SteakCamp is on! Monday Jun 23, 2008 – 6:00pm

You must have read all the posts Karen and I have been cranking out in anticipation for SteakCamp. Well, it’s happening tonight and I already got a few confirmations (since unfortunately I am NOT on Facebook, I can’t see who has confirmed there, but I can see the Upcoming.org one).

Karen has provided a summary of the details which I reproduce here (modified to match my own blog).

* Buzz Bishop’s challenge: Review The Brave Bull!
* My response to Buzz’s challenge: SteakCamp!
* Karen’s reaction on Tiny Bites
* Rastin’s Facebook Event Invite
* Buzz Bishop discusses The Brave Bull on 95Crave
* Karen’s very nice summary of what we’ll be up to AND photos of the outside (although as I mentioned to Karen, I went there at 3pm on Saturday and it doesn’t look half as scary as people think it does).

The Brave Bull is right in the South West corner of East Hastings and Clark Drive, and it has parking in the back. I’ve already made reservations for about 20 people but I am sure they won’t turn down more customers. Remember that I’ve warned you that they said the service would be slow, but we are in it for the fun, to be able to socialize with other bloggers, Twitterers and readers and just to have a good time amongst friends.

CAN STEAKCAMP INCLUDE A VEGETARIAN?

Of course!!! You don’t need to eat the steak. You can always reach us for dessert.

SUGGESTED TAGS FOR FLICKR PHOTOS, TWITTER AND BLOG TAGS/CATEGORIES

Flickr photos:
– SteakCamp
– “The Brave Bull”

Twitter
#SteakCamp

Blog tags/categories
– SteakCamp

WHAT IF I DON’T WANT TO HAVE DINNER THERE BUT JUST COME DOWN FOR EITHER A DRINK OR SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

That’s ok too! Just send me an email, a tweet, or drop a comment here!

Movie review – Get Smart

You’d have to have watched the 60’s TV show to understand the movie, but even if you hadn’t watched any of the episodes, you’ll still love Get Smart, in my humble opinion. I recommend NOT to read the Wikipedia entry until you’ve seen the movie.

I was quite surprised with the chemistry between Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. Their chemistry was as good as the original Agent 86 and Agent 99. I was also pleasantly surprised with Hathaway playing an action heroine. Given that most of the karate-chop-wielding actresses I like are already well known for their athletic prowess (Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Garner, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz and even Drew Barrymore), I was very shocked to see Anne Hathaway kicking the heck out of the bad guys.

Even more pleasantly surprised with Dwayne Johnson (formerly known as “The Rock”). He was most definitely engaging in the movie, and made me forget all of his awful previous roles. Overall, I really loved this movie. There were parts where I could simply not stop laughing, I cried a couple of times because I was laughing so hard.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dUhhYyKlnY&hl=en]

*Sigh*…

That’s all I gotta say. I don’t understand people sometimes. But you know what? That’s ok too.

Cheesy music for your ears

Everybody knows that I like what some people consider as cheesy music. As I was making breakfast the other day, I turned on my TV and saw an episode of Instant Star (well, seeing is an exaggeration – I was ‘listening’ to it). Since I.S. is a Canadian show, I was more than happy to continue listening.

Here is one of the cheesiest but stickiest songs I’ve heard – “I’m in Love with my Guitar” by Alexz Johnson (who plays the main character) – YouTube video below 🙂

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COvl4yJADE0&hl=en]

Vancouver Blogger Meetup Dry-run – Upcoming event

If you are signed with Vancouver Blogger Meetup, you’ll know that I am now the co-organizer (and I have been invited to actually become the organizer). On Tuesday, I am testing the venue, the Blackwater Cafe .

WHAT – Vancouver Blogger Meetup Dry-Run
WHY – To test how the new venue could accommodate a larger group.
WHERE – The Blackwater Cafe, 280 Carrall St. (almost corner of Cordova)
WHEN – Tuesday June 24th, 2008 – 6:00pm
RSVP – Yes, please – either through Meetup.com or over e-mail or Twitter.

Thanks! I have to run, so that’s why this photo is not centered and the tags aren’t applied. Sorry! Gotta run.

The WordPress Codex – Refusing to read :-)

Sometimes I wonder if my friends (particularly the new friends I’ve made through blogging) just shake their heads in disbelief. For all my interest in blogging and platforms, and CSS, and themes, and geek-speak, I rarely visit the WordPress Codex. I talk about it. I enjoy having drinks and discussing it. Yet I avoid at all costs reading it. Why? Because I am a hands-on kind of guy.

I read blogs/news/books/journal articles/papers in a large, overview kind of approach, to help me understand the world. But if I want to use a piece of software, or a platform, my brain kind of shuts-off. It took me all of ten minutes to absorb what Rebecca did for my new theme (e.g. changing the header image, which is as far as WordPress.com will let you go). She showed me how to add text on my sidebar. Visually, it was a piece of cake. Andy helped me fix the centering problem I was having with my photos. It took me all of ten minutes to understand what exactly he had done to help me with a theme that overrides the center tags. Piece of cake. Show me once, I can do it myself. Kulpreet has also been always very helpful on Twitter giving me small bits of advice here and there.

