72km on the North Coast & Cape Scott Trails, Day 1

Shushartie Bay to Skinner Beach
Distance: 8.5km
Time: 4.5 hours
Weather: Sunny and warm
Trail: Steep, long climb followed by scrambling and boardwalks
Photos: My Northcoast Trail Flickr Set

After a miscommunication with our water taxi driver we ended up arriving at the trail head at Shushartie Bay at the late hour of 12 noon. Right off the bat we were faced with a steep, long climb with a fair bit of rope work up to the highest elevation point on the trail.



Eventually the trail leveled out to a series of boardwalks traversing marshy areas divided by short stretches of scrambling through forest. This first day is is basically a long stretch of in-land trail and I was glad when we finally reached Skinner Beach in the late afternoon.



Skinner Beach is a beautiful stretch of sand divided at one end by a cobble creek. The beach was such a welcome site, especially under a clear blue sky in the golden, late-summer sun, that we decided to set up camp rather than pressing onto Nahwitti as we had originally planned. When we hiked through Nahwitti the next day, I felt we'd made the right decision as Skinner is definitely the choicer spot to camp. That said, it meant the next day would be a ball-buster of a day - a grueling 16 km hike including the three most technically difficult sections of the trail...but why care about that when you're sitting on a warm beach, watching the sun set with a yummy meal in your belly.

Yes, I said the North Coast Trail, not the West Coast Trail

Being a recent transplant to British Columbia, most people seem to assume I've made a mistake when I mention we're planning to hike the North Coast Trail. "Don't you mean, the West Coast Trail?" is a common response. To be fair, I hadn't heard about the trail, which I've learned just opened last year, until this past spring when one of our hiking buddies mentioned it...and I thought he'd made a mistake, too.

We're lucky enough to be hiking the trail with a friend who's already completed the trip and most of our planning has been left up to him. He is a cartographer, which was a great boon in helping us to understand how the days would play out. I've posted a small snippet of the awesome map he's created (above) that outlines how far we will travel each day, which campsites we will be shooting for, where the water sources are and other handy details.

Cape Scott + North Coast Trails

Total distance: 65km + 8km for a possible side trip to the Cape Scott lighthouse
Number of days: 7
Number of nights: 6
Entry: Shushartie Bay
Exit: San Joseph Bay

After trying out the package dehydrated menu plan on our last hiking trip (four days on the Juan de Fuca) we're opting for more 'real food' this time around. We will bring a couple of those meals, nothing beats their convenience after all, but most of the meals we'll be eating will be our tried and true favourites with a couple of new recipes thrown in.

6 Breakfasts:
4 x oatmeal with dried cranberries, cinnamon and nuts
2 x instant grits with cheese

7 Lunches:
Assortment of jerky, nuts, tortillas, hard tack and fruit leathers

7 Dinners:
2 x dehydrated dinners - we picked up Mountainhouse Beef Stew and Turkey with Mashed Potatoes, which are our favs of the packaged dinners we've tried
2 x cous cous with nuts, lentils and dried fruit
2 x pasta with pesto, sun dried tomatoes and dried peperoni
1 x chicken soup with dumplings

We're also bringing an assortment of snack bars, Gatorade power to mask the taste of our iodine filtered water, and tea and coffee.

As much as this sounds good to me right now, I know my mouth will be watering for french fries by the last day...I hope Port Hardy has a good burger joint.

The best campsite on Harrison Lake

Last weekend, Baasje, Chewy and I drove 60km down a dirt logging road to a spot on the west shore of Harrison Lake halfway between Harrison Hotsprings and Pemberton. Including highway driving time it's about a three hour drive from Vancouver - one hour east to Mission, BC and then 2 slow and bumpy hours northeast following the shore of Harison River and Harrison Lake.

Chewy said the drive from Mission could have been done in about an hour and half, but we had to stop a few times to clear logs off the road using a winch tied to Chewy's truck. Driving into the forest at night with the trees and brush crowded close against the side of the road it felt like we were headed to a spot that hadn't seen people for a long time. Surprisingly when we arrived at the place Chewy had in mind, there were already a few other campsites set up. Well, it was the August long weekend.

Considering how beautiful a spot it was - a turquois lake surrounded by mountains and forest, and deep water warmed by the hot springs - it was definitely worth the drive.

My Top 5 Fav Canadian Campgrounds

1. Missisaugi Lighthouse, Meldrum Bay, ON
2. Green Gardens Trail, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland
3. Neys Provincial Park on the north shore of Lake Superior, ON
4. Sombrio Beach, Juan de Fuca Trail, Vancouver Island, BC
5. Doc's Point, Harrison Lake, BC

This social media marketing thing is starting to give me the willies

Lately I've attended a number of events focused on social media marketing. Is it just me, or is the whole idea of using social media as a marketing tool a bit of a creepy concept? Don't get me wrong, I understand that companies and organizations are monitoring the content I post online to try and figure out ways to tempt me into buying into their products and services, but I'd like to think the scope of the online discussion is beyond the strategies of professional marketing companies. Are they misguided in their belief that the mindset of the collective voice of Internet users could possibly be swayed by carefully crafted social media policies, or am I just deluding myself?

At a social media workshop I attended recently, participants were asked to raise their hands if they 'hated Facebook'. Half the people in the room, most of whom were past the youth demographic in age, raised their hands. In contrast, I did some usability testing with two groups of high school students this week and when I asked the question, 'Do you have any favourite sites?', all of the students, with the exception of one, mentioned Facebook. I can't locate any articles on the nature of this apparent divergence of opinions. I do know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook lately appears to be the 35+ age group. Okay so the 35+ age group is using it and hating it? What gives? Could it possibly be that professionals just haven't figured out the big picture on social media yet? Enter the topic of 'policy development': we'll make the rules and teach people to follow them.

Social Media Club International, an organization comprised of members of the Social Media Community is currently promoting participation in an online discussion on the topic, "How do we educate the younger generation to prepare for the modern workforce?" Yikes! Here's my two bits, I'd keep this discussion behind closed doors and do my best to make sure no one finds out your contemplating such a creepy undertaking.

What I find most disturbing is that the topic of 'developing trust' is frequently finding it's way into the discussion of establishing corporate social media policies and practices. Yes, trust is what it's all about. From my experience, trust is why I prefer my interactions on Facebook to the more open discussion on Twitter. My friends on Facebook are people I know, people who respond to the content I post, in a meaningful way. And yes, I can tell the difference. I think...

Okay, so it's possible I'm the deluded one, but when it comes to social media and the vast expanse of the semantic web I prefer to think that theorists like Michael Wesch have a better grasp on what's happening out there: the world wide web is us, that everyone has the ability to organize content on the web, and that we also have the ability to look beyond the tool and think critically about how this tool affects our relationships and who we are.

Just my thoughts of course. Admittedly I don't have all the answers, at least not on my own...

Things I learned at Convergence 09

I hadn't intended to attend Convergence 09. I found out about it the day before Convergence 09 took place when I read an email from a colleague about the event, described on Cossette West's site as, "A Forum for Digital Marketing Thought Leadership". When it comes to professional development, my pursuits have mainly leaned towards digital art and emerging technologies (admittedly not a great fit considering my work profile, but it suits my personal interests which is the best I've got to go on these days). Amidst the workshops and conferences I've attended in the past, marketing is rarely at the forefront of topics of discussion. However, what grabbed my attention when I first came across the Cossette West site was the next bit of text I encountered on the main page: "Featuring Keynote Speaker, David Plouffe, Obama's Unsung Hero Campaign Manager, Obama for America". Well, why didnt' you say so?!

David Plouffe's keynote address was an inspiration. I have just about zero experience with political science so I'm going to refrain from commenting on why he's so great. As a believer in Tim Berners-Lee's vision of the semantic web, I will say this though, Plouffe's presentation reaffirmed my belief that the web holds the potential to place the power of mass media in the hands of the people. Finally!

However...

