Welcome to a new series on Miss604, inspired by springtime and the urge to leave the house and get out in this great region of ours – rain or shine. Over the next little while some guest bloggers and I will feature some well- and little-known green spaces throughout the city, how to get there, what to do, what they can offer and any extras we might find useful to someone wanting to go out and explore.
How to get there by Transit:Bus from downtown, #7 Nanaimo (East then Sounthbound, get off at East 17th). Bus from Nanaimo Skytrain, #7 Dunbar/Downtown (Northbound) or Skytrain to Nanaimo and walk north about 5-6 blocks on Nanaimo and take E17th to access the park.
Features and selling points:Trout Lake Community Centre (including playground, pottery studio, fitness centre, games room, sauna, snack bar, gym, whirlpool ice rink), festivals (such as the Illuminares lantern festival), dog off-leash areas, covered picnic centre, and swimming in the summer.
History: “The land was the site of one of Vancouver’s most important features in the late 1800s – the Hastings Sawmill. Trout Lake, a natural peat bog forming the largest feature on the park, was the important water source for the mill which was owned by John Hendry, a prominent individual due to his influence in developing the region’s forest industry.” – Source Vancouver Parks. You can also read a more detailed history of the prominent and successful lumberman within this biography.
Notes: No, there are no trout in Trout Lake but what it lacks in fish it makes up for in sheer size. Last Saturday I was out there with John’s work softball team (they call it baseball but really, it’s softball says John). Runners, bikers, joggers, picnic goers and dog walkers were all out on this sunny afternoon amidst the grass fields, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, marshy brush, and giant oak trees. The park will be getting a facelift for 2010 including a new ice rink at the community centre.
Last weekend John and I headed into the park to get a little muddy and explore some trails that have been refurbished. I wrote my blog post and included some photos from my iPhone. Well, John’s just getting around to posting his photos (he’s a pretty busy guy, ya know) and they were great so here’s a quick follow up photo post.
Bionic Hollow Treet – Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr
What’s going on tonight? A lot actually but my husband and I will be taking a night off and having some time to ourselves. The dishes have piled up, and there are projects that need some attention but we haven’t been able to have any actual down time together in a while. However, if it weren’t Bollwitt Night, there are some other things going on around town worth noting:
First, Happy Birthday to Alexa who is a Guitar Hero master personified and design guru over at Strutta. She’s celebrating with some of the usual suspects so I fully expect documentation of the fun times and debauchery to show up on Jaiku or Flickr tomorrow morning.
Second, tomorrow is Dingo’s birthday. She’s such a kind person with so much wisdom and spirit. I’m really glad to have been able to get to know her at unconferences and through the blogosphere in the last few years.
STRANGER: A photography exhibit of strangers and unfamiliar landscapes. The work is a diverse mix of the abstract, the dreamlike, and the street.
Photographers: John Goldsmith, Marc L’Esperance and Lung Liu
Dates: Opening Night: Friday April 11, 2008, 6:30-8:30pm Exhibit: April 10 – April 26, 2008 Restaurant Hours: Thursday – Saturday, 6-10pm
Location:Radha Gallery | 728 Main Street Vancouver
Opening night features a live acoustic jazz duet by Shannon Thue and Joel Kerr. Food & drinks are available for purchase. [Facebook event] [Website]
John’s works are pretty amazing and capture a candid side of Vancouver few others can pull off. You can preview the show here, swing by tonight, or anytime before April 26th.
One week ago I wrote about a RickRoll flash mob taking place on April 11th in Liverpool St Station at 6:00pm. Seeing as how that’s 8 hours ahead of us here on the Pacific coast of Canada I’d say things should be getting underway fairly soon.
Bring a camera, bring a detachable quiff, bring the lyrics so you don’t have to embarrass yourself or the dedicated Rickrollers by humming through the verses and only singing out loud when the song gets to the chorus… Get down there and share the love: it’s not rock and roll, it’s Rickroll. [Londonist]
If you’d like to check out the live action I’ve been linked off a site that lists someone’s QIK video stream, and they hope to catch some of the hilarity that is bound to ensue.
They only last a minute and a half but here’s a video of today’s Rickmob in London courtesy of Jamie Coomber’s Qik Stream.
Unfortunately Rebecca is unable to attend DemoCamp’s Gaming Edition this evening so Nancy Zimmerman has been kind enough to take on the liveblog – thanks Nancy!
Starting out with a panel about gaming in general.
How many people have a gaming console? About 15.
How many people think of themselves as gamers? [oops – missed this response – typing!]
Will discuss business aspects of gaming tonight.
Panelists:
Dustin Sucks – owns Sillisoft games. Develops strategy games. Will talk about indie gaming.
Jamie Change – has done retail, online, currently doing purely online pc, free to play. Will talk about economics of Xbox dev’t.
Parveen Kaler – [oops – missed – will try to fill in]
Q: Is indie gaming like indie films?
P: Halo is summer blockbuster; but all games are ‘games’ – doesn’t like the term ‘casual’ games.
D: Name ‘casual’ means it takes less up front to get into them. Not such a steep learning curve. More accessible.
Q from audience: Do any of you try to bridge online/console/etc?
J: hasn’t seen it work yet (eg. Majestic).
P: benefit of iPhone is it has it all. May be more options.
