You Think That’s Close?

My brother sent me a link to Microsoft’s http://local.live.com that does the close-up arial from MIT one better, and it even does it from an angle, so you can see the height of the buildings. Not only that, but you can actually see 1) the satellite dish on our roof and 2) our old car. I’m not sure I like this, although at least it’s not live (that car, like us, no longer lives there and the satellite dish was later moved to a higher place on the roof because the trees were growing too high and we were losing transmission in the summer months). I make it to be about 3 or 4 years old.
Click each of these to see them at full magnification:

I have to say that I’m surprised that the Department of Homeland Security isn’t starting to get worked up about these mapping systems (Maybe they are and we just don’t know about it, a common situation these days.) Add in GPS locaters (as you can do with the Google system) and you’ve got something of an Urban Tactical Mapping system on a shoestring. There’s an electrical substation near the top left of one of the maps, and taking it out would be a lot easier if you could see all of the side-streets, where the police would be most likely to come from, as well as your escape route(s). With the power out all out for the neighborhood, robbing the businesses in the area would be a lot easier, battery backups aside.

I hate to be looking at just the bad (criminal or terrorist) side of this. After all, systems like this could also insure that fleets of ambulances and taxicabs reach their destinations faster and with less fuel spent idling in traffic jams and less exhaust spewed into the air. Technology is always neutral.

A Little Peek at Where We Used to Live from 2,400 feet

I was reading on Boingboing about the fact that Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Inventor of the World-Wide Web has just started writing a blog (fancy that!). As these things lead to other explorations, I happened to eventually link to MIT’s new(ish) Campus Map. There I found an eerily close Arial shot of where we used to live. The Dante Alighieri Center is the orange-red polygon at the bottom center, and I’ve drawn an arrow to where our little townhouse used to be, separated only by a thin brown wood fence from the parking lot. Google does have arial views, but nothing this close. The documentation says:

The photography was captured on April 17th, 2003 at a flying altitude of approximately 2,400 feet, providing an original photo scale of 1 inch = 400 feet (to support 40 scale mapping). These images were “corrected” with a digital terrain model (DTM) that modeled both terrain undulations and the heights of buildings.

So here it is: (click image for full-size version)

Strange to see it this way, for the first time.

You Say Sunday, I Say Sund-eh?

Sunrise, 8:03 AM, Sunset 4:14 PM and counting (only 3 days until the Winter Solstice).

I needed a breather today. Did our weekly videoconference with my parents (although the Internet was a little flakey and we lost the connection a few times), a visit to Granville Island Market. Pork loin stew tonight. Sunny again today, but the forecast is for snow and rain all week long to come.

Some Odds and Ends
I’ve become aware that Canadians (or at least British Columbians) abbreviate words that we’re not used to: felts for felt-tipped markers, homo for homogenized milk (Matt noted this one a long time ago), a parkade for a parking garage, a garburator for a garbage disposal, stats means statutory holiday and appy’s which are short for appetizers. That last one l thought was fun, especially when I saw a club on Granville Street the other day with a sign that read ‘Appy Hour’.

Another difference: Bank Hours and Mail Delivery days: Banks are open late, till about 7 PM at most branches. Mail delivery (which here is called ‘Postal Delivery;) does not take place on the weekend. No Saturday or Sunday, so get those cards and letters off by pickup on Friday or be prepared to wait.

The Canadian version of the US’s Social Security program is called Social Insurance program. I’m currently waiting for my first SIN card (Social Insurance Number - I had a really easy-to-remember Social Security Number, so I hope this new number is a good one). I was pleased by this difference because the Canadian government would have a much harder time bamboozling the electorate the way Bush and his henchman have tried with calling Social Security an ‘Investment Program’, and trying to have every citizen put money into a private investment account that would then serve as Social Security in their retirement years (and of course, if the Stock market goes down or even stays the same, your so-called ‘Social Security Account’ is potentially worth less than you contributed to it or worse, depleted). The way FDR intended it is the more explicit Canadian designation; Social Security was an Insurance Policy that everyone pays into. Your money right now pays for your parents and grandparents. Your children and grandchildren’s generation will pay for you. It’s not ‘every private investor for himself’. We all benefit from the social safety net which is born out of the concept of the Common Good. Call me crazy, call me a Liberal, or in this case, call me a Canadian.

