Dispatch from the Canadian Conference

The second full day of my conference continues! The topic of the conference is clinical research quality and standards. It is about as riveting as you would expect. Multiple sessions are going on at once, so it is basically a Choose Your Own Adventure. Unfortunately, there have been times that I've chosen poorly and was bored out of my mind. Forced day-dreaming is sometimes a challenge. Jamie was the wiser and played solitaire on his blackberry.

But there have been a few gems at this conference: there have been a few characters and some swag from the vendors trying to get us to use their services. I am the proud owner of a magic 8 ball, several pens, an inflatable travel neck pillow, and the best of the bunch, this little stationery kit with mini-staplers. No designer jeans or fancy chocolates, for sure. Also, I went to a talk on ethics by a man dressed like a younger KFC Colonel: white shirt, suit, shoes and even a handlebar moustache. He also spoke as if he were Mark Twain, so I found myself focusing more on his performance (he couldn't be for reals, could he?) than what he was actually saying. Another speaker had a strong resemblance to Melissa Ethridge--same accent and all. She had several slides with pictures of her dog in them.

Last night we explored some more neighborhoods of Vancouver, eating dinner at a nice local recommended spot (thanks, dude who worked at the Fluevog shoe store!) in Gastown. The area is the "birthplace of Vancouver" and the original settlement sprung up around a tavern opened by "Gassy Jack" Deighton. It's a historic district with cobblestone streets and some European charm. It also has the very first steam-run clock that toots every 15 minutes.

One thing we've noticed about Vancouver is that they have their share of homeless people. We were approached several times, including one guy who wanted 82 cents and an older woman with a black eye who was pushing a very wide shopping cart and sipping a very grande (or is it venti?) frappacchino.

Tonight we are heading to another section of downtown Vancouver to see a film that's an entry in the Vancouver Film Festival.