DuaneStorey.com

No, I’m Not Dead

Duane Storey — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:14:49 -0800

Turns out I haven’t written anything in almost two weeks now. Truthfully, I almost completely forgot about my blog, partially a consequence of not having anything to write about, and partially due to all the things I have going on lately. I’ve actually quite enjoyed taking a break, and don’t really think you’ll see much in the way of content over the next few months, other than a post here and there when I’m bored or have something on my mind. If you want, follow my Twitter stream for some random amusement.

I spent the last weekend pretty close to home. My friend Jeff had a birthday party for his 3 year old daughter on Saturday morning, so I went to that for an hour or so. Then I came back to my place and made dinner with a friend of mine. I woke up on Sunday and had a few old friends pop by for a late brunch, which gave me another opportunity to cook for some people — it was a lot of fun. I seem to be doing quite a bit of cooking lately, which is quite fine by me, as it’s something I find that I actually enjoy.

I used to think I was a pretty good cook in Vancouver, but truthfully, I was just pretty good at making food. The difference is that I’ve spent time learning how to do a lot of the basic aspects of cooking, such as making stock and sauces, that I really had no clue about in Vancouver. That’s naturally led to me eating healthier and also spending more time trying to shop for healthier food in my home town. Examples of that are grass fed beef that I purchased from a farm in Abbotsford, Free-range chicken and chicken eggs, and organic pretty much everything I can find.

It’s actually been fairly amazing just how much stuff I’ve needed to get my hands on in order to get my kitchen to the point where I can cook most things without making a huge grocery run. In terms of herbs and spices, I’ve probably had to buy between 10 and 15 staples that seem to pop up in most recipes. That of course necessitated a spice rack, which I now have next to my coffee maker. In the process of trying to make soups, I realized I really needed a food processor. For some things, a food processor doesn’t cut it, which is why I now have a blender. So, I’ve made quite a few acquisitions over the last year, and still have a ways to go.

Many people know that I spend a few hours a week reading medical research. I’m not really too sure why, it’s just an area I’ve always found both fascinating and important. I had a 30 year old cousin who died of a heart problem years ago, and since that time I’ve always been conscious of the fact that heart disease runs in my family. To that end, I do my best to keep up to date with the latest research.

I’ve amassed quite a personal collection of articles and research papers that I think are important over the last few years. Given the sheer volume of research I’ve read, and the cross disciplinary nature of much of that research, I’ve decided to try and piece some of it together and release a research paper of my own. I published several papers in journals during my master’s degree, but haven’t published anything since. So I’m quite looking forward to slowly putting a four or five page paper together over the next few months. I’ll probably release it on my blog, and let it drift where it may on the internet. But it’ll be nice to get my feet wet in the area of medical research. I may start a separate site at some point to put some of my thoughts and bookmarks on for people who are interested in what I read routinely. But I will definitely be authoring a paper sometime in the next few months.

Olympics 2010: The Adventures of an Incurable Pessimist

Duane Storey — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:35:25 -0800

I spent this afternoon out in Hamilton, Ontario, watching the Canada vs the United States hockey game. This morning I predicted that they would win with a 3-2 margin, which they did. And on that note, thus ends the 2010 Winter Olympics.

I’ll be honest — I was against the Olympics. I was against the costs, against the expenditures, against the further widening of the gap between the rich and poor. But truthfully, I’ll carry the three days I spent in Vancouver at the start of the Olympics with me for the rest of my life. I have always loved Vancouver, but I have never seen a Vancouver in love before: a city full of people, not only with pride for their country, but also pride for the city they live in.

After leaving, I watched my friends, Rebecca, Dave O, John Bollwitt and John Biehler, continue to give great coverage of the Olympics. I was a bit sad I couldn’t make it out longer, but thankful they were there covering the Olympics from a grass-roots perspective. I seriously think that their coverage of the Olympics will set the bar for future Olympics in terms of social media coverage.

The sad part for me is watching Vancouver, a city I love with all my heart, transform back into the city it was prior to the games. I watched it morph, albeit briefly, into a city of fun, a city of things to do, a city of street-side parties, a city with late nights and early mornings. Some would argue that a city doesn’t need those features, but having lived in other cities in Canada such as Ottawa before, Vancouver has always paled in comparison.

So as these Olympics end, I want to say that I was thankful to be a part of them. It was a small part, only lasting a few days, but those memories will resonate with me for years. I’m thankful that we won as many golds as we did, I’m thankful I spent a few moments in Vancouver with some good friends, and I’m thankful I finished these two weeks off watching the gold medal game out in Hamilton with my friend Dale.