Finally, Pam and I both noticed that at this time of year, around here people tend to say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ask ‘Are you all ready for Christmas?’ far more often. Apparently the now famous ‘War on Christmas’ in the US (which is just another one of those Religious Conservative militant rallying cries) never took place here. Unlike Mr. Bill O’ Reilly, I am not enraged if someone says a phrase to me that assumes (or more to the point, does not assume) a religious affiliation. So, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Matunda Ya Kwanzaa’ and finally, may the noodley appendage of the Flying Spaghetti Monster touch you and yours this holiday season.

A Sunny Saturday and Chilly Evening

Sunrise, 8:02 AM, Sunset 4:15 PM and counting (only 4 days until the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year).

I was a little tired from the week, which showed just how out of shape I am when it comes to working. Only 4 of the 5 days and here I am waiting for the first weekend! Thank goodness, when the weekend counted, the sun came out. And boy, was a it a beautiful day today. More about that in a bit. First, about last night: My company had a Christmas party. I only found out about it the morning before, and fortunately was dressed well enough to go there directly from work. I didn’t know that spouses were allowed or I would have had Pam come as well, but only found out too late. I hope there will be a next time, and I’ll have a bit more notice (like a couple months rather than hours!)

In Canada, workers (and bosses) take their holiday parties much more seriously than they do in the US. In the States, I remember some half-hearted attempts at a little party, often for employees only or a pot-luck for employees, spouses and children. This is after the cutbacks from the dot-com crash of the 90’s, and I think we just got used to that level of austerity. In Canada, I think it’s seen as an important perk of employment. Even for the tiny company I’ve just joined, there was a huge spread at a local hotel, with prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, salmon, door prizes, games, and wine or beer (cash bar for other drinks). I actually won one of the (several) drawings, and the prize was a gift certificate at the excellent Canadian hi-tech chain, Futureshop. I was very impressed (and perhaps a little embarrassed. After all, I had only been with the company for 3 days!)

Anyway, that brings us to today. This morning, to be exact. Pam and I took a short trip to Main Street, which is indeed one of the main streets into Vancouver, although it’s a good 2 kilometers or so from us (we took a Broadway bus there to make the trip a bit faster).

Among our stops along Main, we went to the KEA food store, a very ‘crunchy’ organic grocery, which has really good raw peanuts in the shells (we roast them in the oven and the house smells wonderful from the peanut-y aroma). We also visited Urban Source, a fantastic resource for the creative person hopefully lurking in all of us. Urban Source is a sort of scavenger of industrial waste — not the scary, poisonous kind, but the more banal, and potentially useful junk that comes from light manufacturing and the like. Looking for some small dolls heads, cardboard cones and cylinders, silver mylar, glitter, foamcore scraps? This is the place for you! You don’t have to be even that handy or skilled. Sometimes projects can be found-art from the combinations of the above items. On high shelves above much of the stuff (and there’s really no better word to describe what they sell), are toy robots, the skeleton of a wicker basket outfitted so that it looks like an enormous housefly, and other assemblages that look down like in a dare to all below: ‘See how cool I am? Bet you can’t make something this neat!’ That may be true, but the other customers (and there are tons of them) and I accept the challenge. Pam did, too. Nothing involving power tools or welding. A couple of clay tiles and silver mylar will do just fine, thank you.

