Photo Credit: Canucks.com

Short post tonight since I’m feeling a bit rundown.

Roberto Luongo has been named Captain of the 2008/2009 Vancouver Canucks team. Wow.

Willie Mitchell, Ryan Kesler, and Mattias Ohlund were named alternate captains, wearing the “A”. But here’s the big stitch… Lou can’t wear the “C” on his jersey, according to official NHL rules.

I can’t help but feel a little weird about this. How is he going to inspire the team on he ice in key, time sensitive situations? Will he really go all the way from his net to talk to the referees on disputed calls? Will his presence on the ice be enough to compensate for not being at the bench during the game at times?

Lou’s a big fan favourite and I’m really happy for him. A lot of fans are behind this decision, but I’m still going to feel weird about it.

I wear the “C” on my Trevor Linden jersey proudly, so I can only hope that Luongo can live up to be as inspiring a captain as Linden was in his time.

What do you think?

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Today was a crazy day on Wall Street. It’s no secret that the economy is in some troubled times. After the House of Representatives shot down the Bailout plan, the stock markets got hammered pretty much everywhere in the world. The Dow dropped about 780 points, which is its largest in its history. Yes, it’s the American economy mostly being affected, but ours is tied to theirs, and so is the rest of the world in some ways. It is a scary time if you’re thinking about retiring, but if you’re young and just getting going like me, then there’s a lot of opportunity. History seems to suggest that the greatest economic booms are made after a recession or a slow-down, so if you can stay employed and ride it out… you’ll likely be in a good spot. I’ll be keeping an eye on the economic news and crisis over the coming months.

In other news, while we wait for the housing prices to come down a bit, Allan and I have been trying to make our little place a bit more livable. We’ve sold all our furniture and more on Craigslist and are currently sitting on the floor while we wait for some of it to be delivered. Hopefully I’ll have some photos soon of the place when it is redone.

I’m also getting geared up for a busy October. First, it’s off to Tofino again for the Thanksgiving long weekend. I can’t wait. I love the coast and Tofino is one of my favourite places in the whole world. Usually we go there at least once a month in the off season (a few times a month in the summer). I hear there will be a good swell rolling in for the next couple weeks so I’m excited. Pretty much right when I get back from Tofino, it’ll be straight to the airport where we go to LA, then Japan and Korea for work in 2 weeks. Sometimes when you work in the video game industry you have to travel, and it can be tiring! I’ll be sure to post photos while on the “road” though.

This weekend, I also tried out a new recipe I’ve been dying to try out. When I was in LA a couple weeks ago, I hit up Koi Restaurant with a few friends and had a delicious dish called “Miso Glazed Cod”. It was amazing. I’ve tried to replicate it here at home, and I think I did pretty good! If you get a chance to make it, let me know what you think. It’s got a sweet and sour, flavour similar to teriyaki or soy.

Miso Glazed Cod (Makes enough for 2 people)

Ingredients

2 fillets of Black Cod (I like to get mine from Granville Island)
saké
125 mL mirin
1 cup white miso paste (I like the organic kind, it’s a little lumpier but I think it tastes better)
1/2 cup of organic cane sugar (you can use regular sugar though)

Cooking Steps
1. Pour the saké and the mirin into a saucepan and bring it to a boil for 30 seconds to boil off the alcohol in the saké.
2. Add the miso paste and bring your heat to low and mix well. Try to get all the lumps out as much as possible. Once it has been mixed, bring the heat up to high and add sugar. Make sure you keep stirring and keep going at it until the sugar is clear and liquid like.
3. Let it cool for a while.
4. Marinate cod over night in the mixture or for 2 days. Set a little bit aside, separate from the cod.
(See optional side dish preparation)
5. Preheat oven to 400°F and put the fish on a baking pan or grill/broiler inside the oven. Broil for 5 minutes to brown the fish and then bake for another 15 minutes or so. The fish should be flaky and separate easily.
6. Arrange the fish with the side dishes and serve with a VERY small amount of sauce on the side (don’t use as much as I did in the picture).