My first experience with live blogging:
Convergence 09 keynote address by David Plouffe, Campaign Manager, Obama for America

1. Identify a noteworthy point in the presentation
2. Quickly decide on how to best sum up the point, injecting personal commentary and wit if possible in 140 characters or less. Leave room to add related hashtag(s), reference speaker (use Twitter address if available), and links (shorten any relevant web addresses using a URL shortener - I use bit.ly)
3. Review what you've written to ensure it makes sense and edit where necessary
   
4. While focusing on completing steps 2 & 3, keep an ear out for the next appropriately blog-able item
5. Check your post to make sure it's accurate, appropriate, unoffensive and grammatically correct (though I've observed that this step is widely accepted to be optional)
   
6. Half way through completing step 5 realize speaker is in the midst of making his next profound point, way more interesting than the one you're currently working on
7. Quickly decide on how to sum up next point in 140 characters or less (forgo the personal commentary and wit this time around)
8. Make the somewhat foolhardy decision to bookmark the site the speaker mentioned - because you're a nerd you've already logged into Delicious anyway
9. Press the update button to post your last half-reviewed tweet
   
10. Realize the speaker has moved onto making another profound point
    
11. Press the update button to post your last tweet without reviewing it first, realize you've forgotten to add the hashtag(s) and/or refer to the speaker and/or include a shortened link to the site he mentioned
    
12. Peer into your clutter of your mind to try and do your best to accurately recall the last point the speaker made
13. Experience difficulty editing the point down to 140 characters. With some struggle, manage to whittle your post down to a cryptic, choppy faux-sentence that still leaves you with a character count of -3. Remove punctuation
14. Realize you've haven't left any room to include the hashtag(s), URL or reference the speaker
    
15. Glance at the clock and realize you're only a little more than 10 minutes into the presentation with over an hour left to go

As these things go, I did refine my technique as I went along. For starters, I resorted to typing and formatting my tweets in TextEdit before pasting them into Twitter. I quickly let go of the idea that I would be able to blog presentations in their entirety. As the day worn on, after the haze of information overload began to set in, I also noticed that focusing in on elements that related closely to the topics I knew best (however disjointed from the actual focus of the topic being presented) resulted in more meaningful commentary on my behalf. Where this point is concerned, this meant that many of my latter posts focus on the loosely related topics of music and techno-pop culture.

So, what did I get out of my experience at Convergence 09? A reaffirmation of my belief that the web holds the potential to place the power of mass media in the hands of the people, people like you and me who now have the ability to participate in real time discussions (so widespread that they start trending on Twitter - woohoo!) that contain content that is potentially inaccurate, incomplete, gramatically incorrect and littered with personal bias. Of course the idea is that our combined comments will provide an accurate depiction of the facts.

View the results of my first experience with live blogging on Twitter

View the complete #cvg09 discussion

Fishing weekend at Cultus Lake Provincial Park, Fraser Valley, BC

This past weekend we made a last minute decision to head to the mainland and go fishing with Mike. That meant rising at the ungodly hour of 5:30am on a Saturday morning to catch the 7am ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen. We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we would have the opportunity to catch a nap on the hour and a half long ferry ride over to the mainland. As Mike had offered to pick us up at the ferry dock we parked our car on the Vancouver Island side and paid the walk on fare which amounted to about $27 for the two of us.

As none of us had any concrete plans or agendas (other than to catch some fish), we headed out on the highway from Tsawwassen with no specific destination in mind. Mike had a vague idea that we should try Chilliwack (in the Fraser Valley, about an hour's drive from Vancouver), so with a little help from Mike's GPS and my iPhone we eventually found ourselves at Fred's Custom Tackle and Barbershop in Vedder, BC. Fred's advice was for us to head a few minutes down the road to Cultus Lake Provincial Park which, he explained, had a terrific campground, warm showers and, of course, great fishing. He then proceded to load us up with all the appropriate lures we would need, including 'flying ants' that he had noticed had just begun to appear in the area a few days before.

So it was that we ended up at the Delta Grove campground in Cultus Lake Provincial Park which is a beautiful family-friendly recreation area with large, pretty campsites (though they don't offer much in the way of privacy), set on the shore of the largerst warm, freshwater lake in the Fraser Valley. The shoreline near the campsite is a pebble beach and the water is crystal clear. After a few quick spins around the first-come-first-served campground, we selected campsite #23, situated right on the lake and close to the bathrooms and showers (campsite cost, $24/night).

Making quick business of unpacking the truck and setting up the tents we headed straight to the beach with our new lures and started casting away. After showing us the ropes, Mike headed back to the campground to fetch us some refreshments and Baasje left to give him a hand...and a few minutes after they left I caught my first fish! I yelled to Mike for help and reeled my catch into shore unguided. In the long moments it took Mike to respond, I watched the poor fish miserably flopping around on the beach with the hook in it's mouth. Admittedly, when it finally managed to work the hook free I experienced a strange combination of disappointment and relief. Mike ran up with the net just as it disappeared into the middle of the lake. Of course, the recurring joke all weekend long was that I had caught a pretend fish that had sadly 'disappeared' before anyone else could see it. Yes. Ha, ha.

It began to rain in the evening and our campsite was taken over by a group of very friendly twenty year olds who'd unfortunately forgotten to bring rope to hang their own tarp. One of the girls was a traveller who'd recently been accepted to Emily Carr and the others where all very nice, but with all of us crammed under our little 6' x 8' tarp, I'm afraid none of us stayed very dry or warm. The three of us eventually abandoned our tarp to the upsurpers and retreated to the campfire area. Note to self, if twenty year old girls ask you for rope to hang a tarp in a campground, do whatever you have to do to get it for them - or be prepared to tell them to hit the road when it starts to rain.

After the girls left, the wind picked up and did a crazy number on our tents. Our own tent (with quite a bit of our stuff inside) was blown halfway down to the beach, and the six person goliath tent that Mike had brought along turned into a giant windsock that ballooned upwards towards the tree branches. At the same time the wind picked up, it also began to pour rain and the tarp became a useless, flopping and annoyingly noisy sail. It was one of those moments in life where everything is going so horribly wrong it feels like you're living in a gong show. With a bit of a struggle we managed to get the tents back in place and we snuggled down into our warm and thankfully dry, sleeping bags for a good night's sleep. An unexpected bonus to the ordeal was Mike's discovery of a fish attached to one of the fishing rods' tangled lines down at the beach.



Sunday was a lazy day that started with a big breakfast of fresh fish cooked over the campfire, eggs, bacon and toast. Breakfast was followed by an hour or so of fishing before getting down to business with the cleaning and packing up. To get the most out of our Cultus Lake epxerience, we decided to check out the short two hour hike up to the 'Teapot Hill' lookout. This, perhaps, wasn't the most exciting hike I've ever been on, but the trees were lovely. We left Cultus Lake around 3pm in the afternoon, grabbed a late lunch at the Husky in Chilliwack and headed back to the Tsawwassen ferry dock just in time to miss the 5pm ferry. Oh well, the ferries are on the summer schedule now, so thery're running every hour. It wasnt' too much of a stretch to wait the extra half hour for that long hot shower and some take out Chinese.

Gulf Islands Trip, April 2009

We caught the 9:35am ferry at Swartz Bay (1 stopover on Pender Island) on a sunny Saturday morning. As our destination on Mayne Island was in walking distance to the ferry dock we decided to leave the car behind which meant we only had to pay the very reasonably priced $9.45/adult fare.

Stephen had left a note for us on Facebook just in case he couldn't make it down to the dock in time to meet us:

"...our road is directly behind the sign. It's about a 15 minute walk...feel free to let yourselves in and make yourself at home (the tea is above the stove)."

Gotta love that friendly BC hospitality!

When the ferry arrived at the dock at Mayne Island, Stephen was there to meet us. On the walk back to their lovely home, he and his son filled us in on a few facts about our new surroundings:

• Mayne Island is about 10km in diametre, a little under 30 square km in area
• the island is located roughly half way between Tswassen (Vancouver) and Swartz Bay (Victoria)
• Back in the day it was a regular stopover for Aboriginal peoples travelling between the mainland and Vancouver Island
• The Aboriginal name for Mayne Island roughly translates to 'party place'

After a quick lunch we headed off down the road on foot towards the trail. Setphen showed us a 'secret' short cut from a hiking path near their home to Halliday Viewpoint. The shortcut involved taking a service road/path for a few km before veering off onto a mining road and then scrambling about 50m up a slope to a deer path. We followed the deer path for about 100m before scrambling a few feet up a somewhat steeper slope to meet the main hiking trail in Mount Parke regional Park. We spent most of the afternoon trekking on the park's gentle hiking trails enjoying beautiful panoramic views of the Navy Channel, and Saturna, Prevost and Saltspring Islands.

In the late afternoon we made our way to Wild Fennel via the shady Old Gulch hiking trail only to discover upon our arrival at the restaurant had closed until the evening. Too bad! Stephen's description of their menu sounded delicious...guess we'll just have to save a visit to Wild Fennel for our next trip to Mayne.

Tired, hungry and perhaps a little cranky, we walked a further half hour along one of the island's quiet roads to 'the village' where we gorged ourselves at the Saltspring Lodge on yummy grilled salmon salads, large orders of friends AND onion rings and cheese cake. Yum! We also stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a peach pie and a tub of ice cream for later on in the evening.

