Seeing as this weekend is potentially the lightest one in a long time [yes, while some people use their weekends to recover from their weeks, I often use my weeks to recover from my weekends! – although that’s not entirely accurate – sometimes my weeks are just as busy as the weekends], I figured I’d throw in a few comments (ramblings if you might) entirely just for the fun of it. A lot of them are personal, so feel free to skip 🙂
– I’ve missed almost a week worth of RSS feeds (too busy doing a LOT of work) so if I haven’t commented on your blog, it’s nothing to do with you and everything to do with the fact that I’ve been running around like a headless chicken 🙂
– Third Tuesday is this coming Tuesday and Jeff Young is going to talk about intellectual property law, so you SHOULD come, particularly if you’re interested in Bill C-61 and how that can potentially affect YOU.
– FraserValley WordCamp is coming up this coming Wednesday and I’m speaking there. Gary from BlueFur is still looking for a snack sponsor, and if you know of anyone or can suggest/direct me towards whom to talk, that’d be awesome. I am also contacting people from the different restaurants I’ve reviewed to see if they can sponsor snacks.
– The Underwear Affair (Running for a Cancer Cure) is happening TODAY, and Gillian is taking part in it. So, please consider sponsoring her, and/or encouraging her along the way. It takes a lot of courage to run in your underwear, and this is for a worthy cause.
– I’ve decided that for my Blogathon 2008 I’m going to try and do a 50/50 with the BC Cancer Agency and a diabetes-oriented organization in BC, (e.g. my sponsors can either have a choice of where their money goes or let me decide, and if I have a say, I’ll redirect 50% to cancer research and 50% to diabetes research). My Grandmom and my Aunt passed away from cancer and my GrandDad succumbed to the debilitating effects of diabetes. Therefore, I have a stake in both. Please consider donating. None of the donations will go through me, all of them will go through the online donations page of the respective foundations.
– I know that this is very short notice, but I think the next Vancouver Bloggers Meetup will take place towards the end of July. I was informed by Meetup that we haven’t had a REAL meetup in a while, so I’m going to go full steam ahead and schedule one.
– I’ve got two bar reviews, one restaurant review and a few posts lined up for next week. And of course, discussions on water and recycling and other environmental issues.
– Overall, while this has been a great week, I am exhausted (this is in no small part a reflection of a need to take care of myself). Time for the hummingbird to slow down.
Have a nice weekend, everyone!
So this post is not even well thought out because I just woke up at like 7.30 am and went directly to meet Tanya and Tod at the flagship Fido store and then went to the Rogers on Broadway and Arbutus where I saw Travis. Photos and video are uploaded here. [Sorry, took the video with my Flip camera]
I interviewed Travis on what was going on at Arbutus and Broadway.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/PjSajOn_ssk]
Some photos from today’s madness at the Fido flagship store AND the Rogers Broadway are on my Flickr.
Things that absolutely were terrible, as indicated by participants:
– No real breakfast (water, juice and power bars – what the heck?)
– System failure (they couldn’t do upgrades, only new accounts and even then, their system failed).
– They didn’t have enough personnel to handle all the requests.
Overall assessment – FAIL – but heck, some of my friends, including John Biehler, already got their iPhone!
I’ve been polishing the presentation for Fraser Valley WordCamp and in the process, I’ve come to realize that I am REALLY close to 1000 posts on WordPress (I lost 132 posts in the importing process, which was kind of awful, but oh well). Since I’m at 922 (this post included), I have been thinking of organizing a MargaritaCamp + NachoCamp + GinCamp to celebrate my 1000 posts.
At my current writing rate, I estimate that’s going to fall somewhere around the week of Blogathon, so I might have a middle of the week RaulCamp (or simply combine it with the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup!) because, after all, it’s all about me (inside joke, you’ll have to see the t-shirt to know what I’m talking about).
So, I’m opening the floor for suggestions for my 1000th post. I was actually thinking of holding it at a wifi-enabled site (like the Blackwater Cafe) or a bar so that we can celebrate the actual moment of pushing the “Publish” button on my WordPress Dashboard. Any interest in joining for said RaulCamp?
July 11th, 2008 in
blogosphere,
friends,
geekifying myself,
personal life,
random thoughts,
Redesigning my blog,
Vancouver,
Vancouver Blogger Meetup,
Web 2.0,
WordCamp,
WordCamp Fraser Valley,
wordpress | tags:
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I just realized via Twitter and talking to Rebecca that she just published her 1500th post. CONGRATULATIONS! You have come a really long way! You and I have talked many, many times about this, but as I mentioned before, I really admire your hard-work ethic, your talent and your honesty. The fact that you are YOU on and off the blogosphere makes you a wonderful role model. From the padawan to you, oh Master 😉 , many hugs and lots of congratulations!
Without a doubt, Bridges manages to offer the best mojito I’ve ever had in Vancouver. Sweet, tasty, well muddled. Everything is perfect. Moreover, it offers some of the best food I’ve had in all my time here. I had been to Bridges before, but this past weekend, with my brother’s visit, he suggested that we go for lunch to Granville Island, which to me is always a great proposition for lots of fun and great food, and an amazing view.
