Disqus - Latest Comments for ehrenc

Re: Kumano Kodo Day 4 & 5: Koguchi to Nachi-san

Ehren Cheung — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 06:58:42 -0000

Hey Jeremy! Thanks for dropping by and I'm happy to hear you enjoyed my post. You are right that the maps aren't very detailed and in fact -- even with directions, I got lost a number of times on the way.

To answer your questions:
1. Hosshinmon-oji isn't really off the trail. At least I didn't think it was because I was just following the signage. It literally is on the side of the road that I would cross after hiking up a steep hill. Afterwards, the trail actually takes you down the road.

2. I did have a GPS but I wasn't relying on it because I didn't have a map file at the time. I was purely tracking my own movements. So it may not actually be very helpful because I was walking all over the place. I've dropped a file via dropbox here in case you want to check it out:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3...

3. I should probably correct myself. When I say the longest route -- I was just referring to the fact that if I had more time, I wouldn't have to take the taxi to jump from the village of Yunomine Onsen to Koguchi that morning. :) So yes in some sense you are right, I am referring to the trail coming down from the north where I left off on Day 3 at Yunomine Onsen.

I hope this helps! Have an awesome time Jeremy :)

Re: Bruce Trail Part 34 - Woodford to Irish Block Road

Ehren Cheung — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 14:56:30 -0000

Thanks for dropping by Barry and for the heads up on the trail closure beyond Irish Block Road! We didn't have the most up-to-date maps. My friend was using a combination of the mobile app and his old map set so we just happened to stumble upon the trail closure when we were hiking that day.

It's really unfortunate that there are more landowner permissions are being withdrawn. That section right after crossing the ditch is rather quite pretty. Passing through some of these private lands is such a great privilege -- there is always something special to see.

Re: Bruce Trail Part 1 – Queenston Heights to Woodends

Ehren Cheung — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 12:52:28 -0000

Hi -- thanks for dropping by! We're actually in a fortunate situation where we use two cars so we are able to cover a lot more distance than quite a few other folks I'm aware of who are also hiking the Bruce Trail. Some folks turn around and hike all the way back, others hike on the road back to their car.

As an alternative to using two cars -- what you might want to consider is a bicycle. My friends and I have given it some thought and discussed it at some point. You can lock a bike to a nearby tree or metal post (if one is available) that your finish point is located -- then drive to your starting point. Then you can unlock your bike and cycle on the road to your car afterwards. Good luck and enjoy!

Re: Kumano Kodo Day 4 & 5: Koguchi to Nachi-san

Ehren Cheung — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:15:57 -0000

Hi Angela -- thanks for your kind words. I'm happy to hear you enjoy what I've documented and it is exciting to hear that you'll be hiking the Kumano Kodo this spring too! I imagine it should not be as much of a struggle for you as it was for me because summer is a pretty brutal time of year to go. I did start around 8:30am from Koguchi and ended up at Nachi a little after 2pm. The initial section is really the toughest because it is just a lot of stairs to climb :) Bon voyage and enjoy!

Re: Transitioning to an EveryTrail Alternative

Ehren Cheung — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 16:34:54 -0000

Thanks for pointing this out Karol, and for dropping by! This looks like a pretty awesome alternative -- quite comprehensive but can it be embedded on to other sites? I haven't figured a way to as of yet.

Re: Highlights from a westbound Journey to Wyoming

Ehren Cheung — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 07:08:54 -0000

Thanks Mel! The trip did provide some perspective and I thought I had figured out the next steps ... only everything changed again when I got back. Go figure :) The ice cream and pie was definitely uplifting ... wish they were closer to Toronto!

Re: Long Weekend at Bon Echo’s Abes and Essens Trail

Ehren Cheung — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 10:55:53 -0000

Thanks for dropping by! My friends and I did that part in about 1.5 to 2 hours. It was really hot and humid that day -- my friends and I were really gunning it to the lake!

Re: Time Well Wasted Out in the Snow

Ehren Cheung — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:40:19 -0000

Thanks Peter -- much appreciate you dropping by!

Re: Invitations to TEDxToronto 2012 are underway!

Ehren Cheung — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:20:02 -0000

I too have been experiencing the Paypal problem -- I guess we'll have to wait for a solution and announcement.

