..but I still got five copies for my Mother!
Myself and my brothers, Jordan and Wesley, are featured in a story in today’s Burnaby Newsleader. Click here or on the photo for the full article.
Photo credit: Mario Bartel, Burnaby Newsleader
by Janis Behan – Geek in Training
This past weekend, I attended my first ever BarCamp. It was held on beautiful Granville Island, with the venues scattered about the island. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. It’s too bad we were inside for most of it, geekin’ it up… jk.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for my first BarCamp experience. It was a lot more social than I had predicted. I met a lot really cool people the day of BarCamp, and the night before at the Reception held at Workspace in Gastown. Some interesting sessions I attended were: “Marketers for a Cause,” where 3 groups were formed to come up with a social media campaign to help a cause (Hands up for Africa <chip in here>, Union Gospel Mission, or Kiva), and “Laptop Bedouin,” learning how to live abroad and work remotely. I also really enjoyed the PhotoCamp session, as I have a new Pentax K100D, and I’m still discovering how to use it to its full potential.
Rather than bore you any longer, I will leave you with the wrap-up video my brother shot of me, just as we were leaving Granville Island. You can also see this video and others at UnderTheCoverage.com – “Events, News & Lifestyle in Vancouver, BC.”
I’ve been to a number of “tech” events lately with my brother Jordan, including CaseCamp, a dinner for the opening of the Northern Voice blogging conference, and most recently, the Strutta alpha launch party.
My brother is the Director of Community Relations for Strutta, and you can read his blog for the site here.
The Strutta party on Thursday night was to gather some feedback from those who will most definitely be its first official, and quite possibly, heaviest users. There’s still a few kinks to iron out, but it’s looking wicked so far.
Basically, Strutta is a site to upload videos to show who’s the best at, well, anything. It’s an internet outlet to ‘one-up’ eachother in a “YouTube/American Idol/Hot or Not” type of fashion where the users vote for their favourite video in several types of bizarre categories (created by the users!). They’re planning on officially launching the site soon, so keep an eye out, and get signed up for an account!
P.S. Get your sneak peak at the site below!!
The best deal for snowboarding right now is at Mount Seymour…. if you’re female. Every Monday night, there’s an event called “Guys Night Out, Girls Ride Free”. You can pick up a pass at Pacific Boarder on West 4th Ave. and a few other locations. Check it out on Seymour’s site for more info. All they ask is you make a small donation to Breast Cancer when you pick up your lift pass. Hey, it’s for a good cause!
On top of that, at the end of the night, if you stop in for a cold beverage at the pub, they are giving away wicked prizes, including a new snowboard! If you haven’t heard about this already, get on it! I just went up Monday with my pal Liz, and it was a blast:)
Well, for anyone who wants to know… I don’t know if anyone actually reads this thing, but on Sunday May 6th, I ran my first ever FULL marathon with my brother Jordan. We crossed the finish line at 3:53:49, at the exact same time in front of a huge, cheering crowd. I’ve written a detailed story about the experience on our marathon blog and you can check it out here. You can also read about all of our training that we went through to get there. It was one of the best feelings, finishing those 26 miles, dog-tired, and aching at all my joints. Silly, isn’t it? But I’m so glad I did it, and now I’m wondering, when’s the next one? Ha ha, we’ll see, Jord…. Maybe next time we’ll qualify for Boston!
I can’t imagine I’ll get much sleep tonight, but I’m going to try. My parents get into town today, and I’m going for a big pasta dinner at my Uncle Bill’s and Auntie Joanne’s house tonight. I’m hydrating like crazy and eating like there IS no tomorrow… because tomorrow is the Vancouver International Marathon. I have to stay alive and moving for 42.something kilometres. But I’ve got a great parter and I think I might make it. We’ve trained really hard for four months and it’s all coming to a climax tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning! I have to wake up at some ungodly hour just to make sure I’m awake and ready for this thing. I’m going to eat a big breakfast in the morning, and get on the skytrain to meet Jord. I’m so nervous, and I think tomorrow morning is going to be ten times as bad. I hope I’m not sick. Anyway, don’t want to bore you with any more details, so just wish me luck!!!!!!
I had a great day today hiking with my pal, Stacey and her boyfriend, Reuben. We drove to Lynn Valley and went hiking through the trails and over the Suspension Bridge. It was a gorgeous day, so obviously the place was milling with people; tourists and locals. It was the perfect thing to do on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Then we hit up Commercial Drive for the best salami sandwich ever, at an Italian bakery. Yummmmmy!
Well, it has been a great start to the week. First of all, I ran 20 miles with my brother Jordan yesterday, and I did not die. I’m feeling more positive everyday about this marathon “stuff” (Translation: BAD-ASS hardcore training!). Second of all, the Canucks won Game 3 last night in Dallas, 2-1 in Overtime, creating a 2-1 lead in the series. The best part was that it was only about 7 minutes into O.T. and not FOUR periods! Thank God for Taylor Pyatt. Oh yes, and the wall, Roberto Luongo. I slept well. And lastly, today was my first day of work as a Marketing Assistant! Yay! I’m a big girl now! I have business cards and everything.:)
Let’s hope it only gets better from here! Ciao!
On Tuesday, Jordan convinced me to go to my first “Casecamp“. There were about 4 presentations 15 min. each with questions afterwards. Most of the technical mumbo jumbo went right over my head, but there were a few moments when I was like “cool!”. And after spending the last few months running with Jord, and listening to him babble on about SEO, RSS, CSS, and whatever else he talks about, I had a more firm understanding of what they were talking about than if I would have went to something like this in January. Jordan also just had me build a website for a client of his (a very simple one), and I created my own blog (this one!) recently, so a lot of this information is starting to sink in. Below is a picture of myself, Jordan and Joy Boyson, the great gal who put together the whole Casecamp Vancouver 2 event.
You never know, you might catch me at more of these events in the future!
I wasn’t going to mention anything about my job search until, of course, the search was over. (I didn’t want to jinx it!) Now at last, I can stop searching! I’m ecstatic! I don’t have to sit in front of the computer all day, looking at every on-line job site known to man, nervous as hell, biting off all my fingernails, and praying for a phone call, or even a SIGN that I might be even close!
I am so unbelievably happy to report that I was offered a job today as a Marketing Assistant. The position is exactly what I was looking for. It’s for a small company on the border of Vancouver & Burnaby, and I will be reporting to a Marketing Manager. It’s a small marketing team, but I will get the chance to do a little of everything and finally gain some experience!
I don’t start until April 16th, but Yay! I have a job! I’m no longer unemployed!
