Canadian Thanksgiving

I am aware that some of my close friends are having an early Canadian Thanksgiving. Last year I spent it with HZ and CS, as well as a few other friends.

In previous years, my PhD supervisor invited us all for Canadian Thanksgiving. This year, I think I’m going to probably have to attend at least one dinner, and I’ve noticed that it’s not as relevant to Canadians as American Thanksgiving is to Americans. So my question to you is… what are YOU doing for Canadian Thanksgiving?

Music review – Mayday (M’aidez) by People in Planes

I had the great fortune of watching the Welsh band People in Planes live in May of 2008 at The Biltmore Cabaret (right around a very stressful time for me) and I kept trying to find the video or the MP3. Luckily for me, someone uploaded this song on to YouTube so now you can enjoy it (and yes I love People in Planes, as I do Death Cab by Cutie, The Darkness, The Smiths, and a few other bands that aren’t as “fluffy” or pop as the majority of the music I listen to!)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFihHYuCmco&hl=en&fs=1]

Restaurant review – The Kings Head (Kitsilano)

While I have gotten to a point where more and more I only eat brunch at my trusty Nice Cafe or Rhizome or Crave on Main, once in a while I have to get out of my comfort zone.

This past weekend was one of those times, as C, B and L asked me to meet them at The Kings Head. I have had brunch here before, and one time I must have come here for drinks. It’s inexpensive, although I have to admit that even though I got a “Beggar’s Breakfast” (I think that’s the spelling), I didn’t feel as full and satisfied as I usually do at The Nice Cafe.

The place’s decor is quite eclectic, with lots of wood and each booth is marked (some booth’s names are “Mexico”, “Nova Scotia”, “England”). Very cute place, good service (prompt), the eggs, sausage and toast were about the same as you would get anywhere else (although I have to say that still my favorites are Nice Cafe and Crave on Main, with Rhizome a very, very close second).

It was nice to venture out of my own comfort zone and head down to Kitsilano for a change, but with so much work, I had to come home really early (bear in mind that the weather has been horrible so, really, who wants to stay out? I certainly don’t).

Helping those in need – John Chow’s matching donations for UGM’s Thanksgiving Dinner and Rebecca Bollwitt’s Third Tuesday Food Drive

John Chow does know very well that I don’t blog for money, but that I’m always up for joining forces when it comes to social media for charity and social change. Thus, I was very happy when I saw that John was engaging in raising funds for the Union Gospel Mission ‘s upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner on October 13th, 2008 (which by the way is a kick-off for Homelessness Action Week). John is going to match every donation made to the UGM dollar per dollar up to $ 1,000.

As you may all recall, Rebecca and Duane Blogathoned for the UGM, and their campaign received a big boost at the end of the campaign thanks to Matt Good. Their collective all helped raise thousands of dollars for the UGM during Blogathon 2008. The UGM is a really worthy cause and it’s great that all these awesome bloggers have raised funds for them, so I’d encourage you to do the same.

And while we are at it, please also consider contributing to Rebecca’s Third Tuesday Food Drive. She is doing this for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society , and I’d like to encourage my readers to donate non-perishable items (you can bring them to Third Tuesday).

I’ve been thinking of what can I contribute (in addition to highlighting the events and contributing with as little or as much money/non-perishable goods as I can) and I thought of throwing in a little something.

I haven’t yet thought of what else I can contribute, but I am guessing I could throw in a free, beginners, 2-hr salsa lesson for the largest contributor to both fundraising efforts — how’s that? Would people be interested in learning how to salsa dance? (I’ve taught this stuff already, so trust me, you’re in good hands). Or I could enter all participants who contribute to any of the two causes in a draw for the lesson?

At any rate, I would encourage you to contribute, remember, every bit helps.

Reminder – Comedy Night on Wednesday Oct 8th for Team Diabetes

Just a quick reminder that the comedy night that Tanya is organizing to raise funds for Team Diabetes takes place on Wednesday! Please remember to register directly through EventBrite! It’s on Wednesday October 8th, at 8pm at The Jupiter Cafe. It’s for a good cause, raising funds for a cure for diabetes!!! More details on her blog, including a $500 cash giveaway!

Greening caffeine consumption?

Photo credit: Ianiv and Arieanna on Flickr

Recently, Arieanna wrote a post about implementing more ecologically-friendly measures in coffee shops. I actually was very happy that she touched on this topic, as I used to consume a lot of coffee (not anymore).

