Update: Just found out through the Blogathon website that one of the administrators, Sheana, will be interviewed on 95 Crave tomorrow morning with Nat & Drew. Tune in to find out more about the event which kicks off with me in my pajamas at 6 am Saturday

Since I decided to take part in Blogathon I’ve got some pretty good press for my cause, thanks to Buzz Bishop – local radio guy, tech blogger and proud new papa.

You’ve heard of Walk-a-thons and Dance-a-thons, but what about a Blog-a-thon? This Saturday, bloggers around the world vow to post to their pages a minimum of every 30 mins for 24 hours… …Should the weekend turn out to be sunny, as expected, [Rebecca] thinks the biggest challenge will be “finding a beach with wifi.”

(Hint, the FatPort guys blast Wifi at the grassy areas of Kits Beach along Cornwall) [Cyberbuzz.tv]

This article is in today’s 24 Hours free daily newspaper this morning on page 11, just past the dude with the beard of bees. Download pdf copy.

I have also contacted the Surrey Food Bank to let them know what I’ll be up to this weekend. They seemed pretty enthused and will welcome donations of ANY kind, also any monetary donation over $10 will get a tax receipt.

Here are the details once more.

When: Saturday July 28th starting at @ 6:00 am

What: I will begin blogging and post something every 30 minutes for 24 hours, until 6:00 am July 29th.

Why: For my charity of choice, the Surrey Food Bank. Readers are encouraged to click on my “sponsor” button. This will take you to the Blogathon site where you will need to register so that we can get some totals and stats. From there, we truly hope that you will click through and visit the Surrey Food Bank donations page. I will not be accepting any money, nor will Blogathon, we simply re-route you to the charity so that a donation can be made.

I’m hoping that anyone who would like to contribute for one of my 48 posts will send me any material they wish. I would link back to their blog or Flickr (if you’d like to submit a photo) and share some link love (John, Duane, etc) Also, I’ll be open to suggestions and will be taking requests for post topics.

Today is also the Greater Vancouver Food Bank‘s “Christmas in July” food drive at the Centre for Performing Arts.

..the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society’s Christmas in July campaign is a great way to give. Come visit Santa and volunteers from the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society and the Rogers Santa Claus Parade as they collect non-perishable food items and donations at The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street, on Wednesday, July 25th from 6-9 a.m.

You can even drive-through your non-perishable food item donations between Georgia & Robson. The summer months are pretty important for local food banks as people are still in need but the bulk of their donations arrive around Christmas time. Join me here on the blog this weekend to help out a similar cause.

Last year I followed Alanah and Yvonne‘s blogathon posts for just a few of their 24 hours of madness. This year, I think I’ll take a swing at it myself and see if I can go the distance.

The goal of blogathon is to blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours (this year being July 28th). The most validating part of the concept is to get people to sponsor your marathon of bloggery. Each blogathon site will have a donate/sponsor button and a charity of choice selected. As you read and enjoy the plethora of content hopefully you will be inspired to donate. Last year I donated to Canuck Place and received a tax receipt along with warm fuzzies. The blogger never processes your money or sees your transaction, it all goes directly through the charity.

This year I’ll be blogging from 6:00 am Saturday July 28th until 6:00 am Sunday July 29th. I will be awake (because that’s a part of the challenge) and fully interactive with commenters and sponsors. My charity will be the Surrey Food Bank, and I’ll put up a nice little badge and link when the fun begins. Until then, stay tuned, the post category will be ‘blogathon’. Who knows how silly things will get at 4:00 am Sunday morning with me running on no sleep, tethered to my laptop.

Update: Click on the banner above to sponsor me, this means money will NOT go to me at all, it will simply direct you to the Surrey Food Bank donation page. You do need to log into the Blogathon site/create a log in first so that they can track how many donations I have generated but Blogathon does NOT collect your payment information they will simply direct you to the charity’s website to donate.

For more info try this brief recap of the event, and view other Blogathon participants here. You can click on the banner in this post or the new sidebar badge I have on the top right of this site.

Last week I wrote about the possibilities of job action regarding city workers in Vancouver and surrounding areas. After the word came down on Thursday, several municipalities are coping with the cutback in service.

Vancouver’s outside workers have walked off the job and the inside workers are planning the same. Unionized workers in Delta have rejected a final offer from the labour relations bureau, but haven’t issued strike notice. It’s the same story in Burnaby; the union has a strike mandate, but hasn’t issued notice. The district of North Vancouver on the other hand has unionized employees “working to rule” with a ban on overtime and plans to walk off the job Monday. [CKNW]

Photo credit: famewhore on Flickr – “The morning after”

With outisde workers on the picket lines, inside workers just might join them. What this means for us, aside from garbage piling up in the streets, is fewer recreation options in the city this summer.

The PNE and CUPE are in negotiations for a collective agreement, but the event will go on as planned. Workers at both the PNE and Playland are members of Local 10-04, but they are part of separate negotiations. …the Stanley Park miniature railway and Children’s Farmyard have been closed because of the city strike and five of the six outdoor city pools are being shutdown. City beaches are staying open with lifeguards on duty.

