There’s under a month to go until WordCamp Whistler! We’ve been busy updated the site, blog, getting a group rate for the Fairmont Chateau Whistler Resort, and also singing on some amazing speakers:
Keynote Lorrelle Van Fossen (aka Lorelle on WordPress), Dave Olson (Topic, Are you Worthy?), John Biehler (Topic, How To Sex Up Your Blog With Photos And Video), Dale Mugford (Topic, WordPress On The Go), Andy Peatling (Topic, BuddyPress), and possibly you! There are still a few days left to submit your ideas and topics.
Book your tickets today, we’d love to see you for this day of major WordPress networking, information, parties and hitting the slopes.
If you have already booked your ticket and will be joining us January 24th, or if you’d just like to help us promote the event, consider adding a badge to your site.
Over the years many have been saved due to the hard work and efforts of North Shore Search and Rescue volunteers but the association is now in need of your help.
North Shore Rescue (NSR) is a Mountain Search and Rescue Team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The team consists of approximately 40 volunteers skilled in search and rescue operations in mountain, canyon and urban settings.
Our lovely North Shore mountains are beautiful outdoors playgrounds for all, 12 months of the year. Hiking in the summer (or doing the Grind) to carving up the slopes in winter. However, due to frequent sudden changes in our weather systems and many heading out unprepared for the terrain, rescue missions are an unfortunate reality.
Over the years North Shore Rescue has helped 1000s of individuals and returned sons, daughters, fathers and mothers back to their families – and now North Shore Rescue is asking for your help. NSR is having a severe shortage of donations and we are in dire need of assistance. Any donations you can provide will help NSR continue to provide rescue services to the Vancouver area. NSR is 100% volunteer run and depends on public donations to operate.
If you would like to learn more or donate online, you can visit the North Shore Rescue Blog or main website.
Grab the family and head down to the West End Community Centre rink (870 Denman Street) January 3rd from 11:00am until 1:00pm for a free skating event with Canada Ice Dance Theatre.
“Canada Ice Dance Theatre (CIDT) is a non-profit organization that teaches children and adults to skate.”
Rentals will be available as well as free instructions and refreshments (there’s a even a rumour about hot cocoa making an appearance). You can find a full list of Vancouver ice rinks on this post.
Last night while watching my niece and nephews track NORAD Santa through Egypt it finally felt like Christmas. The hustle and bustle of daily life, not to mention keeping up with work up until Christmas Eve night, didn’t quite make me feel the holiday spirit this year until that moment.
The family got together last night despite treacherous road conditions and trees falling on SkyTrain guideways. I honestly wouldn’t miss my niece reciting Twas the Night Before Christmas while all of us gathered around. I saw the excitement the children were bottling up and ready to unleash (apparently at 5:00 this morning from what I hear) and I got a little giddy myself.
I cannot begin to express how much family means to me and moreso how having my husband, my best friend, waking up next to me makes me feel like the luckiest, every day.
2008 has been rough in many ways and at this time I cannot help but think of my dear friends and how I wish they were enjoying their Christmas Day, I hope they know that I love them all very much. My heart reaches out to Tanya and her family, as well as Michelle who is in Korea with her ailing grandmother. These are people who are very special to me that deserve good thoughts and warm wishes all year ’round.
Stay safe, stay warm, and I’ll see you all on Boxing Day… when the Canucks take on the Edmonton Oilers aw yeah!
With dozens of centimeters of snow on the ground (and still falling) the city is muffled in a powdery silence.
Here’s a quick roundup of Vancouver History notes, with a Christmas theme.
- December 24, 1951. Sultry Hollywood actress Yvonne De Carlo, dubbed the “most beautiful woman in the world,” visited Vancouver (her home town) on this day.
- In 1977, Burnaby’s Christmas hockey tournament for junior teams featured 98 teams and 1,600 players. It had become the largest event of its kind in the world and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Many talented players were produced by Burnaby’s hockey program.
- December 25, 1932. Greater Vancouverites listen to the first Christmas radio message from the sovereign as George V speaks from Sandringham.
- Christmas 1859, eight months after arriving in New Westminster, the Royal Engineers had built a theatre. The theatrical fare at the Theatre Royal, New Westminster, was mostly light farces, comedies, minstrel shows, songs, dances and skits.
- Eliza Machin, wife of the Carnegie Library’s first librarian James Edwin Machin, was choir mother of Christ Church Cathedral for 27 years, a founder of the Operatic Society and supporter of local musicians. She introduced Christmas dinners at the Carnegie Library, a tradition that continues today at the Carnegie Community Centre.
What constitutes a White Christmas is to have at least 1 cm of snow on the ground at the airport on Christmas morning, so I think we’re going to make it into the history books this year. My sister told me the other day that this is the first time since 1971 that all of Canada will have a white Christmas and it’s our first here on the West Coast since 1998.
Have a safe and happy Christmas everyone – and just in case you need to get out and travel, check the traffic webcams and transit service conditions for updates.
