The Best Things Are Happy Endings

I have been a little shocked at the amount of twitter chat involving criticism of yesterday's Amber Alert in Edmonton and frankly, as a parent and a citizen, I don't understand it.

How was there not enough concern to warrant an Amber Alert in this case? I don't believe we should be participants of generating criticisms of our police force when they themselves are 1. Pleased with the overall process and the outcome of this incidence; 2. Hailing the quick thinking of the playground program staff; and 3. Encouraging us as citizens to continue to report suspicious incidents like this.

I understand to some this might have seemed like a waste of resources because the outcome was good. However I suspect these same people would have different criticisms if the outcome had not been good and the situation had not been reported or acted on in a timely fashion.

While you ponder the situation, consider this. A child is dropped off by an adult at the start of a playground program. These community programs have supervised hours through out the day. Before the end of that supervised period a different adult, whom you don't recognize, comes to take the child. Maybe the child doesn't want to go (stop playing) and puts up a fuss, but this adult takes the child anyway. Imagine now that this is not reported and three hours later the original adult comes back to pick up their child only to find they've now been missing for three hours.

A lot can happen in three hours... Now imagine this is your child and I think you'd find that an Amber Alert would be more than called for.

I think the Amber Alert program has been a great way to improve communications in the community and cross communities with other police services when a situation dictates speed is of the essence. I think the police need to have the confidence that they can use it whenever they feel justified and that we will trust in that, false or not. Indeed, isn't the best outcome of this that it was false to begin with and that the child is safe?

Just my humble opinion, of course. But I do strongly believe it's never a waste of anyone's time or resources if they are spent in the attempt to help one of the more vulnerable members of our society. Also, I think huge kudos should go out to the team of people who were involved in looking for this child and discovering that he was safe so quickly. Bravo.

Deathwing!

Early this morning Edmontonians woke up to an incredibly orange sky that prompted many comments of the apocalyptic variety on twitter. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the air itself appeared to have an orange glow to it, everything in my bedroom when I first woke up looked orange but our window is west facing. I've never seen anything quite like it.

These pictures were taken around 5:00am in west Edmonton. You can see my other shots HERE.

Maisie's Magical Christmas House

If you're in Edmonton for this holiday season, you should visit Maisie's Magical Christmas House, located at 9619 – 144 Avenue.

The house is named such in honor of the home owner's mother, Maisie Dolynchuk, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 82 years. Maisie loved the Christmas lights so much that she wanted them to be enjoyed by people even after she was gone. The house is her legacy.

There is no charge for people to come and tour the display, but you're asked to bring a non-perishable donation to the Edmonton Food Bank.

A TREE for a Good Cause

Do you need a Christmas Tree? Know someone else who doesn't have their tree yet? Today you can support Edmonton's Food Bank by purchasing an amazing live Christmas tree for the holiday season - for only $10! The trees are being sold at Churchill Square from 6am to 2pm today and volunteers are available to help load the trees into your vehicle for you.

Cash or cheques (made payable to Edmonton's Food Bank) are accepted for on-site purchases. You can also text to donate (keyword TREE to shortcode 30333 and $10 will be added to your phone bill in support of Edmonton's Food Bank) or call 780-425-2133 for VISA or MC transactions over the phone. If you prefer to donate online you can do so at edmontonsfoodbank.com via Canada Helps (VISA or MC).

Remember to bring your skates as well - you will have the opportunity to skate with the Edmonton Oil Kings on the ice at City Hall.

Christmas Time!

When the lights go on at the Alberta Legislature grounds I know it is Christmas time and I should get our tree up.

Santa's Anonymous

We had a blast volunteering at the 630CHED Santa's Anonymous Warehouse for the Wrapping Tweetup on Friday evening.

We were "bagging" (there is also shopping/wrapping roles) so the process for us was to pick a tag for a family that shows just the ages and sex of each child in it. Then you go through the bins to select the wrapped gift packages for each child listed on the tag (the gifts are separated by age group and gender), creating a package for the family and putting it all together in a big black plastic bag. I tried to pick packages that were basically the same size so there won't be much room for jealousy on Christmas morning between siblings. This year we decided to create packages for the families that were in our area of Edmonton.


