This autumn I introduced the Best of 604, in response to a local newspaper’s Best of Vancouver. Sure, my categories weren’t as diverse but I’m pretty free to build upon the Best of 604 at any time, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Reading Morning Brew this morning, I saw a link to the 24 Hours’ “24 ways to avoid your family“, which ended up being a list of “Vancouver’s best time-wasting web sites”.
They included the Katkam, which is a given, Urban Vancouver – a really great compilation on which anyone can write and Translink’s i-move.ca (that if you Google, my site comes up second, with Darren’s first).
A couple of the suggested reads made me chuckle to myself so I figured the best thing for me to do would be to make my own list.
Best of 604: Local Website Edition
Best Webcam that isn’t the Katkam: Numinous
Best Traffic Webcams and route info: GVRD directory
Best Site to get Surrey News: Surrey Leader
Best Site to get Burnaby News: A Burnaby blogger needs to Contact me.
Best Site to get New Westminster News: Royal City Record
Best Independent Daily News Source: The Tyee
Best. Lists. Ever.: Meg Fowler
Best Mommy blogger: Duck Cake
Best Marketing Blogger (that gives us free things): Darren Barefoot
Best Site for iPhone Users in Vancouver: John Biehler
Best Gadget Review site: Roland Tanglao
Local Radio Station That “Gets” It: 95 Crave, from their Drupal website, on-air personality blogs, to Ustream broadcasts.
Best Socialization and Silliness posts: Net Chick
Best Local Facebook Guru: Phillip Jeffrey
Best Concert Posters: ChalkedUp
Best HDR Photography: Coriolistic Anachronisms and Duane Storey
Hardest Working Podcaster: Dave Olson (upwards of six different podcasts for your listening pleasure)
Best Coffee Resource: Vancouver Coffee
Best City Development Resource: Pacific Metropolis
Best New Tech Blog: Techvibes
Best New Eco-Friendly Directory: happyfrog
Best New Restaurant Directory: Urbanspoon
Best New Blog (to me, in 2007) – Commuting: Paul Hillsdon
Best New Blog (to me, in 2007) – Shopping: The Style Spy
Best New Blog (to me, in 2007) – Restaurant Reviews: Raul’s “Dining out”
Most inspirational: Derek Miller and his wife Airdrie. Derek’s living with stage 4 metastatic cancer and blogging every step of the way.
If you are looking for anything else in Vancouver, try my categories “cheap things to do“, “stanley park“, “food“, “shopping“, “conference” and even “what the surrey“.
If you disagree with any of my choices, please make your own list (pass it on!), leave a comment below, or send links my way either on my contact form or via del.icio.us (tag your link as “for:miss604”).
As a proud Canadian girl I was overwhelmed when I received new ice skates this Christmas. Truth be told, I’ve never owned a pair of my own before and these are pretty spectacular. Within 24 hours of receiving them I was getting them sharpened at the West End Community Centre and stepping on the ice. With the blades still warm, I was gliding over the blue line as smooth as butter while trying to catch up to John who kept taking off on me every time I paused to practice my “hockey stop”.
For under $20 today John and I were able to get him a rental, pay for the both of us to skate, and get my new blades sharpened. If that isn’t a good enough deal for you, the West End Community Centre ice rink was actually open on Christmas Day for a FREE family skate, and they’re doing it again on December 29th. I’ll definitely be practicing my ice girl moves a lot more this season.
Vancouver Parks Board Ice Rinks
West End Community Centre Holiday Schedule (pdf)
For the record, my husband is great at keeping secrets and that doesn’t worry me. He surprised me with some of the most original gifts, all while ensuring they would be items I could enjoy everyday. Regardless, I’m just happy to be sitting here with him and my family as the snow begins to fall in Surrey.
PS I think my thumbs are too stubby for this iPhone and I need to find out how to scroll through my WordPress categories when composing a post with this thing.
UPDATE: Photos from John’s new camera. I decided the one he has from 2003 just wasn’t cutting it anymore…
PPS I think the kids had a great day and I had fun kickin’ butt at Trivial Pursuit 80s Edition with my brother. Tomorrow John and I will be heading out to enjoy something else I was lucky enough to receive today. As he puts it, he has two years to make up for – referring to the two years we were waiting for his immigration to come through and we lived solely off my income. I really don’t need him to play catch-ups with gifts. I’m just glad that he’s happy, he’s working, and we’re still able to do the inexpensive yet priceless activities that we love. More to come tomorrow.
