Tag Archives: Vancouver - Page 2

Setting Your Alarm Clock To Drink Wine

Posted by Megan on August 16, 2008 No comments

It’s 10:45am. I am tasting my first wine: a Sauvignon Blanc from Wild Horse Canyon – yes.

VinoCamp has commenced… the day started with a pick-up at 8:15 of fellow comrade committee guy, Boris, where the joke of setting your alarm clock to get up and have a day full of wine first got its legs (thank-you to the man/driver on this morning, who never fails to supply me with all my material).

We are in the beautiful Botanical Gardens at UBC, thankfully in a shady, breezy room on what is supposed to be a hot 33 degrees summer Saturday. Everyone has arrived in one shape or another, they have collected a fancy Riedel wine glass for keeps, a lovely bag of truffles each, a beautiful program and lunch menu (well done Lori) and we are deep into the Okanagan Valley region as Kathy Malone (from our major sponsor the Artisan Wine Co.) takes us from the Island, over the Pacific and through to the Interior of BC so we’re all better equipped with the knowledge of the BC wine Regions.

This is already a great day and we’re only into tasting one. Let it be known: I really don’t mind drinking wine before breakfast.

Our sponsors are fantastic – Cheers to you all for making the inaugural day happen:
Artisan Wine Co. / Puddifoot.com / Riedel / Taylor Hill / Kitsilano.ca / Techvibes / Miss 604 / Joeys / Farmstead / The Player’s Chophouse / Blue Water Cafe / The Cascade Room / Unwined / Trattoria / Habit.

~~(more links later people – I gotta drink some vino!)~~ Mostly done.

flickr pics here!

Blogging For NIKE

Posted by Megan on July 3, 2008 1 comment

Last week I started my latest gig. It’s with this little brand called Nike. If you haven’t heard, Nike is hosting the greatest human race this summer. On August 31st, 2008, the world will run together in a 10KM race, the Nike+ Human Race.

Being a long distance runner for years, a blogger slash social media person and living in Vancouver all made for a good fit for the purpose of this Nike event.

Over the next 2 months, there will be a few runners/bloggers in Vancouver writing for the Nike blog about a wide range of topics to get everyone prepped, psyched and ready to run. My focus will be on training tips, injury prevention, my hot music picks and all the latest gear. If you’re running or training for the race, let me know and we can record a few video blogs to tell your tale and share more knowledge with other runners.

I also get to work with the fine folks at Organic in Toronto to get this part of the project up and “running” (couldn’t resist) – they are great people and I am happy to have the opportunity to work with them.

Follow along with all the tips, tricks, training, stories and music and get set to run with the world – read all the local Nike Vancouver articles or follow my Nike running content and let me know if there are any specific running issues or topics you’d like to know about.

VIDFEST Back On Granville Island

Posted by Megan on May 23, 2008 1 comment

Not to knock any of the content, speakers, sessions, people I met, old friends I enjoyed seeing again, but I just have to say: thank-you VIDFEST for coming back to Granville Island this year. It’s one of the reasons why I think this conference is *extra* special. That, and the lack of the ocean of glowing blue bodies in the crowd from laptop monitor blasts and yes, more WOMEN! Fellas, wasn’t that nice? Lots of lovely ladies at VIDFEST. It’s a nice switch from the usual 10 to 20 per cent of the crowd that’s wearing a bra (or so I assume).

Best quote: “There are more people online than there are people in the world.” Grant McCracken (excellent name, btw)
Most shocking note: OMG – Impact Research spent what?! $150 THOUSAND dollars on a Facebook application campaign and got a mere 7,000 installs. Did I hear that right? Ouch.
Most enjoyable: The locale, the sun and the zu crew, what little there was for visiting hours.
Best new experience: Listening to Chris Anderson while watching him move around the stage in that slick, black suit.

I do have to duck out of VIDFEST early this year – the festival is still happening as I write. But I have a Slumber Queen to catch and a 3-day music festival that is rivaled by very little. Sorry VIDFEST, Michael Stipe and The Cure win this time around.

Follow the rounds of the festival over the last few days on twemes to get a snippet of all that shook down.

VIDFEST: 2008 Coverage

Posted by Megan on May 21, 2008 1 comment

I am quite certain there will be a decent amount of coverage on this year’s VIDFEST across the various channels.

Starting with the mobile, check out cellmap for mapping out your whereabouts and getting VIDFEST right onto your cell.

Moving into the internets (slash mobile to some extent), you can keep up with various bloggers and writers on the VIDFEST blog, or you’ll likely find VIDFEST coverage here here here here and here here here, and no doubt many others.

If you’re Twittering, don’t forget the tweme hash mark like so “#vidfest” for your fellow tweeters tweeting to follow and, uhm, tweet back? (what exactly is the correct cyber name for these bloody things? I stopped paying attention to all of the cute online naming conventions.)

I think you can still register… perhaps – even if it is just for one day or feature.

Enjoy the show!