Optional side dish preparation — Mashed Potatoes with Shallots, and Steamed Vegetables:

1. Roast some garlic in the oven (let me know if you don’t know how to do this).
2. Sauté the garlic and a few chopped in shallots in 2 tablespoons of butter for about 20 minutes just before you cook the fish.
3. While keeping an eye on the shallots, boil some quartered Yukon gold potatoes.
4. Steam some broccolini and baby carrots (bunch carrots) over the potatoes while they are boiling!
5. Scoop the potatoes out and let the vegetables keep on steaming (don’t let them overcook though). I like to add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil to the water so the vegetables get some flavour.
6. Stir the potatoes around in the shallots until the potatoes dry out a bit. Add a little milk if you have it, and some butter, and then mash the potatoes until they are creamy, or however you like them. Personally I like them a little more textures so I leave the potatoes a bit more whole.
7. Serve the vegetables and the potatoes! I used a cup to make the potato shape but that’s not necessary

Enjoy!

My good friend Dave M. has been trying to convince me to become a Lions fan for a long time. Personally, I’m not a big football fan, but I do love sports and I consider myself a BC girl. So hey, why not give it a try?

It just so happened that another friend of mine, Tom, was having a birthday yesterday and got a bunch of tickets for all his friends. We started off with a few shots of my favourite tequila each, and then… to the Lions game!

After going to numerous Canucks game at GM Place, I was completely floored by how much bigger BC Place was. The sheer number of empty seats was surprising too. I was happy to see a lot of orange in the crowd, but it really did seem like only a quarter of the crowd actually knew what was going on. I think everyone else was there to drink.

I was also surprised by the selection of food… not nearly as much as at GM Place. There were fewer stoppages in play (no “advertising breaks”), and definitely less ads and commercials in the stadium. That was actually really nice. I think hockey would be much more enjoyable without the flashing ads and loud commercials all the time. I will also say this — the DJ was way better at the Lions game.

Not just that, but the Lion claws and the orange were much more eye catching and “fierce” than the blue Canucks colours and the Orca. I mean really… an Orca?! I decided to get myself a Lions hat, and I tried my best to pay attention to the game. Geroy Simon was definitely one to watch, and (in my very little football knowledge), it seemed like the Lions played pretty good defense last night. Lions beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 40-10.

So Dave, yes, I had a lot of fun. I’m not sure if I’m going to convert to a Lions fan anytime soon, but I really had a great time. I’ll always be a ‘Nucks fan at heart, and I think I only have room for one sports team in me

After the game, the group headed to Library Square for some drinks and dancing. What a funny name for a club. And it was 80s night too. Perhaps a little too “cougar-ish” for me, a little too old school as well, but we still had an awesome time.

Good night!

I’ve actually been a photographer since I was 10 years old. At that age, there was really no such thing as a digital camera… or at least nothing we could afford or anything attainable. My dad had an old Pentax Film SLR that he had used when he was a teenager and had collected a number of lenses and filters. My dad showed me how to focus it, and sent me off on my own. So I started playing around with my dad’s old camera. I wish I had scanned the photos, but I don’t have them anymore.

I eventually bought an Olympus C-3030Zoom. I can’t believe 3 MP seemed like a lot at the time! It was an old school digital camera but actually quite cutting edge for the time. I even bought a couple filters for it. I decided to start a photo journal site and post my digital photos and did this for the next 4 years. Here are some of my photos with the Olympus:

In 2005 I finally bit the bullet and bought a digital SLR. I bought a Nikon D50 with the kit lens, a 70-300 zoom lens, and a number of filters. I eventually bought an underwater housing for it in 2007 (to take surfing and scuba photos with it). Some of my favourite photos were taken with this camera:

Finally, last September my D50 died and I bought my Nikon D80, which I love. Here are some recent photos:

Now that I’ve started blogging again, it’s tempting to make it a photo journal — but I don’t think I will this time. I am, however, only be using my photos on this site, unless otherwise credited. I’ve been debating whether or not lug my DSLR around with me everywhere, for the purposes of taking photos for my blog. I love my compact Canon camera, but is it enough for the average reader? Do people expect high quality photos all the time?