After a few hours of conversation, warm pie and a couple of beers we hit the hay early and in anticipation of another big day.



The next morning, we got up early and Baasje and I caught the ferry to Galiano Island. A larger island - about 26km across and 6 km wide - just west of Mayne Island. The fare for the Mayne to Galiano trip was $5/person. We also learned that our return fare to Swartz Bay from Galiano would be covered in the fares we had already paid, meaning our weekend transportation expensese would amount to a grand total of $30 for both us us. What a deal!

Galiano was a bit of a metrolpolis compared to Mayne Island, but it maintained the same quiet, slow-paced atmosphere with little traffic (more like next to no traffic). There was a 'food wagon' at the ferry dock serving German and Indonesian dishes and the smells were delicious. As it was still breakfast time, Baasje and I made our way up the road to "Grand Central" a neat little train themed diner for eggs and bacon. Delicious!

After breakfast we walked for about 45 minutes on deserted roads to Bellhouse Provincial Park were we encountered the most amazing coastline I've seen out west yet - a weathered and ridgy sun bleached sandstone beach. I took many, many pictures. After an hour or so exploring the coastline at Bellhouse we returned to the road and walked a further hour and and a half up winding roads to The Bluffs. From the ridge walk at The Bluffs we took in beautiful views of the Gulf Islands and Mount Galiano.

When it was getting close to mid afternoon we started on our way back to the dock to grab lunch and do some beach combing before catching the 4:40pm ferry back to Vancouver Island. Tired but happy we removed our boots and stretched our legs on the almost empty ferry and began to make plans for our next trip to the Gulf Islands. I think it's safe to say we'll be back that way again (and again, and again).

47 km on the Juan de Fuca

Total cost of four day hike for 2 people: About $300 including...

$200 for new gear and food
$12 parking
$40 camping fees ($5 per person, per night)

Bears: No sightings, but did see scat at a few points along the trail

Day 1 - Trailhead at China Beach (km 0) to Bear Beach (km 8.7)

Our trip began with the 2+ hour long drive from Victoria to the Juan de Fuca trail head at China Beach on a cloudy and grey, Good Friday morning. Noticing the skies growing darker the closer we drew to Jordan River, we soon gave up hope the weather would make turn for the better. When Baasje and Mike returned to the trail head after depositing one of our vehicles at the far end, it was just past noon and we decided to delay lunch and hit the trail, anxious to get going before the rain hit. Gladly, the rain held off for most of the first leg of our journey, a series of relatively easy ascents and descents through vibrant green (despite the gloomy light of overcast skies) forest.

When we arrived at Bear Beach (km 8.7) in the mid-afternoon we briefly considered pressing on towards the next campground at Chin Beach (km 20.6). Had the weather been fairer, I expect we would have kept going.  As it was, we quickly came to the conclusion that none of us were keen on the possibility of setting up camp after after nightfall in the rain.  After taking a tour of the already crowded campground to scout out our options, we squeezed onto a campsite with an Australian who was hiking solo. Thankfully he was a good sport about sharing. After we'd pitched our tents and filled our bellies with dinner and smores for dessert (thanks, Mike!) we settled down to a fantastic night of good conversation and music around the campfire.


Day 2 - Campsite at Bear Beach (km 8.7) to Chin Beach (km 20.6)

Bear Beach to Chin Beach is the most physically demanding stretch of the Juan de Fuca trail. The section is comprised of continuous steep ascents and descents - a heart pounding grind with 50 lbs on your back, especially when the weather is wet. By mid-morning the steady rainfall had turned the path to series of slippery mud puddles deep enough to reach mid-shin in spots. It took us most of the day to travel the 11 km to Chin Beach, with only a few short breaks to grab quick bites to eat. With the ladders and bridges wet and slippery, keeping our feet required quite a bit of focus. The effort and hardship was not without it's rewards - the views were beautiful and the sense of accomplishment I felt at the end of the day is what hiking is all about. When we finally reached our destination we were able to grab  a good campsite beside the creek with a great view of Chin Beach (see pic above).  We quickly set about cooking and inhaling dinner before spending a few hours resting sore muscles and checking the damage from the spills we'd all taken on the trail.


Day 3 - Campsite at Chin Beach (km 20.6) to Little Kuitshe Campground (km 34)

The second day of the trip had been one of the most physically demanding hikes I'd ever encountered, and the third day turned out to be, by far, the most mentally challenging. Steady rain continued throughout the day and turned the trail into an endless, soupy puddle that eventually waterlogged my boots (that on previous trips had miraculously seemed impenetrable to water). Mud also began to seep beneath my gaiters, soaking my pants to the knee. As the day wore on, the condition of the trail began to deteriorate to the point where we were regularly coming across sections that were completely washed out, resulting in some treacherous detours. Once we'd worked past these rough spots it was sometimes difficult to determine where the trail picked up on the other side and we ended up having to backtrack of find our way a few times. As it can sometimes go at moments like these, the sites from the trail were breathtakingly beautiful - Sombrio Beach appeared gorgeous and moody in the grey mist and at one point we climbed high into the clouds during a particularly stunning interior section of the trail.

Day 4 - Little Kuitshe Campground (km 33) to Botanical Beach (km 47)

Thankfully the section of the trail from little Kuitshe Campground to Botanical Beach is the easiest leg of journey. If you're looking to experience the Juan de Fuca on a gentler scale, I would suggest taking on this portion of the trail. The path here is well maintained and many of the trouble spots have been smoothed over with boardwalks and wooden steps (some even with railings). Despite an uncomfortable night's sleep and sore legs we were able to cover the 14 km to Botanical Beach (the longest stretch of the trip) before mid afternoon. The shoreline on this section is very pretty and there are many interpretive signs along the way to enhance the experience.

We live in a beautiful world...yeah we do, yeah we do

Friday is my favourite day of the week, and Friday afternoon at half past four is my favourite time of my favourite day of the week. It is the moment of the week where the longest amount of time exists before I have to return to work. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job, but it can't compete with free time on any level. As I often find myself in a celebratory frame of mind on Friday, it's the day of the week where I most frequently indulge in little out of the ordinary extras. A favourite meal for dinner, a nice bottle of wine, going to a favourite bar, checking out a movie I've been waiting to see, etc.

This past Friday, the sun was still up when I arrived home from work and I asked Baasje if he would like to take a walk down to the little beach at the end of our street before dinner. I quickly changed out of my work clothes, put on my hiking boots, grabbed my iPod - but neglected to get my camera, a decision I would later regret - and ten minutes later, we were there. I hadn't brought my camera as I assumed, after three previous visits to our little beach, that I had plenty of pictures of the piles of driftwood, the rocky outer edges of the cove, the mountains across the water. Regretfully, I did not consider that the shoreline changes throughout the day. When we arrived, as the sun was beginning to set, the tide was out and a stretch of tidal pools and large sandy flats had been exposed. The water was smoother and the mountains across the water were tinted pink and orange. We walked to the far end of the cove, to a spot that is inaccessible at high tide, and stood on the rocks watching the sun set. I never in a million years would ever have guessed I would one day live by the ocean.

Up island adventure: Our first trip over the Malahat



Saturday morning we woke up, ate a quick breakfast and hit the road on our up island adventure. Since arriving in Victoria, I'd heard numerous people remark on the beautiful, sometimes dangerous, frequently tedious, drive over the Malahat - the mountain just west of Victoria and gateway to the north side of the Island. The Saturday traffic was a little congested in spots, but we managed to make it to the summit (elevation 352m) in under an hour. We spent a few minutes at the summit taking pictures and enjoying the view and then drove on to Chemainus to check out their "world famous" murals. The highlight of our road trip was definitely lunch at the Crow and Gate, a spectacularly situated pub owned and operated by British ex-pats. As most country pubs go, it was located in the middle of nowhere, though you wouldn't have guessed this from the crowd inside. Baasje had a scotch egg and I had the cheddar cheese ploughman's lunch. Both meals were delicious and we purchased some of their homemade rhubarb and red onion chutney to take home. We arrived at our destination, Qualicum Beach, a little after two o'clock in the afternoon and spent the afternoon catching up with Baasje's dad and two aunts.

Unfortunately, we've woken up to rain this morning (the day after our arrival), so I think we'll have to save the hikes we had planned until next time. Though it doesn't have to stop us from doing a little reconnaissance, as Baasje's Tante Marianne puts it. We'll be heading out soon and I guess we'll see where the day takes us.

Oh, wake me please when this is over...

It saddens me to no end that the corporate machine still has a strong enough grip on the music industry to have the means, and the gall, to drag us all through another Gram-lamity. 2008 best pop male vocal performance nominees, Kid Rock, Paul McCartney, Jason Mraz, Ne-Yo and James Taylor. I'm sorry, but can you repeat that? No, wait - please, don't.

