Two trains and just a short stretch of track between Granville Island and Cambie Bridge along False Creek, this is only an experiment in mass transit that will only run just before and during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Meaning, if this works well and people take to it, perhaps the city will look into expanding streetcar service across the city.
It works in Toronto and certainly works in Europe, and I have to say that I like the concept so far. As to if this is the end all answer of all the transit problems in Vancouver, I don’t think so. Still, right step in an excellent direction. Continue reading “Vancouver’s streetcar experiment: The Olympic Line”
Rebecca made a post the other day asking this question, and this past week has been littered with fleeting thoughts of, “holy crap, the games are actually here.”
I decided to walk home after work the other night, and all of the telltale signs are here. Tents, banners, decorations, etc.
For myself, it’s always been a goal in the back of my head to witness some form of Olympics games in someway. Moving to Vancouver in 2005, I knew my chance was going to be pretty good to get into the mix, but it’s actually here.
2010 is this year. We’ve been waiting for the date to read that way for what seems like forever, and now it’s actually upon us.
BC Place is still being kept under a shroud of mystery, and I still hope they blow the lid off that place during the opening ceremonies, someway and somehow.
This still doesn’t answer the question of where I will be once February 12th rolls around. The truth of the matter is that I love the Olympic games, and I always have. For as long as I can remember, I would stay up as late as I could to watch the coverage, no matter what the event.
I can remember L.A., Lillehammer, Albertville, Nagano, Soeul, Calgary, Atlanta, Sydney, Barcelona, Torino, Beijing, and Athens, and that’s all off the top of my head, no Google searches or Wikipedia trolling.
I haven’t forgotten about the politics on the local and worldwide scale. They are always there, and I can’t forget about the issues of homelessness in Vancouver nor the hefty price tag that has come with these games. Nothing I can say in a blog post could answer all of those problems, but I will be watching closely once everything is done to make sure those promises by VANOC are held accountable.
That being said, my hope and dream is to absorb the atmosphere that the games will bring upon Vancouver. I’m not sure where that might lead me, but we’ll ride the wave and end up where we end up. Be it total chaos to amazing opportunities, people, and new friends, I’ve been enlightened with stories by others who have been to games past. It prepares you as much as opens up avenues to all sorts of other questions.
I don’t know what to expect. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing nor when I’ll be doing it. It’s the surprise that I think I’m looking forward to the most. Never say never, let whatever happens happen, and hang on for the ride.
I’ll have my camera wherever I go, and the laptop won’t be far behind. Photos, video, audio, and blog posts doing their best to share what I see and do in the craziness that is downtown Vancouver, home of the 2010 winter games.
I’ve spent a number of family outings at this place, but never have I been to the Field of Dreams during the winter time, especially in the middle of one of the coldest cold snaps that the Midwest has seen in a number of years.
I shot this from the backseat of the car. My finger tips still got numb from the mere minutes it took to take this picture.
My last time here was the July 4th holiday of 2005. My family spent the day there in the summer heat, getting in to take our turns at the plate, playing catch in the outfield, and having a little picnic under the trees, just near the picket fence of the house that is still there. Being there in the depths of this Iowa cold spell makes it seem even more of a distant memory.
It’s certainly worth the trek to see this landmark in the summer. Nothing compares to the imagery you get with the corn in the outfield and visitors all over the place just taking it in.
Rebecca and I are back in Iowa for the New Year celebration with my family. Even though it’s cold outside, and I mean really cold, we braved the elements to take a venture around the countryside to see what we could find and do a little photowalking.
Here are a handful of my favorite shots from the trip, all shot with my 18-105mm lens.
The bridge in the above photo was built around the turn of the 20th century, and I’ve wanted to get some photos of it for a long time. It was so cold that I wasn’t overly happy with how a lot of them turned out, and you can see evidence of this in the photo below that Rebecca took of my while I was probably taking this exact photo above.
As cold as it was and as thick as my gloves were, it didn’t lend to a lot of time to mess around with any settings on my Nikon D90. In time, I hope to understand my camera more so I can plan ahead a little more. The -20F wind chills were just not the most ideal conditions to take the time to make such adjustments.
As my endeavours into the DSLR world continues to grow, my first push into having multiple lenses for my Nikon D90 grew over Christmas when Rebecca got me a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8d. It’s certainly an adjustment to have this in my arsenal, and I’m doing my best to get a good feel for it, even if it means being annoying to anyone within a shutter click.
Hope everyone had a great holiday season! I know I did. 🙂
While being held up on the couch yesterday afternoon with some sinuses getting the best of me, I got a quick message on Flickr requesting my permission to use one of my photos on Wikipedia. When I discovered that it was for Vancouver Canucks legend Kirk McLean, I was glad to fire back a quick response and say hell yeah!
Here’s the original shot of McLean as Rebecca is handing him her copy of that day’s Vancouver Sun to autograph, adding to our collection of papers from previous years.
This is actually the second photo I’ve been asked my permission to use on Wikipedia. While it’s not being used as the primary photo for the entry, this photo is also being used on the entry for the current mayor of Surrey, B.C., Diane Watts.
There is a high probability that what’s contained in this post will be conceived as another old media versus new media argument over who’s better than who or which one will die out first. That’s not my intention, even if does point out a newspaper’s website presence.
Basically, it boils down to this; I want information on what’s going on in the small town of where I grew up in Iowa. My only option? The local newspaper that has been operating their print publication since 1879.
What’s the point of online presence if you don’t do it well?
The newspaper in question does have a website, but it’s highly outdated in terms of how it is constructed and updated. In fact, the basic foundation is something I helped to create in the mid-90’s when my parents owned and operated a website business during that time, giving me my first, professional gigs that have transformed into the sixty4media projects of today. Continue reading “Small town newspapers can have a great web presence”
This past week, Rebecca and Keira teamed up on some baking of all sorts of Christmas goodies. I got to enjoy the fruits of their labour all the while having my camera in tow. Continue reading “Christmas baking”
As hoped, I got to head to Punta Cana with the radio day job as a sequel to the very short trip that Rebecca and I had there in July of this year. This one was for a week, and it wasn’t as much relaxation as I had hoped but still provided some great, warm weather and tropical sun.
I just got through all of my photos this past weekend, so here’s a small collection of my favorites from the trip.
Where I grew up, Remembrance Day, or Veteran’s Day, wasn’t as observed as much as it might be now. Maybe that’s due to being a little older and wiser to what’s going on around me, but for the most part, today was just another day. We still went to school for the whole day while the banks were closed and the mail wouldn’t show up until the next business day.
Before even moving to Canada, there was always a small part of me that had to think about all of my family who served in the military. My grandfather, great uncle, great uncle, uncle, cousin, cousin, cousin, cousin, and brother. That’s just off the top of my head, but needless to say, there is a rich history of my family serving in the military, past and present.
All politics aside, this is why I often hold the belief that no matter what conflict is waged in the world, I hold nothing but the highest respect and support for those who risk their lives to protect the freedoms that so many of us probably take for granted. Their courage is commendable, and the sacrifices are vast.
It’s important to remember those who have given up everything in the past to help build a future that is our present. No one should take that for granted.