Although I had thought about some measures (e.g. using my refillable coffee mug, not accepting paper cups, not using those little bags of sugar), I hadn’t really paid all that much attention. But Arieanna’s post reminded me that it’s important to reflect on these issues. And one of the commenters on her blog pointed her out to Agro Cafe on Granville Island.

I haven’t had a chance to visit, but I might just drop by sometime soon, if for no other reason, because the commenter (Jeff) mentioned that Agro Cafe had already implemented lots of sustainability measures. I’m curious to see them, and I’ll write about them soon.

Video as a tool to effect social change – An example from Giant Ant Media

I was just looking at a video that Jay Grandin, Leah Nelson and the rest of the Giant Ant Media folks created for the Ronald McDonald House, one of their clients. Quite impressive, and really sweet. It made me remember a recent post by Rebecca where she pondered on the reason why we blog and why we like to use social media to effect change.

I’ll admit that I’m the first one to brag about the power of my blog to effect social change. When I first started blogging, I did it just for kicks. Now, I feel confident that with the combined power of my blog, and those of my friends in the blogosphere I can help people. For example, recently I’ve been highlighting fundraisers that my friends Tanya and Kulpreet have been organizing. I also raised a few hundred dollars through Blogathon, in 2007 for A Loving Spoonful and in 2008 for the BC Cancer Foundation.

I will definitely have to look into ways to integrate more video into my portfolio, and maybe use it to galvanize people into contributing to several of the causes I’m passionate about. For example, Blog Action Day is coming up and the theme is poverty. Homeless Action Week 2008 is also coming up (Oct 12-19th) and I might be auctioning some stuff (hoping people will bid on it!)

To all of you who are in the new media realm who are working hard to help those less advantaged than us, I salute you.

EDIT – Duane has a link to the actual video embedded on his site so you can check it out here.

I just wanted to add one bit of my personal life to this post. A few years back, I spent 24 hours straight (yes, as in no sleep at all) creating three 3-min videos of chemical processes that we were highlighting for an Annual General Meeting. It was really hard work (I used Adobe Premiere for that one) and I sincerely can tell you that creating such compelling, well-designed and created video as the one you’re going to see is REALLY HARD WORK. I speak from experience.

Off the grid (and guest posts!)

I have a deadline for a project I need to get done pretty much ASAP, and therefore I will most likely be unable to blog (and/or do Twitter). I do have some content that should be queued (thank you WordPress for time-stamping posts!) but in general, I’m pretty much not going to be able to blog (at all, or at least as frequently as I usually do). But I’m always accepting guest posts (since I’ve been a frequent guest-poster on other blogs, and also recently with Blogathon 2008 I had a LOT of great guest-posters who wrote amazing content). Feel free to contact me (best way is probably leaving a comment on here or sending me an email). In the mean time, don’t forget about me y’all out there! 🙂

Overextending yourself

I am no one to speak when it comes to overextending and over-committing myself. I work really long hours and try very hard to complete all my projects and meet my deadlines. But I do know that sometimes I commit to way too many social engagements and in spite of being an extrovert and gaining energy from interacting in social situations, I also get physically exhausted.

I was just talking on the phone with one of my brothers and he sounded incredibly exhausted. All my brothers work really, really hard (it runs in the family I guess), but we all promise that we will try to find balance. I think that this has been the toughest point for me. What do you say NO to and what do you say YES to? I live to the fullest, and I sometimes suffer to the same extent. But I always try to find that elusive point where there is balance in my life. I have proclaimed before my intent to shift my lifestyle, and for a while there, I’ve been somewhat successful.

The past couple of weeks have been crazy (and the upcoming weekend seems like it too), and in some ways, I think it was a mistake for me to take on so many events and agree upon so many activities on the first week that I arrived back in Vancouver. However, it’s Friday and I feel well, as I have not over committed myself.

Every so often I post one of this “yeah I’m going to stop overextending myself” and sometimes I can’t help but do it still, but I’m working on it. At least I didn’t do anything this week.

