Midwest Summer Storms

This was published originally on Miss604.com as apart of Blogathon 2009.

Lightning

Hanging out at WorkSpace today for Blogathon, Rebecca snapped this great picture. It’s one of many, many streaks of lightning that filled the sky in the late afternoon, and these things aren’t that common. I don’t think I’ve seen a storm like that in about four years, which is when I moved here from eastern Iowa.

In the Midwest, you expect these things, and that’s because you have to.

As I watched the wall cloud come in over Mt. Seymour, that was a site that would strike a little fear into your gut as it came out of the horizon back home. What followed that was anyone’s guess. Intense wind to bust up trees, torrents of rain that could sweep your car off the road, baseball sized hail that would lead to cheap new car prices on damaged stock, or the ever friendly tornado that might knock on your door as an uninvited guest.

Watching the lightning zap the holy hell out of the mountains, it reminded me of those times when it was, “Get to the basement!” And it always seem like at that very moment, you’ve got to pee. The adrenaline kicks in and you do what you’ve been told over and over to do in school, but you still have this worst timing hit you at the same time.

That’s because tornadoes are pretty damn scary. They are additively fascinating to try and catch a glimpse of, but you just don’t want it to get too close because I’ve driven through towns that were ripped apart on a direct hit. I’ve grasped onto my mother under a blanket while the wind thumped against our house, sort of saying good-byes to each other through mutual I Iove yous.

That was one of my first times being on the radio when WMT called our house to speak to a witness. I barely had my nerves together enough to say my name correctly yet alone recount all the trees and power lines down in our neighborhood.

Everyone seems to have a personal story or knows a story of someone else with experiences like this. You can never be too careful when it comes to any storm, but the one that reached downtown today was fairly impressive in its own right. Like I said, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen something like that.


Photo credit: penmachine on Flickr

Fire Sky Over Vancouver

Sunset on Jupiter

While hanging out at WorkSpace for this year’s Blogathon, the sunset outside looked like this as it set. There was an amazing storm to the north and east, so it really made the orange burn through the horizon. Just amazing.

Signs of spring

When making the post previous to this one, I forgot about the group of photos that I shot early last week as well. This was a photowalk during a very amazing, early spring day here in Vancouver.

Spring Time in Stanley Park

Spring Time in Barclay Square

Spring Time in Stanley Park

Spring Time in Barclay Square

Spring Time in Barclay Square

Spring Time in Barclay Square

Spring Time in Barclay Square

See all the photos from this set on Flickr.

Picture perfect Vancouver morning

On my way to work, I had to stop and snap this photo because it really sums up Vancouver in so many ways.

Cold, Sunny, Vancouver Morning

Construction, traffic, beautiful skyline, and frosted mountains. The first two should get better over the coming months, and I’ll be glad to see it all go. The last two, on the other hand, I never get tired of.

Laying down new tracks for Vancouver’s Olympic Line streetcar

My trek to work often takes me through the various areas in and around False Creek, and one day while heading down to catch the bus, my usual shortcut of hopping over the trolley car tracks surprised me when there weren’t any tracks to be seen.

Missing trolly tracks

It didn’t take me too long to recall why they were missing, and I know it wasn’t all of the Canada Line’s fault. More so, it’s the Olympics, and Paul Hillsdon mentioned this on his blog awhile ago.

It was announced today that Bombardier Transportation will bring two modern, Flexity Outlook streetcars on loan from Brussels, Belgium to Vancouver for use during the 2010 Olympics. The streetcar demonstration project will run between January 21 to March 21, 2010. The official name of the project is The Olympic Line – Vancouver’s 2010 Streetcar. [paulhillsdon.com]

The Downtown Streetcar Project is the big picture, and this demonstration is only the beginning phase of an ambitious plan to connect Granville Island, Gastown, and Stanley Park with this new transportation system.

Missing tracks

As someone who is a big fan of public transportation, I like the idea of this project. However, it remains to be seen as to how quickly something like this can be fully implemented and operational to the extent that it will help the congestion problems currently plaguing Vancouver. It would be pretty awesome to take something like this to work from the West End, but the Canada Line is already something I’m waiting for at the top of my wish list in terms of daily commutes.

