Light in the sky

I am headed home from Vancouver, BC where I attended CITIG7, a conference sponsored by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, and the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada. I was their guest, and sang for my supper by making a presentation about location-based services at Tuesday's plenary session, followed by a more detailed workshop, in which I actually built a working LBS app for the fire service--right in front of the audience. Thank goodness everything worked, and both sessions were well-received.

At the beginning of the conference, Lance Valcour, the director of CITIG, encouraged attendees to join a conference tweetup, so what the heck--I posted a few tweets. Tough for a blogger like me to say anything meaningful in 140 characters, but I gave it a try. It proved to be a very good conference. I attended several sessions that were valuable, one of the most interesting about the use of social media in public safety. A session on wireless technology in emergency medicine was also quite intriguing. Above all, it was interesting to see police, fire, and EMS leaders gathered together in a joint conference--something I have never experienced I the United States.

Vancouver was beautiful. I would like to spend more time there someday. I snapped this photo Monday night from the sea wall at the foot of Burrard street, looking north across the harbor. The UFO in the sky is actually an illuminated ski area on a mountain in the distance. I had to ask: it was pretty confusing for a rube from the flatlands.

I told the audience that Vancouver reminded me a lot of Lincoln--except for the size, and the mountains, and the ocean, and the bay, and Stanley Park, and the weather, and the seafood, and the sea planes, and the yachts, and the skyscrapers.... In other words, everyone was friendly and welcoming everywhere I went, just like Lincoln.