I don't have any personal experience with it, but our company used Adobe Captivate for our recorded e-learning demos.

Example here: http://www.cpmsolutions.ca/sites/default/files/flash/sample/sample.htm

We're also about to start doing trials with "GoToTraining" for live virtual training. Similar to GoToMeeting but with additional functionality for a teaching environment.

All-mountain XC trail enduro wellies:

huh? Surely if she has already had it then there is no benefit it getting the vaccine now?

Right, I checked with the boss. The medical advice (at least here in BC) is still to get the vaccine even if you suspect you've had the flu, for 2 reasons:

1) Unless you've actually been tested you don't know if it really was H1N1.
2) You can't be sure you've got enough antibodies, better safe than sorry.

And in relation to DrNick's point, my wife is a nurse manager of a HIV outpatients clinic (high-risk patient group). When the vaccine was first made available here a few weeks ago, my wife organised the vaccination program in her clinic and was expressly reminded by management that staff were NOT to be vaccinated at that time as they were not in the 1st phase. Surprise surprise, a week later and 6 out of the 7 clinic nurses spent the week at home with suspected swine flu. Cue scenes of organisational chaos and senior management being drafted back to the clinic floor after years behind a desk. DOH!

Graham S – Actually, that's a good point. Her symptoms were classic swine-flu, but she wasn't tested so I guess it might be still worth being vaccinated just in case it was another variant. But I'll have to ask her about that one.

My wife is 19 weeks pregnant and is a nurse manager of an outpatients clinic. She will be taking the vaccine ASAP. As has already been said, H1N1 has been shown to have a severe effect on pregnant ladies and those with other health complications, so the advice is to get the vaccine.

The vaccine has only just become available within the last few weeks here (Vancouver, BC). My wife contracted H1N1 about 2 weeks ago before the vaccine was available and took Tamiflu anti-viral tablets soon after the onset; she had 1 bad day with fevers etc but then the Tamiflu got it under control. There is little data on taking Tamiflu while pregnant, but what little data exists does not show any concerns and the risks to mother & baby outweigh the alternative. My wife knows of at least 1 patient still recovering in ICU after losing her baby at 20wks. Very sad.

XBox360, I'm BurtsTheHeckler.

I'm really struggling with the audio on mine, the battle noises seem to be at a constant volume so that I can't tell if its in the room next door or 3 buildings away. If the UAV aren't working I can't even tell where the flaming war is happening! Compared with COD-WaW it almost seems like its a bug. Anyone else got this problem, or just me?

Thanks Gurus. Content is a nice-to-have but not as important as the document management, so I'll check out Knowledge Tree, Alfresco & Joomla.

Dr Dolittle – Yes, thats it. Burnaby is the city/suburb directly to the east of Vancouver, the mountain conservation area is actually a big hill with Simon Fraser Uni (SFU) on top of it. Some great trails on the east side of the hill (and a cool skills park on the north), good for some XC and introductory DH so recommended as a place to try out when you first arrive. Trail map and local forum here:
http://www.bmba.ca/gallery/v/trail_maps/trailmap2008.pdf

NSMB seems to be the main website for the Van/Whistler area.

Myself, Mark G and many other expat Brits are members of NSRide, a good way to meet people on regular rides and learn the trails. The season won't start properly again until April but the club does occasional rides over the winter and the forum is useful to organise unofficial stuff.
http://www.nsride.com/

Get in touch if you want any other advice before or after you arrive (email in profile). If you arrive this winter, just be prepared for a slightly unusual Olympics experience!

Dr Dolittle – yes, in an average year the snow reaches about half-way down the North Shore mountains so the lower trails are still accessible, albeit VERY wet & muddy. There are official & unofficial agreements not to ride some trails that erode badly in the winter conditions, but other trails are armoured e.g. Bridle Path. Bear in mind that the majority of North Shore trails are technical and include a lot of woodwork, so most riders seem to to be happy to leave them be and get their ski gear out.

Nearby places like SFU/Burnaby and Galbraith (in the US, 75mins south) should be good to go as well.

