Everyone Fixated on Tennis #TakePart2012

Everyone is fixated on the TV screen at the Samsung Mobile PIN in Old Spitalfields Market.

London Olympic Opening Ceremony #TakePart2012

It was an exciting day today as it was the London Olympic opening ceremonies in the evening. Of course, first thing we had to do was prepare for the crowds that the Olympics will bring. We had time to rehearse our presentations on the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone and got a few tips about presenting. It was definitely very helpful to run through the presentation in front of everyone.

Getting presenting advice.

Afterwards, we all went to Westfield mall at White City to visit a Samsung PIN. This is where I'm stationed so it was quite nice to have a look around. There was lots of activity here with the Galaxy S3 being demo-ed, as well as the Galaxy Note. Visitors got to play around with the phone and learn about all the cool features of the S3.

The ceiling above the Samsung PIN.

Samsung Galaxy S3 in marble white and pebble blue.

A limited edition London Olympics hard-case for the Galaxy S3 with purchase of the phone!

49 pins to collect from Samsung. The first 100 people who collect them all receive a Galaxy S3 phone!!!

After dinner at The Fire Station, a group of Mobilers went to a nearby community centre to watch the opening ceremonies on a big screen. Luckily it did not rain! The crowd was really into it and I have to say, the ceremony was amazing. And Rowan Atkinson? Easily the best part of the whole thing!

The crowd watches with rapt attention.

We left halfway through the athletes coming out (I gave a huge cheer and jumped around when the Canadian athletes came out!) to see if there would be any fireworks near the river. But we streamed the live feed of the ceremonies on Dom's Galaxy S3 - the picture quality was so clear it was even better than watching on a screen! It was amazing, and pretty surreal - we were right in front of such an iconic location of London during the Olympics. I still can't believe it. 

Dom streaming the opening ceremonies in front of the London Eye.

We wanted to see the reaction of the crowd when the United Kingdom athletes came out, so we moved on to the fair area at Jubilee Gardens, where they had several smaller TV's. We kept streaming the feed on the S3 and the resolution was better and the picture much more sharper than the TV - it was amazing.

The torch being passed on!

At the end, when Paul McCartney came on and sang Hey Jude, everyone started singing along. The atmosphere was just amazing and everyone was elated. The Olympics really bring everyone together, and everyone is so proud of their countries, it's awesome. Check out the clip I took of the crowd singing Hey Jude!

Heading Off to London!

As you probably already know, I was selected as one of 25 people from around the world to go to the London 2012 Summer Olympics through the Samsung Mob!lers program. All Mob!lers from past to present were asked to create videos showcasing the Samsung Galaxy Note and mine was chosen as one of the top 25 (watch my video here.) Fast forward five months, and the day has come! I'm flying off to London, UK tomorrow evening and will be staying there for three weeks, the entirety of the Summer Olympic games. I will be doing product presentations about the Samsung Galaxy S3 smart phone, though not much details have been given yet. I will be updating on my blog and through Facebook so I hope you follow along! I'm really excited - see you in London! 

Sunday Brunch at iHop

I went for brunch with my sister and a friend today. Who doesn't love greasy breakfast foods? Yum!

Rooty Tooty breakfast combo!

Blueberry pancake - mmm!

Pancakes topped with strawberry and banana.

Garden stuffed crepe.

Hart House

I went for Brunch last week at The Hart House Restaurant. It's situated in a quaint little area in Burnaby, where the Burnaby Village Museum is also located so it's almost like an old heritage centre. Several families actually lived in the Hart House (the last family being the Harts) before the city bought it. It's also facing Deer Lake, so the view is beautiful on a sunny day.

A little work needs to be done on the sign!

I was seated in the Sunroom, so the sunlight streaming into the room was very welcome after weeks of rain! The food was good - lots of basic brunch fare. I ordered the Steak 'N Eggs while my sister ordered the Tempura Lobster Salad and a side of Parmesan Truffle Fries.

We started off with a delicious warm bread basket - baguettes and mini croissants.

Steak, eggs and fries! That's a lot of meat - share this dish with someone!

A small tempera lobster salad with avocado.

Parmesan truffle fries. They weren't potato-y fries like I like, but a little drier.