In my admittedly sheltered experience, I find it difficult to imagine that the pop music industry could still be profitable enough to warrant this kind of behaviour. Don't get me wrong, I'm spending more money on music these days than I ever have, but it's certainly not on James Taylor or Kid Rock albums. In fact, I'm not even buying albums so much anymore.

My top 5 concerts of 2008


1) Holy Fuck, Plants and Animals
LOLA Festival, London, Ontario
September 29, 2008

I went to check out the Saturday night offerings at last summer's LOLA Festival to take in the Plants and Animals concert. It ended up being one of those delicious live music experiences were I was awestruck by a first time encounter with a band other than the one I had come to see. In my books, Holy Fuck is the first group since Pink Floyd to achieve a truly innovative and successful marriage of rock and technology (well okay, maybe Mike Patton's pretty good at it, too).

When I came across the band listed on the LOLA website, I had abruptly concluded that the name was the tragic and annoying result of a frat-boy perception of a clever moniker. By the time the first song had finished, I was drawn to admit the performance was leading me to rethink not only the appropriateness of their choice of band name, but my entire perception of what I had previously considered to be a tasteless expletive.

2) Iron and Wine
Phoenix Nightclub, Toronto, Ontario
November 13, 2008

It was a warm late autumn evening and Sam Beam and company played a lengthy set that encompassed a good assortment of offerings from all three albums in the Iron and Wine discography at Toronto's historic Phoenix Nightclub. Afterward we stopped at a kebab place for a snack before driving back to London. All in all, a fabulous evening.

3) The Sadies
Grand Stage Music and Arts Festival, Paris, Ontario
July 12, 2008

I'm not a big fan of North American versions of the outdoor summer festival. Too often the music seems to take a back seat to the underage drunk-fest in the beer garden. Thankfully the Sadies took the stage before the atmophere degraded into an alcoholic stupor. Well, to be fair, this particular festival never reached that point, most likely due to the excellent food options in the canteen (the pulled pork was delicious). Anway, the Good brothers were in fine, high-energy form and the thunderstorm in the distance that framed the stage with black clouds and streaks of lightning was a nice touch.


4) Great Lake Swimmers wsg Kate Maki
Lee's Palace, Toronto, Ontario
October 18, 2008

It was great to have the chance to take in one last performance from the Ongiara era before the upcoming release. My favourite band playing at my favourite Toronto venue - this concert probably would have been higher up in the list had it not been for the ridiculous heckler standing beside us.

5) Mother Mother wsg The Wooden Sky
Call the Office
London, Ontario
October 19, 2008

Ever since this concert, Mother Mother has been in heavy rotation on my iPod. They're just so damn fun.

How to move you, your partner and all your belongings across the country for $1000 - part deux

When we decided to make the move to Victoria, it quickly became apparent that it would be unreasonably expensive to move any of our large belongings out with us. On the bright side, this meant that there was no need to despair over which furniture to keep and which to jettison - we could just collectively morn the loss of our furniture in general. Considering this was the result of a choice we had made of our own free will and that more furniture was on the horizon, we did our best to get over it and move onto the decidedly more difficult task at hand - what to purge of the assortment of personal belongings the two of us had amassed over a total duration of 60+ years.

Top 10 casualties of the big purge:

1. The Vasque hiking boots Baasje purchased on the day we met (I was covering for the cashier on her lunch break)
2. The anvil*
3. My Monsterland upright video arcade game
4. The remainder of my vinyl collection
5. Most of my comics and graphic novels
6. Most of Baasje's wood working tools
7. Our large cast iron frying pan with an awesome finish that took over 10 years to build up
8. My Gamecube and games, most notably my copy of Zelda, Ocarina of Time
9. The awesome oak bookcase we bought for $10 at the auction held when they cleared out the old downtown branch of London Libraries
10. The heavy oak antique science lab table we got for $20 when they cleared out the staging building at Western

*Technically the anvil isn't exactly a casualty of the purge as we've stored it at my parents house, so there is a chance it might one day make the move if we ever see fit to pay to ship 80lbs of iron out here. We shall see.

Through a little blood, sweat and tears, we managed to pare everything down to about 10 boxes (of the storage bin 'Rubbermaid' variety):

3 boxes - clothes, outerwear and shoes
2 boxes - kitchen stuff
1.5 boxes - books, DVDs and CDs (transferred to a 400 disk capacity binder), and videocassettes
1 box - office supplies, necessary paper records and photographs
1 box - electronics (1 DVD player, 1 VCR, 1 small stereo, 1 printer)
1 box - camping kit
0.5 boxes - miscellaneous tchatchkis

Thanks to a deal we got through a family member we were able to Fed-Ex all 10 boxes out to Victoria for a little under $1 a pound which amounted to a little less than $500. In addition to these 10 boxes, Baasje drove our compact hatchback out here loaded with our artwork, guitars and the two small pieces of furniture we decided to keep - a sheepskin lamp we purchased in Montreal during the 2006 Jazz Fest and a one of a kind little end table built by our good friend, 2 Dollar Bill.

Selling off the rest of our furniture piece by piece was a bit of a dog and pony show ('So-and-so wants to buy our sofa...we sold it already, right?' and 'You said we'd sell the barbeque for what price?') The process culminated in a drop-in and pick-up your ‘new’ furniture open house complete with a 'plant with every purchase' throw-in and a daycare service that saw our house overrun with pre-schoolers as their parents transported furniture in multiple trips across the city in pick-up trucks. When all was said and done we made enough money to mostly cover the cost of the new furniture we purchased from IKEA** when we moved into the apartment in Victoria. Though the quality isn't quite what we'd had before, the new pieces are far more suitable in their compactness. As an alternative to purchasing from IKEA we briefly considered buying all our furniture off of usedvictoria.com - an excellent site with some undeniable great deals - but with all the hoopla we'd been through liquidating our belongings piece-by-piece, we really weren't keen on turning around and doing the whole thing in reverse.

**The IKEA bus departs twice monthly from the bus station in downtown Victoria headed to the Richmond IKEA on the mainland via the Swartz Bay - Tswwassen ferry. The cost of the return trip is $40, but if you spend $250 you get a $40 coupon to use towards your purchase. IKEA throws in a raffle draw and a 15% discount in the restaurant. I don't know about you, but I've never walked into an IKEA and not spent at least $40. That said, why go any other way?

When all was said and done we had spent about $1000 to move us and 'all' our belongings across the country. The breakdown of our expenses/income ended up as follows:

New furniture costs = A little bit less than the money raised by selling old furniture
Shipping costs = $500.

How to move you, your partner and all your belongings across the country for $1000 - part 1

By far the most tedious aspect of taking up a new job on the other side of the country has been the ordeal of moving ourselves and our household across a 4,000km distance. Upon learning that the opportunity in Victoria had solidified into bona fide reality, and after the expected procrastination/denial phase had passed, we somewhat reluctantly set down to exploring our options. Romance of heading west aside, it was not a pretty picture, particularly in terms of financial cost. Shocker.

My new employer did offer a moving stipend, which in the end amounted to enough money to pay for my own transportation costs, but not those of my partner. That said, as the career benefits of the move mostly sided in my court, I felt it only fair that I should undertake the majority of the resulting expense for both of us.

The least costly quote we received for shipping our furniture and belongings from Ontario to BC (for a two bedroom house) was $3,500 US + gasoline 'tax', which we were told to expect would probably amount to another $1,000. This was for the mostly-do-it-yourself option, where the moving company would drop off a container at our house that we would then pack ourselves. The company would then pick up the container, transport it across the county and deliver it in Victoria where we would then be expected to unpack it. In addition to this expense, we also needed to consider our own transportation costs, which we expected would amount to somewhere between $700 and $1000 one-way for the two of us. In case you're curious, the most expensive quote we received was about $8,000 US for a full service option where the moving company would pack, load and then unload all our belongings.

Being the cheapies that we are, we immediately viewed this level of expense as being out of the question. Having had only a brief, four year experience with home ownership, we remained of the mindset that anything demanding an immediate cash-in-hand payment greater than $2000 is outrageously extravagant. Re-evaluating our options it occurred to us that it might be more practical to consider selling the majority of our furniture and belongings and using the resulting funds to purchase the necessities upon reaching our destination. Realizing the multiple benefits associated with this option - drastically reducing our moving costs, earning a few bucks, and being afforded the opportunity to purchase items to best suit whatever new living arrangement awaited us - we quickly decided that this was the route to go.

