Tag: canada Posts

I was doing a little research on carbon offsets this morning, and just for yucks, wanted to price out what it would cost to be a supplier of carbon offsets in Canada. There are various ways to offset carbon, but a fairly standard one is to plant trees in exchange for money. How many trees can you plant on an acre of land? Well, turns out this guy has it all figured out, at least for poplar trees. If you space them 10′ x 10′, you can get around 436 trees on an acre. The average tree consumes about 1 ton of CO2 over it’s lifetime, which according to this website is around 80 years. So over the course of 80 years, 436 trees will offset 436 tonnes of CO2. The going rate for carbon offsets are around $5 – $15 per metric ton of CO2 reduced. Let’s pick $10 […]

Last year I attended the 2008 Canadian Juno awards in Calgary, AB, as a media representative for Urban Vancouver. The media accredidation is open for this year’s awards show, which are in Vancouver. I would love to attend this year as a photographer again, but am hoping to be able to go as a social media representative for another company where the coverage can potentially reach more people. I received a great deal of coverage both during and after the event, and was essentially one of the only social media people in the room who was using grass root’s technology to showcase the behind the scenes experience. I used Flickr, Blip.TV, my own personal blog, and the Urban Vancouver site to allow people to participate along. While mainstream media was packing up their gear and heading back to the station to process their video, I was drinking beer because I […]

Someone back home just forwarded me this email that was recently sent out by Chilliwack’s member of Parliament, Chuck Strahl. In it, he talks about his views with regards to what is happening in Ottawa right now. I’m posting this for informational purposes, not because I agree with everything he’s saying in it. Last week I sent around an update on Canada’s economic situation, with the observation that it wasn’t a very enjoyable subject to write about. Unfortunately, this week it appears that our economic woes are morphing into a political crisis of sorts, at a time when we can least afford it. What’s happening in Ottawa is bordering on the absurd, but its impact would be felt most harshly by Canadians, not political parties. It is potentially a shame of historic proportions. The Throne Speech I wrote about last week has now been passed. The Opposition Parties apparently had […]

Today I read an article about a unique solar powered community in Canada. The actual location of this community is Okotoks, Alberta. The residents there have created a solar array for their houses that manages to completely power 52 homes. The 52-home solar community has installed an array of solar panels on the roofs of their houses and garages. Glycol solution runs through an insulated piping system, or collector loop, that connects the array of solar panels. The solar panels absorb the solar energy during the daytime and heat the glycol solution. The glycol solution travels through the collector loop and reaches an underground heat exchanger within the community’s centralized Energy Center. The heat is then transferred from heat exchanger to the water stored in a short-term storage tank. The glycol solution returns to the solar collector system. The Energy Center has short-term thermal storage tanks and long-thermal storage tanks […]

I stopped by the new Vancouver Apple store on my way to work to hang out with John Biehler and watch a bit of Steve Job’s keynote. Obviously the question on everyones’ mind basically revolved around the 3G iPhone that was rumoured to be announced. The good news is that the release date for the iPhone in Canada has been officially set for July 11th. The bad news is that not only is the jury is still out on just what type of data plans Rogers and Fido are going to be offering with the plan, but also most of the Rogers and Fido people seem completely clueless about the offerings. The first comment I have to make is that the new price for the 3G iPhone is $199, which is significantly less than I paid for my iPod touch. The rumours in the last couple of days alluded to […]

I missed the boat on the first round of Canadian iPhone action last year mainly because I was (quite stupidly) locked into a crazy Bell Mobility contract. The current consensus of the rumour mill is that Apple is gearing up to announce the 3G version of the iPhone on June 9th, which would hopefully put that model into Canadian stores sometime in the near future. I have been patiently awaiting it’s arrival so I can call up Bell and tell them where they can shove my phone and my crappy contract. The only problem is that Roger’s has been completely silent on what type of plan will be available for the Canadian iPhone here in Vancouver. As most people know, the data rates in Canada are fairly atrocious. I want to point out a graph that Boris did last year that highlighted just some of the craziness: And while data […]

It’s official — Roger’s has made what they call a public statement regarding just that: TORONTO, April 29 /CNW/ – Ted Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Communications Inc. today issued the following statement: We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year. We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned. Not very informative, but I guess it dispels the myth that it’s not coming. Although, most people thought it would get here eventually. I also read that Rogers is testing out a $20 unlimited data plan as well, which would make sense.

For those that are interested, I finally found an account downtown that I think is willing to do my taxes. I’ve typically always done them myself, except for one year when I had a bunch of stock and moving expenses I wasn’t sure how to deal with. I have income from multiple sources this year (thanks to photography and the odd web job), which should mean (in theory) that I’m eligible to write off some of my photography and computer expenses. Unfortunately, I’m not the most organized person in the world, and I somehow have to track down all my tax stuff from last year, along with everything from this year, prior to my Wednesday meeting with the accountant. So tomorrow night is undoubtedly going to be fairly crazy.

At this time tomorrow, I’ll be bouncing around Calgary trying to get my media pass before the press conference at noon. Which means I get to spend most of tonight getting my camera gear ready and packing some clothes. Photo from Russell Peter’s Website My flight is at 7am in the morning, and I hope to have a few minutes in the airport relaxing with a coffee and an eggs benedict. I’m pretty excited about going to the Junos, and really have no idea what to expect. Russell Peters will be at the press conference tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll get to chat with him a bit — I’m a big fan of some of his comedy skits. Also, make sure you bookmark my Juno Awards Page which I’ll update while I’m out there. Also, check out Urban Vancouver, where I’ll also be doing the odd posting as well.

It’s getting close. In just nine days, I’ll be getting on a plane and heading out to Calgary to attend the 2008 Juno awards. I haven’t really had time to let the whole event soak in yet, and to be honest, probably won’t figure out where I’ll be all weekend until I land in Calgary. What I really want to do is provide an insider’s view of what it’s like being at the Junos during the entire weekend. I’m not sure what that means yet, but it will most likely involve tons of photos and the odd video. To that end, I really want to go out and buy a new portable camera, something that can do fairly decent video. I really am looking for portability here, and would just go out and get the new Canon Digital Elph, had I not had a pile of bad experiences with them […]