Hummingbird604.com

Free concert at Robson Square by Yuca

Raul — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:34:46 +0000

I was roaming the streets of downtown Vancouver with Emme Rogers after the opening of the House of Switzerland, and we ended up staying at Robson Square to catch a little bit of the concert that Yuca offered as part of the Cultural Olympiad. We only stayed for a couple of songs but we were lucky that we were able to score a couple of CDs. I really like Yuca’s music, it’s a bit on the hard-rock side of things, but seeing as it is a local band, I’m always looking forward to attending more concerts and supporting our local talent.

On their website, you can download 3 tracks in MP3 format, which I strongly recommend you to do.

The Olympic Line Streetcar

Raul — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:29:56 +0000

I was invited as part of a small group of bloggers to go and test-ride the Olympic Line Streetcar, which takes people from the Olympic Village Canada Line station to Granville Island (although, in my opinion, it’s kind of ridiculous that it doesn’t go all the way to, at the very least, Main Street/Science World Skytrain station – the tracks are there, so it’s not like it can’t go all the way).

I couldn’t make it to the launch, but on separate occasions, I’ve had the chance to ride it. First, with the delightful Emme Rogers as we were making our way to False Creek for one of our routine walks, and second, with my dearest friend JT, who really wanted us to do this very short trip (we did the Streetcar in the summer of 2009, so it was kind of a coming-back-to-our-roots kind of small trip). While I find the ride extremely pleasant, it’s really short. I really can’t see a good reason why we cannot extend the Streetcar to go all the way to, at the very least, Main Street/Science World Skytrain station. I also don’t really want to return it to Belgium, it’s such a cute tram!

Overall, I had a great time, and it’s fantastic that it’s free entertainment and transportation for Vancouver visitors and residents alike. It will be operating 18 hours a day, 7 days a week between January 21st and March 21st, 2010.

Viva El Cine Mexicano at Pacific Cinémathèque Feb 10th to 21st

Raul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:55:29 +0000

I was recently walking by the corner of Broadway and Main and all of a sudden, I stopped on my tracks. I saw a poster, written in perfectly good Spanish, “Viva El Cine Mexicano” (Hooray the Mexican Cinema). I stopped in my tracks and wondered “what is this?”. It wasn’t until I read that it was presented at Pacific Cinémathèque, that I figured that this might be a joint production of VLAFF and the Mexican Consulate in Vancouver. I wasn’t wrong. I have always had really great relationships with the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (I covered the festival last year), and recently I’ve started to talk more to the Mexican Consulate.

I figured I’d highlight this very worthy event. Given that the Vancouver 2010 Olympics will be well underway during a few of the days of the duration of the Festival, I wonder if the attendance might skyrocket. If that’s the case, I would strongly encourage you to get your tickets for this festival soon.

Mexican cinema (particularly in recent years) has experienced a renaissance. This particular event commemorates 2 big milestones in Mexican history, the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence from the Spaniards and the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. The Viva El Cine Mexicano festival will offer a broad variety of excellent movies:

The program showcases works spanning 75 years of illustrious Mexican cinema. Included are classics by Emilio Fernández, Fernando de Fuentes, Luis Buñuel, Paul Leduc, and Arturo Ripstein; two celebrated films dramatizing the Revolution, de Fuentes’s El Compadre Mendoza (1934) and Leduc’s Reed: Insurgent Mexico (1973); and key films by some of contemporary Mexican cinema’s most important and acclaimed directors, including Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, Carlos Carrera, Dana Rotberg, Roberto Sneider, María Novaro, and Carlos Bolado.

Many of these artists are represented by their debut or breakthrough works. Five of the films screening here won the Ariel Award (Mexico’s equivalent of the Oscar) for Best First Feature; seven received the Golden Ariel for Best Film. Our exhibition opens with Jorge Fons’s multiple-prize-winning Midaq Alley (1995), which may be the most honoured Mexican film in history. We close with Carlos Reygadas’s extraordinary Silent Light (2008), one of the great films of current world cinema. (Silent Light also screens this January/February cycle in Pacific Cinémathèque’s “Best of the Decade” program, as do additional features by both Cuarón and del Toro — some measure perhaps of the ascendancy, in recent years, of Mexican filmmakers to a place of true international prominence).

All screenings at Pacific Cinémathèque (1131 Howe), $ 9.50 single bill, $ 11.50 double bill. The cost of tickets is really inexpensive, and for the quality of movies they’re showing, really worth it. I encourage all my readers to check at least one of the films of this fantastic festival “Viva El Cine Mexicano”. I will inquire with the VLAFF office to see if I can have some tickets to giveaway. If that’s the case, I’ll update the post and run a contest.

UPDATE – VLAFF and the Viva El Cine Mexicano Festival have given me TWO double passes to El Compadre Mendoza on Thursday, February 11 at 7pm. I’ll draw a winner on Wednesday February 10th at 1pm. To enter the contest, simply drop a comment on this post. I’ll draw two winners, one per each double pass. Have fun!

The League of Kickass Business People event – Get in the Game

Raul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:22:19 +0000

This past Thursday, I attended the League of Kickass Business People event “Get in the Game”. Erich Buchegger invited me and I joined Jay Catalan, one of the co-founders of The Network Hub, as well as numerous participants (we had a full house as The Network Hub was the space sponsor for the event). Jenn Lowther was an excellent bartender for the evening, and Eric hosted the evening.