An evening at the Molson Brewery for Brew 2.0

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted about Brew 2.0, an event that was being held at the Molson Brewery in Vancouver that was to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the operation. Even better, this little shindig was being put on for social media folks like myself, plus a lot of familiar and not so familiar faces in the tech community in this city.

Yah beer!

The concept for the night was to invite a bunch of bloggers down to be apart of this celebration, try their beer, have some amazing food, learn more about the people behind the brewery, get a tour of the facility, and basically be treated to a rather amazing evening. That suites Rebecca and I just fine.

Brew 2.0

Brew 2.0

Brew 2.0

All in all, I was immensely impressed by not only the event, but my overall opinion of Molson has changed quite a bit. Of course, they were generous hosts, but even Geoff Molson, the great-great-great-great-grandson of founder John Molson[wiki], was there to give us a great history of the brewery in Vancouver, and good friend David Drucker was there to capture his introductory speech on video.

Probably the best part of the night was when Duane said to Geoff Molson, “You make a pretty good beer, but can you do a keg stand?” And Geoff honestly answered yes, but this remains to be seen.

Gord Rickards pouring beer for us

The other treat of the evening was to have Gord Rickards, co-creator of Rickard’s various brews, pouring my Rickard’s Red from the tap. After spending $7-$9 per single cup of beer at Canucks games, it doesn’t seem so bad after meeting the guy and drinking his beer for free. He also gave us a wonderful tutorial on the basic ingredients that go in the various beers that they make there, even letting us sample various grains that they use.

When we took a tour of the cannery floor, I asked Gord if he ever gets tired of seeing his beer put into cans with his name on it. He didn’t blink when he said no, and I didn’t doubt that answer before I even asked it. Shortly thereafter, they pulled about 8 cans off the line before they went through the pasteurization process. We went upstairs and had Rickard’s Red that was two minutes old, unpasteurized. They were cold and very, very tasty.

Micro-brews will always have a special place in anyone’s heart (and liver) who enjoys beer, but an evening like this helps you to understand that even the macro-brew folks are working just as hard to produce great beer. The next time you turn your nose up at a Molson Canadian could be a missed opportunity of having something that isn’t as bad as you think. Additionally, the Canadian we were given was the freshest, tastiest brew that any of us had ever sampled. Maybe it’s proximity, but the truth is that it was good.

The 50th Anniversary Gold Standard is something that will not go into production as much as brewed especially for marking the occasion. Trying it out, I can say that it’s really good. Creamy, kinda like an IPA, but that’s the best I can describe it.

I can’t say enough good things about the folks at Molson. Every aspect of the night exceed expectations, and it continued the next day when each attendee had a case of Rickard’s delivered to them. Since Rebecca was invited in addition to myself, we got two. Trump card once again, Molson. Thank you!

See more reaction around the blogosphere from Raul, Tris, Tanya, Arieanna, Ryan, and the Molson Community Blog. More photos can be seen in the Flickr set.

Prepping for the return of the 2008-2009 Vancouver Canucks

As cool as the weather has been in the lower mainland in the past week or so, it makes me think about one thing: the coming 2008-2009 hockey season for the Vancouver Canucks.

To help get you and me both prepared for this, I figured I’d go back on some key points from the end of last season while looking ahead to this next one. Of course, these are the things that stick out the most to me, so feel free to add your comments. And if you are a Vancouver Canucks fan, you’re probably doing the same thing as me when someone asks you your opinion on what to expect come this fall. You’re probably shrugging your shoulders and saying, I’m not really sure.
Continue reading “Prepping for the return of the 2008-2009 Vancouver Canucks”

Update on Olympic Village construction: August 2008

I pass by the site for the Olympic Village for the Vancouver 2010 winter games on a near daily basis. The progress in the area has been interesting to watch, and everyone who rides the bus over the Cambie Bridge tends to crane their neck or look out the corner of their eye as the bus passes by. If anything, the shear amount of workers and machinery is impressive that you have to gander a little bit.

So to update on the last post I made about this, here’s a more recent photo from just the other day, followed by some from early months.

