The Empire Landmark is the tallest building in downtown Vancouver’s West End and its view are beyond compare. 42 storeys up, Cloud 9 restaurant serves up delicious dinners while revolving 360 degrees, offering up sights this Vancouverite has never seen before.

First impressions threw me back to that lunch I once had at Toronto’s CN Tower, I suppose the concept and layout for most revolving restaurants is the similar. The decor was seriously lacking but with the restaurant making a full rotation over the course of an hour, I really wasn’t looking anywhere except out the windows.

My sister and I had the prix fixe 3 course menu for $35. The salad was a basic caesar came complete with croutons fresh out of the box and my pinot grigio was $10/glass. I had the stuffed chicken for dinner which was actually really tasty and the cheesecake for dessert was probably some of the best I’ve ever had.

If you can overlook the lack of decor, the cheesy black ceiling with tiny lightbulbs that look like stars, and the dent in your pocket book, it was a very pleasant dining experience. I recommend it for anyone to try, at least once, because of the breathtaking views.

Transit is a huge issue in Metro Vancouver. Commuting, bus times, delays, over crowding, and lack of routes really gets me down but it’s nice to sometimes find something good about being a bus rider in this region.

I made mention of the MyBus Facebook app in my DemoCamp post but I wanted to elaborate and share a few more helpful tidbits.

John first told me about MyBus a few months ago and I have to say, it’s my absolutely favourite Facebook. It’s helpful, practical, informative and being someone who relies solely on foot and transit to get around town, it’s an invaluable tool.

What does MyBus do?
It keeps track of your bus schedules right from your Facebook profile page. Choose the stops that matter to you and enjoy live updates of your bus schedules!
So everyone can see what buses I take?
NO! Only you can see your own schedules.

Basically you load it onto your Facebook profile, it’s totally private but since people nowadays are usually constantly checking their profiles, it’s a good place to keep it. You type in your “home” or “starting” bus stop and it instantly gives you the next 6 departure times. You can load in as many bus routes as you need and they have recently introduced “Quick Lookup”. This allows you to quickly look up any route, any stop, and get the information for the next bus, on the fly.

Unfortunately yesterday I walked out to a C23 (community shuttle) bus stop not knowing when it would arrive. I didn’t have any wifi access so I couldn’t log in and check MyBus from my Nokia N95. I did the next best thing and called my sister to see if she was near a computer and could look up the times for me. She said that if you call the phone number on the bus stop – (604) 953-3333 you’ll get an automated service. So I dialed the number, followed the prompts and entered my bus stop number (a five-digit number at the top of the sign on the side of the road) and it told me what time it was and when the next few buses were to arrive. It worked like a charm.

But, this was also before I found out about another MyBus feature…

I don’t have Facebook can I still use MyBus?
YOU BET! All of your schedules are accessible by RSS and text message, courtesy of our partners at Quick Mobile. It’s a free service, meaning it costs as much as any other text message you would send. Text 74636 with your Vancouver or Calgary stop number to get your schedule!

Fantastic. So with MyBus, a computer, Facebook, or my mobile phone I can always get the latest information about bus stop arrival and departure times. This doesn’t solve the problem of late buses, and infrequent scheduling but it does make commuting around the region a little more pleasant.

Earlier this week I wrote about the growing need for better healthcare facilities in the Fraser Valley and the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation‘s plans for the region. Details of the “Tulips for Tomorrow” campaign have now been released and the purpose is to fund raise with the public’s help and also “beautify” the City of Surrey in the process.

Called Tulips for Tomorrow, the appeal offers donors an opportunity to help beautify Surrey, as well as ensure Surrey Memorial Hospital receives a state-of-the-art replacement to its current, overcrowded E.R. “We have close to 100,000 tulip bulbs to spread throughout the city,” says Foundation President/CEO Jane Adams. “From now until the end of November, donors of $100 or more to the Emergency Centre Campaign can pick up a number of bulbs for themselves. [SMHFoundation]

This morning I was thinking of putting up a button and linking to their online donations page but wanted to assure that anyone who donates can collect their tulips. I contacted Jason Howe, the Public Relations Director who gave the following details:

“Anyone who donates a minimum of $100 online will receive by mail a voucher for tulip bulbs, which they can cash in at either David Hunter Garden Centres or 99 Nursery & Florist. Anyone who donates a minimum of $1,000 will receive a planter/pot of tulips.

There are other sponsorship levels which are $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, and $50,000. Those would get you either a planter or a tulip garden in one of more than two dozen sites around Surrey.”

With that being said, please note the new button at the top of my sidebar which links to the “Donate Now” section of the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation’s website. The 2nd option noted above would seem like a good group project for a company or business as well.

Thanks in advance for your continued support of Miss604.com causes, I seriously have the best readers around. Now I just have to find a place to plant tulips in my Oma’s yard… if she’ll let me.

