An Awning of Sakura Blossoms

An Awning of Sakura Blossoms
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

This photo is just a small hint at the magnificence of the sakura blossoms at the Burrard Skytrain station in downtown Vancouver. They form this awning of blossoms over the path that runs by the south side of the station entrance. When seen from the north side they seem to cascade down the slope.

At the Burrard Skytrain Station

At the Burrard Skytrain Station
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

When I took this photo I didn't noticed the "embellishment" on the photo I had photographed. Ah... Public art that the birds don't think much of.

"Go Auntie Bev"!

"Go Auntie Bev"!
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

Feb 12th - Our club participated in the procession of dragonboats and outrigger canoes which followed the Olympic flame from the ferry dock on Granville Island over to Yaletown dock on the north side of False Creek. I was a spotter on one of whalers which originally was supposed to ferry media folks across but ended up being unused. Nonetheless I had gone up to get hot dog in the Granville Island Public Market and spotted this trio on my way back to the whaler. I love the expressions of their faces. They're genuinely excited and really, really happy. Sums up the whole day...

First Ride On the Canada Line

First Ride On the Canada Line
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

The joys of modern technology...and its mismanagement. I was on the phone with my ISP's tech support group for about 20 minutes trying to work through their labyrinthine maze of hoops to get back access to their self management page for my internet account. They had changed their system but didn't convert their accounts. Oh joy. Well, at least I got it done relatively quickly. But not quicker than the amount of time it took me to ride the new Canada Line from the Vancouver Centre station to the Broadway & Cambie station. The new line is quite neat...and yet kind of funny. Compared to the subway systems I've rode on elsewhere the Vancouver system is like...a dinky toy. And I almost laughed out loud when riding the train and overhearing the staff member reporting back to "Control" to say that the train was full. It wasn't, not even by Vancouver standards. No part of my body was in direct contact with that of any other passenger. It was a far cry from the experience I had on the Metro in Manila. There we were packed on board like sardines.

Anyways...Here's hoping the blog link in Flickr stays working. It went south over the winter and I never bothered setting it back up again until now. Keeping fingers crossed.

So it goes...

This morning I went to the Starbucks across the street from my office to get my morning "usual": a doppio espresso and a pumpkin scone. I sat down at the counter next to the barista's area and noticed this scruffy looking fellow a couple of bar stools over from me. He was yapping away about something and I ended up catching wind of what he was saying. He'd been given a ticket for riding the train without a ticket and had been threatened with jail if caught again. In between that he was complaining about being homeless and having been slapped with a ticket for panhandling. I just lent him a sympathetic ear though he was tending to get a bit too vocal. Ruby, the store manager tried to get her message across to him that his conduct wasn't the best but he seemed to be in a state where he just wanted someone to listen to him. He complained back to her that he needed to get downtown but he had a load to carry. If anything he wasn't in the best of moods.

Anyways, I headed out of the shop and before I got to the crosswalk I remembered I had some left over "FareSaver" transit tickets left in my backpack. I'm not about to use them this month because I've purchased a monthly transit pass. When I got back to my desk I took my jacket off, logged back onto my computer, took a bite out of my scone and still couldn't get the idea of the unused transit tickets out of my head. So I said to myself "What the heck!", grabbed the tickets, put on my jacket and went back out towards the Starbucks. I found the fellow complaining to a woman at the bus stop about his predicament. I went up to him, tapped him on the shoulder, handed him the partial booklet of tickets and told he could have them. I didn't have any use for them.

And so it goes... To me the idea of slapping several hundred dollars of fines for transit fare evasion on a homeless person (who I suspect may be an outpatient from a mental health institution) is a touch farcical. That sort of punishment should be dealt out to the kids who think they're being so clever by cheating the system. Or the "normal" folks who think nothing of boarding a train without paying the fare. Whatever. That was the situation and that was what I did. I don't particularly care if it was the right thing or not. All I did was take action.

Fierce Looking Fellow...

Fierce Looking Fellow...
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

Doesn't quite fit my mood right now...just plain tired. Was up pretty well almost all of last night on account of work. Fell asleep with the laptop in my lap and the phone under my chin. Good thing I wasn't snoring or else my cover would've been blown.

Anyways, I'm a touch annoyed because I wasn't able to blog this video: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8936205@N02/3265122712/. I'm too tired now to describe this video in depth. But I did get a cute picture of the same cat sitting in front to the big entrance gate of a condominium building looking like it was waiting for someone to let it in.

Floatplanes - A Comparison of Digi-Camera Video

I shot the first video clip back in December or January using my little Canon SD1100. I uploaded the video onto my machine and was a touch disappointed because I had captured a scene where a floatplane had to delay its take-ff thanks to some dummy in a boat crossing its path. The second video was taken Jan 31st. I just wanted to see how much better video my Canon S5 IS could capture. Where does this lead to? Well, if I get a digital SLR I'll be looking for one that can shoot HD video. (^_-)