It seems to me lately that we’re all living in a little bubble. In Vancouver. A Vancouver bubble.

When is the economy really going to hit us?

People have been talking about the bad economy, but how much has it really affected us? Yes — it’s true, real estate prices are dropping. But not that much. Yet. Yes, some video game studios have closed down, and across the city there have been a number of layoffs in different industries and office closures. And yup, people have been going to Starbucks a lot less.

But what I’ve really noticed is how Vancouver seems relatively unaffected. Part of why I’m noticing this is because of my recent move.

There’s one major thing I noticed while looking for apartments: People can’t sell their overpriced condos anymore, so they are renting them out. But they are renting them out for ridiculous sums of money… that no one wants to pay. $2700 for a 2 bedroom that is 800 square feet is too much. WAY too much. $2200 for a 1 bedroom that is 600 square feet (a.k.a a shoe box) is way too much. Do landlords really think they are going to be able to rent out their apartments for that much?

I also noticed that many apartments had been vacant for months. Hmm, could have something to do with the rental prices.

Another mind blowing observation… stores are barely going on sale. How can they stay in business? Most furniture stores I have been to have been completely devoid of customers. And their prices? Still as high as last year, if not higher. Most stores I have been to these days don’t seem to be offering any significant sales. Why?

People still seem to be shopping at Gucci and Prada. They’re still buying nice cars. They’re still going out for expensive dinners. People are still taking extravagant vacations. Has this decreased? Or is it still the same?

Whenever I ask anyone if they are worried for their job, they say no. Everyone’s business is going well. And everyone’s finances are just fine. Apparently.

Are they lying? Are they in denial? Or are most people in Vancouver doing just fine?

My gut tells me that the recession is going to hit Vancouver hard. And while no one wants it to happen, or while people think it won’t happen… it will. I think it is better to be prepared than to be proud.

Here are my rinky-dinky tips in this economy

1. If you are a store owner or a business owner, discount your prices. People don’t want sales, they want deep price cuts. Better to make less profit than no profit at all, right? And let people know about it. Don’t be ashamed.

2. Bring your lunches to work rather than eating out. I can post a nice chicken noodle soup recipe if anyone is interested. Soup is a great way to bring a healthy lunch to work.

3. Check your car. Take anything out of it that can weigh it down or waste gas. And check your tire pressure. You’d be surprised how many people drive on flat tires and waste dollars worth of gas every day. And drive less if you can!

4. If you must drink, drink at home vs. drinking out. It’s so so much cheaper.

5. Avoid buying new clothes or shoes/accessories. You probably don’t need them at this exact moment in time. Personally I haven’t bought a single piece of clothing since November, and before that sometime in June.

6. Hold underground dinner parties instead of big parties at a fancy restaurant. My friend Jess clued me into this one. There are a number of caterers and chefs holding “underground” dinner parties. Basically how it works is you get in contact with a chef who does this, and they prepare a set meal for you and your dinner party at a local rented space. You can bring your own booze! This is a great inexpensive way to have a nice meal with your friends out. I’m planning on doing one soon so I’ll let you know how it goes.

7. Start budgeting. If you don’t already have one, it’s probably a good idea to start a budget. There are so many great online resources to get you started.

8. Stop eating out, start eating in. It takes only 10-30 minutes to make a really good quick dinner. Why not? Consider cooking with less meat. It’s really expensive and it has a larger environmental footprint.

9. Haggle on prices. I do this all the time. There’s almost nothing you can’t get cheaper in the retail world. Cars, clothes, food, everything. I always ask for a discount. Perhaps a separate blog post on this later.

10. Travel locally. If you need to go on vacation, why not go somewhere near home! British Columbia is one of the most beautiful places in the world. From Tofino to Galliano, to Hornby, to Kelowna, and so much more… you’d be surprised how much neat stuff there is close to home! And consider opting for slightly further away destinations such as Apex or Sun Peaks instead of Whistler. It’s cheaper and often the skiing/snowboarding is even better!

11. Switch to a credit card with a lower interest rate. You’d be surprised how much competition there is out there for credit cards.

12. Buy off Craigslist. I’ve bought just about everything through Craigslist and I can’t be happier. 50-90% what you would pay in stores. Sure, it may be used but you can often find like-new finds. And don’t forget to haggle. Whether it is apartment rentals, clothes, furniture, or electronics… Craigslist is always a good idea!

