This month’s Vancouver Blogger Meetup is taking place Wednesday April 8th at 6:00pm. I’d like to try and attend since there are so many new bloggers in town that I’m keen to learn about and my Link Love page needs revamping.

These meetups are casual and discussions flow regarding anything from content writing, comments, themes, and social media for beginners to experts. April’s event will be extra-special since Raul (the organizer) has also planned the inaugural VanTechKaraoke. “I have wanted to help organize something fun and team up with Maura. So, after the last Launch Party Vancouver, Maura and I got talking about doing something fluid, something fun that people could just attend and let loose and not have something super-structured. The idea of doing Vancouver Tech Karaoke (#vantechkaraoke) arose…”

You can RSVP online for the Vancouver Blogger Meetup and although a venue is not currently chosen, I believe Raul was planning on having it somewhere in the vicinity of the karaoke. You don’t have to be a blogger or in tech to attend – all are always welcome.

I took full advantage of the Orange Day initiative today and went on two photowalks in lovely public spaces in New Westminster and downtown Vancouver. This morning there was brunch at the Quay along the Fraser River with my mother and later this afternoon John and I roamed around Barclay Heritage Square in Vancouver’s West End.

Sometimes on lovely spring days such as these, it’s the simplest of activities that can delight, relax, and bring a smile to your face. It definitely helps when the bright sun is blanketing our soggy city to boot.

The Barclay Heritage Square is a public park with small playground, on-leash dogs are welcome on its lawn, and its highly conducive to activities such as playing catch, badminton or Frisbee.

The three heritage houses that border the park on Barclay Street are Barclay Manor, Roedde House, and Weeks House (on the Nicola corner). There are also 6 other heritage houses (private residences) that surround the perimeter, all of which date as far back as the 1890s.

I have yet to have tea at the historic Roedde House but it’s near the top of my must-do list and I have profiled it in one of my Vancouver History pieces:

In 1990 the restored Roedde House Museum opened its doors for community events and tours. Having done many tours of Victoria during our girls weekends, I’ve become pretty familiar with the architects that formed our big coastal cities in BC, however I had no clue that there were murmurs that Francis Mawson Rattenbury built Roedde House. Rattenbury being the designer of the Vancouver Art Gallery (former Court House) and Victoria’s Parliament Buildings and Empress Hotel [VancouverHistory].

I would also love to read “More Than a House” The Story of Roedde House and Barclay Heritage Square by Janet Bingham (whom I met at the CBC Radio event).

Feel free to browse the rest of John’s Flickr set, as well as my own for more photos.

Now in its 20th year, the Walk for Kids Help Phone will be taking place May 3rd.

Kids Help Phone is “Canada’s only toll-free, 24-hour, bilingual and anonymous phone counselling, referral and Internet service for children and youth. Every day, professional counsellors provide immediate, caring support to young people in urban and rural communities across the country.” [About] The Walk is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the organization.

Steve Jagger (of Reachd, Ubertor) will be participating in a unique way. “My mom is heavily involved with KidsHelpPhone,” he noted, “and I want to raise the $10K exclusively through the web.” You can pledge Steve’s effort online and spread awareness by writing a blog post or re-tweeting updates about the campaign on Twitter.

Several other ways to participate include: Signing up for the walk, volunteering at the walk in your community, pledging the team of Kids Help Phone counsellors, or simply spreading the word however you can.

The Kids Help Phone does important work with their completely anonymous service and can help talk you through troubles with bullying (and cyber-bullying), gang, coping with strong feelings, family life, friendships, dating, violence, and school issues.

Last year the Walk for Kids Help Phone raised over $3 million across Canada thanks to its 20,000 walkers in more than 50 cities across the nation.

Related post: Kids Help Phone Homes for the Holidays.

On Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to sit in on the judge’s panel at the Vancouver auditions for the popular CBC series, Dragons’ Den.

It was lovely to see the talented producers once again since I first met them when I did Test the Nation in Toronto as a part of Team Blogger in 2008. I also met Trent Kitsch from Saxx Apparel who was the Concrete Equities Armchair Dragon Award winner last year.

I was there for a handful auditions from locals who all had unique business ideas – here are a few that stood out…

Madison on Main
A consignment store on South Main that sifts through clothing goods to provide only the best, top name-brand apparel at a healthy discount – website.

Gear Drop
A “valet service” for your stinky hockey gear so that you can leave it at the rink and pick it up again before your next game. They’re currently running out of 8 Rinks in Burnaby – website.

Banana Guard
Back from a stint on a previous season of Dragons’ Den, the Banana Guard guys introduced Froot Case and Froot Guard – going beyond the banana for protection of fruit – website.

Photo by: dEEsignphotography / For: BananaGuard

Glyde
Glyde condoms are flavoured, thin, smooth, and 100% vegan – website. It was indeed an interesting follow-up to the Banana Guard presentation.

VentureWire.com
Free, real-time stock quotes from every North American exchange – website.

Clifford T Melia
I didn’t want to take photos of Clifford’s invention since he hasn’t patented it but he was a charming man from the Chilliwack area that came up with a great device – hope he makes it to the show in Toronto.

Widemouth Brewing
The pitch wasn’t all about the beer, it was about a new design concept for the brew’s container – website.

BC companies have done well on the show in the past so it will be interesting to see if any of these ventures make it to the show, and in front of the Dragons. This year’s Dragon from Vancouver is Jim Treliving, the CEO of Boston Pizza and Mr Lube, who will be joined by a panel of others on the show.

You can head to the Dragon’s Den site to check out and rate video of some online ideas and pitches. Vancouver auditions are open until 4:00pm today.

Wednesday evening we headed to the local beer & wine shop with Keira so that she could collect the standard thank you for helping me move brews. They didn’t have a run-of-the-mill selection, mostly imports and micro-brews, however we did get a brief education about cask brewing and ending up picking up a pack of the Best Beer in BC, which just happens to be from Central City Brewing in Surrey. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