For every dollar the Chip’s Not Dead Yet charity run raises, Chip Wilson will match that amount up to $150,000! “When sick kids get better they run, play, and most of all they appreciate the fact that they’re alive. What if we all did that?”

A couple of months ago, Ianiv & I had a chance to tour the BC Children’s Hospital and to learn how charity dollars are put to work. It was an eye-opening experience. A hospital for kids has to be prepared for premature babies as well as adult-sized 18-year-old kids… that takes a lot of equipment and a lot of specialized knowledge and care. Imagine buying not just one bed size (like in a regular hospital), but many sizes. Same goes for all the equipment – just look at the various sizes of blood pressure cuffs pictured to the right! So, though BC Children’s Hospital may fund-raise a lot, and may do well in those efforts, consider that the Hospital is more than 3 times as costly to run than a regular hospital!

I had honestly never thought of all of the complexities involved in treating sick kids. The hospital staff – who were amazing! – have to know how to not only treat these sick kids, but also to care for their emotional and developmental needs as well. That changes with each age group. The BC Children’s Hospital shared with us how important it is to have parents involved with their child’s care, although the ICU had no room for parents to sleep with their children. The hospital is far too small for the needs of the entire province. A new hospital is being developed, but it’s a few years away.

One of the things that shocked me most was to learn that doctors who specialize in treating kids actually get paid less, on average, than those who treat adults. Obviously, with so many more adults in the world, it’s more “profitable” to treat them – though treating kids takes a great deal more specialized training. This fact isn’t really related to the Hospital’s charity needs, but it stuck with me.

If you haven’t yet signed up for the Chip’s Not Dead Yet charity event, you can do so here! There are also some great prizes to win, as well as a fun-day filled with music (Daniel Wesley, A Current Swell, Armchair Cynics, and Run GMC.) and more! Don’t want to run? Try the Couch Potato Wave!

Ianiv & I sadly won’t be in town for the event – we’ll be in Victoria – but it should be a great event if you can go!

Check out the full set here.

Tonight Rebecca (miss604) and I are sitting up in the press booth for online media with a bird’s eye view of the performance at GM place. We’ll both be liveblogging – me here in this post, and Rebecca here. The eTalk red carpet event has already started and the stadium is slowly filling up. CTV will be broadcasting the event live in BC starting at 5pm and one-hour delayed across the country.

Performances tonight include Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams, Serena Ryder and more. Stay tuned for updates!

4:54PM – The crowd is getting psyched for the Junos The stadium is almost full.

5:00pm – Nickelback kicks off the Junos with a bang. Literally. The place fills with fireworks, smoke and a bang as they begin singing “Something in Your Mouth”. The crowd goes wild, the place just alive with camera flashes. And the set ends with a swash of flame.

5:05pm – host Russell Peters takes the stage doing a couple of dance numbers, including some awkward break dancing.

“Seriously folks, I know this is Vancouver. But what’s with the grow op on stage?”

It’s true, the stage is a mix of industrial with the lush greenery in trippy colors, a hint to Vancouver’s “other” reputation. Russell takes some time to greet some of the stars, from Bryan Adams to Divine Brown, whom he gropes over a bit.

5:10 – KD Lang and Buffy Sainte-Marie present the award for Songwriter of the Year. And the winner is… Dallas Green! His thanks go out to everyone “who has ever tried to write their own song.”

5:15 – Sam Roberts Band, winners last night of Rock Album of the Year, take the stage to perform “Them Kids.” Video:

5:20 – Hedley take the stage to present for Group of the Year. And the award goes to Nickelback! Too bad for Great Big Sea, but I’m glad they took the time to thank the fans and thank Vancouver. ;)

5:25 – There’s a brief about the Gala Night winners, then we move on to presenters Deborah Cox, Sarah Slean and Kreesha Turner who are presenting Rap Recording of the Year. The winners are Kardinal Offishall, who also won Single of the Year last night.