However, the problem with me is that I am very visual when it comes to computers. I don’t like having to read to learn how to use a program or a platform. Show me how to do it. Don’t do it for me, let me do it myself. Do it along with me. So, if I could find someone who has digested the WordPress Codex and just sit down with him or her and get a tutorial (or two or three, however many I needed), then I’d be in WordPress bliss. But I am sure I am not going to get that pipe dream, so I am writing this post to encourage those of you who use WordPress and are in what I call the “intermediate” stages of geekification, to check the Codex.

And to my geeky friends whom I frequently ask questions re: WP – apologies in advance, but I’ll still keep asking you random questions about how to do this or that in WordPress. Hope you don’t mind 🙂

Restaurant review – Burgoo Bistro (Main Street)

Very few things in life are better than having dinner with one of my very best friends at a restaurant preceded by a solid reputation (I had raved about Burgoo Point Grey before). I had been eagerly anticipating the opening of Burgoo’s third location (very near to where I live). Located on Main and 15th, where the old Subway used to be, Burgoo boasts a huge patio. If I hadn’t been wearing dress slacks and a dress shirt, I would have probably enjoyed it even more, as it was sunny Saturday evening.

My first impression wasn’t all that good because the expected waiting time was close to a half-hour. Considering that I can eat at 10 amazing restaurants within a 10 block radius (and yes I know what I’m talking about because I live in the area and I’ve eaten at almost all of these restaurants!) without having to wait in line, I was a bit baffled by the wait. However, Burgoo staff earned several brownie points. First, they called me to inform me that they wouldn’t take reservations for less than 6 people. I found that element as a signal of good service. Whomever called me, she was very courteous and nice. As for the no-reservations, that’s ok, I can understand that. Even Toshi Sushi does it.

Second, they really sped up the process, and kept checking on us to see if they could seat us earlier, which was good as I was more than happy to go elsewhere (my very good friend LF is way more patient than I am). Finally, they were very accommodating with our requests, so I can’t complain. Certainly, the service was courteous and the staff were under a lot of pressure because this was opening weekend (they’ve only been open for 4 days). I did feel that the transition between the appetizer (Plait Francaise, with tapenade, pickled onions, cheese and grapes) and our main courses (a Thai chicken dish on rice and a Kentucky burgoo).

I am fairly confident that the staff will pick it up with time, because really, I only recognized one of the waitresses from Burgoo Point Grey, so I am pretty sure (given that I spoke with whom appeared to be one of the owners) that they were training new staff. Will I recommend Burgoo Bistro on Main Street? Yes. Will I go back soon? Not until the buzz and hoopla have calmed down. But I had a wonderful time, particularly with my friend LF. We had not had time for just us in a solid year. Nevertheless, we got a chance to catch up, discuss important topics, personal life matters, and even yak about my blog.

Of course, I am very grateful for having had such a great dinner with my friend LF, but even more so because she is always very honest with me, even when I am being a bit self-centered. Because, whether we like it or not, being a blogger is a tad self-absorbed — “here, read my thoughts on SO AND SO”. Although… I would like to believe that I am not a self-centered individual, more so self-centric 🙂

Overall, good times. Tomorrow morning I’m having a Raul morning all by lonesome followed with potentially “Get Smart” movie and dinner (not sure where – but potentially downtown). Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend, because I sure am 🙂

Out and about with Raul on a Friday

Fridays are usually busy but this Friday was just a tad over the top. I think I spent more time with people in the tech/social media industry than I ever had in one single sitting. First, as usual, I put in a few hours of work, but also tried to do some blogging on the side, and chatted with my friend JT who is totally geeky and tekkie. However, my laptop screen was not behaving well, so I had to basically shut down at noon, which wasn’t all that bad since I had to go anyways.

I was invited by David Gratton to come by and visit The Donat Group. I had met Rochelle Grayson at a Tweetup and I read both David’s and Rochelle’s personal blogs, so it was a great chance to come by and see the kind of work that they do. I was shown a number of fun tools they develop, including SnipDev (for someone who is geekifying himself, there is no better fun than finding new ways to use technology to bring people together, which is one of the things that David, Rochelle and their group do). Good times.

Rebecca and I have been on a Mexican food roll, so we agreed to meet for lunch at La Casita in Gastown. Restaurant review forthcoming. I did miss a chance to hang out with Karen as our schedules didn’t match up, but I’m sure we’ll hang out soon enough. Since Rebecca and I were both invited to the Strutta party we ended up going there for a couple of beers (free booze – who can refuse that?). I had a chance to bug Jordan Behan about not following me on Twitter (jokingly), but now Boris Mann has created a mantra for me. See photo below (if you can’t read what the plastic glass says, it says “Follow Me on Twitter – hummingbird604). I took the joke in jest. As usual, I have LOTS of photos of the evening on my Flickr. It was good to see a lot of my fellow bloggers/twitterers/friends from the tech community.

