Category: Lower Mainland

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Why so many power outages?

Maybe I’m not used to living in a large community like the one that makes up Vancouver and the surrounding areas, but it seems like there are a lot of power outages that occur.

MAPLE RIDGE/CKNW(AM980) – A fire at a Hydro sub-station in maple ridge has knocked out power to more than 16-thousand customers, and it’s also causing traffic delays on Dewdney Trunk Road.

Ridge-Meadows RCMP are warning drivers about a lane closure west of 216th as crews try to douse the fire.

The power’s been out since shortly after seven this morning and it’s not expected to be restored before 9am.

The affected area covers 246th street west to the Pitt River and the Fraser River North to 144th Avenue.  [cknw]

Of course, this stands to make sense, but there is hardly a month that goes by where I don’t catch news about some area being without power during the morning news.  Trust me, I’ve been the victim of being caught in the dark because a rodent met its demise at a sub-station.  I understand that these things just happen, but is the power grid to blame or are there just that many accidents that disrupt the flow of electricity around the lower mainland?

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Cranberry slurpees are divine

I’ve been able to replace my summertime craving for ice cream with slurpees. Truth is, I can really go for ice cream at anytime of year. Even back home, when it is -15F in the dead of winter, there’s nothing better than grabbing some ice cream. A blizzard during a blizzard? Done that many times, but back to slurpees…

Just the other day, a new flavor popped up on one of the machines we frequent. Cranberry. Most of the time, colors are the flavor. And until that wonderful day last week, orange was my favorite, closely followed by blue. However, cranberry has knocked both of them from the top and earned the honor of being called by its true name.

A flavor this good cannot be called by it’s color. I’m sorry. I just can’t get myself to do it.

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Getting chased down by minivans

I let myself fall out of routine this week.  Rebecca is going to work an hour early all this week, the plus side being that she gets off an hour sooner as well.  That makes for a slight change in how everything works in your day, so I made it a point to get a little more sleep and take a super long run this morning.  There’s just something about it that makes your internal sense of well being come back around.

The last block of every run, I burst into a dead of a sprint that my body has energy left for.  It’s at this point that your body has expelled the stored fuel that you get from eating meals from the past 24 hours.  Just as much as you are digging deep to breathe and keep your legs moving, your body is doing the same with your fat reserves.  Pleasent thought, I know, but it’s something that tends to run through my head everytime I hit this point.  That, “my god, don’t fail me now.”

Today, there was a brown minivan that suddenly appeared in my peripherial vision.  It pulled ahead, slowed up, pulled ahead again, and waved.  I noticed her somewhere in the middle there.  I knew that this person wanted directions.  The nice thing would be to stop and help, so I did.

“Do you know…  can you tell me…  the intersection of Pender and…  um, Davie?”

Her english had a hispanic accent to it.  I was fighting to maintain my breath and not spit as I spoke.  Getting beyond that thought, I knew this woman had no clue where she was going or looking for.

I’ve lived her long enough to understand that the streets she was looking for don’t intersec at all.  From the downtown core to Stanley Park, the area sits on a bit of a penninsula.  The streets she was looking for run parallel to each other, on opposite sides of said penninsula.  When I asked if she meant Pendrell, she said that must be it.  Struggling to breathe through my words, I directed her to where she needed to go.

As she started driving backwards down the street, I continued in the same direction that she stopped me in.  At that point, I realized that she is going to be looking for Davie and Pendrell.  Those streets run parallel to each other as well, but only a block apart from each other.  That’s when I heard horns honking at the brown minivan for going backwards on a two way street.  She was lost, and quite possibly insane.

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Maverick!!!

Snowbirds buzzing the towerHoly crap.  The Snowbirds[wiki] just buzzed my apartment building.

I heard something loud, and a lot like a jet.  When the sound seemed like it was increasing to no end, I jumped to the window in time to see not one, but a formation of eight planes streaking across the sky.

