Many old buildings in Asheville were vacant for some time, but a large presence of artisans has generated enough interest to restore and maintain many of them. This particular building is notable for actually having curved glass on the corner.

Another part of Asheville’s active downtown.

My uncle and I rented a boat on a nearby lake.

Many people enjoy the lake. The homes on the lake have boat houses with doors that look like garage doors that open to the water.

Many mountain tops at different distances are visible from Asheville.

For a few more photos, please check out my gallery.

One of the sights to see in this city is CNN. The tour was a bit short, but did include live viewing of news anchors while on the air, as well as reporters collecting news from various sources.

I also saw the World of Coca Cola, and got plenty of souvenirs! The highlight of this tour was the tasting of dozens of Coca-Cola products from around the world. Some are quite delicious, particularly the foreign Fanta flavours.

This lion at the Atlanta Zoo seems quite relaxed, almost as if posing for my photo!

Atlanta has the beautiful Botanical Gardens with lots of great sights to see inside and out. This photo here almost seems like it could be a musical instrument of some sort.

Atlanta is also known for Martin Luther King Jr. There’s a national park set up in his honour across the street from the church where he preached.

I have many more photos from Atlanta in my gallery!

The scenery was beautiful with large rock faces and trees in the valleys, seemingly clinging to nothing on the rock.

Even though we weren’t super high up in the sky, clean white snow was still around in patches. Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold as most of Alberta was pretty much into its summer by the end of July.

About 3/4 of the way, there was a lake with more mountains away in the distance.

The view from the top!

A clear trail marks the best way through the mountains on this long, but beautiful hike.

Near the beginning of the trail, a stream runs though. There were actually several streams. After over 6 hours of hiking, we were anxious to find the parking lot again on the way back, but this is what we kept seeing instead!

After the hike, we had dinner in Canmore before returning to Calgary. I look forward to more hikes again next year after Calgary’s 9-month winter is done for another year again!

A news reporter caught up with me as I was watching video tributes to Steve. You can see me in the video clip below.

Below are a few videos that I would like to share for their inspiration.

“Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world… are the ones that do.”

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, tearfully remembers Steve Jobs.

Goodbye Steve.

A few seconds followed by a walk across a stage caps off over two years of research and hard work.

One highlight of my time in academia the media exposure received by my emotional robot control project, leading to dozens of blog posts and articles around the world, and a live television interview on Breakfast Television Calgary.

I’d finally like to also share some photos from an iLab party shortly after my defence in January.

My time in the Interactions Labs broadened my interests and changed my view of the world more than I imagined it could have. So much has changed in my life since I flew into Alberta for the first for a tour of the university in April 2008. I am grateful for the experience.

You can view a few more photos of my convocation in my gallery.

Until you are near the town, it seems like a normal highway. Then, the badlands appear, and you’re there.

This is the view of Drumheller from inside the world’s largest dinosaur.

The dinosaur bones are quite fascinating to see in person at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. It’s hard to tell from this photo, but this display was quite large. I was only as tall as the legs, if that.

This display showed a neat little bird.

Another one of Drumheller’s attractions is Little Church. It is designated as an actual place of worship that seats six at a time. At one time, it had stained glass windows and a brass bell according to the town web site.

Check out my gallery for more photos of Drumheller.

This post is my first in a series. I haven’t had much time to update my blog yet this year, but I plan to do this more frequently since I now have quite a growing backlog of photos to go through!

Our first trip outside to Calgary was of course to Banff and Lake Louise. This beautiful vista is a popular photo spot on the way to Banff.

My parents.

Beautiful downtown Banff boasts an impressive mountain backdrop.

My mom and my uncle.

The Banff Springs Hotel.

Me with my family in front of Lake Louise. There is still some ice covering the lake, but most of it is gone.

Me and my uncle.

A bird was seemingly quite eager to pose for photos. What else can you do besides relax beside Lake Louise?

View more photos in the gallery. Check back soon for more summer blog updates.

Our neighbour’s driveway is completely covered, as is their concrete wall out front. Their basement was refinished this past summer, and is almost entirely under water.

Another neighbour across the cove has water going above the living room window sill. The sun deck on the side is floating.

Other neighbours are also flooded. Like the previous, this sun deck is also floating. The contents of this cottage’s basement will likely be trash.

The front yard of my family’s cottage. Our boat house, where we store things for the winter, is half under water. Our biggest worry was that this building was going to fall off of its supports. Thankfully, this did not happen. The water is so high that you would be over your head in water if you stood where we usually sit in frotn of the water. The water line is usually several feet in front of the trees.

Water gushes with great force over the dam in St. George.

Another view of the same dam from the more picturesque side.

A few days later, the water has calmed down a bit, but mist has frozen over all of the trees. Beautiful!

View the full gallery: Charlotte County Flooding 2010

The kitchen is all ready for Christmas.

Me and my sister

My sister and my grandmother

My parents.

View the full gallery: Family Christmas 2010

Leaves have fallen quickly. On this tree, only one remains in this area.

A bright white flower beams against a darker background.

An up-close view of a public art piece. These are actually colourful marbles that form an image when viewed from a normal distance.

I took many shots of this “threshing machine”, though its name plate appealed to me the most!

Another view of the threshing machine. Black and white suits this view best, I think! I didn’t notice it at the time, but a spider web is visible inside the chain!

That’s all for now. Thank you for visiting my blog! Please leave a comment! =)