The Line for Sockeye Salmon

On a recent walk through Steveston (while reminiscing with Gladys – @gloomybb), I was utterly amazed at how busy the pier was with people looking to grab themselves some fresh Sockeye Salmon straight from a boat. Having grown up in Steveston, I remember days when this was the case (especially when the pier was redone), but in recent years I only remember a spattering of boats selling the odd fish or crustacean so the sight was one for sore eyes.

With the massive return of sockeye salmon (estimates of over 30 million have been provided making it the largest return in over a century) I would have thought there would be enough to go around, but apparently this past Sunday only one boat had any sockeye available as the others had sold out. This in turn created lineups of over 50 people each (there were two to the same boat). As sockeye is also considered to be the most desireable salmon to eat, it does make sense to be that popular but I’ve read that processing plants have had trouble keeping up that they are turning boats away, so you’d think there’d be enough for the average joe to pickup at the pier. Go figure.

The Fish was THIS Big – courtesy of Iwona Erskine-Kellie

Not being a seafood guy myself you won’t catch me lining up for a $20 fish, but for those that do want to grab one I do have advice for you – arrive the night before and bring a sleeping bag.

I’m also looking to complete the following wishlist of items. Can anyone help me out?

• Design a logo for LCBD – I’ve been playing around with Gimp, but I can draw stick men better. The header you see above is courtesy of Daniel Doan (@dandoan) and I added the text with picnik, but that’s the limit to my skillz.
• Update the code for this theme to better work with IntenseDebate – the layout below seems to be a touch wonky. I’m also unsure if it’s working all that well with the various login options.
• Create a watermark to use as an overlay for image captions – can this be done in CSS?
• Post more regularly – I’m always open for guest posts… they provide inspiration.

kthxbai!

My Eventual Destination – courtesy of Stephen Walli

Having never been to Hawaii, I’m pretty darn excited to be heading to Maui in just over two months time. Maybe it was seeing episodes of “Hawaii 5-0″ on TV when I was young or catching “Saved By The Bell: Hawaiian Style,” but I’ve always wanted to go – just never had the wherewithal to make it happen.

But dream no more.

Marnie and I fly out at the end of October (on the wings of WestJet - who I might add is quite conversational on twitter @WestJet) and will be staying with my parents at the Kamaole Sands. My folks have been here twice in recent times and say the place is quite nice. The fact they also picked up the tab for us makes it even better – we just needed to pay for our flights. They’ve also arranged for a rental car, making us quite a bit more mobile.

But what do we do when we get there? I know there are tonnes of places to visit, but reading out of a guidebook is one thing – I’d rather hear from y’all because word of mouth is that much better. Suggestions?

If there is one thing I’d like to do more of, it’s to partake in more of the fantastic theatrical productions we have access to here in Vancouver. I can’t even remember the last time I went to a play, so I jumped at the chance to take in Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park when the opportunity presented itself.

Beginning back in 1940 (for a total of 64 years as a few years the production ceased for a variety of reasons), TUTS has been providing great entertainment at fantastic prices throughout the summer. This year, alternating productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Singin’ in the Rain can be seen for prices as low as $29. Joseph (the particular production I saw) began on July 9th, while Singin’ was seen the following day – July 10th. And if you’re worried about getting the seat you wanted, a new experience this year is “all-reserved” seating.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – courtesy of TUTS

I should qualify what I’m going to say next with something simple – this will be the first time that I’ve seen Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Futhermore, this edition of Joseph is also a “dynamic and fresh approach to this classic, with plenty of magic and comedy and a few other surprises.” Here’s what James Cronk (TUTS producer) had to say:

“Although Joseph has been done numerous times, this will truly be a unique adaptation. We have a few surprises up our sleeve and are excited to offer people the opportunity to see Joseph like never before. It’s about fun, singing and laughter, and it’s a show that will be enjoyed by everyone in the family, which is exactly what Theatre Under the Stars is all about.”

Suffice to say, I quite enjoyed the “fresh” approach, even though I had nothing to compare it to. And what was really neat to see, was the involvement of one lucky child from the audience to act as the “12th” brother throughout the production. I may be 32, but I was wishing I was at least 20 years younger because something like that would have been right up my alley.

