Again.. a lot has happened since last post... in fact soooo much that this post will most definitely be the longest to date and with lots of video...
Sport
I discovered a new way to spend an afternoon on a weekend - Footbag Net.. I know I mentioned the best thing about hackysack was it's non-competitive aspect.. but screw that. Basically it's playing hackysack over a 5ft badminton net and playing with the rules of volleyball. Very much a fringe sport but good fun nonetheless check it out here.
Amin, Ben (a good kiwi mate who lives a block away) and I (and lots of friends really) have been doing a lot of active stuff, tennis, swimming, etc. I have a monthly Vancouver Parks Board pass, which basically gives me free access to any rec center in Vancouver, including the pools right near my house, the aquatic center with high diving boards and a gym and a bunch of other gyms around Van. We got a bit excited about the diving boards and went several times in a week, which led to my legs and arms feeling like they'd been pummeled my a heavyweight boxer for a good week after... literally turned black and blue in some areas! However we did push each other a lot and ended up pulling off some sweet dives. Proudest achievements to date: backflip off the 7.5 meter and 540 backflip off the 1 meter.
EA Sports - It's in the Game
I've had a bit of work come through the temp agency in recent times. They've been sending me to work for Electronic Arts, the videogame company responsible for many well known games, FIFA, NHL, Need For Speed, The Sims, and many many more. Being a software developer, this is somewhat of an amazing opportunity, not that I'm in any remotely technical position, working with the building facilities people, however it gives me a great chance to have access to the entire complex and witness games in all stages of their development.
The building itself is a work of art, and has won architectual awards, it's very hard to describe what it's like.. two buildings with adjoining walkways, a 4 story carpark with a soccer-pitch, beach volleyball court, basketball/inline hockey rink on the roof, several subsidised cafes, video arcade games, foosball tables, pool tables, pinball games on free play all over the place, a completely library of games/systems/dvds available to staff, a retail store with all EA games for any platform for $20 each, EAU - an internal school where staff are encouraged to take courses in whatever they're interested in. Walking around the studio, the feeling really is that of a university, there is no real dresscode, staff are encouraged to be themselves, and there are ALL types.. Dogs are allowed and it's very common to see them lying around peoples desks. the amount of perks is pretty impressive.. What a novel idea eh, treating employees like individuals who have different tastes and allowing them to express themselves and be comfortable and at their creative peak. Brilliant.
The work I've done there is quite varied, from shifting old stuff around to setting up big launch parties on the soccer field, it's mostly labourious but always has it's perks. Last Friday night I finished the shift during which I set up 5 parties around the complex, and ended up attending two of them! hahaha beer and pizza and mingling!
Looking down a sweet helix staircase at EA (photo stolen)
Garabaldi
A crew of 10 of us decided to go hiking and camping to Garibaldi Lake, an amazing alpine lake with glaciers and all kinds of awesome. We packed backbacks with tents, food and everything needed and started our hike about 40kms north of Squamish (where The Chief hike was). The hike itself was pretty easy, 9 kilometres long and rising about 900 meters. The addition of a backpack was a new experience for the hike, i really wish i had better shoes too.. after a few stops for breaks, snacks, water, lookout points, we came to the serene beautiful lake that was our destination.. As it is a glacial fed lake, this gives it it's turquoise blue colour, an amazing sight. It also gives it it's fucking cold temperatures, as was discovered very shortly upon arrival.. but nearly all of us dived in a paddled around to seriously cool down after our hike.
