This week in Vancouver is going to be great. It has started out fantastic so far:
Getting here: Brian and I flew up here on a $125 flight (it would normally be over $200 between SFO and Vancouver) that included a steak dinner with wine in economy class and the freedom to watch any one of 40 movies. It secret - Quantus Airlines. I recomend this new found strategy for getting around North America fly on International Airlines doing hops.
Vancouver Folk Music Festival: The festival is as old as I am 
and I went every year pretty much until I left for college in 1995. It feels so good to be back there. The music is lovely. The best performers last night were Dubblestandart a dub music group from Viena. They also had a very enjoyable Bhangra Celebration. Vancouver into embracing its Asianness as a city and this is another example of that. Here are flickr phots of the main stage etc.
It was also super interesting that federated labour, COPE, BC Nurses Union, BC Government Employees Union, BC Teachers Federation all had advertisements in the show brochure. Unions here are mainstream and middle class a fundamental part of the fabric of canadian life.
The one bad part was buying tickets online. The process was not clear and they didn't send a follow up e-mail to confirm purchase. I had thought my first transaction did not go through so we bought tickets again. It turns out it had gone through - if they had sent confirmation e-mails I would have known.
Coming up:
Social Tech Brewing in Vancouver: Katrin Verclas the new Executive Director of NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network) will be in town and having a dinner. I am very glad that she is holding this 'border-busting conversation'.
Liberty Alliance Meetings: on Tuesday and Wednesday should be great to see what goes on in inside. I will be under NDA so I can't really talk about it but I will be able to share a sense of what it is like energetically.
Identity Open Space: on Thursday and Friday is going to be fantastic. Lots of great folks are coming to participate. I am excited several friends are coming up from Seattle who work in Tech and Social good.
My Family: I am enjoying hanging out with my Aunt and will get to talk more with my cousin at a dinner they are putting together for his birthday. He is 14 and super super into World of Warcraft. He doesn't like school. I hope we can talk to him about the computer industry and how he might make a living in it given his proclivity towards them.
Related posts:
Unconference.net
