Here comes the rain again

Today was an amazing day. The sun was shining. Big, bright and yellow! I was driving around lunch time, window down, on a 11th of January. For me, this is so cool! I like it so much, I was laughing in my car. Probably because I know back in Quebec it is at least -10C. Here is a picture of today, at 1pm.

Photo from www.katkam.ca - great webcam site

I was so happy that I had to post a quick status update of Facebook about it.  Quickly I got jokes about the rain from east coast friends.  Yes, it does rain a lot during the winter saison and fall... and spring... and even summer.  Some people prefer the cold days of winter with more sunlight, some prefer warmer temperature with rain.  In the end, it is a question of preferences.

But I prefer Vancouver weather for 4 main raisons

Less extreme temperature

Over a year the temperature is more constant. Some people joke that Vancouver has only 3 saisons: summer, fall and spring.  It's kind of true. When you look at the Vancouver climate charts, you see that the temperature varies on average from 0C to 22C.  Where the Montreal climate chart shows a variation over a year of 42C (27C - -15C). I prefer less heat and less cold. 

Less drastic change of temperature

It seems like we see more wide change in temperature within 24 hours during winter in Quebec than it used to.  It could rain at 0C and the next day it would be -20C. Then it is icy everywhere. Terrible for roads and structure. Here is an example of the temperature over 24h the day we move from Quebec this past December 28th 2011.  I tried to find statistics to back this up, but I couldn't, except that TripAdvisor.ca mention 'Québec City is one of the top world cities for the variation in temperature observed within the same day in wintertime'.

Less humid during the summer

I hate humidity! All sticky and sweaty. Yuk! There is an average of 4.5 days with humidex above 30 per year in Vancouver compare to almost 45 days in Montreal. Way too many for me!

I go to the snow.  It doesn't come to me
I like snow and I don't mind the cold that much. But I definitely prefer going to the snow when I feel like skiing or snowshoeing rather that having to deal with it everyday.  When I want to have fun in the snow, I go to the North Shore mountains like, Cypress, Grouse or Seymour for some nice snow conditions or to Whistler for some amazing!

And to put things in perspective in regards to the rain, some interesting facts and statistics about the rain

• Montreal has a constant average of 80mm of rain throughout the year.  While in Vancouver the average is under 100mm, but it has 4.5 months, under 80mm, with 2, July & August, below 40mm, which make Vancouver's summer dryer than Montreal!
• There is also on average 1928 hours of sunlight per year in Vancouver, compare to 2028 in Montreal.  So there is only 5% more hours of sunlight in Montreal.

In the end it is a question of preferences and what is more aligned with who we are, what we like. And the older I get the more I know who I am and what I like.

A question of numbers

I'v been asked often how many people is there in Vancouver, how big is it, how does it compare to Montreal, Quebec or Toronto. So here are some numbers and statistics.

Let's look at the population of the city. Not the metro area or greater area, but the city.

Rank	Municipality	Land Area (km2)	Population 2006	Density
1	Toronto	630.18	2,503,281	3,972/km2
2	Montreal	365.13	1,620,692	4,439/km2
8	Vancouver	114.71	578,041	5,039/km2
10	Quebec City	454.26	491,142	1,081/km2

(the complete 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population)

Toronto is the most populated city followed by Montreal. Vancouver is 8th, just a bit before Quebec City. But the Greater Vancouver is over 2.3 million residents which is the 3rd most populous metropolitan area in Canada after Toronto (5.1 millions) and Montreal (3.6 millions). The greater Quebec City area is 0.75 million, which puts it in 7th place for greater/metro area.

What is interesting is that Vancouver is the most densely populated Canadian city with 5,039 people per square kilometre. It is the 4th most densely populated city in North America among those with a population above 500,000 — after New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City. Vancouver is characterized by high-rise residential with commerces of the 1st floor. People do actually lives in the downtown areas, where often in cities, downtown is empty at night. Here is a very nice picture of downtown Vancouver at dusk from Magnus Larsson of Malmö, Sweden. Magnus is a Technical Art Director at Ubisoft Massive.

Vancouver has been debating "ecodensity" a lot recently. Ecodensity are ways in which "density, design, and land use can contribute to environmental sustainability, affordability, and livability." For example bylaws have changed in 2009 to allow laneway housing.

Vancouver is a city composed of a lot neighbourhoods, which is ofter refer to communities. Each communities a distinct character and/or ethnic mix. There are 23 communities in Vancouver. Some of the more known communities are, Downtown, West End, Kitsilano and Grandview often refer as Commercial area or The Drive. This is where I used to live. We are hoping to find a place in this area.

The other thing I would like to talk to you about is the population age. In statistic we use the median age. The median age is an age "x", such that exactly one half of the population is older than "x" and the other half is younger than "x".

	Median age 2001	Median age 2009	Variation
Toronto	35.8	37.8	1.9
Vancouver	37.0	39.0	2.0
Montreal	37.6	39.2	1.6
Canada	37.2	39.5	2.3
Quebec	39.3	41.9	2.6

Here is the complet table for median age for metropolitan area at July 1, 2001 and 2009 and its graphical representation.

What you notice is that Quebec City is older than Canadian median, but not that different from the other major cities. After looking at those numbers it wasn't explaining to me why I feel like Vancouver is a lot younger than Montreal and even more than Quebec City. The answer came from that chart in the article about the age profiles on the City of Vancouver web site

As you see the curves for Canada, BC and metro Vancouver are fairly similar, but the one of the city of Vancouver shows a lot more people in the 20-40 age groupe with a spike at 20. So the city itself has a lot more younger people.

It's Christmas time!

