Category: Lower Mainland

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Vancouver Podcast Meetup: Feb. 25, 2007 (follow-up)

When I first heard about a podcast meetup in Vancouver on the Canadian Podcast Buffet, I was pretty interested in checking it out. Then I found out that it was on our anniversary, so the assumption, on my part, was that we were going to miss it. Then Rebecca expressed interest in going, so we decided to venture on down, especially after Mark Blevis offered a free round to the two of us. That’s like dangling a carrot in front of the horse.

You can check out Mark’s pictures here, and Derek’s pictures here.

That’s right. Derek Miller has been recovering well enough from his surgery that he was able to make an appearance. Sadly, he was on pain killers and unable to enjoy in the gallon pitcher of joy, but it was great to have him there.

Mark Blevis' photo on Flickr
Photo credit: electricsky (Mark Blevis) on Flickr

It was a really great night. And let me start out by saying that TC Lions is a pretty good location for a meetup like that. And holy crap do they ever have some massive, and I mean massive, pitchers of beer. One gallon jugs, to be precise. That’s 8 pints to one pitcher. We had to send the second one back when Blevis realized exactly what he just ordered for the whole crew. (Side note: I asked if they show Canucks games there on the TV’s, so this might be another location for us to catch a game.)

We did end up having the house lights turn on to shoe us out of there, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone there was having a good time. I pray that my jaw wasn’t that loose to talk people’s ears off, especially when it comes to podcasting.

Now, to recall all of those that I met at this meet up is a daunting task. I know for sure that we met the guys from Foreskin Radio. A true treat, let me tell you, but the content is not for the weak.

Derek Miller's photo on Flickr
Photo credit: penmachine (Derek Miller) on Flickr

And then Jeff from Swimming Up Stream was there with his recording gear, and I think he caught some good liners that you might even hear my voice on his podcast, as long as it turned out alright. Jeff’s got some good, local music from Vancouver, so I give him a hearty thumbs up.

I pretty much monopolized my time with Dave from the Vancouver Weekly Underground Podcast. He’s more of the silent partner to the podcast, but they are doing some good things with their stuff. In fact, we met at the podcast meetup nearly a year ago that Tod Maffin setup. I always find it fascinating to discover more about the local music scene, and this implies the nitty-gritty realms of it. They seem to be on top of it pretty well.

I’ll make a quick mention of some folks who I met but didn’t get much of a chance to talk to at length, of which I apologize. Tiki Bar TV and Far From Subtle Television are some of those folks, but after seeing your stuff, I wish I had. Sean Carruthers from Lab Rats was there as well, and we talked briefly. It wasn’t till we were leaving that I realized who he was and what he’s involved with. Very cool.

Even though we had about 75% turn out from those who signed up(where were Tod Maffin and Kris Krug?), it turned out really well. I don’t think I babbled on too much, and Derek spilled pico de gallo all over my right shoe(cleaned up easily, no worries). All in all, a great time. We have to do this again soon, but let’s not wait for some guy from Ontario to spark another gathering, no offense to Mark Blevis at all. A pleasure meeting him, and he’s a really great guy. However, I think the podcasters of Vancouver should do this more often. (Did I just volunteer myself for something?)

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Ramping up to Northern Voice

Been a little crazy in the past 24 hours. We had our apartment inspected today, checking to make sure we’re not completely wrecking the place and everything isn’t falling apart in our home. I can say without fail, we passed without problem, thank you very much. Still, kinda forgot it was this afternoon. After cleaning up for their arrival this afternoon, I’ve been in a mad dash to figure out all the details for Northern Voice 2007.

Rebecca and I will hit the free food and free beer tonight at the Big Northern Voice Dinner kickoff event type thing. Should be a good time, but when you have all these things on your schedule for a couple weeks, you don’t think about times and locations. Well, not until this afternoon at least, not to mention the last hour or so.

My homemade map to Northern Voice at UBCI’m on my own tomorrow for MooseCamp, so tracking down my route by bus is one thing. Then there is that part where you have to walk from the bus, to the actual location of the event. Being that I’ve only been out to UBC two, maybe three times, I’ve got everything narrowed down. At least I think so. If you don’t believe me, check out the map I made for myself.

Rebecca will head out on Saturday for Northern Voice, but then we’ll have to adjust for the weekend schedule of public transit. And talking to Dave last night during The Crazy Canucks recording, I got the green light to heckle him.

Just looking forward to seeing some familiar people, meet some new ones, and feed my brain, not to mention sharing some thoughts about new media fun stuff. And as a quick side note, we have RSVP‘d for the podcast meetup on Sunday. Yes, let the geekend begin.

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Vancouver Podcast Meetup: Feb. 25, 2007

As a regular listener to the Canadian Podcast Buffet, I was excited to hear that Mark Blevis was coming out to Vancouver on a business trip and wanted to conduct a meetup with fellow podcasters. This will be happening at TC Lions Pub on February 25, 2007 at 8:00 PM, in downtown Vancouver. Mark asks that you RSVP for the event at Upcoming.org.