I’ll concede that many purists out there might buckle at what they have just read, but the energy from the stage was awesome. Nearly everyone (I couldn’t see every face, but from the sounds of the audience I’m pretty darn close) was engaged throughout the show and the applause roared like thunder when it concluded, so I’m sure there were a few impressed purists in the crowd. Heck, Marnie who happens to be the enlightened one, and had seen the Donny Osmond version of Joseph when it was last in Vancouver, was impressed – that’s good enough to me.

If my schedule allows, I was so pleased with what I saw that I’m thinking of taking in Singin’ in the Rain. In fact, maybe we all should? Just keep in mind that it’s all over until next year after August 21st!

Disclosure: I received the tickets through a 3rd party (unrelated to Theatre Under the Stars) for providing some voiceover work – http://cmp.ly/0

My Memories of Starcraft

And then there will be me, waiting for you to skill yourself up to the point that when I do get the game and fire up the mulitplayer experience, you’re waiting there to hand my ass to me (and assuming your no older than my current shoe size, tell me all about my momma). Oh the horror…

Much like Ed, I distinctly remember my experience with Starcraft as if it were yesterday. I remember thoroughly enjoying the story line on the single player, and the satisfaction of providing limited support to my buddies when we fired up the multiplayer (okay, okay.. we cheated.. we always played 4v4 with 5 people – it was nice to have a mole). I also remember scenes such as the image above, although I was usually able to last long enough to have a massive number of firebats all freaked out on the stimpack juice.. yes.. that is definitely the stuff.

So what should we expect in a moments time?

StarCraft II continues the epic saga of the terrans, protoss, and zerg. These three distinct and powerful races will clash once again in the fast-paced real-time strategy sequel to the legendary original, StarCraft. Legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types will do battle across the galaxy as each faction struggles for survival.

Featuring a unique single-player campaign that picks up where StarCraft: Brood War left off, StarCraft II will present a cast of new heroes and familiar faces in an edgy sci-fi story filled with adventure and intrigue. In addition, Blizzard Entertainment will again offer unparalleled online play through Battle.net, the company’s world-renowned gaming service, with several enhancements and new features to make StarCraft II the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game.

Well.. that’s the official line from Blizzard. I can’t speak to the single player experience, but having had a chance to crack open the multiplayer beta, everything I remembered from a decade ago was still quite the same. The zerg or tech rush is still the in thing. Protoss are still OP in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing. Chris still plays terran because he thinks there is honour in doing so. Yep, same old same old. There are some new units and unit dynamics (no more firebats which pisses me off), the rules that bind line-of-sight are different (height is something that comes in handy), and games didn’t seem to turtle as often, but it just seemed to me that it was just the same ol’ game polished up.

But what do I know? Exactly.

Click here to view the embedded video otherwise you\'ll miss out.

Jordy & Keira-Anne

Paws for a Cause is the BC-SPCA’s annual and premiere fundraiser to support the non-profit organizations desire to “support those who can’t speak for themselves.” Being a pet guy at heart (although I very rarely admit it publicly), it’s awesome to see Keira-Anne herself an ambitious fundraising goal of $2000. What’s not awesome is that she is still some distance away from the goal:

I’m once again fundraising for the BC-SPCA’s Paws For A Cause, aiming to raise $2,000 by September. As of today, I’ve reached only 10% of my goal. Please consider donating to my effort and support this worthwhile cause.

So I ask all six of my readers to dig deep into their pockets, find that $5 you were going to spend at Starbucks, and pass on the daily cup of coffee to instead support such a fantastic cause. Not only will you not miss the coffee, but you’ll be acquiring yourself some invaluable karma to boot.

And if you think you can’t part with that cup, trust me when I say you can – as a certified coffee addict, I did and I’m still alive.

With Glowing Hearts – courtesy of Rebecca Bollwitt

But not that I’m complaining.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a good size box addressed to me with Vancouver 2010 design waiting on the couch for my arrival home from work this evening. Not exactly sure what it was, I opened it to discover that inside was a brand spanking new copy of With Glowing Hearts / Des plus brillants exploits: The Official Commemorative Book of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games / Le livre commmoratif officiel des XXIes Jeux olympiques d’hiver et des Xes Jeux paralympiques d’hiver (furthermore known as “With Glowing Hearts” because I can’t imagine having to type that out again). What’s so odd though is I don’t remember ordering it. But again, I’m not complaining.

