MyLife at BCIT

Have you noticed that recently the city is full of Olympic spirits?  Most of the ads in skytrain stations, on TV, on bus, and banners hanging on the side of the street lamp are about Olympics.  Only two weeks left before the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic officially begin.  So in addition to watch those Olympics ads, is there anything else you can do to immerge yourself into the spirit of Olympics?  Of course, there are will be lots of free events going on before and during the Olympics.  For instance, you can go skating on the outdoor skating rink at Robson Square, which just has been opened after renovation, so bring your skates to Robson Square and enjoy.  If you don’t have your own skates, you can rent skates for $3.  There will also be free concerts hold around the Great Vancouver before and during he Olympics.  Check out the following link to see various events that are going on now: http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/cultural-festivals-and-events/event-listings/. 

Although Olympics is hold every 4 years, but holding this game at our home town may be an once in a life time opportunity, so definitely don’t miss out!

They tasted better than the real thing. English muffins, cookie cutter, cheese and ketchup. Presto!

Home made egg McMuffins. Soooooo good. Good way to start the weekend.

There are those weeks when you feel really good at school and then there are the other weeks. This past week was one of those other weeks. I seemed to wake up every morning quite tired and frustrated and it felt like things were just stacked up against me. I find during those weeks you have to find a way to release or forget. So I did.

The way I chose to relax was watching lots of hockey and my current favourite show: Battlestar Galactica.

With the Olympics just around the corner there are a lot of hockey games being played (in the NHL) because of the compressed schedule. And because I’m working at the hockey games during the Olympics and will be interviewing the players (see here for more info) I found that relaxing by watching hockey would also be educational! Good excuse, right?

Battlestar Galactica was another way for me to relax because – if you have seen the show – you literally leave this planet and forget about your life for a little bit. There are four seasons to the show and my girlfriend and I started watching in the summer and just started season four this past week. Not only does the content allow you to relax, but spending time with my girlfriend during the week is a good refresher as well.

Hopefully next week will be better! It has to be because it’s my last week of classes before my three week break for the Olympics. I start my Olympic craziness on February 7th with venue training at Canada Hockey Place! I’m hoping to document my Olympic journey some way or another. Stay tuned.

Cooking Mama's fun, but maybe not the best culinary direction.

Cooking is by far one of the best assets you’ll ever acquire (or maybe the one you will never get a hang of) and it’s always best to learn first hand as opposed to video games.  Even if you have the knack to burn water, the Food Technology program welcomes you to join a few classes with them to get you started with a mini-course on how to cook quick healthy meals (and hopefully not destroy the lab in the process).

Their first class was January 26 (yesterday) and there are classes scheduled throughout the term.

Did I mention it’s free?

Well, you weren’t the only one. For some reason unknown, today just seemed like a day where everyone was better off staying home.

And apparently for good reason.

Interestingly enough, last week was the UK’s Blue Monday – the most depressing day of the year when statistically, all of your New Year’s resolutions have been broken and you’ll be receiving the largest credit card bill of the year (remember that computer you splurged on for Christmas?).

But I suppose like everything this school year, everything is arriving a week later than scheduled.

And if you’re not feeling it, check out RainyMood.com to bring the rainstorm ambience indoors.

Happy Blue Monday?

It’s Tuesday night and I’m still recovering from a truly mad Monday.

As I explained to you in one of last week’s posts on Mondays and Tuesdays this semester I’m either out in the field reporting or preparing and reading newscasts at our simulated radio station at BCIT. All of this to prepare me to do the exact same thing for real at the end of this semester.

But as I also told you, a lot of the reporting that’s done in this “Radio News Lab” ends up on Evolution 107.9 FM, the school’s real radio station. That’s because we cover real news.

This past Monday I asked if I could go all the way to Delta/Tsawwassen to cover the opening ceremony of Deltaport Berth Number Three, a large commercial port that is a part of the the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative.

I did this not only because it was news and it was good to cover not only for Radio Lab but for Evolution but because of ulterior motives! I am applying for a journalism award from the European Union and I’m doing a story on Canada-EU relations. After some calls on Friday I found out that Canada’s International Trade Minister, Stockwell Day, was going to be at this opening ceremony on Monday. So I thought I’d go there, cover the story for Evolution and then try and get a comment for my personal story. And it worked. Barely though.

Day had three events that day and he was in a rush to leave. So after he went up and toured the cranes that move the large commercial containers he had to go. Luckily Global TV came late to the event and was granted an interview afterward, so I mooched and then asked my questions at the end even when they were trying to whisk him away. In the end I got what I want and I filed two different stories which both played on Evolution.

Have a listen:

Deltaport Story 1 (Filed from cellphone in Delta)

Deltaport Story 2 (Recorded back at the station)

If you think that was an exciting Monday, well you’re right. But it got better!

Some of the Broadcast Journalism First Year guys (and one girl) entered an intramural ball hockey league at BCIT and we had our first exhibition game. Who knew what was to come of it, but it turned out we were capable. We won 8-2. I’d like to believe I’m a veteran of ball hockey, having played in a league for the last few years, but I felt way off.

Like I said to a colleague of mine, it was like I was playing a foreign sport. My head was down, my hands were very rusty and I was being greedy with the ball. Not things that I usually do. I think I was trying to hard, and that’s when you make mistakes. I’ve vowed to be a different – much better – player next week. I’ll have to be because I broke my stick when I slashed the net after I caused a goal against.