So what do you think… to lug my DSLR around, or not to lug?

In other news, my dear friend Jessica Whidden has her birthday today. Jess and I first met last year when I went to City Sports Physiotherapy. Snowboarding had torn up my knees and generally messed up my body, and Jessica put me all back together. She’s a registered massage therapist, and her sports massage is serious business. She also happens to be a super mom… she’s an amazing skier and a hardcore snowboarder, pretty much a professional rugby player, extremely intelligent, and also gorgeous. Not to mention that she’s a mother, working pretty much full time, and also in school for acupuncture and even doing her yoga teacher certification. Holy crap, if only all of us could be like her. Love you Jess, and thanks for healing me on a regular basis.

If you happen to be living and working in Vancouver in the video game industry, consider yourself very lucky. Not only have you scored a sweet job that’s fun and challenging, but you’ve become part of the small business workforce in BC. Anyone moving to BC from other provinces will tell you how hard it is to score a “real” business/office job out in BC. BC is made up of primarily satellite offices of companies that have a base in Ontario or Quebec, American companies looking for a cheaper branch office, natural resource companies, and old folks homes. If you want to work at a forestry company or do a sales job, you’re set. But if you’re looking for a marketing or business-related job, you’re probably going to have a hard time. That’s where the high tech industry comes in.

The video game industry makes up a significant portion of the high tech industry that has boomed in Vancouver over the past 15 years (4000-5000 people estimated in Vancouver). Programmers, artists, and producers usually don’t have to look far for work. The video game industry in its heyday must have been something to see — limousines and champagne parties complete with strippers at E3 bashes, expensive company Christmas parties, big performance review bonuses, and skyrocketing salaries.

The industry looks very different today with the slumping economy. A number of studios in Vancouver have closed, or let go of dozens to hundreds of employees. Radical Entertainment has all but shut down, laying off around 100 employees. Projects have come to an end, and many game projects have been canceled. Around the world, other studios are being closed. Ensemble Studios is done, NCSoft plans to layoff more, Iron Lore closed, Midway laid off tons… the list goes on. Not only that, but stock prices for some companies are fractions of what they were last year or two years ago.

Experts around the world have been saying how the video game industry is recession proof. People like to sit at home and play videos games when there’s not much money in their wallet, and video games have good value for entertainment, compared to other mediums. Yet, we’re still seeing signs of slowdown. Video game sales in August increased the least they have in the past 2 years. We won’t be able to truly measure how the video game industry does until November or later, when fall sales start coming in and the holiday season starts heating up. Some analysts expect to see light video game sales this season.

The video industry is very incestuous, and like everyone else, I talk to lots of good friends at other studios. People seem generally frustrated at their stock price that they’ve banked on using for a mortgage downpayment… evaporated into thin air. Tons of friends have been asking me for jobs at my company lately. There’s a lot of good talent wandering the streets right now.

So a lot of doom and gloom, eh?

Realistically though, we’re very fortunate. Our industry hasn’t been hit as hard as other industries, namely auto makers. GM recently cut 800 jobs, and in the past has cut over 40,000 jobs in one year. It also seems that other companies are still looking to Vancouver to grow their business. That’s a great sign! Seattle-based Big Fish Games is opening a 4,500 sq foot studio in Vancouver, and I hear EA is going to open another Yaletown studio soon.

So what can you do?

Take a look at companies that are based outside of our economy. There are tons of companies based in Asia or other parts of the world that don’t seem to be as affected by our economic slowdown.

Be grateful for your job in the video game industry. We’re really lucky to have our jobs and all the perks that we do. Stop grumbling so much about how your job sucks!

Do a good job. Work hard. Be diligent about your tasks and try to do more if you can.

Better yourself. Are you improving your skills by staying up to date on what’s new in the industry? Remember there’s a whole batch of kids every 6 months wanting to take your job. Highlight and use your experience as much as possible to show others you are worth keeping around, and take some extras classes or online courses on the side to keep your skills up to date.

Help out your friends. Try to offer a lending hand to any buddies who are looking for work by getting them in at your studio.

Be positive!

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I can’t wait to see what the video game industry does next.