It’s been around since 1994 but does anyone ever really notice it? Passing over the plaques of Dal Richards and Diana Krall this afternoon I was inspired to find out more about Vancouver’s own walk of fame.
The Starwalk pays tribute to local musicians, entertainers, producers, actors and radio DJ’s, which is a compliment to the old days of Granville street itself. The Starwalk spans from the entrance of the Orpheum, heads East up Granville and even loops around the back of the building including inductees’ tiles on the wall that borders Seymour street.
But just who runs the Starwalk and who decides which celebs get included?
The B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame honours BC residents who have made an outstanding contribution to entertainment in British Columbia, across Canada, and around the world.
Starwalk at the Orpheum was inaugurated on July 24, 1994, honouring members with plaques embedded in the sidewalk along Granville Mall near the Orpheum. The Starwall gallery inside the Orpheum is a display of member’s photos. To date 158 individuals have been honoured with induction into the Hall of Fame and Starwalk at the Orpheum.
The Vancouver Favourites category honours international entertainment personalities who have captured the hearts of Vancouverites through frequent visits to the city. Their plaques are installed on the exterior of the Orpheum near the Stage Door at 865 Seymour Street. [BC Entertainment Hall of Fame]
However, the Starwalk’s been criticized for excluding, or not yet inducting several internationally-acclaimed, big name stars:
Where are B.C.’s two big movie stars of the 1940s — Penticton’s Alexis Smith, who shared the screen with Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant and later won a Tony Award, and Vancouver’s Yvonne De Carlo, who starred in many movies and later TV’s The Munsters?… ….Burnaby’s Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) and New Westminster’s Raymond Burr (TV’s Perry Mason)? [TheProvince]
Regardless, the next time you’re taking a stroll to the Adidas or Puma store, take a look down and see if you recognize any of the names under your feet. If you don’t, then why not go home and Google them to find out more about these instrumental players in BC’s entertainment history.
More Starwalk info is available on the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame website, or blog (although someone should really get them off Blogger) and a list of inaugural inductees is on the Vancouver History site.
On Wednesday January 23, 2008 there will be an open house at the Pacific Centre Atrium (Georgia and Howe, 12-1:30 pm and 4:30-7:30 pm) for all interested parties to view approved sketches and get answers to questions with regards to the redesign of Granville street.
The purpose of the will be to “enhance traffic, pedestrian movement and vitality of Granville from Drake to Cordova”.
A two-block long civic plaza is proposed to be centered on the high point of Granville Street at Georgia Street. The plaza, characterized by both permanent and temporary installations, is envisaged as the centre of commercial street life in the downtown. Access to the two Granville Street rapid transit stations between Robson and Dunsmuir Streets will also be facilitated by the wider sidewalks of the civic plaza. [See: Approved Design]
As for the Starwalk, it will be included in all plans going forward, as confirmed on the city’s site last March.
I realize right off the bat that the title may be misleading for those Google searching something else in Yaletown but “Blo” is actually the name of a “Wash. Blow. Go.” salon on Hamilton.
Wash. Blow. Go. Under 30 dollars. Just over 30 minutes [BloMeDry.com]
At first I scoffed of the idea of a hair salon not doing any haircuts or colour and simply washing your hair for you how lazy can you be?. Then I clued into the fact that drying your hair also equals styling your hair. Sometimes after a hair cut my favourite part is when my hairdresser busts out the flat iron and I get to pretend I have ‘skyscraper straight’ hair for the day. Since my office Christmas party is tonight, I decided it would be the perfect time to hop across the street to “Blo”.
though there’s a lump in my hair for this pic
The space is very white however hot pink beams all around; from the flat irons down to the jar of Hubba-Bubba at the waiting area. The staff is friendly and the iMac at the counter gave me a sense of comfort. It took about 35 minute to wash, blow, and flat iron my long hair, which is about 2-3 inches past my shoulders.
I would have appreciated a little more use of product to help tame some stubborn frizzy bits but all in all it was a good experience. I think I mostly paid for the convenience, as I would normally just visit my regular stylist on Denman for anything to do with my hair.
They lived up to their slogan as the bill was no more than $31 with tax, and I walked away from “Blo” pretty pleased.
I should also mention that at other salons downtown a “blow” service like this costs $40 and up – there’s no “and up” at Blo.
“Blo” is located at 1150 Hamilton. They take walk-ins but you can also call ahead for an appointment as they seemed pretty busy.
Edit: They also have a Tab where you can accumulate 8 visits/styles and get one free.