Unfortunately I had to leave early as I was meeting with AF, NM and RO for Rock Band. I am in love with this thing. Hat tips and thanks to Tanya for those Rock Band invites with a bunch of friends, because I am now totally hooked. Usually when I hang out with Tanya and friends, I do a lot of vocals but I’ve begun to be more comfortable with bass (although I only play as high as medium). I got home at 4 am. Great times! NM and RO are always really fun to hang out with.

And to close off, here is one of my favorite songs from the many that we played last night: Wave of Mutilation. Hope you guys are having a great weekend, because mine is really busy (as always!). Darn. And I thought I was going to be non-booked. OOOPS.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U88t0JgawfY&hl=en]

Thoughts on the re-design of my blog’s theme?

Dear all,

I have a LOT of posts for your reading entertainment, but at the same time, I also would like to pause for a moment and listen to feedback from all of you, readers, fellow bloggers, random visitors… what do you guys think of my blog’s re-design? Rebecca was kind enough to spend time changing the theme of my site as I told her that I wanted a change (thanks Rebecca!).

Here are the changes if you want them in a summary, point-form (e.g. the elements I told Rebecca that were important to me in the re-design):
– Narrower column for the text. Sometimes I write A LOT, and I don’t even realize it. I think that sometimes, readers may get tired from reading and that might not be a good idea. Yes, I know that content is everything and sometimes I need more space to develop an idea, but I think this looks crisper, cleaner.
– Cleaner layout and top, header-type page alignment. That is, the pages (my “About Me” page and the “Some of my most popular posts” should be on the top, right below the header.
– The header needs to have the hummingbird symbol that Rebecca kindly adapted for me.
– I wanted the header image to look ‘geeky‘ (although this element has already sparked controversy).
– I wanted to include the badge for WordCamp FraserValley 2008 on the side bar.

So, any thoughts on the theme re-design? Suggestions always welcome. Drop a comment. Thanks!

Movie and event review – GLOBAL METAL at 319 Main

“Global Metal” is a wonderful documentary that undertakes an anthropological exploration of the impact of heavy metal on the lives of rockers in different parts of the world, from India to Iran. These are photos from the special screening at 319 Main, put out by First Weekend Club.

First Weekend Club is a non-profit organization that strives to build audiences for great Canadian films through grassroots initiatives such as special screenings, Q&As with talent, premiere parties, movie alerts and much more! First Weekend Club is a free cross Canada film club that encourages members to attend opening weekend screenings. Hence the name, First Weekend Club [FWC]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C8Ybq__3Rg&hl=en]

Global Metal: 7 countries, 3 continents, one common theme = heavy metal.

Thanks to a little angel (Marina), we have been invited a couple of times to events that the First Weekend Club organizes. Recently, Rebecca and I got invited by FWC to attend the premiere of “Global Metal”, to which we both said “YES!”
I brought Andy and Beth along with me, and I knew that Rebecca was bringing her sister, brother-in-law and Trevor, so this was a good small group. Besides, pretty much all of us are linked by blogging one way or another.

The documentary is pretty good, well crafted. From the get-go, the filmmaker makes it explicit that, given his academic training and his interest in heavy metal, he wants to do an anthropologial exploration of how heavy metal shapes the lives of people who are involved in it, and whether “metal is metal everywhere in the world“. The only problem that I had with the documentary was that it didn’t provide me with a roadmap. I had forgotten that there were seven countries in three continents, so I was exhausted by the time we hit Indonesia!

From the research side of things (yes I know, hate me because I am an academic), I was very intrigued by the participatory nature of this ethnography of heavy metal. The filmmaker’s (Sam Dunn) first film was aptly titled “Metal: A Headbanger Journey”.

I was also puzzled by the strategy that Dunn follows. When I do ethnographic research, I try to immerse myself in the local culture and the community. Whereas in Global Metal, due to the overall nature of the documentary (covering more ground and comparing different cultures and how the local rockers use heavy metal to express their discontent with the status quo, and to channel anger and discontent with the global), it was hard for the filmmaker to really immerse himself in the culture. Still, a great overview of different countries’ heavy metal.

Finally, one of the things that I also picked up from the movie was the concept of globalization. I think Dunn was asking the question of whether globalization had had any effect on the diffusion of heavy metal throughout the world. I would argue that the adoption of this type of music has not been dependent on the cultural differences (or I’d say, has nothing to do with them) but it has been widely perceived (heavy metal, that is) as one type of music that allows people of all races, classes, ethnicities, and social groups to come together and just ROCK ON.

Overall, I had a really great time, I had a chance to hang out with good friends, and to rock out with Vancouver’s ENTROPIA. Although, funny enough, I am pretty sure that both Andy and Beth were surprised to see me doing the horns sign with my hands, because I look so “boy-next-door”-ish. Truth be told, I *love* me some heavy metal. And in celebration of heavy metal, Rock You Like a Hurricane by Scorpions with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXT_voYw9FY&hl=en]

I will link to Rebecca’s awesome review as soon as I can fix up my laptop, which is dying, so I am writing this review almost blindly. [UPDATE – There, I could find the link although you would not believe it if I told you I am almost typing in a black screen :(]

My summer commitment

I was having a conversation with Beth last night about competitive sports. She plays hockey, I play volleyball. At the moment, I play Competitive I (which is the second highest level) but I do recognize that I need to commit to do something about my skill set.