Pools that have been closed include Mt. Pleasant, New Brighton, Sunset, Second Beach and Kitsilano [Vancouver Parks].

Photo credit: famewhore on Flickr – “The morning after”

Furthermore, if you have a child enrolled in a city-run day camp, be sure to check for updates on the Parks Board website.

As for the fireworks, the sunshine should be back in Vancouver on Wednesday to accompany the kick off display by Spain in English Bay as they are going ahead as scheduled. I’m actually really scared to see what downtown will look like on Thursday morning.

Update: Click here to view the official list of the City of Vancouver’s services that are open/closed

My $10 Aero Shorts

Aeropostale is Coming to Canada – more specifically… Surrey.

Aeropostale is one of those shops in which I can always find a good deal AND something super comfy. When we head on little retail therapy outings to Bellis Fair, just south of the border, we usually have a game plan in mind. Target (for inexpensive household items and kids clothes), Victoria’s Secret (to pay off the credit card), Kohl’s, and Express (for those SUPER hot work pants). We avoid the scary places for Village of the Damned children like Abercrombie and Hollister but always stop in at Aero. T-shirts, jeans, cargo pants, sweaters and tank tops all super soft and a good fit for your body and your wallet.

When I was in Guildford Mall in Surrey yesterday with my sister, friend and niece I noticed the “Coming to Canada” sign in front of some store space. H&M now this? Sweet.

Mall locations in Canada: Dufferin Mall, Fairview Park Mall, Georgian Mall, Guildford Town Centre, Metropolis at Metrotown, Oakville Place Mall, Pickering Town Centre, Vaughn Mills Mall, White Oaks Mall.

To find out more about Canadian locations, check out their website.

It’s become a part of almost every conversation I have lately because at some point someone mentions something they wrote, did or read on Facebook. Up until a little while ago if I dared talk about anything computer or internet related in a social setting I was made fun of. Now, social media has allowed for every man, woman and their dog (literally, have you see dogbook yet?) to get connected, online.

Part of the attraction is news feeds: You get that Facebook notification email that someone sneezed so you hop on over to your profile or home feed.

Scenario #1: Love. Once thing that John and I were talking with Duane about was when someone changes their relationship status… “Bob is now listed as single” WOOSH! Everyone rushes to Bob’s wall to ask questions, see what’s up, are there pictures up of his newfound single-ness? What happened to Betty? WOOSH! Rush over to Betty’s wall, she’s got a nasty status update posted: “Betty is thinking Bob should drop dead”. Uh Oh! Suddenly (depending on your privacy settings) your hundred contacts, colleagues and acquaintaces know that you are sleeping on the couch tonight.

Scenario #2: Full Dance Card. Thanks to people sending event invites to everyone on their friends list, I seriously have about 5 different options of ‘things to do’ almost ever night of the week – and I have less than 100 people on my list. I am by no means some super hyper popular person but wow, yeah. Do I formally “decline” events that I cannot attend or do I leave them awaiting approval long past the event date? What if I decline one but then that friend can see that I’ve accepted another? What about those poor SOBs that haven’t started drinking the Kool Aid – they won’t be able to see the event because, it’s *only* on Facebook. Suddenly I feel like we’re put into two classes: total ‘social’ sweethearts or anti-social non-responsive a-holes.

Scenario #3: High school. Now I went to an awesome school with only about 300 people so you pretty much knew of everyone. Unfortunately for some, there were some people that you just didn’t really want to know and now 10 years later… you could seriously care less about them let alone remember the last time you thought of their existence. But this is Facebook and you could a) lurk and see what they’ve been up to/how good they’re looking b) chat them up.

With b), suddenly all past differences are tossed aside (because we’re all adults now, eh) and you are just so happy to write on their wall “OMG I haven’t heard from you in AGES how are you?”… let’s see hmm “…over the last TEN years I’ve…”

Don’t get me wrong at all, like I said, I love my little high school. I just find it funny that ex’s or strangers are suddenly all about contacting folks, just because they *can*, well at least until they get blocked anyway.

Scenario #4: Security. My brother is currently looking for a job. I asked him tonight if he was on Facebook yet, to which he replied that he heard at a seminar that employers will search for you, on Facebook and Myspace, to either learn more or see what you’re really like.

I understand but I have to say … “everybody’s doing it!”. In my case, I have a pretty public blog that even my bossed asked me to help him subscribe to the other day. It’s a non-issue as I’m totally Googleable anyway. My Facebook profile is straightforward and honest, just like this site. I omit a couple names, I don’t post my mobile number and I usually only add people that I have met, know or at least know of (or we have several friends in common). But there must be some kind of censorship going on especially if you know (or don’t know) just who is reading. This opens things up perfectly for Miss604.com poll #3:

Regardless of its use, it’s addictive even if you won’t admit it. Check email, check Facebook – it’s become a part of our daily routines and I’m just wondering where it’s going to go from here.