A Day Out Between the Rain

Nothing much here to report. Just pictures taken from our bike ride around town yesterday, in the 12 degree C sunshine. And our first coyote spotting last night down our STREET! Vancouver indeed : )









Ad looking out to sea






the view from down our street



from out the bedroom balcony, with early morning fog over the water



Stanley Park totem poles with snow caps

Grad Day

Anyway, three weeks later, I've met a great group of people from my Transitions program, that's been a godsend in fresh ideas for networking, resume and cold calling tips, confidence-boosting and a look at transferable skills. We have one more follow-up next week Thursday. The gang's pictured above in the office entrance. We had a great time, lots of laughter, some tears and mostly a good rapport and friendships formed as many of us are going through similar career situations. I can't recommend it enough; if you're in the Vancouver Mainland area, I'll be happy to give you the link and info.

Now it's time to forge ahead and embrace all of this newly discovered talent and power to network. As I've recently grown fond of saying, "networking knows no bounds". Just about every event, dinner, group activity and meeting can lead to something unexpected. I'm loving this part of my life.

Vancouver has seen a few wonderful Canuck victories, namely last night's great 6-2 lead over the Montreal Canadiens! Never mind that they did great justice when the Maple Leafs came to town almost two weeks ago, but now they're poised to take on any team that stands in their way. We're all getting excited about two things: the upcoming Olympic games (watching all the Canucks play for their respective country's teams) and tomorrow's National election, where popularity for Stephen Harper, the Conservative, is reaching some scary heights. To give you an example, if he wins, he'll be most aligned with George W. Bush in his policies and attitudes toward the Kyoto Accord. Challenge abortion rights. Give big business a bigger break. You get where I'm going here. Not pretty stuff to ponder.

Ad passed his PMP certification exam last week, so he's one step closer to following his career path here in Van. He'll be networking and interviewing during the coming days and has a good feeling about tomorrow's interview out (down) in Surrey. We had a few sunny breaks in this dreary wet winter weather, but currently it's wet and (not too) cold, yet not particularly wonderful to be outside. On my run this afternoon, I saw yet another Bald Eagle in a tree just down our street at the edge of Trafalgar, past Point Grey Road! Always nice to see such a massive creature with its large and painfully bright white head. By the time I returned from the Seawall, he'd already flown off elsewhere.

More snow in the local mountains here, and my daily morning bus ride over Granville Bridge is occasionally met with an awesome view of white up there!

Signing off…

Ariane C

Van Life and News

On living in Van: I think it's really cool that our fair city is often referred to as Lotusland. Better than Toronto, where they're lovingly referred to as Hogtown.

And my brilliant career (transitions program), into Week 2: it's going really well. We're well on our way and I feel very much a part of the working world, even though I'm not taking home a paycheck at the end of the week. Many observations, tons of exercises and hand outs to stuff up our binders, and learning more and more about myself (and the group) all the time. As I have a profile now from the Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator testing system, I can plug into a large group of potential new careers to enhance my talents and personality. Those jobs run the gamut from drama psychotherapy coach to actor to social jobs.

Weather Watcher: nothing to gleam about. Today marked day 24 of rainy days in a row, but luckily not the entire day through. I've walked home from my training program a few times already (can make the walk in about 55 minutes flat from downtown). And actually sweated, since it's mild as can be. The crocus and daffodil greenery is already making a break through the earth, I would say about 5 weeks ahead of its normal schedule. Today we had a few sun breaks.

The Mountains: when the clouds break through, there's whiteness all around! Every chance I get while downtown, I walk to the corner of Howe and Pender Street, and look downward towards the water, to take in the Canada Sails and the Northshore peaks. 9 times out of 10 I get a gorgeous mountain view while the bus makes its way over the Granville Bridge in the morning.

So, those Mighty Canucks, vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: 4-3 win at home! It was a rare appearance by the Leafs in Vancouver, and BC Place (at least from where we were watching on the big screen) was packed! Excellent game, guys! Now that they've won three games in a row, they're off tol face New Jersey on Thursday night.

A Sign of Success?

Stretch limo time, first thing seen this morning looking out front of our house (the silver car across the street belongs to our neighbors downstairs). Perhaps this is a sign of greatness and success to come for us in Vancouver! The Canucks surely returned to great form last night, beating the Calgary Flames in overtime, 4-3! Finally, some groove back in their game. The big game's coming right up, against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. A Pay-per-view for sure, so yours truly and better half will be off somewhere sports-barsy to view the action…

Cool to see that Jon Stewart will be hosting the Academies this coming March! As if Chris Rock wasn't enough last year : )

The program I've started, called Transitions, is awesome. I'm in a group of about 15 other folks out of work for one reason or another, and we're focused on career as well as life-changing potential here. Very powerful stuff. Keeps me busy all week and into the evenings with assignments and reflection, as it's busy during those days (action-packed, lots of handouts each day). The Canadian government even pays for the bus transport costs! Hopefully by the end of this session, I'll either tap into some hidden potential other than graphic design, or decide that being a designer is truly in my blood - and heart - and keep within that vein.

What follows are a few photos from the annual Kits Beach tree-chipping fundraiser event. Man, did the air smell gorgeous from all the pine being recycled!

It Ain't Much

As they say in The Netherlands, 'It ain't much if it ain't Dutch'. Well, Ad and I took part in the Vancouver Oranje Club meeting last month and made some common bonds with fellow (ex)countrymen and ladies. We met at Dockside Pub and enjoyed an evening of Dunglish (that's Dutch intertwined with English) and met a lot of people in similar past and present situations. If you're interested, have a look at this link and click on the group photo at the top left. There we are!

Our mighty Van Canucks are just not up to speed these days, having lost an embarassing match last night against St. Louis, 1-4. Really now, what IS eating the Canucks? With several more road games looming, we do hope they'll get their mojo back, and soon. How else are they going to qualify for the playoffs later on?

Speaking of sports news, I'm still trying to keep up my walk/jog routine along the Kits Seawall. I'll be taking a couple of intro (read:free) Pilates classes this week, around the corner at Proactive Pilates: Body Rolling, and Pilates on the Ball. Sounds interesting? I'll keep you informed, as I'm curious myself!

Off now to read the Van Sun,

Ariane C

Happy 2006

(a Spring night in Paris, 2005)

We rang in the New Year to hear a tribal drum from the house across the street - the lady drumming away mentioned their yearly tradition of the midnight drumming. Oh yeah, very Kits! At the moment, lots of joggers outside, despite the wind and occasional rain. People walking their dogs, shopping for groceries, and this, over at English Bay: a Polar Bear Swim! The yearly event started at 2:30 this afternoon. Found out about it at 2:33. I did make a run down to the beach to witness it through binoculars, and heard lots of cheering and others out on their boats watching from the water. With this wind, it's lucky the temperature is so mild (about 10C). I saw a few divers hit the waves, and headed up the hill for my afternoon cup of (decaf) joe.

The seagulls are circling here above like mad, flying against the wind, as are the geese and ducks down at the shore. All in all, we're happy to be here, very happy in fact. Did anyone see Dick Clark on TV last night? He's really doing his best, but in all the years I lived in The Netherlands, I hadn't seen him age and see his condition deteriorate at THIS pace. I guess he survived a recent stroke. It seems that Ryan Seacrest is priming up for taking over his slot in the future. And what about Duran Duran? Have they aged or what? Why the tv crew chose to show their live show during "Notorious" was beyond me. They'd had so many great hits over the years. The Bangles, however, looked great and sounded even better!

But I ramble…best wishes to all of you for a great new year -

Ariane C