From the invite:

Are you interested in what the next generation of business development, communications and marketing looks like? Are you interested in how the business model in your business could radically change? Are you interested in a silent revolution that is already happening around you, that uses that latest in technology, in psychology that finds recruitment and engagement easy?

We’re talking about bringing together the bright eyed and grizzled veterans who need and want to move ahead. This is an event that challenges computers to be more powerful, that makes the average website look like last year’s news, that’s makes traditional market research look boring, that teaches people without people thinking they are learning.

FEATURED PANELISTS

Steve Bocska
Steve is President of Pug Pharm Productions Inc., a company focusing on social networking online games. Steve is the past lead designer, producer, and executive producer at Disney Interactive, Black Box (E.A.), and Radical Entertainment respectively, and past-President and CEO of Hothead Games, winner of the Canadian New Media Association’s award for “Most Promising New Company of 2007”.

McElroy Flavelle
McElroy has been making games for 22 years. He is the CEO of Compass Engine, a company creating the tools and services that will allow developers to build the next generation of location based games.

Ian Clark
Ian runs RealSpace, a local interactive 3D studio that utilizes video game technology to train people. This can range from simulating life threatening situations to everyday tasks.

Victor Lucas
Victor is creator, executive producer and co-host of “The Electric Playground”, creator and executive producer of one of the world’s first High Definition videogame TV series “The Art of Play” for Gameplay HD, and creator and Emmy-winning executive producer and host of “GameTap News”. Over the years he’s worked with partners including Activision, Sega, Kojima Productions, Bethesda, Disney and Warner Brothers.

Mark Magnusson
Mark is a User Experience & Creative Consultant with Magnus Media. With a 15 year career in digital media, Mark has helped clients win awards from the World Media Festival, Popvox Awards and The Webbys.

I enjoyed all the presentations, but I was most impressed with RealSpace, particularly as I think it’d be rather applicable to the work of Preventable. All the speakers were from the videogame industry, one that I rarely have any interaction. It was nice to see several of my friends, including Jose Gonzalez from Tourism BC, Victoria Revay, the kids of Design Vetica and obviously, a few of the entrepreneurs of The Network Hub, as well as Mark Busse. Some of the my photos of the evening are here. Overall, it was a great event, very informative, and I gained some really good insights.

Timbre (Commercial Drive)

Raul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:00:53 +0000

Both Emme Rogers and me have resolved this 2010 to do more exercise. As you may have noticed, I’ve mentioned on this blog before that I recently decided to start swimming again. I’m building my cardiovascular strength and resistance again and thus I really need to do as many walks as possible. Recently, Emme and I have been walking around the Commercial Drive neighbourhood and have found ourselves in the proximity of Timbre.

Located on Commercial Drive and about 5th Avenue, Timbre is a cool bar/restaurant. I was a bit disappointed with how loud it got. We arrived at 5pm, and it was ok, we didn’t have much of a problem to find a seat (it was not packed). The drinks were strong and well served, in fact Emme’s Caesars looked like lunch in a glass. Very tasty. I was quite impressed with the quality of the mojito they serve at Timbre.

We didn’t stay there for dinner, but for the drinks, it was good. I wasn’t impressed with how loud it got, but come to think about it, the whole bar seems to be sports bar/”come watch the hockey game” kind of place. So, if that’s the vibe they want to give it, good for them. I might swing by back sometime soon.

Prioritizing tasks

Raul — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:23:20 +0000

photo credit: Andy on Flickr

The beginning of the semester has proven extremely challenging for me. It’s been a long while since I’ve taught 2 undergraduate courses and 2 college-level courses. I’ve struggled this week to stay afloat. My class sizes are relatively large compared to what I was used to, and even though I had spent a substantial amount of time preparing for this new semester, I still haven’t had much time to breathe. This got me thinking…

What productivity tip can I share on how I’m adapting to being on top of my teaching, my consulting, my research AND all the additional (volunteer) work that academia brings (like peer-reviews for journals, giving feedback to my fellow researchers on draft papers, etc.) – well, I prioritize tasks.

For example, I hadn’t given much priority to blogging or social media events these past few weeks. I figured that, if it was a case of “if you don’t write about this the opportunity will be lost” I would have needed to make the time. But for example, there are some events that have happened this week that I’ve been invited to and that I would need to attend to start ramping up again my blogging and my involvement in social media.

But now that the first few weeks of teaching craziness are almost over and that the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics are right here, my plan is to get back on track with my daily, 3-5 blog posts. I will definitely not be able to attend many media events, but those that I do, I plan to give my very best. I have also prioritized attending theatre and art performances (I’m a big supporter of our local theatre/dance scene) and of course, my dancing and my exercising. So, now I’m shifting priorities again. Hope this helps you!

Pivo Public House

Raul — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:15:57 +0000

A few weeks back, Lorraine and I found ourselves walking back to our respective places by foot, and we walked right past Pivo Public House. We had been meaning to visit this bar for a while so we thought “heck, why not stop for a drink”. Frankly, I was very impressed with the place, until… I found out it had three big flat screens, like for hockey games. And while Pivo Public House is sophisticated and has great decor, and fantastic music, I was fully disappointed. It’s not that I don’t like hockey. It’s the fact that a posh bar is looking forward to become a sports bar. That’s what I can’t really stomach.