I wasn’t disappointed in Bridges. It is still one of the best restaurants in Vancouver. The service was very prompt (and a tad too friendly, I would say but that’s ok, I don’t mind). We ordered ceviche and a dipper platter which should have been more than enough for lunch, but I was way hungry and we finished it off rather quickly. Loved the tzatziki and the hummus, and of course, the ceviche wasn’t 100% authentic like what I would expect, but it wasn’t bad at all.
The main course I chose, a smoked salmon burger, was very good but I couldn’t finish it off. Perhaps I should have ordered a different dish, but frankly, this is a West Coast restaurant and it should provide a good salmon burger. That, they do. I was slightly surprised at how many staff members they had, but it seemed like they were having a good time.
finished it rather fast.
The prices are in the higher-end-ish scale, but I really don’t think it’s too much of an issue, because really, I would only come to Bridges for a celebration or for a meal that is somewhat significant. A main course can go anywhere from $25 to about $35-$40 (which is not all that unreasonable for the kind of place that Bridges is).
The food was amazing, the company was outstanding, and I had a great time. I *will* be coming back to Bridges, for sure. This is one of the best restaurants I’ve tried in a long while.
I’ve always been a fan of Ellen Page, but was really disappointed at the fact that I couldn’t get to see it with the friends that I usually hang out with. EVERYONE had seen it by the time I could make some space in my life to see it. Thus, with the headache, I figured I needed a couple of relaxed nights to relieve the pain and rented two movies.
The first one, 27 Dresses I saw in theatres so I didn’t mind seeing a re-run. I loved the soundtrack and the movie, and since it was 2×1 rentals at my local video store I went and rented Juno too. Many people have reviewed the movie at length (16 yr old, ultra-witty and smart, is faced with the reality of an unplanned pregnancy and decides to give the baby in adoption to a man who is unhappy with his marriage and not prepared to be a father and an uptight woman who desperately wants to be a mother).
Of course, the movie is funny and heart-warming, but I just wanted to call attention to the subtleties and depths of Ellen Page’s acting skills. After she has given birth and she is cuddling up to her boyfriend, you can see her silently crying. Page shows so much pent up emotion just flowing now after the baby’s birth … you can also feel what she’s thinking “what now?“. Fear of the future is something very, very scary.
I really enjoyed the movie and of course, particularly enjoyed Ellen Page. I was also pleasantly surprised at how well Juno’s father and step-mother supported her throughout the pregnancy, and in particular Brenda (the step mom, played by Allison Janney who has earned now much more my respect). Had I not been rooting for Julie Christie, I think my second choice for Best Actress this year would have been Ellen Page. Good work.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=K0SKf0K3bxg]
Not a lot of words, just photos of places I’ve been to that I really enjoyed. Brownie points if you can identify them all.
I had a really well-thought-out post about the iPhone and the public policy implications, and a restaurant review forthcoming, and to be truthful, I can’t really polish the iPhone post until my headache subsides. I felt really guilty about Twittering about it because lots of people were offering very helpful suggestions, but with the number of followers I have, I feel like I am Twitter-spamming them with my troubles. So, in short summary – I gave up on caffeine a week and a half ago, I’ve consumed small quantities (one normal Coca-Cola this week, and half a chocolate bar last night) but not directly from coffee. I’ve noticed that my headaches subside.
Last night I had a phone conversation with my Mom, whom I adore and who is pretty much my best friend, and we had disagreements (which were very quickly resolved), but after the conversation, I started getting what I call the blinding, head-shattering, mind-numbing headache. After the Twitter conversations of this morning, I’ve tried cold water (which I know works with my headaches), 3 Tylenol 3 and that’s all because I don’t have a pharmacy near my house and I don’t have my Tylenol Headache nor have I tried Blue Advil.
I decided to try to nap, and that didn’t help either. So, in short summary, I still have a headache and don’t have the brain power to revise my iPhone and public policy post, the rest of the posts I’ve got coming up are already time-stamped so I doubt I’ll be close to my computer for the next few hours.
That’s the quick and dirty of how I’m doing today.
We got to WorkSpace early in order to set up our laptops and equipment. I brought my Flip and my digital camera, prepared to do some live-blogging but then my laptop started to fail, and after a while, it came back online. To be quite honest, I don’t think I could have done a liveblog of the NetTuesday for July, “Podcasting for Change” with John Bollwitt, Roland Tanglao, Rob Cottingham and Dave Thorvald Olson. My brain is just too scattered and it’s too much information. But Rebecca has done a great liveblogging job so you can read her notes.
I really enjoyed the fact that the panel was really a conversation. Dave was a great speaker AND a fantastic moderator. Rob, John, Roland and DaveO are really knowledgeable about podcasting and it was a very interactive session. I did a quick video with my Flip camera, but I’m not sure if WordPress.com will allow me to post it. But since this is about podcasting (and to some extent it could be about “video podcasting” or vlogging, here is an attempt).