As Beth was explaining to me what she thought she needed, I discovered that we need to focus on similar stuff. In my case, I need practice time (e.g. time on the court) and drills (which means, I need someone to coach me).

I have been playing a combined second-setter/second power-hitter in a 5-1 formation, which is at the moment slightly annoying because I am not ambi-dexterous, so my hitting on position 2 (when I’m second-setter) is not optimal. My blocking, though, is much better, so I think I’ll just have to work on more block/hit drills, jumping, etc.

I know for a fact that I will never go back to the extremely high competitive level I used to have in high-school and the early years of university, but at least, I want to feel improvement and power. Trust me, hitting a few balls on the volleyball court does wonders for channelling your anger and frustration 🙂

Skillz. Raul has them 🙂

MostlyLisa’s viral video and the rights of online content providers

Being the case that I am the son of two lawyers, and one of them is a specialist in intellectual property law and copyright law, I *should* be able to post a really coherent response here. I am just not going to post it at 3:00am, when I am exhausted and haven’t had enough time to digest and reflect on the issue. I am actually going to have to ruminate about it for a while. But since I like to draft some content and then time-stamp it, I’ll just jot down my thoughts and if something better/nicer comes up, I’ll post it.

The gist of the matter can be found on Lisa’s post, as well as a rather lengthy discussion (28 comments by the time I checked). Lisa is a Vancouver blogger whom I know in person, we have hung out a few times, and I really like her sense of humor. So I was a bit baffled when she took flack for a video she did of a private party. However, I can see how things could be complicated.

Quick thoughts…

a). I think the anger of the party organizers came from the video going viral. With my readership, I am really not very worried about whether people are going to see my photos or videos. But when the readership is amplified to the Nth power, THAT’S when things get problematic. WHY? Because the perception of the organizers of the party feel they are no longer in control. When the readership is smaller, you still feel that you can post whatever and get away with it.

b) The other thing that may have upset them as well was the permission issue. I don’t get from Lisa’s post that permissions were clearly given (Lisa says that she didn’t ask, and in this case, the fact that nobody explicitly told her “please don’t film this” doesn’t preclude their right to privacy, in my opinion – it would be worthwhile checking if my Dad agrees with me, and whether Canadian intellectual property law specialists agree as well).

c) I also think that this is a transnational issue. Canada as Lisa was traveling there coming from Canada (from what I remember – and also, being a Canadian blogger), and therefore would have to comply with Canadian laws. And US because she was filming on American soil, and therefore, she would have to comply with US laws. We would need to examine it from the perspective of both countries’ intellectual property law. This is NOT an easy task.

d) My advice in general, and the way I tend to operate is, when in doubt, ask. (Sometimes I don’t, and I get in trouble as well!) There are now photos of me floating around on Flickr and on the internet. I used to have my photos set to “Only my friends” and now many of them are pretty public. Does that make me happy? Not really. But do I think that I’ll be going viral? Not really, either!

The problem with these topics is that Web 2.0 is still evolving, and therefore the public/private boundaries are getting blurred. There is an overload of information and people are not really prepared to deal with the legal implications of online activities simply because this medium is evolving at lightning speed. Heck, I am learning as I type this! The more I read, the more I learn.

Educating oneself is always a really, really good idea. I have thought about this issue for a long time and I have decided that I need to educate myself more about the platform, about Web 2.0, about the way in which social media works. But more than anything, I think we need to educate ourselves on the complexities of human behavior. What seemed to be a really harmless action on the part of Lisa became something she got flack for. Was this flack warranted?… I am not really sure. But one thing does exude from Lisa’s post – she didn’t intend for the silly video to have any negative consequences. Let’s not forget that!

SteakCamp 2008 at The Brave Bull – The details ;)

Dear all,

As you may all have read, our very own 95Crave Buzz Bishop issued a challenge to several local restaurant reviewers, including my fellow foodie friend Karen and yours truly. I also took the liberty of inviting another fellow foodie friend, Degan.

My awesome friend Rastin offered to put the event on Facebook and the Tazzu community. I am now uploading the details on Upcoming.org (hat tips to superstar Rebecca for reminding me of Upcoming.org)

SteakCamp details

WHEN – Monday June 23rd, 2008 at 6:00pm
WHERE – The Brave Bull
WHY – To answer Buzz Bishop’s challenge to Raul (http://hummingbird604.com), Karen (http://tinybites.ca) and restaurant reviewers in Vancouver.

The Brave Bull’s House of Steaks
1298 E Hastings St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-253-4728

Upcoming.Org page here.

I don’t necessarily need actually DO need RSVPs – they’d be much appreciated. Thanks to Rastin, Rebecca, Karen, Tom, Jay, and everyone else who has agreed to join. ‘

Photos from the event will be tagged “SteakCamp” on my Flickr stream. If there is wireless, I’ll be live-blogging it! Come down for the cheapest steak in town!! 🙂

I am coming to The Brave Bull over the weekend to make sure there’s enough room to accommodate us. If you’re coming, drop me an email, or send me a tweet.