They came back for another pass, starting out by coming over Stanley Park, into Coal Harbor, circling around the downtown core, and heading back towards English Bay.  Then they peaked back into the West End for a moment before heading back out into Kits.

This is the best I could do for grabbing a good photo of it since Rebecca has my camera for the night.  She is heading to Seattle to catch Real Madrid take on D.C. United and took the minidisc in hopes of capturing some good audio for the podcast as well.   I’d go, but crossing the border right now wouldn’t help my immigration status very much.

Not bad for a cellphone and a bit of editing, and I heard people swearing from somewhere when the jets passed over.  This is after we had a chopper circling the Empire Landmark[wiki] with a camera bubble stuck on its nose last week.  That was a good hour or so of annoyance, but it doesn’t happen very often.

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Beyond Robson is using some of my photos

My photo on Beyond RobsonWell, ok, as far as I know, it’s just one. Beyond Robson was looking for submissions for rotating header photos to run on their site, so I submitted a few shots.

As far as I know, they’re only using the shot of Sapperton Station[wiki] that I took some months ago. I have a bunch more from months back that I should upload to my Flickr. It’s just a matter of making the effort.

Still, it’s pretty sweet to have my something of mine featured on BR. Mark that as a first. Well, at least that I know of. Afterall, I did give my permission.

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The pains of not having the right papers

I had a job interview today. This is the most recent one since coming to Vancouver, and it continues the list of jobs that I can’t have because of my immigration status. It’s a topic that I plan on getting into more once the process gets closer to completion, but I don’t want to start on it yet. No doubt about it though. It’s a crazy one, and as an American coming to Canada, it’s not a simple thing to do. Patience is a virture, if not a must.

The interview today went well, but there is very little chance that I’ll get it. I don’t want to get into the specifics of who it was with, but it’s something right up my ally, on par with what I used to do back in the states. They want somebody in the next few weeks, and my status is set to come through any day now. That could mean this afternoon or in two months. That doesn’t help me too much.

It’s a pain. Maybe heartbreak is the better way to say it. Every job that I have applied for in Vancouver, since moving here, has given me an interview. Some of them have been radio stations, and some have gone as far as checking my references from previous employers. That says a lot. They want to hire me, but it’s that lack of go ahead from Immigration Canada that stops everything. I’ve had a company go as far as saying I was hired only to have the same problem. Seriously, if you know some one who can kick the process in the pants for me, I’d be forever in your debt.

The folks I met today were really great, and I wouldn’t put it past a few of them to fire up the Google and find the blog here. If so, hey guys, great time meeting you today and checking out the setup. Very, very cool stuff. Would love to be apart of the fun.

That’s probably the hardest thing, too. I like to take whatever I do and make it fun, including anything that involves “work”. Pride in your work. Enjoying what you do. I’m itching to start doing something in this city because there are times where I feel everything passing me by. Rebecca sees it, and I know my time is coming. All in due time, right? Trust me, I’m not whining or complaining. I’m just ready.

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Proper pet etiquette in Vancouver

Aside from pigeons and seagulls, which are mutated forms of rats with wings, I’m generally an animal person. I’d almost lump crows into the disliked category, but I have this hope that one day they will rise up against the already mentioned varmits and destroy their empire. Perhaps it would be going too far to say that I’d like to see this happen in a West Side Story[imdb] battle to end all battles, but I digress.

When I see some one walking down the street with a dog that’s about the size of me, I have an overwhelming, child-inside-me urge to run up and pet it. This is after I have the thought that the person who owns this beast is probably living in an apartment that is in the 600 square foot range, give or take a hundred or two. Animals of this size need room to roam. That why they have four legs, right?

chiuaua = three pointsI don’t get as excited by little lap dogs. Rebecca and I like to call them “puntables”. Rude, I know, but if you are not watching where you are going while walking along a busy, downtown sidewalk, you can give one of those things the boot.

