Beautiful British Columbia & Beyond! Boating, Fishing, Social Media, Travel and Daily Life in British Columbia

YES! Today, I leave for New York (yes, again) to attend ad:tech, a Digital Marketing Conference November 4 to 6 at the Javits Convention Center.

There are over 200 speakers and I’m attending as many of the seminars as I can fit in, then will be blogging on the ad:tech blog to let you know what I’m learning, how digital marketing is being used in the advertising world and how it will affect you and me.

Networking at the meetups, cocktail hours, dinners, parties, and after party parties is where the work is accomplished of course. We don’t just have fun and drink to excess! Okay, then – we do have fun!

Stay tuned – you’ll be hearing from me!

My 96 year old ‘Pop’ and I drove to Madeira Park to shop, do errands and to get our H1N1 flu shots, to protect ourselves from the pandemic. The receptionist at the local clinic assured me on Tuesday we could get the H1N1 shot on Thursday at the Legion. Perfect because I’m leaving for New York next week and will be exposed to thousands of people from around the world, at a conference, never mind the recirculated air on the airplane.

While shopping we heard from two different people that the H1N1 shots were only being given to First Nations, children and people under 65 with chronic illnesses. Surely at 96 they wouldn’t turn away Pop – would they? He’s had pneumonia a number of times and is getting weaker every year.

Yep, they refused to give it to him, so now we have to wait until mid November. I’m not very happy with this as I heard on the Victoria news last night that ‘no one would be refused’. I guess every city, municipality, village or community in BC runs under different rules because the Public Health Nurses were firm in their refusal. Apparently, if you are over 65 or you have no underlying health conditions you have immunities built up in your system (they told us). We were both given the regular flu shot, which we have every year.

So, now I’m confused… the news media in the USA and Canada is suggesting the H1N1 flu is spreading rapidly and becoming more severe. Apparently in Canada we have no shortage of the flu shot. So, why were we turned away? The flu clinic at the Legion certainly wasn’t overly busy. We waited perhaps 10 minutes for our regular flu shots, and right on the dot of 2pm the clinic nurses packed up and left.

Oh, and they were having a lunch break when we arrived at 12:30. The hours were 10:00 – 2:00. What’s up with that? In a 4 hour shift they take a lunch break??? I don’t get it

AND, I better not get it – the Hiney Flu that is!

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Whats the difference between bird flu & swine flu? Bird flu requires tweetment, swine flu requires oinkment.

UPDATE! I heard on the news the Cowichan Tribes Knitters WILL be providing their hand knit ‘work of art’ Cowichan Sweaters to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games!

A few days ago I wrote about the planned protest against the IOC and Hudson’s Bay choice of knitted sweaters being provided for the athletes and the public. The straw that broke the camel’s back (IMHO) was that the HBC sweaters were made in China. No wonder the Cowichan’s were ready to show their displeasure by protesting.

Now, the lovely ‘authentic’ Cowichan sweaters (similar to the one above) will be for sale with the Olympic seal of approval.

Go Cowichan Knitters!

This is how the Pender Harbour fishermen spend October!

How cute is that? Someone was very creative!

I was surprised to see a number of local businesses in Madeira Park (Pender Harbour) decorated for Halloween. It’s awesome they get into the spirit, and some of the displays were very well done – like the fisherman atop the building.

Bloggers, have you heard about the BlogUp taking place November 5, during ad:tech in New York City?

Clickbooth and Murray Newlands are sponsoring this unique event to help bloggers connect. During conferences, it’s not easy to meet other like-minded bloggers for networking, as there are so many people in attendance. I know I’m gradually meeting other bloggers from around the world, but wouldn’t it be great to meet them ALL?

Here’s how it works:

Think “Speed Dating!” You will have the opportunity to meet everyone in the room for 3 minutes to discuss collaboration and how you can help each other grow and expand. Once the 3 minutes are up, you will move on to the next person.

The BlogUp is by invitation only and extended to bloggers only. If you would like to join the group, become a BlogUp fan on Facebook and email

Eric Schechter (eric@clickbooth.com)
or
Murray Newlands (murray@affiliateheat.com)

to request an invitation.

See you at BlogUp in the Big Apple!