With living out in White Rock, I do rely on taking transit to and from school a lot. I also utilized it when I was doing my Co-Op program during the summer. I would log into Translink’s website and quickly jot down the stops and times I would need to know about to get from A to B. The downside to this, was if I missed my bus, I did not really have a way to check to see when the net bus was coming. Translink did have an iPhone app, but it was broken and was not updated in a while. That’s were Translink’s Mobile web app comes into play.

Instead of developing a smartphone app for iOS, Android and whatever other mobile operating systems are currently being used, Translink decided to create a mobile web app. Yes, a mobile web app is a web application designed to be viewed and used on a mobile device such as an iPhone, or Blackberry. At first, people were complaining about having to use a mobile web app, but I think people are starting to come. The URL for the mobile site is: m.translink.ca.

Minimalistic Design

Click on the above photo for a larger view

One thing I do like about the design, is how minimalistic is it. There are 9 nice round buttons which are easy to tap (in my case I use the iPhone with Safari, your experience might be slightly different)  with a easy to tap home link (the Translink logo). The simple look can be seen throughout the mobile site.

Bus Schedules

Selecting a Bus Schedule makes it easier to plan ahead. You can enter your stop number or enter your bus number (such as #130). Then you can specify direction as well as time. This will then present to you a list of buses for a particular stop. The mobile app can also make use of your phone’s GPS and locate a bus stop near you. You would then just need to click on one of the blue ‘T’s and it will present you with a list of buses scheduled to pass that particular stop.

Favourites

Now, this is my favourite feature of the mobile site for Translink; the Favourites. You can now specify frequently used bus stops and save them to your favourites so you can easily recall them whenever and wherever you are. I use this feature a lot as I am always wondering if the bus I am currently on, will get me to my next stop for my connecting bus. It gives me a rough idea about when buses will reach various stops and I can better plan my route. After all, to get to school from home I take 3 buses and a Skytrain. It is roughly 1 hour and 40 minutes one way and just over 2 hours to get home, so if I can time my buses properly, I can get home quicker or if I know my next bus’ arrival time I can get a quick bite or something and not have to stand waiting for it for such a long period of time.

Others

Now there are more things you can do with the web app, such as plan your trip, submit customer feedback and more, but I am just really happy about the ability to save my frequently used bus stops. This let’s me quickly check when the next bus will be arriving (approximate of course) as well as plan my travel routes with relative ease. Of course, this only works if you have some sort of network connection either over WiFi or Cellular and of course works best with a Cellular network as you dont need to rely on WiFi hotspots to check times.

Their Next Bus feature is also in “Beta” but for the most part it seems to work nicely. You can actually see the approximate location of the next bus via their GPS and your phone’s GPS system.

This sort of ties in with their route/bus finder. With the GPS capable mobile device, the mobile web app can help locate nearest bus stops to your position. You do need to allow it to know your current location, but once if get’s the location details, it utilizes Google Maps to display nearby bus stops. Not bad, not bad at all. Again, you would just click on a nearby blue ‘T’ on the map and it will show you the next few scheduled buses.

Would I change anything? I don’t think there is anything I would require in their mobile web app. The feature I was waiting for was the ability to save favourite stops and now it does that.

Final Thoughts

My experience with the mobile site has been only with my  iPhone (using Safari). I have not seen how it looks or works with any other mobile device. Perhaps I’ll borrow the wife’s Blackberry Curve and see how it works. Have you used Translink’s mobile site? How do you find it? Do you like it, or do you think they need to have separate mobile device apps built for it?

As a tip for iPhone users, you can easily create a bookmark shortcut icon to easily access the mobile site, and pretend it was a real app if you wanted to. I have a bookmark saved amongst my other iPhone apps so I can easily access the site.

This photo might not be the most interesting or best technical etc, but I thought it would be neat to show people how the Venetian, in Las Vegas, has a canal that winds its way through it. You can even take a Gondola ride, which I am sure can be a romantic thing to do. Granted, the Venice canals would be more spectacular. It is amazing how much detail these hotels on the Vegas Strip tend to have. If you have never been to Vegas, you need to go at least once in your life time. If you have been to Vegas, where did you stay and what was your favourite part of your trip?

Along our trip from Japser, Alberta to Banff, Alberta, we stopped off at Peyto Lake. This large, turquoise coloured lake is fed from a nearby glacier (off camera left).  The colour of the water is from the silt that is deposited into the lake. When the sunlit hit the silt particles at a particular angle, the unrealistic colour is produced.