As a parent my favourite part of Christmas is Christmas morning - watching my children coming down the stairs with wide eyed wonder at the surprises that have appeared under the Christmas tree. We always have one of the kids call out the names on each gift and deliver it to each person and then we take turns opening so everyone can watch and enjoy. This ritual has always been enjoyable and wonderful for all, regardless of the amount of gifts present from year to year. I can't imagine Christmas morning without at least something under the tree for the kids so I'm very happy to support and volunteer for Santa's Anonymous. Every kid should have something to unwrap under the tree.


If you'd like to spend a couple of hours doing the same thing the warehouse could always use volunteers. Drop in days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am - 9pm. You can read more about it HERE.

Edmonton Transit Disappoints

Dear Councillor Leibovici;

This morning, on the coldest day Edmonton has seen in 2010, the school special express bus my children take to school left seven minutes early. It left a bunch of students behind.

When I dropped my kids off 5 minutes before the time their bus was supposed to leave I expected that they would be getting on their bus shortly. I always wait to get a text confirmation that they're on the bus, just in case something happens, so when I didn't hear from them I called to see what was going on. The response was that the bus wasn't there yet but a bunch of kids were waiting. Then one of the kids received a text from a friend on the bus who confirmed the bus had indeed left already - seven minutes early. As I could only transport four students in my vehicle the remaining children were left abandoned at the WEM transit centre.

The school my children attend is a K-12 school in the inner city and as such all ages use the school special bus route provided by Edmonton Transit for the school (Bus 717). It's a difficult destination to get to using other bus routes and that would be if you understood how to do it in the first place. A child would have to get downtown and change buses or walk through the downtown core into the inner city to get to the school.

It's very important to the students and families that depend on this bus route that the bus not leave early, especially when the weather is so cold. We trust that the bus will leave on schedule and that everyone will get to school safely and on time. I drop my children off on my way to work in the morning but most arrive via transfer from other buses and can't get there any earlier.

I contacted 311 this morning and gave the customer service agent all of the information regarding the incident and asked that someone from Edmonton Transit call me back. She was very polite and assured me that the message would be passed on but I did not receive a call from anyone, not even to acknowledge my call. This is not the first time that I have contacted Edmonton Transit with a concern and never heard back.

I need to know that Edmonton Transit will impress upon the drivers of this bus route the importance of keeping to the schedule and to remind them that there is a negative impact to many people, mainly children, when something like this happens. I'd like to hear from an appropriate person at Edmonton Transit to know that this matter will be taken seriously and treated accordingly.

Thank you for your time.   

EDIT: I was contacted by a very helpful ETS Inspector today (Nov 23) who will be handling the investigation resulting from my concerns. I need to say I was VERY impressed and appreciated that he did call me and relieved to know that ETS is taking this seriously. I was also comforted to discover that the regular bus driver is away on holiday so this is likely an isolated incident/mistake. Thank you ETS! Thank you Councillor Leibovici!

Thinking about Christmas

While walking around West Edmonton Mall today. I'd better get seriously organized...  it's not really that far away!

Got Library Fines?

On Saturday, November 27, 2010 the Edmonton Public Library will be hosting an event called Food4Fines where they will waive up to $25 in fines in exchange for a food donation to the Edmonton Food Bank.

All you have to do in order to take advantage of this is bring in a non-perishable food item to the customer service desk at any EPL branch on Nov 27th and in return you can have up to a maximum of $25 excused from your library account late/lost fines.

All that is required is one single food item but the library encourages their customers to bring in multiple food items for the Food4Fines Food Drive. Customers without fines can bring in a donation as well.

If you have any other questions about the Food4Fines day you can check out their FAQ page HERE.

