The only thing that would complete our summer festival and event lineup in Metro Vancouver would be a spot of sunshine. Here’s a quick round up of cheap things do to in Vancouver this month:

Saturday June 14th is Joomla! Day Vancouver from 9:30am until 5:00pm at the Library. Tickets are only $25 and if you’re a developer, user, designer or fanboy of Joomla! it’ll be well worth it for you.

Also this Saturday there is a screening of the Canadian film Young People F*cking at The Ridge Theatre. This 4:00pm show will be followed by a “pillow talk” session with one of the lead actors from the movie. The evening is made possible and presented by the First Weekend Club, a non-profit organization that works to promote Canadian Movies.

This Sunday June 15th is Car Free Day in Vancouver with several neighbourhoods closing down roadways to make way for pedestrian fun times.

The following Sunday June 22 is Greek Day on Broadway from 11:00am until 9:30pm. The entire street from Blenheim to McDonald will be shut down and I have to say, you must try some of the delicious foods that are provided. I used to go to the annual Greek Festival in Surrey and man, that neighbourhood never smelled so good.

From: xkcd

And since Raul introduced me to Mixwit yesterday (and dedicated his mixtape to me) I’ve created my own. This accompanies a warm cup of coffee, the whir of a laptop fan, and a rainy June afternoon in Vancouver.

In my daily quest to find history tidbits to share with my readers about our fair city sometimes the best leg work that can be done is simply, and literally, going for a walk. As I was walking down Richards street yesterday on my way to dinner I passed the large “Richards” condo development sign, next to Richards on Richards.

If you recall last June the “little green house” at 1062 Richards street was sold to make way for development. The owner, Linda Rupa, held out for many years and finally sold her cottage and two 25-foot lots in 2007 for $6 million, which is a nice chunk of change compared to the $16,000 she paid for it in 1962.

Photo credit: jmv on Flickr

Putting it off for so long because she loved the house so much, the 80-something year old’s bank account finally caved and the $36,000 a year for property taxes on the lots proved to be too much (leaving her with literally pennies to her name) pretty much leaving her no other option but to sell.

“I’ve been here a long time, and I’m just a Safeway girl, I worked for Safeways throughout my career. And the Army and Navy department store when I first came to Vancouver. In those days we only made 99 cents an hour. [Vancouver Sun]

Rupa watched as the properties around her were bought up and the landmark houses where her friends lived for 50 years were demolished one by one.

Photo credits: SqueakyMarmot and jmv

She reminisced in the Sun article, dropping names of her neighbours and fellow Vancouverites from back in the day.

It was a lovely neighbourhood, where people cared about each other,” says Rupa, who gives her age as “just about 80.” “Really a nice neighbourhood. Mr. Kripps on Granville street, who has the drug store, he’s an old-timer here. We had the Filippone and Iaci families.

You may recognize the name “Fillipone” or Philliponi which is the family that owned The Penthouse over the years [VancouverHistory].

The slick orange and white boards advertising the proud project by the Aquilini Investment Group sits next to the old night club and current live music venue however during my walk yesterday I spotted something taped to it that seemed a little out of place. Upon closer inspection I had found two birthday cards dated June 8th.

The first read: “Happy 100th Birthday!!! 1062 Richards!!! June 8, 1908 – June 8, 2008. With love, (signed) xo xo xo xo xo xo”.

Directly underneath it, wrapped in the same protective plastic was another card, “Happy 100th Birthday little green house there’s been many warm memories of people and pets through the years. Enjoy your new facelift, (signed).

Pieces of Vancouver’s past disappear everyday, sometimes it’s for the best and shows our growth as a city, but many times we still need to slow down and appreciate where the city came from. I bet those little houses on Richards street sure could tell some stories.

If you’re interested in these shadows and traces of old Vancouver, check out the Flickr group Vanishing Vancouver.

When you feel your eyes welling up with emotion the one thing that tips you over the edge is actually talking about how you’re doing with someone. Yesterday after work I started texting my husband to see if he was walking home or taking the bus while I faught off some tears. As soon as I hit send, like a Mentos put to Diet Coke, the flood gates opened and I walked over to meet him in the rain, tears streaming down my face.

Photo credit: VancouverHistory.ca / VPL

Case of the Mondays, sure. Being back at work after a long weekend away in the wilderness, yeah. Rainy and cold, double-jacketed June in Vancouver? You bet, all things that could make me feel that way. I also kept thinking about how on Sunday morning at 5:00 John and I stood out by the lake and watched the sun crest over the mountains. We didn’t sit down as we were still in our pajamas and didn’t want to get them muddy, so we stood there holding each other. Honestly that’s all I wanted to be doing yesterday, and where I would rather be right now.

The break in the clouds comes in the form of an unordered list below. I’m going to warm up some breakfast, get some coffee in my belly, and list random things that currently brighten my spirits when I think about them:

During these gloomy days, feel free to find some of your happy thoughts and share them in the comments, or write your own post because apparently blogging is good for your health.

Singer/songwriter, Grammy Award-winner and Canadian folk music icon KD Lang will be playing two shows in Vancouver this week [Ticketmaster].

I have a couple sets of tickets to give away to her show on Friday June 13th at The Centre for performing arts.

Quick KG Lang wiki Facts:

As usual with Miss604 contest all you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post to win a pair of tickets. I’ll then draw the winners from the comments and you’ll have a pair of tickets waiting at Will Call for you on Friday night.

Update: The contest is now closed, winner’s names have been drawn and will be announced shortly. Thanks to everyone that entered!!

I’ve been getting some excellent suggestions for additions to the Parks Series, the latest coming from Barbara of The Love Blog who shares some photos below from one of her favourite beaches, Blackie Spit near Crescent Beach.