UPDATE – I called ahead, and the elderly couple who run it asked me to inform everyone that “service may be slow“. But I am sure we don’t care, do we? It’s all about hanging out with good friends!

For Derek and Airdrie

In a recent post, Airdrie asked for some summer tunage. I like Derek and Airdrie a lot, have had the chance to spend some time with them, and I think (I hope!) this tape reflects some of the love that these two lovely geeks have for each other. I am not 100% sure I hit all the marks with the music, but I love these songs, some of them are cheesy, some are hard rock, some are soft rock and a few pop, Top 40 kind-of songs. But the tape in and of itself is created with a lot of care for these two, you lovebirds you! 🙂

Airdrie – I hope you like the summer-y tunes… There’s some The Corrs, and some Madonna … 😀

Derek – There’s some Van Halen, some Lonnie Gordon, a bit of Phil Collins here and there… 😀

Everyone – of course, your opinions are, as always, appreciated. But mostly, I made this mixtape thinking of Derek and Airdrie. If you guys like it, all the better, but it’s dedicated to them anyways 😉
[mixwit_mixtape wid=”92603cf52af41e6c577064898d5e9f47″ pid=”3680f3e4e2a3f34dd818c13af4490318″ un=”hummingbird604″ width=”426″ height=”327″ center=”true”]

I’ll take the Buzz challenge :-)

After having had an absolutely lovely afternoon of meetings from good friends whom I’ve met through the blogosphere (lovely Phaedra at Our Town Cafe for yerba mate tea and poppyseed muffin, and adorable Isabella for very early dinner at The Locus), I got back at home, rushing for an interview that got rescheduled at the last minute.

So what do I find when I turn Twhirl on? A challenge by local news power blogger Buzz Bishop (of 95Crave fame) to review The Brave Bull. The restaurant may be in the seedier part of town, but I am never one to back off of a challenge, so I agreed to review it. Since tomorrow – Thursday, and Friday are potentially already booked for dinner, I might end up going on Saturday night. Unless they have brunch, in which case I’ll go in the morning.

Any readers/bloggers/twitterers want to join me? Drop me a comment and let me know 🙂 So, you can expect a restaurant review as early as Monday morning! YAY! He also challenged Karen from Tiny Bites, so she may join me (potentially, so – Karen, don’t feel obligated!)

Mood Enhancer – Mixwit Tape – Enjoy!

Hat tips to Ryan Cousineau and Cecily for very timely suggestions 🙂

[mixwit_mixtape wid=”0ecf4ce86face1bf81c61d4a2c7fba03″ pid=”32ad1f2c752aadfe64dd3e1522bbd0ba” un=”hummingbird604″ width=”426″ height=”327″ center=”true”]

I guess I am in tech!

I’m usually reluctant to say that I am in PR (public relations) or in the tech industry, even in social media (Web 2.0) because I still think of myself as an environmental specialist. However, lately, I have been faced with questions from friends that I have made in the blogosphere who have asked me directly “hey Raul, what’s going on in the tech world this week?”

I guess that comes from my recent increased coverage of tech events, including VIDFEST 2008, Cossette Convergence 2008, Launch Party IV. Even the PR events (if you consider Third Tuesday a PR event) have a tekkie component! Thus, I’ve come to accept that yeah, maybe I am in tech.

Moreover, this only comes to confirm what my friend HZ has told me all along: every time I launch a new endeavour, I follow through fully! And again, a substantial hat tip and thanks should be given to ALL MY BLOGOSPHERE friends, but especially Miss604 – Rebecca Bollwitt, for helping me with my blog, for guiding me through a lot of stuff and simply, for her friendship. Thank you Rebecca.

Rejecting Bill C-61 in its current form – The online discussion

Normally, when I know I have things to do (e.g. academic stuff), I have my content time-stamped, making sure that if it relates to current events, it is published in a timely manner. However, given my recent coverage of Bill C-61 and Andy‘s recent tweet linking to the Canadian Coalition of Electronic Rights, this is a timely post that needs to be bumped up in the priority list.

What is the Canadian Coalition of Electronic Rights? From their website:

How can a balance be attained between protecting the rights of creators and their entitlement to compensation for their works and the rights of Canadians who seek to access and use these works? Although there may be no definitive answer to this question there are several factors that need to exist in an amended Copyright Act to ensure a reasonable level of mutual protection for stakeholders and users. The Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights (CCER) is an advocate for the preservation of user rights throughout the copyright reform process in Canada.
[CCER website]

I had covered the Bill C-61 discussions in a recent post, but it seemed to stir NO DISCUSSION whatsoever (with the exception of Gillian’s very good commentary). This morning I woke up to a Tweet by Andy and I figured I had to write a post about it, and try to bring more attention to it. The reality of it is, this Bill WILL affect a lot of Canadians, residents, even short-term visitors! I don’t think that people are informed enough about this issue. Thus I hope this can be a wake-up call to action. This is a relevant topic that has direct relevance to what Joe Solomon spoke about yesterday – mobilizing people to effect social change.