Having said that, last year we got a 30yr record for snowfall and riding was severly restricted. I remember a posting where someone parked their car at a North Shore trail head and went for a few hrs walk in the snow. When they returned their pick-up was buried to the windows! Don't think we'll see that too often though.

Windows Live Photo Gallery is ideal if you want click & stitch simplicity. Very easy to use, great results.

@bitterbaldingfatty. Yes, downtown between St. Pauls Hospital and Sunset Beach, 3mins to the sand! Just like the others, my apartment block has underground parking and an area set aside with hose, its fairly common. Lockers big enough for bikes are harder to find, most block will have a secure bike room but as these are communal I would only keep a ratty commuter in there. I use the lift for my good bikes and keep them on the balcony.

BA and Air Canada for direct scheduled services, although AC also go indirect through eastern Canada and can sometimes be cheaper this way.

Another option is IcelandAir, which gives you the option of a nice Reykjavik stopover if you fancy it.

I've used Canadian Affair/Thomas Cook once before (Gatwick>Vancouver) and the service was great. All airlines have good & bad days, but the larger airlines will typically deal with the bad days better e.g.BA/AC have more planes available to replace flights or offer better compensation for delays. I think all the airlines are only legally required to compensate for lost baggage based on the weight (a few $ per kg), which is worthless. You need to claim on travel insurance to cover actual costs of lost luggage, in my personal experience.

Seattle is a good idea IF the savings are large, sometimes its just not worth the hassle. BA fly direct there from Heathrow. Seattle Airport>Vancouver is $100 return and a 5hr trip by shuttle bus. By car its a 2.5-3hr drive + border crossing time (anything from 5-60mins depending on time of day & traffic).

As another ex-pat in Vancouver, I'll just echo some previous comments.

The "horrendous rain" in Vancouver is always over-exaggerated. As Mark noted, the UK has more rainy days than Vancouver as the rain here tends to drop with more intensity. There's also a very noticeable micro-climate in effect, where the North Shore and mountains get considerably more rain than Vancouver city and the suburbs (almost double). In the winter that will be snow falling so most outdoor-types are happy people, although the biking suffers a bit. Before I moved here I spent 8yrs in London and the weather here (downtown) is better, especially the summer.

Plenty of non-gnarlcore biking for mere mortals, if you can ride a UK trail centre you can ride a blue trail here. Just don't expect fast & flowy bridleways like the UK (unless you're on the man-made Whistler-type trails), its generally slower, more technical but lots of fun.

Property & living costs are similar to southern UK, but we definitely have a better quality of life thanks to the more relaxed Canadian attitudes and availability of natural playgrounds on our doorstep. 30mins from home or work to the North Shore for summer biking & winter skiing, 60mins to Squamish, 100mins to Whistler. We miss family & friends a lot, and if we ever return to the UK that would be the only reason. In the meantime, we're loving it.

BC Photos[/url]

6ft tall, 33in inside leg, large 2008 Heckler.

Now fitted with a 50mm stem but that's biased for DH fun (I'm in Vancouver). Orignally it had a 90mm stem and that was ok for more balanced XC riding.

GoPro HD Pre-Production Footage[/url]

Very impressive indeed!

I used a friend's older SD version over the summer and was impressed. The mounts are solid and reliable and for biking, the chest mount gives a better perspective than the helmet mount anyway (IMHO). The outercase is waterproof and tough and the lens cover is replaceable if you scratch it. It might not look pretty but I think this new HD version will definitely give the best results by a long shot.

Awesome country, thoroughly recommended if you're looking for some fantastic scenery and wilderness. My wife & I went there in August 2004, flew Ryanair into Oslo for a few days urban sightseeing and then rented a car for 2weeks. Took tent and slept wild for most of the trip, easy to do. Drove north through Lillehammer, up to Jotunheimen mountains for a few days hiking and glacier snowboarding. There are several remote huts in the area allowing you to do good multi-day hikes taking nothing more than day-kit.

Then drove via Troll Wall & Sognefjellet road (wow!) for the scenery and eventually to Bergan via a days glacier-kayaking. Eventually finished trip with a return via Hardanger Plateau.