The place is gorgeous and the drinks are reasonably priced (the night we went there were beers at about 50% which also made me very happy). The ambient music is great, and the service is friendly. But … the flatscreen TVs. That’s what really does not excite me. I would come back to Pivo, but I’d make sure that there’s not a hockey game.

You Are An Idealist

Raul — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:35:37 +0000

I find all these BlogThings quizzes really entertaining, and since I hadn’t been able to blog in a while and lately I’m picking up the pace again, here is the one I found most entertaining – the 3 Questions Quiz.

Your Personality Is Idealist

You are a passionate, caring, and unique person.
You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals.

You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily.
Your heart tends to rule you. You can’t make decisions without considering feelings.

You seek out other empathetic people to befriend.
Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships.

In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily.

At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career.

With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone.

As far as your looks go, you’ve likely taken the time to develop your own personal style.

On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours.

The Three Question Personality Test

Work is Hard. Time for Blogthings!

The Well (Main Street)

Raul — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:04:10 +0000

This past weekend, I was invited for brunch by two of my closest friends in Vancouver. My friends K and L and I have been friends for over 14 years, and we have a really strong bond. Our brunch group grew in size up to 6 people (sometimes but as time went by, people moved away from Vancouver. However, K, L and myself have always maintained our friendship strong. Sharing a meal is one of the best ways for us to catch up and make some time for ourselves.

L decided to try The Well (which I thought I had tried before for dinner). When we arrived (all of us were punctual) at 11 am, there was already a line (for a Sunday brunch spot on Main Street, this doesn’t surprise me). I wasn’t really impressed with the long wait (over 20 minutes). But I will have to admit that the waitress was extremely prompt with taking our orders and delivering the food fast.

There are numerous places where The Well can improve in their brunch experience. They need to make it explicit to their potential customers that they take reservations (we saw people who arrived after us, getting a table before – apparently, this was because they had reservations). I was also unimpressed with the fact that my friends had to request refills on their tea water (the server could have brought a teapot and just refill the hot water). Overall, the service was less-than-stellar.

But the food… OMG the food. I ordered scrambled eggs with ham and toast (The Well Breakfast, $ 9.00). The eggs were done almost to perfection (I would say they have tough competition with Crave on Main, but they really make very, very good food). The portion size was very generous. The fruit salad that accompanied my brunch plate was fresh and abundant. The flavors in The Well breakfast aren’t complex, as it’s pretty much scrambled eggs with ham, but it’s a really good breakfast. I can’t complain at all.

Overall, I’d give The Well a good grade for brunch and I would give them a try for dinner. But they really have to up the ante on the service. I’d recommend you check it out. It’s pretty much on Main Street between 14th and 15th Avenues.

A Vancouver Blogger central directory

Raul — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:36:24 +0000

Last Wednesday, when I was sharing my PR tips with The PR Group, I was asked whether there was a central directory of bloggers in Vancouver. I pointed them out to my good friend Rebecca Bollwitt’s link love page, which is perhaps one of the most comprehensive ones I’ve seen around. I felt really bad because I was going to move my blogroll to a Link Love page and never got around that. So, as you can see on my right hand sidebar, I have resurrected my blogroll while I get around to moving it to a links page.

Furthermore, I would like to create a directory of local Vancouver bloggers. Those of you who can find yourselves on my blogroll, don’t worry about leaving a comment. I already have you there. But those of you who are not, by all means feel free to drop a comment on this blog. I will be creating a directory for Vancouver (and British Columbia) bloggers. I am, after all, the Vancouver Blogger Meetup Organizer.

I also offered my knowledge of the local Vancouver bloggers to any PR people who needed suggestions on which bloggers to pitch (as I know most of them), but to save my time, you can also refer to this resource. I might find a Google Documents way that may make it easier, but for now, commenting is fine. Feel free to re-tweet this post and share with anyone you know who blogs in Vancouver.

And those of you who weren’t on my blogroll, don’t feel slighted – It was mostly defunct! Now I’m resuscitating it.

The Way It Used to Be (Pet Shop Boys)

Raul — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:02:22 +0000

I have been a loyal fan of the Pet Shop Boys for a long time now. I share this addiction to their music with two of my good friends, Timothy and Stacie (two of the best Blip.fm DJs you can find!). Timothy recently blipped the excellent song “The Way It Used to Be” that is included in the 2009 PSB album “Yes“. I was immediately hooked.

This song, while extremely poignant, is also incredibly dance-able. That’s one of the amazing abilities of the Pet Shop Boys. Neil Tennant is a musical genius. Chris Lowe is a fantastic musician as well. Tennant’s vocals are haunting, soft and moving. The sounds of “The Way It Used to Be” are definite trademark PSB. A bit of an undertone of their previous hit “It’s A Sin” seems to be embedded within this song.