Just looking at the pictures again makes my mouth water! For more information on The Hart House Restaurant and to take a look at the menu, check out their website.

Simply Thai

I went to Simply Thai in Yaletown a few weeks ago and thought I would share some pictures. While I'm not the hugest fan of Thai food (I can't take spicy foods!), I thought the dishes were still tasty even when I ordered them mild. Of course, the best part was dessert! The dishes were a bit pricey, but I guess that's what happens when you dine out in Yaletown!

There was some cool decor in the restaurant.

Pad Thai - it was really good! A little too much sauce for my taste, but delicious nonetheless!

Kao Pad with shrimp, onions, green beans, tomatoes and eggs. A little spicy because there was a lot of pepper added in.

Raspberry and Chocolate Mousse. It was good but I don't think many people order this dessert, as it did not seem very fresh, and was a bit frozen in the middle!

Hazelnut ice cream shaped like a pear and dipped in chocolate.

A scoop of coconut ice cream! Yummy!

To check out Simply Thai's menu, check out their website.

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas! I hope it's filled with good food and great company! I will see you in the new year!

Kayaking in Deep Cove

I went to Deep Cove for some kayaking after work with a few friends to get outside and enjoy the nice weather. There were moon jellies in the water and we saw some harbour seals as well! The scenery was beautiful and we were able to watch the sun set as we paddled back. It was a perfect day for a 2 hour kayaking trip and a great way to end the week. I definitely will be going again soon!

Mobilicity's CEO Blogger Contest Entry - Check it out!

I had so much fun with being one of Canada's first Samsung Mob!lers last year, creating online content to promote the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant smartphone that when I saw a contest to follow Mobilicity's CEO Dave Dobbin on a cross Canada trip and blog about everything, I thought I'd give it a go! It would be such an amazing opportunity and I'm sure anyone would jump at a chance like this. I submitted my video entry last night, so give it a watch and a "like"! Thanks!

Reflection on 2010

I have to say, 2010 was an amazing year, filled with lots of incredible events, but also some sad ones. First with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics happening in my home town which was a huge and amazing event in itself. I was lucky to be working right in the middle of it all at the Main Media Centre so I was downtown where all the action was everyday. I had a lot of trouble finding a permanent job this year and was jumping from temp job to temp job, but I met some great people and made new friends while doing them!

Later on was the low point of the year, when my grandpa wasn't doing too well and he passed away. Long story about that, which I'm still a little bitter about, but at least I know he went surrounded by family and friends. Soon after that, I went through several rounds of interviews to snag the job that I have now (though my contract is up today, but I should be continuing? I'll update you on that when I know!). It took me a long time and tons of resumes sent to land a full time job, so I was pretty stoked about this one, even though it was a contract position. It was good to get some experience in something that I'd related to my field.

Around the same time, I was accepted into the Samsung Mob!lers Program, the first in Canada. It was a quick application through Facebook that my sister sent me that I completely forgot about until I got an email to set up a phone interview. I was flown to Toronto (my first time there!) for training, met my team and was given the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant smartphone, and the competition and marketing campaign was on for two months! We churned out four videos in total (check out the Facebook page here), won two of the missions ($300 prize per win) and won the grand prize - $1000 and an all-expense paid trip to Seoul, Korea! It was an amazing trip and the other Mob!lers from around the world I met were awesome and I had sooo much fun.

2010 was also the year I started contesting. I had blogged about how I read about people who win over $22,000 worth of prizes a year and I was going to give it a shot this year. While in between temp jobs and applying for jobs, I had some time to enter and I won some things worth noting! After I started my full time job, I didn't have any time to enter anymore, but I think I managed to win quite a bit this year! I will post all my winnings soon, so watch for that! Maybe it will inspire you to start contesting too! I think in 2011, I will try and get back into entering contests because nothing beats the high of finding out you won a prize!

Well I hope everyone had a good year in 2010! Let me know what your highlights were! Have a fun and safe New Year's Eve, and I'll see you next year! 

My last prize cheque arrived!

My prize cheque for the last mission we won (Double Rainbow) and the grand prize arrived a few weeks ago! I'm so sad to see the Samsung Mob!lers program come to an end! I had so much fun and met so many great people. I hope there' a similar cool program/contest in 2011!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas! Have fun with boxing day shopping, and have a great New Year!!