Congrats Canada on a great games, and congrats Vancouver on making it a great event. I had a great time, even as a pessimist, and am happy Canada went the extra mile to make it an amazing event.

Hiking, Camping, And All Things Duane

Duane Storey — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:26:35 -0800

I woke up yesterday to another sunny day here in CowTown™. I was debating going to the gym, but decided instead to go and try a local hike. So I pulled my hiking boots out of a box, found some clean socks, and drove up to the trailhead for Teapot Hill, which is only about 10 minutes from my house.

Teapot hill isn’t that hard of a hike, but considering I haven’t been hiking really in years, it did a good job of wearing me out. The elevation gain is only around 300 meters, but a lot of that comes near the end. At the top of the hike is a pretty nice view of Cultus Lake, so I snapped a few photos and rested there.

I used to actually be quite the hiker. About 5 years ago I would meet up with some friends on the North Shore and do a hike a few times a month. It was a lot of fun, and it felt pretty awesome being outside and getting some exercise. I’m still quite a ways away from being in good enough shape to tackle some of the hikes I used to do, but I’m hoping to slowly work my way back up to that level. I hurt my knee fairly badly on the West Coast Trail a few years, so I’m hoping that that injury doesn’t affect by ability to hike in the long term, but only time will tell.

With the current weather being as nice as it is, I’ve started thinking about camping again. Last summer I didn’t really get out as many times as I had liked, so I’m hoping to make up for that this year. Because I didn’t have reservations to any spots last year, I pretty much never got into any campgrounds on the weekends that I wanted. So this year I’m going to actually reserve a pile of weekends at a few local campgrounds and hope for the best. In the event that I can’t make it on a particular weekend, I’ll probably just toss a Tweet up and see if anyone wants to use my spots.

Lastly, I’ve been giving this site quite a bit of thought recently and have decided to spend a bit less time blogging and tweeting. With summer coming I’m hoping to spend as much time as possible outside, which naturally means I’ll be on the computer a bit less and hopefully out whacking tennis balls around instead. So in the event that you swing by here and don’t see an update for a few weeks, it’s nothing to worry about — I’m probably just working on my culinary skills or out on a hike.

I’m packing for a quick trip to Hamilton right now to meet up with Dale and do a bit of work. I leave tomorrow morning and get into Hamilton in the early evening. I should be back next week sometime.

Roger Ebert In Esquire

Duane Storey — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:55:56 -0800

I read a great story about Roger Ebert last night on the Esquire website. It’s an article written by Chris Jones, and it’s one of the better pieces I’ve read in quite a while, partially because I’ve been a long time reader of Roger’s film reviews. Many people probably aren’t aware of this, but Roger had a run in with cancer a few years ago, and ultimately lost not only his lower jaw in the process, but also his ability to speak.

There’s a great quote in the article from Roger Ebert (I believe it actually came from his blog), talking about how he feels about death:

I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can’t say it wasn’t interesting. My lifetime’s memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris.

The full article can be found here.

What Do The Olympics Mean To You?

Duane Storey — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:13:30 -0800

I went down to the Atlantic House the other day with Rebecca, John Bollwitt, and John Biehler. We did our best to help the Atlantic House with their excess beer problem, and eventually had to solicit the help of a few other people, namely Robert Scales and Kris Krug, who happened to be in the area and swung by.

Since I had my video camera on me, I thought I would take a quick stroll and see if I could find out what some of the people in Atlantic House thought about the Olympics. The end result is this 13 minute video, which I’m hoping to have on Blip.TV and/or YouTube sometime soon.

Day 3 Highlights: Swiss House and Atlantic House

Duane Storey — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:45:39 -0800

We started the day yesterday down on Granville Island, eating a nice healthy breakfast of cheese fondue at the Swiss House. Rebecca was there to judge a chocolate contest, and we tagged along for the event. The Swiss House is in Bridges on Granville Island, which is a really picturesque location. The prices were a little steep for the food, but I guess you’re paying a bit for the novelty of eating Swiss Food and having a great view of False Creek.

Afterwards we decided to head on over to the Atlantic House, which is currently in the Backstage Lounge on Granville Island. We waited close to 90 minutes to get inside, which made the beer taste that much better when we did finally make it inside. Lots of people came and went during the event, which made for a really fun day. Other than their daily tastings of food, there isn’t anything else to eat at the Atlantic House, so make sure you’re not super hungry if you go.

