My Photo Collections #2

Photos I took over the years around British Columbia.
The background song is "Nuan La Rani" by Netty Vera br Bangun & partner,
a Karonese song from North Sumatra, Indonesia.
I am glad that with this new feature, I can upload a video into my blog. Good job there Google!

My Photo Collections #1

Photos I took over the years around British Columbia.
"Concerto pour une ivox" as the background music.

Stock Trading

Dear Toni S. Tarigan,

Stock Trading is an activities of buying and selling stocks on the listed stock exchanges in Toronto TSE and New York (NYSE and NASDAQ). Each day, hundreds of billions of dollars change hands on the major United States securities exchanges.

To buy and sell stocks you need the service of brokerage firms. Stock trading is now mostly done online without ever going to the trading floors. But first you need to join an online brokerage trading company. Many of them are available on the internet websites, such as Ameritrade, Scottrade, DisnatDirect and many others.

I have been doing stock trading for a number of years now with limited success. You need to know what stocks to buy, and when to buy and sell. Timing is very critical, that is the make and break of profit and loss. There are two main approaches to buying and selling stocks: technical analysis and fundamental analysis. You can get all the informations about these analysis online free. You need to have in depth study on the two analysis above to have a chance of success in stock trading, and I mean a hell of a lot of study.

But I like to use the "stock screener" technique which is available at many websites to find the best stocks to suit my investment strategy. Basically it is a software provided by the individual website provider, that employs the many criteria from the two analysis above. It is just a matter of inserting what criteria do you want to meet from the tens of thousands of stocks available at the TSE, NYSE and NASDAQ. A more complex software can be purchased ostensibly for better results of success in online trading. It allows investors to apply the identical stock selection process, time after time, that focus only on the most important variables. This is discipline at its best. This is a time saver, no doubt. It can analyze thousands of stocks in seconds.

According to statistics that most investors are under performing the market. That's right, losing money, some of them losing big time. So they try different ways of stock trading, and different strategies. Many investors including professionals are now using more sophisticated software stock screening tool, that can be very expensive. And allow it to automatically do the stock tradings for them. It forces investors to buy and sell stocks without emotion and with discipline, which is very important, and focusing on the factors that matter using the exact same selection process every single time. On paper this technique should be superior, but statistically still need to be verified. The problem is that everybody using that software will buy and a sell a stock at the same instant. So if you see a stock price moving up or down very fast, this can be due to the works of the automatic software online traders, that all at the same time trigger a buy or a sell orders.
But I still want to do it by myself. Because many times after the sell-off the stock is back to its original price.

I traded mostly Canadian stocks that are listed on TSE, NYSE and NASDAQ. And also some United States stocks. Here are some of the stocks that I traded: ADCT, AMAT, ELX, FWLT, GRMN, KGC, MCHP, RIMM, RVBD, TLM and many others, but mostly technology stocks.

Photo: The New York stock exchange NYSE, at Wall Street. The NYSE used to be at the TWIN TOWER that was destroyed during "911".

Ballroom Dancing

Dear Dave Jones,

I started ballroom dancing seriously in 2000 kind of my resolution for the new millennium. I met an Englishman through a running club, and asked me whether I was interested in ballroom dancing. I said yes, so I joined him in a ballroom dancing class one day in the afternoon. It was at "Danny's Dance Studio" at E.Pender, Vancouver. I was very surprised when I found out that the lesson was given in Chinese, that both of us did not understand. I asked why in Chinese, he just chuckled and said that he could not find other place taught in English. Since I already paid must as well do it. There were 10 students, and we were the only male students. I thought this was my first and my last lesson in ballroom dancing.

The next time I met him again he said that he found a place where they teach ballroom dancing in English, and there were social dancing afterwards. So he suggested to try there at "Astorino" dancing hall at Venables and Commercial. They give free lessons every Sunday evenings, follow by social dancing after the lesson. The lesson was in English, easier to follow because the lady teacher and her lady partner taught beginner class only as to attract new dancers to the club.
From there on every time I was free on Sunday evenings I went there and learnt ballroom dancing. And the Englishman was always there, a very enthusiastic student dancer. He worked days and free in the evenings, so he joined other dancing lessons in many other dancing clubs. Evidently there were quite a number of dancing halls around Lower Mainland. At the beginning, we stayed only for the lesson and then went home, because we were not confident enough to ask a woman to dance.