If you feel compelled to do so, I would urge you to read more about the CCER and the Bill C-61, and to send this letter. And as usual, the disclaimer – I am in no way associated with CCER, but I do think that the discussion should be balanced. Furthermore, I like the research and thinking of Dr. Michael Geist, who has strongly criticized the bill in its current form.

[Hat tips to Andy for his tweet, and hoping this post will attract some attention!]

Third Tuesday Vancouver with Joe Solomon – The aftermath

I won’t bother recapping the actual talk, which was really awesome. Rebecca did a mighty fine job of live-blogging it and I did my best, so all you need to do is check our links for summaries/recaps.

I will, however, say that this was one of my most enjoyable experiences with Third Tuesday. I recognized lots of people, I was recognized by a lot of individuals and had a chance to hang out with friends I have made through the blogosphere.

We did miss some blogospheric awesome people who usually would show up to these events, including (but not limited to) Jonathon Narvey, Isabella Mori, Jan Karlsbjerg, Beth Snow, Rastin Mehr, Arash Sanienan, Dario Meli, John Biehler, John Bollwitt, Nadia Nascimento, Matt Kirkey, Jordan Behan, Luc Al, Maura Rodgers, Jenn Lowther. The list is quite long (these are just a few names off the top of my head)! We did miss you guys…

I was, as normally am, very snap-happy so I ended up snapping a few really good photos (tagged on Flickr with “thirdtuesday” and “Third Tuesday Vancouver” tags). I particularly enjoyed the chance to chat with people more on a one-on-one basis, since a lot of them only seem to read my blog and know very little about the man behind the blog.

Here is Joe in the middle of his talk

I really like this photo of Tanya (superb organizer!) who just came back from a relaxing birthday celebration in Las Vegas! Welcome back, Tanya!

I also liked this one from Monica Hamburg and Rebecca Bollwitt

Thanks to Tod for doing such a great job of moderating the discussion, Joe for giving such a great, insightful and passionate speech, to The Network Hub [you guys rock!] and all of you who joined us for Third Tuesday!

Live-blogging Third Tuesday with Joe Solomon

We are at The Network Hub. Rebecca is live-blogging and I can’t move by fear of having my laptop die on me. Tod Maffin is doing the introductions for Joe Solomon. After 3 times that you participate, the person who is part of the dialogue with good stuff, gets this book (“Ultimate Blogs”). Barack Obama’s Facebook page is a few hundred people away from one million.

Social media is a group of like-minded people that talk through online tools. Colleen Coplick is describing her survey and explaining how much reach she has now thanks to Web 2.0 tools (e.g. Twitter). You can’t reach some people unless you have online tools.

Joe is describing about his role as a social media consultant for non-profits. When Greenpeace sets up a company in YouTube, it explodes (whereas other companies, for-profits, don’t have the same success). People want to connect to causes (which makes Joe’s job very easy).

[SIDE NOTE – My TwitterFox @hummingbird604 seems down, so if you’re Tweeting me, I can’t see it right now]

An application – climate change application – won 1 Karma point 😉 hehehe. Imagine raising over $ 25 million dollars. If you use the application, and you work hard at it, good things happen.

Social media is really about engaging. A lot of non-profits (the non-Web 2.0 non-profits – knowledge is power – I couldn’t even find their ‘Donate Button’ – pretty hidden).

Using social media with popular social networks. Not talking about NothingButNets, HappyFrog, ChangeEverything. He is going to talk about meeting users on Facebook, Twitter and SecondLife.

FACEBOOK

– Genocide intervention – 2005 – The constituents were calling the senator’s donors (so they had a bill passed). OpenSecrets.org.

– Based in the UK – Facebook group – linked on the wiki. The Coca-Cola campaign – created a group. A blogger wanted to get Coca-Cola to get their user distribution channels to spread dehydration salts (help protect 1/9 children die of de-hydration). If they could get these in the Coca-Cola crates and they could distribute them. He couldn’t do this WITHOUT FACEBOOK.

Colleen asks if donations are working and do they actually go to where they should?

YOUTUBE

– Over 20% of Barack Obama’s videos went to this particular one. This is NOT viral because there is not transformations.

– Really viral video-campaigns.

– YouTube collaboration on climate change – putting a message from one side of the screen to the other side. Handing off this bottle – showing how the US changes the position. It’s viral if you actually move the message and spread it and everyone transforms it.

– Video – tag – instant karma – pass this vid for humanity – make a video of how you want to save the environment and pass this message.

Colleen actually WON the book (congrats Colleen!)

My question – how do you reach out to those like me who are NOT on Facebook.
Joe’s answer – go multi-platform.

Tod Maffin – exception to the norm. What do companies do?
If something is at stake – Joe will latch on there.

How can our client come off like they’re really interested in saving the world?
Well, if it’s not authentic, then it doesn’t work.

Rephrasing his questions – what lessons can be drawn?

TWITTER –

Using the hashtags for people who are depressed. IF we use Twitter and put a hashtag on how the people are feeling (on a scale from 1-10) – but it allows you to engage the groups.