Turned out there were no offical camp spots left so we made our own, which caught the attention of the ultra anal geeky ranger who happened to be in a ranger hut 20 meters from us... After scolding us twice she let us stay on the provision that we left at 8:30am, which was fine as Lilith from our crew needed to get back for work so we were leaving early anyway.. (she returned at 8:31am with an eviction notice. Lovely girl.) We ate like kings and enjoyed the sunset at the dock, grabbed our sleeping bags and spent most of the night stargazing and spotting shooting stars, before heading off early next morning. One point to mention, mosquitos.... OMG I've never been in an area so infested in my life!! There was never a point where there weren't 4 or 5 around you.. hell.. somehow I missed being bitten though, i'm going to prematurely and boldly conclude they don't like vegetarian blood ;)
Sitting of the dock of the lake
First person view from the dock of the lake
Folk Festival
Last weekend (17th-19th July) was the annual Vancouver Folk Festival. On the recommendation of some friends, I signed up to volunteer for the weekend, giving me a free pass for the duration of the festival. (about 10 of my friends all volunteer every year and are vetrans of the festival) This meant commiting to 12 hours work over the weekend. There are a number of committees of volunteers running all aspects of the festival, I just signed up for the Labour Pool which is basically floating people who get sent wherever they're needed. I was sent to the merchandise tent, and upon arrival was asked if i mind co-ordinating that area, which was odd because i didnt even know how to use the cash register at that point... I didnt care about much, they gave me a radio and showed me the ropes and other than chat to my friend Shireen who was working there and operate the til, I didnt really need to do much co-ordiniating.. so really all it meant was i couldnt run off.. 6 hrs on sat and another 3 on sunday (they told me i wasnt needed for half) and i was done! As a volunteer, there is a big kitchen that serves us lunch and dinner, and $2 breakfasts, and free drinks all day. There were also volunteer parties both sat and sun nights to 3am serving cheap drinks and having some of the greatest festival musicians entertain us.
The music was fantastic, I saw Iron and Wine (highly recommend) Arrested Development, Los De Abajos, Mavis Staples (Brilliant!) among many others... There were 7 stages running during the day hosting "workshops" where a number of similar genre'd artists simply get grouped together and have jam sessions on stage - very much my style of festival. There was some great blues, some great latin funky dance stuff and a lot in between.
I have to say, I haven't been to many BC festivals, but this was pretty special.. It's all ages and all types, but as a whole, people are there to appreciate the music. There was absolutely no douchebaggery I could see. most people sit to watch the shows with beach chairs being a favourite. This particular festival has no corporate sponsorship (hence the big volunteer thing) so it's very humble and grounded, I really had a nice warm loving feeling about the whole thing. A great weekend!
Folk Festival Surprise Continuance
Some of my friends got to talking with a few artists from the festival whilst sharing tables in the volunteer area. They have a big sail boat and invited the artists to go sailing for the day after the weekend and generally show them a little personal aspect of Vancouver to which was readily accepted.
The artists:
The Ebony Hillbillies
Missionarios del Norte
Umalali
I received a phone call from Shireen inviting me to a BBQ dinner and drinks and jam session with them all the following day - hell yes! It is very hard to convey what the vibe of this evening was, but video and audio will help.. I recorded a bit of Los Misionarios and Umalali doing their thing and will make it available as soon as I do a little editing. Here are some videos I took and uploaded:
Los Misioneros del Norte
Gloria sings the blues with The Ebony Hillbillies
Umalali sing, Sofia's voice is amazing!
Fireworks, Electrical Storm and Sunset
The Celebration of Light Festival has been going on this past week, and Saturday night was the 2nd display and it was preceded by one of the most amazing displays of nature I've seen, an electrical storm closed in around sunset and the whole sky turned a bright orange colour with forked lighting all over the place. I had decided to bail on the fireworks as it was raining pretty steadily and opted to just pop down the beach and take a photo of the sky. The scene was so surreal I couldn't bring myself to leave, after bumping into friends Simon and Alyssa, we ended up watching the electric sky and following firework for 90 minutes before heading home drenched. Check out the following video I took.. it's a bit long but there are some good lighting strikes in there, one happens right at the start, there's another good one at 2:22
Lightning and a brilliant sunset over Kits Beach, Vancouver, Canada
Video Uploading
I finally got around to uploading a few videos of different happenings here's some:
Sport
I discovered a new way to spend an afternoon on a weekend - Footbag Net.. I know I mentioned the best thing about hackysack was it's non-competitive aspect.. but screw that. Basically it's playing hackysack over a 5ft badminton net and playing with the rules of volleyball. Very much a fringe sport but good fun nonetheless check it out here.