There are 2 types of International Ballroom Dancing, Standards and Latins.
There are 5 that are categorized as Standards: Slow Waltz, Tango, Quickstep, Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz. And there are also 5 that are categorized as Latins: Rumba, Cha-cha, Jive, Samba and Paso-Doble. They are enjoyed by people around the world both as socially as recreational activities and competitively as a sport. International Organizing Committee of the Olympic, has recognized ballroom dancing as a competitive sport. But the inclusion of it to the Olympic seemed unlikely, because they decided that the Olympic is becoming too large, and is going to reduce the number of sports instead.
I joined ballroom dancing for the recreational activities only. I usually manage to dance 3 Sundays a month. Each of the above dances Standards and Latins, have many variations in movement choreographed by the teacher depending on the levels. There are levels of Beginner, Bronze I & II, Silver and Gold. To be able to dance, one has to master at least the Beginner level. And at "Astorino" which give Beginner lesson 1 per month, it took me 10 months to learn all the Beginner level of the Ballroom Dancing. From then on, we were not afraid anymore to ask a woman to dance, especially that we knew already some of them during lessons. It is a good idea to have a regular dance partner, probably in the same level of skill too.

Not long after I finished my Beginner level, I met a partner of the same level with me. Needles to say that I enjoyed ballroom dancing more than ever. We partnered for more than a year. But because of her work schedules and mine many times hard to adjust we kind of met less and less until she said that she found someone else as a dancing partner, and that was that. The last time I heard from her that she was getting married. But I still go dancing with some friends, and I am in the Bronze II level now, kind of my maximum level.

Photo shown are me and my partner, a version of "Hockneyizer" photos, which creates a unique photo collage in the style of the artist David Hockney. (See my collections of photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/van8)

Nanaimo 3

Dear Jimmy Tarigan,

I went to Nanaimo recently and boarded the "Queen of Cowichan" from Horseshoe Bay similar to this "Queen of Surrey" that departed a few minutes earlier to Langdale, Sunshine Coast.






Many smaller islands between Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. It was a pleasant 1 hour 45 minutes ferry ride to Nanaimo with beautiful views of the Strait of Georgia.






Small boats like this one often seen along the way, taking advantage of good sunny day for sailings.







Sunset at North Nanaimo where I was staying.








I stayed at my good friends Mr & Mrs Li's.








Nanaimo was also busy building the terminal for super ferry the "Coastal Renaissance" that was forthcoming.







On my way back to Vancouver, I boarded the "Queen of Coquitlam" shown here just arrived at Nanaimo from Horseshoe Bay.







The back thrust of the propeller for braking system of the ferry creating a turbulent water around the terminal.







Then cars and foot passengers were ready to board for Vancouver.






Evidently the "Queen of Cowichan" that I boarded from Horseshoe Bay was not sailing and under repair in Nanaimo.









And so was the "Queen of Esquimalt" under repair. No wonder the ferry schedules were out of whack.







Life buoy at the entrance to the Nanaimo terminal, and the many islands in the Strait of Georgia in the distance.







"Queen of Capilano" was leaving for Bowen Island. That meant the Horseshoe Bay terminal was near.







"Queen of Coquitlam" arrived at Horseshoe Bay terminal. The water there churning again due to braking system of the ferry.







Arrived at Downtown Vancouver, corner of Burrard and Georgia.

Victoria, B.C.

Dear Rosminta br Saragih,

Recently I went to visit Victoria. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and is located in Vancouver Island, about 1 1/2 hours driving and 1 1/2 hours ferry ride from where I live. I boarded the "Queen of Saanich", a large ferry that can carry 360 cars and 1700 passengers. With 300 000 population it is the second largest city in B.C.

