The sun is out and there’s not a cloud in the sky, but it’s -11 celcius.

This morning we went down to the buffet and checked in with the production team setup in a small office at the hotel to cash in taxi receipts. Last night we ran into someone from the Chefs team in the elevator and I got to thinking – I didn’t even realize I could look up the names of ALL the other 199 contestants that will be on the show tonight. How silly of me.

In the elevator was Karen Barnaby from the Fish House in Vancouver, Bob Blumer from the Food Network will also be representing – he’s the guy with the crazy great hair who rolls around in an airstream souped up to look like a toaster. You can check out the rest of our competition (even the Paris Hilton lookalike) on the Test the Nation site.

I’m going to go wander around town for the next few hours, before checking in at the ‘ceeb. I don’t leave til tomorrow morning so I have a little more time in town tonight although I think some keen Toronto bloggers are initiating a ‘wrap party’ of sorts. Good times.

Update: I took pics this afternoon while on a walk with Kerry Anne.

Landing in Toronto and driving into downtown it looked as though Yaletown had gone and given birth to hundreds of offspring along the lake. The cab ride to the hotel was pretty steep (luckily it’s coming out of the tax payer’s pocket) and our hotel is actually rather lovely.

It’s “Monster Truck Jam” night at the Rogers Centre (aka the Skydome) and you can view all the action from our hotel lounge since it’s actually built into the side of the stadium.

Wireless in the hotel room works (thanks to John lending me the Airport), the king size bed looks inviting and the curtains are stapled to the wall. Looks like the only thing standing between downtown Toronto and my bare bum is a thin draping of sheer fabric.

I have no problem waking up at a the crack of 5:00am. John and I were out the door with plenty of time to get meet up with our chauffeur, Duane, and get to the airport so I could check in for my flight.

Photo credit: Duane on Flickr

Arriving at YVR we were all looking forward to some coffee and a wholesome breakfast at Milestones before I took off. I proceeded to the Air Canada check in area and noticed that not one single “check-in” station was manned by airline staff. The point here is to encourage travelers to check-in using the computer/automated kiosks, then they would proceed to a booth and talk to personnel about their checked baggage. Two issues arose for me, a) my reference number was not working at the computer kiosk and b) I wasn’t checking any luggage. Air Canada left me no option to actually speak to a person, face to face, when I was having issues. I tried several more methods of locating my ticket/boarding pass through the computer and nothing worked. It also didn’t help that the ticket wasn’t purchased on my credit card AND my credit card is still in my maiden name. After all this frustration I realized my flight had been CANCELED. A CBC rep was nice enough to give me a ‘heads up’ call and inform me that I would now be on a later flight.

Breakfast was delightful.

I went back to the computer kiosk thinking maybe it just couldn’t reference my ticket before since my flight was cancelled. No go. I finally went over to the “ticket purchase” counter for Air Canada at YVR (since the only other staff member I spotted was rude and less than helpful). The representative at the counter was pleasant and I was finally able to check in.

It’s been about five years since I’ve flown Air Canada and now I know why I avoid it.

We’re in the air at 12:30pm PT (when my original flight was supposed to depart at 9:00am PT). I’m writing this on my tray table as the man in the seat in front of me just reclined, all of a sudden (at lightning speed) and crunched my laptop against the ‘in flight entertainment screen’ on the back of the seat. Great.

Speaking of the ‘in flight entertainment screens’, they seem like a neat idea – and everyone’s got one – but since they’re touch-controlled everyone in the cabin is getting a little confused. Upon plugging in their headsets passengers are reaching down to the side and trying to adjust the volume. Thing is, the volume is also on the touch screen and what they’re doing is caller the flight attendant over and OVER again. It sounds like I’m in a super-fast elevator right now that’s stopping at every floor due to the call buttons going off all over the place.

This first leg of the journey has gone a bit rough, although I managed to grab about 20 minutes of sleep while they were de-icing the plane at YVR. The call button tones are keeping me a amused.