Afterwards I headed back to John and Rebecca’s house to grab my suitcase and eventually made it to the North Shore to visit Dave. On the way back to Rebecca’s we walked past the awesome lights alongside of False Creek.

It’s been a pretty unreal experience so far, and it’s been great being in the city while some of this is going on. I’m at Waves Coffee near Gastown right now — there are so many athletes and visitors in the coffee shop now that hardly anyone is speaking english, which is pretty cool.

Jenn Heil’s Final Mogul Run

Duane Storey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:06:53 -0800

John Biehler and I decided to grab some grub around 7pm tonight, but unfortunately, had a hard time finding a place that could initially accommodate us. The first pub we tried to get into (on the corner of Robson and Granville) was completely full, so we decided to try the Kingston Pub on Richards street.

While it was also extremely full, they managed to find room for the two of us downstairs near the large screen TV. Shortly afterwards Rebecca and John showed up, and we watched the Women’s Mogul event while sipping a few beers. When Jenn Heil started her final run, I turned my video camera on, thinking we might be catching a piece of Canadian and Olympic history (Canada has never won a gold medal while hosting the games at home).

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the gold, but it was still an amazing achievement for Jenn Heil and for Canada. If you’re on Twitter, feel free to send JennHeil a message.

Robson And Granville Crowds, Evening Of Day 2

Duane Storey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:30:21 -0800

We just walked back to the west end from the Kingston Pub, and ended up walking past a huge group of people around Granville and Robson. Here’s what it looked like about an hour ago.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Stock Photos

Duane Storey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:14:12 -0800

I’ve started putting some of my Olympic photos on VancouverStockPhotos.ca for use by organizations seeking stock photos from around Vancouver during the Olympics. John Biehler is also going to be putting a pile of his photos up soon there, so if you know of anyone looking for commercial licenses for photographs, by all means send them to the 2010 Olympic Stock Photos gallery.

If you’re a non-commercial organization, then you are free to use the photos as long as you follow the attribution clauses as indicated on their associated Flickr photos (non-commercial, attribution). The set of CC licensed photos are available on my 2010 Winter Olympic Photo Set.

On Democratic Rights During The Olympics

Duane Storey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:35:56 -0800

This morning I got to walk along Robson Street and watch the protests as they occurred. Given that I saw first-hand how the police officers and the protesters interacted, I thought I would make a few comments.

First, it is everyone’s democratic right in Canada to be allowed to protest peacefully — these rights are protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That said, you are not allowed to protest violently, or to break any of the normal laws of this country while in the process of protesting. Vandalism and destruction of property are not forms of protest, they are forms of violence.

For the most part, I didn’t witness any altercations between the police and the protesters. I was actually surprised when a few protesters knocked over some newspaper bins that the police didn’t intervene. I suspected that the police were waiting for more people, or perhaps to box the protesters in before making any moves. Later on TV it looked like that was the approach they took, and eventually helped disperse the crowd.

While I support peaceful protests, given the anger of the protesters this morning and the infectious nature of the crowd (it seemed to be getting larger as they walked), I’m in full support of the police eventually dispersing it. I have no real experience with crowds of this nature, but I remember what happened after Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup — it only takes a few bad eggs to start a situation which can eventually spiral out of control in short order.

There were many photographers this morning who managed to take some great shots of the protests, including John Biehler, John Bollwitt, and Kris Krug, and I think social media has already shown its weight in the early days of the 2010 Olympic Games. Hopefully the grass-roots coverage continues to expand such that there will continue to exist an unbiased news source during the games.

Inside the BC International Media Center

Duane Storey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:45:06 -0800

I actually didn’t apply for a media pass, so I technically do not have access to the BC International Media Center. That said, if you have access, you can sign people in as visitors, so I’m currently down here as a guest of John Biehler.

Here’s a quick video that John and I shot to give everyone a little tour of what it’s like inside.

Riots and Protests In Vancouver

Duane Storey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:47:10 -0800

This morning John Bollwitt and I were sitting on his couch watching TV and saw that there were a group of protesters heading towards Robson Street. Both him and I immediately grabbed our cameras and headed outside to see if we could see what was going on, and possibly grab a few photos.

The group involved was waving a green and black flag with a big “A” in the center, which apparently stands for anarchy. Several of the protesters were wearing masks, and the police were following behind closely, but not engaging any of the protesters.