As you may recall, I am a storyteller, a visualizer and someone who lives by his Kodak moments. The images that came to my mind as I was walking towards the bus loop on my way out of the university and listening to “The Way It Used To Be” were me and my partner discussing taking different pathways and me pursuing my career as a scholar of international and comparative environmental policy, while my partner decided to take off to continue studies of Japanese history. I’m not saddened by the break-up anymore, and The Way It Used to Be doesn’t bring me any negative emotions. It’s a beautiful, haunting song that I could dance to and/or listen to for hour.

Video below (from YouTube) and lyrics underneath. Hope you enjoy them.

The Way It Used To Be (Lyrics, Pet Shop Boys)

I’m here… you’re there
Come closer… tonight I’m lonely
Come here… with me
I want it… the way it used to be

What is left of love?
Tell me, who will even care?
So much time has passed
I’d still meet you anywhere
Water under bridge
Evening after day
What is left of love
Here that didn’t drift away?

I can remember days of sun
We knew our lives had just begun
We could do anything, we’re
fearless when we’re young
Under the moon, address unknown
I can remember nights in Rome
I thought that love would last,
a promise set in stone

I’d survive with only memories
If I could change the way I feel
But I want more than only memories
The human touch to make them real

Another day, another dream
Over the bridge, an empty scene
We’d spend the weekend lost in
bed and float upstream
I don’t know why we moved away
Lost in the here and now we strayed
Into a New York zone, our
promise was betrayed

I was there, caught on Tenth Avenue
You, elsewhere with Culver City blues
Then and there I knew that I’d lost you

What is left of love?
Tell me, who will even care?
So much time has passed
I’d still meet you anywhere
Water under bridge
Evening after day
What is left of love
Here that didn’t drift away?

Don’t give me all your love and pain
don’t sell me New York in the rain
Let’s leave our promises behind
Rewind, and try again

What remains in time
That didn’t fade away?
Sometimes I need to see
The way it used to be

Relationships in PR – My pitching tips

Raul — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:46:07 +0000

photo credit: Ethan Hein

This past Wednesday, February 3rd, I was invited by Sara Pereira (Pereira PR) to join Jenn Lowther (6S Marketing) and Curt Cherewayko (Business in Vancouver) to share my thoughts and experiences from the blogger perspective to The PR Group (a meetup Sara has been organizing)

This group has been meeting since last summer, and it’s geared towards public relations folks. The idea of Wednesday evening was to engage in a conversation through a question/answer period on how PR folks can conduct better blogger relations campaigns.

I recall 2008 as “the year of blogger relations”. At least, that’s what I saw from my liveblogging of several events where other influential bloggers spoke about how they got pitched (and in some cases, the strategies they used to pitch other bloggers). I have been on both sides of the fence. I’ve conducted blogger relations campaigns AND I have been sent pitches. In the past couple of years, as my readership has increased, I’ve been sent more and more press releases, getting to the point where I receive up to 100 PR-type emails a day (thank you GMail for your filtering and labels features).

I shared a few of my own thoughts/insights and given that I wasn’t feeling all that well (this week has been challenging), it’s kind of difficult for me to re-summarize them. But from what I can recall I said at the event, I spoke about my pitching policies and a recent post I wrote about how to pitch me (and what mistakes to avoid).

One element I emphasized is know your client’s audience – I was making the case that for theatre companies, it is probably more relevant to get a blog mention than it is an ad on a newspaper or a review on a weekly. People go online to find tickets to the events they want to go to. The same applies to restaurants, everyone looks for online reviews. For example, I *know* for a fact many reviewers in traditional media and I disagree on our assessments of restaurants. So, I pretty much never read those reviews.

Another element I emphasized was build a real, offline relationship with bloggers. I told the audience that (as almost everyone knows), I’ve decided to dramatically reduce the volume of my public appearances to focus on my own development (and obviously, my teaching/research/consulting). The reason I accepted to speak at The PR Group meetup was because I knew Sara in person and we’ve had a good working relationship as well. Given my super busy schedule, I could have said no, but the pre-existing relationship I have with Sara mediated my decision.

The third element I touched on was make the blogger’s job easy. I receive dozens of pitches that are so bad I could publish a whole blog with examples of failures. Lack of personalization/customization, PDF versions of press releases, etc. This is particularly true in the case of boutique PR companies, which by definition are based in more client-focused.

I was asked to provide some suggestions as to what to do/what to avoid. From my pitching policies post and my “Pitch Me” post, here’s a compilation (a little bit blended from both posts).

- Read my blog. That means, read at least a few entries (5-8). Realize that I write about a very broad variety of things (restaurants, local businesses, environment, theatre, dance, my personal life, product reviews).

- Don’t pitch me with a generic “Hello” or “Dear Hummingbird604″. My name is Raul. It’s clearly written on every entry. Try to personalize it as much as you can. You may even want to use the first paragraph of your pitching email to customize it and make me feel appreciated and read.

- I have Acrobat Reader, but given the volume of requests I receive to write about stuff, you’d make my life 3 times easier if you provided me with text that I can just cut-and-paste. Easy peasy.

- Photos – it’d be fantastic if you could send me links to Creative-Commons-licensed photos from the get-go. Makes it easier for me to insert in my entry.

