It’s been a little over a week before my last day at IBM. I was frankly blown away by the good-bye that I got from coworkers that Friday. We all went out to a Thai feast in Burnaby (and by Thai feast, I mean it just kept coming and coming until we started giggling as each dish was brought to the table; Pad Thai? Sure, Crispy Fish with sauce? Why not!? More Stir-Fried Vegetables? Of course!)
I packed up my desk (I had spent over a week moving books and toys from it to home in half a dozen trips). It was a strange time, with my time alloted to the project over, and work still needing to be done the project I’ve been working on. I hope that I haven’t left too much hanging; Some of it was dependent on details of features that had not been defined yet, but where I had to leave wireframes (which are essentially diagrams of how screens should look and what should be on them and where) partially finished, I tried to make it clear how they could be completed. I said many good-byes to friends and colleagues, and drove home from Burnaby, a little dazed (hey, it was probably all that food at lunch).
On Saturday, we decided to play tourist all over again. We went to the open house of CityTV and took a station tour, meeting most of the crew of Breakfast Television (which I must confess, we’re not regular viewers of, but it was fun, nevertheless). I won a CityTV Umbrella, and we got some Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream at the end of the tour. I like the station; It’s small and has a lot of personality, and they run Jeopardy each evening (and also carry Reaper, which is a lot of fun and another series filmed here).
Saturday Night, I went to the ticket office at the Orpheum just before the Symphony Concert, and got a last-minute seat for the concert (only $15!). I heard the VSO play one of my favourite pieces, Prokofiev’s Third Symphony. I love it because it’s mostly loud and fast, and almost never lets up. In particular, the third movement is some of the wildest and most vivid music that Prokofiev ever wrote, and much of the drama of the piece is due to the fact that it’s taken from his opera ‘The Flaming Angel’, which chronicles a young nun’s psychotic breakdown and pursuit of a man she believes is an angel, complete with an on-stage exorcism and chase through the streets. Not your usual opera fare, and certainly not your usual Symphony. The orchestra did a fine job, but I suspect that it was too racy for the crowd, who didn’t give it as much of a standing ovation as they did for the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto in the first half. Ah, when will they stop doing this?! Once again, people, when every performance gets a standing ovation, it ceases to mean anything!
The rest of the weekend was a bit quieter, but things picked up again today, with a job interview. I’m not going to write more about that until things settle down either way. Pam also has a lead on a contract, so it’s probable that the free time between engagements for both of us is probably going to come to an end soon.
Tomorrow evening is a special SIGCHI event: the film designer Syd Mead (who was responsible for the revolutionary sets and scenery of Blade Runner) will be in town speaking, followed by a screening of the final cut of the movie.
It was fun to bump into you at the CityTV thing! I heard that the ice cream is just as good as the Marble Slab. Haven’t had it yet. Glad you had fun!
It was good to see you as well, Raul, and thanks for the shout-out.
We haven’t tried Marble Slab’s Ice Cream yet, but will have to. One of the few things we miss from Cambridge is good ice cream (and to be honest, it may be just as well given that there is so much else to gain weight on here). Have found a lot of Gelato here, but nothing that comes close to Toscaninis, Emack and Bolios, Steve’s, and of course, Ben and Jerry’s, which is actually from the saving grace of the States (at least for us), Vermont.
Have you tried out the gelato place on Venables that has a zillion different types of flavours?
Hi Cara — Yes, we’ve tried that place, as well as the Gelato place on 2nd (near Main), Marios (I think). The trouble is that Gelato is not ice cream. It’s a bit more icy, less creamy, and tends to melt faster.
When we were in Costa Rica, we were continually amazed at how bad the bread was, given there was all this fantastic coffee. We always said that the person who opened a French-style bakery there so you could have a real croissant or baguette with your coffee would do well. The same might go for a high butterfat ice cream parlor (or is it parlour in Canadian?) in Vancouver. There’s something about the richness of that high-butterfat cream that is hard to resist (I know, it sounds kind of gross, but I suspect that if an Emac and Bolios or Steve’s ice cream opened here, the line would go out the door, just like it would for a Krispy Kreme donut shop — West Coast/health-and-fitness-centric Lotusland or not.)
I know it’s not raw materials. I’m sure that BC Cows give milk with just as high a butterfat content as they do in Vermont. I’ve tasted the cheese from Vancouver Island and the other areas, so I know it’s in there!