No, Michael will not be liveblogging his own session but Raul has been gracious enough to share his liveblogging efforts with Miss604.com since I am unable to attend the event this evening. Check back now and then for updates to this post. Thanks Raul!
Rebecca and I have agreed that I’ll send her the code after the live-blog, so you should mosey over to her post as well. It’s 3:22 pm now, so I won’t be posting updates until I am actually physically there.
5:51 pm – I’ve introduced myself to Cristina Coraggio from the Canadian Journalism Federation, and set up shop here at the Social Lounge, St. John’s College (SJC). I’ve accredited myself as the official reporter for Miss604.com. I feel important 🙂
6:02pm – I’ve introduced myself to Michael Geist, indicating that I pretty much will try to type exactly as he speaks (more or less, I type over 70 wpm but who knows how things go. You’ll see). He said he’s not bothered by that or by whether or not I get something wrong. I promised to drop a comment on his blog so that he can know if I got what he said right. The room is starting to fill. And for those of you geeky types – he is using a Mac (although UBC set him up on a PC – hehehe). We’ll see if there are any compatibility issues. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
Continuing the Vancouver Blogger Profile series of bloggers who don’t necessarily have to be from Vancouver, here’s a feature on one of my very good friends. We met in person at a blogging conference just over a year ago and we’ve shared many good times together, from geeking out coding websites with John and I on our couch, camping in the pouring rain and getting a visit from his wonderful family, or flying down to Las Vegas for a weekend. Since his birthday is just a few days away his profile get this super special introduction so here I present to you, the Duane Storey.
Who are you? I’m a jack of all trades really: Blogger. Drinker. Photographer. Lover. But mostly I’m just a small town guy that somehow ended up in the big city, a fact I remind myself of daily.
Where do you blog (which sites) ? The majority of my blog postings are on my own website, duanestorey.com, but I also contribute to several community blogs including matthewgood.org, and occasionally on urbanvancouver.com. I’m also going to be writing soon over at bravenewcode.com, a site where Dale Mugford and myself are going to start showcasing some of the more cutting-edge designs/code that we’ve been working on.
Are you originally from Vancouver? I actually grew up in Chilliwack, which is a small town about 150kms east of Vancouver, and led a pretty reserved life in the country up until I turned 18. At that time, it actually seemed extremely likely that I would spend my whole life back there since my family really couldn’t afford to send me to university. I had actually resolved myself to attending the local college in some basic science program until I got an 11th hour call from UBC saying I had received a full scholarship in their engineering program. Had that not happened, I really have no idea where I might have ended up. I’d probably be milking a cow somewhere right now.
Why do you blog? I originally started blogging about ten years ago, mainly as a way to keep my parents up to date with my drunken debauchery out in Ottawa. At the time, everyone was just making their own static HTML pages, and things like WordPress and Drupal simply did not exist. As the technology evolved, so did my reasons for why I spent time blogging.
For the most part I blog because I think I have something to say. I’m still not really sure what that is, but with each passing year I find that my writing means more and more to me. Despite being a hard-core technology enthusiast, I also try to keep rather grounded and write with the belief that all people share common threads. Of all the entries I’ve written on my blog, I’m the most proud of my personal ones. And while they are few and far between, it really means something to me having a stranger approach me at a conference and say they were moved by something I once wrote, or that they could relate to something I went through and talked about on my blog.
What’s your favourite thing to write about? I write quite a bit about future technologies, which I find exciting. Most of my interest in that field really comes about because I find myself so pressed for time these days. When I encounter something that seems broken or completely unintuitive, I often try to think of a way to make it better. Usually those thoughts lead to a blog entry about how I envision things changing. I also like to blog about nachos, because quite simply they are my favorite food.