- I receive hundreds of emails a day. If I tell you “yeah, I’d love to write about this but I may forget” – please follow up. I won’t get mad if you send me three emails. Trust me, I’m way more understanding than people think. And don’t be disheartened or disappointed if I don’t write about your play/event/dance exhibition/performance/resort/restaurant/etc. I do keep a file of those things I do want to write about and things that I wish I had written about but didn’t have enough time to do so. One of these days, you’ll score a home-run!

- Pitching me via Twitter works only if you send me a personalized email to follow up. I receive hundreds of @ replies every day. I can’t recall everything even if I want to.

- Pitching me usually works well when you email me on a day that I will be having some time to write. For example, Tuesdays are usually my flexible days when I do book time to blog. So, pitches that I receive by Monday night, are usually well received.

- Ticket/freebies/giveaways are great ways to promote your client’s business. I am always more interested in giving tickets away than receiving complimentary tickets myself. Of course, if you invite me to review your play, it does help to set aside tickets for my review, but I find that my readers love freebies, and sponsoring a contest usually is a very good promotional tool within my blog. Full disclosure – I will be disclosing ALWAYS who sponsored the ticket giveaway.

- Make sure that you understand that I’m very transparent and open and keen on disclosure. I write fairly long paragraphs about who pitched me, what I’m giving away, who sponsored the giveaway, etc. (for a couple of examples, see my reviews of the HP Canada printers and my printer giveaway). Even though the FTC regulations only apply to US bloggers, I’m a big overdiscloser, so be aware of this.

EDIT – Another key point I just recalled that I made was to give every blogger you pitch a different angle. This is particularly important if you pitch several influential bloggers who may share a bit of the same audience. So, for example, pitching me environmental stories is a good idea, as that’s what my research and teaching are about. Pitching me new restaurant openings, theatre/dance/arts performances is also good. When a film festival approaches me, I usually pick the environmentally-focused films. That way, I can provide a different angle to my fellow bloggers.

At some point, within the next week or so, I think I will be publishing a refined version of this post as My Pitching Policy. Jenn and Curt also shared very good points from their own perspective, and overall it was a great event. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or drop a comment on this post.

World Cancer Day 2010

Raul — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:23:31 +0000

Yesterday, February 4th 2010, was World Cancer Day. I thought about writing a blog post on the topic for most of the day, but I couldn’t really stomach doing it. If you have read my blog, you’ll know that I’ve lost 3 of my closest family members to cancer. You may also know that a very dear friend of mine, Derek K. Miller, is currently battling cancer.

One of the most important people in my life, my Mom’s sister, the woman whom I called my second mother and the one I bought flowers, cards and a gift on Mother’s Day (in addition, obviously, to my Mother) succumbed to lung cancer on February 1st, 1999.

This week marked 11 years, and I am still scarred by the passing of my auntie. Normally, around the beginning of February, my mood is somber and punctuated by a desire to be (for the most part) alone. But I also realize that part of my duty is to overcome my own pain and loss and raise awareness of worthy and important causes, and one of them is World Cancer Day. From the campaign website:

Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world. WHO estimates that 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015 without intervention. Each year on 4 February, WHO supports International Union Against Cancer to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer. Preventing cancer and raising quality of life for cancer patients are recurring themes. This year’s theme, “Cancer can be prevented too”, focusses on simple measures to prevent cancer

Despite a challenging week, I’m very pleased to share the good news that my friends Derek and Airdrie shared yesterday – Derek’s tumors have shrunk for the first time ever (which, as he said, “I’m not out of the woods, but at least I’m no longer sinking slowly into quicksand either”. In a week that begun with a lot of sadness and pain, triggered by the anniversary of my Auntie’s passing, Derek’s news were just fantastic, and I’m really happy. The week is ending well.

The Mount Pleasant Community Centre

Raul — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:07:07 +0000

Pretty much anyone who reads my blog knows that I live in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, in Vancouver. I am a big promoter of where I live for several reasons. First, I find it incredibly accessible. I live within walking distance (less than 5 blocks) from three of the major bus routes in Vancouver: 3 Main/Downtown, 8 Fraser/Downtown and 19 Metrotown/Downtown. Second, I find Mount Pleasant absolutely great. It is a very lively neighbourhood. I actually think it is true that Fraser may quickly become “The New Main”, and as a matter of fact Main Street is a wonderful, happening neighbourhood. Third, I love Mount Pleasant’s character.

I have written about many restaurants and other amenities around my neighbourhood, but I had been a tad remiss in showcasing the brand spanking new Mount Pleasant Community Centre, which was re-deployed from Ontario and 16th Avenue to the corner where Kingsway, Main and 7th Avenue all converge.

The MPCC has fantastic, modern and well-equipped facilities, although I’m 100% sure that residents do miss the outdoor pool (I hope someone saves it!). I am a member, and I exercise in the fitness centre. For a quick overview of the MPCC and everything that they offer you can read up more on this link.

Starting February with challenges

Raul — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:28:34 +0000

February is a month that is usually plagued with challenges. Not from the perspective of academia itself (my courses are well underway) but more from a personal viewpoint. For those of you who don’t read my blog with such dedication, let me inform you that February 1st, 2010 marked the 11th anniversary of my Aunt LJVL who passed away of sudden lung cancer. For that very reason, February is usually a challenging month for me. The wound is still fresh.

