Saving the world, one day at a time.

As the day comes to an end in Vancouver, I reflect on the topic of "Climate Change" for Blog Action Day 2009. Although there has been some debate whether climate change exists, there seems to be a consensus that it does and that it is an important issue that must be dealt with sooner rather that later.

I just want to take a few minutes out of this day to thank all those people who try to make a change in this world by doing their part to save this planet every day. If you recycle, reuse, plant trees, compost, bike, take transit, carpool, volunteer or show others how we can help make our environment cleaner, "Thank YOU!".

As we look to the future, we should seek new ways of stopping and reversing climate change. We should reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and search for clean energy technologies to live in a more sustainable world. We can build a better world, a greener world by working together as a community with industry and governments.

Bombardier...you have style!

A few weeks ago I was looking at City of Vancouver's Public Transit site and noticed the something called the "Olympic Line". I though the project had been an idea that never materialized. However, today Bombardier announced that on Monday it shipped two of its very cool "Flexity" light rail trams to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games to be used along False Creek which will arrive in December.

The trams will operate 18 hours a day, seven days a week during the Olympic and Paralympic period between Granville Island and the Vancouver Athletes Village. Best of all, it will be FREE! How great is that! Can't wait to ride it.

Smile your on Google Maps!

There are many reasons to smile: It helps us reduce stress, makes you stay positive and lowers blood pressure. Now you can also smile because you can visit Vancouver using google's new "street view" maps.

When my collegue asked me today for a place to buy glasses, I went to google maps to confirm the location and discovered that google had made improvements to the their maps. Not only was I able to see the optical store that I was looking for, I was also able to see other interesting items like Canada Line construction. I was not the only one that noticed. The Vancouver Sun published some really interesting pictures that have been found across Canadian Cities. The pictures include a burning van, a person who looks like he had a heart attack in front of McDonald's and more.

So start exploring Vancouver before the Olympics and you might discover something that is even more unique to Vancouver than you would have ever expected.

Letter to Regan

Dear Regan Lauscher,

I just read your "Whistler Life" blog posting and wanted to let you know that many Canadians share your keenness and pride. I would like to thank you for all your efforts to represent Canada and compete at the 2010 games. As we near the Olympics, I hope that people catch the "Olympic Fever" and you feel more at home. Please stay positive and bring home the gold.

Sincerely,
Vancouver Lens

Does Prime Minister Harper have a future is show business?

I was really suprised to see Stephen Harper singing with famed cellist Yo Yo Ma on You Tube. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that our PM singing a Beatles song is very cool.

Back to school...but why is the door closed?

I heard that someone at the VTC international English school had taken all the money from tuitions and ran leaving the school in big problems. Sure enough police were on the scene and I even caught a reporter on the scene. I hope the issue gets resolved for the students.

Looking for some inspiration?

Found this great video online. It's a motivational speech given to MIT graduates.

The most depressing place in the world..NOT Vancouver!

Vancouver is in the news again as the "The most depressing place in the world". Arthur Salm wrote that he is depressed because after experiencing Vancouver, he has to live in San Diego. I wrote to him,

Vancouver is a great city to live in. It is very beautiful city and would like to invite Arthur Salm to move here so that “his depression” is cured.

For more things to you can do in Vancouver once you get here go to:
http://vancouverlens.blogspot.com/

Fireworks, outdoor movies and so much more! Let me not forget the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics.

I hope he feels better soon.

Just chilling with a movie.

What better way to fight the heat that with a "cold movie" called Transsiberian. It was a pretty good movie about an American couple journeying on the Transsiberian Express from Beijing to Moscow and are caught up in a web of drug trafficking, murder, and deceit.

However, the magic moment of the movie came when one of the actresses starts talking about her ideal place, Vancouver of course. You can watch the clip below that mentions Vancouver however I would recommend watching the movie.

Fire away China

Another great night for fireworks. If you missed the fireworks, you can see it by clicking the link below.



I wonder if Canada will keep its first place status.