As I mentioned in my post about NorthernVoice, that is the same day as my first year anniversary, so I doubt I will be able to make it. We’ll probably be pretty sauced by then.

Update: Change of plans. We’re in.

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Banning cellphones and iPods while crossing the street

When I first heard this story about banning cellphones and iPods while crossing the street in New York, I thought that it made a little sense. It should be easy to walk and talk, and I think I hover on the intermediate level for this delicate skill. Take a stroll around downtown Vancouver and check out all the rookies tough. It’s mind boggling. Frogger anyone?

Then this happened today.

A 49-year-old Vancouver man is lucky to be alive after being struck by a bus in nearby Burnaby Monday night, while jaywalking and talking on his cellphone.

RCMP Cpl. Jane Baptista said the man was lucky to have suffered just minor injuries.

He was talking on his cellphone, and, after noticing a turning bus, decided to keep on walking, jaywalking, and putting the bus driver in an impossible situation, Baptista said.

It’s a familiar story for patrol officers, she said.

“They wear dark clothing, [they are] on their cellphones, [or have] iPods in their ears, and it’s completely dangerous for everyone involved.”

Baptista said police will be refocusing on Burnaby jaywalkers soon, and anyone caught can expect a fine. [cbc]

I know that while driving the long stretches of highway across Iowa, I can get so lost into listening to music or simply thinking that I’ll not have any recollection to the last ten miles that I just drove. When it’s two lane and the middle of the winter, you chalk it up to being in the zone, thankful that you didn’t hit any of those semis that regularly travel the same route, all of that while not talking on a cellphone. Pssh, makes these people look like amateurs.

When I’m on the phone, I can say that I take extra precautions to be aware as to what is going on around me while walking and talking. The same can be said for driving, but I go even further to avoid that situation. Does this make me better than the rest of you out there? Oh hell no. I don’t trust myself as much as I don’t trust other people out there to do what I do.

Still, I’m not for regulations being passed to prohibit me from enjoying some tunes while walking to work or something. I also cringe at the idea of runners being targeted because I have my headphones on as often as the weather permits. Just be smarter, people. Please don’t let your stupidity spoil it for the rest of us.

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Locked and loaded for NorthernVoice 2007

After some careful planning and budgeting, Rebecca and I have both signed ourselves up for NorthernVoice 2007. It should be a whirlwind of a weekend since the following Sunday is our one year anniversary. If that seems to be a geeky way to spend the first part of the weekend after being married for a year, then you’re probably right, and we like it that way.


Northern Voice is a two-day, non-profit personal blogging conference that’s being held at the UBC main campus on February 23-24, 2007.

This is the 3rd annual incarnation of this event, see the 2006 and 2005 websites for previous information.

Blogging, podcasting, social media, new media, web 2.0, and so on. Yes, there will be lots of ideas about all those things being tossed around, not to mention plenty of laptops on laps action.

We had a snafu in our planning, not realizing that Friday held quite the goings-on with the whole Moose Camp deal. In our heads, we thought that was taking place in the evening on Friday, so we opted to have Rebecca take the following Monday off in anticipation of our celebratory weekend. Looks like I’ll be checking things out for that Friday on my own, but she’ll make her way down for any activities later on that night. We’ll both be sneaking around on Saturday.

Looking forward to meeting more new people in the sphere of all things new media, plus catch a few neat sessions(view the schedule). Even Dave is leading a session on podcasting, so I’ve got to go heckle him check that out.

I’ll probably check in here during the event, and the recording gear always travels with me. It’s just a matter of not getting too into soaking up information to remember to grab some audio cuts. Have to see how things go. For me this is really good timing because the wonderful (I’m throwing that in there in case anyone at CIC is watching) Canadian government recently approved my PR application. I’ll be able to work in a matter of weeks now. 🙂

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Price of O.J. has gone up

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I like my orange juice in the morning, but this is getting a little hard to swallow. Normally, the price per can is a dollar less than what we’re seeing right now. Granted that this is the big name brand stuff that you can see above, but that’s still quite a bit. At the same time, Vancouver isn’t the cheapest place to live, so I tend to wonder if this is simple price inflation because they have the excuse to do it. Maybe a little bit of both.

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The Countdown to Vancouver 2010

I’m a little under the weather today. Woke up with some sort of headache, sinus thing. With my cup of chai green tea and laptop on the couch, I was going to watch this whole kickoff for the countdown to the start of the 2010 winter games here in Vancouver.

Now the thing that gets me about this is the little promo packages that CTV has been running for this. I get the hoopla and drummed up excitement for the games, but this “special television event” makes my skin crawl. People are gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery and somewhere in Whistler for the clock to officially start ticking.

