I just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who has linked me leading up to this event, here’s a list of super folks all with super blogs of their own.

Thanks to Alanah for the inspiration, and JJ for the contribution (and prize) that will appear later today. The Katkam.ca photo here is for Daniel who commented looking for a Vancouver sunrise. I don’t think there are any webcams facing East but this is the #1 webcam for the city in my opinion – hopefully we’ll have some sun to show off later.

Blogathon: Post #2

Here it is! I’m wiping the sleep from my eye and settling in for the long haul. Well actually, I will get up after this and brush my teeth, probably put some coffee on and think about my next post. If you’re wondering what’s going on today, or why you’ll see SO many posts published today here’s the rundown.

I am doing a Blog-a-thon today for the Surrey Food Bank. Every 30 minutes for 24 hours I will be publishing a blog post with the hopes that people will sponsor me to keep going.

1) Tune into this blog from 6:00 am Pacific time until 6:00 am Sunday July 29th
I’ll be needing lots of inspiration so any post ideas, suggestions, photos, silly YouTube links of your cat are all welcome.

2) Click the sponsor button at the top of the sidebar

3) Sign up for a Blogathon login to pledge me – keep me going for 24 hours!

4) Blogathon will send you an email to remind you to head over to the Surrey Food Bank site to finish your pledge and donate

5) Feel warm fuzzies.

I have a couple of posts ready to go, including a few from contributors/other local bloggers. Everyone who pledges me to keep going by making a donation via Blogathon to the Food Bank will have their name put in a draw to win a prize. Prizes will be announced in a later post. Thank you everyone for your support already, and for tuning in at any point today. See you in 30 minutes!

Blogathon: Post #1

The PR machine is at work promoting Blogathon and my efforts tomorrow [24 Hours, BCBusiness]. I am trying to pool up some material for the 48 posts (1 post every 30 minutes for 24 hours) so this will be my only entry today.

I’ll have shout outs to people who have linked me, people who have some really great content, hopefully some guest contributors, photos and plenty more. Come on over from 6:00 am tomorrow (that’s about 17 hours away) and I’ll be blogging straight through the night until 6:00 am Sunday.

If you stop by PLEASE pledge me by clicking the “sponsor me” button on my sidebar, I’ll also have the link on every blog post, which you can track through my “Blogathon” post category, here. Every cent of your pledge/donation will go directly to the Surrey Food Bank. Also, as an added incentive (aside from watching me go bonkers in real time in the later hours) I’ll be putting all the pledges’ names in a hat and one lucky sponsor will win a prize, which I will hopefully have sorted out by tomorrow.

Image from BustedTees

Well maybe more would do the trick but I’m talking about more diversity.

We have several group blogs in this city. Metroblogging, that is a part of a 50-city worldwide network, Beyond Robson, that is a part of the Fresh Daily/BlogTO family, and Urban Vancouver is the aggregator and Vancouver forum on which anyone can post content.

In light of the recent emotionally-charged comments and posts in regards to either Metroblogging or Beyond Robson I just have to share this story that was sent to me by Richard. Its author, Joey deVilla is reflecting on the state of Toronto’s current group blogs with ex-Vancouverite, Will Pate, and is calling out for more diversity in Toronto blogs.

He feels “although the BlogTO and Torontoist served their demographic very well, their demographic was only a slice of the larger pie that is Toronto.”

Joey continues on with something that just made me laugh out loud like Homer Simpson saying “it’s funny cause it’s true” while wiping a tear from my eye.

Excerpt from: We Need More Toronto Blogs making a point about the ‘typical authors’ of certain city group blogs – Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

The Discovery Channel being one of the only reasons John and I flip on the tele, I know that Shark Week is coming up. Yesterday on CNN (okay I guess another reason) they were interviewing a woman who filmed her own shark attack, and this morning on CFOX they had a dude from the Vancouver Aquarium in studio talking about its very own Shark Week.

Photo credit: md&r on Flickr

Join the Vancouver Aquarium in celebrating these often-feared, yet fascinating, fish and learn about their important role in the ocean’s ecosystem. Dive into another world and discover the mysteries of life under water as you tour the Aquarium’s many shark-friendly exhibits: Dive shows, Shark feeds, and Hands-on activities. [AZA]

Apparently there are 12 species of shark in BC waters, hardly any of them are harmful to humans. The Aquarium guy said that maybe if you’re on a surf board you might look like a seal to a shark so splash around and be as “human” as possible to deter them. Aside from the dozens of razor-sharp teeth, swimming in deep ocean just creeps the bejesus outta me, you never know what’s gonna appear from below and ‘tickle’ your toes…

If the Aquarium is your cup o’ tea, check out the shark-specific action starting July 29th (open 9:30 am to 7:00 pm during the summer months). Now since Adult Admission is $19.95, Youths $14.95, Kids $11.95 and ‘3 and under’ are free… it’s doesn’t exactly quality for my “cheap things to do” or “cheap fun” category. But if you happen to be walking in Stanley Park near the old zoo’s bear habitat and artist’s circle, you can access the little pathway near the back side of the Aquarium, behind the seal and beluga tanks, to get an inexpensive perspective on the events taking place therein. However, you won’t be able to catch any Shark Week action from there, maybe just a couple playful seals and belugas.