It seems like just yesterday we started this little podcast with a group of local hockey bloggers and here we are on #19.

We’re without Alanah on this episode, but the Internet gods were not on our side. Blame them. On the other hand, the rest of the crew were on hand after a long dry spell without Dave. Three games to talk about this time around; a loss to the Kings, an amazing win over the Sharks, and the Blue Jackets stole a shootout from us last night.

Record as of this episode: 28-19-4
Northwest Division: 2nd
Western Conference: 7th

Also, we address some trade rumors, talk about how Crow is doing in L.A., do a bit of an injury analysis on Kesler and Mitchell, get to some listener feedback/requests, and look at the road ahead towards the playoffs. And believe it or not, Fin is blogging.

It’s hard to imagine that we could be thinking about the playoffs with such hope compared to where we were at the beginning of the season, but we are. Episode 19, Run Time 51:00

My co-worker just sent me a link to an article talking about a book by a U of C professor.

Michael Keren, who has written “Blogosphere: The New Political Arena,” suggests individuals who bare their souls in blogs are isolated and lonely, living in a virtual reality instead of forming real relationships or helping to change the world.

“Bloggers think of themselves as rebels against mainstream society, but that rebellion is mostly confined to cyberspace, which makes blogging as melancholic and illusionary as Don Quixote tilting at windmills,” the author says.

I could start ranting, but seriously what’s the point? We all know why each of us blog, we all have our reasons. Be it personal, informative, geeky, literary, or just for the sake of tapping your fingers on a keyboard and publishing the result for the world to see.

I must admit though, I’m not completely transparent on my blog, I don’t go into details if I’ve had a bad day (except maybe when it has to do with a certain Credit Union) but that’s just me. That could say something about me, I could read into it, but… meh, I don’t really want to.

Keren praises the Internet as a great place for self-expression, but he also suggests that blogs often have the opposite effect by creating feelings of loneliness for those who aren’t lucky enough to reach “celebrity” status.

There are some people out there who are blogging to get recognized, but I’m sure there’s an equal amount of people who do it just to say something, share, and to have an outlet regardless of Technorati ranking or ‘blogebrity’ status.

For all we know this dude could be writing a book just to create a buzz. Maybe he knows if people blog about it he’s succeeded, whether it’s created a positive or negative review. Who knows, maybe we’ll all get the book and read it and it’ll become an Amazon best seller (regardless if its better purpose is that of a paperweight or not). Will he be upset if it doesn’t become popular?

We’re all entitled to our opinions, and I suppose this author is as well. Only thing is, I think he’ll just make more money off his, than I will mine.

Boy have I got a site for you, unfortunately for me. I used to check out this one ‘Vancouver Events’ web page cause it had some really interesting upcoming activities that I couldn’t find listed anywhere else. From fund raising dinners to concerts, it was a really great source. Though it seems as of late, it’s been inundated and completely absorbed by meet ‘n mingle postings for area singles.

Here are a couple of current events for singles in Vancouver listed on what used to be my most informative event listing site:

• Vancouver singles into to rock climbing – Jan. 29 @ 9:00pm
• Vancouver singles starlight snowshoeing – Jan 31 @ 6:00pm
• Vancouver singles rack’em up pool night – Feb. 8 @ 7:00pm
• Vancouver singles comedy night – Feb. 14 @ 7:00pm
• Vancouver singles intro to chocolate making – Feb 19 @ 6:00pm
• Vancouver singles intro to bartending – Feb 26 @6:45pm

Singles have all the fun! Well, I’m since not single, I really would like to have my event site back.

It seems like most of these postings are done by a company called Meet Market Adventures. Aside from having a name that makes me cringe, I know nothing about this organization and how reputable it may be. In any case, I need a new source for event info aside from like HOB.ca for concerts or upcoming.org. And Bradley, if you want more info on the events listed above, just visit www.meetmarketadventures.com, eh.

Today my sister and I were supposed to participate in The Amazing Hunt [604], it would have been a lovely day for it but Executive Producer Bill Lin had the right idea in mind when he postponed today’s race a couple of weeks ago. There were power outages, winds destroying forests, sleet and snow pelting the West Coast. Bill called to let me know of the race postponement and that it will now be held on February 10th. Little did we all anticipate, today turned out to be quite lovely.

My sister and mother picked me up and we went over to Tinseltown to catch The Queen. Upon our arrival we noticed an abundance of handicapped parking spaces in the parkade, I’m talkin’ like 20 within the first 5 minutes of driving around in there. When we got upstairs the fire alarm was going off in the building. After arriving at the cinema’s level it shut off, but it then sounded sporadically for the next hour or so. The movie we paid to see had to be canceled and we got a rain check.

I returned home and asked John to take me for a walk, if I wasn’t going to see a movie today I might as well get out n’ about and enjoy the non-rain in this city. We headed into the Park, our default walking location. We surveyed the cleanup from the storm, which is happening slowly. The big tree in Coal Harbor that had fallen across the Sea Wall (before you reach the rowing club) hasn’t been moved. I suggested to John that it’s probably kept there for tourists, which by the look of the dozen people posing and taking pics of the thing, proved to be an accurate observation. We strolled across to the north side of the park and ducked in to the Beaver Lake trail, which is partly clear… we only dodged one ‘do not enter’ barricade.

It was great to see the lake with actual water in it. In August it’s just a big lily pad-covered mud pit. The ducks were out to greet us and we ventured down the first path that seemed to lead somewhere and was remotely clear of stumps and debris. As we turned south we noticed fog was creeping in. It was pretty strange that it appeared in so quickly, especially as we emerged from the forest at the Rose Garden, which then looked like a misty graveyard, littered with dead bits of trees and foliage.

The city had now disappeared under a grey blanket. As we left the park at Lost Lagoon it was now eerily quiet except for the sound of a panting jogger’s footsteps coming up behind us. The entire mood of our walk shifted and we just wanted to get home. Our pace quickened and our hands froze.

I will get to watch a movie today after all, since we’re now in the mood for something a little spooky. I’m sure under any other circumstance I wouldn’t be able to sleep after watching some fear-instilling flicks, but with all the fresh air and exercise I’ve had today, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.

This episode of our podcast will be submitted to the fine folks organizing Northern Voice 2007. It didn’t involve trudging through muddy, stick-laden parks or interviewing rock stars and no, there isn’t even any Vancouver trivia. It’s a classic episode, just John, me, a couple mics and some music. Although I shouldn’t describe it like that, it’s not karaoke.

In this episode, we talk about the Northern Voice conference and try to make our case to the organizers of the event as to why we deserve one of the travel bursaries to attend the event. We also talk about Rebecca’s upcoming involvement with the Amazing Hunt in Vancouver. Matthew Good has a new album that he’s recording, and your dear hosts have a few other tidbits to share in that area.

Visit the Episode 125 post on RadioZoom.net to catch all links to anything and everything we discuss including band/music info. Click here for mp3. Run time is 57:41.