5:30 – Sarah McLachlan takes the stage to sing “U Want Me 2″ and looks phenomenal! Just stunning in her cascading dress. Fantastic.

Check out the video of Sarah:

5:40 – Russell Peters and Michael Buble have a cute comedy sketch back stage. But it’s a pretense to introduce the Honourable James Moore, Elise Estrada and Aaron Pritchett who are presenting New Artist of the Year. And the Juno goes to – Lights!!

“I didn’t get into this to win awards. I got into this to write music… it’s really great to be recognized on such a massive scale.”

5:45 – The Stills are performing “Being Here”. It’s a performance without too much in the way of showy things, but it was a strong set.

5:52 – after another look at some of the winners from the Gala Awards Night, we move on to another performance by City and Color (Juno Winner Dallas Green) and Gord Downie. They’re performing “Sleeping Sickness”. Fantastic job!!

5:58 – Bob Rock takes the stage to induct Loverboy to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. There’s a video presentation about their success then the 4 band members take the stage.

“Wow… home town. Home country. Canada! Never to be forgotten.”

Saying thanks in English and in French, the band gets a little more time on stage for each of them to say their thanks.

“We still get to play these songs 30 years later, and that’s something”

They also pay tribute to their bass player, Scott Smith, who died in a boating accident in 2006.

6:12 – Crystal Shawanda performs “You Can Let Go” with a grand piano, followed by Divine Brown singing “One More Chance” with a strings section and Serena Ryder picks up the pace with her guitar for “Little Bit of Red”. I love her – she’s been my favorite artist in person for 2 years running. So cute.

6:19 – Tara Oram, Nikki Yanofsky, and Pepsi Super Fan Ali Furgala present the Juno Fan Choice Award to… Nickelback!

“This is a good one… this is the one for us… this is why we still don’t have a real job. All because of the fans. Thanks very much!”

6:26 – Musicounts PSA. We learned last night that this program is in need of greater support, it may be only renewed for 2 more years!

6:30 – Simple Plan perform their hit “Your Love is a Lie” to a very satisfied crowd. They worked it! They headed out to the crowd, singing to the fans, shaking hands, going all over the stage for their performance. What a job!

6:35 – Russell Peters goes into the crowd to talk to some sports stars. As a means to introduce Melissa Hollingsworth & Jeremy Wotherspoon, who in turn introduce Bryan Adams!! Bryan sings “Walk on By” with Kathleen Edwards. Amazing!!! Their voices together are like silk.

6:43 – Feist and Jim Cuddy take the stage to present for Artist of the Year. Tough competition! But it goes to Sam Roberts!!

6:50 – Elvis Costello and Diana Krall take the stage to present for Album of the Year. What a lineup for that one! But in the end, only one group can win… and it’s again, Nickelback!

Mom gets thanked first this time around, “I have to thank my Mom… for giving birth to half the band,” its joked. Oooh, and the shut-up music cuts off their thanks.

6:55 – Great Big Sea take the stage to close out the swho with their performance of “Gallows Pole” along with Workman & Eccodek. It’s a fantastic set, lots of drumming and movement on stage.

6:59 – Russell Peters appears briefly to close the show, then Great Big Sea return to close out the credits. Tune in next year as the Junos head to St. John’s Newfoundland & Labrador.

Hope you enjoyed the show & the live blog!!

As Buzz notes:

Virgin 953 is all about doing things differently. Pushing your boundaries. Getting you through the boredom of life, over the edge and into the goosebumpy goodness. You might even call it a popgasm.

Virgin 953 is very similar to how the radio station has always been, with the same demographic and music styles. There is a fancy new schedule, some new programming, but overall it’s still the same great radio station.

The launch party on Thursday was over the top crazy! If you can imagine a naked man (yes, naked, and flown in from LA), a tattoo artist, a woman with a snake, servers in crazy tutus, and people being set on fire… well, that was the long and short of it. Toss in some food and an open bar, and it was quite the party!

Check out our photo set here.

