Vancouverites Audition for Canadian Idol! Canucks Make Solid Effort without Top D Men: VancouverIAM

This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from VancouverIAM where you will find the best blogs from Vancouver, BC as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring

Canadian Idol Auditions Come to Vancouver

Metroblogging Vancouver’s Rebecca Bollwitt announces that the 2008 Canadian Idol is coming to Metro Vancouver this weekend, February 9th and 10th, and you will have your chance to audition for the judges at Metropolis at Metrotown. People hoping to audition can arrive any time between 8 am and 4 pm on the audition days. The venues open at 6 am and if you show up before that, you will be turned away by security.

Bollwitt points out in her post that “you must be a Canadian Citizen or Landed Immigrant.” Those with students visas are not allowed to audition. In addition, remember that if you want the possibility to be seen on TV, “do not wear clothes with visible logos, trademarks or offensive language.” You can subscribe to Canadian Idol’s e-newsletter you can stay on top of any updates.

Canucks Make Good Effort Against “Best Team in Pacific Division.”

The latest post from Canucks Hockey Blog states that for “a team that played without five of its top six defensemen, the Vancouver Canucks did pretty good to earn a point last night.” Markus Naslund was definitely their best forward, while Matt Cooke and Alex Burrows “stirred things up pretty good.” Roberto Luongo made some big saves. Even Mike Weaver “stepped it up a notch.”

On behalf of your youngsters, “Mason Raymond looked more and more confident as the game went on.” And the “patchwork d” played fairly well “until about the 10-minute mark of the third period.” There was a lot of effort for that “single point against the best team in the Pacific Division.” Believe it or not, states the post, if they beat the Thrashers, “they'll have taken half of the available points in the road trip.”

Richmond School District Takes the Lead in Energy Efficiency

Colleen Kimmett, writing for The Tyee, reports that the provincial government “has mandated that the entire public sector -- including school districts in B.C. -- become carbon neutral.” What this means is that “for every tonne of carbon emitted, one tonne must be eliminated.” The issue is how schools will do this while keeping their buildings warm and well-lit. Kimmet says schools would “do well to study up on the Richmond school district, which has been honing its energy efficiency before the words ‘carbon footprint’ were part of everyday vernacular.”

According to the post, Eric Thorliefson, Richmond’s district manager of facilities was vocal “about the need for more efficient school buildings for years.” When natural gas prices escalated in the late 1990’s, “senior management decided to follow his lead.”They signed a $5.4 million contract with B.C. Hydro “for boiler control system upgrades in 50 of its 54 schools.” The upgrades responded better to occupancy needs “instead of running at full tilt all the time.” Thorliefson says it only took 2 years after the project was comleted in ’03 to pay for it, and now they are actually saving money, which has allowed the district “to take on more extensive lighting and water efficiency upgrades.” Today they save about $1 million in utility costs, which gets funneled back into the classrooms.

Celebrate Chinese New Year This Weekend

Chinese in Vancouver reminds us that this Sunday, in celebration of Chinese New Year, “over 2000 people will be parading the streets of Vancouver Chinatown” for the annual Chinese New Year festival “while tens of thousands spectators are expected to rally for the arrival the Year of the Rat.” The annual parade begins at noon on February 10. “The colourful stream of parade teams will march through Pender, Main Street, Keefer and will finish at Carrall Street” and will take 90 minutes to finish the route.

The parade will include “politicians and reps from various benevolent associations, the ‘God of Fortune,’ veterans, firefighters, cops, Chinese dancers, lion dancers, kung fu performers…” a multi-ethnic group. It is believed the entire Vancouver city council will be there “together with the premier and other provincial politicians.” According to the post, other various programs include classical Chinese music in Sun Yatsen Garden and Cantonese opera at the Chinatown Plaza.

About VancouverIAM                                  

VancouverIAM is part of a groundbreaking network of city-focused blog aggregation, user generated media and social networking websites currently rolling out across North America. Each IAM website filters and organizes blog content as well as offering video upload capabilities, social networking, blog authoring, favourites lists and rumours. The IAM Network is a division of SoMedia Networks Inc which also operates Inveslogic.com, Greenedia.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com. For more information or to register an account, visit VancouverIAM.com.