StuckInBed.Org

What is the degree of success?
Many do, but it’s particularly measured in terms of the community.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FROZEN PEA FUND

Frozen Pea Fund – initiated in support of Susan Reynolds. Through the power of Twitter and re-tweeting. It’s a wonderful program in support of women who have faced breast cancer.

[SIDE NOTE – Joe would benefit from speaking more slowly. This is a really cool talk but he’s speaking about WAY too much and delivering way too much information too fast. But it appears he’s going to talk about KnowMore.org soon, so his basic messages are four – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and KnowMore]

Are we seeing the style of marketing – maybe we turn internal people and make them in the commercial – do we find individuals who happen to work and celebrate them?

Article in Wired by Clive Thompson – about transparency – The See-Through CEO.

BLOGGING

Widgets

ILoveMountains.org – Stop mountain-top removal. In this widget, you can recruit people and it will show you in real-time, and shows how many people you recruit.

Raising awareness (YAY – and now what?, asks Colleen). It’s slowly seducing the new constituents, and potentially there are donations that could go on. For Joe, it’s about getting people involved, in small steps. Change themselves in mountain tops.

You can sign a petition for human rights that every country should have and you can read it and sign it FROM the widget. We are moving into enabling the bloggers to do really cool stuff on their sidebars.

The Nature Conservancy – They started a plant and donate trees – donate a dollar to buy a tree.
– 324,000 trees installed

Facebook has 80 million users. FIREFOX HAS 174 MILLION USERS!!! Can you imagine!

Knowmore.org is a Firefox extension that wiki-profiles companies and the criticisms that these corporations are dogged by. So Joe called them and implement the extension for when you go to Wal-Mart, Nike, etc. You’ll see the ratings from Wal-Mart. You can turn Google into a StumbleUpon that actually will screen each company you search for.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THE DATA IS CORRECT?
You source it to the experts.

Bruce Byfield suggests – careful with having this hijacked.

Rebecca Bollwitt – Web Annotation – rate the web. She asks a question on this – allowing anyone to leave comments on the web. Maybe you could rate the comments. Good ones up and bad ones lower in the ranking. Failed miserably, apparently.

Question – Do you know of any examples where non-profits have received money from corporate entities as a result of these campaigns?

Tanya – Microsoft got involved in Kiva, as a result of the companies.

The Bill Gates Foundation does a lot of work like that.

JOE – I am available for hire. Social media consultant.

RAUL – I make the point that it is really hard in social science to find out the actual mechanism of influence (HECK I’VE DONE RESEARCH ON THIS!) and the person who asks is – are there examples of grassroots campaigns’ successes of influencing corporations? Joe understands the question but doesn’t have an answer. (I like that about Joe, he’s VERY honest and forthright).

7.50pm – LIVEBLOG FINISHED. I hope you guys liked it!

I am afraid…

I am a very strong guy. Physically, I may not look like it since my physique tends to be slim (although lately, I’ve gained some weight so I don’t look as slim as usual). But this post does not refer to physical weakness or strength. I am very well trained in martial arts, so engaging in a fight is not something I fear. But I do fear that I have been pushing my own boundaries and limits too much.

A few weeks ago, you’ll recall that I blacked out for a period of 1.5 hours. Earlier this year, I was sick (the expression being ‘sick as a dog’) for three weeks and I had a really tough time recovering. This past weekend, I managed to quadruple-book myself and ended up having to juggle commitments, I stood up a friend of mine (inadvertently) and had a really rough Sunday despite having enjoyed the Car Free Festival. I can’t keep doing this to myself.

I have acknowledged in previous posts that I see myself as sort of an agent of change. Someone who can bring happiness and joy to people. Someone on whom you can rely. Someone you can trust with secrets. Some sort of super-hero. Someone who can comfort you when you feel down. Someone who can write and publish three journal articles, two book chapters and three conference papers in a year. But in order for me to do that, I *need* to take care of myself.

It’s hard for me to say no, both professionally and personally. I am excited by too much. I love working hard, and I am in love with what I do. And in recent years, I have started to learn (and train myself) to say “No, I can’t” to stuff. But I still over-commit. I manage (99.5% of the time) to fulfill my commitments, comply with deadlines. But there’s always *that little thing* that I end up missing, or I end up sick as a dog, or feeling entirely drained and empty.

Saying no is not a sign of weakness. I need to drill that idea into my brain. And when I say that I am afraid, I am not someone who is hindered by fear. Fear does not overtake me. I actually tend to be pretty fearless. The title of my post referred to the fact that I am afraid that one day, I won’t be able to say “no” and I will over-commit and that will be detrimental to my health. I can’t do that. I fear that I won’t be able to fulfill my potential if I keep pushing myself to the limit. Therefore, I think that my fear will have to be (instead of a crippling, paralyzing feeling) a mechanism for my own survival.

The laptop is pretty much dead – I need a MacBook Pro!

A while ago, I wrote about how my laptop (e-machines) was dying. I was going to write to e-machines and say “hey, I’m your poster boy for laptops – I took such good care of mine that it lasted me THREE YEARS!”.