[UPDATE – For some reason, WordPress is not allowing me to upload videos, neither from Flickr nor from YouTube – if you want to see the video you can check my Flickr account or my YouTube account]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc0qCdsh88]
Recently, I’ve been having discussions on the topic of reputation with friends of mine both who blog or who have online presences (the social media folks, developers, even non tech people who just enjoy blogging). Moreover, recent conversations with my friends who have offline lives (and don’t have blogs/or work in tech) have led me to re-think my approach to blogging. I write the things I do, the restaurants I go to, the events I attend, I sometimes write about environmental issues, sometimes about public policy issues, and other times, simply about… not much, really. Just questions I have in my mind, sometimes geeky questions indeed.
I have been recently told about the positive reputation that my blog has been building (thanks for the positive feedback, by the way – I am glad that whomever reads my blog find it appealing), and I’m grateful for that. I like having people recognize that I have worked very hard to bring my blog to where it is and bring my tech expertise up (a goal I have not achieved all on my own, but with the help of many good friends – you know who you are, since we’ve talked about this at length).
But there is a part of me that sometimes thinks I should write more enviro-focused stuff, because that’s the industry within which I would like to be immersed. I am part of the Vancouver environmental community as I do have connections with environmental non-government organizations, consulting firms, some of my friends work for the BC and Canadian governments, etc.
However, I am also part of the social media/tech community, whether I admit it or not. I’ve been immersing so much in the technical and social aspects of Web 2.0 that it will be hard to extricate myself (and even then, I don’t WANT to extricate myself – I’ve met too many wonderful people to say now “oh sorry you’re not an enviro-geek, we can’t be friends anymore” – they never said “hey you’re not a social media/tech geek, so get out of our hair”, right?).
Nevertheless, I think I will need to go back to writing more environmental focus, more posts where my actual knowledge of the subject matter is perceived, and thus build a different sort of reputation. However, I am somewhat afraid that, by virtue of doing that, it would somehow preclude me from learning more about stuff that I find exciting, and also, would basically throw away everything I have achieved so far in social media.
*sigh* And then there’s the personal side of my blog. I wonder if that would affect any potential employers. Because, let’s face it, it probably would sound a bit self-absorbed to tell employers (potential) “hey i have a blog, and it’s basically my random thoughts“. Moreover, since I am planning to work in academia (if I can get a job as a professor, otherwise I’m happy to go to consulting), there’s also the conflict – “do I let my students read my personal blog?” (some of my former students actually do, and they have told me that they love it because it gives them a refreshing perspective on their professor).
So the thing is – I kind of want my cake and eat it. I want the professional (environmental expert, academic) reputation AND I want the social media (which can also be a career in-and-of-itself) reputation too. I want people to know that the Raul they read here is the Raul they’ve become friends with or the Raul who has given dozens of academic talks and published tonnes of academic papers. That, as Boris Mann put it very elegantly, I am the whole package. This blog, in many ways is the full me. And I want it to reflect also my academic side and my enviro-geek side.
There are several angles to examine this issue through. One is – what exactly does Raul want to do (since I didn’t undertake a PhD just to throw it away – I kind of want to use my training!). That’s a discussion for later. But one thing is for sure – if given the chance, I’d become an instructor/professor at a local university. No doubt.
The next issue that would need to be examined is – How would being an academic/professor/instructor affect my blogging? Good question. Haven’t thought about the answer yet. But some people over at the Chronicle of Higher Education have. And I have local friends who are academics and who have thought about the implications of their blogging for their academic careers.
I guess it comes down to yet again, a future that (while it looks promising) may be a challenge. But I have faith in my broad skills and portfolio. I think I can do a lot with what I have done. The mere blogging and learning more about social media will help me with enhancing my tools to disseminate the scholarly knowledge I develop. Of course, there’s the other side – if I go to consulting, I think I can apply my social media skills into developing new business and attracting new contracts given that I now have some sort of idea of how to put myself out there (the whole SEO, Google Page Rankand Technorati talks have crystalized, haven’t they! :))
My scholarship is fairly decently recognized, I think. I have lots of research colleagues around the globe that I am sure enjoy the kind of research I do, and have some degree of faith in my ability to complete research projects and publish the results. However, I am also aware of the limited possibilities for academic jobs within the Metro Vancouver area (I would move to Victoria, but it would be SO hard… my life here is so good, and I’m 100% in love with my life as is here!).
At any rate, I recognize that this is quite a personal reflection, but also one that I don’t think I mind sharing with the blogosphere. Of course, feedback, comments and other reflections are most welcome.
Demonstrating that everyone can (and should) access technology, the Vancouver Real Estate Tech Meetup (combined this time with the Vancouver Young Professionals Meetup) gave me a really good overview of how real estate professionals are harnessing the power of Web 2.0. It was also very nice and refreshing to see young Vancouver professionals who attended the meetup as well.