The above photo was stitched together from about 8 shots, hand-held and panned from left to right. I wonder what sort of HDR image I could create from this, though it would technically only be of 1 exposure as opposed to a minimum of 3 that I typically use. When I took the photo, I thought I had AE (exposure lock) enabled though when I looked later, it seems I didn’t have AE lock enabled. Luckily, the exposures between the photos were similar so lighting is somewhat even across the panoramic.

I haven’t done a stitch in a while, but I wanted to post something on the sunny side of things. The weather here in Vancouver is a bit wet (when isn’t it?) so I thought perhaps a sunny scene might help brighten up your day!

The above photo is approximately 10 photos shot from left to right and then stitched together in AutoStitch and then processed in Lightroom. It isn’t perfect (hand-held) and perhaps I should have stitched together portrait orientated shots as opposed to landscape shots, but I like how it turned out.

So behind me (the camera) is the Bellagio (the fountains in front). To the left is the Flamingo, then followed by Bally’s and Paris. Then to the right is Planet Hollywood.

This was taken on top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. The thrill ride “Insanity” extends over the edge of the tower and spins people at approximately 3G’s, roughly 900ft off the ground. You are also angled at 70 degrees, so you are looking down towards the ground. I wonder how many people throw up on this particular ride.

After my first 2 years on this program I will have accumulated 124 credits (give or take), whereas I have heard that say the 4-year Computer Science program has you walk away with that amount of credits. We typically have between 6-8 courses each term (or semester). Of course we have homework and assignments to match too! Granted, we do a lot more hands-on work which is great! I am enjoying it, I have had my shares of struggle, but the end is near. I am looking forward to joining the work force again.

This final term for my 2-year program consists of the following:

• Data Communications (my option) – COMP 4981, COMP 4985
• This covers TCP/IP, UDP protocols in both Windows and Linux environments. We utilize the C language.
• Computer Graphics – COMP 4560
• Theory on computer graphics, both 2D and 3D. Math and Programming
• Internet Software Development – COMP 4711
• Utilizing PHP, XML, and the MVC Framework CodeIgnitor
• Operating Systems – COMP 4735
• Theory (with some programming) on how OSes are implemented and such
• Computers and the Law – BLAW 3600
• Mainly Canadian Law and how it affects the Computer Industry
• Industry Project
• This doesn’t start till May, but goes for 6 weeks – We take on a program from an external company

So there is my current course list. I left out our PE (Physical Education) as it only occurs once a week for 50mins, which really isn’t very much but I guess it is supposed to get us out of our computer chairs and be more social?

Do I plan on continuing my education after I graduate? Sure, I would like to see how I can juggle a course here and there part-time. I can take the following 7 years to complete the last 2 years for my Bachelor degree. I have to look into how many courses I would have to take to complete it within the specified time.

Would I recommend the CST program to someone else? I would recommend it to one who is looking to go to school to learn programming. With this particular program, you can even start it with little to no computer experience.

Why did I take CST program? When I graduated from highschool (13-14 years ago) I wanted to enroll in the program then. Unfortunately, my highschool grades were not good enough to get into the program and I did not really know about being able to upgrade (silly eh?). When I was laid off a few years ago, the job postings I kept looking into all required that I had some sort of schooling, either a diploma or degree and related experience. I had related experience, but every one required some sort of schooling to back up the knowledge. I took an English competency exam and upgraded my Math and was accepted into the program.

Why take the program at BCIT? Their 2-year program allowed me to get a diploma and get back into the workforce sooner (my plan anyway). With the previous program I took at BCIT (Electrical and Industrial Electronics) I knew they were a hands-on institution, which is what I excel at. I love getting my hands dirty and playing with things and knowing I would get to actually do more programming than theory (we have had lots of theory) I knew it would be best for my learning style.

So there you have it. I’m in the final stretch of my diploma program and looking forward to the end. I’m used to being in school and living a student life (in a way) and I know it will be a transition to go back full-time work. I miss work quite a bit actually, and I hope to get a position somewhere where I can utilize not only what I have learned at BCIT for programming, but utilize other skills I have picked up during my adventure of life.