Edmonton's Santas Anonymous

If you are looking for a really cool (and fulfilling) volunteer experience this Christmas season in the Edmonton area then I would like to point you in the direction of one of my favourites - Santa's Anonymous, a local organization that makes it possible for all Edmonton kids to receive something on Christmas morning.

The warehouse is open 9am to 9pm for volunteers (to wrap gifts or receive toy donations) and you don't even need to schedule an actual time as you can drop in on any Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday that you have some free time. 

The volunteer roles at the warehouse are restricted to people 16 years of age and older (due to liability issues). However all ages are able to volunteer on the days that the presents are delivered, which is often touted as a "great event for families to volunteer together" and is "often the most rewarding and eye opening experience for children to be involved in."

If you haven't heard it yet you should LISTEN to Jerry Forbes' "And a Creature was Stirring."  

You can check out the various volunteer roles available HERE to find something that appeals to you. Contact the crew at Santas Anonymous with any questions and download the forms needed to volunteer HERE. Additionally, you can support Santas Anonymous by donating toys for Edmonton area children - a simple act that makes all this possible.

If you would like to apply to receive toys for your children this year you can do so through the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton.

Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas

On Saturday Edmonton officially launched the 2010 Christmas season by lighting a giant Christmas Tree (dressed in green and gold, of course) in Churchill Square at City Hall. There was also tents with local food and crafts, carols and some fireworks. You can see some of my pictures of the evening HERE.

We Remember

We attended the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph at Edmonton's City Hall. This is where Wesley's unit, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment, parades for Remembrance Day. You can see my other pictures from the ceremony HERE.

Edmonton Tweetup!

I am soooo tired in this picture...

Finishing off a very busy week (including Beyond 2010, the Hackathon, the Yeg Girl Geek Mixer, and the Empire Avenue Boardroom) was a great BBQ tweetup hosted at the iNews880 Radio station. A HUGE thank you goes out to Edmonton's fabulous Brittney LeBlanc (and her boss) for such a successful gathering. It is great to have a venue for a family friendly tweetup and the radio station knows how to make any night fun!   

Long Live the Cabal...

There is no Cabal...

The Edmonton Empire Avenue Boardroom on October 21 was well attended with more than 40 Empire Avenue Influencers and some local twitterites who were EAv curious. Highlights of the evening included mingling with out of towners (e)ADRIEL and (e)DUPS, gathering together the most amount of Cabal members to ever (yet) be in one room and checking out the new Empire Avenue iPhone App that is currently being beta tested (coming soon). As always I was pleased to meet people IRL and put faces to twitter names and tickers.  

A big thank you shout out goes to Trevor at Original Joe's Varsity who always treats us right! Highly recommend!

Beyond 2010 Hackathon

I've stayed up all night with a great group of talented people at the Beyond 2010 Hackathon (in Edmonton, Alberta) and an equally talented group of people in Birmingham UK. We've all been hard  work developing a mobile app tool to help people in the event of a disaster. It's been a fun and productive process and I really love the truly collaborative nature of the project - we've all been using typewith.me to produce the written documents and skype for conference calling with the UK Hackathon team. I'm really happy to have had an opportunity to be involved in this (thanks to Brittney LeBlanc for coordinating!) and I can't wait to use and see the final product! And hopefully we will all have created something that saves lives and eases suffering. 

Red Sky in the Morn...

Edmonton Sunrise Oct 19 2010

Four Easy Steps to Voting in Edmonton!

I've heard various reasons over the past few days as to why people don't vote or why they likely won't vote in tomorrow's election. Some people expressed that they don't know "how" to vote and they don't want to feel dumb when (if) they get to the ballot box. I've thought a bit about this and I understand that no one wants to feel this way but the process of voting is actually fairly easy (and quick). If you are 18 years old, live in Edmonton on election day, have been in Alberta for six months and are a Canadian citizen then you get to vote for Mayor, one city councilor and one school board trustee (either public or catholic).

Here's FOUR easy steps for those living in Edmonton:

1. Find your Ward and Candidates. You can find your ward using this LINK.  Once you know your ward, a complete list of the candidates is found HERE.