Steve Jagger invited both Rebecca (who is liveblogging) and myself to attend this event. While I had decided that I wasn’t going to attend that many events, I figured this would be one that would be fitting, and besides, I was very productive (in regards to my own work) today, so I don’t mind at all attending. I am actually quite glad that Steve invited me because I had a chance to attend Scott Humphrey’s seminar (Scott is a Peak Performance Strategist w/ Tony Robbins), network, socialize AND learn more about myself.
Steve Jagger and Scott Humphrey.
Some of the participants in the meeting
Some insights I gained from Scott’s talk.
Success without fulfillment is a failure. I completely agree with Scott. We should look at our lives and, if we’re not getting the results, we should ask WHY (instead of mulling over and trying to feel “pumped” about change, but not actually engaging in it).
The interactive workshop is targeted towards helping the participants learn more about themselves and how they can achieve peak performance through some strategic thinking.
Three types of fears:
– Fear of success
– Fear of failure
– Fear of unknown
Your beliefs and patterns are what determines your performance (and your future). I completely agree with Scott on this statement. What is holding you back?
R (Results)
What type of belief (B) do we need to achieve R (result)?
When people make excuses about why they don’t get the results they want – maybe they had the wrong beliefs.
What is really impossible in your life? Nothing, really. You need to get out and take action.
1) You have to change your focus.
2) Motion creates emotion.
Leaders DO take action!
Here is the facts – you need to get good results, to get outstanding results, you need outstanding results.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The meetup went really well, atendees were very friendly, Scott is a great speaker and the concepts he was putting forward apply to anyone who wants to grow. Some of his insights were very relevant to what I want to do moving forth. Scott was very motivating and his energy was outstanding.
The only very minor little glitch I saw in the Meetup was that the music volume in neighbouring floors/rooms was a tad too loud. I really enjoyed Scott’s talk and it would have been even stronger without the other room’s music. But the seminar itself (interactive workshop) was outstanding. Way to go, Steve! Good job in the organization of this meetup, and great decision bringing Scott to talk. And of course, thanks for inviting me to come, in the first place.
Steve commented that this could be a potential location for Third Tuesday and I agree, it would TOTALLY fit, the only problem I see is that we would probably have to ask the speaker to speak out, but that’s quite alright. They have WiFi here at Ceili’s. I’ll recommend it to Tanya, and I know Steve said he’d put a good word in for us. This seems like a good possibility.
I seriously need to just do a calendar with all of my friends’ birthdays. I miss a lot of them because I am not on Facebook (if you could DM, email me or @ me your birthday, that’d be awesome – that way I can ensure I don’t miss the chance of saying happy birthday!). Anyways, while I just recently met Jordan in real life (IRL) I had read his blog since ages ago.
Jordan has given me some good advice about my blog, including some substantial changes to the header (which Rebecca kindly incorporated). Every time I chat with Jordan I learn something new and that’s pretty amazing. And besides, he and his lovely wife were recently blessed with their firstborn. So, Jordan – congratulations, happy birthday and see you at next event. All the best!
I met Peter Clemens at one of the Third Tuesday events and have seen him regularly at tech events. I enjoy reading his blog quite a lot (and I’m sure one day I’ll guest-blog there!) and I just got word that he’s now a proud father! These are awesome news. Congratulations, Peter! All the best to you and your family.
As I’ve posted before, I read pretty much every blog on my blogroll and then some. Thanks to a handy RSS feed reader, now I can do that in the blink of an eye, literally (I speed-read). However, I took some time to see who of my friends are still on Blogger (I am talking to you Barbara, Phaedra, Pat, Jennifer, Marina, Dan, Mitch, Sarah, to mention just a few).
If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you’ll know that I am speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley, precisely on the topic of how I transitioned from Blogger to WordPress. I am in no way associated with WordPress, they don’t pay me a cent (although I do have friends who are indeed associated with Auttomatic).
The truth is that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing my blog on this platform. So, I’m basically plugging you to switch and since many of you Blogger friends are also my friends, friends, you should come to WCFV and hear me speak like Ulysses listened to the siren’s sweet voice “WoooordPreeeess…. WoooordPreeeess” (ok, that sounds better when I say it than when I read it).
So, join me and a roster of fabulous bloggers (Rebecca, John, Kerry, Kulpreet and yours truly) on July 16th, 2008 from 6-9pm. For more details, click on the link that says “I’m Speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley“. And in case you didn’t know, the registration is almost full so, you REALLY want to register as in, like, right now.
Everybody has been asking me when my Moderne Burger review is coming out, ever since I announced that it was re-opening at the end of June 2008. So, I must say that …. Yes, it looks like a 50’s diner. Yes, it is beautiful inside, super clean, and not a single detail has been spared. Yes, it looks gorgeous. Yes, the staff are super friendly and absolutely deserve a praise. Yes, the waitress was EXTREMELY sweet and really good with our order. Yes, the owner came to apologize for the delay in serving our order (no worries, we were just chatting, so neither of us really did mind). Yes, I had a wonderful time catching up with Andy while having lunch at Moderne Burger. But… did Moderne Burger live to the hype?
