Yesterday I was having a pretty bad afternoon; I felt really down and things didn’t seem to be going my way. John got home and while I was going into doting-wife-getting-ready-to-prepare-dinner-for-her-man mode he placed two items on the coffee table, which just so happened to be tickets for tonight’s game. Needless to say my mood changed almost instantly.

I was talking to my Oma (who is 87 years young) on the phone this morning and out of the blue she says in her broken English, “The Canucks – they’re going to lose tonight, huh.” I asked her why she thinks that and she replied, “well they’re playing Boston.”

I was a Bruins fan for quite a while – I actually liked them better than the Canucks when I was a little girl because their sweaters had a “B” for “Becky” on them. I lived in Boston during the Thornton heydays, and was pals with the sound guy at the Fleet Centre who was known to toss on a couple ‘Hip tunes during the games. As of 2003, I had been to more Bruins games than Canucks games since they were a) cheaper b) more accessible c) what else is a homesick Canuck going to do in her spare time?

I do admit, however, that I would spend evenings listening to the streaming Canucks broadcast from my HP Omnibook. Sitting on my bed in New England, peering out frosted windows and listening to John Shorthouse call the games on CKNW is how I spent the rest of my time.

Back to tonight’s game and my Oma’s prediction, good Vancouver kid Milan Lucic – who is a deserving fan-favourite in Beantown – is coming off of a hat trick in their game against Atlanta on Saturday. He’s one of the most exciting players in the league and his mom n’ pop will probably be at the game tonight as well. On the flip side, we have a lot of promise this season and guys like Burrows and Hansen are full of fire. The Bruins are third in the North East and we’re at the bottom of the North West but I’m sure we’ll have an exciting game tonight – and I can’t wait to cheer loudly for the Canucks (and super secretly for the Bruins too).

The puck drops on TSN (HD), on the TEAM 1040am, and on the live stream at 7:00pm PT.

Years ago I had Jenny write a guest post where in she reviewed a few pumpkin patches and endorsed Country Farms in Richmond. Now, two years (and another child) later she has graciously submitted an update post.

This year’s pumpkin patch of choice was Aldor Acres in Langley. We arrived at about 10 Saturday morning and paid $27 for the family admission (Mom, Dad and 4 kids). There is ample parking on a large field adjacent to the farm and to make things easier parking attendants direct traffic. The ladies at the booth were joking that many people want to pay for the family admission when it actually works out cheaper to pay individually (but they would let people know when they were overpaying). We took a quick walk around and then hopped on the hay ride to take us out to the field.

This wasn’t my first visit here as it is a popular destination for local elementary and preschool classes. The friendly gentleman driving the tractor told us that arriving early was wise as they expected long line ups later in the day. Sitting on bails of hay we were driven passed the barns and future Christmas trees out to one of the many pumpkin covered fields.

It’s a good idea to bring some bags along to carry the pumpkins back to the tractor if you have little ones who can’t manage for themselves. Luckily it hasn’t been too wet lately so few of the pumpkins were rotten and we managed easily to find 4 that the kids liked (2 small ones and 2 fairly large ones). I did however manage to get myself pretty muddy so be prepared, boots are fairly essential.

The cost of the pumpkins depends on the size and you need to pay (ours came to $21 all together)and you need to pay the driver so have cash on hand. We were driven back and stopped beside the parked cars so we were able to hop out and leave the pumpkins in the car and then continue back to enjoy the rest of the farm. There are a lot of animals to see (many of which are known from the PNE) and small gift shop area, concession stand, petting zoo, etc. Check out their website for further details.

Usually I promote upcoming meetups and unconferences that circle around social media however a large part of my audience is not involved with blogging (and isn’t concerned with whether it is dead or not). I’m thankful for all of my readers who find my site through Google or other sites (or even my mom). I find it’s just as important to note various other community events – they may not be techie, may not be downtown, but will still be super fun for anyone. With that, I’m happy to share the following:

Also, please remember that if you live in the Vancouver-Burrard or Vancouver-Fairview districts that you need to get out and vote on October 29th and most cities in the region are having their municipal elections November 15th.