Also, my dance card is quite full. While I still haven’t published the post that announces that, for the period covering the Olympics in Vancouver 2010, I’m open for business (e.g. yes, feel free to send work opportunities my way, if and only if they’re paid!), I’m already almost over-committed and over-booked (in the social realm, not the business one, yet!). So, please understand if I haven’t returned your email and/or written about what we agreed on, I’m very busy with some personal matters. Mourning losses is never easy.

Mink Chocolates Cafe (Downtown)

Raul — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:25:50 +0000

Given the geographical proximity to both my downtown office and the college where I teach, it was kind of surprising that I hadn’t visited Mink Chocolates Cafe, in downtown Vancouver. Located at 863 West Hastings Street, (cross street Hornby), Mink Chocolates Cafe is tucked in the little park that you need to walk through to get to Canada Place. I really love this tiny park and I fell in love with Mink.

My friend Chet Woodside (CosmicBlend) invited me to to have a hot chocolate there, and I have to say that it was absolutely delectable. As a Mexican, I’m a bit of a chocolate snob. Chocolate, in case you didn’t know, doesn’t come from Belgium nor is Belgian chocolate the best (I should know, but I probably would get into a debate with my good friend Eagranie Yuh who writes The Well Tempered Chocolatier). The cafe is very cozy and well decorated, looks rather stylish. I will definitely have to come back again, although to be quite 100% honest and frank, I find the portions for the chocolate fondue a bit on the short/skimpy side.

I haven’t ordered the fondue just yet, but just from the looks of it, I think I’d end up hungry. I kind of like the chocolate fondue sets where you eat lots of different fruits and dip them in the chocolate sauce. At any rate, I do think I’ll have to come back sometime soon. I do know they have a Valentine’s Day thing planned, so I’ll have to ponder if I come back for the event.

Glowbal Grill (Yaletown)

Raul — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:35:39 +0000

Today my friend Liv Hung (A Beautiful Life) took me for lunch to Glowbal Grill (we hadn’t had a chance to catch up for a long while and it was long overdue). I was invited to their re-launch but unfortunately, that night was one of those that I got invited to like, six different things (I think I ended up choosing to attend the Social Media Club Vancouver organizational meeting. I’m glad Liv chose Glowbal Grill, as she really liked it and it seemed like it was going to be a very good lunch. Liv was completely right. Glowbal Grill *is* great. We arrived a little bit earlier than our reservation (12:30pm) but the host wasn’t fazed at all.

The host greeted us warmly, even though the restaurant was very busy and quickly led us to a high table. We ordered a couple of satays (I loved the meatball one) for appetizers and I ordered the giant shrimp linguine. I am a big fan of Italian cuisine and I eat pasta quite frequently. I have to say, I would have this dish for dinner again. Yes, it’s THAT filling.

The portions are very generous and I think they are fairly priced. The linguine had jumbo tiger prawns, tomato, oregano, capers, all of these flavors that I really enjoy. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauce was to-die-for. I am betting that if Glowbal Grill wanted to add a rottini a la puttanesca or a capellini a la amatriciana, both dishes would be quite popular (at least, with ME!).

I think that the price for the linguine is fairly reasonable given the range ($17), and I think this month they have a 50% discount for lunch. I am SO going to have to come back again! I’m really grateful that Liv took me out for lunch to Glowbal Grill because I would probably have not visited any time soon (seeing as I spend most of my time now in the downtown core and at UBC, teaching!)

The excitement about the Apple Tablet

Raul — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:42:24 +0000

You’d need to be living under a rock (or not be involved in the tech community) in order to avoid the conversations online about the upcoming potential announcement from Apple Inc. about their release of a new product (a tablet computer, apparently).

I asked on Twitter what the relevance of Apple’s tablet was. Several of my friends who responded emphasized the potential for the tablet to revolutionize the way we do computing. I will admit that my iPhone has really increased dramatically my productivity and eased my professional and personal lives. I can even answer questions that my students ask on-the-go.

I do find Apple’s products incredibly expensive and perhaps a tad overpriced. However, I recognize that they have a lot of very powerful features. I just wish their products weren’t out of my budget reach! But, seriously though, I think I want to know exactly what people are looking forward to. I would publish a summary of the tweets that I’ve received in response, but I’m heading out the door for lunch with a friend, so while I’m out, have at it on the comments section!

Pitch me

Raul — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:30:57 +0000

This is one of those posts I’ve been thinking about writing for a really long time now (ever since I started running contests, giving away stuff that is sponsored by local and sometimes, not-so-local businesses and highlighting local stuff, from the Metro Vancouver sustainability breakfasts to local theatre productions, to restaurants I have eaten at or bars I’ve had a drink). The problem is that this year I have had way less time to blog than I used to in 2008 and 2009. This year also marks the deadline for many of my current writing projects (including 3 academic books and a lot of journal articles that are in my pipeline).

The above said, I still want to be able to contribute to the promotion of local events, non-profit and charitable causes, businesses, etc. Therefore, here’s a quick, top-of-my-head list of pointers for those of you who are interested in having me attend your event, review your tech gadgets (or iPhone apps), promote your charitable cause, etc. In other words, all of you who pitch me in one way or another.

