James Shearer

Canada Day kicked off with a tense match between England and Portugal. After extra time and penalties England failed to make it through to the semi-finals. oh well….

I’m off to Granville Island where a lot of Canada Day festivities are happening.

Happy Canada Day.

This afternoon I was a guest on the Mark Forsythe radio show on CBC Radio One. The topic was travel, in BC and further afield across the rest of Canada. Isabel Nanton, author and adventurer, was also on the show which lasted for an hour.

I answered questions and heard comments from callers. My background on travel across Canada was the reason for me being there and it was a great way to plug my website Trail Canada.

If you missed the show or loved it so much you want to hear it again, here it is:

James Shearer on CBC Radio (MP3 23mb)

Ahh blogging. how i forgot ye.

Anyway, a lot has been going on so far this year so here is an update:

Immigration
The drama that it is! Our application went in at the start of the year and we recently had first stage approval. This means if everything goes to plan then there is a 90% chance our application will be approved in time for Spring 2007…. Immigration to Canada is a long process and I’ll be so much happier once it is done and over with.

Anniversary
It was our first anniversary on the 16th of June. Due to Vanessa’s work commitments we only had 4 days to escape but we did and had a fantastic time. We spoiled ourselves in a nice retreat near Tofino in Vancouver Island’s Pacific Rim National Park.

Events
I launched another website a few months ago. Canada Events. An events guide for Canada which focusses on specific cities across the country. So far so good and I have a lot of plans for this website. Check it out www.canadaevents.ca

Fame
Well, not quite. But I just heard that I will be on CBC Radio on Friday as a guest talking about travel in Canada and answering questions for people who call in. This is based on my travel experiences in Canada and my website Trail Canada.

Blogging
Clearly I am not good at it!

Horray! My website Vancouver Events is finally back online!

After nearly 2 weeks of downtime due to a serious problem with the hosting company, VancouverEvents.ca is back in business just in time for Christmas events and all the events in Vancouver for New Year!

I think I might have found the best thing to eat in Vancouver.

I love to eat, cook, eat-out, and the whole social gathering around the table to feast and have fun. But in Vancouver, despite all the great places to eat and the vast selection of cuisines, prices, locations, etc I am yet to find a restaurant which has exceptional food. I’d say most places to eat in Vancouver are good, great or very good but there isn’t one in particular that if it shut down I’d be too bothered.

But today I came across a new place on Denman Street in Vancouver’s West End, just a couple blocks from my house which serves Bulgarian food. If someone said to me “name one dish from Bulgaria” I’d not have a clue. However, there are quite a few and this place I came across serves up some Bulgarian classics along side some traditional dishes which have an international and West-Coast flavour.

I opted for a fillo which is a pasty very similar to a strudel but usually savoury and not a dessert. Bulgarian fillos are usually large, flat pastries that are spun to create the shape and layered with spinach, and other ingredients. The fillo I had was Spanish inspired with ham, goats cheese, spinach and a declicious (and interesting) side salad. Fantastic.

This place is run by a husband and wife team, Ziggy and Vera and is called Acacia. It has been going for just a few months and I hope that it lasts because it is a great alternative to the many cafes in the West End. I’d recommend Acacia for some quick, healthy and filling food which is great at any time of the day.

Acacia Fillo Bar is located at 1103 Denman Street just a block and a half north of Davie Street on the Stanley Park side of the street. Check it out and feel free to post comments here to review.

After some computer problems I have neglected to put any photos on my photo blog for the past 2 weeks. All my photos are on discs so I haven’t had a chance to copy any onto my computer to upload onto my photo blog nor have I had the time to go shoot some new material.

This afternoon I had to make a quick stop in Gastown and given that it was still light out for about another hour I took my camera with me just in case! And just as well! I saw Stephen Harper the leader of Canada’s Conservative party hastily heading for a car. I was able to get a few photos but nothing great.

My photography skills are quite lacking when it comes to spontanious flash photography. If it is inside, staged then no problem. Outside and ‘argh, quick something’s happening’ snap snap - ain’t gunna be a pretty sight afterwards.

Anyway, I did manage to get a few shots of Stevey boy and I will be updating my photo blog more regularly from now on… well, I’ll try!

– added
In the process of adding a link for this post I went to the Conservative Party webpage and Stephen Harper’s image is right at the top with the Canadian flag in the background. That is not a good photo! If that is what he looks like when he smiles, he shouldn’t smile. Not a good look Steve!

I just saw an interview by Ricky Gervais (The Office - BBC version) talking to Chris Martin (Coldplay). Ricky Gervais was great in The Office probably because he was just being himself and I don’t find him really that great in anything else he has done. Chris Martin on the otherhand seems like an interesting and nice guy (great band too).

Find out why Chris doesn’t support the fox hunting ban and believes “racism is just a state of mind”.

anyway… here is the video.

I don’t like to write bad reviews or publically bad-mouth a company or its products, certainly not on the record, which I suppose a blog is, but there is only so much I can take.

I have a bunch of websites hosted with a firm in Vancouver called WebServe Canada. I have had little problem with the service although there was a fair amount of getting used to the odd control panel processes they have in place. Recently this has become more and more problematic to the point where I have to ask a tech support person to do some really basic tasks such as adding a new site or modifying an email address. This defeats the point of having an online control panel in my opinion.

On Friday night a few of my websites went offline. This happens. The internet isn’t perfect and neither is the technology behind it so it didn’t bother me. By Saturday morning I was a bit concerned and that evening when it still wasn’t up and running I contacted WebServe technical support. I was advised it was a temporary fault which will be resolved “very soon”.

Sunday morning - no websites.
Technical support - “… will be resolved shortly” - how shortly? “a few hours”. hmmm…

Monday morning - no websites.
Technical support - “… will be resolved shortly” - how shortly? “a few hours”. grrrrrr…

Tuesday morning - no websites.
Technical support - “… will be resolved shortly” - how shortly? “a few hours”. Argghhh…

It is now late afternoon and the latest word from WebServe (if I read between the lines is) we are crap. That is my opinion of their service and their support.

According to the Better Business Bureau I am right.

Vancouver is known for its high standard of living, lack of pollution and great air quality. However since moving to Vancouver from the Highlands of Scotland I have noticed there is a difference in the quality of the air but chances are it is probably more to do with climate than pollution or other human factors. I don’t know as I’m no expert and I couldn’t find anything online which I could use as a comparison.

Anyway, the air quality outside is great and there is no issues there but step into our apartment and all of a sudden the airborne particles and dust is out of control. Initially I just assumed we lived in a dusty apartment so we had to sweep regularly and when I got fed up with sweeping I got a robot to do it for me! Our apartment is in a high rise building over 10 floors up and although the building was built in the 1960s it still rivals many of the brand new Yaletown towers for modern amenities and apartment standards.

But if you don’t like sweeping, this isn’t the place to live. For some reason the dust build up is crazy. If you leave a large surface area, such as a dining table or desk for a day or two and you can see the dust.

Whilst appearance and cleanliness is an issue my biggest concern is health. Surely this can’t be good. I’ve heard about people who become sick because of the amount of airborne particles etc.

My suspicions for the cause are because of the extractor fans in the bathrooms which is where most of the dust probably comes from. They are like a particle highway linking all the apartments.

If anyone has a solution or recommended course of action then I’m interested to hear. Moving - not an option as we are more than happy living her but the dust factor is a right pain!

This website does exactly what it says in the web address:
www.iiiiiiii.com
(you need sound to appreciate this website in all its glory)
Similar to good old zombo.com