Today I went for coffee and lunch at Cafe Crema in West Vancouver. After that I walked across the street to take some shots and this is some of what I got. I’m loving the local adjustments in Camera Raw, and how much faster Bridge is now.

I went back to the cafe for another coffee and dessert. A very relaxing day.

Sunset taken from Lonsdale Quay. Not as nice as the one we had a few days ago, but beats the grey sky we have now. 7 shots.

Around the same time as the sunset above, looking north. You can see the new watefront development. 5 shots.

And last, a dreidel. Hannukah is coming up and I saw this little guy on my bookshelf so I decided to take a couple of shots.

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be taking place in Vancouver and we are home to some very creative people who will be on the ground, recording and reporting on their experience during the games. For this reason a few days ago Raincity Studios wrote an open letter to VANOC requesting to start a conversation about how we can make sure that everyone will be able to document their Olympic experience:

“In brief, we’d like to have a conversation about how to allow fans and amateur media makers to document their Olympic experience while keeping out of the way of the IOC IP lawyers.”

It remains to be seen what VANOC’s response will be, if any. It would be very nice if everyone could document their Olympic experience and share it with the rest of the world without the fear of getting takedown notices that would make all their efforts useless.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Capilano Suspension Bridge with a cousin in town from Toronto. It is the first time I’ve been there in many many years, and I was quite pleasantly surprised.

I have many wonderful memories of Capilano Suspension Bridge from growing up in Vancouver. Over the last 10 years, it’s undergone a serious facelift. Part of me was very sad about this, and my last trip there (several years ago) I was sad to see the park so much more manicured. However, this latest trip I saw it with new eyes. For one reason, the changes have had a chance to “grow in” and, while it’s still rather a manicured adventure, I can appreciate it for that. Yes, it’s tourist-y, and yes it’s geared to families, but I think there’s something for everyone.

The second thing that really impressed me was the Treetops Adventure attraction. This takes the suspension bridge theme into the treetops, with suspension bridges up to 100ft off the ground, suspended in the trees. It’s done in a way that does no damage whatsoever to the trees, and even keep them strong and healthy (or so the signs said). We were there on a quiet day and had the whole treetop area to ourselves. It was a very unique way to experience the forest!

BC Residents can get a full-year pass for the price of one admission to the park. Not bad! Sadly, I didn’t know this before going to the park and, despite saying I was from BC, was not offered it at the ticket kiosk.

Visit the full set of photos here.

The celebration marks the end of the year, with a series of colorful processions through the Commercial neighbourhoods. Thousands of Vancouverites dress up to come participate in the festival – to walk the parade, dance in the streets, view the fire dancers or listen to the ghostly bands.

This was our second year visiting the parade, and it was the perfect night for it!

You can view the entire photo set here.

The MostPublic Index identifies the Web’s 20 most visible individuals, those who are engaged in the world around them;

“This is the first attempt to take a group of people and say, ‘Let’s crunch the data and see when somebody says something, how many people do they reach with that message.’ “I think the list will surprise some people,” – Leonard Brody, CEO of NowPublic

Although I do “keep my head down” in many ways, I’m nothing if not prolific on the web. It’s a great honor to be a part of this list.

The Top 10 from the Vancouver MostPublic Index are:

1. Darren Barefoot         http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/
2. Tim Bray        http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/
3. Boris Mann        http://blog.bootuplabs.com/
4. Kris Krüg       http://kriskrug.com/
5. Roland Tanglao  http://rolandtanglao.com/
6. Tom Williams    http://www.givemeaning.com/blog/index.html
7. Megan Cole      http://www.megancole.org/
8. Rebecca Bollwitt         http://www.miss604.com/
9. Arieanna Schweber       http://www.blogaholics.ca/
10. Tod Maffin      http://todmaffin.com/

Check out the full Top 20 here. And have a look around the NowPublic site – if you haven’t seen it since the re-design, it’s well worth some of your time. The header is constantly changing too, which is great fun.

And yes, I’m aware the Vancouver Sun mis-spelled my name :(