When John and I were separated by thousands of kilometers before he made the move to Canada we used to send each other video postcards. One evening when driving back to the city from his parents’ house he put his camera on the dashboard of his car and spoke to me while cruising through the rolling countryside. In the background was Couches in Alleys by Styrofoam featuring Ben Gibbard [YouTube] and when John finished his message he turned the camera out, facing the road, and captured a fiery amber sunset falling gracefully from the sky as though slowly and peacefully embracing the earth.

Since then, I’ve enjoyed being able to travel and explore highways across this continent with him. Driving home from Osoyoos along the Crowsnest the other weekend I had tears come to my eyes several times. We were carefree, meandering along a well-traveled highway nestled between mountain ranges and valleys while the tunes on the radio made us both sing along whenever we felt like joining the chorus. There are few places on this planet that make me wish I could freeze time and soak in their majesty, and for some reason my thoughts always come back to Iowa.

I had never been to the Midwest before I met John and during our whirlwind tour for Thanksgiving last year, passing the signs for the famous covered bridges of Madison County and the birthplace of John Wayne, the beauty of the landscape won me over yet again.

I have a sneaking suspicion that these warm feelings, thoughts and memories are not so much about the locations themselves, but the people I was with – in particular, the person who shared these travels with me. I’ve been very lucky in my life to experience such places and to have met people whose hospitality and generosity can only be shadowed by the goodness of their hearts.

If there is one place that I could remain for the rest of my life, however, that would be in the arms of my husband, who is celebrating his 30th birthday today. “He’s not North, my South, my East and West,” and I look forward to exploring the ends of the earth with someone so full of life and spirit that it humbles me each morning when I get to be held in his arms.

The title of this post is from a Ben Folds song

In the last ten days alone I’ve had the chance to meet and chat with Canadian beer-making legends, interview my all time favourite band (and one of Keira’s favourite bands), talk local history with a Vancouver mayoral candidate, laughed with the internet-famous, and meet another rock star who blogs.

After coming down from Las Vegas, eleven live blogs, five events, and preparing for this week’s events (which include a hockey game, charity live blog, National Digital Media Day, and BarCamp) I have to take some time to share my thoughts on a parcel I received today from the Union Gospel Mission.

The UGM is a beacon of hope Canada’s poorest neighbourhood, the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Through programs, drop-in centres, thrift stores, their blog, womens’ and youth outreach centres, the UGM helps those who need it most.

This afternoon they sent Matthew Good, Duane and I each a thank you note:

Rebecca Bollwitt, for your compassionate response to a community in need. Thanks to your innovation UGM set a new fundraising record during Blogathon Vancouver 2008 to help your friends in the Downtown Eastside.

I’m overwhelmed by this modest token of appreciation and it makes me want to do more with my Social Media for Change campaigns.

I didn’t do Blogathon for links, traffic, and recognition – I did it because through this medium that so many often find shallow and self-serving, I have a voice which I choose to use to create positive change, in big and small ways, and to make everything count.

I also have the best readers in the world; those support me and my effort, who leave uplifting or even constructive comments, and those who simply come back every day. I thank you all.

Last night between my interview and the Less Than Jake concert, John and I headed over to Launch Party Vancouver 5 for some schmoozing, networking, and all out good times. As I’m currently sitting in the Phoenix airport waiting for my flight to Vegas for Blog World Expo all of my energy from 3 hours sleep has now been expelled by composing this post so I’ll let the images say the rest.

Photo credit: Tris on Flickr

James of AdHack with TrevorO and Jordan Behan kicking butt on the red carpet.

Photo credit: Tris on Flickr

Raul and me… psst! it’s also his birthday today, head over to his blog since he’s not on Facebook and you can’t send him a wall post.

Photo credit: Tris on Flickr

One of the Launch Party organizers from day one, Maura, looking lovely on the red carpet.

Photo credit: Raul on Flickr

Sheil and me with Vision Vancouver Mayoral candidate Gregor Robinson who made an appearance.

Photo credit: Tris on Flickr

Warren Frey was our videographer for the evening.

Photo credit: Tris on Flickr

The love of my life. That’s it, that’s all I can say. I really like this photo.

The rest of the photos can be found in Tris’ Flickr set, Jordan’s set or Raul’s as well. You can also check out my posts from Launch Party 1 through 4 to look back on the year we’ve had, celebrating startups in Vancouver.

UPDATE – September 19th: The concert was amazing and we had such a blast. John was able to take some awesome photos which are now online – here’s a sampling from his set on Flickr.

September 18th: This afternoon I was able to interview one of my all-time favourite bands, Less Than Jake. I did a quick podcast for RadioZoom although I didn’t have our regular mobile recording gear.

Levels are off, volume fluctuates, there’s drums in the background and voices may be raised but given the circumstance, I think it worked out and I had a ton of fun meeting Chris Demakes (vocals/guitar).

The podcast is now up (edited and encoded live from Launch Party Vancouver @ Unwined) so head to RadioZoom to listen, subscribe and download and I believe just a few tickets are still available for tonight’s show.

Update 2009: I won “Best Vancouver Blog” in the Georgia Straight’s Best of Vancouver 2009 – thanks everyone!

The annual Best of Vancouver issue of the Georgia Straight has hit news stands. The results are in for Best Local Blog and I’m very honored to have been voted into 2nd place by the readers of the Straight.

Congrats to VancouverCondo.info for taking the top spot, and Beyond Robson for coming in 3rd.

Since I hadn’t heard of VancouverCondo I poked around the site a bit: “Welcome to Vancouver Condo Info! If you’re looking to get excessively wealthy through the power of leveraging in one of North Americas last surviving housing bubble markets, or if you’re just scratching your head wondering why anyone would pay $300k for a small leaky condo you’ve come to the right place.” It’s pretty cool stuff and clearly they are a leader in their industry.

Unfortunately the only results that don’t display the correct URL’s / web addresses

Pick up your copy of the Georgia Straight for everything from the best place to get a manicure, to the best theatre concession stand. I’m also considering the revival of the “Best of 604” so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks.