On Saturday, I went to the EPIC expo at Canada Place. The main attraction for me was a talk by Adria Vasil, author of a best-selling book I adore called Ecoholic. In her inspiring presentation, she gave us a history behind the book’s development and noted how the green movement was virtually non-existent when she started her column in 2004. Organizers of EPIC apparently wanted to put on this event back then but there was deemed to be a lack of interest in green issues.
Adria offered some great advice and encouragement for greening one’s lifestyle: choose three things every month and do them. No matter how good you are already, you can do even better. My three things? I decided to no longer buy greenhouse-grown produce, I switched to compostable plastic bags for my garbage and replaced some of my soap with a locally-made, more natural product (and it smells divine, too!) Adria emphasized the importance of individual actions and how even little things add up. Case in point: the government’s new green product claims regulation is consumer complaint-driven, meaning it’s up to us to call in and report on products that (we think) are making false claims. So things are looking up, anyway. Adria is very lovely and was happy to sign my Ecojot notebook (I had not brought my copy of Ecoholic).
Continue reading EPIC – Sustainable living expo »
Last night we attended a sold-out rock show. The Foo Fighters blew the roof off the Pacific Coliseum for two hours for what frontman Dave Grohl dubbed “Vancouverpalooza” for the 3-band evening kicked off by two opening acts.
I’ve been to a lot of concerts now and this one was clearly one of the best. A great advantage was in having excellent seats — and as Dave pointed out, even the “cheap ticketsss” were a good deal as about halfway through the show a small, circular stage descended from the rafters to provide an intimate setting for a semi-acoustic set. It began with red lights and eight musicians spread out around the perimeter, facing the audience. A female violinist, in heels and an elegant black dress, danced one way while a guest guitarist danced another. A guest pianist switched to an accordion at one point from the keyboards. It was magical, like a theatrical performance.
Continue reading A night with the Foo Fighters »
“20,000 Cans Under the Sea” by Team West Coast Signals
If you haven’t checked out this amazing event yet, you still have tonight (til 8 pm), Saturday (10– 8) and Sunday (10–5) to get yourself down to the Cruise Ship Terminal at Canada Place for Canstruction Vancouver 2008.
I’m very proud to announce that on Monday night at the Awards Gala, Team West Coast Signals (Signals Design Group and Coast Paper) took home the coveted Graphic Designer’s Choice Award (local) AND an Honourary Mention at the Nationals! We worked very hard to achieve this and are all quite excited. More at the Signals blog including a time-lapse video and great team photo displaying John’s fabulous t-shirt design. (You’ll see I’m not in the photo, as I was at the Northern Voice conference on the final build day.)
See photos of previous years’ sculptures (since 2003).
So get on down, bring your friends and family, and be sure to have your cameras ready!
Some months ago I wrote about Canstruction® Vancouver‘s new website and mentioned the event this spring. Well, it’s coming up next week and teams are getting ready to make this an awesome competition and exhibit. I’m eager to see how our team’s sculpture stacks up against the others! (Har har har.) This year’s theme is Books & Bytes, so expect to see some of your favourite characters or scenes in a dramatic new way.
Public exhibit:
Sunday February 24th to Sunday March 2nd
Cruise Ship Terminal at Canada Place
10am – 5pm Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed
10am – 8pm Thu/Fri/Sat
Please bring your cash and food donations to help out those in need. See you there!
Join the group on Facebook and invite your friends to make this the most successful Canstruction Vancouver ever!
Rail for the Valley will be at Gateway debate: a public Forum on Sustainable Transportation for the Fraser Valley presented by UCFV’s Environment Club.
When: 7:00pm Wednesday January 23
Where: Room B101 (Lecture Hall) University College of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Rd. Abbotsford
Debate format + Q&A. Speakers include:
– Abbotsford/Clayburn MLA John van Dongen
– Nathan Pachal, of VALTAC and the Rail for the Valley campaign
– Transportation expert Stephen Rees
– Jim Houlahan, VP, CAW 111, representing 2000 bus drivers
– David Fields, Society Promoting Environmental Conservation
Join students, faculty, politicians and the community for a spirited discussion on transit issues in the Fraser Valley. Bring your questions and concerns.
Come and support the Rail for the Valley movement!
I’m excited to note that buttons I designed will be handed out at the event. There are two different styles, “collect them all.” Wear and share your support: take a few extra to give to your friends. If someone asks you about yours, offer it to them and explain you have another one at home. Tell them about the campaign. Let’s spread the message!
Canstruction® Vancouver has had their website redesigned and the fun, new site is now live! Highlights include image galleries of canstructions from their 5 annual events. The next one happens February 24th – March 2nd, 2008 at Canada Place.
Canstruction® is an international event to support local food banks. Teams led by design professionals, architects, and engineers build amazing sculptures from full cans of food. The Vancouver event benefits the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, to which all cans used and donated are given. Join in the fun and support this great cause! Get involved by joining or entering teams, attending the exhibit, volunteering, or becoming a sponsor. See you there!
A funny little coincidence, perhaps? A classmate from my social studies course on blogging posted about a particular talk at Northern Voice 2007. It’s called “Why do we blog?” Presenters are Darren Barefoot and Alex Waterhouse-Hayward, two Vancouver bloggers and professionals. The funny thing about it is that I visit Darren’s blog regularly, so a familiar name was a pleasant surprise. (I’ve had NetNewsWire closed more than open for the last month, however, to concentrate on my studies, so my activity everywhere has been more sparse lately.) Darren will talk, among other topics, about his research survey results. Please take his survey about blogging. You could win a prize! More information about the event(s) at the Northern Voice website. It’s missing a link to Darren’s blog.
UBC
Saturday, February 24th
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Room 2