This year we are spending Christmas with our families, just before leaving.  It is always fun to celebrate with our loved ones during this special moment of the year. This year my dad and his partner came to visit early and a few days after my mom and my grand-mother. It was fun to have them close to me, in Quebec City.  They couldn't stay with us, the house isn't in a sleep-over state, but a good friend works at the Chateau Laurier, so he managed to get us had a great room overlooking the St-Laurent river. Thanks Guy! We visited the old city, had dinner at Bistro B and Cosmos Cafe.  In the morning I made them brunch. Good times before saying goodbye.

This Christmas we are with my in-laws in St-Pascal, just north of Kamouraska.  It seems like we just eat, play cards, eat, nap, eat and drink.  I need to finish this post quickly because I want to regain my position of President at a game of Trou-de-cul! Fun times!

This made me think of past Christmas and future ones to come. When you live away from your family, spending Christmas with them is a choice. It is not an easy choice to make, because you want to be with your family, but traveling over Christmas is a big production. Flying during this period is never easy and not the cheapest time. You want to visit both families, if not more with the reconstructed families. Then there is the car rental, the winter driving, the temporary bed in all the places visited, etc. A few years ago I felt like touring across Quebec. I even received a touring t-shirt from a friend! The cost (time & money) of visiting during Christmas is high. So over the past years when I was living in Vancouver, I spent a few Christmas on my own, away from my family. 

There are two things that come to mind when I think about those times. Vancouver is a ghost town on Christmas day.  Seriously a ghost town. There is no one in the city. Everything is close. The 1st time I spent Christmas alone ('02), I just landed in Vancouver and the only thing open was a Subway. Very tasty Christmas dinner! Later on I discovered that movie theaters are opening at noon and everybody is in Whistler. Christmas in Whistler is a lot of fun!


The second things, which is awesome, is that as soon as you start having a few local friends, they invite you over.  Even if you don't know them a lot, they invite you in their families for dinner. It seems like there is a tradition of not letting friends alone on Christmas. Probably because Vancouver is a transient city, with a lot of newcomers, people think of others' situation. I don't see this as much here in Quebec.  Probably because I have my family here. But this made me think of those who I know are not local and I make sure they are not alone. In fact, on most holidays, you either get invites to join a friends with their family or you get an invitation to an orphans dinners. Easter, Thanksgiving. I ended up having memorable Christmas diner this way.


Well I miss my turn at a game of trou-de-cul.  Now it is 500! 


Merry Christmas everyone.

All I want for Christmas is a transporter

After the public announcement of our departure with the 1st blog post, I realized there were plenty of relatives and friends I wish I could have taken the time to tell in person instead of via a blog post.


I wish I had the chance to visit everyone. Go see them at their new house, newly renovated apartment, see their kids, or sit down in a coffee shop, around a nice meal and a great bottle of wine and talk. But I couldn't get to it. Busy personal/professional life, schedule conflicts and different cities. 


We were living in Quebec City and most of my relatives and long time friends are in or around Montreal. It has been a pleasure to tease them about the Habs, the mayor Tremblay or the road conditions, but even an easy 3 hour drive is just enough to make it think twice about a quick back and forth the same day.  You can't go just for a coffee and come back.  It has to be an entire day thing. It's frustrating because it's so close.  You don't need to take a plane. When I think about it. I saw my mom 4 or 5 times this year, compared to 2 or 3 times when I was living in Vancouver.  So then why not live in Vancouver?


The other main reason why I couldn't tell earlier is that as a team manager I wanted to make sure I was leaving my current company and my team in a good condition.  Making sure they where in good hands and on a good path.  So I had to tell everyone just a week before my last day. I'm sure my friend Liza Wood know what I'm talking about. She has a good blog about management, process and leadership.  And now these days the only way to keep something out of the public is not to tell anyone.  Because soon enough it ends up on Facebook.  


So all I want for Christmas is a transporter

There is always a first time

I'm one week away from flying to Vancouver, again.  It will be my 3rd time! Third time! 3! Oui, oui, trois fois! They say third time's a charm! Does it mean that the first 2 times weren't successful? No, not at all. Maybe the 1st time wasn't that successful.  Maybe not. Let's say it was a life experience. A time to discover and learn. 


The 1st time I moved to Vancouver was after my 1st job at Hybride Technologies. After 5 years at Hybride, I had the California dream. I wanted to work at some of the big visual effects houses, like ILM, Sony Imageworks, PDI  (who's now Dreamworks) or Pixar.  I saw Vancouver as a stepping stone to my California dream.  Getting away from home, what I know, improving my English and having more experience by working on more projects and connecting with more people.  I started working at Mainframe Entertainment (who's now Rainmaker Entertainment) in January 2000. I worked there for 18 months.


During those 18 months, I met some of the people that 12 years later are still some of my best friends.  I've met colleagues where over the years, we worked together more than once and always enjoyed and trusted each other.  We were all in our late 20s or early 30s, single or in couple, with no kids. We had good time at work, a few great parties, but it was not that easy to connect outside of work.


I have to say that when you are a newcomer, it is hard to make friends in Vancouver.  It is not an easy city to truly connect with people. You meet a lot of people, but there is a barrier that is hard to cross.  Going from a person they know or play volleyball with, to a person they invite or share something with, a meal, a hike, share a personal story; it takes time and it is a slow process. Where compare to Quebecer this barrier is easy or most often there is no barrier.  It seems like for Quebecer, 'friends of my friends, are my friends', but for an anglophone, 'friends of my friends are strangers'. So to go from the 'stranger' to the 'friend' it takes time. It seems like you have to earn their trust over time. Slowly a little bit at a time. But when you cross this barrier, when you become friend, they are your friends for a long long time. 


In Vancouver the first time, the first connection come easily. But the real connection, to the people, to the city, it takes time. Once you made the real connection it stays forever. And like friends, when you see each other after a long separation, it seems like it was yesterday.


2 pictures from 2000