from the "seventh inning stretch" dept.

It's been a busy week... and a busy morning. I am heading out of town, so it's going to have to be point form blogging:

- I worked the past 7 days straight in the ol' newsroom. The money is nice, but it certainly is mentally exhausting. Thank God for the pool in the back yard.

- I've made contact with the city regarding the inconsiderate neighbour who owns Barky and Yappy. Last night things seemed quiet. I'm not sure if the city has said anything... but I am hoping.

- The "Christa Project," the documentary about buried Jewish valuables, is moving forward slowly. We have a verbal agreement regarding story rights -- the lynch pin of the project. A paper agreement should follow shortly.

- To that end, Randy and I are heading to Seattle this morning to a) work on both the development and main budget for the film. We're also taking in some baseball. We figure its too easy to get distracted here, and we could both use a baseball break. Summer will be over before you know it.

- I'm scheduled to work at CBC several days next week -- but it's looking like a labour dispute will put the kibosh on that. CBC has served the union with a 72-hour lockout notice... so I'm not holding my breath. The distruption could start Sunday at midnight, meaning I'll be off Monday through Wednesday. Which, while financially a drag, gives me time to enjoy the summer and work on other projects.

- Stock Photos and the podcast are on hold until the fall. It's been impossible to get the gang together.

- The boundary book with my Finnish pal Rolf Palmberg is moving along. We've got several chapters done. I have an article due on Albania for the Straight in early Sept. as well.

- Next weekend I am shooting candid shots of a family for real $. It will be an interesting experience and may lead to much more.

- And, as I said off the top, I'm off to Seattle this morning. The M's play the Angels at 1:05. We've got prime seats for today's game -- and tomorrow we'll do the bleachers. Looking forward to sitting in Safeco.

The camera will stay home, so there will be no pictures from Seattle... but I will get back to posting pictures of the day soon.

Until then...

Cheers!