We set down to tackling the task at hand, which we jointly decided was to pare our belongings down to the bare minimum. What followed was an interesting exercise in negotiation and determination as we struggled to find common ground between our somewhat disparate interpretations of 'bare minimum'.

On the charms of red broadloom and apartment living

B and I have moved into a one bedroom apartment with a bathroom big enough to spin around in, reclaimed kitchen cabinets, an acceptable amount of storage space (thankfully we pared down our belongings before making the move out west), and a nice big living room with wall-to-wall tomato red carpet. As far as living arrangements go, I think it's a pretty good find - what seals the deal is that, if you make a right turn out our front door, it's a ten minute walk to my office, and if you make a left turn, it's a ten minute walk to the beach. I'm sure the novelty will wear of eventually, but having migrated from the relatively, flat, waterless expanse of Southwestern Ontario where the closest substantial body of water is a forty-five minute drive away, this location seems like somewhat of a dream scenerio. All that's left to do now is to pick up some furniture so that we can stop sleeping, eating and lounging on the floor.

B seems to be settling in and is mostly recovered from the drive across the continent which in the end only amounted to three days of driving stopping each evening to bunk down in a roadside motel. The first evening he and Karen spent the night in Walnut, Nebraska, the second in Ogden, Utah and the third in Port Angeles, Washington, where they caught the morning ferry to Victoria the next day. Compared to the experiences I've had making this journey, they made pretty good time - of the three times I've travelled to the west coast from Ontario by car, the fastest was two and half days and that was driving non-stop with two drivers trading off. The total cost of the trip, which put about 4,500km on the odometre (gas, food and lodging included for two people) was about $770.

Tomorrow we plan to take in the Royal BC museum and hopefully pick up some new (old) bikes at one of the Victoria's many second-hand bike shops. Getting acquainted with a new environment is a bit of an adventure for Baasje and I and we're enjoying the unusual sense of accomplishment that accompanies even the most everyday experiences, (e.g. shopping for groceries and going to the laundromat). Most of our trips by car include at least one u-turn and we have become accustomed to explaining our behaviour to people we encounter by mentioning that we are not from around here. Interesting times!

By the way, Mother Mother and Hawksley Workman are both playing here over the next few weeks. It'll be a treat to see Mother Mother (I'm curious to see what effect the departure of Debra-Jean Creelman has had on their sound) and am pleased to get another opportunity to catch Hawksley as we had to eat the tickets we purchased for his concert in London which took place a few days after my departure in November. Anyway, we've got our tickets purchased and the routes all mapped out! Can't wait!

How I came to be drinking a Slipstream in Victoria on January 5, 2009

Every new year I try to reflect upon all that's happened over the past 12 months, what's different, what's the same, all that I've done, all that I failed to do, etc. I remember last January the mood of the moment appeared to be complacency. I remember thinking that I had finally reached the plateau of mid-lifeness, where very little would change forever and ever. I could picture myself at sixty living in the same house, with the same job, following the same weekly routine I'd always had. Visiting the same hair dresser I'd gone to for years who might comment from time to time that perhaps I should think about trying a new style, to which I would perpetually reply, 'maybe next time'. Maintaining a tidy wardrobe of classic staples season after season - one black turtleneck, one grey turtle neck, one grey cardigan, five neutral short sleeve dress shirts, black slacks, grey slacks, brown slacks, and so on. Visiting the grocery store every Saturday morning to stock up on the same staple items - boring apples, pasta and tomato sauce that I don't really enjoy eating, brown rice and tofu to mix it up a little.

The scariest part of a static existance is how okay it all seems.

In the spring of 2008 Baasje and I decided, a little out of the blue, to go to Bolivia. A few years had passed since we'd purchased the house, and our bank accounts had recovered sufficiently to make it somewhat practical to assume we could afford a vacation that didn't entail sleeping in a tent every night and cooking all our meals. The decision to go to Bolivia was mainly based upon rumours we'd heard that Machu Picchu (our second choice) was well on it's way to becoming the Niagara Falls of South America, and Baasje's cousin Julia's stories of getting stranded in the Bolivian jungle and having to ford swollen, muddy rivers to reach the nearest village on foot to beg for water and food from the locals. 'It's the hidden gem of South America' she said.

So we flew into La Paz where we spent 2 days recovering from altitude sickness followed by 12 days of being constantly at the mercy of strangers we couldn't communicate with. We had a fabulous time. Since then, Baasje has often remarked how the experience, opened his eyes to the idea that there are many people in the world living an alternate existance - enduring little inconveniences for the payback of seeing the world and experiencing new environments. It was a first time for him, and so many years had passed since I had last experienced it that I had forgotten.

With this newfound/renewed perception of the limitless possibilities life has to offer we returned to Ontario for the summer were I quickly fell back into my old routine while Baasje got shipped off to spend weeks at a time working refractory jobs in the cultural wasteland of Northern Ontario. I was very disappointed when he forgot his camera at the hotel on his last night in Sudbury and so returned home sans pictures to share of his time at INCO. Yes, that's the kind of summer it was.

Insert reflections on very cool trip to Los Angeles here (omitted for the sake of consitency).

Towards the end of the summer, as we braced to bypass autumn and head straight into winter (as has seemed to be the routine in Ontario for the past few years) I was invited to apply for a position at the University of Victoria. With all the fun we'd been having - Inco, turtle necks, apples, etc - it was a bit difficult to decide whether or not we should entertain the prospect of undertaking such drastic change. Once I'd finally made the decison to give it a go and apply, 'just to see what happens' it occured to me that I may as well check around and see what other options might be out there. I discovered there was a position open at Memorial Univesity in Newfoundland working on their website. If you've read my past blog posts you'll know that I LOVE Newfoundland, and Memorial has an awesome website. Unfortunately, the job prospects for Baasje out there are just about zero, so Memorial wasn't really and option. I also noticed there was a web position open at MIT in Boston that I applied for thinking they would never accept and out of country application, which is why I didn't keep an eye out for their response, which is why I missed their invitation to interview.

So a few months later, I flew to Victoria to start a new job at UVic and we decided to sell the house along with most of our belongings to start a new life out west. And here I am in January 2009, hanging out in my comfortable, temporary accomodations drinking a Slipstream cream ale, which is very tasty, fighting off jet lag having just returned from a visit 'back home' for the holidays. It was, by far, one of the most memorable holidays I have had in a while - hectic and wonderful. We cleared out the house, which had been a terrific first home first home for Baasje and I and will be sorely missed (particularly, I suspect, once we reacquaint ourselves with the relatively un-private charms of appartment living), struggled through Christmas colds, and enjoyed too brief and much treasured visits with good old friends and family that I was loathe to part with. The static existance I thought lay before me is now nowhere to be seen and, once again, the universe has proven that I will never, ever have it all figured out.

Thank goodness.

Thank you, Mr. Bus Driver!

There's nothing quite like getting on a bus in a strange city where you don't recognize the streets and you're uncertain of your destination. If you've got an inkling to undertake such a journey, I would highly recommend Victoria as the city to do it in. Why? Well, I never in my life would've expected to encounter such friendly ridership. It took me a a few stops to figure out that just about every second rider was stopping to thank the bus driver as they exited the bus - not from the front, but the back exit, which meant they had to call out across the distance of the bus to express their gratitude. Victorians might take this kind of behaviour to be run of the mill, but coming from Ontario, it seems highly out of the ordinary. Well mannered people riding public transit? That's just plain weird...and very welcome.

I rode the bus down to the Fernwood neighbourhood of Victoria to check out the Rock 'n' Roll Christmas market at Logan's pub. Market at 5pm, music at 9pm, $5 cover in support of an emergency youth shelter program. The market offerings were an interesting mix of Christmas arts and crafts more on naughty as opposed to nice side: life sized rock guitar cake raffle (yum!), hand knit bordello accessories, scull and cross bones holiday cards, and roller skate cookies baked by the 'Eves of Destruction', Victoria's premier roller derby league. I purchased some cards and managed to cross a few names off my Christmas shopping list.

I think I'm liking Victoria so far...

I used to stop into a record store on my way home from highschool to pick up free posters for my bedroom wall

Two weeks ago, I probably wouldn't have had time to sit and blog. Life has certainly slowed down a bit since moving to Victoria. Days in Ontario spent juggling work, family engagements, committee responsibilities, live concerts and social events have dissipated into life in Victoria which at the moment is mostly comprised of getting settled in at the new job, exploring the city, tying up loose ends in London (a bit of a pain in the butt from the other side of the country), a toned down social life, and lots and lots of online music.