The struggle I have is the correct and incorrect thing to do when it comes to interacting with these creatures. They’re not mine, and for the most part, I try not to try. There are some owners who are visibly ok with anyone coming into contact with their pet. Others give you a scowl. I’m sure that old lady walking her chiuaua couldn’t kick my ass as much as I could send her little doggy through the uprights from fifty yards out. Of course, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

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Oh boy, I can’t wait to go to camp

Via Kris Krug[post], I’ve signed myself up for BarCampVancouver.

Who?
Tech creatives: Local technologists, geeks, innovators, enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, tech writers, tech managers, bloggers, podcasters, video bloggers and hangers-on. We can only accept ninety people, so register early.

What?
A 24-hour ad-hoc, all-play unconference where everyone who attends participates by presenting or helping out.

Where?
Bryght Offices, 1 Alexander St. (suite TBD); Gastown, Vancouver: Map

When?
Friday, August 25, 6:00pm to Saturday, August 26, 6:00pm

Why?
Because it’ll be a fun party and totally informative, all at the same time. Here’s the full rundown: https://barcamp.org/BarCampVancouver

[barcamp]

I think this takes me into a whole, new classification of geek, but that might not be the most horrible thing. There are a lot of really interesting people in the Vancouver that are going to be at this event. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to contribute, but once you get me talking about podcasting, it can get difficult to make me stop. Just ask Rebecca, who will be in attendance as well.

I’ll have to think about doing something with making a recording while I’m there. maybe even a few. With hope, Ubercaster will improve to make it more efficient to do it on the spot. That would be sweet, but more on that program another time.

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The fireworks are loud, but the people are worse

This is my first experience with the Celebration of Light. I had heard about them and Rebecca had told me plenty of stories as to what to expect. I think I was pretty well prepared for the crowds, but the display by Italy last night was pretty impressive.

I’d often heard about fireworks displays that are coordinated with a musical soundtrack, but the chance to catch on never came up until last night. I think I picked a good one to see, even if they did use… dare I say her name here… Celine Dion.

With any mass gathering of an event like this spectacle, you should expect people to be a little nuts. It doesn’t matter if last night was the middle of the week. A bunch of stuff blowing up in the sky makes it the right time to party, and I can asure you that alcohol wasn’t the only thing being enjoyed last night. Audibly, evidence of intoxication could be heard all over the city.

I think what is more amazing about the fireworks last night was the mess that people left behind. For as long as I knew that Vancouver existed, this city was always portrayed as being very, enviromentally friendly. For the most part, this is so true, but the garbage left behind all over English Bay is a lot like hard night of partying and you drank way too much the night before. Damn, that was a lot of fun, but you pay the price when the sun comes up the next morning.

I’m not sure about our plans to catch the entries for China and the Czech Republic, but Mexico’s display is one we don’t want to miss.

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Metroblogging Vancouver Meetup

Talking with Dane during the Metroblogging Vancouver MeetupRebecca recently joined up with Metroblogging Vancouver in the last few weeks, and we attended our first meetup last night in Stanley Park. For those unaware, Metblogs has been a site that I’ve been reading for many months now in order to learn more about Vancouver and all the interesting things that come with it. A variety of contributers that write about a city they live in and seem to know fairly well. You can see Rebecca’s profile and latest posts for Metblogs here.

With that being said, I can say that I had a really good time meeting some incredible people. I’m not a writer for the site, but that didn’t matter as I was tagging along with Rebecca. I did take the opportunity to get my podcasting foot into the meetup. This is the other project that I have to do this week, so watch for this episode to come out by Friday at the latest.

This will be the first time taking RadioZoom down this avenue of wandering around with the minidisc, talking to (annoying, badgering, threatening) people, and rolling it into a podcast. I have about an hour and fifteen minutes of audio to parse through and edit. It’s another experiment, and I have to say I’m excited because this is the first time since my college radio days of doing any sort of interviewing. But this is podcasting. I probably have more listeners now than I did back then.