Seaspan Tugboats in Port Metro Vancouver

Port Metro Vancouver was formerly called the Port of Vancouver. This Port is the main west coast entry point for products into Canada. There are over 90 trading countries coming through Port Metro Vancouver.

Port Metro Vancouver is the largest in Canada, the 5th largest in North America and the 50th largest in the World.

With such a busy port it is good that we have world class tugboats that maneuver the huge freighters that unload their goods.

Seen in the picture are the Seaspan Eagle and the Seaspan Osprey. These tugboats are super powerful with up to 6300 horsepower.

It's nice to know that a world class port has world class equipment.

Transit Fare Evaders

Translink has reported that over 230 million dollars of revenue was lost since the year 2000, due to transit fare evasion. This amounts to 5 - 6 % of Translink's budget.

The kicker is that even when a person is caught evading the fare and is fined $173 there is no system in place to enforce payment. The Provincial government reported that they did not even know that no system was in place to enforce payment of the $173 fine.

Doesn't this just reek of Translink's inability to run a proper mass public transit system? When 5 - 6% equates to $230 million loss doesn't that make the board of Translink responsible to fix the problem? Any large private corporation would surely search for serious solutions and not lose this money.

Apparently being efficient and responsible with taxpayers money is not a mandate Translink shares.

Memphis Blues BBQ House

Do you remember the "Not Just Desserts" cafe located by Broadway and Commercial drive in Vancouver? The bruschetta was the best I'd ever tasted, the desserts were to die for and the coffee was great. The owners decided to retire and sell, and it went downhill from there.

Well, with the success of Not Just Desserts under his belt, one of the owners of Not Just Desserts paired up with a partner and started the Memphis Blues BBQ House restaurant. It's got such a great reputation that people from the US when visiting Vancouver make Memphis Blues BBQ House a must see.

Yesterday I sold off some old junk jewelry and with the proceeds decided to take my family to Memphis Blues BBQ House, as I had never gone there before.

The restaurant is located at 1342 Commercial Drive. We had a lunch meal called "The Elvis Platter". This is a gigantic platter. It is big enough to feed 6 - 8 people, there were only 4 of us. Needless to say we took the leftovers home. The southern comfort food style of this restaurant is great. The food selection is good. If you're a vegan this is not the restaurant for you.

Now to the nuts and bolts. How was the food? Well the sausage was good and the fries were good. The rest of the meat, chicken, ribs and beef was dry and overcooked. The potato salad and the coleslaw needed more seasoning. The cooked beans seemed "old".

Wow, now that doesn't sound like a great review does it? To be honest my wife and I were really disappointed. In hindsight we should have said something to the staff but we didn't. Our fault.

I would give our visit to this restaurant a disappointing 6 out of 10.

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW

Metro Vancouver loves it's cars inspite of Translink's efforts to get people to get out of their cars and use transit. Vancouver is host to the 3rd largest auto show in Canada.

The Vancouver International Auto show is happening from April 3 - 8 at the newly renovated BC Place Stadium.

Featured at this years Vancouver International Auto Show are the new Electric cars from many different car manufacturers.