2. Learn a little about your candidates. Most of the candidates have websites and if they do you'll find their links HERE.  

3. Find your polling station using this LINK. Your polling station is open on Monday between the hours of 9am and 8pm only.

4. VOTE! On Monday October 18 2010 go to your polling station between the hours of 9am and 8pm. Take your ID or alternatives with you (there is no voters list). The most commonly used types of identification are an Alberta driver's licence, Alberta ID card or your Canadian passport. If you don't have any of these, check this LINK for other types of accepted ID.

If you require assistance marking your ballot you can even get help from a friend or the deputy in the voting station.

If you are like me (I'm still undecided for Mayor) I encourage you to get yourself to the ballot box on Monday - at the very least, if you still can't decide, you can spoil your ballot. Remember we have something amazing here in our country but the only way our democracy works is if citizens are active participants. Just vote.

The UltraAVX Experience...

 
Thanks to Cloud AdAgents and Cineplex Entertainment, last weekend myself and 8 other Edmonton twitter friends had the chance to experience the new UltraAVX Cinema in South Edmonton Commons.

The UltraAVX theatre experience offers you a chance to reserve your seats, a feature I'm a huge fan of and certainly took advantage of. This involved me going to the Customer Service desk where a very helpful agent showed me a seat layout of the new theatre and helped me to choose the exact seats I wanted. Once I had made my selection he gave me my tickets with the row and seat numbers on it, just like a concert. When the group of us returned later that night for the movie there was no line ups and we went directly into the theatre and found our seats. I really liked that when everyone went to grab food there was none of the typical anxiety involved with having to protect seats or try to make a jacket stretch over as many chairs as possible. This in itself might have been enough to impress me, but the theatre has more to offer than that.

The first thing we noticed when we got to our seats was the seat - like individual rocking armchairs that allowed plenty of leg room to get comfortable and lean back if you'd like. I really liked the mobility of the chair. In addition, each row of seats is positioned high enough that your view isn't obstructed regardless of where you're sitting or how tall the person in front of you is. I can honestly say that I haven't had as comfortable an experience watching a movie in a regular theatre, but then this isn't a regular theatre.

UltraAVX features a large format wall to wall movie screen, allowing for a great image from wherever the vantage point (although I wouldn't suggest sitting too close to the front or on the extreme sides). The theatre boasts dolby digital surround sound which made me feel immersed within the sound which was a neat experience. I didn't feel like the sound was coming at me like some other theatres I've been in although it wasn't as loud as an IMAX theatre. There may have been a better movie choice to showcase this sound experience (we saw Secretariat) but I quite enjoyed it nonetheless. All in all it seems to me that this is how movies should be experienced.  

I was impressed enough with the UltraAVX experience that I can't wait to go back. For me, the 15.75 per adult ticket price (11.99 child/senior) is worth it just for the convenience of selecting your desired seats before hand (in the past I've waited hours in line ups hoping to get the seats I wanted), but the quality of the experience is now something that I am looking forward to, especially for the more anticipated movie releases (like Harry Potter). Maybe it's not for every movie experience, but I'll certainly be back!    

You can find an UltraAVX theatre in both the Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton and Cineplex Odeon South Edmonton Cinemas. 

Also, read Brittney's review here, and John's here.  They're awesome!

Guestblogging From an Undisclosed Location

Duncan and I co-wrote a playful election piece for Edmonton's popular podcast talk show - The Unknown Studio. Involving Battlestar Galactica and Edmonton's 12 wards, it was a lot of fun. Intrigued? You can read it here:

Edmonton’s Quorum of Twelve (October 07 2010, the Unknown Studio)

Shine On Harvest Moon

Tonight we bid summer goodbye with the advent of the Equinox at 9:09pm. Before that however, if the skies remain clear, the Harvest Moon will rise in the east just as the sun sets at 7:32pm. As you watch the moonrise you will notice Jupiter in the eastern sky as well. Happy Autumnal Equinox Edmonton!