Up in Ontario

Shooting in Rodeo Kits

Not to alarm anyone from out of town, but someone was offed last night about a block from Up in Ontario headquarters.

The backdrop for the city's latest shooting death is at Cypress and West 1st. Kitsilano is not known for violent crime involving guns but last night, around 9:30, the quiet street was a crime scene where a man in his thirties was shot in the head.

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Police say the dead man had a history with the law, and they think they'll find this will be a story with ties to other crime. They don't believe the public is in danger.

Since we moved to Vancouver we've called the strip where the shooting took place Rodeo Kits because it's a posh little corner of boutiques and ladies who lunch. Not a crack house in sight.

I know I'm still more likely to be die crossing the street but it's a little unnerving for a safe, honky like me have someone shot on the corner of my corner grocery store.

I guess the upside is I can crank up the rap and I'll be keeping it real. Yo.

Fractional Ownership is not a euphemism

Want to own a helicopter without the maintenance? Want a private jet but don't have the room on your credit card for a tank of fuel to fly it? Perhaps you can do without your Civic but can't do without the latest handbag.

Perhaps Fractional Ownership may be for you.

Ironically, I think they mean that you are the fractional owner, and not the other way around.

In a thematic convergence that only occurs to me now that I write this post, my company, Work Industries, recently had a client defraud us of over a thousand dollars in billables. He ran up a small bill and skipped town.

But as it turns out, he's old hat at overextending himself. His practice of cheque kiting had defrauded banks, real estate companies and various service organizations of millions in Alberta and BC. He's wanted on a Canada-wide warrant. So in the big picture the $1,045 he owes me is small potatoes.

A friend who also knew the cheque kiter mentioned to me that he had perhaps double crossed the wrong person about a month before he was last seen. The Hells Angels were mentioned.

I don't know if I wish anyone that kind of ill will. I'll comfort myself by believing that what goes around comes around, what you sow so shall ye reap, and that he has to live with himself for the rest of his life, and that's bad enough.

Sumela Monastery: a Turkish monastery in a cliff

In the fall of 2005 we spent two and a half incredible weeks in Turkey. Here are some photos of sailing in Turkey, Marmaris and Epheseus and Instanbul.

We never saw the Sumela Monastery but I think it's safe to say that Turkey is the only country in the world where something like this could exist.

Established in 386 by two Athenian priests named Barnabas and Sophronius the site is remote and falls occasionally into worship and disrepair.

I'm sure the photos from the Thrilling Wonder blog don't do it justice. But they're worth checking out, along with the whole blog, just to get an idea of the wonder.

The GG, L-B Lectures and a CanHistory Geek Invitation

Did you know Canada's Governor General, Michaelle Jean has a blog? Well she does. No RSS feed to subscribe to, but she does have David Suzuki guest blogging on the side.

Did I ever mention that I have a bit of a crush on our current GG? She's more than just a beauty.

All this was piqued by Derek's post about our previous GG, Adrienne Clarkson, leading a lecture here in Vancouver in a few weeks on Canada's society of difference. Video below.

The lecture is part of the annual LaFontaine-Baldwin symposium, something a little nerdy but fun, especially for those of us with more than a passing interest in the history and currents of society in Canada. The last time it went off in Vancouver back in 2002, George Erasmus was the lecturer on the aboriginal role in historical and present-day Canada. I remember the room was hot and crowded and the talk was excellent.

So if you're a CanHistory geek like me, let me know and we'll get some tickets.

Fill landfills with TVs by Feb. 17, 2009

Today I read on Wired's Gadget Lab blog that TVs like my analog rabbit-ears beauty may stop working in the US on February 17, 2009.

Warning: This TV Set is Obsolete and New bill proposes analog TV warning.

Does this seem incredibly short-sighted to anyone else? Like a great dumping into our landfills? Like a suicidal boom for the cheap overseas labourers that will have to dismantle and salvage the heavy metals in the TVs? Like an incredible forced migration to cable / Internet / phone service television as over-the-air signals cease to exist?

Late at night like now I sometimes overreact and start to believe we don't deserve to survive as a species. Everything else living on this planet would be better off without us.

Thank goodness that skiing in Big White over the weekend was such a great time with old friends. Photos, to come.

How's that for a rollercoaster ride?