Amin, Ben (a good kiwi mate who lives a block away) and I (and lots of friends really) have been doing a lot of active stuff, tennis, swimming, etc. I have a monthly Vancouver Parks Board pass, which basically gives me free access to any rec center in Vancouver, including the pools right near my house, the aquatic center with high diving boards and a gym and a bunch of other gyms around Van. We got a bit excited about the diving boards and went several times in a week, which led to my legs and arms feeling like they'd been pummeled my a heavyweight boxer for a good week after... literally turned black and blue in some areas! However we did push each other a lot and ended up pulling off some sweet dives. Proudest achievements to date: backflip off the 7.5 meter and 540 backflip off the 1 meter.
EA Sports - It's in the Game
I've had a bit of work come through the temp agency in recent times. They've been sending me to work for Electronic Arts, the videogame company responsible for many well known games, FIFA, NHL, Need For Speed, The Sims, and many many more. Being a software developer, this is somewhat of an amazing opportunity, not that I'm in any remotely technical position, working with the building facilities people, however it gives me a great chance to have access to the entire complex and witness games in all stages of their development.
The building itself is a work of art, and has won architectual awards, it's very hard to describe what it's like.. two buildings with adjoining walkways, a 4 story carpark with a soccer-pitch, beach volleyball court, basketball/inline hockey rink on the roof, several subsidised cafes, video arcade games, foosball tables, pool tables, pinball games on free play all over the place, a completely library of games/systems/dvds available to staff, a retail store with all EA games for any platform for $20 each, EAU - an internal school where staff are encouraged to take courses in whatever they're interested in. Walking around the studio, the feeling really is that of a university, there is no real dresscode, staff are encouraged to be themselves, and there are ALL types.. Dogs are allowed and it's very common to see them lying around peoples desks. the amount of perks is pretty impressive.. What a novel idea eh, treating employees like individuals who have different tastes and allowing them to express themselves and be comfortable and at their creative peak. Brilliant.
The work I've done there is quite varied, from shifting old stuff around to setting up big launch parties on the soccer field, it's mostly labourious but always has it's perks. Last Friday night I finished the shift during which I set up 5 parties around the complex, and ended up attending two of them! hahaha beer and pizza and mingling!
Looking down a sweet helix staircase at EA (photo stolen)
Garabaldi
A crew of 10 of us decided to go hiking and camping to Garibaldi Lake, an amazing alpine lake with glaciers and all kinds of awesome. We packed backbacks with tents, food and everything needed and started our hike about 40kms north of Squamish (where The Chief hike was). The hike itself was pretty easy, 9 kilometres long and rising about 900 meters. The addition of a backpack was a new experience for the hike, i really wish i had better shoes too.. after a few stops for breaks, snacks, water, lookout points, we came to the serene beautiful lake that was our destination.. As it is a glacial fed lake, this gives it it's turquoise blue colour, an amazing sight. It also gives it it's fucking cold temperatures, as was discovered very shortly upon arrival.. but nearly all of us dived in a paddled around to seriously cool down after our hike.