My favourite online radio station

A collegue from King's turned me onto SOMA FM about four years ago and it has continued to be my favourite online radio station ever since. "What's not to love about 14 unique channels of listener-supported, commercial-free, underground/alternative radio broadcasting from San Francisco." If memory serves me correctly, he was a fan of their Drone Zone and Groove Salad channels (two of their most popular offerings). I myself LOVE their Indy Pop Rocks channel. Up until recently, Indy Pop Rocks was the best source of new Canadian music. The broadcast served as my introduction to many of the Canadian bands currently in heavy rotation on my iPod including Great Lakes Swimmers, City and Colour and Mother Mother. By the way, I noticed SOMA is also offering two Christmas channels at the moment. If you work in a environment that necessitates the playing of Christmas music at this time of year, I'd say this would be the way to go. They are also in the midst of a fundraising drive. I've already sent in my cheque.

My new second favourite online radio station

CBC Radio 3, you're a solid number 2 in my books! A friend invited me to an Ontario chapter Audio Engineering Society event a few months back given by Peter Cook, Recording Engineer/Producer for CBC Radio 2 who was put in charge of the restructuring of the station along with the launch of CBC Radio 3. Having heard all the complaints about the changes from friends in the midst of getting their music degrees it was interesting to hear him speak about the situation that lead to such a drastic upheaval of their old practices (namely the lack of new listnership amongst younger age groups). What I appreciate most about the process they went through was that they put an old audiophile of the analogue persuation in charge. Nice! The quality of their recorded concerts cannot be beat and their broadcast sounds equally at home playing over my high quality stereo speakers as it does through my laptop speakers. The station turned me onto Chad VanGaalen and Holy Fuck. My only complaint is that it's a bit overdone. I love the web 2.0 functionality when I'm in the mood for it, but sometimes I just want to listen to music - but not always to the same kind of music. Give me choices!

My new record collection

With all our stuff still back in Ontario I experienced a bit of a panic when the flash drive containing all my music was accidentally erased this week. Thankfully a colleague turned me onto favtape.com. The site touts itself as being the easiest way to play music online, and when it works, I'd say they're probably right. More straightforward than predecessors Pandora (which is still not available in Canada) and the now defunct Muxtape, it's as simple as typing an artist into the search and pressing enter. The audio files are pulled from YouTube so the quality is a bit uneven and there are some amature covers thrown into most search results, but all in all it's a pretty enjoyable experience.

Whatever station or service I listen to, each with their own benefits and limitations, I'm these days pretty pleased with the quality of the musical talent that's out there. I spend more money than I ever have on music. Thank GOD the internnet saved the music industry from the glossy, overproduced and talentless corporate controlled purgatory it was sinking into.

First Encounters - Part ll

Top 5 most memorable first encounters with a city or town:

#5 - Victoria, BC, 2008

I don't expect I'll encounter too many experiences like this in my life time. Selling most of our belongings and bidding a fond farewell to a comfy home, job and good friends to move to the other side of the country and start again had the makings of a memorable experience even before leaving the other London. We'll see how this one plays out. For the time being, a little over a week after arriving in Victoria, I find myself waking up in the morning and wondering how I got here...and why it hasn't started snowing yet...

#4 - Rocky Harbour, NFLD, 2003

I'd heard many people say that Newfoundland is the most beautiful place in the world. That arriving there is "just like coming home". Well, I've heard lots of people say similar things about lots of places. It's all relative. Right? I thought so too, until we visited Newfoundland in 2003. It really is the most beautiful place in the world and Gros Morne National Park is the most beautiful part of the province. Unbelievable.

#3 - La Paz, Bolivia, 2008

I expect anyone who's ever flown into La Paz from sea level will know why I've included it on this list. The flight from Miami is an over-nighter that lands at sunrise amidst unbelievable views of the Andes, the red-brown rocky terrain of the Alta Plano and the endless third world sprawl of El Alto. If the beauty of the landscape, the culture shock or the jet lag aren't enough to consititue a memorable experience, the sudden transition to 4,000 metres above sea level will seal the deal. Getting into a cab at the airport with a driver who couldn't understand our Spanish or speak English was kind of fun, too.

It took about two days for us to get used to breathing the thin air. When a Brazilian girl we met on Isla del Sol heard that we had flown directly into La Paz she looked at us in disbelief and quipped, "Are you crazy?" Crazy? Perhaps. In the right place? Definitely. Bolivia is the most amazing country I've ever visited. Hands down!

#2 - London, England, 1994

Without a doubt, April 5, 1994 was the worst day of my life. It's the day that I finally came to understand the meaning of the saying "kicked when you're already down". It's the day the guy I'd become engaged to in a cafe near the Eiffel Tower two days before told me he wouldn't be going to England and I decided to go on anyway realizing too late that he didn't mean he wanted us to part ways - just that he didn't want to go to England. The day I left Paris on a train bound for London, England with about $100 Swiss Francs a maxed out credit card and too much pride to ask my parents to wire me money to get back home to Canada. The day I travelled in the same train compartment with the Smiths from upstate New York who had brought along the bottle of "French wine" from their hotel room fridge that had a twist off cap. After the wine, Mrs. Smith delivered a four hour running commentary of the view out the window as we rode through the French country side while her husband snored beside her. The day I rode a jet-foil for the first time across the Channel and got seasick for the first time. The day the Immigration Officer at Dover almost turned me away at the boarder for having less than the minimum monetary requirement for entering the UK (I don't know if it's still like this but at the time, travellers entering the UK were required to prove that they possesed the equivalent of $5000 USD). The day the friend who came to pick me up at the train station in London, gave me a big hug and told me, "I heard the news."

I thought to myself, how could he possibly have heard? I hadn't even told anyone I'd become engaged. "The news?"

"Yes, Kurt Cobain died this morning. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"


#1 - Victoria, BC, 1990

Driving across the country from London, Ontario to Victoria, BC on the Trans-Canada at 17 years old in a '67 Volvo is most likely the coolest thing I'll ever do.

First Encounters

Having spent a full week in Victoria I felt it was high time I take in the double-decker bus tour that departs twice daily from the Empress Hotel located on the banks of the city's picturesque inner harbour. I expected it would be a good opportunity to get acquainted with my new home city in a compact amount of time. I also realized that, as a resident of Victoria, the window of opportunity in which it would be excusable for me to partake in such an activity might soon close.

Though I'm not completely convinced it was worth the price tag, the one and a half hour tour did provide in-depth knowlege of the architectural merit of some of Victoria's landmark buildings, historic knowledge of the city's more notable neighbourhoods and stunning views of the area's numerous bays. That said, for others in a similar situation I would suggest forgoing the tour in favour of a walk around the downtown area (including Beacon Hill park) and a visit to Craigdarroch Castle.

Over priced bus tour aside, the experience of moving to Victoria has, so far, been a pretty postive one. As cities go, it would be hard not to like it - it's a pretty town, with better infrastructure than similarly sized cities, friendly, laid back inhabitants, and an agreeable climate. I know there are those that complain about the rain, and perhaps I might come to join in the lament eventually, but having come from the snowbelt region of Ontario, I say the weather in Victoria is a bit better than fair to middling. I'd take the drizzle over ice pelets and half frozen muddy puddles any day.

A Summer Song

Well, it's not quite summer, but considering London had a snow day today, I'd say it's relatively close. The weather today was a beautiful sunny 10 degrees. I don't know how long it'll last, but it's a welcome alternative to snow, however brief. My colleagues were lamenting at the cold weather. I walked home for lunch and found it was almost too warm for a jacket.

The list of places I've been told I must visit is getting quite long. Here's the list so far:
Butchart Gardens
Sally Buns
Mount Douglas
Tofino and Ucluelet
Hermann's Jazz Club
Wells Books
Salt Springs
lobby of The Empress
Beacon Hill Park
Micro Brewery tour
Chinatown
etc, etc, etc

And then there are the things B and I have been planning to do for years which include The Pacific Trail the Juan de Fuca and a kayak trip to the Gwaii Haanas. So much to do!

As for the rest, I've been spending the last few days getting settled in at work and am looking forward to getting down to business with some projects tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll have some pictures of the campus, which is beautiful, to share soon.

'Til next time!

The Other London to Victoria, BC

Who'd have thought that you could change planes so many times between Ontario and BC? I'm guessing it's probably not a record, but the flight to Victoria entailed changing planes in both Winnipeg (-4 and snowing) and Calgary (a balmy +4).

The Sutherlands gave me a warm welcome to my new base city upon my arrival at the airport. It was unfortunate I arrived after nightfall as I would've liked to have taken in the sights on the drive into town. I did get a good view of the White Spot where we stopped so I could grab a late dinner. The White Spot!