Of course, Tamera Taggert[wiki], the weather girl for CTV, is hanging out up in Whistler. I would love to go into a nice rant about how much this “meteorologist” annoys me, but there isn’t much more that needs to be said than that. Truth is, she graduated from BCIT the same year and class as John Shorthouse[wiki], both with studies in broadcast journalism. That won’t change the fact that she is up there today to give 2010 weather predictions.

2010? Her weather forecasts are barely correct for the next three days, yet alone what she is going to predict for three years from now.

There are protesters at this event as well. Apparently, there are not against the games as much as they are there to use this events to raise awareness on the homeless problem here in Vancouver. You can hear some of the chants, and there is some dude that has strategically place himself in between the main podium and the camera focused in on that location. Both of his hands are sticking up in the air, but only the middle fingers are raised on each hand. Ah the beauty of live television.

I can’t say that I’m much of a fan of the thunder stix, but those 2010 scarves aren’t too bad. The countdown clock is apparently location near the fountain on the Georgia Street side, closer to the intersection with Hornby.

“Homes not games.” That’s what the protesters appear to be shouting.

1096 days to go. The clock itself is close to the fountain[googlemaps], and I can’t help but feel like it’ll be a target for those who take issue with the games coming to Vancouver. At the same time, that clock is intended to be permanent, sticking around till after the games are over. It’s not the ugliest thing in the world, but you’ll probably notice it without too much difficulty.

So there you go. More fluff to make you feel good about the games coming to Vancouver, but not too much to say about the progress of the preparations or construction of new venues. I probably don’t get close enough to Southeast False Creek that often to really say how the Olympic Village construction is going, but with mostly piles of dirt sitting around, one can’t feel too comfortable. Even at the eleventh hour, will everything be in place?

Oh I can’t post this without Taggart’s snow report from Whistler, which only lasted two minutes at the very end of this “special”. Her prediction? Well, uh, nothing really. Just that VANOC has installed a bunch of weather monitoring stations to measure snowfall here and there to study any patterns. They’ve also invested millions of dollars, around the tune of 15+, to prepare for the event of having no snow on the hills, and there is such things as too much snow. There is not a lot to say about predicting the weather because no matter how much or little there is, machines will take care of the snow. Hmm, wonder if they could do the same with Taggart?

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Casey bit my finger

IMG_0073 I’ve been in a few recording studios, but nothing to this extent. As Rebecca has mentioned, Matt‘s in the middle of recording another album. Actually, this part of the project is very near being done. At least that’s the mood right now, not that I know how he goes about this process. Every artist does their thing in their own way.

I was surprised to see the dogs when I came in. Walking in, Casey and Benji both started barking, but they calm down quick. I’m a sucker to play with Casey though. His chewed in half rubber ball keeps being set near my hand or in my lap. In previous situations, I was quick to toss it across the room. Not so easy to do here, so in a tug-of-war battle, my finger got in the way. No blood, just a good chomp.

He’s staring up at me from the floor right now. This blue piece of rubber keeps getting shoved deeper and deeper into my lap.

There’s a variety of computers and meters all around the room. I’m trying to sort out what everything does, but this is a realm that I’m less familiar with. Studio recording and live radio broadcasts are two completely different things. The array of monitors are impressive. It’s damn near a wall of sound.

IMG_0068 They’re trying to work out a particular guitar track right now. Record, playback, rehash, try something else, record, playback, and repeat until there is a consensus of “that’s it” in the room. You also hear “nope” a lot.

Matt’s been taking refuge in the corner of the sectional couch in the studio area. They’ve been putting a lot of hours into this process, meaning late nights. That spot is generally known as his, or at least that’s what he informed me while laying there with his eyes closed, Benji nestled on his chest.

It’s a fascinating process. There are some tracks that I’ve heard demos of, but I can’t tell if anything I have heard since being here are of the same. It will be a different experience to listen to this album once it’s done. I’ve met and known a lot of bands, but never been this close to the record making element.

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Prevented charity

I actually had this idea a few months ago, and it sparked quite the debate in the apartment with Rebecca. It seemed like it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month forever, and I think it might have been during an episode of CSI that inspired the thought.

The Breast Cancer Society of Canada has rejected the offer of thousands of dollars from a fundraising group of exotic dancers in Vancouver.

Exotic Dancers for Cancer holds an annual charity event in memory of a former dancer who lost her life to the disease.

Last year, the event raised $6,000.

However, former dancer Trina Ricketts said the society sent her an e-mail declining the money this year, because its major donors did not support a connection to exotic dancers. [cbc]

There is such a slippery slope and round-and-round argument going on here, but the bottom line is that there are some people who care about something so much but isn’t welcomed for their help. I also find it fascinating that an industry that thrives on the very thing that the Breast Cancer Society is seeking to help with is sticking their noses up at this donation. Still, strippers’ money ain’t welcome here.

Perhaps a more anonymous donation would get the money where it needs to go, but that would put less of a face and name to the people who put forth the effort to raise money for a good cause. Of course, that would make exotic dancers seem like real people with actual feelings. What a pity.