- Make your promotional materials cut-and-paste-easy. I have an insanely limited amount of time now for my blogging, so the easier you make it for me to craft a blog post based on your email, the better. Pre-shrunk URLs, pre-formatted HTML code also do wonders for me. Creative-commons-licensed photos also make my life easier.

- Try to personalize your message when pitching me. I write about sustainability, social media, restaurants, theatre, tech gadgets, all the while maintaining this blog as primarily personal. So, it doesn’t hurt to read one or two of my “Popular on HB604″ posts to make yourself acquainted with what I write.

- Don’t feel disrespected or disheartened if I didn’t write about your event/cool gadget/online platform. If it doesn’t happen this time, it is likely it will happen some other time. The same applies to whether or not I can attend your event. As I’ve said earlier, my availability this 2010 is extremely limited. That said, I am fully committed to participate in the events I RSVP to.

- Pitch me on the days that I am most likely to write. I teach at the university Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and at the college on Thursdays and some Saturdays. This means, I need to prepare lectures at the very latest 24 hours before my lecture. Usually, Tuesdays are my “I have a day to work on client stuff, research, blogging, social media, so I need to catch up on everything” days. Thursdays are also rather busy in the afternoon, but I do have some time to catch up in the morning. It is rather likely that if you pitch me by Monday or Wednesday nights, I might be able to get to it on Tuesdays or on Thursdays.

I will think of more stuff for my guidelines (if my fellow bloggers or loyal readers have any other ideas, I’d very much welcome them).

On shared values and beliefs

Raul — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:28:49 +0000

photo credit: ibkod

I have conducted research on environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) for over a decade. I have studied the mobilization strategies and tactics that these ENGOs use and I have criticized the literature that argues that transnational networks of ENGOs are unified by their sharing of values and beliefs. Interestingly enough, this weekend I had a chance to reflect on this topic. From an empirical research standpoint, it’s hard to find and present compelling evidence that two people (or two organizations) share the same values and beliefs. Most of my research has found coalition-building a rather strategic process (e.g. organizations that come together because they have a joint objective or goal).

But when I think of myself and my friends, I find that the glue that binds us together, the link that strengthens our bond is precisely, a sharing of common values and beliefs. Perhaps not all of them, and not all the time, but we share at least a core. My friends and I (and in particular, my close friends) share the common belief (and value) that friendships must be cultivated and worked on. That spending quality time with friends is important.

What do you think? Food for thought for a Monday morning…

On bandwidth and commitments

Raul — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:13:22 +0000

photo credit: Philippe Put

Since I returned to university-level teaching, I have noticed how little time I now have to do everything I used to do. I continuously tried to convince JT that I was Superman and that I would still maintain the same level of commitment to social media events that I had had in 2008 and 2009. I have recently found myself sending emails containing the word bandwidth.

More explicitly, my emails have actually included the phrase “I have very low bandwidth at the moment”. Knowing me, my readers and close friends must be surprised I actually have had the will power to say no to new commitments, invitations and events. I’m the guy who loves to support each and every single cause. I’m the guy whose trademark is to show up to every single social media event, even if for only 42 seconds (like the hummingbird). But since I made a commitment in 2010 to focus on myself, I’ve found that I need to make it explicit that I don’t have the time nor the energy to attend every single Meetup, Tweetup or event.

It’s just one of those things. I have heard the word ‘bandwidth’ a lot in the tech community. It is used to portray the amount of energy or capacity you have to do stuff. Right now, my bandwidth is very, very, very low. And I don’t foresee that’s going to change any time soon. Particularly, when it comes to volunteering to do stuff for free (paid commitments have a different priority, as you may imagine, simply because I have a crippling debt that I have to pay – so I do pay more attention to stuff that comes with a budget attached!)

Even when stuff comes my way and it’s paid (or will be paid), I need to make a conscious decision and assess whether I can take the assignment on or not. It happened to me at the end of last year, when I just had to focus on my current clients, research projects and classes. This year, I have a few clients and proposals in the pipeline. To those, I have committed time and resources. If I tell you I can take you on as a client, as a graduate student, as a mentee, I *know* I have the time and energy to commit to that. And if I say that I will show up to your event, I will, come hell or high water (as I did with Third Tuesday). But if I can’t commit, I will clearly say “sorry, I don’t have the bandwidth at the moment“. I think that’s the most honest approach.

Note – I had been thinking about this topic for a long while now and then Allie published this excellent post that is totally related so you should also read it!

Two slices of pizza and a pop

Raul — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:00:44 +0000

I’m always puzzled by the most disparate questions. Not long ago (e.g. one post ago) I was pondering the virtues of social media in crime prevention. But this post, I’ve been really itching to write for a long time now. You’ll see, I’m not a nutritionist, but my minor in undergraduate (Chemical Engineering) was Food Science. So I’ve always had a soft spot for food (and more importantly, food technology).

I did take a course in Human Nutrition, but it was so long ago that I really don’t remember much. So the question I often ponder is why are lunch combos mostly 2 slices of pizza and a pop?. It seems to me as though two slices of pizza is just about the amount of food that would satisfy someone for lunch (and even perhaps for dinner). This may sound like a totally stupid question or point to ponder, but I’ve always wondered. Or for example, why are other combo’s like Tim Horton’s “bowl of soup and a piece of bread” or “bowl of soup and a sandwich”?

