks. We are well provided for, there is often lunch brought in and the other night we had a Cinco de Mayo party with margueritas, beer, and of course we are also playing lots of Mario Kart on the Wii (not pictured). I'm going to be pretty good at MK by the time I come home. I love that it's very similar to the Super Nintendo version that we used to play oh, about 15 years ago! Crazy.



Finally, saving the best for last - if you've gotten this far you are in for a little treat. There is a couple staying at the Oakwood Apartments where we live and they are moving here from Spain to work for Stanford. It just so happens that my pal Armen is from Spain and he befriended them and introduced me. They're very nice folks and in their apartment they have the cutest cat I have ever seen. This cat is a little shy and wasn't too good at posing for pictures so his owner broke out the catsnacks - watch the video:


I want a smooshy faced cat!

/Dispatch

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Friday, February 01, 2008

Moz Dev Demo - 0.5 Release of Source Server for Windows Builds

This is a video demo of the status of my current bugfixing on the bug I filed regarding the adding of Source Server to windows debugging of mozilla code.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Happy Halloween

Hi people who still check in on my blog. You're probably sick of me appologizing for not posting video as regularly as I used to. I can see that some people have gone off to other things - the subscriptions to this site have taken a drastic plunge from 70 to 39. I'm hoping to get back in the habit of posting regularly. Honestly, one thing that will help make this happen is a MacBook. I've recently applied for a scholarship that, if I am awarded it, will allow me to purchase a MacBook and become more portable with my video stuff. I'm sure if I had time I could do what I like to do on this brick of a pc laptop but I just don't have the time to invest in learning new editing software. So cross your fingers for me that I get this award and thus, a MacBook which I will immediately load up with FCP and get to work.

Thanks for the good thoughts peeps.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Hound Dog Serenade

I could go into a list of excuses for why I've fallen off the vlogging wagon - or I could just post something... When you've been writing code and trying to figure out IIS servers for way too many hours, it's nice to take a break. My lady love made oatmeal cookies, I helped for a bit and then decided to serenade her, Hopey helped.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Catch-Up Vlog


Saturday, July 14, 2007

Oh man...since May!

Wow - people, if you still watch this blog, I am so sorry to have lapsed for so long in posting. Soon, I promise - there will be more vlogs and posts. Short update - my lady and I moved in together on July 1st and we are still surrounded by boxes and lacking in internet. I should be up and running by the 20th.

Can't wait to get back to the vlogging.

Lukas

Monday, May 28, 2007

A Cowtown Minute #1

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Indigo Girls Butch Drag to introduce Lesbians on Ecstasy - Toronto

Lex Vaughn does an excellent 70's butch/hippy drag act to warm up the crowd at Lee's Palace in Toronto for the Lesbians on Ecstasy CD launch. I HIGHLY recommend this album:

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