Photo by Szymon Surma via Flickr.

The colour-themed window display changed from blue to a startling black. This was no longer the time for a cheery yellow, or a come hither violet which announced itself in beautifully intricate illustrations. No, it was a display that suggested mourning: Kitsilano's Duthie Books is closing at the end of February.

It is my daily dose of design inspiration on my way to work. The highlight of my short walk after a long bus ride. The surprise, the freshness — what will they think up next? or ooh, they are incredibly clever/thoughtful/creative! and gosh, that must be fun! (Perhaps I'll take a page from their book — no pun intended — and rearrange my own every so often. But I will need more first.) I have enjoyed it day after day for over a year. I have even sometimes wondered if others watch me staring at the covers intently and ask themselves what could be so fascinating. And, as if they knew who was walking by twice a day, the staff put up design books one week and I felt giddy. I cannot think of anywhere else that has helped me discover so many interesting book covers — and potential reads. Design love aside, however, the rotating display is a highlight for many of my colleagues who are as heartbroken as I am to see it go.

Photo by Rob_ on Flickr

Yesterday I joined my sister and my little nieces to one of several Car-Free Vancouver festivals. It was almost surreal to see a chunk of Main St. filled with people, "dancing in the stree-eet," with absolutely no cars. The warm air was filled with various music, voices, children's laughter, and sometimes the crashing and bumping noises of skateboarders on the half-pipe. We enjoyed a live performance from a guitarist/singer + DJ/violinist duo that would probably be called lounge jazz pop? The kids had some fun dancing to it. While the next band set up some dancers moved to, I think it was flamenco music, with various dance props (ribbons, etc.) The girls had their faces painted — a butterfly and a lovebug (ladybug on one cheek, heart on the other) — and posed for some adorable photos!

Posted today to CBC.ca: "Michigan restaurateur makes 61-kilogram burger and hopes for world record"

The "Absolutely Ridiculous Burger," made with beef, bacon and cheese, was delivered on a 23-kilogram bun, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press reported. It sells for $350, and orders require 24 hours' notice.

How much water, corn/other feed, cow's meat, cow's milk, gasoline, energy and waste products went into making that? How much of it was meat? Moreover, how many third world people would it feed? How many of them would be shocked that humans consume crap like that?

"Where's the Beef?" Signals Design Group / Coast Paper at Canstruction 2005.

Meanwhile, in our corner of the continent, Canstruction^® Vancouver starts showing tomorrow. I wonder if we beat any records for numbers of cans this year? All cans/food packages go toward nourishing the people who rely on the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. There, they appreciate the value of food!

The holidays are upon us and to ring it in, Mother Nature sprinkled some snow over our humble city this morning! I never saw it falling and woke up to rain, but I got outside to photograph it a bit. Nothing too special to share this time as per the snow but I thought the above image was quite festive. It's very, very wet out there but gorgeous especially when the sun peeks out. So, a White pre-Christmas... good enough for me right now! And yesterday was the Winter Solstice, which means days will now be getting longer. For the shortest day of the year, it was a pretty good one!

It was a year ago today when I posted my first holiday message complete with a photo of a grumpy little fish. This year, Jake gets some furry white cotton on his stocking that I pulled off an old elf-doll I made as a kid. Jake is, of course, just as pissed off to have his view blocked by something bright red. (It's plain on the back side.)

Via We're Not Wired Right is this map of questions so funny you'll laugh even the second time you read it. » How to tell if a web page sucks

And if you don't find that funny, look up Russell Peters on YouTube. He was voted #1 on the Just For Laughs 25th Anniversary Special's Top 25 standup comedians, which aired last night on CBC.

I used to despise the word "blogging." I suppose one tiny particle in my brain still winces at the word (I've been known to avoid "fads" or anything with a lot of hype, like Harry Potter... don't ask), but I've succumbed to doing it, anyway. Let's face it, it's the writer in me, and it allows me to write plotless things because I'm not good at plot.

So right now I'm not enjoying the phrase "Second Life." Be it a craze, something I roll my eyes at, or something I'm maybe afraid of, it's got that edge that just irks me. I'd compare it to MySpace or YouTube, although I signed up for MySpace just over a year ago. It brought me something wonderful that changed my life (call it luck or fate), which I won't discuss here, but I've sort of dropped off the face of the MySpace non-planet since — I do have a first life, and it's called SCHOOL.

I'm taking a social sciences/studies course about blogging, confession, user-generated content and YouTube. Our discussions cover a wide variety of interesting things, and it seems we tend to agree. Then again, we're all around the same age, we go to a smallish school with a specific range of creative types, and we all live in Vancouver. Not everyone is from Vancouver, or even Canada for that matter, but somehow our ideas seem to fit. Either that, or the people who disagree aren't speaking up.

A funny little coincidence, perhaps? A classmate from my social studies course on blogging posted about a particular talk at Northern Voice 2007. It's called "Why do we blog?" Presenters are Darren Barefoot and Alex Waterhouse-Hayward, two Vancouver bloggers and professionals. The funny thing about it is that I visit Darren's blog regularly, so a familiar name was a pleasant surprise. (I've had NetNewsWire closed more than open for the last month, however, to concentrate on my studies, so my activity everywhere has been more sparse lately.) Darren will talk, among other topics, about his research survey results. Please take his survey about blogging. You could win a prize! More information about the event(s) at the Northern Voice website. It's missing a link to Darren's blog.

UBC
Saturday, February 24th
3:00 - 4:00 pm
Room 2