Update: The kid beside me keeps playing an unusual drum beat on his arm rests. I went to plug in my standard issue earphones and I couldn’t figure it out. The woman beside me helped me. I felt like a jackass. I turned on an episode of The Office. I chilled out. It was smooth sailing from there.

In 1986 he was named Vancouver’s “Citizen of the Century” and he was pretty much just a regular guy who happened to spend most of his time saving lives.

You’ve probably seen the restaurant that’s famous for its seafood and that yellow cab out front, and maybe you’ve been to the library named in his honour, but do most Vancouverites these days know much about the man Joe Fortes himself?

VPL Number: 21746. Photographer / Studio: Dominion Photo Co.

Joe Fortes was born in Barbados in 1865 and by way of Liverpool, England he ended up in Vancouver after surviving a shipwreck. He held many jobs – as a bartender, porter, shoeshiner, etc. – but fell in love with English Bay and soon became Vancouver’s first self-appointed, un-paid lifeguard, living in a tent on the beach. Shortly thereafter he was given official lifeguard status and overlooked what soon became known as “Joe’s beach.” He would go on to teach hundreds of children to swim, to save over 100 lives and to become a legend and inspiration for the city.

(Left) 1910 – VPL Number: 39420. Photographer: White, J. Studio. (Right) 1918 – VPL Number: 649

… scarcely a tyke who was raised in Vancouver in the 1890’s or 1900’s but learned to swim with Joe’s ham-like fist gripping the back of his or her cotton bathing suit and that deep, mellow voice ordering, “Kick yo’feet, chile – kick yo’ feet.”…Mothers confidently shooed their children away to the bay for the long summer days with the simple command, ..’and don’t go away from where Joe is..’ ” [History of the West End]

In 1922 when he passed away his funeral at the Holy Rosary Cathedral was the most-attended to date in the city.

Photo credit: SqueakyMarmot on Flickr

The people in Vancouver held Joe in such high esteem that ever since 1926, when a memorial fountain was placed for him near English Bay, we’ve been naming things in his honour. He would later have a branch of the Vancouver Public Library (on Denman) named after him in 1976 and a famed oyster bar restaurant on Thurlow street would open in 1985, bearing his name one hundred years after he came to the city. In 2003 the National Film Board of Canada even produced an award-winning short film called, “Joe”.

The fountain depicted in the photo above resides in the West End’s Alexandra park. It’s the perfect height for youngster and on it is inscribed, “Little Children Loved Him.” Next time you pass by the fountain, the restaurant or the library, now you’ll know about this great man who changed the lives of many in Vancouver – from all walks of life, young and old.

Joe, Jill Haras & Jill Haras, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Facts from this post were gathered with help from my favourite Vancouver history website, VancouverHistory.ca more can also be read on the Black Historical and Cultural Society’s website.

It’s been several months in the making and now we’re less than two weeks away from the first ever Facebook Awards that will take place at the Vancouver Facebook Developer (and Design) Garage.

The ever-fabulous Megan Cole (who was also named as one of Vancouver’s Tech Women to Watch in 2008) will be moderating the event and the following companies have signed on to do live demos:

All applications are homegrown, right here in BC. Remember, to present a demo your app doesn’t even need to be completed so give us a sample and get some valuable feedback from this test audience of your peers. Sign up here if you’re interested in being a speaker.

One of the most popular applications that was shown at the first Garage was Social Signal speaking about Green Gifts, which was created and designed for BC Hydro as a part of the PowerSmart campaign. Not only can you send friends a gift on Facebook, they include energy-efficient and eco-friendly tips, providing valuable information for those looking to be more environmentally conscious.

Also from Social Signal, Rob’s created a series of Facebook-themed cartoons – check them out on ‘Noise to Signal‘.

And even though they’re not Facebook related per se, I have to include these because they made me chuckle.

This next one is *SO* John and I.

You can read more about Rob and his company’s work with BC Hydro and the Green Gifts application in this bio.

If you have or know of a Facebook application OR a Facebook cartoon that would fit into the new awards category, nominations will be open until the event on January 28, 2008. I previously introduced some nominees for the Facebook Awards and it’s not to late to get your submissions in.