In the grand scheme of things

I have nothing to complain about. I am just annoyed at the fact that things aren’t going my way right now. I am very blessed for the great friends and life I have, I am just complaining a little bit because of the nasty weather (and my upstairs neighbours). But as I joked on Twitter, desperate times require desperate measures – I’ve opened the box of lovely German chocolates that my good friend HZ and his fiancee CS brought me. And some rooibos tea. I hope this brings my mood up. If only my upstairs neighbours stopped being such jerks and make so much noise.

The Boston Pizza experience

A few months ago, Jordan Behan and Ryan Ashton told me about the upcoming launch of Boston Pizza’s new re-designed website. Unfortunately, with my travel to Mexico I couldn’t really participate in any of the pre-testing of the website, but I’m glad that Jordan brought the new site to my attention. Strutta was involved in the redesign of the pizza carousel that you can see on Boston Pizza‘s webpage (by the way – you could win one year’s worth of pizza if you enter!).

I like the new website, the carousel looks very nice. One thing that I noticed was that once you focus on one particular type of pizza, the rest dim and you learn the name of the pizza. Very user-friendly (if I say so myself, I’m not a user-interface specialist but I do like it!). Check the website and enter the contest – you might win one year’s worth of pizza!

Politics 2.0 – Data and research methods (and Twitter)

I briefly saw a little segment by Susan Ormiston on The National (the night news) where she explained what has been going on Twitter. She has teamed up with Dr. Greg Elmer from the Infoscape Research Lab at Ryerson University. I hadn’t heard about them (although I kind of think that Dr. Elmer was here for Cossette Convergence/VIDFEST — but then again remember that I am not really a tech/new media/social media researcher (like danah boyd or Frank Stutzman). So I should be cut some slack 🙂

However, as a researcher and a scholar, I kinda like to know the research methods when I examine a project. Given that I do social media as a hobby, but still look at it from the research perspective, I was kind of taken aback when Susan was explaining that Twitter was “sort of a micro-blogging platform” ( I know I’m being nitpicky, heh 🙂 ).

They (and by they I am meaning Greg and his team) implemented a tracking mashup “OrmistonOnline” and its corresponding website where they were tracking the Canadian politicians debate that happened tonight (with Stephen Harper, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe – I hope I didn’t miss any candidate!).

I saw part of the debate, and I was kind of taken aback that at some points, the leaders weren’t really very polite to each other, interrupting each other. But I digress. My point of this brief post was that I’d be interested in seeing a global mashup (e.g. not only tracking with the hashtags #ormistononline but tracking for all and each one of the candidates).

I also saw some really neat graphs on television, and I’d be interested in knowing the methodology behind them. I must say that I like the approach of surveying new media on the part of mainstream media. As I have said before, bloggers and journalists both have a role.

And *geek alert* Greg Elmer’s website is powered by WordPress.

The challenge of Halloween costumes

So, my friend Karen Parker is already deciding on what she’s going to wear for Halloween this year (and I’m really amazed at what she wore last year, I think it’s going to be hard to match!).

I haven’t really thought of what I’m going to wear for Halloween. In previous years, I’ve been “The Death” (dark cloaked guy) and “The Mad Hatter” (with purple hair) but lately, I haven’t really thought very much about what I want to do. I could do a “Geek” costume (with the Technopathy geek t-shirt from Think Geek)

Not sure what to do – so the question is out to you – what do you recommend for MY costume? And have you decided what YOU are going to wear? To avoid spoilers and copycats, you can instead answer – what have you worn in previous years?

Arieanna’s Go Global talk at UBC liveblog

Arieanna is presenting at the UBC Go Global week on a workshop on “creating a dynamic travel blog”. Her slides are MUCH better than what my liveblog could be, I’m just going to write a few tips as I capture her talk.

– Setting up a blog that is general and then add some travel content – has more longevity.
– Choosing your URL, setting the blog & its design
– Learn the tools (add posts, photos, links)
– Choose a photo-sharing service (like Flickr)
– Set up your design
– Use WordPress.com (hosted, super easy, you can customize it, everything works really easily)
– You can upgrade later to WordPress.org
– You can use Facebook, there’s definitely a role – you can set up your blog to update both Facebook AND your blog/photo sharing accounts.
– Travelpod.com – (I had NEVER heard of this and it’s so awesome!) – Search engines are not very efficient apparently but it’s a nice service.