Re: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 Digital Camera First Impressions

Ehren Cheung — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:01:53 -0000

Funny that I just recovered from the flu as well and noticed this post. The LX3 is an excellent camera (and I see you've taken some great photos with it), I had gotten it for myself a while back because I got tired of lugging around the SLR although. Like yourself, the wide angle lens was what really pulled me in, that and the RAW files + sensor -- especially when dealing with sweeping landscapes.

The slightest minor gripe that I have with the camera is that it's macro isn't as good as other cameras but I figure that perhaps the wide angle was the trade-off. Same goes for the zoom.

Awesome Smugmug gallery btw! :)

Re: Hey Toronto, Want To Reduce Traffic? Invest In Telecommuting

Ehren Cheung — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:15:39 -0000

The problem with telecommuting continues to be the "trust" factor. It's funny how companies can't seem to overcome that hurdle. I honestly would love to telecommute, it'd save me so much money *cough* metropass *cough* ... and time.

On another note... to reduce traffic -- Toronto should just set up tolls on roads already like London, England. Forget increasing taxes or TTC fares, we have a transportation budget that has to take care of the roads, set up the tolls and have all the cars coming into Toronto help pay the costs -- then use some of that transportation budget to ramp up transit to make it more enticing for people to use.

Re: Sorry FriendFeed, But I Agree With Robert Scoble

Ehren Cheung — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:08:30 -0000

Shey this is a great write up. My tardiness aside in responding (I know... busyness), I think the amount of affirmation on friendfeed is relatively high but it's low by comparison to twitter. My involvement on twitter has unfortunately very gradually declined because of the repetition and constant affirmation. It doesn't only apply to tech posts, this problem applies to every topic ranging from ebooks to creativity -- it's a massive cultivation of groupthink. Maybe I've become philosophical or too introspective (not to take from your blog's name) ...

Very few ideas are challenged seriously, fewer are built upon into something larger, and even fewer controversial ideas are discussed. I'm not attempting to be negative but it's as if everyone is adverse to discourse. Some may say that twitter isn't the proper forum for it and that may be true but if people aren't even willing to respond with a few words to disagree, it illustrates to me (at least) that the probability of them responding in a lengthier context is relatively low. That said, twitter, friendfeed, and Facebook tends to be large platforms for people to output or regurgitate content.

If we talk about diversity of opinions and ideas, then both twitter and friendfeed (or any of these social media tools) ultimately fail because despite its growth only a select demographic and market will utilize these tools. I know I may regret saying this at some point but currently, the most diverse group of opinions I've observed so far tends to be on newspaper websites -- Globe and Mail for example.

I should stop now ... :)

Re: High Peaks and North Wilderness Loop – Pinnacles National Monument

Ehren Cheung — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:14:59 -0000

Wow. Thank you for sharing this. The trail looks beautiful and those High Peaks steps look like a lot of fun :)

Re: [Sponsor] Friday Freebies: 5 E-book Copies of Beginning Python Visualization

Ehren Cheung — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:58:24 -0000

Nathan, this book would be helpful because I've had trouble visualizing pythons lately -- seems this would be a good way to begin. ;)

But in all honesty, I'd just really like to tinker around with something new in the realm of online media.

Re: Lava Beds National Monument Easter Getaway

Ehren Cheung — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:50:47 -0000

Wow! The Lava Beds are amazing. I had visited a couple of years ago but I never had a chance to go into the caves. I did, just a very small one.

I did hear from a couple of people that there could be snakes in the caves -- is that true? Thanks for sharing the amazing photos :)

Re: Are We Having the Wrong Conversation About EBook Pricing?

Ehren Cheung — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:57:19 -0000

I'd agree with Robert to some degree that books (not just e-books) will become multimedia experiences. I'm thinking future, not just what we can do with present technology. Books are e-Books and e-Books are books ... the problem is we're still stuck with the belief that there has to be a defined idea of a book.

I also believe the ebook pricing discussion is old and done with already. Pricing will be decided by the consumer. What content creators / publishers have is a level of influence over what to create and how it is done. Content in my opinion is no longer created from one author -- so the idea of an author and a book is dated, so is the idea of royalties and "rights". Leave that behind or set it aside for another day to ponder about and start thinking about a book that is more inclusive of different contributors -- something that is more organic that can grow and evolve as contributors step in and out the door.

