Every Day a Meeting, Every Day a New Contact

It's meeting whirlwind time, for both Ad and I. I've been breaking down the gatekeepers of all the big design and ad shops in town, and getting to meet Creative Director after Creative Director. Of course it helps when they don't think I'm looking for a job, however those I've met have been really insightful in learning more about the tiny Vancouver design market. I now know that it's about 1/8 the size of Toronto, amongst other things!

Just when I thought that I'd exhausted my list of contacts culled from the web and Yellow Pages, Ad came home with a stack of New Media Directory listings pulled from a job resource centre we've been attending workshops at. December 2005's list has come out, and although I'd already contacted at least 65% of the companies on the list, there were still more unknown to me left to contact and meet!! My list of networks is growing expotentially. My new buzz phrase: Networking knows no bounds!

Besides my work hunt going into full swing, I've been volunteering for the Graphic Designers Society of Canada, Vancouver chapter and the Weekend to End Breast Cancer, a huge 60 km walk spread out over a weekend this coming August in Van. If I can raise 2,000 dollars CDN, I can enter the race! For now, I'm considering volunteering during the course of the weekend, but the thought of actually DOING this, along with about 2,000 others, is starting to look attractive! The 75 dollar sign-up fee includes a trainer, all forms of preparation for the event, sleeping arrangements, all food and activity for the 2 days, plus a t-shirt. In any case, obviously all for a good cause. The GDC has a great posh event coming up end of March called Graphex '06 Gala Awards Night, that I've signed up to volunteer for. Should be a smashing evening, at the prestigous Vancouver Club downtown.

The weather is just superb: 12 C and SUNSHINE with strong winds, making my jogs along the beach/seawall filled with exhilarating ocean smells and beautiful dark blue water featuring white peaks on their larger-than-usual waves. We just feel like we've stepped into heaven here. Just about every day I'm out there jogging/walking, I meet up with at least one pug; they're great and feisty little creatures that I'd love to own one of in the future. For now we're in non-smoking/no pets rental land, and living in Kits as a homeowner, just can't see that happening short of winning a lottery, and LEAVING Kits doesn't seem like it could be possible, given our location, home and proximity to just about everything!

The Wired Monk is doing great business here at the corner. On Feb. 25th, they'll have an official opening party with face painting for the kidz, live music, goodies and free java, just the sort of community feeling that Kitsilano is so well known for.

So off I go, to meet another potential client.

Beste Moeder en Daddy C: het is hier zo verschrikkelijke mooi buiten, jammer dat jullie niet voor een paar dagen even deze gebeid kunnen bekijjken zonder het lange reis hoor! Wij wensen jullie een fijn reis naar Egypte, maak er veel foto's daarvan - ! Liefs van Ariane en Ad

Signing off,

Ariane C