I live right near English Bay, and right now most of Vancouver is gathering outside my front door to see the second night of the fireworks. As a kid, seeing the fireworks was something I used to really enjoy. But as an adult, I don’t really enjoy large crowds anymore, or fighting to get a spot to sit. That being said, I appreciate that the event brings a lot of people together from various parts of Vancouver, and the Fraser Valley. Last year, our good pal Tony was visiting Vancouver, and we all got to hang out, drink a few beers, and watch the fireworks together. And while we didn’t make it ...

As you can tell, this is my last entry. For the last 24 hours, I have essentially been in front of a computer, blogging about various topics that have interested me, and attempting to bring exposure to the realities that the homeless face in Vancouver. Rebecca and I joined forces this year to support the Union Gospel Mission, an organization in Vancouver that helps the homeless and the less fortunate in this city. First, I want to thank the Union Gospel Mission for nearly 70 years of effort with regards to helping others. By comparison, the little that most of us get to do for charity in our ...

In October 2003, there was a massive release of energy from our sun. The resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) headed straight for our planet, bombarding it with a massive amount of charged particles. The official classification for the flare was an X17.2, which is one of the top three recorded solar flares in the history of our planet. Photo from here The charged particles disrupted satellite communications in space, and also lead to auroras being seen as far south as the Chicago. I was fortunate enough to be following the activity while it was happening, and was notified via email (via SpaceWeather.com) ...

As most of you know, I really enjoy photography. I have been fortunate enough to have received a bit of recognition for some of the shots I’ve done, and even managed to attend the 2008 Canadian Juno Awards as a photographer. I thought I’d post a few of my favourite shots here for those that are new here. Most of these shots make use of a technique called high dynamic range (HDR) photography. This entry was written for Blogathon 2008, and in support of the Union Gospel Mission charity. If you’d like to donate to the cause, please visit the blogathon donation page and fill out the form ...

The following is a guest entry by noted podcaster and new media guru, John Bollwitt. The true reason why I’m making this post is to make a guest appearance on Duane’s blog for Blogathon 2008. In fact, he tells me that the only way he’ll give me a ride home so I can go to bed is to make said post. But in a moment of “behold the power of blogging”, it made me recall a thought I had today about owning a car in general. Plain and simple, Rebecca and I don’t own a car. Part of it is by choice, the other is the simplicity of keeping cost of living down. We haven’t had a vehicle to be ...

I love camping. It’s perhaps the second most enjoyable thing in my life these days, the first being a nice, toasty warm plate of nachos. There’s something magical about a campfire next to a lake, or sitting around drinking a few beers under the stars with people you care about. I have always, for as long as I can remember, had trouble sleeping. Part of the reason is that I have a bad back (due to an injury I obtained in high school), and frequently wake up when I have an achy back. I also find that most city noises wake me up, and that I generally toss and turn most nights. The only time ...

San Francisco is without a doubt one of my favourite cities in the world. It’s situated right on the Pacific Ocean, nestled snugly between Marin Country and Oakland. While Napa Valley is usually extremely hot, San Francisco boasts a fairly moderate climate, with sunshine occurring on most days of the year. In August, there’s going to be a WordCamp session down in San Francisco. Given that I’m a huge WordPress advocate, and that I love the Bay Area, I registered today and made the quick, impromptu decision to attend. Flights out of Vancouver are around $400, but are only around $250 return ...

A New Day Begins In Vancouver I took this photo at around 5am this morning. Watching the sun rise or the sun set is something I will never tire of. Seeing the orange-red glow stretch across the horizon always makes me think what a beautiful thing it is to be alive, and what an amazing part of the world I live in. There are some people who think sunsets are cliche, and that taking photos of them is a waste of time. But I think the complete opposite, and as long as I have a camera, there will always be a sunset or a sunrise worth taking a photo of. This entry was written for Blogathon 2008, and ...

As you well know by now, I am supporting the Union Gospel Mission for Blogathon. The Union Gospel Mission provides assistance to the homeless people in Vancouver, and those who are in the most need. At last count, this blog has raised at least $320 or so towards the charity, and I’m hoping to bring it closer to $1000 as the event continues. As I mentioned in my last two posts, anyone that donates at least $50 to the United Gospel Mission will receive a free 8×12 print from my HDR gallery. It can be a permanent reminder for you of the contribution you made to help some of the less fortunate ...

The Tyee had an interesting piece last year where they detailed seven different ways the city could potentially help the homeless. These seven items apparently were based on real-world examples of efforts in other cities that ultimately helped. I encourage everyone to head over to The Tyee and read the original article, but I’ll give a short list here. Idea One: Trade Fairs for the Homeless Idea Two: Raise the Welfare Rates Idea Three: Train Young Workers Idea Four: Spread the Love Around Idea Five: Buy a Few Hotel Idea Six: Give Addicts Time to Heal Idea Seven: Bring Governments Together The ...

