IETF is over, and boy was it a tough week, acronyms everywhere, drafts and protocols being the main topic of conversation (the odd bit of sci-fi trivia), quite intimidating for a newbie, though all-in-all very interesting.

Today, Dee and I began our vacation, this morning we headed out to Capilano Bridge to see what it was all about, then came back into downtown, and headed across to Granville Island. The Granville market was almost Bazaar like, though not quite on the same scale. Very enjoyable to wander through. We even managed to pick up a few items so that jolly-fat-guy will have something to ho ho ho about over Christmas.

Last Wednesday evening I attended a meeting of the Vector Emergency Communications group. It was an AGM so I didn’t hang around too long, though I did get a quick tour of the EOC from Fred, VE7CX, before he had to tend to his AGM duties.

Early Thursday morning, I headed out to Burnaby Communications for a few more items for that jolly-fat-guy, and while there John, VE7AYP and Bill, VE7CIM, strongly suggested that I should attend the North Shore Amateur Radio Club’s monthly meeting.  So after a evening pass from herself was obtained (through sniffles), I headed out to North Shore.  Leif Erickson, VA7CAE and the rest of the club made me feel very welcome and during a break in the talk showed me around their communications centre.  The speaker for the evening was Mike Andrews, VE7MPA, regional manager in the BC, Ministry of Public Safefy and Solicitor General, who gave a very interesting presentation on the concept of  Disaster Response Routes, an overview of Disaster Response, and how Amateur Radio operators fit into the overall plan.  Very interesting indeed.

Next stop, Whistler!