13. Drink free coffee at work instead of paying for name-brand coffee at Starbucks or Timmy’s.

14. Share/trade things with your friends. Games, movies, books, TV shows, clothes, booze etc etc… you’d be surprised how much stuff you can get for free just by doing this. And it’s a nice way to re-connect too.

15. And most importantly.. if you’re an employee, work hard at your job. Let your employer know through your work ethic that you are grateful for your job and you want to excel at your job. Make yourself a good investment.

Thoughts?

I realize I haven’t updated my blog in about a week, but I have a pretty good reason.

Last Tuesday, January 27th, the video game studio I work for, Humanature Studios (Nexon Publishing North America), closed down and all employees were let go.

Fortunately, I had known for a few weeks that this was going to happen and I had been mentally and professionally preparing myself. Still — nothing can prepare you to see the faces of 93 other individuals looking shocked, stunned, and heartbroken when the announcement was made.

I have been putting off this post for a long time, because I don’t really know how to write about this.

We had an incredible CEO, Alex Garden. And an incredible team of executives. My boss was amazing; working for him has been a significant turning point in my career. And just about all employees were handpicked from various game studios… making a dream team of video game developers.

So what happened?

Well, as I’ve been saying… no one is safe. The economy affects everyone. Our “parent” company, Nexon, abruptly decided that they no longer wanted to financially fund our North American game studio. There’s nothing anyone can do about that. It’s a real shame. We worked hard and loved our work.

The past week I’ve been helping tear down the studio and sell of the equipment. That was definitely hard to do. The execs managed to put together an incredible full-pay severance package for all of us, so fortunately we will be okay for a few months no matter what happens.

Including the recent Black Box and Propaganda layoffs, this makes just over 700 video game job layoffs in the past 6 months. The market is saturated. It’s hard times for devs looking for jobs right now.

So what do I do?

I feel like I’m at a crossroads in my career. I can either go forward, back, or sideways.

I have been interviewing with several companies over the past few weeks, and will continue to do so over the next two. I was planning on taking a short paid break from working for a while, but I think it will be in my best interests to start working sooner and be double paid for a while.

I’m not sure what direction I want my career to go in at this point. I’m interviewing with a company backed by a huge multinational in Kelowna. And it would be a challenging Global Senior Manager position which would be a step up… but it’s in Kelowna. That poses a problem for being with my significant other, family, and friends. There’s also a position at a software developer in Gastown, that I’m also really excited about… but I need to make sure that there is opportunity for career growth there. There’s also the option of taking a more relaxed easier sales position at a Fortune 500 company I highly respect and have worked for before, but I know that while it may be the best option for me to continue my activity-filled personal life, it won’t help me career-wise.

I want to make the right choice for both my career and my personal life. Is it possible to have the best of both worlds?

I apologize for the lack of updates lately, and for the lack of photos in this post. It just didn’t feel right.

I hope everyone is doing well. I will be updating my blog more frequently now that I’ve been able to get past this difficult post.

It does seem like there’s a lot of waiting these days. I have some somewhat significant (bad and good) personal news to share, but it’s going to have to wait a bit.

My photography portfolio book finally arrived and I’m so excited to see it. I can’t wait to get home to see how it turned out. I’ve been editing the Holiday Boarding short mini snowboarding HD movie and it’s about halfway done. I should have it up tomorrow if all goes well.

In my gaming life, I finally finished Gears of War 2 (also finished Horde mode), and Prince of Persia. Both were fantastic. Next on the list: Trying out Left 4 Dead, Too Human, and eagerly awaiting Resident Evil 5.

Hockey/skating is going well in the mornings. I’m really enjoying the progress I’m making, albeit rather slowly. It feels good to skate around early in the morning before most of the world wakes up, and to get some exercise. I wish I was a better skater and I could just focus on the hockey portion, but sadly I’m having to start skating and stop being such a newborn deer As for snowboarding… yes! I am going up on Sunday to Cypress on some free passes which is always nice. Here’s hoping the weather cooperates (I hear that it won’t).

I no longer have my work Blackberry and so I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do about my personal cellphone. I have a really, really old Nokia from 6 years ago and I’m on Fido. The problem is that Fido doesn’t have any Blackberries, just the iPhone. I’m rather anti-Apple so that’s not really an option. Will Fido ever get Blackberries? I could switch to Rogers, but then I’ll lose the $240 Fido dollars I’ve accumulated. Argh. What should I do if I want to get a Blackberry?