What is the BEST part of blogging… or if you prefer, the worst? The best part of blogging, without a doubt, is having a chance to connect with people you’d never get an opportunity to meet in the real-world. When I got injured last year, I had an outpouring of sympathy from people I had never met who stumbled across my blog. I was literally lying on a couch back in Chilliwack with five broken bones in my face absolutely amazed with the genuine compassion people in the blogging world were affording me. One person went out of their way to send me money from New York so I could buy myself nachos with, and a few others tracked down my address at work so they could mail me some get-well-soon cards for when I got out of the hospital. It’s events like those that really validates the effort that goes into blogging and establishing those relationships, many of which ultimately turn into life-long friendships.
Do you write for yourself, your readers, for Google, for a living? I generally write for myself, although from time to time I do post entries that I think others might find interesting. I’ve tried using adsense a few times to make a few bucks, but considering how little money I made with it I just decided it wasn’t worth it for me to keep it up and ultimately detract from the look and feel of my blog.
Would you ever censor yourself/Do you feel the need to censor yourself? I definitely push the boundaries of what some people would think is appropriate given that my blog is a mix between my personal life and my professional career. At the end of the day though my blog is a personal blog, and if I had to make a choice, I’d ditch all the content related to the latter.
I do censor my blog a bit with regards to my current job, and that’s something I started to do after an incident in Boston — I once posted a bunch of photos from a night at the bar after a conference. Unfortunately, even though it was after work hours and I was with friends, some of them ended up in the hands of some of our investors. Since I work for a public company, I took a bit of flack for making those images accessible online, even though I just considered them photos of some friends and me hanging out in a pub. Since that time, I’ve gone out of my way to not talk about anything directly or indirectly related to where I work.
PC, Mac or Speak n’ Spell? Definitely a Mac, although I wouldn’t mind my old Atari 2600 back.
Blogs you read or would recommend? I read lots daily, but obviously yours (miss604.com) is at the top of the list. Matthew Good’s website (matthewgood.org) and Raymi’s blog (raymitheminx.com) are both daily reads as well.
I decided to attend the panel just ahead of my own in order to get some inspiration, and to get over some nervousness and jitters.
Moderated by Chris Breikss of 6S Marketing (the folks who were playing Guitar Hero on the tradeshow floor) Online Marketing 101 featured David Scott of Entellium, Fred Vallaeys of Google (AdWords), and Joanne Acri of Yahoo! Canada.
Despite it mostly sounding like a commercial for each panelist’s product, I was impressed by the practical knowledge (and geek cred) of Joanne from Yahoo!, “Know your consumer, make the website a tool.” I was distracted however, by the rotating slide show to the right of the presenters that was simply advertisements for the show and displays of the sponsor’s logos. I didn’t really need to see that Michael Tippett was giving a keynote at 9:30am, because no matter how interesting that would have been (and how much I would have liked to attend) it was now 3:00pm and this slide show was diverting my attention from the task at hand.
Now on to our panel, during which I was a crazy hand-talker who had the nervous shakes, I think it went really well. We all took turns saying who we worked for and what we do for that company – we weren’t living breathing commercials but we were all beacons for social media and its uses within business. Linda, Rob and Warren brought up some really great points while Monica was a diligent and entertaining moderator.
Once it was all over I had the pleasure of running into some familiar faces, blog readers, and some entrepreneurs with some great ideas and platforms. I was also handed a Thank You card from the conference, along with a gift. When I got to dinner this evening I opened up the card, which was hand-written (very nice touch) and discovered the lovely gift. It’s a glass computer mouse with the conference logo and my name, but I can’t help but think how strange it is to receive a paper weight from a tech conference. Perhaps it’s just as strange as a tech conference that had no available wifi.
Overall, I think the Massive Tech Show served its purpose for enterprise decision makers – “it is what it is” – and although it’s not any type of event I’m used to attending, it was a pleasure to be included on a panel with such knowledgeable folks. It was also nice to accumulate more to add to my swag pile.
The Massive Tech Show at the Vancouver Convention Centre is in full swing. If you can look past the three setups of Guitar Hero, the Dance Dance Revolution and the mechanical bull ride, it’s been pretty informative so far.
