Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

I want to buy a house

It is deffinetly something I am working towards but one of the reasons I really want to buy a house is so I can make it as energy efficient and self-sustaining as possible.

For example a NEST thermostat. Read more about them at NEST.com

I am an idiot, I bought an iPhone 5

Yes one week from getting Apple’s new iPhone 5 and I’m feeling like an idiot, so before you go ahead and call me an Apple Fan Boy or some variation and tell me I wasted my money, I know. I get it. As my co-worker James would say “derp de deep derp”

I also forget how much klout I have sometimes and forget that one comment about one thing can cause a reaction from many people. This tweet of course was about my iPhone 5’s battery life but I have other complaints too. So here they are in raw anger.

We’ll start off the battery life or the lack there of with the iPhone 5. It is pretty pathetic because I can barely get through a day. I’m not a heavy iPhone user, I sit at a desk for most of the day with email, Facebook and twitter open on my computer so I really have no need for my iPhone. However by the time live after 8 hours it is at about half battery life. Uh… don’t know where that went. 

I got up, unplugged the phone to go to work, left phone sitting on desk = 50% Battery Life.

Then there is the 7 hours after that where I am moving around. I may check my emails, tweet and Facebook but nothing that should kill the battery any more than normal. So by the time 9-10pm rolls around I’m at 10% – I’M IN THE RED

Iphone5poop

Okay fine, maybe it is the LTE network… and the fact that the iPhone keeps jumping from 3G to LTE… and the fact this is Apple first LTE phone and they don’t have there shit together but still. How can a phone not be able to last a day on moderate use.

Looking back at my iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, which I still have. My 4 lasts a day with normal use still, after being in snow and water for 4 month and my 4S which lasts a good day and a half with the use I described above.

My only other issue right at the current moment is the change in cable port. Not that Apple changed it but more that Apple dropped the ball on getting suppliers more cable adaptors and cables. With crappy battery life I like to have chargers near by, I have one at work, in my jeep, in my office and bedroom, but can’t because I can’t get them yet.

Grumble Grumble. Yes I’m whining about a $600 product that I didn’t even want to by and don’t even think is all that great.

Oh but I have no issue with Apple Maps… they work fine. 

Wood Cutting outside of Yellowknife

I think I have said it before but the heat of a wood stove is my favourite type of heating in the cold winter nights but to be able to do that you have to get the wood somewhere.

My Dad and I went out past Behchoko, NWT yesterday morning to the spot he often frequents. I was testing out a new little trailer I got and we managed over a cord of wood in it. Driving into the bush to accomplish something is for more enjoyable to me that just going for a hike nowadays. The idea of driving through a forest of dead standing trees and cutting your way through is pretty exciting.

Wood Cutting Excursion

Wood Cutting Excursion

Wood Cutting Excursion

Wood Cutting Excursion Wood Cutting Excursion

Now is the part where I get a little nostalgic. Since coming back to Yellowknife in January 2012 my relationship with my dad has grown to one I’m truly happy with. I now have my own life, house, vehicle, career, so that aside him and I can be friends and I can’t ask for anything better.

I admire this man. He is a machine. For a guy who has had two open heart surgeries, half a dozen seizure in the last decade and broken his neck, he still keeps going. I’m proud he is my dad, despite his quarks.

Wood Cutting Excursion

Wood Cutting Excursion

Wood Cutting Excursion

The funny part about this excursion was that it took us 3 hours to drive out to this spot and back but only an hour and a half to actually lay down, length and load the cord of wood. If we go out

Click the image to see full Panorama
Click the image to see full Panorama

Facebook users LIKE photos

These images below are from two completely different Facebook Ads for different Facebook Pages. While they have different reach there is a similarity that can not be missed. Everyone who has interacted with the ad has also gone through the photos on said page.

People love photos. More to the point, people like connecting with a visual element. Why do you think memes are so funny. They are pictures with captions. 

Screen Shot 2012 08 30 at 9 45 32 PMScreen Shot 2012 08 30 at 9 45 27 PM

So if you are a manager of a Facebook page, put the effort into posting more photos. Even if you are still sharing a link. Your post with a photo is going to get more reach than just the link by itself. 

Try it and you’ll see what I mean. (Mashable does a really good job at it and I’ve started to do it with YkOnline.ca)

My new Nikon 24-70mm Lens doesn’t make me a better Photographer

I have been wanting this Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens for a long time. It is supposed to be one of the best for portrait and event photography. Well, I finally got it today after ordering it through my local camera shop. 

DSC 0262

Earlier in the day though I was looking through photographers in the NWT for Tourism purposes and I came across Benjamin Lamarche’s Flickr Stream. I met this guy at a photography workshop back in March. While looking through his photos I can just tell this kid has talent. You see he is still in high school and probably can’t afford the nicer lenses but his photos are still coming out 10x better than mine.

It proves the point that the gear doesn’t make the photographer, being creative ultimately does. Sure you can learn a lot of stuff from books and courses but I firmly believe it is the natural talent within someone that makes them a great photographer. I am not one of those people.

But I like to pretend.