What to write about

– Your experiences, not your itinerary
– Give a story or talking on the phone – talking to a person
– Don’t go on so much about stuff – be careful about things that you say (and potentially could regret).
– Spellcheck – look for grammar
– If you are out of ideas on what to write, write about what you ate (really! food is very popular)
– It’s very valuable for people (your readers) to write about your stay as well (where you stayed, was it good, was it expensive/pricey)
– Make sure to link to restaurants, hotels, etc.
– Maybe try to socialize with people (local bloggers) – they might take you around

Your writing
– Writing style – smaller paragraphs, shorter posts, spell check.
– Pretty it up – use images, bold words
– Link – linkages to people/places/restaurants/hotels, etc.

Photos
– Not all the photos end up online (neither on the blog nor in the photosharing service)
– Find a peculiar element
– Rule of thirds – when you’re taking a photo of a person, put it in one of the thirds of the photo.
(one of the students just exclaimed “I wish I knew all of these tips before!” – I think that’s a measure of success, Arieanna should be proud :))
– Upload all your photos online so that you can have a backup.
– Help your readers “visualize” what you’re enjoying/experiencing.
– You can embed slideshows in your blog.
– You can blog directly from Flickr (“Blog This”) because it will do it for you (and it’s really easy to set up).
– Creative Commons (I raised the issue because you could upload photos on to your blog, but if you put them on Flickr, you can actually indicate the licensing scheme) – we are very social, and it’s very nice to have your photos seen somewhere else.

What NOT to post online

– Where are you staying.
– Your phone number.
– Revealing photos.
– Anything you don’t want a future boss to read.

Questions – I might have missed a couple

Advice for people who already have a bunch of photos (say from Europe) – Choose ONE photo and build a story around it, and then just link to your whole Flickr set.

Restaurant review – Shin Ju (South Granville)

Located at the corner of Hemlock and Broadway, I’ve had dinner at Shin Ju more times than I can recall. This was my sushi joint when I lived in Fairview Slopes (also known by some as South Granville), but it’s only until recently when JT and I had dinner there that I recalled how much I like their sushi. Contrary to other inexpensive sushi places (this is inexpensive to medium-price range), Shin Ju’s quality is MUCH better.

A tray for two can easily be purchased at less than $24 dollars (or at least that was the price I got last time) and it is both very filling and tasty. I love their california rolls, in particular, and their nigiri. Their take-out is pretty fast, compared to others. I probably would come back here all the time if they had a special night as Kishu Mountain does (40% after 7pm) but since they don’t, I come here less often (only when we are on our way to Fairview Slopes).

I would be very happy recommending Shin Ju to sushi connoisseurs since I am pretty sure they’ll like it, and it’s great value for the money. I probably would put Shin Ju up there with Sushi Maro or maybe slightly better, and somewhat inexpensive.

October – National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Because of my association with the BC Cancer Foundation (my Blogathon 2008 efforts raised money for the Foundation), I periodically get their newsletter, and I was informed recently about the fact that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As many of my readers may know, my mother lost both her sisters to cancer (although not breast cancer).

However, for this very reason, I am always very adamant that Mom checks herself up, including doing regular examinations to prevent any possibility of breast cancer. I would like to encourage my female readers to learn how to do a breast exam. Early detection highly increases the chances of survival, and I’m told (since I am a male and I don’t have a way to know this by experience) that the exam is really easy.

The importance of voting in American, Canadian and Vancouver elections

One of the areas where my mother does research is in electoral studies (however, she studies elections in Mexico more than anything, although lately she’s been interested in Canadian elections). She was mentioning how important it was to galvanize people and make them want to go and vote.

It’s true that many, many people refuse to vote because they don’t think that their vote is going to count. I was reading some statistics on how many people have voted in recent Canadian elections and I recall a figure hovering around 64% or so (of the whole electorate).

The most recent election for President was the most contested in Mexican history and I can assure you that one of the reasons for that was precisely that a lot of the people who many people thought wouldn’t vote did indeed cast a ballot.

Even though I’m not American, I’m pretty darn sure I have American readers (and of course, Canadian) so I’d strongly encourage you to register to vote. Hat tips to Steve Jagger who tweeted this video (source: YouTube) where lots of US movie stars encourage viewers to vote.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaRXvRwhOk&hl=en&fs=1]

Upcoming events – Skytrain Security Unconference

My friend Karen Quinn Fung is helping Translink organize the Skytrain Security Unconference this coming Saturday. Unfortunately, I have a gazillion things to do, so I won’t be able to attend, although it would be great if people did, particularly because this is a first attempt by Translink (as far as I know) to reach out to people using non-traditional media (aka social media).

I would understand if people brought up issues beyond the scope of the actual unconference (like, you know, issues with regards to transit police, or the need for more Skytrain wagons, etc.) but it would also be nice if people stayed on track. I also would like to note that while I have great expectations for attendance, I wouldn’t be surprised if not many of the people who SHOULD be attending didn’t attend, particularly because of potential issues related to liability, secrecy and confidentiality. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people who may not be in a position of power within Translink that should be talking about these issues of security and stuff.

Overall, I really would like to encourage my readers to attend and wish Karen all the best with this endeavour. I also would like to ask if any of you attend, please fire me an email and I’ll reproduce your notes (fully credited of course!) here if you want. Or just drop a comment here or on Karen’s Skytrain Unconference blog (linked above).

Restaurant review – Britannia Sushi

There are perks to hanging around The Drive (otherwise known as Commercial Drive). One of them is that you can get any kind of food almost within any price range. I roamed south of Broadway trying to find this sushi joint — “I swear I saw a place with sushi for $ 4.50, I swear!” I said to myself.

Then I saw Britannia Sushi. I remembered vaguely that this was the place I was looking for, so I entered even though the price was just slightly higher ($ 5.50 for sushi special, which is either the lunch box with chicken, rice and a sushi roll, tempura and a bit of salad, or the sushi combo with california, tempura and tuna rolls).

I had the lunch box even though in hindsight I should have had the sushi roll special (18 pieces and miso soup for $ 5.50). Let’s be honest, this is not going to be THE best sushi, but it’s inexpensive. Unfortunately, as my friend ML said, the sushi DOES stay with you. I feel like I’m about to slip into a food coma.

For what it is, I’d say Britannia Sushi gives you kind of value for your money. Just don’t expect gourmet sushi. It’s sustenance, as one of my good friends would say. And the great thing is – it’s close by to anything on The Drive, so you can finish your food and walk around. I wish the sushi was a bit lighter on my stomach, but then again, maybe I should have ordered only sushi rolls.

I *am* an academic

Photo credit: Roland on Flickr.

I had a lovely day today (well, yesterday since it’s Wednesday by now) where I finished editing two journal articles (one approved for publication with minor revisions and one for peer-review), doing a peer-review of a journal article (which I rejected as the article was horrendous) and managed to do a couple other errands and have a lovely meeting with Robert Ballantyne.

During our meeting (where I gained a lot of insights), he emphasized one thing. He said “well, you ARE an academic“. And it’s true. I’ve been trained as an academic. I look at things, phenomena, stuff through research-trained eyes. My heart jumps when I publish another journal article, when I share my research in conferences and present papers, when my students graduate, when I write letters of reference for them for graduate school, etc. And I absolutely love, love, love teaching.

I live, breathe and eat research and teaching. Well, I have. The past few months, I have sort-of-abandoned the research field. Well, maybe abandoning is not the right verb. I still do research and I still have presented at conferences (like this summer) but I’m not as active as I used to be and I haven’t been able to keep up with the literature on some of the areas where I’ve done research.

By the time September came, I already had lined up 3 or 4 conferences for the following year, and I already knew my travel calendar for the fall. This time, I think I’m only doing 2 conferences in total in 2008. That’s really, really very few conferences and talks for my standards (although I seem to recall that I may have not presented anything around 2002).

However, the past few weeks (particularly since I’ve been back in Vancouver) I’ve started to come to terms with the fact that maybe I’ll have to keep blogging and social media as a side, instead of fully incorporating it into my portfolio. I need to get back to my research portfolio and find ways to expand my output in such a way that I can apply my recently acquired social media skills to my academic pursuits.

Today, as I was talking with Robert (and later in the evening with my brother A, who is a tenure-track professor right now) and in previous weeks with my good friends HZ and Beth Snow, I *do* love academia. It’s the family business (Mom, 2 of my brothers, myself).

Now this doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop blogging or that I’ll shift much the focus of my blog. I may blog more infrequently but not stop fully. I may incorporate more of my research into my blog writing. This is just a quick reflection on what I think will be the future for me.