How to get there: Located at 3136 McBride Avenue, you can take the 351 Crescent Beach bus and get off at the corner of McBride and Sullivan. Driving along Highway 99 turn off on King George Highway heading South. From KGH turn onto Crescent Road then head all the way to the end, over the train tracks and right on McBride.

Side note: This was also the starting point of The Amazing Hunt, Surrey Edition that my sister and I participated in last fall.

Photo credit: Barbara Doduk on Flickr

Features: A fully fenced dog off leash area, dog swimming beach, shelter, picnic area, washrooms, natural area trails, and walking paths. Home to the Surrey Sailing Club and Crescent Beach Swim Club.

History: “George and Isabella Gordon were the first family to live on the waterfront in Crescent Beach. Gordon leased the land and buildings from Walter Blackie from 1896 to 1906… …Walter Blackie settled on the land, and built a log cabin and barn. The area became known as Blackie’s Spit. The cabin was located at what is now the south end of O’Hara Lane.” [George Gordon Family Site]

Photo credit: Barbara Doduk on Flickr

Notes: Today the park is, “one of the best bird watching areas in Canada with almost 200 species of birds recorded over the different seasons. The sandy spit, surrounded by tidal marsh and Eelgrass beds, is an important stop for migrating and wintering waterfowl and shorebirds as they make their way up and down the coastline of North and South America. Fall migrants start arriving in late August and September, with spring migrants arriving in mid-March and gone by the end of May. The park is managed as a wildlife conservation area and habitat enhancement activities are ongoing throughout the park. The sand bars are a favourite resting place for Harbour Seals and their pups.” [City of Surrey]

Photo credit: Barbara Doduk on Flickr

Barbara’s post from 2006 also suggests it’s a nice place for a calming walk. I know my sister loves taking the kids there as it’s nice and sandy (ideal for sand castles), the water is much more calm in the channel, and it’s far less crowded than the other beaches.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I went more than two days without being “connected”. Even when I’ve talked about unplugging from the Matrix we still manage to find wifi at a hotel, in the condo’s common room, or at a highway rest stop. With nothing but giant Cedars, cascading raindrops and paper thin skipping stones surrounding me up at the lake since Thursday, my inbox and feeds are telling me this morning warrants a link fest.

- First off, my photos from the weekend can be found in my set, John Biehler has his in a set, and my husband John has uploaded his as well.

- I decided to post this video by Duane instead of the one where I fail chopping wood.

- Tuesday June 10th is Nat and Drew’s Free Rice Day. At 11:00am PT people are encouraged to log on to www.freerice.com. “Take four minutes, play a word game, and help feed the hungry. The more words you get right – the more grains of rice are donated by corporate sponsors to the United Nations World Food Program.”

- Want to follow all the Euro action? Jeffrey’s got a Vancouver TV guide to the game schedule over on Metblogs.

- YouTube has added video annotations, click here to see how they work and to play an interactive shell game.

- CoverItLive has added a new “branding” feature for its live blogs, as well as an iPhone viewer and intelligent live picture posting. I’ll have to give it another shot with these fancy new tools in place, who knows, after writing a third one maybe I’ll finally make their “recent reviews” section.

Why and how Duane had an XP sticker on the bottom of his sock is beyond us.
Photo credit: John Beihler on Flickr

- Weblog Tools Collection is hosting a WordPress Plugin Competition. Prizes have recently been announced but you can still throw something in the ring to give the winner once determined.

Seeing as how I made us all lanyards for camping this weekend, it’s only fitting that I end with The Nerd Handbook which includes tips like, “Understand your nerd’s relation to the computer,” “Your nerd loves toys and puzzles,” Your nerd has an amazing appetite for information,” “Your nerd has built an annoyingly efficient relevancy engine in his head,” “Your nerd might come off as not liking people,” and “Your nerd is f**king funny.”

I’ve noticed an overall trend in the blogosphere which involves a conspicuous decrease in link love. Blogrolls are disappearing and going the way of the hat tip.

Photo © Waxy on Flickr – All Rights Reserved – WaxyPhotography.com

Blogrolls are link lists often found on sidebars of blogs or websites that list other blogs. People can display recommended reads, useful website tips, show off their friends, and give some overall link love when using a blogroll. Lately I’ve noticed a trend of moving this off of the main page and having a “links” page instead. Here are some pros and cons of a “links page” that I’ve discussed before with Duane.

Thumbs Up…

Somewhere in the middle…

Thumbs Down…

I’m not going to be restructuring any time soon, I simply I put this out there to see what’s working for everyone in terms of link love – actively in posts or on a static sidebar or links page. In the blogosphere honor system, should there be an equal amount of give and take when it comes to links? Are there any rules or are links just from the goodness of one’s heart and no one is really obliged to provide info for any outside websites?

“I just hope blogs, no matter how big they get, don’t forget that at one time they prided themselves on not being mainstream media, and likewise held themselves to a different standard, including a basic respect of the friendly, easy hat tip.” – [David Markland on LA Metblogs]

Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is one of those albums you can and have to listen to all the way through in one clean shot. It’s one of those ultimate records that smoothly floats from beginning to end filling your mind with musical goodness.

That was the sophomore album by The Dandy Warhols in 2000 and since then they’ve released four more records with another coming this fall called, Earth to the Dandy Warhols (which you can download and preview on their website).

They’ll be in Vancouver playing The Vogue on June 18th and I would highly suggest checking them out while tickets are still available.

John and I will have the pleasure of interviewing them for the RadioZoom podcast. Check out our last episode in which we played two DW songs back to back.