At one point both John and I saw a group of protesters knock a pile of mailboxes and newspaper bins over and keep walking. There was a group of non-protesters following behind trying to fix some of the damage these people were doing along the way. At one point I saw a mother pushing a baby stroller stop and kick down a green newspaper bin, which was a rather sad spectacle.

I’m in the process of uploading a pile of photos, including one of the individual who pushed that newspaper box down, so check back in a bit for an updated post.

‘Barenaked Ladies’ On Robson Street

Duane Storey — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:34:26 -0800

Shortly after arriving in Vancouver, I saw someone Tweet that the Barenaked Ladies were busking on Robson Street, so I strolled on down. Sure enough, right on the corner of Robson and Burrard was a massive group of people and music playing. I only got to listen to a few minutes worth of music, but the crowd was definitely into it.

Here’s a shot of the bass player, Jim Creeggan, that I snapped shortly after the show was over:

An Hour Away

Duane Storey — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:13:55 -0800

I’m somewhere near Surrey I think, stuck near the back on a Greyhound bus. The mood here is pretty dismal — most people are either sleeping or in some weird state of iPod euphoria. The scheduled arrival time, barring any major road hiccups, is around 12:10pm I think. The first order of business for me will be to store my luggage somewhere, most likely in a locker in the bus terminal. That’ll of course mean that I have to come back and get it later, but that’s way better than walking around with a suitcase all day.

It’s no secret that I haven’t been a huge supporter of the Olympics games in Vancouver. Contrary to what people may think, I’ve never been opposed to the spirit of the games, or to any event that can bring people together. My only real opposition was in terms of the price tag for the event. It’s unfortunately hard to ignore that the Olympic games have cost the province a fairly enormous amount of money that will most likely translate into reduced medical services in this province over the next few years, as well as in education. The hope is, of course, that the games will recuperate those costs through tourism and improved access to places such as Whistler. Only time will tell.

That said, the games start today, and it’s time to show the world what the city of Vancouver is all about. As for me, you won’t hear anything more negative about the games — we all paid for them, so we might as well all enjoy them. I’m hoping to walk around with my camera showcasing some of the people of Vancouver, hopefully doing a few video segments with my Powershot camera from time to time. I’ll hopefully spend my evenings with friends and strangers, drinking beers in a few loud bars, watching TVs and meeting new people.

The Opening Ceremonies

Duane Storey — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:44:41 -0800

I have all my camera gear packed up, which for me, is quite a lot of stuff. I pulled my old laptop/camera-bag out of retirement, which means I can have the majority of my gear, as well as my laptop, all in the same bag. It is as convenient as it is heavy.

I bought a ticket on the 10am Greyhound bus leaving Chilliwack for downtown Vancouver. I decided that having my car in the city wasn’t really a good idea with the games going on. Right now I’m just sipping a coffee, then I’m going to head down to the Greyhound and wait down there. I have a pile of work on my laptop, so I should be able to get some done while in transit.

Tonight is of course the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. It’s hard to believe that nearly three years ago I had taken this photo, which shows the countdown clock at over 1000 days until the Olympics.

I’ll find a little coffee shop and hole myself up for the afternoon, and most likely make my way down to Yaletown to watch the opening ceremonies with Yahoo! on their screen. After that, who knows. The next week or so is undoubtedly going to be a bit nuts.

If you’re stuck at home and are looking for a bit of an escape, make sure you check out the live Yaletown Web Camera, which should hopefully provide a few shots of the torch run.

Live Yaletown Web Camera During The Games

Duane Storey — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:14:18 -0800

If you’re stuck at home during some of the festivities over the next few weeks, don’t fret entirely. Yes, you’ll miss out on TONS of great events, but the good news is you can catch a few things remotely.

To that end there’s a new Yaletown web camera that’s now operational that gives views to the North and South. Tomorrow you’ll be able to see the Torch Relay go through that area by watching on the web cam.

The webcam is sponsored by Wasserman + Partners Advertising, and can be viewed here (the links to activate it are in the top-right corner). Enjoy!

On The Olympic Agenda

Duane Storey — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:14:05 -0800

I’m going to have to spend some time going through all my friends’ previous posts about the Olympics, because truthfully, I really have no idea where any cool events or things to see or do are, other than the actual events. It sounds like there are a lot of international houses that are worth visiting, as well as a few pubs (although based on some of the Tweets, the prices seem rather incredible for beer, even by Vancouver standards).

