Update: The baby’s name has been chosen, and will now be called Tiqa

This summer I had the chance to visit the Vancouver Aquarium for the first time in about a decade. What I discovered was that it was far from simply being a tourist attraction and an entertainment destination. It’s a valuable research facility, a way to teach children about sustainability and its impact on animals and the environment, and the staff are some of the nicest people you’ll meet.

In a news release this morning, the Vancouver Aquarium announced a contest to name the newest addition to their family, Qila’s baby beluga calf.

Starting today (Monday, September 29), Canadians are invited to visit the Vancouver Aquarium website at www.vanaqua.org to submit a name suggestion.

Submissions will be accepted up to 11:59 p.m. Friday, October 10, 2008. Our panel of judges will select five “finalist” names, and Vancouver Aquarium Members will vote on their favourite. The winning name will be published in the Vancouver Sun and announced live on Global Television’s morning news Friday, October 24, 2008.

Five prizes each consisting of an annual Vancouver Aquarium family membership will be randomly awarded from all contest entries. The membership provides admission to the Vancouver Aquarium for one year for two adults and three children (ages 4-18)

The Grand Prize winner will receive a “one of a kind” Beluga Encounter with the baby, Qila and Aurora hosted by our veterinarian and our Marine Mammal Curator. Plus, the grand prize also includes an annual Vancouver Aquarium family membership and a $150.00 (CAD) gift certificate from the Gift Shop at the Aquarium.

You can watch the baby on the Aquarium’s Beluga Cam for some inspiration or visit the Vancouver Aquarium for a closer look.

It was a year ago that I first wrote about the Surrey Memorial Hospital‘s Tulips for Tomorrow campaign.

Now, 12 months, 100,000 bulbs and $420,000 in donations later, they are initiating the campaign for another season.

Your donation will put Surrey in bloom when spring rolls around, and will fund new medical equipment for our hospital… …There is a change this year. The tulip bulbs are being made available for sale (while supplies last, of course!), with 100% of the proceeds coming back to the Foundation. Each package of 10 tulip bulbs is selling for $10 at five Surrey locations – 99 Nursery and Florist, Art’s Nursery, David Hunter Garden Centers, Central City, and Guildford Town Centre.

Tulips for Tomorrow supports the hospital and also beautifies the community. They also have a shiney new WordPress site for the campaign that also allows you to place a donation online. SMH continues to be important to me (read my history of the hospital) since not only was I born there, my niece and nephews were as well.

It’s been a while since I did a Vancouver History segment so I have decided to look at some familiar streets and neighbourhoods around town and share how their got their name, with help (as always) from my favourite VancouverHistory website.

Shaughenessy Thomas George Shaughnessy, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the President of the CPR until 1918.

Photo credit: under_volcano on Flickr

Cates The Cates brothers, who started our most well-known tugboat company, were from Maine and in 1950 Cates Park was dedicated in the name of Charles H Cates, founder of the Cates Towing Company which became Cates & Son with his son John H Cates (who later became Labour Minister). George Emery Cates (Charles’ brother) started Cates Shipyards and his son, John A Cates developed Bowen Island as a summer resort, opening Hotel Monaco and the Terminal Hotel.

Seymour Mount Seymour, Seymour Street Frederick Seymour was governor of B.C. from 1864 to 1869. He moved from New Westminster to Victoria when it was named the capital in 1868, which he was not too happy about. Side note, he pronounced his name “seemer.”

Hamilton Hamilton Street Lauchlan Alexander Hamilton was a CPR land commissioner and surveyor that arrived in Vancouver in 1883 where he surveyed and named streets from English Bay to Hastings and as a city councilor he proposed Stanley Park and laid out its perimeter.

Capilano Capilano River, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Capilano College Royal name of the Stalo people, a Capilano chief greeted Simon Fraser in 1808 and in 1906 another Chief Capilano lead a delegation to London to speak with King Edward about land claims. This Chief Capilano was friends with poet Pauline Johnson, who told many of the Legends of Vancouver and his wife was the granddaughter of George Mathias who welcomed Captain Vancouver at Point Grey in 1792. Their son, Mathias Joe Capilano, was a Squamish chief who was a prominent leader and internationally famed carver who attended coronations of both George V and Elizabeth II. He was a lifelong campaigner for the rights of Native people and in 1949, with his wife, he cast the first native ballots in B.C.

Khahtsahlano Kitsilano August Jack Khahtsahlano helped build the first Capilano Suspension bridge when he was 12 years old and his grandfather was the namesake of the Vancouver neighbourhood, Kitsilano. August Jack is most known for his conversations with archivist J.S. Matthews, by which he “made a name for himself as one of the most fruitful and dignified sources of information on early native life.”