Blog vs mainstream media (msm) blogs, can they co-exist? Of course they can but often times at meetups and in general discussions with other persons-of-tech I find there’s a bit of laughter at msm’s expense. Is it that they just don’t “get” blogging? Do they not understand the concept or general idea? Or is it that they are and will always be the media giants and we will always be the citizen journalists; crowd-sourcing and generating our own content of interest.

A couple of months ago The Province launched a blog. Although it is infrequently updated and often parcels entertainments stories with those of political unrest and tragedy, I check The Newsroom every few days to see just what they’re up to now. I wholly appreciate the link love in the sidebar but I have a hunch that sometimes they’re just scooping their content from blogs anyway.

Today they launched “Canucks Nation“, a section of their site that includes a blog, news, scores and a contest. I find the choice of title particularly interesting since I already know a blogger that owns the domain CanucksNation.com and then Rod’s got CanuckNation.ca. Also, The Province’s rendition of Canucks Nation has a banner that sports Air Canada colours, the same shade of green along with a bright red maple leaf. Need I explain why that is off-putting?

“didn’t you hear? newspapers can call things whatever they want and it will become true.” – Richard Eriksson

I find it amusing when mainstream media covers topics and issues that everyone’s been talking about for ages so it really isn’t news to anyone’s ears. Stuff that bloggers, the public and even my grandma discuss often gets picked up months after it should be news. What makes the powers that be decide when something is newsworthy?

Transit users in the Valley often deal with long wait times, and say commuting into Vancouver is a major pain. [News 1130 – October 3, 2007]

Really? Wow I had no idea. I know, there I go being typical blogger acting all snarky about what “the man” is saying, right? Well I think it’s more like a citizen of this city and former suburbanite just knowing what is going on and how real things affect real people. Sure it’s great that they’re finally discovering that at 7:00pm on a weeknight the Surrey Central to Newton Exchange bus only comes once an hour, but do we really need former Premier Mike Harcourt to tell us that in a news quote?

“I will raise my voice in celebration of Vancouver’s hyper-groovy, decentralized, makeshift, social media production squad.” – Dave Olson – Raincity Studios

When the Workspace crime happened it was all over the web in a matter of minutes (but that was mostly the supposed perpetrator’s fault, har har). But if not for blog posts, it wouldn’t have been on CTV news or in the Globe and Mail the next day. I think the big guys need us little guys. Not only as sources but also as readers. But does that go both ways?

Bloggers like the news, we like it when our news becomes real news.

My page views go up 200% more on a day when I’m linked off Matthew Good, Tony Pierce or Boris Mann‘s websites than they do when I’m in the Metro Vancouver paper. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the exposure as it certainly makes my little voice here even louder (and my mom loves collecting 10 copies of each issue) but the audience is different. So why don’t mainstream outlets who want to go blog make content more applicable for their online audience?

A good example would be Buzz who blogs about his weekly columns in the 24 Hours. He writes about tech and puts his money where his mouth is, delivering it to the mainstream in print but transferring it into the internet world with a blog post and links. Also, if not for him Ustreaming his afternoon program I probably would never tune into 95 Crave and hear about their lovely sponsors and promotions.

Don’t get me wrong, I watch the news in the morning and listen to radio, and it’s an absolute thrill to be mentioned on any sort or program or in print. But I get most of my daily information from the internet, as do many others. These are the types of things that work for me, and the things I pay attention to.

“…if you want your “story told” you want it to reach as many people as possible” – Tod Maffin

So why do us bloggers sometimes scoff at the mainstream media when they go to start a blog? Maybe we’re jerks – just kidding – but maybe it’s because they’re just not doing it right in our eyes. There are examples of mainstream organizations translating their information offerings into the digital world but I find local msm blogs just aren’t accomplishing this in a very attractive fashion.

I like having credibility and applicable content that’s got my personal spin. No one else can duplicate my voice, but they can have their own in the wonderful land of blogging. That’s what’s so great about blogging.

If the big news guys in this town are going to blog and officially represent the masses, spoon feeding the population their factoids and video clips of Avril Lavigne, they should provide for their audience, speak to their audience and most importantly, listen.

Alanah goes solo for Episode #43 of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. She interviews Matt and Andy who responsible for the Battle of Alberta blog as we get to know a little more about the ups and downs of being a Flames or Oilers fan.

You wouldn’t think that a Flames and Oilers fan could get along on one blog, but this interview shows that these guys love to talk hockey. Plus, you ever wonder what die hard fans of the Albertan teams think about the Canucks? Alanah digs deep to find out. [TCC- 43]

Visit the TCC website to check out the rest of the show notes, to subscribe, or listen to the audio.

Update: John, our magical producer has just published Episode #44 as well where Alanah continues her “interviews with bloggers of Northwest teams”.

In this episode, she grabbed a couple of her favorite Avs fan bloggers, Greg from “Hockey Rants” and Tapeleg of “Jerseys and Hockey Love”. Together, they take a look at the team as whole, looking back into the past and what they expect from the coming season. Oh, and you can’t forget some good ol’ trash talkin’. [TCC – 44]

As always, check the website for show notes, more links, to subscribe and to listen.