In other Vancouver news, EA Black Box laid off 150-200 people today. They are closing down the studio. Also today, Microsoft announced they are going to lay off 5,000 employees. Scary, scary times. Let me tell you — no one is safe.

But I’m not all doom and gloom today… LOST was on last night and it was fantastic.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED LAST NIGHT’S PREMIERE EPISODE OR IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW LOST, I SUGGEST YOU STOP READING NOW.

Last night blew my mind. LOST never fails to deliver on season premieres and finales, but last night was special. I feel like, for the first time, I’m actually starting to understand the series. And I love it.

Best Moments of Last Night:

• Hurley throwing a hot pocket at Ben, and Ben’s subsequent eye squint
• Sayid nailing a guy with a frying pan right into sharp knives in a dishwasher
• Hurley’s gas station shirt
• Hurley’s 60 second recap to his mom
• Frogurt’s epic flaming arrow death (click here for animated GIF)
• Seeing Marvin Candle and Daniel Faraday in the same scene

Points of Interest:

• Richard Alpert gives Locke a compass to be Alpert’s “constant” during the time traveling. In previous episodes, Alpert gave the boy-Locke a test between a number of objects, including a compass. Alpert was intially excited when the young Locke picked up the compass, and was visibly disappointed when he chose the knife.
• The older lady from the end of the episode may look familiar. You’re correct. We saw Mrs. Hawking during Desmond’s time shifting as the lady who refused to sell him a ring for Penny, and as someone who tried to teach Desmond about the rules of time. You can read more about her here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ms._Hawking
• Also of note about Mrs. Hawking is that she appeared to be doing some time calculations in the room under the church. She appeared to be plotting the locations of where the island has been. In Season 3 producer commentary, she is referred to as a “temporal policeman”… aka a TIME COP. COOOOOL! How cool would it be with a time police war? Mrs. Hawking and Ben vs. Widmore and co. Yes. Please.
• Is Jin dead? I really hope not. If he is I’m going to be REALLY upset. Some bright signs: His name shows up in the beginning credits for both episodes (usually reserved for main characters) and in the recap episode, the voiceover said that Sun “believe” Jin is dead. Maybe he’s not? Although showing the explosion again was almost confirmation that he is dead.
• In Season One, Locke found his legs not working… and in the premiere episode we saw him standing just about in the same place where this happened when he got shot.
• Desmond now an incredibly important character. The hatch implosion un-stuck him from time and fate, and so the rules no longer apply to him. It’ll be interesting to see how him and Faraday play out over the season.

Interesting Theories I’ve Read:

• That the numbers, which were of great importance in Season One, are part of the Velanzeti equation. They predict when the wortld will end. So perhaps Dharma Initiative’s goal was to change one of the values of this equation so that they can prevent the end of the world.
• Is Miles (the creepy guy who can talk to dead people) Marvin Candle’s son?
• The sickness and crazy behaviour that the French lady’s crew was talking about is actually time travel sickness, the same that Desmond had and now Charlotte is experiencing?
• Are the whispers on the island simply the survivors being able to hear themselves, except in the past or future when they time traveled?

MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!

The video game company I work for recently won a Best Company to Work for in BC 2008 award. The list, published by BC Business Magazine, celebrates the Top 20 companies in BC whose employees have rated them the highest. The list is broken into the 10 companies with more than 100 employees, and the top 10 companies with less than 100 employees.

Of the 20 companies listed, 3 are video game companies. What is it about video game companies that make them so rewarding to work for?

In previous years (during university etc), I worked for a number of large Fortune 500 companies in business positions (Kraft Canada, Bell Communications, Citigroup Financial). Despite the massive amount of financial backing and resources that these companies had, they could never match the vibrant culture of the video game industry.

I started working in the video game industry immediately after graduation, and worked for a medium-large (~150 employees) Vancouver video game company known primarily for strategy games. The beautiful office was located in the Bentall 5 building, set amongst finance and law firms. Even though I was previously a “suit”, I enjoyed walking around the building in my jeans and hoodie. I missed the formality and confidence that business dress exuded, but I enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere of my workplace. Free pop, free beer on Fridays, an arcade machine, and a foosball table were among the many amenities.

The video game industry is well-known for its perks, from Christmas bonuses to limousine rides and big parties. That seems to be toning down a bit in the economy and with a number of large studios and publishers getting shut down, but the fun-loving culture is still there.

