Brew 2.0: Molson Throws a Sudsy Event for Bloggers in Vancouver

The event: A 50th Anniversary Celebration of when the Molson Company purchased the ‘6th’ Brewery in Vancouver (that would be in 1958). The crowd: Vancouver Bloggers. The proceedings: Well, we got to taste a lot of great food, took a tour of the brewery, met some of the top people within the company, and even downed glasses of some special 50th Anniversary Beer created just for the occasion.

I understand that most of the attendees also got a delivery of a case of beer from Molson (Mine never came; I suspect there was a bit of a snafu since I entered by a different door than most - even though I was following the instructions of the invitation to the letter).

Update: The case of beer, with a handwritten thank-you note for attending the event, came about a week or so later. Molson definitely sweats the details. Colour me impressed.

Postings include:

Miss604, who covered the event with some nice photos by her husband and also fellow blogger, John. Arieanna of Blogaholics also got some great pics from her husband, Ianiv. Tanya (aka, NetChick), Ryan, new blogger Danny Dang , Tris Hussey, Colleen Coplick, Duane Storey and Hummingbird604 all did a fine job describing most of what went on, and took tons of photos.

So what do I have to add? Ah, I do have a video of some of the beginning of the event, thanks to the Flip Video Camera:

Vancouver Still Way Up There in Livability

The numbers have been tallied once more for the cities throughout the world in terms of ‘livability’. According to Business Week, “Mercer Consulting’s annual roundup of the global cities with the best quality of life” says that the most 25 livable cities include:

1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Vienna, Austria tied with Geneva, Switzerland
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Auckland, New Zealand
5. Dusseldorf, Germany
6. Munich, tied with Frankfurt, Germany
7. Bern, Switzerland
8. Sydney, Australia
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Wellington, New Zealand
11. Amsterdam, Netherlands
12. Brussels, Belgium
13. Toronto, Canada
14. Berlin, Germany
15. Melbourne, Australia tied with Luxembourg
16. Ottawa, Canada
17. Stockholm, Sweden

Lowest ranking city of the 215 surveyed was Baghdad, Iraq. The highest ranking US city was Honolulu, at number 28. The article didn’t show any after 17 (or 20, again, depending on how you count).

How and why are these rankings put together? Here’s what they said:

The rankings are based on a point scoring index, with Zurich scoring 108 and Baghdad scoring 13.5. Cities are compared to New York as the base city, with an index score of 100. The quality-of-living survey covers 215 cities and is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement, and relationships with other countries.

I don’t know if this is significant in any way, but last year Vancouver came in third, once again behind Zurich and Geneva, and was tied with Vienna. This year coming in 4th (or third, depending on whether you count the tie as one or 2) with the same 3 cities above us, and a score of 107.6 amounts to more or less the same standing.

I’ll be particularly interested to see how this number changes over the next few years, both before and after the 2010 Olympics.

Acrobats at the PNE

Thanks to a really cool gift from my parents, a Flip Ultra Video Camera, I’m thrilled that now I’ll be able to add not only photos, but now videos of my own to my blog, and plan on doing that from time to time.

Here’s something from the first day I got to use my new toy, at the PNE. We went with my parents and had a great time. Once again, the highlight of the day for me (and for the rest of our group, I think) were the Beijing Acrobats. We saw them last year, and were thrilled to see them again. Here’s a short video I did of some of their routines. The lighting is not ideal, but most of the time I think you can get the gist of what they are doing. Not bad for a first try, I hope:

South Park Creators Get Zen (via Alan Watts)

Life is like a musical performance, suggested the philosopher and author Alan Watts. The cut-out animators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, known for their acerbic (if shrilly-voiced) cartoon South Park decided to animate his mini-lecture, to great effect:

What a remarkable little clip! I found this via the blog of another Matt,  Dancing Matt, whose YouTube videos I also admire. Good thoughts for a warm, summer morning in August.

Job Hunting and Food Shopping 101

You always hear the same thing from employment offices, career management counselors, and books like ‘What Color is Your Parachute’ (I guess it’s spelled with an extra ‘u’ in the Canadian printing): The best way to find a job is Network. So, since I finished my contract at IBM, that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing. It takes patience, perseverance, and sometimes I felt as if I was just spinning my wheels. Finally, this week, it looks like I’m starting to break through. I got a nibble here, a nibble there. Nothing permanent, and nothing that I could say is ‘The Big Break’, but it’s starting to look like I’ll be employed again, if not this month, probably next month. Don’t want to jinx it by writing any more about it at this point.

So, what have I been doing this summer (besides Networking)? There was the Gay Pride Parade (took a lot of photos of that), berry-picking on Westham Island (Tayberries and blueberries), a lecture and piano recital by Sarah Davis Buechner, my friend from childhood who is now an internationally famous concert pianist, and a bunch of meetups; one for Bloggers and another for Graphic/Web Designers. I’ve been to the Library a couple of times, but haven’t gone to the movies. I’ve been adding a lot of music to my iTunes library, partly in preparation for when CBC Radio 2’s Classical Music is snuffed out (Labor Day, I think is the day the music will die). Internet radio and my collection will sadly have to suffice until Vancouver gets a radio station that carries that sort of music (I’m not holding my breath, though).

I have been to Granville Island quite a bit; nearly daily in fact. Several vendors have begun to recognize me, and I frequently get to make some small talk with them. The other day, one of them asked if I worked on the Island (apparently people who do get a discount). Perhaps some day I will (there are quite a few businesses that are located there).

It’s taken a while, but I now know where to get the best mushrooms, who has the freshest cantaloupes and the which butcher has the best steak (or the best meatloaf). It’s really terrific to be able to find something that’s fresh, in season, and bring it home and make dinner around it. Summertime has brought bushels of cherries and blueberries to the market (and I got a cherry-pitter so that we can get many of them and freeze them for those days in February when we really need them), as well as heirloom tomatoes of every shape, size and colour combination). Seafood continues to be excellent (although sometimes pricey), and turkey is still amazingly good (and definitely not just for Thanksgiving!).

It’s been a quiet summer, but I bet that soon, it won’t be so quiet. Family will be visiting in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be very surprised if I’m not doing a commute of some sort within that same span of time.

The end of the summer is always heralded by the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition), a great big ‘county fair’ that takes place on the Eastern border of Vancouver. There’ll be another fascinating BarCamp, the self-organizing conference that this year I’m helping (a little) to organize. Soon after that is the Fringe Festival,  a couple of film festivals, the start of the Symphony’s season, and the other annual events that make for for a full year in our lives here in Vancouver.  The ongoing succession of the year’s events is a comfort, partly because of the rhythm of it, but also because there is always something to look forward to.