Does anybody ever stop to ponder this? (I know, there’s a lot of suffering in the world and I feel even a tad embarrassed to be writing about this, but it’s a question I often ask myself, particularly as I teach undergraduates and it seems as though many of my students would grab a slice of pizza or two and a drink for lunch.

Can social media help prevent crime?

Raul — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:58:54 +0000

photo credit: RyAwesome

I am a very frequent public transit user. In this blog, I have criticized the regional transit authority (Translink) rather frequently on several accounts. However, I can recognize some of the positive changes that Translink has brought about. Personally, I think of the Transit Police as one of them. Having members of the law enforcement civil service patrol buses and Skytrains does make me feel safer.

I frequently see fights break out on the bus (late at night, and in particular in the routes I take heading home). I also periodically see people board the bus through the back doors (this is only legitimate in 3-door bus stops, like the 99 B-Line and on Skytrains). I have been, on more than one occasion, tempted to take a photo now that I’m equipped with an iPhone, and submit it to my Twitter account (also known as ‘TwitPic’ – although I use Tweetie and YFrog, actually, instead of TwitPic).

There was a long debate on Darren’s blog when he wrote about a tweet he sent and that Sgt. Tom Seaman from the Transit Police caught and responded to. I have to add that I met Sgt. Seaman in person when I gave a talk on social media along with my friend Rebecca, at the Senior PR Communicators Roundtable last November. I follow Tom (Sgt. Seaman) on Twitter and I had a chance to have a brief chat with him after Rebecca’s and my talk. I know he’s trying hard to engage in a conversation with the public. I commended him on trying to have this conversation, and told him I hoped what Rebecca and I shared at the Roundtable would be of some help.

I haven’t even begun to think about the potential legal implications of my TwitPic’ing fare evaders and/or potential crime-committers, but since I sit on the organizing committee of Social Media Club Vancouver and I like asking myself interesting questions, this was one of those that I think are worth asking. Can social media help prevent or solve crimes? I think this is a rather interesting question, along with the legal conundrums of possibly violating other people’s civil liberties by submitting pictures of them breaking the law to any kind of social platform. I will admit, this just came to my head this morning so I haven’t fully thought it through, but I want to initiate the conversation.

What do YOU think, my dear readers?

On rebranding myself

Raul — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:43:48 +0000

Today I had one of the weirdest feelings I’ve ever had in my life. For the first time in a LONG, LONG TIME I felt the strong need to publicly emphasize and publicize that I have a PhD in the face of people. Never had I felt this strong, gut-wrenching feeling of frustration. There is one particular tweet that triggered it, and it was one that wasn’t even sent to my personal Twitter account, but one sent to my research twitter, coming from one of the environmental non-governmental agencies I follow, EcoJustice.

@raulpacheco you should chat w Dr. Elaine MacDonald, our resident toxics expert – her latest Great Lakes toxics work: http://bit.ly/7ShjU9

This tweet, completely and utterly safe and decent, sent me into a really intense internal debate on whether I should delete my personal accounts for Twitter and this blog (ok, and I will admit it also made my blood boil). For those of you who *don’t* know, I’ve conducted scholarly research for over 10 years on environmental policy. I have been one of the first scholars who have (successfully) compared information-dissemination policy instruments in North America (Canada, US and Mexico). I am one of a handful of academics who studies the way in which countries, regions and municipalities govern their wastewater (most of the researchers on water focus mostly on water scarcity). I am one of the very, very few researchers who have studied urban and industrial restructuring and their environmental consequences in an integrated framework. AND I have a PhD. I studied hard and conducted rigorous empirical research to get that little piece of paper. So when somebody sends me to talk to “Dr. So and So” about toxics, clearly I’m doing something wrong. Because I *am* an expert in toxics policy. I have 10 years of research and the publications to back this up.

Admittedly, I rarely tweet about my research on my personal account. And I’m pretty sure many people who started following me on my personal account are sometimes puzzled as to why I don’t post more about my own research and my teaching. While I’m a very versatile man, it does irk me when people see me as “just a blogger” or “a media outlet”, or even “a popular Twitterer”. I need to do something about this, and the more I think about it, the more I think it needs to be shutting down completely this blog and my personal social media presence.

Julien Smith at Third Tuesday Vancouver liveblog

Raul — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:13:44 +0000

Tanya Davis, a very close friend of mine and someone I absolutely love, asked me if I’d be willing and able to liveblog tonight’s Third Tuesday Vancouver talk by Julien Smith. Julien is the co-author of Trust Agents with Chris Brogan, and someone I think is a very good thinker.

So, I agreed to liveblog this event. I will be integrating the tweets if you tag them with the hashtag “3tyvr”, but for the most part, the talk will be liveblogged using CoverItLive. The liveblog won’t start until 6.30pm or so, when the actual talk start, so don’t be surprised if your tweets aren’t included until then.

UPDATE – Justin Carlson sent me a link to his high-definition video of Julien’s talk. If you couple this with my liveblog, I think you have a fairly spectacular summary of the event. Thanks for this, Justin!

Julien Smith 3Tyvr

(01/19/2010)