After that we met Oana and Matt for a walk and eventually dinner at the very unusual and fun restaurant the Liliget Feast House, on Davie Street (not too far from the hotel where Pam and I had stayed a few times before moving into our current place). We hadn’t planned going there, but both Matt and Pam had heard about this restaurant that specializes in First Nation cuisine and had wanted to try it out (and I was certainly interested as well). I had a very tasty Alder-Grilled Venison Chops marinated in Maple Syrup and Vinegar and served with Mashed Russet Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables, and Wild Blueberry Sauce (as the menu describes it). Pam had their Vegetarian Meal, which included Toasted Seaweed (Kelp) on a Wild Rice Medley, Sweet Potato Pie, Spinach Quiche Pie, and the same vegetables. She liked it a lot, and I sampled some of those pies, which were really charming single-serving size tarts. Oana and Matt went for the Lileget Feast Platter for two, which included Alder Grilled Wild Salmon, Halibut, Mussels, Venison Strips, Buffalo Smoky, Duck Breast, Sweet Potatoes with Hazelnuts, Liliget Wild Rice Medley, Vegetables and Wild Blueberry & Dill Sauces. It arrived in a very impressive ‘boat’ with First Nation decorations at each end. I’m very intrigued by this kind of cooking and hope to get some recipes for these dishes or ones similar to them. In some ways, it was very much like the kind of cuisine I used to love in Vermont, where you could really enjoy and appreciate the specialness of the local produce. I’m not a macrobiotic zealot, but I can certainly see the advantage in making the most of your local game, fish, fruits and vegetables, especially if there are lots of them year-round, as they are here in the BC area.

I should add that desert was particularly memorable. It was a sort of syllabub (whipped cream, no wine or sherry though) made with Sopalali berries. What do they taste like? Actually quite bitter, like Angostura Bitters, or tamarind. It was a surprisingly complex tasting finish, and definitely not something for the kids.

After dinner we all took a chilly walk by the north shore of False Creek toward the Burrard Bridge. By chilly, I mean right at about freezing. The night was lit by a huge tree by the beach with Christmas lights all over it, as well as the the lights of the city and ships offshore. I think Matt got some good night photos.

Update: Matt’s pictures came out pretty well, especially of the food at the restaurant.
Yum: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mussels/74664406/in/photostream/

Also, a very dramatic, if subtle pict of 3 of us in front of that tree: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mussels/74829338/in/photostream/

Checking in. Whew!

It’s about 11:30 and I’ve had 2 crazy days, both with work followed by events in the evening (Gamelan rehearsal last night, Holiday Party for our Condo tonight). Hence the lack of time to update this blog.

So, as to the long and short of it, work is OK. Relatively easy to get to, a very small company (really only about 2 dozen people), and this is a very strange (make that quiet) time of year. Still, there are things for me to do. Immediate goals are to improve the company web site, as part of a major marketing push. If I am to have a future with them, they will need to have lots of work coming in. To do that, they will need to market to decision makers, and point them to a web site that they are not embarrassed about. The current one has been argued about for about 2-3 years. If I can do any immediate good, it will be to have my team (3 people, including yours truly) get an improved site up by Christmas. That gives us less than 2 weeks, but I believe we’ll make it. My current tasks mainly are to write copy for the site, as well as write up case studies of all the projects they’ve done so far. This will require interviews, as well as screenshots of most of those products

The only downside to this new job is that the boss came out with his true feelings regarding the Mac. Not only am I forbidden to use one in the office (despite the fact that there is an eMac sitting as the second computer to a programmer there who never turns it on), but he really hates them and would like to see even that one dispensed with. Apparently once in a great while they have to support a Mac for a project. Most of the time, he’d prefer to just write them off. I wish I could change his attitude, but I fear that may be a lost cause for a long time. For now, work equipment is an awful old Dell and a combo printer/fax/scanner on the office LAN that prints faint black and white prints, contrasted with what I have at home, which is far better (ironic, isn’t it?). Oh well, on the bright side, this will insure the separation of work and home life. Not very much of a chance of taking graphics-related work home, especially if there are Visio files (and I don’t have the Professional version of Omnigraffle to edit those) for flow charts and the like. I was reminded today how much I hate Visio. It is still the worst piece of crap for software I’ve ever seen. Someone should tell Microsoft that the Align command stopped being a dialog box about 10 years ago! At least you can use arrow keys to nudge a graphic up, down or side to side. It only took them 5 years to put that in…

I’ll put more in about work as the days go by, but the first impressions are not bad. It’s a small, small place, and a little scary for that reason (better get along with the people in those 1 1/2 rooms, because there’s no one else!) I’ll also describe the building in more detail as well, as it is a character in the drama as well. Funny, I remember saying that about the town of Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life, which was on the other day (of course).