VIDFEST 08: For The Artistic Geek And The Geeky Artist In All Of Us

Posted by Megan on May 19, 2008 No comments

vidfest-warren Most conferences I attend or participate in, or co-produce for that matter, tend to lean a tad more toward the “geeky” type of affairs as opposed to the more creative. Working in social media and technology for the past several years, this fact is just par for the course and happens to be the kind of event I enjoy, much to my own surprise and even though some of the time those uber geeky topics and conversations are over my head. It is these conferences that have helped in convincing the rest of the world that being geeky is in style and they have assisted in bringing the affectionate term “cool geek” into the mainstream.

I definitely don’t rank in the cool geek stardom status. I can write *some* code and I built an entire Flash website from scratch, once. I was the art student who wished her ways of straight-A’s in math didn’t up and vanish from the left brain after Math 12. I love technology and everything fabulously geeky about it. I dream about better applications and how I could implement them, but I can’t build them. I think what I love most about technology is how creative it can be. I think that’s why I’m still here. What does any of this mean and where might you fall? Are you a geeky artist? Or an artsy geek?

vidfest-josh VIDFEST is the perfect answer for the creative geek and techy artist in you. This year will be my third consecutive year at VIDFEST and it’s one of my favourite conferences for this reason. It tends not to focus so much on the business of technology or creative content, but more on creative content and contribution itself – how creativity advances technology and how technology inspires us all to think creatively. It fuels my definition of inspiring. It’s the perfect equation, if you will, of techy and creative, where geek meets artist.

If you’re visiting the VIDFEST site in these last few days and hours before things kick off, wondering if you should attend, you should, no matter what side of the brain is urging you to. The official program alone is reason enough. But if it’s not, speaking from an artsy-geekish perspective: You will meet great people, you will have memorable connections, you will have fun, you will be inspired.

Photo Credits: kk+ and Mark Busse
xposted from VIDFEST Blog

The Happiest Frog: BC’s Green Directory

Posted by Megan on January 24, 2008 No comments

I just joined another social network, shocking, I know, but this one is different and even a little extra special.

Happyfrog.ca is a Vancouver-born network that is starting to nurture their sustainable community through conversations, knowledge-sharing and every day practical tips, with a focus on green and healthy living.

My first go at the community was, in a word, really fun. And that’s not just because that’s what their logo tells me to do. The next word I’d use to describe my inaugural experience: useful. Practical is another. HappyFrog.ca truly is a user-generated space online, with its’ members providing the knowledge that the rest of us benefit from. It’s not too long before you can’t help but give a review or cast a vote. And why not? You’re directly contributing to your community. Reviewing a yoga studio, a physiotherapist or a park not only helps other consumers, but also provides small businesses and green organizations with feedback, promotion, and no doubt helps them generate more ideas to better serve the community.

The topic directory has pretty much listings on everything from eco travel to naturopaths to restaurants to spas. It’s all there. And rated by all of us. So it’s real.

Be sure to visit “Ask the frog” – this is a fantastic feature. It’s the site’s community Q&A – “dark greenies” can share tips with “light greenies”. (And then we all get beamed up by Scottie.) It’s pretty cool – users can throw any question out to the masses and get thoughtful responses from random users, so you’re meeting and conversing with other people using the site as well. You can also post events, add your blog to the blogroll, and what’s even better, small businesses and organizations can post their logos, business ideas and descriptions and promote themselves to the site – at zero cost.

It’d be great to get more people on the site, contributing to a greener, sustainable community by being a member and help direct the rest of the community to a healthier Vancouver: Go Green, Frogs!

Kinzin’s Paul Prescod At Vancouver’s First Facebook Developers Garage

Posted by Megan on October 24, 2007 No comments

xposted from Kinzin’s Blog.

Last night was all about the app.

Vancouver, or more recently referred to as “Techcouver”, held its’ first Facebook Developer Garage event downtown at the Vancouver Film School. The event was completely “sold-out” by over double the capacity of the space, so there wasn’t a seat to be had. Once the Nazi-tech guy made his way from the floor back to the booth for the main event to commence, people began to fill the isles and find space wherever they could. It was a packed house.

There were about 9 Facebook applications in all that were on display over the 3 hours. Each developer, or team of developers, grabbed the spotlight for a 10-minute overview of their respective app and covered any technical aspects worth mentioning and sharing, followed by a brief Q and A for each. David Morin, Senior Platform Manager for Facebook (nice title buddy) was meant to be joining us in the flesh for our inaugural evening, but had to cancel 48 hours in advance due to some “big meeting” at HQ. But he was kind enough to take a few minutes out to appear via Skype Video, as he said a few nice words, opened it up to the floor for some questions, when sadly, the connection was lost.

Paul Prescod, ‘DAD’ at Kinzin, shared the “Are You Normal?” app with the crowd. When he gave the current-users statistics (now over 114K in 3 short weeks), there was a gasp as a hush fell over the room. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. But nonetheless, impressive stuff! Johnny Bufu and Boris Mann wrapped the night with a few words on the open web. Facebook? Open??

There is a complete breakdown of each presentation on the live blog post from Miss 604, and on Roland Tanglao’s Jaiku Channel.

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