Parsing through my Delicious links this morning I came across two articles that John sent me (yes, I become giddy when I notice my husband tagged something for me in Delicious).

The title of the first bookmark was “Blogs More Relevant Than Ever” and the next one, right on top of that listing was, “Blogs are so over”. The interesting thing is that they are both referencing a Wired article by Paul Boutin.

Thinking about launching your own blog? Here’s some friendly advice: Don’t. And if you’ve already got one, pull the plug.

Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. It’s almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter. [Wired]

Let’s start with the seemingly glass half empty post from Mathew Ingram, quoting the Wired article with his tongue way in his cheek:

To tell you the truth, I’m kind of surprised that Paul didn’t put a headline like “Twitter and Facebook have killed blogging” on his piece. Things are always killing other things in the kind of world Boutin describes. And what evidence do we have that blogs aren’t the place to be any more? Just this: Jason Calacanis quit blogging and moved to an email newsletter, and Robert Scoble is mostly doing video posts and Twittering. So there you have it. Case closed.

Then there’s the post by PureBlogging, which quotes yet another response to the Wired article, from Dwight Silverman, “Are Blogs Obsolete?”:

Like any other publishing medium, blogging is a tool for getting information to other people. The fact that other ways of doing it have come along doesn’t mean blogging doesn’t belong in your toolbox. It’s still an effective way to communicate ideas, news, images, video, audio. It remains a simple and powerful way to not only share your thoughts, but point others to valuable info and insights elsewhere on the Web.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Blogs are not obsolete. You know why? Because I still read them everyday. I still write for them nearly everyday. And so do countless others (that probably includes you). If you ask me, blogs are more relevant than they’ve ever been, because they are more mainstream than they have ever been.

I’m starting to see a pattern here. First, blog about how blogging is dead. Next, watch all the bloggers blog about how blogging is not dead. Sit back, and watch blogging thrive and have your post spread like wildfire through the blogosphere.

Here’s an update that Mathew Ingram made to his post:

Seamus McCauley calls Boutin’s post “flagrant flamebait,” which I think is probably true. And I fell for it 🙂 And so did Tish Grier.

Translation, the post was asking for controversial discussion (being “flame bait”) so that people would blog about it for better or worse.

I have been noticing changes in blogging patterns – at conference there are more Tweets than live blogs and those who write uber personal posts are being unfollowed on Twitter or blasted for sharing too much information, although this is really where blogging go its start isn’t it? That’s even how the Wired article begins.

I think blogging is changing (not dead); it’s evolving into something much bigger, allowing for more applications and tools to emerge in the online realm. It’s changing the conversation and allowing for more of a two-way street; you and your audience, wired and mobile, on and offline. In that regard, I’m pretty glad this article came to be.

Today is Media Democracy Day across the nation and Vancouver’s festivities are taking place until 6:00pm at the Vancouver Public Library.

Since 1996, there have been several efforts by concerned citizens and media activists to build coalitions to make the media more democratically accountable in the US as well as Canada.
Initially MD Day was organized by local Toronto and Vancouver groups of the CPBF — modeled after its British namesake, a coalition of groups which came together in 1996 to challenge Conrad Black’s takeover of much of Canada’s press, and the threat to diversity posed by media concentration. Early supporters included the Council of Canadians, the CEP union, the Canadian Media Guild, the Graphic Communications International Union, the CLC, and the Periodical Writers Assn. Today, the tradition of MD Day is carried on by local citizens and student groups in Canada and around the world. Events were organized in 2001 in Toronto, Vancouver and Kitchener-Waterloo Canada.

Speakers and presenters in the ‘fair‘ can be found on the Vancouver’s MDD site, check DaveO’s sweet preview post on the Raincity blog and visit the folks from Beyond Robson. The event is free so head on down if you have time (and conveniently there is a pub – or two – between the venue and either the BC Lions or Canucks games later as well).