One of the things that Robyn and I got up to was a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. This being a wedding present, we actually had to reschedule it from its original date to my winter break. This was alright, with temperatures between 10 and 18 Celsius in Las Vegas, we weren’t really going to complain. We would be staying 4 nights at The Mirage, but this post is how we booked a tour to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Originally, we were going to book the 3-in-1 tour of the Grand Canyon. What does the 3-in-1 involve? A airplane ride out to the Grand Canyon were we would meet up with a helicopter to take is down into the Canyon itself to the Colorado River, which we would then take a boat down the river to a spot for a picnic. This didn’t pan out due to me being a student and the 3-in-1 tour being quite expensive on a per-person basis. What did we do then?

A quick look at Google for tours at the Grand Canyon left us with many options. Mainly, a lot of them for those large tourist buses that cram 40 or so people into them. Since the drive from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon is about 4-5 hours, we thought that perhaps we would try and find a tour operator that dealt with smaller groups. A quick visit over to Trip Advisor proved to be most effective, as we went through the top 3 Grand Canyon tours listed and read over the comments that people posted about each company. We settled for Grand-Adventures.com, a tour company that deals with smaller groups for a more personal experience.

Robyn sent an email about availability and found out they were all booked up. Before we left for Las Vegas, Robyn was contacted by a friendly representative saying that 2 spots on a tour were opened up due to a cancellation, it was for the 27th of December (my Birthday) so we booked it right away. Our arriving flight into Las Vegas actually brought us in at about 8:30PM the night before our tour, we didn’t get to The Mirage until about 9PM and our tour was to start at 6:20AM. We pretty much went to bed when we got checked in.

December 27th: 6:20AM

It was a early morning after a long day. Luckily, The Mirage has a Starbucks inside, just off the casino floor and that helped start our day right. I also have to say that, that particular Starbucks never failed to make me a good Soy White Mocha while we were there, whereas some of the Canadian locations we visit tend to make them poorly. Anyway, that is another story.

We got to the pick up location outside of The Mirage’s front entrance. We were the last to be picked up and we were greeted by Dan, our driver and tour guide. Our particular tour consisted of 2 other families for a total of 9 people on our tour. Much better than being stuck on a bus with 40 or so people.

Dan informed us, that our first stop would be breakfast (at a McDonald’s) in the city of Boulder.  Dan was great for talking about the history of how Vegas was born and various other tidbits. As we got into Boulder City, we continued to talk about Boulder City and our itinerary for the day. Did you know that Boulder City has deemed alcohol and gambling illegal? It is a pretty small and quite town, with 2 casinos at its borders though.

First Stop: Hoover Dam

Now, I was going to keep up with posting the rough time-line of our tour, but I cannot really remember when we got to our little points of interest, I will tell you that we left at 6:20AM and returned back at The Mirage at 8:45PM. That does include a few stops on the way to the Grand Canyon and stopping for gas once on the way back. It’s a LONG drive both ways.

After breakfast we drove to our first destination, the Hoover Dam. Thanks to 9/11, there is a security check-point that you go through when you get closer to the Dam itself. While they checked the back of the van, we were entertained by a family of Big Horned Sheep.The nice thing is we did not have to get out of the van during the check.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a decent photo of them through the tinted windows of our van. They were just grazing along the side of the check-point keeping an eye out for dangers (us). Dan was saying there are usually 2 scouts looking out for a larger group, so if we were lucky we might see a herd of about 20 of them. We only saw about 7 near the check-point, but I kept my eye out for any more.

A quick drive from the security check-point to the parking lot and we were out of the van and on our way to see the Hoover Dam. Robyn was giddy with excitement and quoting Beavis and Butthead the whole time. You know, when they screw around with the controls inside the dam and it bursts?

Anyway, a 15 minute walk up and around one of the hills put us on a Memorial Bridge that was constructed over the Colorado River and gives you a good view of the Hoover Dam itself.

At this time, we have also entered the state of Arizona. Though, we will be going much further into Arizona on our way to the Grand Canyon. As for the Hoover Dam itself, I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t go over the dam itself, as I would have liked to walked along the top of it. I guess I can see why they don’t really allow for it anymore. If the dam were to break, not only would the amount of water devastate the area down river, but Lake Meade would empty rather quickly and I do believe it is a vital source of water for the neighbouring towns (perhaps even Las Vegas itself).  We have a bunch of photos of the dam, including a panoramic I need to switch together. It is pretty impressive, and that the cement used to create is is STILL curing! Dan was also telling us that he does kayak tours which put in at the base of the dam (to the right just before one of the spill ways). The dam itself is a magnificent piece of work, if you get the chance to see a documentary on how it was built, you should watch it. Dan also mentioned that one of the inventions created during the construction of the Hoover Dam was the Hardhat, neat eh?