The current video game company I’m with is no different. Fun people and a great work environment. I love being able to come in at 10 AM if I’m tired, or come in at 8 AM and leave early if necessary. Flexible hours are so important these days with people being involved in a number of different activities. I love the champagne at company announcements, the cool company-branded gifts, and sweet parties and events. The benefits are great too at video game companies, from full health care coverage, massage, and more.

The darkest side of the video game industry could potentially be the long overtime hours that are worked. Many Electronic Arts employees I’ve talked to attest to staying overnight and working on weekends for weeks or months on end near a deadline. I’ve seen that at the previous video game company I worked for… late night overtime meals are provided and people work late into the wee hours of the morning. Mandatory overtime is sometimes even implemented to keep the project on schedule. Is it a small price to pay for all the other perks?

Fortunately, the current company I’m working for seems to really understand the work-life balance. Employees aren’t happy if they are are overworked, and the company benefits overall from the creativity and energy  of its employees if they are well-rested and happy. People aren’t allowed to work late here, they actually need permission to do so. It’s a breath of fresh air.

What do you think? Are video game companies the cream of the crop in terms of companies to work for? Are there other better industries out there? Is there a dark side to the video game industry? Do you think work-life balance is important?

I feel so much better today. As many people have been blogging about lately, there’s something about November that makes us feel down and maybe on edge. I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and have had to come to terms (again) with who I am and the people I want to surround myself with. I know that good friends are invaluable and hard to come by, and my plan is to surround myself with people who I love, and people who love me. A couple interesting things that have come across my my path…

First off, for you Vancouver Canucks fans, there’s a film showing this Monday, November 10th at some Cineplex and Landmark theatres (not all, so make sure you check before going) called “Forever Faithful“. It profiles Canucks fans and their passion for the team. The trailer looks really good. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it since I’ll be out of town in Tofino this weekend, but I’m definitely planning on picking up the DVD. You can read the Canucks press release here. Let me know what you think if you go see it!

Also in video game news, THQ is yet the next video game company to have significant layoffs. Their new “strategic” plan is to close down 5 studios, including Paradigm Entertainment (Stuntman, Pilotwings, Spy Hunter), Mass Media (Full Spectrum Warrior), Helixe (De Blob), Locomotive Games (Destroy All Humans!), and Sandblast Games. Wow. Not looking so rosy in both the publishing and development side of games right now. Basically, these cuts are going to eliminate about 250 jobs, which is 17 percent of all studio employees.

I finally managed to go through a few more of my photographs from my work trip to Japan. These ones are from a day trip that my boss and I did out to Kamakura. It’s really beautiful. We saw a number of different Buddhist and Shinto shrines, and climbed many hills and stairs, and walked across a long bridge to an island to climb up even more stairs… but it resulted in an incredible view.

Those aren’t Swastikas, they are religious symbols in Japan. Street signs on the way to Kamakura.

Beautiful pond

There were thousands of these statues everywhere. And the interesting/horrific part… each of these statues means there was an abortion or miscarriage. Japanese women would come here and place one of these statues as an offering or a prayer. The sheer number of statues in the temple made my stomach flip.

Bamboo at Kamakura Temple.

Flowers at the temple.

Praying Statues… very cute. I wonder how old these are. I wonder if “cuteness” is something that existed in Japan long before Hello Kitty and the like

Deep red Japanese umbrella…

Scariest spider ever! These guys were just hanging out everywhere. Made my skin crawl just trying to be close enough to it to take a good photo!

The largest Buddhish statue in Japan.

Flowers on bamboo. It was so neat to see so much bamboo everywhere.

The Bay at Shonan (view from the top). A long hike to get here, but it was worth it. We were also able to see a number of surfers in the bay. I already put up a photo of this in my previous post.

So there are surfers in Japan! My first hint that I wasn’t delusional to go surfing in Japan. These guys were surfing at Shonan, and I was planning on going out to the coast at Ichinomiya, but it was still rad to see all these older guys getting on their motorbikes and heading out to the surf.

And another Japanese surfer! It seems like the motorbikes/motorcycles/scooters are the preferred method of transportation for surfers in this area. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable hitching my precious board to a bike!

Japanese surfing ad… neato!

Fancy eating octopus? These were being sold on sticks everywhere. The vendors would grill them for you

It’s a different way of life out here, than it is in Tokyo or Vancouver even…

Shinto shrine… so serene.

Each of these are prayers.. they are tied to the fence.

I felt like I was at the end of the world..

That’s it for now folks. I’m off to Tofino for the entire (extra long) weekend for some late season cold surfing, so I’ll be back on Tuesday. See you then.