Calgary

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Sunset on the 1st of January 2010

Apologies for the lack of updates. The main reason for this is because my trusty MacBook Pro stopped working two Mondays ago, just as I was leaving Holland for Canada. It turns out that it had a faulty logic board which had to be replaced. Luckily (yes, I’m going to pretend that all this was lucky) it is a known issue with MacBook Pro logic boards, so I didn’t have to pay anything for repairs. I was, however, without a computer for about ten days, which is an eternity for someone like me. I didn’t have a choice; the screen wasn’t working. There’s not much you can do with a computer lacking a working screen.

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a cunningly-disguised cockroach spy tries to sneak past my plane, but I was able to identify it...

In the meantime, aside from reading books, I “raced” in the Canada Cup #1. I use the term in inverted commas because, owing to some atrocious delays in my transit between Holland and Canada, I didn’t arrive in Calgary until two days before the competition. The time difference is eight hours, and the altitude difference is about a thousand meters. Sitting around in airports for two days wasn’t exactly doing my back any favors, so I wasn’t in the best possible shape I could have been when it came time to race. So at the end of three days of competition, I had an injured back, and could hardly walk.

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not bad for a hand-held 1-second exposure...

All was not lost however, for one, I finally got my computer back and was able to look at photos I had taken a week previously, including a few not-great attempts at photographing Aurora Borealis from the plane (the air route between Amsterdam and Calgary flies over the arctic). I also managed to obtain for myself a new video camera with which I hope to make an award-winning documentary about the birth of our Australian long track speed skating team. The camera itself is a JVC GY-HM100U which will mean nothing to you unless you keep track of HD video camera technology. The proof though, as they say, is in the pudding, and I took it upon myself to film what races I could of the Canada Cup and edit the material together for your viewing pleasure.

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It is quite small, but produces video quality to match much larger (and more expensive) cameras

And the video itself… I need a bit of practice with shooting videos of skating.

If you have a fast internet connection, you can download and watch the original file in 1080p HD here ^[5] (warning: it is a 967.5 megabyte mov file, and you need the XDCAM EX codec to play it – you should check if you have it – most people don’t have it).

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Related Articles:

1. Weekend Update ^[7]
2. World Cup Rant ^[8]
3. Introducing… ^[9]
4. Speed Skating Daily: Team Pursuit Preliminaries ^[10]
5. Pep Talk ^[11]