Well, the problem is that the barcode is almost gone so I have no clue of how to contact e-machines and let them know that I need a new laptop (they should have given me a new one since there were more than four physical failures, but whatever – the last one happened pretty much after my Future Shop 3 year warranty expired). And I wouldn’t expect Future Shop to give me a new laptop (though I won’t stop them if they do!).

I was talking to Rebecca about how I really needed a new laptop and how I thought that Apple should send me a new one (or an Apple distributor like MacStation) or some random stranger (like it happened to Mostly Lisa, who got a new Mac Book Air sent by a secret admirer!)

WHY DO I NEED A MacBook Pro?

Well, there are various reasons why I don’t just want a MacBook and I need a MacBook Pro.

– I am a researcher, and a substantial part of my work involves (and will involve even more) mathematical modeling. I need a laptop that can handle a substantial of calculations, and that has strong computing power. Whatever that might be 🙂

– I am also interested in urban sustainability, geography and planning. Thus I am bound to use (unavoidably) Geographical Information Systems (GIS). I need a laptop that can handle ArcView swiftly and neatly.

– I plan to do some consulting on the side, which means I need Visio and other neat stuff to draw diagrams. Powerful graphics and beautiful visualizations = MacBook Pro.

– Almost finally, I have a blog whose readership seems to be growing (thank you everyone!). I would like to continue providing good content and to do that, I need a powerful computer. Hello MacBook Pro!

– Last, but not least: my friends are Mac geeks. With very few exceptions, almost all the geeky-friends I have are Mac users. I must assimilate to The Collective. Resistance is futile.

WHY DON’T YOU BUY IT, RAUL?

Good question – and the true and honest answer is – I can’t, right now. My budget is limited (as I am in a job transition). If I had $ 3,300 dollars to spare, I wouldn’t buy myself a new laptop. I would fly to Paris, Rome, Madrid, Ibiza and Prague for a MUCH DESERVED holiday. THEN, and only THEN, I would think about hardware… but I digress, hehehe.

The easy way out would probably be to buy myself a cheap laptop (on my credit card – WHOA – Nancy Zimmerman would probably berate me for increasing my credit card debt!). Or ask e-machines to see if they’d give me a free one (or at least a new one with a substantial discount). But I think I need to move towards Mac. It seems like the sensible option.

So in the next few weeks, I hope you don’t mind but I will be publishing a series of posts basically trying to harness the power of Web 2.0 in a quest for a new (hopefully Mac) laptop. We’ll see if I’m successful. Either that, or I’ll land a dream job with a six-figure income and my first paycheque will go towards a new MacBook Pro. Seriously!

I could start a Facebook petition (but I’m not on Facebook), or implement a “Tip Jar” button on the sidebar. But heck, I haven’t figured out how I want to harness the power of Web 2.0 to get my new laptop. If you have any suggestions, you’re more than welcome to drop me a comment!

Tuesday Morning Link Love: Shameless Promotion Edition

I have decided that I am going to do a link love post where I will promote local stuff/bloggers.

– Gillian is partaking in the Underwear Affair. This is a very worthy cause as the event raises funds to tackle tough cancers such as those in the regions that you don’t see very often (e.g. the nether regions). Please support her in her endeavor.

– Ryan is a really funny and good writer. Normally I get a good kick out of his posts. But OH MY GOD this post just made me so hungry! He recently had a home-vacation with his significant other (who is total sweetness personified) and she cooked what shows in the post. YUMMY!

– Karen tells you how to get into synchro swimming in Vancouver. I *love* watching it. I don’t think I dare doing it. But you can, and then you can report back.

– Darren remembered other causes I was aware of and he’s summarized them much better than me, so go and check them out!

Third Tuesday with Joe Solomon – that is today, Tuesday!

Yesterday I was complaining to Arieanna that my laptop had died right there and then (at Waves in Lonsdale). However, as it turns out, it did not die just yet. I figured out what was wrong, at least with the screen and for a short while. I *might* dare and bring it to Third Tuesday, which (as you may know) will be liveblogged for local blogging powerhouse and media maven, Rebecca Bollwitt aka Miss604. She has door prizes! Drop a card or a comment on her blog and she’ll enter you into the draw. I wish she automatically entered me into every draw she does. Isn’t there like a TwitterFeedForMiss604Contests already? 😉

I *might* liveblog Joe’s talk but if I can’t, I will most certainly do a recap. Do me a favor, though. If you follow me on Twitter, or read my blog, please make sure to introduce yourself in person. I will be wearing a lanyard with my name, so it will be REALLY easy to spot me. And I’m quite friendly, so don’t worry about the awkwardness of introductions. If you’re following me on Twitter or you read my blog, it’s almost 100% I have read your blog or at least your Twitter stream, so there will be something to talk about.

Should I just cave in and create a Facebook profile already?

I did a quick Twitter poll re: whether I should join Facebook or not. In previous posts, I have pondered whether or not I should do it. The general response is “yes, you should”. I do feel that if I create a Facebook profile, it has to be SUPER private, have pretty much NO information whatsoever, and it would probably be something like “Raul, aka Hummingbird604” as a name (with my GMail as login). Still, I kind of want to hear options/suggestions/recommendations. Thanks 🙂