You can continue reading up on interesting tidbits like this over at VancouverHistory.ca.

This morning I was pretty down as I was having one of those moments when I started to question where all this blogging is going to take me. I’ve been working 12 hour days with our social media consulting company, Miss604.com, our podcasts, and my freelance gigs and I suppose it all just hit me at once when I had the chance to reflect on all my work in the last 2 weeks (and the last two months).

I believe in what I do; I believe in blogging, social media, information sharing, starting discussions and helping others use these tools to promote what they are passionate about. I also believe that all of these things can make a difference.

When Trevor sent me this link today, I stopped questioning myself (although it shouldn’t have taken Gary V to get me out of my funk, but he sure did help). “If you’re pumping out good sh*t, people will follow!” … “If you love it, you’ll win.” … “If you want this – if you want the jets, if you want the bling bling: WORK.”

I know I’m headed in the right direction and I know I have some of the best people in the world supporting my every decision. I also know I must be doing something right since Duane just sent me NowPublic and the Vancouver Sun’s list of the web’s 20 most-visible individuals in Vancouver and I’m in the top 10 [see also: GlobalTV] Previously, NowPublic published similar lists in New York, Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.

This medium is something John and I truly believe in for individuals and for business, which is why we started sixty4media (and it’s why I blog a dozen times a week). If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you engage your readers, nurture your clients, and grow your customer base, please feel free to contact us or meetup with us at BarCamp this weekend.

I have found my way to the auto/ONE Trunk Gallery located on 3rd Ave between Pine and Burrard and now have internet access thanks to Cecilia and her dedicated IT guy who took my call.

The gallery is actually a car dealership (talk about fusion) with white leather couches, ambient music, and cars so shiny you can fix your hair by glancing at your reflection on the hood. Tonight I have been asked to live blog the Keall Foundation’s Project Tunisia fundraiser. There are about 50 silent auction items ranging from Spruce Body Lab gift certificates, a Roxy luggage set, and bottles of wine.

[Janet Keall] is back from Romania and Nicaragua and will pay it back once again to the babies housed in 17 abandoned baby centres throughout Tunisia, North Africa. She has partnered with a local Tunisian organization, Act Dev to achieve this goal.

If you are able, stop by the gallery tonight to bid on any of these items, enter the raffle, have a consultation with Skoah skin care professionals, have a cupcake and support this worthy cause.

100% of the silent auction proceeds will benefit these orphaned babies to make a considerable difference in these lives that never chose to be orphaned and unwanted. Together we will supply them with sustainable solutions and the basic comfort of full stomachs; clothed bottoms and printed caregiver reference guides for all workers at centres and Tunisian Orphanages.

I’ll be providing updates throughout the evening as there are several activities planned until 10:00pm tonight.

Update: Janet just stopped by to say hello to me and thank me for being here. She is such a genuine person whose foundation is doing so much great work for children across the globe, it’s pretty much an honor for me to be here covering this event.

Update: When you walk into the event you can enter your business card into a draw to win a 40 inch LCD TV, and the bar (by donation) is immediately to your right. Janet mentioned some big names that may be dropping by later so I’ll have to get up from my perch and mingle a bit once things get underway.

Update: Lorne Mayencourt just introduced Janet and gave us all a bit of background about her life and her mission for this cause. She was left on a doorstep as a baby, only hours old, and has now created this foundation to help children all over the world. “By the time I finish this talk, 20 more children will be abandoned.”

Janet will be leaving for Tunisia next week to visit the 17 centres that the foundation will be supporting through its efforts (and through events like tonight). “When she first showed up they were amazed that anyone even cared.” Janet then gave a quick speech and although she was almost too moved for words, she was still able to point out her doting parents who were present tonight.

“I will be arriving in the capital city Tunis, and driving 4 hours to Kairouan, which has a population of about 120,000 and is one of the holiest cities in Islam. Founded in the late seventh century, it is the oldest Islamic settlement in Tunisia, and has the oldest mosque in North Africa, with the world’s oldest minaret.

Kairouan currently looks after 18 abandoned babies in only 2 bedrooms. Space is very limited as you can imagine. By the time I arrive they should have moved to a newly built centre that will look after 25 babies as well as having many facilities for mothers to stay over and spend time/look after their babies.”

She also announced that she will be blogging about her experience in Tunisia over on the Keall Foundation website.

The evening will be coming to an end within the hour and we’ll soon have the raffle and door prize draw. I have managed to hold off on the cupcakes and my National Digital Media Day has finally come to a close. Thank you to everyone who hosted us, blogged with us, and celebrated the medium today – and a big thanks to the Keall Foundation for the wonderful work that they do.