I am sorry to say that um… no. It IS still a REALLY GOOD burger. But for all the hype, I seriously expected like, THE BEST BURGER ON THE PLANET. I consider myself a burger fanatic. I worship good burger joints. Since the demise of Sodas Diner and its transformation into The Dunbar, and given that some of my friends aren’t all that crazy about the Red Onion, I have been on a hunt for THE BEST BURGER IN VANCOUVER.
Sadly, I wouldn’t say that it was Moderne Burger’s. That being said, I have to admit. I really liked the burger, and the fries, but I would say that it wasn’t something to write my Mom (who lives 6,000 miles away) home about. One thing that is slightly annoying is to have to pay cash only, but that’s just a minor detail. However, I still prefer Splitz (on Main and 26th) to Moderne Burger. I’M SORRY! (I know I’m going to be excommunicated!)
I am fully aware that Moderne Burger is an institution in Kitsilano, that they really did a fantastic job of renovating, that everyone was really nice and kind to us while we were there, and that the food is good. It’s just that, again, as I mentioned in my review of the Sunshine Diner, I wouldn’t travel here for a good burger. I have Splitz literally eight blocks away from my house, why would I want to come all the way here (except, as I did this time, to meet a friend for lunch, enroute to my office, and to do a restaurant review of a burger joint that has long been praised as an institution in Vancouver). But again, if you are a Kitsilano (or nearby locations) resident, by all means, come down to Moderne Burger! Even if just to say you’ve eaten there. And again, the food is definitely not bad 😀
Knowing myself and how structured a life I have, it’s kind of funny to see myself responding positively to last-minute, “hey Raul are you doing anything right now? Let’s do breakfast/do lunch/have coffee/have drinks/go for a drive/shopping RIGHT NOW” kind of phrases 🙂 Structure, people, structure! My best friend is chocolate, but my second-best is my Google Calendar. However, I never let the opportunity to spend time with a good friend slip away, and everyone who knows me, knows that I’ll pretty much always say yes if I have the time and the opportunity arises to hang out.
Thus, earlier this past week, when my good friend LiB (I now have three LBs in my life, so this is a way to identify her without revealing any personal information) said on MSN “hey Raul, let’s do breakfast, I got an appointment later“, I just simply had to say yes. Ever since I moved from Kitsilano, I haven’t been back for food in a long while, despite the fact that MANY of my good friends live in Kits.
Anyways, when LiB suggested breakfast, I said “ok, let’s do Sunshine Diner. I haven’t been there in a long while, and it’s due for a restaurant review“. Got ready really quickly and headed down to meet her. Good times. We really enjoy our time together and we hadn’t caught up in AGES, so it was just nice to just hang out, eat good food and catch up.
The brunch, you ask? Hmmm… It was good. Nothing unexpected. The Sunshine Diner is good for comfort food, although the service is sometimes slightly suspect. I am not one to complain, though. The waitresses seemed to recognize me, because at the beginning they were slightly stand-offish and then they were really friendly.
While the breakfast food itself was good, it wasn’t something to write home about either (I don’t know if it is that I simply have tried way too many brunch restaurants already and I am definitely sold on The Nice Cafe and Crave). I have been disappointed with brunch food lately, with the exception of the spots I mention above. Not sure why that is.
I often ask my friends to tell me what they think of the food when we go out. I asked LiB what she thought and she mentioned it was good, but it wasn’t something, super special. I had a similar reaction later in the week with Andy at Moderne Burger. Good food, yeah – but nothing really to write home about. *sigh* Again, I am not saying Sunshine Diner is bad. It’s not, it’s good food. I just don’t think I’m going to travel all the way from Main to Kits in order for me to have breakfast here. But if you are a Kitsilano regular, and come down often, the Sunshine Diner is definitely one of the spots to check out.
I am not precisely a tea connoisseur but my friend Phaedra definitely is one. So when she agreed to meet me for tea on Main Street, I was really pleased because (a) I got to hang out with a very good friend of mine, whose presence always calms me down and provides me with a lot of soul comfort and (b) because I don’t recall I had ever been to Shaktea before, thus it was a new and wonderful experience.
Ever since my recent departure from the ranks of caffeine-addicts, my headaches have nearly disappeared and therefore, I am growing fonder of tea. Over Twitter, I asked a few questions in regards to tea and whether I could drink any tea without getting headaches again (due to caffeine content). A lot of people offered sugestions, such as drinking decaffeinated tea, yerba mate.
One thing I didn’t know (and that I learned at Shaktea, thanks to Tanya the owner) is that you can drink rooibos tea and it doesn’t have caffeine. Since rooibos is pretty much my favorite kind of tea, that suits me very well. As you can see below, you can sample all sorts of tea.
The tea service per person is around $ 4.00 which I find very inexpensive, and on top of that, Tanya will provide you with lots of little tips on how to make the best of your tea experience (something I haven’t found in other tea places around Vancouver).