You mentioned television shows ... that's really to some degree what really happens, contributors step in and out. The difference however is that television shows are migrating to online video content where users have direct input. Books however can evolve on a similar level via fan fiction. The author / creator is a person who initiates or follows-up on a conversation -- maybe igniting an idea but really the book, the story, whatever it may be or wherever it may take us -- is constantly influenced by the audience (who may or may not be potential contributors). Just a few thoughts ... I don't want to write an essay :) Important thing to keep in mind is that books themselves can be something that contains a two way street (or more) ... not simply content2reader.

Re: Shey’s MonthCap – 09/08

Ehren Cheung — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:27:12 -0000

Thanks for the link Shey! I've been wondering where you've gone to lately. I hope all those projects are fun ones! Otherwise ... bleh ...

You dropping by Wordcamp this weekend? :)

Re: Big Changes (It’s Not You, It’s Me)

Ehren Cheung — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:12:28 -0000

Best of luck with the changeover. It's tough leaving behind a system that you're accustomed to and enjoy using for the most part.

Good thing is that we all will get to see more of the amazing photographs you take from your great hikes :)

Re: 23 Personal Tools to Learn More About Yourself

Ehren Cheung — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:58:09 -0000

Thanks for the great round-up Nathan :) Now all we really need some aggregator to come along and put all this data together so that we can mash it up and see what interesting things we can find out about ourselves.

Re: Blog Day 2008: 5 Blogs I Read and You Should Too

Ehren Cheung — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:49:24 -0000

Thanks pointing out my blog Shey! As always, I do appreciate it :) Unfortunately, I missed out on Blog Day! :( Got to wait till 2009 now ... orr maybe not ... I could unilaterally declare one day MY Blog day? Thoughts? ;)

Re: The Human Side of Project Management

Ehren Cheung — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:02:43 -0000

Great post Shey! Good timing too as I'm searching for a project management tool :) From my experience, it's always good to talk about ideas and to keep discussing ideas until we sort out what's good and what's not. I think it's also extremely important to be up front about any mistakes a project manager makes themselves -- and to take into consideration that as a project manager, your team isn't working for you but actually the other way around.

Re: 20 Obscure People You Can Follow on Twitter and FriendFeed and Not Get Bored

Ehren Cheung — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:08:48 -0000

I was wondering why there was a sudden influx of followers in my inbox today. I now know you're the one responsible :) Thanks for the mention Shey -- much obliged. Also thanks to Melanie for the kind words ... quite flattering. Cheers.

Re: Isn’t Web 2.0 About US Taking Control?

Ehren Cheung — Sun, 18 May 2008 10:20:34 -0000

The funny thing about twitter is that the recent developments over there with new faces coming in and old faces leaving shows that they are concerned about the outages. Whether they can fix them in a short enough period is a different issue. It's interesting to me though that over the past two weeks, my usage of twitter has gone down -- not because I don't want to use it -- but because I've been so busy. So much so that I have not noticed any outages. I have however experienced outages prior to the two weeks

I think for many people who respond to you in a rather laisez-faire or who cares-type manner just haven't experienced the outages enough in a way that seriously impacts the way they use the Internet and the tools of social media. At the same time -- I see no need to criticize those who want to push forward an improvement in service.

At the moment, I'm more so concerned about Canada's Net neutrality :(

Re: Top 3 Reasons Why Jamaicans Shouldn’t go Camping

Ehren Cheung — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:20:34 -0000

haha -- Now I know why my friends from Jamaica won't go camping with me! :)

Ehren Cheung's last blog post..Top 5 Spots on a Subway: A Glance at How We Sit and Stand

Re: Over Four Years of Turmoil is Soon Ending

Ehren Cheung — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:49:23 -0000

This was a great post Shey. Thank you for sharing your story. I think it's always good to read about another person's experience on any blog -- as I'm sure it relates to many people, myself included. I for example, started off in Bio-medical sciences and kept changing career paths!

Despite the fact that I think during my four years of university, I felt like I was going insane. Over the 4 years after I graduated I still regard my years in university quite fondly when I really changed and grew as a person and essentially -- had the opportunity move forward and define myself and my role -- whatever it is or will be in this world. I think you'll definitely look back fondly on this period of time because of all the changes in your life -- and all of your perseverance or persistence to push forward those changes.

Best of luck on your final! You'll be stepping into the next stage in life :) For most people, I usually just refer to it as paying off debts.

Ehren Cheung's last blog post..How to Not Advertise To Humans