Quote from John Furlong – courtesy of Rebecca Bollwitt

With Glowing Hearts is a beautifully put together book to commemorate both the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. I have only had a brief chance to rifle through and I’m already reliving the memories and feelings that we all experienced just a few months ago. Whether it was cheering with my family when Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada’s first gold medal on home soil, experiencing a moment of anguish to be followed by sheer pandemonium on my own when Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal in the Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Game, or feeling the connection to hundreds to thousands of people enjoying the electric atmosphere on Granville Street downtown, the book is a fantastic means to keep the story fresh.

If you haven’t done so already, I strongly encourage to get yourself a copy as a keepsake. It’s well worth the money (or in my case, possibly someone else’s).

Courtesy of gesamtbild

With today being Friday, I’m getting the long list of recommendations of “followers” that I should follow on twitter. Some of these recommendations come with a caveat that the group is a “swell bunch of peeps” or “epic #Canucks fans,” but very few of them come with anything more than that. And whenever I find myself in one of these lists, I’m always quite grateful that somethings highly enough of me to include me with such a description, but always wonder if people who see the list ever wonder how I wound up there anyway.

For instance, what criteria does one use to define an epic Canucks fan? I wouldn’t disagree with that classification in referring to myself, but sometimes I do wonder how others match my level of epic-ness. Or better yet, what makes me a swell guy?

So to do something different (albeit not entirely original), I decided to solicit advice on who I should follow by asking the following:

If you were to recommend two of your followers for me to follow, who would they be and why? @lyteforce

To me this makes more sense. Instead of just randomly clicking profiles trying to increase my following count on twitter, I’m getting some insight on why something thinks someone else is worth following – the information is more genuine and to me carries more weight.

Now that’s not saying that a simple “#Canucks fan” #FollowFriday can’t do the same thing, but it doesn’t tell me much more than that and really, that’s what I’m looking for.

Thoughts?

Whether it was hearing about Dave Randorf’s favourite ball player Jeff Kent, cashing in on some sweet loot during SportsPage trivia, or waiting all year to watch “Yulin’ with the Page” over the holidays, it was part of every sports fan’s lifestyle here in Van-city.

SportsPage Trivia Was Teh Bomb!

But as with all good things, the ‘Page was finally taken off the air with it’s last episode on September 2, 2005. It was tough to take, and I remember watching Dan Elliott (aka Jumbo) tear up when he signed off for the last time – I kid you not, I teared up too.

Anywho, over the past few weeks I’ve been tossing around the idea of trying to get SportsPage back on the tube with a few of the fine folks on twitter. Gladys (@gloomybb) in particular has been extremely gung-ho with the idea and got me thinking that I should start to harrass.. errr.. approach some of the hosts from the ‘Page in an effort to get the wheels on the bus moving. So thinking the best person on twitter to hit up was Scott Rintoul (currently of Team 1040 fame, but he cut his teeth on the ‘Page – @ScottRintoul on twitter), I gave him a holler and he said he’d be in. True, it’s simply a tweet and not a contract, but listen to him and Barry MacDonald talk about it this morning on the Team (hat tip to Gladys who got the audio):

Ringing endorsement, don’t you think?

So where do we go from here? How do we make this happen? Let’s get SportsPage 2.0 back on the air! Lord knows we need to see more playoff beards like this:

Click here to view the embedded video otherwise you\'ll miss out.

Ladner Village Market – courtesy of freedryk

Although I’m sure I could do a much better job at buying local, it becomes much easier for me to do so this time of year between the Steveston Farmers and Artisans Market and the Ladner Village Market. Every Sunday from now until the end of summer (both markets run 10:00 – 4:00 alternating Sundays – LVM: June 13 & 27; July 11 & 25; Aug. 8 & 22; Sept. 12 & SFAM: May 23, June 6 & 20; July 4 & 18; Aug. 1, 15 & 29; Sept. 12 & 26; Oct 10), each market will bring together a variety of local vendors who provide anything from fresh fruit, veggies & baked goods to plants & handmade wares. I’ve had some great success at obtaining some of the best produce I’ve found at both, bought my parents a fantastic framed print of the Ladner harbour for their anniversary a couple years back from one of the vendors at the Ladner Village Market, and today found some pretty decent smoked Olive Oil and Roasted Garlic Balsamic Vinegar that I plan on giving someone as a gift (if I don’t use it myself). Everything you could need to get by seems to be available.

But that brings me to think of other ways we can support local business beyond events that bring us all together – what do you do in your own way to shop local?