I have lived in Vancouver most of my life. It is a city I hold dear to my heart, but a city that has, over time, grown cold to some of its inhabitants. My daily walk takes me from my apartment near Beach avenue in Vancouver, down across Yaletown, passing near Gastown, and into Vancouver’s business district. One thing that has become evident, especially in the last few years, is that the homeless crisis in Vancouver is reaching epidemic proportions, with many people forced to sleep on the street each and every night. Homelessness in Vancouver, photo by Eric Rudolph I posted an entry over on ...

Last year my good pal Rebecca stayed up for 24 hours straight and participated in an event called “Blogathon”. For a full day, Rebecca did a blog post every 30 minutes, hoping to inspire people and bring visibility to a charity of her choosing. This year I’ve decided to participate in Blogathon, which this year is sponsored by Miss604.com. I’m going to be supporting the Union Gospel Mission, which ultimately lends help to those less fortunate in Vancouver. Rebecca is also supporting them, so hopefully between the two of us (and possibly a few others) we’ll be able to raise some money ...

Wow, it feels like I’ve been disconnected from the Internet for a very long time. I spent today somewhere between Los Angeles and San Diego, hanging out at Legoland with my family. I actually wasn’t really sure what to expect, given that I haven’t really been into lego in a long time. But the good news is that Legoland was a lot of fun, and it was a nice change from the line-ups and the pace of Disneyland. Also, Legoland was near the water, and was a nice change from the hot weather down in Anaheim. Jessica, taking a break at Legoland. My nephew Derek spent about $150 on Lego in Legoland, ...

Well, by now everyone and their dog has blogged this, but I’ll jump on the band wagon as well. Rebecca just pinged me on iChat and told me about the opening of the new Apple store this Saturday. To be honest, it comes as a fairly big surprise given the state they were in last month (based on rumours). Obviously I think it’s a pretty cool thing that they are opening this weekend. Considering that many of the rumour sites are alluding to big announcements from Apple on June 9th at the developer conference, I can’t help but think the construction of the Vancouver store was accelerated for ...

Tonight was a jam packed night. I left work around 7pm, and then headed down Granville Street, frantically looking for something to eat. I actually walked into Wings, but it was completely full. So eventually I settled on my old-faithful nacho-haven, the Two Parrots. They had a 35 cent wing special on, so I filled up with that. Eventually I ended up at some Spanish place (coincidentally, it’s only one block from my place, and I had never been there) to celebrate Raul’s graduation from UBC with his Ph.D. (congrats dude, well, deserved). Good times. As some of you know, this weekend is New ...

The Amazon EC2 service is a rather revolutionary cloud computing system that came out in late 2006. It provides a fairly flexible infrastructure that allows you to launch application servers on demand. Traditionally new web companies are forced to pay for rather expensive co-location facilities for their servers, with little or not thought given to scalability (which isn’t always a bad thing, considering most companies never reach a point where they need scalability). That being said, for a company that either requires scalability, or is looking for new ways to reduce costs, Amazon EC2 might ...

Last night I had a few beers with the guys after work, and then headed down to Boneta to wish Victoria Potter a happy birthday. Then I scooted home, grabbed my camera, and went down to meet some friends at Plush near the Plaza of Nations. I realized after waiting in line for about 5 minutes that I really don’t enjoy clubs like that at all. Once inside, I just found the music and the people somewhat overbearing, so I left. Since the casino is basically across the way from Plush, I decided to head inside and play 30 minutes of blackjack. I haven’t been to a casino in a long time. Rebecca and ...

Last night was Vancouver’s first ever WordCamp down at the Network Hub downtown. I got there about 15 minutes early, and was fairly amazed that it was already standing (or sitting, if you will) room only. There were so many people in fact, that they wrapped around the edges into locations where you couldn’t even see the projector. Clearly Vancouver has a very large and supportive WordPress community. Photo by John Biehler The open-source community in Vancouver is pretty amazing. Whenever I travel and tell others this, they are always suspect, like it would somehow be impossible for our little ...

Last week both Rebecca and I got contacted by General Motors asking if we wanted to take part in GM’s Catch The Vibe event. It’s basically a huge multi-day adventure race, where we would have, as teams of four, gotten to test drive the new 2009 Vibe, live-blog using new Blackberry’s, and drive all over the city looking for clues and what-not. Included with the festivities was a free night at the Opus Hotel in Yaletown. Unfortunately both her and I have day-jobs, and we just couldn’t manage the time during the day. It looks like a really fun event, and it would have been cool to take part ...

Today marked the launch of Strutta, a local company that has been working hard to create a unique gaming experience. I had the opportunity to check out their product about six weeks ago and play with an early alpha. I think these guys have some great things in store for them, so make sure you head on over and check them out. So on behalf of everyone here at duanestorey.com (yah I know, it’s only me), I want to congratulate Maura, Danny, Alexa, Jordan, Lyal, and the rest of the Strutta team, on their accomplishments. Best of luck guys. ...