Ah well, what’s done is done and another Monday is in the books.

Has anyone noticed this on the southeast side of the campus?

They put the blue fencing up this past Friday and over the weekend, they’ve constructed a rather interesting structure at the end of the blue lot for student parking.

As you can probably see from the picture, the house itself doesn’t take up that much space – about ten parking stalls and the sidewalk. Unfortunately the addition of the vehicles surrounding it include a good half of the driving lane. While I can appreciate its form and construction and its excellent demonstration of the balance that is required of site planning (or maybe lack thereof), I’m just not sure why it’s in the student parking lot, taking up the precious few stalls that are actually near the campus itself.

I almost got run over by an impatient driver walking to my car because there isn’t enough space for a car and a pedestrian between the gate and a parked car on the opposite side of the lane. Couldn’t they have used the staff parking lot?

Staff Parking (Pink) Lot at 8:30AM

Is this another method that BCIT is encouraging students to take transit (which is somewhat contradictory to their previous declination [PDF] (crazily enough, the girl featured in the picture is a high school friend of mine) of hopping on the U-Pass bandwagon – although that might be changing)? This has got to be the lamest and most round-about way of transit advocacy – even their price hike from $3.75 a day to $4.00 for campus parking (which isn’t much compared to SFU and UBC) was a lot more transparent.

In an interesting juxtaposition, this is exactly the kind of thing that we’re studying in our Site Responsive Planning course – emphasizing on sustainability and our part in making our eco-footprint smaller.

This week (the second week of the second term) was when we started our Radio News Lab. After a semester that was largely based on class time, the Radio News Lab is a stark contrast. What it does it puts to work what we learned in our classes last semester, but out in the field.
The Radio News Lab is basically a radio station simulated for broadcast into the office of our instructors. Several students have to prepare news or sportscasts for every half an hour while others are reporting on the phones or the field.
My role this week was to report from the Vancouver Law Courts. It was a little daunting, but not as much as it would have been if I didn’t spend some time shadowing a CKNW reporting in the courts over the winter break.
On Monday morning I went to the B.C. Supreme court and sat in on a sentencing of a father and husband who was given a two year conditional sentence for growing marijuana and possessing firearms. It was an interesting story because of the reasoning he had for growing marijuana. Medicinal if you didn’t guess.
After I heard the sentencing, I went to the cafeteria, wrote my story in about five minutes and then called it in to the “station.” It then went on the newscast that my peers were doing at school. Of course, it didn’t go to air but it could have. A prime example of the potential is what happened after the courts on Monday.

Because the second years are actually running the BCIT radio station, Evolution 107.9 FM, there is a chance that our stories go on-air, especially if they don’t have people to go places are report. I had to go to the Vancouver Police Department right after the court to attend a news conference. The story I wrote, in similar fashion as the first but included an audio, went on air on Evolution because it was very pertinent local news. That was my first story that has been broadcast, it was quite the feeling!
On Tuesday there was a little drama in the newsroom. I was sent to the courts again but this time the provincial court. Turned out the story I was assigned to had a publication ban and could not be broadcast. Luckily the case was put off to another date. I decided to stay in the same court room to take in the next case.
I took notes throughout because it sounded like an interesting story. It was related to sexual assault so I had an inkling that it had a publication ban as well and couldn’t be broadcast but I stuck though it for practice because I felt like I was passed the point of no return and class started at school relatively soon thereafter.
After the court was dismissed, I called the station with the story fully knowing of the publication ban and just wanted to make sure they knew my situation. What happened after was a big mess and the story ended up on the fake air. It wasn’t broadcast to anyone but my instructor, but she wasn’t happy. It was a lesson for all.
The reason I did the story for practice is because, practice makes perfect. And during my time at CKNW, I experienced some stories with publication bans being reported if they were interesting. They were reported in a way that the banished facts were not revealed. I feel I did the same. And I did so knowing of the safety net.
All in all the Radio News Lab has already equipped me better as a reporter and on Monday next week I will probably learn more as I’ll be the assignment editor and a general reporter.

Failed Resolutions here I come!

The new year is well on its way and so is term 2 of the BTECH.

There are new courses that I’m taking and also I’ve enrolled in an addition night class to get a dual degree in both Network Administration and Human Computer Interaction.

Some of the new courses for this term are Research Methologies, Strategic Management, and Applied Ethics. Those courses are on top of the more advanced Networking and Project Management courses. But I must admit I am mostly excited about my dual specialty.

Human Computer Interaction is the study of interaction between people (users) and computers (wiki). I’ll be taking this program for three terms as it advances. My first class is today and I am excited about the new subject that I’ll be studying.

While the prospect of being at school for the majority of the next little while to the point that one might say that you live at school isn’t exactly the most happy of thoughts, there are a few things that such circumstances entail that you start to get used to over time.

Here’s a few things I’ve noticed since attending school at BCIT:

• Washing Pyrex in an automatic hand washing station (i.e. sinks with infrared sensors) is ridiculous. Expect a lot of complimentary hand waving to get water to lather. Rinse and repeat.
• Don’t be too surprised when you see someone bring a ziplock bag of toilettries in case going home is not possible. On second thought, this might come in handy in the event a natural disaster occurs. Same thing goes for an extra set of clothes.
• Never be without a handy roll of paper towel. Ever. You just never know.
• If you’re stuck in NE1 all day and you have seasonal affective disorder, stash a lightbulb that reminds you of the sun. You’re not going to see it for a long while.