WE WON!!!! VIBRANT COAST IS GOING TO KOREA!!

It's been officially announced today that my team, Vibrant Coast, won the grand prize in the Samsung Canada Mob!lers program! We won 2 out of four rounds in the video missions (Green Martian and Double Rainbow), with the two Montreal teams winning the last two. Each of us will now receive a $1000 prize as well as an all-expense paid trip to Korea, to visit Samsung headquarters in Seoul! The trip will be three days long, but I'm going a couple of days earlier with a few of the guys on my team :)

I just want to thank everyone for their support in watching my team's videos, liking and leaving commenting! I'll be sure to post up pictures from Korea after my trip!!

Samsung Mobile Canada announced the winners of the last three mission today for the Mob!lers program. Team Vibrant Coast won Double Rainbow (2nd round), while the two Montreal teams won the last two missions (Choose Your Own Adventure and City-specific - Gorillaz concert for Mtl). A huge thank you goes out to everyone for all their support, watching my team's videos, clicking the like button, sharing and commenting. Thanks for putting up with all my spamming too! :D I hope you enjoyed the videos as much as I had fun making them!

If you haven't watched any of my videos, here they are now for your viewing pleasure:

First Mission: Green Martian - Winner!!



Second Mission: Double Rainbow - Winner!!




Third Mission: Samsung My Life



Fourth Mission: Choose Your Own Adventure - Thrill the World




We will be finding out if we won the grand prize tomorrow in the late afternoon - a trip to Korea! I'll let you know as soon as I find out!

Samsung Mob!ler Samsung My Life & Thrill the World videos are up!

Vibrant Coast's last two videos are up now for viewing! Please support my team by watching the video, "like" it, and leaving a comment on Youtube! We are trying to win a trip to Korea!

Samsung Galaxy Launch Party with Faber Drive

I was invited to an exclusive Galaxy launch party put on by Samsung Mobile Canada tonight and got to check out some of the new products in the Galaxy line! The party featured Faber Drive as well, and they were awesome and played a great set! Mix in an open bar, delicious appies and my Mob!ler buddies, it was a fun night!

The Galaxy Tab!! It was a lot smaller than I expected, but a nice size so that it's still easy to view things and is great for putting into your purse! The Tab supports Flash, has a camera (with flash!) and has a beaaauutiful screen! Lots of points for the Galaxy Tab. Apple iPad? Out the window!

Here is the Samsung Captivate next to my Vibrant. Basically the same phone, just a different design. I personally like the Vibrant better!

Captivate's back. Pretty!

Mob!lers! Vibrant Coast and Vansung love.

Oooo, I want it, I want it!

Faber Drive!!

Get up and dance!

Jealous Mo got a drumstick from Faber Drive!

Samsung Mob!ler Double Rainbow Mission

The second round has started and Team Vibrant Coast is off to a running start! I need your help again by viewing the video, "liking" it through Facebook and Youtube, and leaving a comment about the video on Youtube. Let's get this video to go viral!!

Samsung Mob!ler Team Vibrant Coast Won!!!

Samsung Canada announced the winners of the Green Martian mission for Samsung Mob!lers - Team Vibrant Coast! WAHOO!! I just want to thank everyone again for their support in viewing the video, liking it and leaving comments. You guys are all awesome!

If you haven't watched it, here it is again for your viewing pleasure:




We will be starting our next few mission very soon (all 3 at a time, it seems), so watch for that and help my team win again!

Thanks for Watching

I just wanted to send out a huge THANK YOU to all the people that watched my team's video entry for the Green Martian Mission for the Samsung Mob!ler competition. Team Vibrant Coast finished with a strong lead in video views, "likes" and comments! Now the judges have to take a look at the content of the video, but everything else will also be taken into consideration! We had views from all over the world, which is just AWESOME. They will announce who won this round this Friday, October 1st and I will keep you posted!

Remember to check back for when the next round will be and be sure to support me and my team then as well!

Samsung Mob!ler Green Martian Mission - Modroids

Here is my team's Green Martian video for easy viewing! Modroids, the world's first augmented reality video game for the Samsung Galaxy S!





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