After spending the last few weeks engulfed in the bittersweet melancholy of clearing house and saying good-bye to good friends and family if feels good to finally be here. I'll spend the day unpacking and exploring. Tomorrow I start in my new position at UVic. So many new things!

SIGGRAPH 2008, Day 5, August 15, 2008 & Venice Beach, August 16

Spent the last day of SIGGRAPH taking in what we could of the sites we had missed. The atmosphere at the conference centre was pretty low-key as the majority of the attendees (I heard one of the conference staff mentioning that there were 20,0000 attendees this year) were packing up and heading home. Finally got a chance to take in the new tech demos. I remembered this was my favourite part of the SIGGRAPH 2006 conference in Boston and had really been looking forward to taking them in. The display area was a bit smaller, but didn't disappoint. Highlights included a dual projector table top, interactive display screen and stop-motion mechanical sculptures (see pics and video posted on Facebook). We also managed to take in the final screening of the animation festival, which was fantastic, and the SIGGRAPH studio. Most of the demonstrations were shutting down, but we got to get a close up look at the work created by some of the artists and developers whose presentations we had taken in earlier on in the week and Cara got to check out some new pens and tablets that were being demo-ed.

It was a little sad to say good-bye to SIGGRAPH 2008. Though it seemed to be a bit smaller (or maybe it was just that the conference centre was bigger?) than the Boston conference, there seemed to be a wider variety of presentations offered. Some themes I noticed being repeatedly mentioned included open source, mapping interfaces, the impact of mobile devices and the melding of technology with more 'human' processes.

We left the conference centre in the early afternoon and took the metro to Hollywood and Highland, which was saturated in hectic and disorienting tourist madness. Cara and I dutifully walked the Walk of Fame, snapped shots of footprints and impersonators outside Graumann's Chinese Theatre and hiked down to Sunset Boulevard for a quick peek before hightailing it back to the hotel.

Today (Saturday) was a much better site-seeing experience. Melissa and Andre took us down to Venice Beach where Cara and Andre surfed. We walked the boardwalk for a couple of hours which was every bit the circus sideshow we expected (wonderful). Then we went to the Pacific Pier at Santa Monica Beach and checked out Jeff Ho's surf shop. Afterwards we went back to Venice Beach for dinner at a Cuban restaurant. All in all, a terrific time.

Pics posted on Facebook:

SIGGRAPH album

Venice Beach

SIGGRAPH 2008, Day 3 & 4, August 13-14, 2008

Well, yesterday was so busy, I didn't even get a chance to post an entry. Crazy! I woke up early yesterday to attend a two hour course on "Spacial Grammars" which opened my mind to the realization that there's more to design than just balancing elements in a frame.

Afterwards Cara and I finished off the rest of the exhibition floor and had some lunch before taking in a three hour class on Computational Journalism. The class discussed, changes in journalism connected to Web and other electronic media including visualization and journalism (graphic representation of interactive graphs and statistics, interactive presentation graphics), policy and process changes, and user generated content. The presenters included representatives from the University of California, the LA Times, Current.com and Wired Magazine. The session focused on many issues associated with the use of new technologies in journalism including, benefits, techniques, resource problems, etc. I took far too many notes to post (sorry!).

After the journalism class, Cara and I dragged ourselves back to the hotel grabbed a quick sushi dinner, returned to the hotel and pretty much collapsed in our beds.

This morning, we woke up and took in a two hour panel discussion titled, "Design and Computation: Craftsmanship". The presenters were mainly artists and designers and architects who spoke about the works they produce (unbelievably beautiful), their use of technology in producing these works, and their thoughts about how their creative process relates to the idea of craftsmanship.

We grabbed some lunch around noon and took in a bit more of the Art and Design Galleries.

This afternoon (at this moment, in fact), I'm attending another three hour panel discussion. This one's titled, "Know Your Legal Rights: A Legal Primer for Software Developers, Artists and Content Creators". The panel is comprised of four lawyers who specialize in patent and copyright for electronically produced media. I've not taking notes as they have given everyone a handy booklet that includes all the presentations and related handouts.

After this presentation ends, we'll high-tail it back to the hotel and get ready for the reception tonight. It's being held at Dodger Stadium (Dodgers vs Mets). Should be fun. I'll post some pics on Facebook.

Whew! Tomorrow's the last day. It's a little sad to realize SIGGRAPH 2008 is wrapping up, but also a bit of a relief. The pace has been hectic and I need a break!

SIGGRAPH 2008, Day 2, August 12, 2008

Another full day at SIGGRAPH! Cara and I attended a 2 hour class this morning on 3D and 2D animation. The instructor, Andrew Glasner, who has chaired the research presentations comittee at SIGGRAPH in the past, took the group through the process of creating a 3D animation film.

Afterwards we met up with my cousin Chris, who is attending the conference as an exhibitor and spent a couple of hours exploring the exhibition floor. I've posted pics on Facebook.

In the afternoon we took in an amazing panel discussion titled, "As the World Turns: Debating and Examing Online Digital Earth Technologies. The presenters included Theresa-Marie Rhyne of North Carolina State University who has been involved in a Google Earth virtual campus project at NCU; Dean Johnson from Western Michigan University who spoke about X3D ( geospacial mapping application) and the development of web standards surrounding geospacial applications; Adam Hill who explained NASA's World Wind Java an opensource application and opensource dataset component, and Michael Jones representing Google Earth who's portion of the discussion was titled, "The Power of the Geo-web".

After the Digital Earth Technologies panel presentation we went back to the hotel and Baasje's cousin Melissa picked us up and took us to "The Groves" (where segements of "The Hills" are often shot) for dinner and some shopping. We finally ate at Chipotle's, which Cara has been itching to do since we got here. Fun times!

SIGGRAPH 2008, Day 1, August 11, 2008

Well it's only day one, but we've done so much already that it feels like it's day twenty. It's a good sign.

Our flight was delayed yesterday so we didn't make it to LA in time for the Sunday pre-check in. Which meant we had to brave the line-ups today (which thankfully weren't too long) this morning.

Once we'd finished checking in we hit the Art and Design Galleries, which are fabulous this year. My favourite piece was called the "Dream Pillow" - an actual pillow that is touch sensitive and, depending on how it is touched (how much pressure, how quickly or slowly) displays a visual representation of a series of dream images. Beautiful. I posted a few pics on Facebook and would've posted more, but the volunteers were pretty tight about keeping an eye out for cameras...

After viewing about a quarter of the Art and Design Galleries (we'll take in more later on in the week). We got into line with about a thousand other conference attendees to enter one of the halls to watch the keynote speech and awards.

The key note this year was given by Ed Catmull, president of Disney and Pixar. Here are the notes I took while he was speaking (sorry they're so choppy).

“The story is the most important thing” – original idea behind success, abstract summary of methodology, became popular/adopted by others, original meaning became lost

Explanation of meaning:

What’s most important, great ideas or great people? – Great people – Pixar's development team switched from coming up with ideas to just putting together teams of people who work well together after it was determined that ideas were better generated by a cohesive production team.

Pixar's "post mortems", evaluation session held with the team upon a project's completion – success depends on ability for all team members to be honest (not deferring to others out of respect, not being polite). For this session to be productive, equal authority must be given to all team members. Not a pat on the back session for mangers to recognize employees' achievements.

How to create a healthy community / how to build trust:

Stronger as part of a larger community, participate, give back – not holding back ideas/resources and keeping them within the organization

Early identification of problems, authority given to all members to “stop the production line”, as a manager, not to have to hear about things before a meeting

Dealing with crisis – as a “creative team” every project being tackled has never been done before, therefore you should not be able to perceive the outcome (e.g. a successful outcome). If you do know the outcome, then it is not creative.

The goal is not to create success but to create pathways for dealing effectively with crisis when it happens.

After the keynote, we spent some time exploring the conference area and getting oriented. Tomorrow's a big day - we hope to take in quite a few events and spend some time on the exhibition floor. Later on in the evening Cara and I be meeting up with Baasje's cousin, Melissa who will be taking us out for an authentic California dining experience (our suggestion). Should be a good day. But first I need to grab some sleep in a big way...'night!

May 23, 2008 - La Paz

Baasje and I are taking a break in La Paz before having to start the journey home. We spent the morning taking in the Folkloric and National Art museums and plan to spend the last of our Bolivianos in the mercado this afternoon. Everything seems so inexpensive, I think I may have a hard time restraining myself. How do you say no to a beautiful hand woven alpaca scarf for $5US, or a huge one-of-a-kind hand woven wall hanging made of naturally dyed wools for $28, or a cozy pair of hand knit alpaca leg warmers for $3, etc., etc.?

