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Best of 604: Voting Begins

Comments 6 by Rebecca Bollwitt
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As of midnight December 4th, voting is now open for the Best of 604 people’s choice awards for their favourite sites and blogs in the region.

Quick Facts:

  • Voting will be open until 12:00pm December 11th.
  • You may vote once in each of the 14 categories.
  • Prizes so far include: A gift pack from Kiss My Face, Cromwell & Cruthers, Yardley, and J.R. Watkins for each category winner, along with separately sponsored prizes such as two tickets to an Arts Club production, two passes for a Social Bites dinner, hand-crafted items from Magic Woodworks, jewelry from Sheila Christie, two Vancouver Giants tickets (from Canucks and Beyond), gift certificates for Howie’s Bistro and Bar, tshirts and (EA) Xbox games from 6S Marketing, passes to Mount Seymour… and more!
  • More sponsors are still welcome.
  • Results will be announced at the awards reception.
  • Admission is by any (monetary) donation to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.

    • Big thank you to The Cellar for hosting the awards reception, which will take place at 6:00pm on December 11th. Please RSVP on the Eventbrite page, even if you’ve spotted the event listing on Facebook or Upcoming as well.

    Good luck everyone, I’m really looking forward to getting together, supporting a great cause, and celebrating all of your very hard work.

    Canucks Fan Zone Liveblog: Vancouver vs Detroit

    Comments 1 by Rebecca Bollwitt
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    Official Canucks Fan Zone Liveblogging SquadDecember 4th, 2008 at 4:15pm you will be able to head to the official Canucks website to catch a live blog of the Vancouver vs Detroit game.

    The Fan Zone will be hosting several live blogs throughout the season and I’ll be the first moderator tomorrow, using the Cover it Live system.

    I’ve reviewed Cover it Live before and since then they’ve done a bunch of upgrades and added features so I’m looking forward to giving it another go. Fans will be able to log on, join the discussion, share photos, participate in polls and much more – on the fly.

    Since the Red Wings/Canucks game is also a pay-per-view I’m hoping to have lots of participants/readers and other Fan Zone’rs on the website tomorrow for live discussions, chat, and commentary.

    You can check it out now (although the live blog is not yet in progress) and set yourself a reminder.

    Update: Other bloggers joining me will be Yankee Canuck, Humming Giraffe and Thomas Lupton, it should be a really great time!

    Official Canucks.com Liveblogging Dec 4, 2008

    Update: We’re live now.

    Reshaping Vancouver Five Minutes at a Time

    Comments 1 by Rebecca Bollwitt
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    A few weeks ago I got the heads up about re:place Magazine. It’s an amazing local site that shares stories, thoughts, discussions and ideals about Vancouver’s ever-changing urban landscape.

    Mission Statement:
    To be a forum for discussion on relevant issues pertaining to Greater Vancouver’s public spaces and urban landscape.
    To educate citizens about the workings of the public realm, and to encourage interaction and engagement in cities.
    To explore the ever-changing look and dynamic of Greater Vancouver.

    They’re having a re: connect event tonight at The End Cafe (on Commercial Drive, right near the Skytrain station) with a super all-star cast.

  • Robert Hackett – Campaign for Democratic Media
  • David Beers – The Tyee
  • Chuck Davis – The History of Metropolitan Vancouver (one of my personal Vancouver History mentors, that I would really like to meet someday)
  • Andrew Pask – Vancouver Public Space Network
  • Karen Quinn Fung – Independent initiative (Karen recently organized the Skytrain Security Unconference as well as TransitCamp)
  • Jason Robinson – Sustainability Television
  • Michael Klassen – Vancouver City Planning Commission (On my radar since the “Vancouver Blogger” Google battle pre-Northern Voice)

    • Presenters will have five minutes to share personal or group initiatives, ideas or projects and that will be followed by a Q&A session. Things kick off at 7:00pm, admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend although please be sure to RSVP to contributors [at] regardingplace [dot] com.

    This would totally be a not-to-miss event for me however I have already have an engagement tonight at the Vancouver Aquarium. I’m certainly going to keep my eyes on these re:connect events in the future.

    Christmas Wish Breakfast 2008

    Comments 2 by Rebecca Bollwitt
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    In just a few minutes I’ll be heading to the Pan Pacific for the annual Christmas Wish Breakfast.