The art on the walls of Shaktea is (currently) paintings by Tanya’s 14 yr old daughter, and as you can see, it’s pretty nice. I like the place a lot, if it wasn’t all the way down by Main and 21st, I probably would organize the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup there (many bloggers seem to be a bit too attached to downtown). One thing I didn’t ask Tanya was whether they had wireless. But frankly, you don’t really want to come here to sit with one cup of tea and geek out (there’s a Bean Around the World one block north for that!).
This is a place where you want to come with your friends and enjoy a very nice cup of tea and maybe a delectable dessert like the one Phaedra and I shared. Another thing (and you should write down the 17th of July on your calendars) is that Tanya organizes lots of events, tea workshops, and activities at Shaktea. The 17th is a special event, that I can advertise more when she emails me the details. As she indicated “since we have no life since starting the tea place, we bring the life here“, which I find is a really good philosophy.
Phaedra has a really nice review of Shaktea on her blog, so head over there and check it out! And you can check the rest of my Flickr photos of the place here.
[NOTE – Sorry, I just realized some of my photos were blurry. Ooops. They don’t do justice to Shaktea, it’s a really really nice place]
One of the reasons why I get so tired (physically and mentally) is because I try to do a lot. Beth Snow said it perfectly, indicating that I do 17 things a day. So I decided that to keep my sanity, I’m just going to do ONE roundup post for what I got up to this past week.
STEAKCAMP (Monday)
Great turn-out, more than I expected. Thanks everyone who showed up. My restaurant review of The Brave Bull is here, Karen’s review is here, Buzz’s review on the 24 Hrs is here and link-love on his review of BabyEats is here and the Unofficial The Brave Bull page is here… Thanks everyone for coming! 😀
VANCOUVER BLOGGERS MEETUP (Tuesday)
Nancy, Carol, David, Monica and I got together for a mockup (dry run) just to get a feel of the place. You can read the comments on the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup site. I like the Blackwater Cafe and am a big supporter of locally-owned, organic businesses. I vote that we stay there for at least the summer/early autumn.
OUR FAVES GATHERING (Tuesday)
I had the pleasure of attending, at the invitation of Candice Spektor from Our Faves Toronto, a nice small gathering of friends at SoMa (the former coffee shop now transformed into upscale, hip restaurant/bar). I had a great time, and had the pleasure of meeting lots of fun people, including Ryan (who right now is technically a friend of mine, given that he is friends with Ianiv and Jarrett) and of course, brief appearances by Karen and Lisa (both of whom Candace also invited to the event). Thanks to Candice for inviting me and for a wonderful time. I’ll be getting involved with OurFaves for sure!
REDWERKS ROOFTOP PARTY (Wednesday)
Too many friends from the social media world for me to list here, I made an appearance even though by Wednesday I was physically exhausted. Great work by Colleen Coplick, Lisa Thomas-Tench, Tris Hussey in the organization (Colleen, it was a blast! – thank you). Great conversation about all-around bloggery AND Japan with Heather (aka Hez). Good times all around with the usual crowd (Rebecca, Monica, Boris, John, Ianiv, Arieanna, Jenn, Nadia, Dave O, Jordan, all my usual peeps) though we missed some of you who didn’t come (you know who you are!)
WEST END BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION SUSTAINABILITY EXPO (Thursday)
Invited by Christy and Dave O from HappyFrog.ca to guest-blog for them, I admit that I arrived late to the WEBIA Sustainability Expo, but managed to still speak with the Executive Director of WEBIA and the organizers. Having already some connections with the people in the sustainability field, I know that I can give you all some insight into what was going on there (posts to come throughout the week).
MODERNE BURGER OPENING NIGHT
I didn’t go even though I wanted to, but Andrew Morrison from Urban Diner did and he offers a quick recap. Since I’m all about the link love, go visit his recap and then come back! I did go to Moderne Burger this week, but restaurant review is still forthcoming.
As for my weekend? For the first time in a long while here at Random Thoughts of a Student of the Environment, I am NOT going to recap my weekend. I am going to take a good break, which I think I do deserve. We’ll be chatting more soon.
[UPDATE – Rebecca will be liveblogging on Monday and Tuesday at the Vancouver Young Professionals Meetup AND NetTuesday – check her blog for updates on both events!]
The 4th of July marks the Independence Day for the United States of America. Although, technically, America is the full continent, I have found that US citizens call themselves Americans (which, they are) and America becomes by default only the US. For the longest time, this was a pet peeve of mine, and I would say “a friend of mine who is a USA citizen”. However, rarely would anybody understand what I meant. But if I said “my friend is American” and I was referring to a USA citizen, then EVERYBODY would understand it. So I’ve stopped nit-picking… 😀
I have had the privilege of meeting many Americans in my life, and some of them actually are close friends of mine. I have many dual-citizen friends, including Canada/US and Mexico/US. Many of my research colleagues are based in the USA, and I’ve visited quite often and have had wonderful times there (my favorite cities: Washington DC, New York, Boston).