Turned out there were no offical camp spots left so we made our own, which caught the attention of the ultra anal geeky ranger who happened to be in a ranger hut 20 meters from us... After scolding us twice she let us stay on the provision that we left at 8:30am, which was fine as Lilith from our crew needed to get back for work so we were leaving early anyway.. (she returned at 8:31am with an eviction notice. Lovely girl.) We ate like kings and enjoyed the sunset at the dock, grabbed our sleeping bags and spent most of the night stargazing and spotting shooting stars, before heading off early next morning. One point to mention, mosquitos.... OMG I've never been in an area so infested in my life!! There was never a point where there weren't 4 or 5 around you.. hell.. somehow I missed being bitten though, i'm going to prematurely and boldly conclude they don't like vegetarian blood ;)
Sitting of the dock of the lake
First person view from the dock of the lake
 |
| Garabaldi Overnight Hike - Panoramas |
Folk Festival
Last weekend (17th-19th July) was the annual Vancouver Folk Festival. On the recommendation of some friends, I signed up to volunteer for the weekend, giving me a free pass for the duration of the festival. (about 10 of my friends all volunteer every year and are vetrans of the festival) This meant commiting to 12 hours work over the weekend. There are a number of committees of volunteers running all aspects of the festival, I just signed up for the Labour Pool which is basically floating people who get sent wherever they're needed. I was sent to the merchandise tent, and upon arrival was asked if i mind co-ordinating that area, which was odd because i didnt even know how to use the cash register at that point... I didnt care about much, they gave me a radio and showed me the ropes and other than chat to my friend Shireen who was working there and operate the til, I didnt really need to do much co-ordiniating.. so really all it meant was i couldnt run off.. 6 hrs on sat and another 3 on sunday (they told me i wasnt needed for half) and i was done! As a volunteer, there is a big kitchen that serves us lunch and dinner, and $2 breakfasts, and free drinks all day. There were also volunteer parties both sat and sun nights to 3am serving cheap drinks and having some of the greatest festival musicians entertain us.
The music was fantastic, I saw Iron and Wine (highly recommend) Arrested Development, Los De Abajos, Mavis Staples (Brilliant!) among many others... There were 7 stages running during the day hosting "workshops" where a number of similar genre'd artists simply get grouped together and have jam sessions on stage - very much my style of festival. There was some great blues, some great latin funky dance stuff and a lot in between.
I have to say, I haven't been to many BC festivals, but this was pretty special.. It's all ages and all types, but as a whole, people are there to appreciate the music. There was absolutely no douchebaggery I could see. most people sit to watch the shows with beach chairs being a favourite. This particular festival has no corporate sponsorship (hence the big volunteer thing) so it's very humble and grounded, I really had a nice warm loving feeling about the whole thing. A great weekend!
Folk Festival Surprise Continuance
Some of my friends got to talking with a few artists from the festival whilst sharing tables in the volunteer area. They have a big sail boat and invited the artists to go sailing for the day after the weekend and generally show them a little personal aspect of Vancouver to which was readily accepted.
The artists:
The Ebony Hillbillies
Missionarios del Norte
Umalali
I received a phone call from Shireen inviting me to a BBQ dinner and drinks and jam session with them all the following day - hell yes! It is very hard to convey what the vibe of this evening was, but video and audio will help.. I recorded a bit of Los Misionarios and Umalali doing their thing and will make it available as soon as I do a little editing. Here are some videos I took and uploaded:
Los Misioneros del Norte
Gloria sings the blues with The Ebony Hillbillies
Umalali sing, Sofia's voice is amazing!
Fireworks, Electrical Storm and Sunset
The Celebration of Light Festival has been going on this past week, and Saturday night was the 2nd display and it was preceded by one of the most amazing displays of nature I've seen, an electrical storm closed in around sunset and the whole sky turned a bright orange colour with forked lighting all over the place. I had decided to bail on the fireworks as it was raining pretty steadily and opted to just pop down the beach and take a photo of the sky. The scene was so surreal I couldn't bring myself to leave, after bumping into friends Simon and Alyssa, we ended up watching the electric sky and following firework for 90 minutes before heading home drenched. Check out the following video I took.. it's a bit long but there are some good lighting strikes in there, one happens right at the start, there's another good one at 2:22
Lightning and a brilliant sunset over Kits Beach, Vancouver, Canada
Video Uploading
I finally got around to uploading a few videos of different happenings here's some:
2 comments:
Loved reading of your latest adventures Dan. Certainly shows what a great time you're having. Photos are amazing!!
The hike looks spectacular---love it!!
xoxo Mum
danny.... its been a while since u wrote something here! :)
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