    It’s become a tradition of giving in Vancouver where everyone is invited to come down, bring an unwrapped toy between 6:00am and 9:00am and enjoy a complimentary breakfast. In case you don’t have time to come in for a meal, there is also a drop off “express lane” open where you can still donate and receive a donut to go.

    Pan Pacific Christmas Wish Breakfast & Toy DriveThere were truckloads of toys out front already,
    I’m thinking this was a ceremonial pile as there
    was much more than this in total – which is awesome).
    Pan Pacific Christmas Wish Breakfast & Toy Drive
    GlobalTV’s Mike McCardell
    Pan Pacific Christmas Wish Breakfast & Toy Drive
    Lining up to give.

    This is the largest toy drive fundraiser in the Lower Mainland [News1130] and it helps to make sure every child in our region has something special under the tree this season.

    A Vancouverite's Guide to Twitter

    Comments 33 by Rebecca Bollwitt
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    By now, you may have heard about the microblogging site, Twitter, from your friends, the radio, CNN or Barack Obama. It’s a great way to stay in touch, share updates and news, and communicate with others. I’ve been noticing more and more businesses on Twitter (which is a good thing) so I’d like to list off a few around town that Vancouverites might want to check out or follow.

    Media

  • The Tyee – @TheTyee
  • The Georgia Straight – @georgiastraight
  • The Georgia Straight, Technology – @StraightTech
  • The Vancouver Sun – @VancouverSun
  • The Vancouver Sun, Digital Life – @GillianShaw
  • CityTV’s Breakfast Television – @BT_
  • CBC Radio 3 – @CBCRadio3
  • BCIT’s Evolution 107.9 Radio – @evolution1079
  • Talk 1410am’s Afternoon Buzz – @AfternoonBuzz
  • News1130 – @News1130
  • Techvibes – @TechVibes
  • UBC’s CiTR 101.9 Radio – @CiTRradio

    • Around Town

  • Grouse Mountain – @GrouseMountain
  • Capilano Suspension Bridge – @CapSuspBridge
  • SFU Woodwards – @SFUWoodwards
  • Kids Up Front – @KidsUpFront
  • Fearless City – @FearlessCity
  • Vancouver Board of Trade – @VancouverBOT
  • Canucks Fan Zone – @CanucksFanZone
  • Whitecaps FC – @WhitecapsFC

    • Hospitality/Food

  • Raging Bean Coffee – @RagingBean
  • Opus Hotel – @OpusHotel
  • Doolins Irish Pub – @Doolins
  • BC Restaurant & Food Service Association – @BCRFA

    • City or Political

  • Newly elected Vancouver Mayor, Gregor Robertson – @Gregor08
  • City of Vancouver – @CityofVancouver (Updates Protected)
  • Metro Vancouver – @MetroVancouver (Updates Protected)
  • Vancouver 2010 – @Vancouver_2010 (Updates Protected)
  • Translink – @Translink (Updates Protected)
  • West Coast Express – @WestCoastExpres (Updates Protected)
  • Skytrain – @Skytrain (Updates Protected)
  • SeaBus – @Seabus (Updates Protected)
  • BC Ferries – @BCFerries (Updates Protected)
  • The Green Party of BC – @BCGreenParty

    • Update – Reader suggestions:

  • Vancouver Public Library – @VPL
  • UQ Events – @UQEvents
  • Coffee Geek – @CoffeeGeek
  • SFU Twitter User List
  • Dept of Culture – DeptofCulture
  • Coast Hotels – @CoastHotels

    • However, I have a few tips for some of the Twitter profiles I’ve listed.

  • Make sure you have a custom profile icon or image – some people might recognize that more than your profile name.
  • Update as often as you can and make sure they’re not all automated posts. Have someone provide unique updates, be specific and feel free to share anything you like.
  • Follow other people. The whole point of social media is to communicate, create and share discussions. It’s a two-way street so let your followers know you’re interested in what they have to say as well. Who knows, you may get a top news story within seconds, find out about great deals, or get customer service feedback.
  • Finally, if you have a service whose updates could truly benefit people ie. sailing times, schedules etc. it would be really helpful to remove the protection (privacy setting) from your updates.

    • It’s free to sign up for a Twitter account and if you’d like to get updates from any of these sites (or yours truly) click on the links to ‘follow’. Please feel free to share more Vancouver Twitterites in the comments and I’ll update this post.