Tech companies, network solutions and content management specialists are all represented with a few “green” companies in attendance as well. My speaker badge was just a clip on, so I thought I wouldn’t be able to add to my growing lanyard collection at home until I spotted the ReturnIt booth. I was given a free lanyard, as long as I promised I would recycle. Also, printed along its side it reads, “I used to be a Soda Bottle.”
The folks at BC.Net handed me a lovely thermos, and the .ca folks loaded me up with some swag. After one lap around the tradeshow floor and about 30 minutes, my arms all full of stickers, pens, and buttons.
I also ran into my former colleague, Gus, and Gary of Blue Fur (aka Yellow Fur har har) along with David and then Mark.
It’s kind of strange to see my face plastered all over the event, on banners, slideshows, posters and in the booklet, but it feels pretty good. I think I was the only “speaker” wandering around the tradeshow (from what I saw) because I’m probably the only one foolish enough to arrive 4 hours ahead of my panel.
I’m going to walk around a bit and try to find some wifi, as I sit here outside the meeting room trying to avoid paying $9.95/day for hotel guest internet access.
Okay technically, they are not in Vancouver but after posting some photos from Mount Seymour recently I was asked about the North Shore Mountains. The Lions fit in the middle somewhere, but those not from around here (or maybe even some locals) might not know just exactly where they are and what they’re called.
Here’s a quick rundown courtesy of wikipedia.
Cypress Group
Black Mountain (1217m) A forested summit overlooking Horseshoe Bay. Ski runs on the northern slopes are managed by the Cypress Mountain Resort.
Hollyburn Mountain (1325m) A popular hiking destination. Commonly known as Hollyburn Ridge and the location of an old alpine recreation community dating back to the early years of the 20th Century. It is the site of the only groomed cross-country ski trails in the Lower Mainland.
Mount Strachan (1454m) Ski runs on the southern slopes are managed by the Cypress Mountain Resort.
Grouse Area
Mount Fromme (1185m) A large forested summit dome, often seen but seldom visited. This mountain is noted for the mountain biking trails on its south slopes.
Grouse Mountain (1231m) Site of a very popular ski area, and the popular hiking trail Grouse Grind.
Goat Mountain (1401m) Another popular alpine hiking destination, very conveniently located near the top of the Grouse Mountain aerial tramway.
Crown Mountain (1504m) An exposed granite pyramid ringed by sheer cliffs.
Cathedral/Lynn Range
Lynn Peak (1015m) A small forested mountain, nevertheless a popular hiking destination due to ease of access.
The Needles (1258m) An isolated series of ridge-top summits north of Lynn Peak.
Coliseum Mountain (1441m) A remote alpine area consisting of a series of gentle granite exposures.
Mount Burwell (1541m) A remote granite dome located at the limit of legal backcountry access.
Cathedral Mountain (1737m) Among the tallest and most prominent of the North Shore Mountains, but off-limits due to its location within the GVRD watershed.
Fannin Range
Mount Seymour (1449m) Good trails and convenient access by road make Seymour a local classic hiking area. Downhill ski area in winter.
Mount Elsay (1419m) A remote backcountry peak located beyond Seymour.
Mount Bishop (1509m) A rarely climbed peak in the remote northern region of Mt. Seymour Provincial Park.
Lions Area
The Lions (1654m) Probably the most famous peaks in the North Shore Mountains. These mountains, a pair of twin granite domes, are visually distinctive and can be seen from much of the Greater Vancouver area.
Mount Harvey (1652m) An isolated alpine peak located near the Lions.
Brunswick Mountain (1788m) The highest of the North Shore mountains, located north of Mount Harvey.
So the next time you’re cruising down the Horizon run up at Cypress, you’ll know you’re actually on Mt Strachan, and if you’re snowshoeing the Discovery Loop up Grouse, you’d actually be on Dam Mountain.
I’d really like to explore more of the local mountains, especially with some hiking in the summertime. Maybe I’d finally be a tourist in my hometown start with the Grouse Grind. Good times.