As it stands, I have a few events to attend next week already. There’s a party/event on Robson I’ve been invited to, which I may swing by and check out. There’s also a Molson tasting for the new Rickard’s Dark which I’m hoping to attend as well next week. I have a few other emails to go through, but I imagine the evenings next week will fill up fairly quickly. I also want to set aside a pile of time to just walk around and soak everything in with my camera. I’m hoping I can meet up with a few friends and do a few photowalks around the city if time allows.

Right now I’m planning on being in Vancouver either Friday night sometime, or at the latest on Saturday. I’m debating leaving my car in Chilliwack and simply taking the bus in. If I’m going to be in Vancouver for a week or so, having my car doesn’t really make sense, and will probably only end up being a completely pain with all the traffic. But I’m still undecided.

Can anyone else recommend any cool events to see or do next week? I’ll browse around and make my own list, but if you have any ideas drop me a line.

Social Media Sites

Duane Storey — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:12:37 -0800

I’m planning to hit Vancouver on Saturday sometime and spend a week or so in the city checking things out. As I mentioned before, I’ll be working during the days, most likely near Gastown. At lunch and in the evenings I’ll hopefully be bouncing around with my camera, taking photos or checking out what’s going on outside of most official venues.

I made a few small changes to this site to facilitate me writing posts during the Olympics. The main page has been changed to show Olympic related posts, and I’ve added a Flickr gallery to the bottom which will ultimately start showing all the photos I’ll be taking. I also set up a 2010 Posterous account over a 2010.duanestorey.com, which I’ll use to post things on the fly from my iPhone mainly. I’ve also set up an aggregated feed of all my content on this site as well as over on 2010.duanestorey.com. If you’re interested in that, subscribe to it here.

The 2010 Winter Olympics: And Here We Go

Duane Storey — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:56:53 -0800

Well, here we are, two days away from the start of the Winter Olympics. As everyone knows, the event is massively over budget. The last time I checked, the total cost (thus far) of the Winter Olympics was at 6 billion dollars, the majority of which was paid for by the people of British Columbia.

I’ve been on the fence for a while now about whether or not I want to be in town for the Olympics. I didn’t vote for them, but at the same time, here they are, and there’s no going back now. So to that end, I finally decided that I’m going to try to be in Vancouver for at least a week during the games to ultimately see what they are all about, and see if I can help bring exposure to what it’s like to be a tourist in your own city for a period of time.

As many people know, Dave O. started the True North Media House initiative last year as a way to have social media band together to tell the real story behind the games from a semi-grassroots perspective. Many other of my friends are part of the initiative, including Rebecca Bollwitt, John Bollwitt, and John Biehler. So to that end, I’m going to head into the city on the weekend and probably set up shop for a week or so, spending my evenings walking around town with my camera and hopefully bringing a people’s perspective to the event, similar to what I did when I was backstage at the 2008 Canadian Juno Awards in Calgary.

Dave O. has graciously offered me a piece of floor where I can set up an air mattress, so as of this moment, that’ll probably be home for next week. Boris Mann and Bootup Labs have offered me a place to work during the week, so I’ll have a place with WiFi for my normal day-to-day activities. But other than that, I’ll probably switch into Olympics mode on this site in the near future.

I’m still working out the logistics of everything, including debating buying a Canon 5D Mark II in the next day or two to finally have a full frame camera. Once I have my plans finalized I’ll switch a few things around on this site and head out into the city with my camera.

Google Adwords — How Do People Do It?

Duane Storey — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:24:06 -0800

I’ve been playing around with Google Adwords a bit, experimenting with a few basic campaigns to figure out how it all works. I was partly inspired by a friend of mine who drove some traffic to his retail store here in Chilliwack using a Facebook Ad campaign over Christmas.

The part that I don’t really understand is how Adwords is a good investment at the CPC prices they charge? For example, I was trying to target Vancouver Stock Photography using an adwords campaign. After playing around with a few keyword combinations, it quickly became obvious that the average CPC for something that targeted was between $1.50 and $2 a click. Sure, if you just put something generic up there the CPC usually goes down. But that means you’ll have a lot of people on your site that aren’t entirely interested in what you have to offer, especially if you’re a niche market.

So if you assume CPC of $2/click, and maybe a 10% conversion on people that actually hit your site, that means you need to make at least $20 profit/sale on Internet visitors from your ad campaign to break even. If your margin is 50%, that basically means you have to be selling at least $40 items to make it work, or at least selling a combination of products that amounts to greater than $40.

So it seems like Adwords and other CPC advertising campaigns aren’t really suitable for cheaper products, not unless you have an amazingly high conversion rate.

Anyone with experience using Facebook Ads or Google Adwords have any comments?