Scroll down to August 2004 for lots of photos.[/url]

I had a Thudbuster on my hardtail, worked well and helped smooth things out, they're a good cheap option.

150mm of rear suspension in my Heckler is much better though, alebit more expensive.

Just found this today, it includes some Whistler biking but the basejump and slow-mo surfing are even more impressive. I'm sold, when can I have one?! There's a PDF catalog too, which details the specifications and various mounting kits.

GoPro HD Preview movies

Stinger + bashguard works well for me (Heckler + double chainring)

why north shore came about do you? basically to get you from one nice piece of trail to another when unfortunately the part in the middle is crap and unrideable, usually a bog.

Exactly. And importantly, on the original North Shore as well as on Scottish mountains, it is also about making the trails sustainable so that wet/muddy sections aren't eroded into deeper and wider tracks through the landscape. The technical challenges & fun of North Shore ladders are generally a secondary consideration.

I agree that some more creativity could have made it more interesting, but at the end of the day the builders probably had a budget to work to and if the hillside is legally protected, their goal was to effectively build an overpass for that part of the hill.

No, but I wish I had. My sister-in-law has lived there for 5yrs and loves it. My wife visited earlier this year and loved it. Maybe one day…

Matt Hunter in Peru

Dave Norona in Peru

Peru DH and AM trips

For a few days yes, but you'll probably want to start exploring out of Vancouver after that.

Usual downtown stuff e.g. shopping/museums/cinemas.
Walk around Stanley Park
Beaches are great on a sunny day (English Bay, Kits, Jericho)
Grouse Mountain is a good day out for small ones in good weather.
Rent sea-kayaks at Deep Cove for a few hrs.

And if you leave the family downtown, there's fun (and non-life threatening) biking on Mt. Seymour and at SFU/Burnaby, both 30mins away.

Edit: Unsponsored makes a good point about Capilano Bridge but there's a fee. Lynn Canyon is similar but free, nice forest walking around both rivers.

If you're looking for self-catering apartments, minimum 2-3 days, then try Allura. I've used them lots of times both summer & winter, always great service.
http://www.alluradirect.com/%5B/url%5D

GoPro HD is due to be released soon, slightly better specification that the Contour HD (although it looks considerably worse!). The housing is fully waterproof unlike the Contour, which is why I'm waiting for it (then it can be used for kayaking duties also).

"Black fight back, brown stay down."

Well, thats the very approximate rule of thumb. Black bears are generally not aggressive to humans unless you threaten them or their cubs. They'll avoid you so long as they hear you coming, if you see them first make lots of noise to scare them away. If they do attack, fight back and you may have a chance.

Brown bears (Grizzlies) are hard muth*f-rs, if they decide they want a piece of you your best chance is to play dead and let them take a nibble. For both types, don't run and don't climb trees, it won't end well.

We met a black adult on an evening club ride about a month ago, on a North Shore fireroad. That made the climb a bit more interesting! Luckily there were 9 of us, so the bear just ambled off into the bush and we carried on. Much rather meet a black bear on a ride than have a cougar stalking me…

The 1st night you spend under canvas in bear country is not 1 filled with sleep!

Ha ha, so true! My first night in bear country was on the BC coast. Even after kayaking 35km, I only slept for minutes that night because I was the one sleeping closest to the trail from the forest. We were bivvying too, I probably looked like a large tasty hotdog to Mr. Bear.

On the 2nd night I just helped to drain the wine bag and slept very well indeed. 😆

Congratulations! We had our first scan yesterday, very exciting when you see it for the first time!

This is our first baby, my wife has ridden a few days at the 6 week stage, but probably won't ride much more. From my very limited experience so far, there are 2 main things to consider:

1) Exercise is good & recommended. Just listen to your body, don't over do it, overheating or dehydration are damaging to the baby. My wife hasn't done much XC in recent years so isn't going to try any long rides now.