Olympic Villiage Progress: Aug. 2008
August 25, 2008
Overall shot from Cambie Bridge
May 26, 2008
Daily pass of the Olympic Village
January 15, 2008

That’s a lot of concrete in nearly nine months. Only 533 days until the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

First trip up Grouse Mountain

If there is one thing in Vancouver that beckons every visitor more than anything, it’s probably Grouse Mountain[wiki].

Up the gondola

After nearly three years of living here, I have finally braved the gondola ride and the heavy tourist crowds to ascend to the top of the mountain. Well, at least we ventured around the lodge and a few of the nearby trails, but we finally made it up there for the first time. Yes, even Rebecca has never been up there.

Gondola traffic

Lodge

The original intent of this visit was to enjoy a wonderful invitation by the folks who run Grouse Mountain to see what’s up there as well as take a ride on their newest attraction, ziplining.

Cloudy and soggy

As you can see, it was just a tad rainy on this past Sunday that we were there. Our thought at the bottom was that we would book our zipline time and hope for better weather up top, but our wishes didn’t come true. We’ll have to do a makeup trip another time, more so when you can see the end of the zipline or at least further than fifty feet ahead of you while traveling at 50km per hour.

One thing that this experience has done for me is drive my urge to do the Grouse Grind. I’ve wanted to do it since the day Rebecca told me all about it, but the intimidation of not knowing how to get there always prevented me. Truth be told, you can take a Seabus from Waterfront Station and hop a #236 Grouse Mountain bus on the other side to get there in about 45 minutes[googlemaps]. Hike up, take the mandatory gondola ride down for $15 $5!, and you’ve done the grind.

The lodge has a fair share of amenities at the top, and I’m told that the nachos are to die for. Not something I would be the most keen on after a hopeful 45 minute hustle up the side of a mountain, but they do intrigue me.

Probably the biggest highlight of the day for me were the grizzly bears. There are two, full sized bears in captivity within an easy walk from the lodge. Abandoned at birth, they are being cared for in a very respectable area, complete with a nice swimming hole and lots of trees.

Nature never seems to grow old in terms of my personal fascination. Grouse Mountain, even on a cold and wet day, was a thrilling experience. Water never hurts anyone, but I can’t wait to experience it when I can really take in the beauty on a clearer day.

Cambie and Broadway are starting to look like streets again

Being that I work in the area near Southeast False Creek[wiki], my daily commute takes me through the heart of the Canada Line construction. Anyone who has seen that area on even a somewhat regular basis will tell you that it is a pain. Whether you are going on foot, transit, or your personal vehicle, you have to have patience to get through it all. That or wish for some good luck.

Canada Line construction on Broadway and Cambie

In the last couple of weeks, things are starting to resemble something normal again. There is a large amount of the streets being black topped, bus stops are shuffling a little bit, and there are more forms being put in place to build street curbs.

This is a big deal to me because there have been intersections that seemed to be dug up, work done, covered back up with black top, and the process repeats itself about three more times, in the exact same spots. The heavy machines come in and out to bust things up and repair it, almost like they are doing it for fun. Curbs seem to symbolize that something more permanent is on the horizon.

Construction on Broadway and Cambie

It just doesn’t stop with the Canada Line though. There are more condos and stores being developed in the same vicinity, so the extra trucks getting through the already congested and rerouted traffic is hopelessly frustrating. You know it’s going to be over soon, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh yeah, and there is also that Olympic village being built. Can’t forget all those workers flooding the area along with their trucks and equipment.

Even the Wendy’s in the area just shut down to renovate, and Subway is setting up shop next to a new RBC bank just around the corner. There’s already a second Starbucks in six months in the area between Broadway and the bridge, plus a coming London Drug and Whole Foods on the same stretch of street.

Construction on Broadway and Cambie

The area of the Olympic village is also slated to get a London Drug and Urban Fare, but I can’t be sure on those time lines being before or after the Olympics.

It looks like I’m not the only one getting anxious for Cambie Street to come back, but the most important thing for me is getting the transit system free of construction traffic. There’s nothing worse than feeling like your running way ahead of schedule to get to work and end up stuck on the bridge for 25 minutes while you creep slowly to the only stop on the other side at Broadway.