On our way back to the van, the tour buses started to arrive. 3 buses of about 40 people each poured out too! We noticed each person had a sticker on them, and when they returned to the buses, they were all accounted for. Looked more like herding cattle actually. Glad we spent the extra money on a smaller tour!

Next Stop: Seligman, Arizona; Birth Place of Route 66

Now most people have probably heard of Route 66 right? Also known as Main Street of America too! Well, its birthplace was a small town called Seligman. This is the same town where the creative director of Pixar got the idea for their animated movie Cars. It was pretty neat to see and be on Route 66, though it’s pretty quite in the winter. Even with the interstate 40 being so close, the towns along Route 66 are slowly becoming neat little tourist places once again, thanks to a local barber in Seligman by the name of Angel [wiki]. Angel was working when we drove into town, but we didn’t have enough time to go in and say hi. Angel is responsible for getting funding for the small towns that dot Route 66 in order to keep them alive and a part of American history. I think it’s pretty cool to see the small town along what used to be such a busy and historic route. It would be cool to see they these little towns look like in the busier tourist seasons.

I wanted to get a photo of the Road Kill Cafe, but we were too far down the street for me to go back and get one. Oh well, perhaps another time right?

Next Stop: Grand Canyon

If I can remember correctly, we did arrive at the Grand Canyon in about 5 hours or so, which means it was a perfect time for lunch. When you book your tour with Grand-Adventures.com not only do you get breakfast, you also get lunch too! You get to pick a type of sandwich (we had turkey) and are also supplied with water, fruit, cheese and crackers. Also there are yummy cookies for desert too. The sandwiches were large and quite good! They definitely filled us up!

Throughout our trip to the Grand Canyon, Dan would talk about the various areas we drove through, giving us little history lessons and info about the surrounding areas. It was quite informative and I enjoyed everything. He talked about the Joshua Trees, the Copper and Turquoise Mines that dot the landscapes as well as things like how the road networks were built and why they were built to even how places got their names such as Flagstaff. I find it odd how I know more about the US and its history than I do of Canada’s.

Once we got to our little overlook place for lunch, we got to see how first full view of the Grand Canyon.

Photos can never do this place justice, it should be on your bucket list! Robyn and I sat on a ledge while eating our sandwiches overlooking the canyon as the rest of our tour stayed in the warmth of the van. Yes, there is snow and it was about 2-3 degrees Celsius. Which of course, us Canadians can brave

After lunch we headed to the main area of the canyon where the hotel is located as well as the tourist shops. Here Dan dropped of us and let us wander around for about 40 minutes as he drove the van about a mile or so further along.

Robyn and I bumped into another Canadian couple (from Ontario I believe) who told us they were on one of the big tour buses and had 40 people. They mentioned that when they got to the Grand Canyon, their driver told them to get off and he would be back in 3-hours to pick them up. We both also noticed the onslaught of people at this little touristy area. We were glad we were on a much smaller tour.

When Dan got back it was time to start our little walking tour of the South Rim. We started at the tourist area and headed towards the Geology Museum. This was about 1.3 Miles and took a decent amount of time to do. As we walked, Dan pointed out the various layers of the rock that make up the Grand Canyon as well as how it was formed. For Robyn and I, this all seemed to be more of a review of early highschool geology, but it was enjoyable anyway.

There were lots of photo-ops along the way. We were glad we had a clear sky even if it was a little chilly as the sun slowly set.

The path lead along the edge of the canyon, though not close enough to be dangerous, but close enough to make things more spectacular. The flora among the path was pretty interesting to see, a variety of pines and low shrub. There were juniper trees (don’t eat the berries!!), sentry plants and even wild Thyme.

With the recent snow fall, there were some slippery spots (we did see people fall painfully) but that’s what you get when you wear sandals or even high-heeled shoes.

With the winter season, our tour was there to see the sunset. It is beautiful to see the sun set and the colours and shadows change constantly on the canyon walls.

Next Stop: Las Vegas

After the sunset we all got back into the van and Dan took us back to Las Vegas. The trip back was much quicker due to the fact we only stopped once and it was for gas and a bit of a stretch as well as some snacks. It was a quite ride home as the rest of our tour seemed to be exhausted. I just watched the night scenery go by and awaited for when the lights of the Strip showed up. As we were approaching Paradise Valley (aka Las Vegas), Dan mentioned how from the crest of the hill we could see how vast and how far the valley of lights spanned. The area of Paradise Valley is pretty massive, and reinforces how the area is running our of water, but it seems little is being done to conserve it on the Strip itself, though that is another story.

