I have been so busy and when I feel stressed out the last thing I feel like doing is writing. The past few months for me have been a transition period; on the job front, I have made a major decision to leave my current work place and go to a new job at British Columbia Children’s Hospital in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which I will start in April. I have been feeling burnt out in my current job for quite some time and have decided to follow the original reason I went to nursing school, which was to work in Pediatrics.  However, I am very, very sad to leave all of my amazing coworkers and friends at Vancouver General Hospital.  I am still going to continue to work at Vancouver General on a Casual basis but going into a new job is scary and unknown and I don’t know for-sure if this change is going to be what I need.   Also, I have been taking a distance-education course at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) which is a mandatory 9 credit series of courses as a pre-requisite to work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.   As I have not having done any schooling in almost 7 years it has been challenging to sit down and write long papers. I am finding it takes a little while to remember how to write a good essay.

Personally, in October Tyler and I became the God Parents to one of my best friend’s little girl, Caitlin Rose.  She was born in October 2009 and it has been so special for us to be part of her life and watching how much she has changed and grown within the past few months.  She is such a precious little girl.

Caitlin

Tyler and I also had an amazing vacation to Costa Rica over the Christmas holidays.  Usually, I don’t like to travel during Christmas time because there is such great snow to ski on around Vancouver but we chose this particular time to travel as it was Tyler’s 30th birthday and his dream was to be outside of North America for his 30th.  I had been to Costa Rica in 2006 and fell in love with the country so I was excited to introduce Tyler to it and show him a more independent style of travel rather than all-inclusive vacations.  We took local buses and stayed in a small hotel on the Caribbean Coast called the Banana Azul.  Tyler did a great review of the Banana Azul on his blog and I would highly recommend staying there.  We had a great time and hope to go back and visit soon.

Happy 30th Tyler!

Playa Negra, Costa Rica – The beach we stayed on

Banana Azul

Also, this February, my city of Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympics.  I am planning to write a quick post about my time during the Olympics but it was great to partake in all the activities and events happening around the city.  Tyler and I also had tickets to the Ski Jump event in Whistler which we had purchased in 2008, and we really enjoyed attending that event.  The only downside of the Olympics is that I have not been skiing as much as I would have liked recently due to the road closures of Whistler and the lack of snow on our local mountains during the month of February.

Finally, I have always been interested in photography and mostly enjoy taking pictures of travel, landscapes and nature.  I have never owned a dSLR but since Tyler has gotten his new camera body I have been playing around with his old Canon Rebel digital dSLR.  To my surprise I have REALLY enjoyed getting outside and taking some pictures.  In school I loved art and music and as an adult I have struggled to find some sort of creative outlet.  Most people would take classes but with my work schedule being rotating and doing nights and overtime I can’t commit to doing an art class once a week.  Anyways, I am excited that I have found a new hobby that I am enjoying.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos I have taken so far:

So, I could spend pages writing about what I have been up to the past couple of months but basically, this is pretty much it =)

An Unknown Author expressing local resistance by writing on a Woodward’s Sign prior to it’s Deconstruction in 2006 – Photo by Eyeye

On the heels of my last post, Gentrification of Vancouver’s DTES and the impact on our local Hospitals, I wanted to quickly mention the recent completion of Woodward’s first of two towers this September 2009 ready to sell on Vancouver’s housing market.  I was inspired by this image as it is truly speaks about Gentrification in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.  I came across this image while browsing for photos on Flickr for my last post.  The image was copywrited but I asked to use it and its owner, Eyeye,  kindly gave me permission.   Eyeye says on his Flickr page that it’s actually a quote of the song “Common People” by the band Pulp.  This picture was taken in June 2006 prior to the Woodwards building being turned into Condos and Commercial space.  Unfortunately, my other post had already gone live but I was so struck by this image I wanted to mention it.

If you are interested more in what the Woodward’s condos look like now there is a great article by Sebastian Albrecht, in the Vancouver Observer with neat pictures of what the suites look like now.

Homeless – Photo by Ed Yourdon

Personally, working as a Registered Nurse in our city’s biggest Hospital I am confronted with this issue of displaced people from the DTES everyday I go to work.  New condos and a lack of subsided housing for the poor and mentally ill have made our DTES residents flock to our local hospitals, desperately asking  for the Hospital System to provide them with some sort of housing.   They will often have multiple presentations at the Hospital with drug overdoes, bed bug infestations and/or suicide attempts in hopes of getting admitted to the Hospital for a safe place to sleep, medications and food for a few days.

Hospital Bed – Photo by bennylin0724

The real estate in the DTES is considered desirable as it has magnificent views of the North Shore Mountains and is close to the ocean and Vancouver’s downtown core.  Housing in Vancouver is notoriously expensive and now local developers have focused their eye to the DTES community to build new Condominiums and ‘revitalize’ parks and spaces such as Oppenheimer Park and the Woodward’s Building.

Buildings Gastown and DTES – Photo by ecstaticist

With the 2010 Olympic Games less than six months away and new buildings being built in Gastown and Crosstown our DTES residents are slowly being forced to move more East.  In addition, Vancouver is in the global spotlight, with the draw of the 2010 Olympic Games and our geographical location of a temperate West Coast climate, a migration of displaced homeless Canadians from other Provinces arrive in Vancouver daily, seeking respite in our streets and hospitals.

I truly believe that displacing DTES residents by Gentrifying their Community is not the answer to conquer homelessness and poverty.  We need to work as a community because no matter how hard Vancouver tries to forget or throw money at the DTES, its residents will not disappear, nor, will it force these residents forever out of Vancouver, because, this is their home too.

Homeless, shivering and sleeping under a piece of plastic from the November Vancouver Rain – Photo by Quinet

Some people are choosing to get married today for luck and others are using it as a marketing scheme.  Las Vegas is apparently having discount rates for weddings and Hollywood released the Tim Burton Movie ‘9′ today.  Google is even releasing their special number 9 ‘Google Doodle’.

Wedding Cake Topper – Photo by Steena

Interestingly, today in the Chinese culture the number 9 is considered lucky and associated with a long life.  It is rumored that the palace at Beijing’s Forbidden City was built with 9,999 rooms!

Beijing’s Forbidden City 2008 – Photo by Pjmorse

Just the opposite of that in Japanese culture number 9 is associated with suffering. Today Japanese people most likely avoid hospital rooms or cease building plans so as not to bring bad luck.

Creepy Hospital Corridor – Photo by Laura Mary

What does 09/09/09 mean to you, besides a rainy Vancouver day?

I am very excited to start my own personal blog and connect with others in the Social Media world.  I also want to thank the love of my life Tyler Ingram for making this blog possible by introducing me to the world of blogging/social media and taking his time to help develop and do the custom PHP/HTML coding to my site and allowing the idea of my own blog to become a reality for me.

So Welcome….

Three Robins Hanging out a the Bird Bath – Photo by Anyjazz65