The guys who brought us social media rooftop bbq’s in Gastown, Bryght, have now been acquired by the the primo Drupal site, blog and podcast deliverers, Raincity Studios.

This global-mega-hyper-conglomorate melds together the two single most important companies in Vancouver when it comes to web 2.0, imho.

This morning’s news release states:

The deal took flight while Scales and Kris Krug, now-former-President of Bryght, were in China
scouting a new office location in Shanghai when they decided their companies’ complementary services could be enhanced by joining forces. Krug, the newly appointed President of the new company, saw the growth potential saying, “By joining Raincity Studios, we can capture market leadership by responding quickly to the unmet demand for Drupal development services worldwide while also offering an increased service roster to our existing growing client base.”

I personally hold those guys mainly responsible for the thriving geek activity around here. Aside from meetups, face time, chats and friendship being built, there is also truly a sense of community (see: our crimebusters work re: Workspace‘s computer theft incident or Vancouver.FreeTheNet.ca wireless mesh project). You now, aside from all the professional things they do like working on projects for clients like SPIN Magazine, Ozzy, and The Grateful Dead – to name a few.

Also, big things are to come very soon from a Miss604.com/Raincity Studio collaboration, which I’m very excited about. All the best to these individuals and their companies in this new venture.

(Read more coverage on the Raincity Site)

There’s a lot I never knew about Iowa. First off, it’s not famous for its potatoes – that’s Idaho. Second, it’s not as flat as everyone thinks.

You wouldn’t know it if I didn’t tell ya (okay maybe you might) but that famous painting of the farmer and his less than enthused wife called American Gothic was by Grant Wood, of Iowa. After learning this, I looked up more Grant Wood artwork which consists of simple landscapes that are uniquely American in charm.

Grant Wood

Driving north from Missouri I got to experience the scenery of Central and Eastern Iowa. By sunset the entire sky was pink until it met the rolling hills that were all shades of green and brown. Little white houses sat at higher elevations like lookouts over the fields, and they were always surrounded by groves of trees who have already lost their leaves for the season.

Grant Wood

We rolled into John’s hometown under cover for pea-soup fog and headed right over to the youth centre to watch his nephews play a basketball game. Today we’re going into Iowa City, where John lived before moving out to Vancouver. Hopefully we’ll have time to stop by his old radio station, do some shopping, and see some friends who may still be a bit bitter that he left for “Canada, and a girl”.

Photos from the trip can be viewed in my Flickr set.

I have a song by Phil Ayoub stuck in my head as we pull into the rest stop on I-35 North. This morning we had breakfast in Kansas City and enjoyed some chorizo, eggs, beans and tortillas prepared by John’s great aunt and grandma. We just entered Iowa from Missouri on our way to John’s home town. It’s a beautiful sunny day and the hills and rivers I can see along the rolling landscape are pretty breathtaking. Sitting in the car, soaking up the free wifi and 26 degree celcius heat I thought I’d post some more photos from our journey.

You know when I say “Vancouver” I mean Metro Vancouver and surrounding townships right?

Who doesn’t a love a good ol’ parade? This year Aldergrove will be hosting the “Light Up Parade” on the evening of December 8th, down Fraser Highway.

What: Light Up Parade
When: Saturday December 8, 2007 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Where: Downtown Aldergrove, Township of Langley

Before the parade there will be a Santa Show at the Elk’s Hall, you can also enter a contest by decorating your house, or swing by the #3 Firehall to donate to a good cause through the “Fire and Ice” campaign.

The luggage finally arrived after taking a tour through Chicago, Dallas, Des Moines, Kansas City and finally Lee’s Summit. It’s been to more places on this trip (so far) than I have. However, I got to explore a bit of Kansas City by car today, and even cross over into the state of Kansas.

We rolled up to John’s grandma’s house this morning and were greeted at the door by his great aunt in her bright red Chiefs sweatshirt. Once we said our hellos and exchanged hugs she resumed her post in front of the TV watching the football game. John’s grandma is one amazing woman, I knew this before I met her but it’s been reaffirmed. She’s 89 years young and full of stories after which she usually tosses a wink in your direction. “Well did you hear about her? She’s almost dead. Okay, no, well, she’s 102 and she’s still makin’ tortillas!”

She gave me a tour of her dining room starting with the Thanksgiving cactus. This was followed by a description of each person in every photo and pointing out pieces of art that the grandkids will have to fight over when she’s gone. There was a big frame on the back wall with a collage of pictures and trinkets in honor of her husband, John’s grandpa, who passed in 2002. “I speak to him every day,” she said then walked over to a hutch and picked up a framed piece of paper. On it was printed a few paragraphs in courier font, plain black and white, but I could see her eyes twinkling with emotion when she passed it over to me. “From John Bollwitt’s Web Site,” it read across the top.

The ordinary sheet of printer paper that grandma held so dear included an except from a blog post John wrote in May of 2004.

…. “Grandpa’s chair… It’s still there. It was his chair. When we would visit, you could always sit in that chair. When grandpa came into the room, you got out and let him have it. He would sit their and watch the Kansas City Royals. Novellas. The news. He would also take his famed naps. Grandma always hated for him to fall asleep in that chair because then he wouldn’t sleep at night, in turn not letting her sleep through the night. She’d yell at him from the kitchen, “Louie! Wake up!,” followed by a string of words spoken in spanish, english, or both….” (Read the full post on John’s Blog)

I admit, I get emotional thinking about how I’ll never meet this person who was so special to John, however I’m glad that I get to be here now anyway. On a similar note, he won’t ever meet my Opa as well but his memory lives on through stories, photos, and the warm smiles we all get when we think about him. Sure, I’ve only been a part of John’s family for a few years, but meeting these people, being welcomed into their homes and experiencing their spirit makes me feel home. John’s great aunt who was born and raised in Kansas City said, “this is the Heart of America.” I believe it, but I also think I’ll get this same feeling when I’m in Iowa tomorrow at my mother and father-in-law’s house. Home is family – in whatever state, country or capacity.

We leave the “Show Me” state in the morning, more updates to come from Iowa.