In April 1778 Captain James Cook, a British explorer, landed on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Subsequent to that in March 1843 James Douglas of the Hudson Bay's company set up a trading post in "Camosack" which then changed .
name to "Victoria" after the name of Queen of England. Victoria is a tourist place, more than 3.6 million visitors per year. Because of its temperate climate many retired Canadians settled in Victoria. A lot of things you can do and see there. Since I came only for a short visit, I can only do a few things. I walked along the sea wall of the inner harbor, checking all the activities there. There was a whale watching boat tour just departing, fishermen mending their netting, restaurants crowded with patrons, street musicians playing their beats and people looking at all the vendors selling arts and other paraphernalia. There were a lot of visitors
coming in from the U.S.A.
There was a statue made of some kind of reinforced plastic standing near the water. I was quite impressed with the detail of construction, and in the process of taking a picture. But the statue moving ever slowly toward my lady friend and hold her shoulder to pose. We had a big startled laughter. The statue was a real living person inside, and he was called a "performance artist", that can stay motionless in uncomfortable position for extended period. The container on the feet asking for your donations probably giving him away unnoticed.

I also visited the BC Parliament building, and it
has quite a story. It
was designed by a young 25 year old Architect Francis Rattenbury with no experience, but got help a lot from his Architect uncle. It was completed in 1897 after 5 years construction, and 100% over budget. He also designed many Victorian style building after that: The Empress Hotel, The Government House and The Crystal Garden all in Victoria. And also Vancouver Art Gallery, and courthouses in Vancouver, Nanaimo and Nelson. Most of them not on time and over budget, a common practice in that time. I went to a 30 minutes tour to the inside of the Parliament building. A guide explained the working areas of the Politicians from the ruling Liberal government and the NDP oppositions.
I went to see "Fisherman's Wharf" by riding a small ferry and checked the inner harbor from the water. It is the place where fisherman tied their boats during off season.
I also went to see "Craighdarroch Castle", a historic Victoria-era mansion built in 1890 by a coal and shipping baron Robert Dunsmuir. He was the first millionaire in BC history or could be a multi billionaires in today's comparison. the 39 rooms castle occupied 20,000 square feet of floor space. But he never moved in to occupy the castle because he died in 1889 a year before the castle was completed.

I also stopped at "mile 0" the starting point of the Trans Canada Highway, the Federal-Provincial Highway system that joins all the 10 provinces of Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Foundland. The construction of the Highway was started in 1950 and was opened in 1962, a 7820 km long starting from Victoria in the west and ending to St.John in the east.

Photo (top): Performance Artist at "Inner Harbour", Victoria.
Middle1: BC Parliament Building, Victoria.
Middle2: Craighdarroch Castle, Victoria.
Bottom: "Mile 0" of the Trans Canada Highway, Victoria.

Butchart Gardens

Dear Jimmy Tarigan,
Butchart Gardens is located in Vancouver Island, about 22 km north of Victoria. It is a 55 acres of floral display. In 1904 Mr & Mrs Butchart with the help of landscape consultant and landscape artist produced the Gardens as it is today. And in 2004 when it was celebrating in bloom for 100 years was also designated National Historic Site of Canada. Last June 10,2007 I and 2 of Tan's family from Nanaimo went to visit the Gardens, about 2 1/2 hour drive away. The entry fee was $23/person including parking. We brought some lunch from home and had lunch first before we started our tour. There are 7 main important of
features of the Gardens worth visiting: The Piazza, Sunken Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Star Pond, Italian Garden and the Mediterranean Garden. You can see flowers and flowers everywhere, and they were all beautifully arranged. The Piazza is the entrance area, kind of a lobby of a hotel. There are cafe and restaurant, souvenir store, washrooms, water wheel and the lucky "wild boar" bronze statue. Of the 7 features we liked the most 5 of them:
The Sunken Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and the Italian Garden. Because we spent most of our times there and took lots of pictures. That day was a Sunday, and there
were so many people come to visit, and many come by buses too.
The Sunken Garden is the starting point, the biggest and the largest from all of them. There is a mound, a small hill in the centre of the Sunken Garden and at the far end is the large fountain in the centre of a large pond.
The Rose Garden was very popular. The Rose Garden "is home to 2500 roses in 250 varieties", and was the only part of Butchart Gardens that in which the plants were labelled. There were too many people that it was hard to take close up pictures of the roses. I should think that they should make the footpath much wider.
The Japanese Garden is full of greenery creates a feel of tranquil, with creeks, ponds and bridges.
The Italian Garden is very open, wide pathways with pond and fountain.
We finished the tour in about 3 hours.

Photo(top): The Piazza, main entrance area with the "wild boar" statue.
Middle1: Sunken Garden with the Fountain.
Middle2: Rose Garden.
Middle3: Japanese Garden.
Bottom: Italian Garden.