It was a fun, but long day. Definitely worth if if you ever find yourself in Las Vegas and want something different to do!

• Tour Company: Grand-Adventures.com
• Tour Size: 8-9 people max/van
• Our Tour Guide: Dan
• Food/Snacks: Breakfast and Lunch included
• Time: ~All Day (6:20AM-9:00PM)
• Cost per Person: $150 US
• Points of Interest: Hoover Dam, Seligman (Route 66), Grand Canyon
• Was it worth it? Yes! Definitely worth is! Highly recommended!

With all of that in mind, the weather here in Vancouver has been interesting. In fact, it has been snowing a lot on our North Shore Mountains, which has allowed places such as Cypress Mountain to open earlier than any other year in its history. As for life in White Rock, the weather systems that come off the ocean and through the San Juan islands is pretty cool. I love being able to look out our living room window and seeing the following:

Pretty cool eh?

Of course, there is always our neighbour’s pool. Even though it has been about 10 degrees out, the pool still looks inviting. Too bad our neighbour doesn’t keep the pool heated during the winter. I would love to go for a swim as the sun sets in the west.

On The Blog Front

I am behind on some posts (when am I not?), and hopefully I can find time to add a bit more something something for you to read.

There is also the Whistler/Blackcomb tweetup happening November 26th, which I will be heading out to attend. I attended the first one and met some awesome people! Though, due to school last year and the date they picked, I missed the second one. I will be there through for the 3rd Annual Tweetup at the Garibaldi Lift Co. (GLC) as it is on a Saturday! If I get there early enough, I’ll definitely wander around the village with my camera, not sure if I’ll head up the mountain though, opening day will be 2 days before.

Since Robyn is in New York with one of her best friends, she has my main SDHC memory card. I had to hunt around to see if I had any other memory cards for my Canon XSi. Luckily, I still have my 1 GB SD card that came with my little point and shoot (the camera Robyn is using on her trip). Now typically my 16GB SDHC card can take like 500 photos on my XSi, a 1GB card can take about 50. So I had to be a bit less, shutter happy.

Yesterday, I had to fix my home server. It crashed horribly so I rebuilt it from pieces of another computer. It ended up being a dual-core AMD Athlon64, with 2GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive etc etc. My plans are to re-create a file server to store music and photos. Anyway, since I’ve been hardcore coding and stressing out, I thought I should get away from the computer and do something that always seems to relax me; a photo walk.

Actually, as I was walking along the beach, I heard the familiar call of a Loon. Unfortunately, Loons still seem to evade me and I have yet to get close enough to take a some-what decent photo of one. It’s my next bird to capture with my camera though! I’ll be excited the day I can get close enough to take a decent photo of one.

Of course, I had to try an HDR of the pier. No photowalk for me is complete unless I’ve tried to do a hand-held multiple-exposure HDR.

As I was walking back home, I noticed there was a bald eagle on the beach. This guy wasn’t as friendly as others and flew away before I could get close enough to try and photograph him.

It was an enjoyable little walk. I wish I didn’t have to get back to doing school work. I want to just have 1 day of not doing any school-based things.

For Robyn’s birthday this year, she wanted to head over to the Laity Pumpkin Patch, so we did just that. After a filling lunch at the Blacksheep Pub in Maple Ridge, we braved the crowds at the pumpkin patch located at the base of Laity Street.

Not only does the farm have hundreds of pumpkins out in the patch, but they also of trailer loads of pumpkins that people can pick through. But, we find that you should at least experience walking through the patch looking for that perfect one!

Of course, it is great for the children. Laity has a small petting farm where kids can check out the various farm animals. There is a tractor ride and a neat little forest filled with things for kids to discover. Yes, there are even dinosaurs hidden among the trees!

We ended up picking up a total of 4 pumpkins for $10. That doesn’t include the entrance fee which is $2 per person. It was a fun couple of hours wandering around the patch with Robyn and my Mum. We try and make visiting a pumpkin patch an annual thing and look forward to the next season.

When Robyn get’s back from her trip to NYC, I am sure we’ll carve the pumpkins we picked up in time for Halloween.