Biodynamic wines and sustainability – The Farmstead Wines

Last week I had the pleasure of having lunch at Salt Tasting Room and enjoy for the very first time some of the Farmstead wines . Despite the fact that I missed VinoCamp (due to overcommitments) I heard rave reviews, so I was looking forward to a taste.

On my Flickr set, Sean Orr (of Beyond Robson’s Morning Brew fame) was kind enough to describe each one of the platters we were offered while at Salt (thanks Sean, very much appreciated). One additional bit of information he kindly added was the fact that Farmstead’s wines are all biodynamic .

In previous posts I’ve talked about eco-vodka, but I had never tried biodynamic wines (well, up until I met Anthony Nicalo). What is the relevance of a wine being biodynamic , you may ask? Well, according to the Wikipedia entry, biodynamic agriculture entails:

Regarded by some proponents as the first modern ecological farming system, biodynamic farming includes organic agriculture’s emphasis on manures and composts and exclusion of the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants.[Wikipedia entry on Biodynamic Agriculture ]

Farmstead Wines are certified. I had a chance to have a few glasses of different wines not only at Salt but also at the BarCamp Vancouver 2008 party at WorkSpace . Great flavor, and I definitely feel more environmentally conscious as a result. Admittedly, I’m more of a sweet wine kind of guy, but that’s not to say that I can’t have a glass or two of a more dry wine, particularly if it’s environmentally responsible and socially conscious!

Gay-bashing on Davie Street? What’s wrong with this city?

I hate any kind of bullying or bashing, but a gay bashing is one of those hate crimes I simply can’t stomach. It’s amazing how much safety is taken for granted anywhere, and how religion, sexual orientation or race can create such amazing divides. We are all human beings, whether we like it or not. I hadn’t heard mention of this until my good friend JT mentioned that tae-kwon-do training may come handy when it comes to having to deal with this type of attacks.

I was reading some of the CTV online coverage and given that these stories indicate that frequently bashing victims fail to report these crimes, I would like to commend the victim (Jordan Smith) for coming forward. And encourage those who have been victims to raise their voice.

It’s somewhat frustrating that so much progress against homophobia has been achieved, yet public safety seems to be compromised in what is supposed to be the safest area for queer people (Vancouver’s West End). This should definitely be an issue that should be covered in the upcoming municipal election – how is public safety going to be enhanced? Tougher laws against bashers? I don’t really know.

This unfortunate and sad event really reminds me of how much sometimes we actually do need superheroes (the first thing that sprung to mind when I read about this was the movie “Super-Amigos”, a Mexican Canadian production that aired during the 2007 Vancouver Queer Film Festival). And those who come forward when being victims of crime (any crime, really) are also heroes. Kudos to you Jordan, and to everyone else who has reported these horrible incidents.

Missing the actual BarCamp Vancouver 2008

So I woke up feeling really ill the morning after the BarCamp Vancouver 2008 reception at WorkSpace. I was at first thinking “um, maybe I will try to go a bit later” but I just didn’t feel well at all and decided to stay home. Normally, and knowing me, everybody would have expected me to fight my state of unwellness (not because they would WANT me to but that’s what normally I do, even if I don’t feel well, I still attend events). This time I thought it was best for me to just take care of myself. I am sorry to have missed WordCamp, PhotoCamp and the rest of the sessions, but I am sure everything went really well even if I wasn’t there.

At BarCamp Vancouver 2008

Well, after 3 hours of food prep we are almost ready to launch BarCamp Vancouver 2008 with the social.

Current charitable events

As you may have noticed, I removed the “stickiness” of the charitable events that my friends are organizing. This was a temporary measure while were travelling around Vancouver for National Digital Media Day (read my posts from NDMD here and Rebecca’s here). I have moved those posts temporarily to the page “Current Fundraisers“). I’ll bring them back to the front page on Monday.

Please check the page out and contribute to one or both of the causes if you can/want. Just as a reminder, Tanya is organizing a comedy night on Wednesday October 8th, 2008 fundraising for Team Diabetes, and Kulpreet is organizing the premiere of the movie “The Widow Colony” on Friday October 3rd and Saturday October 4th.

EDIT – Also, since Rebecca is continuing with the collection of non-perishable food items for the Vancouver Food Bank (part of her effort for NDMD ’08 as well), please feel free to bring some items to the BarCamp party tonight or to BarCamp tomorrow as well. Thanks in advance.