2) Injury. You can't plan an accident, so there's a risk that something might happen and only you can weigh up the odds of that. If you fall off and cut your knee, its no big deal. However, you also have to consider the probability of something worse, either an injury directly to your abdomen or serious enough elsewhere on your body that may indirectly affect the baby. For us, the biggest fear was of my wife having an injury serious enough to require medication, because there's a whole world of complications that comes with drugs and pregnancy. Now is not the time to start pushing yourself on something new, if you're going to ride then ride well within your limits.

FWIW, my wife did 4 days sea kayaking the weekend before she found out she was pregnant (no problems) and has cautiously ridden 3 days of blue DH runs since then that she knew very well. She found herself getting tired earlier than usual, so she would quit for the day at that point. She's going to the gym now and doing easy stuff. We're now at week 9, no morning sickness just constant nausea and indigestion.

Anyway, that's my outlook on it, I'm sure others will be less/more cautious. Good luck!

Dizzy Cycles is in Kits, near corner of 4th and Burrard. Specialized & Kona dealer, good stock and the people I've spoken to in there previously have been friendly & helpful.

There's also Dunbar Cycles[/url] (Giant, Norco dealers) but I haven't been there myself.

Unless he's a racer-type, he'll probably appreciate getting something with 5"+ for BC riding.

My X-Type seized up after 4 months.

I was at Afan at the time so took it to Skyline Cycles to get a Hope BB fitted. The mechanic told me that all their Orange demo bikes came with RaceFace BBs and got quickly changed for something else.

Forgot to mention:
Beetroot = Healthy, pricey, sit-in or take-away (wife loves it)
Zogs = Unhealthy, cheap, take-away.

Small cafe called Beetroot at the Marketplace, in the corner just past the IGA. I haven't tried breakfast, but they did a fantastic lamb stew in the winter and at least its a change from Starbucks.

If you're eating on the run, then the breakfast rolls from did the trick. Up near the lifts.

Depends on the airline, who are you flying with? Check their T&Cs online for information on sporting baggage.

Some airlines charge for bikes & extra bags and it can be cheaper to do this in advance online. In the past, I've taken my bike to North America on BA ($0) and Air Canada ($50) and just turned up, no problems.

Ouch. Were you knocked out or just counting stars and wondering WTF?

What trail was it on?

Hmm, thats a good question – how do you get all the moisture without the muck?

"Don't they look like a lovely couple? <Bride> can you put your hand on the table? Now <Groom> put your hand on hers. Remember and treasure this moment, its the last time you'll ever have the upper hand again!"

Badum-tish, worked for me.

bringing my bike, like fast, swoopy, singletrack(simmilar to whats on your vid)

Burnaby is the best option if you've only got a few hrs, but if you've got a whole day there are some great options further afield. Galbraith Mountain, over the border near Bellingham (approx 90mins from Vancouver), is excellent for fast, swoopy XC singletrack. Squamish and Sunshine Coast also very good.

Sat – Silver Star
Sun – Silver Star

First visit there, lots of lift-assisted jump practice, can't wait. 😀

I haven't a clue about the etiquette for such a situation

You really don't know what being a godfather involves? FFS!

<Bites hook>Ok, to clarify my original post. I don't have a clue about the etiquette for buying gifts for a christening. I can't remember what I was bought for my christening 30+ yrs ago, nor have I been to any recently. I've already sent new-baby gifts and want to mark this special occasion with something different.

I know perfectly well what the responsilibilties of being a godparent are, both the traditional religious meaning and today's non-religious meaning.

Mmmm, tree idea is a good one. Her dad works for an international company so they keep moving country every few years, I'll have to look for some variations on that idea.

Zaskar – Thanks for the link, some possibilities there. The christening was probably her mum's idea, I dare say that her dad will be preaching Dawkins as soon as she talk. :o)

– About 5-10mins if you have your passport handy.
– 2 years
– No, multi-trips.
– At this time, they are only used for air travel, not for land borders.

N.B. Print a copy of the ESTA confirmation and take it with you. The US border guards do not need it, and the airlines probably won't need it, but may ask for proof in some situations. Long story summary: my wife was bumped off her American Airlines flight from Lima>Miami because she couldn't give them the ESTA number at check-in.