In some ways it feels like we´ve been here for months and in others ways the time has just flown by. Between the altitude sickness, polluted city streets, severe sun burns, freezing cold nights in the dessert, and accomodiations with limited facilities, I´ve viewed the most unbelievably beautiful landscapes, encountered experiences that will stay with me forever and met wonderful people who, beyond the hardships they endure in their day-to-day lives, manage to be the most gracious and welcoming hosts. Gracias, Bolvia!

May 19, 20, 21 - Salar de Uyuni and National Reserve Eduardo Avaroa by Landrover

Day 1
Depart from Uyuni
Colchani
Isla Pescado
Overnight in San Juan

Day 2
Depart from San Juan
Ollague Volcano
Canapa, Chiar Kota, Hedionda, Ramaditas
Desert and Arbol de Piedra
Laguna Colarada
Overnight near Laguna Colarada

Day 3
Depart from Laguna Colarada
Sol de Manana (geysers)
Hot Springs
The Valley of Dali
Laguna Verde
Valley of Rocks
Return to Uyuni

We´ve just returned to Uyuni after spending three days touring the Southern Altiplano (3 days travel, 2 nights accomodation and all meals included, cost $95US). The scenery was out of this world and every day seemed completely different from the last. On Sunday it was the endless white expanse of the Salar and the giant catus plants of Isla del Pascado. On Monday we visited an active volcano and three lagunas and entered the red desert landscape that most people associate with Bolivia. Today the geothermic pools and erradic rock formations we visited made it feel like we´d travelled to Mars.

There were seven of us in the landrover - Max and Viviana from Italy, Jess and Jane from Britain, Baasje and I, and our driver, Juan, who had a very dry sense of humour and was a half decent cook to boot. We had a fine time experiencing the rustic charms of back country accomodiation in Bolivia - last night sleeping all together in one room in a pensione near Laguna Colarado without heat and only very basic toilet facilities was particarly special.

Our overnight bus back to La Paz will be leaving in a few minutes, so I´ve got to wrap it up here. I´ll post pics once we reach the city - after I take a long hot shower. Ciao for now!

May 16 to 19, La Paz - Sucre - Potosi - Uyuni

After four days of travel we´ve finally come accross a reliable internet connection, in Uyuni of all places - a tiny stop-over town on the Southern Altiplano. We´re taking a short break here before heading out on a three day land rover tour across the Salar de Uyuni (the world´s highest salt flat lake).

The day after we returned to La Paz from Copacabana we flew to Sucre, a relaxed town with a University feel and lots of beautiful Colonial architecture. We spent the night in a converted colonial manion in the main square and took a taxi to Potosi the next day (2 hour taxi ride, 35 Bolivianos per person, or $5US)

We spent a day in Potosi visiting the mercados. Nearby Cerro Rico mountain once produced enough silver and tin to finance the colonial Spanish empire. Now that the mine has been just about stripped, the town is a strange isolated outpost with streets filled with what was once beautiful architecture.

We took a public night bus to Uyuni (loud and interesting) and are now waiting to go on a tour of the Salt Flats. We´ve heard quite a bit about interesting landscapes and wildlife from other travellers and are looking forward to experiencing the trip first hand.

Now that we´re a bit further off the beaten track we´re finding the language barrier is a bit more of an obstacle but the Bolivians we come across are always patient in assisting us with stumbling through whatever it is we want to say. Perhaps we may become passably competant in Spanish after all...

May 14, 2008 - Yumani to Challampa

The hike across Isla del Sol from Yumani to Challampa was too beautiful for words. Honest. Okay I´m also too worn out after two days of hiking to write up a blog entry. I´ll post pics on Facebook...

May 13, 2008 - La Paz to Isla del Sol

Ate a quick breakfast and caught the bus to Copacabana at 7:30am. We met two Aussies on the bus, Ben and Bret from Sydney who are trying to 'do' six countries in six months before travelling to the UK to look for work and one British woman who has been travelling through SA doing volunteer work for the past few months. Ah, how sweet the song of the open road...

Our guide, Abraham took us a restaurant for a big meal as soon as we arrived in Copacabana. We had the set 'menu' - Bolivian soup, Lake Titicaca trout and bananas and chocolate for desert. After lunch we set out on an pre-Inca trail leading from Copacabana to Yampupata (28 km). HIking the foothills of the Andes for four hours can be summed up in one word, 'breathless' - as in breath-takingly beautiful and as in hiking up and down hills at 4,000 metres above sea level literally takes your breath away.

Our reward was coming to the end of the trail at a pre-Incan stone village with a terrific view of Isla del Luna. We toured the village and the local school with a few Bolivians Abraham was familiar with and their donkeys.

We took a private boat to Isla del Sol at sunset and gasped through one last climb to our cabana. Accomodations and food are superb.

Tomorrow is my birthday. We plan to hike across the island (21 km). It{s looking like the weather will be beautiful and Abraham has promised we'll take it easy on the hills...

3 Days, 2 Nights Copacabana

- Bus and ferry to Copacabana
- Guided pre-Inca trail hike
- Private boat to Isla del Sol (45 minutes)
- 2 nights deluxe accomodation at an eco-lodge
- Hiking tour across Isla del Sol
- Private boat returning to the eco-lodge
- Private boat to Inca ruins and return to Copacabana (1 hour)
- Bus and ferry return to La Paz
- All meals and snacks
- Private guide/translator

$253/per person (we decided to splurge in celebration of my birthday)

La Paz, Bolivia - May 12, 2008

Well, it only took about a day, a dozen asprin and a bag or two of pretzels to finally start pulling out of the altitude sickness haze.

Baasje and I got up today and walked down the main prado to a tourist agency recommended in the Rough Guide. We made arrangements for Copacabana - which we splurged a little on, on account of it being the spot where we´ll be celebrating my birthday - and Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni and the Salar. The flight to Sucre, the three day tour of the Salar including accomodation, tranportation and food and a ´tourist bus´ back to La Paz cost about $150.

We walked back down towards our hostel (Hostal Naira) and had lunch at a place called 100% Natural (sandwhich, papas fritas, fresh squeezed juice and tea for 44 Bolivianos, or about $6US).

After lunch we checked out the witchcraft mercado. The endless stalls, filled with everything from musical instruments to dried llama fetuses were, linked by arched doorways leading into beautiful central courtyards. The Cholo women who tend the stalls wear boler hats, huge skirs and bright shalls. I´ve posted a pic on Facebook. I´ll post more when I get back, but the internet connection is unbelievably slow. It takes about .5 hour to upload 3 pics! (I see what you were talking about, Cara!)

We also took in the Coca museum - too much information to post on the blog, but I will post some pics.

Baasje´s out buying a toque and checking our flight time. When he gets back we´ll go for dinner and then hit the hay early - we´ll be leaving for Copacabana at 7am tomorrow morning.

I´ll check in again when we reach the next place with internet access...

Rick Mercer Pic

Bob, Cara, Karmen and I with Rick Mercer. Taken during his visit to Western on Tuesday, November 21, 2006.

Days 4, 5 & 6 - SIGGRAPH 2006

Day 6

Day 6 at SIGGRAPH 2006 ended up being pretty low key, taking in a few last minute sessions, getting ready to fly home, recovering from the reception at the World Trade Centre the night before.

Took in the "Talk to My Agent Sketches" in the morning, which included a presentation on the Robo Topobo robotic toys being developed by a team from MIT, Hayes Raffle,Laura Yip and Hiroshi Ishii (see image above). Afterwards, hit the exhibition floor and attended Adobe's exhibitor talk on Premier and AfterEffects. Great tools, but I believe I would still go with FinalCut as my application of choice for videoediting.

Day 5

Took in a 90min trolley tour of Boston in the morning. What a beautiful city! I’ll be back for sure! Arrived at the convention center just in time to see the Electronic Theatre (computer animation festival). Afterwards, took in the art displays.

Day 4

Day 4 started out with an interactive documentary workshop presented by Steve Anderson, Research Assistant Professor of Interactive Media, USC School of Cinema-Television. In the workshop we learned to create interactive documentaries using the Korsakow System. Then hit the exhibition floor for a couple of hours before taking in another podcasting workshop, “How to Change the World in Five Minutes” presented by Colette Gaiter, Colette Gaiter, a multimedia artist and Associate Professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Then returned to the exhibition floor. I’ve taken some video of the displays, but the quality isn’t what I’d hoped for, so I don’t think I’ll post it. Anyway, spent some time visiting Google, IBM, Adobe, and more AVID booths than I can count to gather info for work, and Imageworks, George Lucas Studios, Rhythm & Hues etc, just for fun!

Click to view the videos below. The first video is of the Multi-Touch Interaction Wall developed by a team at New York University and the second video is of the fashion show at the Roxy.