To my American friends who are now residents of Canada, hope you enjoy the celebrations, wherever you are! 🙂 I am not going to get into anything political, but I will definitely say, thank you United States of America, for producing some very fine young men and women who are near and dear to my heart, and Happy Fourth of July!
You know when you have these seemingly brilliant ideas and someone has already blogged about them? Yeah, that’s the feeling I have when writing about Tumblr. One of the most recent Web 2.0 (highly praised by my blogofriend Heather Watson), I heard about it for the first time at VIDFEST 2008, precisely from Heather (aka Hez). I then discovered that Jarrett also has a Tumblr. Then Dan mentioned he had a Tumblr too.
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Nadel, who works in the journalism/film/media industry, at a lovely party hosted by Candice Faktor, of OurFaves.com. This small gathering of good friends proved a great laboratory to have actually good conversations, and Ryan and I engaged on a discussion of Tumblr. Ryan does have a Tumblr account, and (to my surprise I might admit) I have found at least two other friends of mine who do.
Remember – I am not in media, nor journalism, nor public relations, nor tech per-se. I am a specialist in environmental studies who loves blogging. So, for me to hear about Tumblr, it was a bit like “this is the new Twitter or the new Plurk“. It would seem to me as though Tumblr.com would be the place where I could synthesize all my online stuff (portfolio) and go from there. My friend Andy calls his Tumblr “his brain dump“.
My question is – is that the direction in which Web 2.0 is going? I am having a hard enough time with FriendFeed, BrightKite, and all that jazz. Not sure about how to feel about Tumblr. Any thoughts? Do I really want to get yet another Web 2.0 application? Particularly, can I hear some thoughts from those of you who actually have Tumblr.com accounts? Thanks.
So, remember when I said that I was going to only attend 6 events all month? Scratch that. It’s going to be 5. Green Drinks is colliding with WordCamp Fraser Valley, which means, I can’t do Green Drinks YET AGAIN. Ooops. But on the good news front, I will be going to Net Tuesday, and I want to promote my friend and mentor Dave O’s upcoming event, with the topic “Podcasting For Social Change”. You know you want to go, because he’s got a very fine line-up of speakers, including John Bollwitt, Roland Tanglao, Rob Cottingham, and Dave Olson as a moderator (you’ll NEVER get another chance to spend this much time with these many awesome people at the same time, unless you do Northern Voice 2009… and even then!).
So, mark your calendars – Wednesday July 8th, 5:30pm, WorkSpace. More details? Check Dave O’s blog.
I took the liberty of using DaveO’s YouTube promotional…
While having early dinner with Isabella a couple of weeks ago, we were discussing Vancouver Blogger Meetup business and we switched to the topic of metaphors. I have before discussed the distinction I make of bloggers and civilians, because in my mind I see that we as bloggers (and geeks) have a certain power that we ought to harness for the good of humanity (civilians).
While it remains true that I blog primarily for myself and for my own entertainment. I blog sometimes to provide entertainment to others (my friends, on and off the blogosphere, and in general, my readers). But mostly (and I am now more and more convinced after having immersed myself in the blogging for social change and sustainability sub-community), I think that my blog can be a tool for social change. I also believe that I can be an agent of change. That’s one of the things I aspire to do. I told this to Tom at SteakCamp, being able to unleash the power of Web 2.0 and help enhance the reputation of a tiny little East Side restaurant was one of the primary reasons why I answered Buzz’s challenge.
Isabella and I had a really nice and long discussion on our roles as superhero bloggers, and our mission to help the society in which we are immersed. Along the same lines, we all have our superhero weakness, our kryptonite. In my case, the same thing that makes me powerful (my inner drive, my enthusiasm and energy, the speed at which I read, type, learn and understand) is what makes me weak (when I over-extend and push myself beyond my limits). It’s all about the balance, I think. I work hard and play hard.
This is partially a serious reflection and a funny tidbit that should tide me over to the next reflective post about myself. I also would like to follow up on the geek t-shirts and show you the one I found reflects exactly how I see myself as a blogger.
Photo credit: All rights reserved by Think Geek
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Now, if YOU were to think of yourself as a superhero, who would you be or what would you say is your superpower? Bear in mind that not only bloggers could be superheroes, civilians can also have their secret identity 😉
Every summer, my Mom (who is a professor of Political Science) makes an extra-especial effort and takes some time off (normally a month) to come and visit me (and my brother, of course). Recently, she told me the good news that she was now a Dean of Social Sciences at her university/faculty/school. The bad news is that this new job implies added responsibilities, and thus she is unable to come to Vancouver to visit me. Which totally has me bummed.
Even though my apartment is really small, and sometimes I’m up to my eye-balls with work, I make a point of making time and spend a couple of weeks just spoiling her rotten. Mom and I are really best friends, and I always enjoy her company. She’s taught me a lot of new recipes and there are few things I don’t tell my Mom.
