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Who Am I?
Hi there and thanks for visiting my website.
My name is Chris Skipper
I live in Vancouver and work full time as a Facilities Manager at UBC's
Point Grey CampusUniversity of British Columbia.
I am married, with four adult sons and daughters.
We live in a house and garden that is 60 years old, and has a list of
repairs and renovations that seem to grow longer as the years progress.
Let me tell you about my hobbies
My Hobbies
I find that my hobbies and interests take my mind off work and make me
feel relaxed or invigorated depending on which one I am doing at the time.
Let me tell you about some of them.
I have never been an athletic person and only occasionaly will I be
found watching the latest soccer or ice hockey game. A couple of years
ago one of my colleagues had a stroke, which was a wake up call for me
and the rest of my colleagues. I must admit that I had often put on needless
pounds through my life style choices. Too much food and not enough exercise.
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Boot Camp
- We all decided to take part in a boot camp which was conducted by
Bodies@Work. They conduct on-site
group fitness classes to employees at their workplace.
- The bootcamp was 3 days a week for six weeks. After the first week
I realized I wasn't going to die even though my body wanted to disagree
with me.
- The bootcamp covered a number of fitness areas including running,
yoga, and weight training. Running though, is my favourite.
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Running
- We run three times a week. We meet at 6:00 am and we started running
5km on Mondays, 7 km on Wednesdays and 10km on Fridays. Our routes have
changed since we first started and now we generally run 11km on Mondays,
6 km on Wednesdays followed by strength and cardio exercises. The running
routes are not just on the flat and I often think, as I am running down
the hill to Locarno beach, that I am going to have to run up it too.
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Strengthening exercises
- I learned in bootcamp that running, on it's own, is not adequate for
balanced health. It is important to strengthen all the other parts of
your body and take note of the food that you are eating too. Fancy gym
machines are not necessary either, though they are useful if you want
to bulk up with more muscle. There are exercises you can do using dumbells,
and bands, as well as using gravity and your own body weight.
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Doesn't everybody enjoy music, whether it is through listening to their
favourite band or singer, or if it is through playing an instrument themselves,
or even singing nursery rhymes to their children
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Whistling
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I have always enjoyed music in its many varied
forms. As a child I always marvelled at my dad's whistling. If dad
wanted your attention at the fairground you could hear him easily
above the noise of the hurdy gurdy. Sometimes he wold be whistling
the songs of the day, but he would be at his best when he was imitating
the birds that he loved so much. I never learned to whistle as loudly
or as beautifully as he, but you will often catch me whistling as
I walk down the road.
Choir
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I sing in a local choir, The Richhmond Orchestra
and Chorus. We perform a variety of music throughout the season: from
the beauty of the classics, through seasonal traditions and the uplifting
passion of sacred and spiritual, to the delights of folk, jazz, modern
and show tunes. Our members range in age from high school students
to seniors, come from all walks of life, and welcome the opportunity
to share their love of music with a wider audience.
Karaoke
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My secret musical passion (please don't laugh),
is on-line karaoke. As it is online you don't have to worry about
getting anything thrown at you if you are singing off key. You can
listen and make comment to other singers recordings, and even join
them in a duet. You can listen to, and sing with, people from all
over the world.
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Hasn't photography changed so quickly? The technology of digital cameras
has made it easy for so many people to inexpensively take a keen interest
in this hobby. There was a day in the not so distant past that one would
have to wait several days to have your film processed. Often it would
only be to find that the photos you were so eagerly awaiting have been
overexposed, or perhaps you had left the lens cap on as you were taking
all those irreplaceble shots you took in the Rockies.
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Family snapshots
- This is where I had my first experience of photography. I was usually
the kid at the front making a funny face. There are not many photos
from my earlier years. I was 16 before I had my own camera. My big brother
gave me a Zorki 4, a Russian rangefinder camera. It was a great camera,
but my apprentice salary was not enough to let me take more than the
odd photo or two.
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Digital Cameras
- I have had lots of fun since buying my first digital camera, a Canon
A75. I have been amazed at how easy it is to take photos and modify
them as necessary. It is even possible to get rescue a shot from a badly
over or under exposed photograph. Even young children are being given
'toy' cameras that are as good as some of the earlier digital cameras
that were produced.
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Panoramas and other fun things.
- I must admit that I always enjoy playing around with my photos and
computers have made it so easy to do Being able to take several photos
and stich them together almost automatically has always amazed me. I
had often thought, in my pre digital days, that taking a photo of some
vistas or scenes would have been a waste of time. I couldn't possibly
capture the whole scene in one shot. Now I can show a better representation
of what I have seen by printing out a panorama. I can even show a quick
time tour of a room or scene on my computer screen.
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