I am particularly bummed because many of my blogosphere friends were looking forward to meeting her, and I was really looking forward to showing her off. My mother is a really amazing woman who has fought adversity in a myriad of ways and has never given up. Even when I didn’t believe in myself, she believed in me.
[UPDATE – Received comment on my blog – Please see comment below and follow the links. The issue is being resolved and the realtor has made it clear that it wasn’t their intention to violate the Creative Commons license. I’m glad to hear that!]
I have tried to keep a minimal blogosphere/Twitter presence, but I just couldn’t resist writing about this topic. My friend Duane has a day job which is NOT being a photographer, although he does some fantastic photography work. Thus, when Duane has to police the internet to find whether someone is lifting his photos AND violating his Creative Commons license he expends time, money and it is in general, an overall headache.
Given that I can’t ask these questions to my Dad (who would be my go-to guy, normally), and armed with my own understanding of intellectual property law (having taken these courses during my Masters degree), I went to examine the recent case where one of Duane’s photos was lifted, apparently violating the Creative Commons License.
The first thing I did was read the Creative Commons that Duane has on this particular photo. I couldn’t find it off the website of the realtor, because there is no link back to Duane’s Flickr photo stream (the first red flag – no clear attribution).
The second thing I did was to read the realtor’s website upside down. As it turns out, the footer of one of his images says “All images (c) — the realtor’s name —“. Well, sorry to disappoint, but the photo above that exact footer is the property of whomever took it. From what I read on the site, the site owner did not take the photo, so, how can he claim copyright over an image that isn’t his?
The third issue is that for the Vancouver photo of the month promotional, this realtor’s site is using one of Duane’s images WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION. And the fourth issue is that of Duane being the copyright holder. Since the earlier footer implies that ALL images are (c) — the realtor’s name —, by association, this would imply that the photo of Vancouver at night (which you can find here on Duane’s Flickr stream) is also copyrighted by the site owner. Which it can’t because, well, Duane is the owner of that photo!
So what are the implications? First of all, I checked Duane’s CC license on that particular photo. The license is “Attribution-Non-Commercial-Non Derivative“. This means that (a) it should be attributed to Duane Storey (attribution that I can’t find for the life of me on the site that lifted this photo). That also means that no derivative can be done. Therefore, the site is violating the CC license because the composite photo IS a derivative of Duane’s original work.
Why is this a big deal? Well, for starters, because it’s one of those gray areas where people seem to just be entitled to use Creative-Commons licensed photos in whatever shape or form they want. Secondly, it makes (at least me) worried about whether I should even license my photos on Flickr. One of the reasons why I opened some of my own personal photos to licensing is precisely that I expect attribution!
I look forward to hearing from Duane how this issue was resolved. I can understand why Duane is upset, and I hope that this can be resolved quickly. Particularly since this seems to be a worrisome trend as of late!
I was showering the other day and meditating about the things that I have accomplished with my blogging. Amongst the reasons why my blog is moderately popular (I’m not going to be conceited and say that it’s very popular, but there are some people out there who read it with some frequency), is that I have built some sort of reputation as a decently-trained palate, and a good restaurant reviewer. My friends (both bloggers and civilians) seem to trust my instincts in regards to places to eat.
Nevertheless, my blog isn’t exactly a food blog. It is a repository for my thoughts, the things I do, the concepts I am analyzing, etc. A journal and a memoir. It’s Raul’s life seen through his own eyes. As Barbara Doduk put it, it’s a blog with a Raul theme… 🙂 [Urgh, that sounded self-absorbed]
Nevertheless, I am kind of proud of my current place at the top of the Vancouver UrbanSpoon Leaderboard. With over 70 blog posts and about 4700 views, I feel really happy when people tell me (either on the street, or through email/comments) that a restaurant review has helped them make a decision on whether or not to eat at a certain restaurant.
The interesting thing is that, while I think it was me who suggested some type of ranking for restaurants, etc., I feel somewhat uncomfortable with the whole idea. Not that I want to hold on to the top spot forever, I am pretty sure I’ll relinquish it at some point. Particularly because, well, let’s be honest – I’m just one guy and there’s only so much money I’m willing to pay for dining out on my own dime! It’s just that I don’t want to be in some sort of competition.
I did some math recently (yes I am a geek, tell me something I don’t know), and came up with the View Density Factor (calculated as follows)
VDF = (Total number of views)/(Number of posts)
My current VDF is about 60 views per post, and I was talking recently to Karen Hamilton about her VDF (which is about 90 views per post), so I mentioned that she should be proud.
Quite frankly, I couldn’t care less about my ranking, even though it’s kind of nice. It’s a neat element to discuss whenever people ask me “so what is that you blog about” but I’ll be fine if/when I relinquish my # 1 spot. Throughout my life, I’ve grown used to relinquishing the # 1 spot. And you know what… it’s not all that bad. In the mean time, I’ve SpoonBack’d a number of reviews that I didn’t have linked back to UrbanSpoon, so we’ll see how those do.
