Fondly Remembering the Royal City Star

Should I consider myself on a roll or simply too lazy to think of something new? In yesterday's entry, I mentioned ongoing work at the New Westminster Quay. Today, I want to continue thinking about that area.

I feel sort of sad not seeing the Royal City Star any longer. The floating casino first opened to the public in 1999. It was docked near the market at the New Westminster Quay. Of course it never ever really lived up to its expectations. The casino was supposedly going to ply the river daily and not remained moored along the waterfront. That never really panned out. Also, the old gal sat so sadly for such a long time after the gaming license moved to the Starlight Casino in Queensborough. Day by day her lights burnt out and upkeep was neglected until she was a bit of an eyesore.

Rumour has it that a tug pulled the boat away to Campbell River. At the time, its future was unknown. Yet, I shall always remember the boat in its better days. Here, Jay is standing near the Royal City Star in April of 2007.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

My Flickr membership runs until the end of next year. What a bargain it is! It costs me $5 a month to host this web site which allows 200 megabytes of storage, I think. Flickr costs out to a bit more than $2 per month for unlimited uploading. A single file from my Kodak can be as large as 4 megabytes. We're talking big numbers here.

Now I'm lazy though. So far I've put only ten photos from last week's cruise. In fact, I still have vacation photos from Zürich, Switzerland in the fall that I haven't gotten around to upload.

One really can take pictures of anything nowadays at near zero cost. I can compare this to when I was a kid and taking each photo had an associated price tag even when developing B&W film on the stairway. (When the door was closed it was nearly the darkest place in the house.) I took two photos from the balcony today and one yesterday. They're on Flickr now. I don't know at what point quantity becomes overload.

To see a slide show of pictures taken from the balcony over the years, click on this example picture.

Eliminating Stress

Well it's Monday evening, so I've started this entry from the BCIT computer lab. I'm with some students enrolled in COMM 0031 which is a course for practicing oral communications. Thankfully, we're in the lab. I can make use of special listening software here. I can also have the students practice recording answers on the computers. This is handy as they'll be officially taking the BCIT Spoken English Assessment right here on Wednesday. This will give the chance to practice with the microphone and headphones.

Earlier today, I corrected all the final examinations from my weekend course. It feels really good to speak about both the intensive COMM 0004 courses in past tense now. During November, I felt quite a bit of stress dealing with forty students at the same time and it surely provided me with a lot of correction.

I can't help but think how great my job is though. I really appreciate the project-like environment of taking on individual contracts. There is clear definition of the beginning, middle, and end to each course. I take preparation for my classes very seriously. I keep a very friendly environment in the classroom but I do accumulate a fair amount of stress doing the housekeeping end of things. So stress builds but then completely dissipates. For example, tomorrow I have absolutely no appointments. Better yet, there're no assignments to be corrected nor planning to be done.

I need lots of down time and some has finally come to visit. I look forward to walking around town with a camera. I did manage a one-hour walk to the Quay today.

Please Gamble!

The more money people throw into the slots, the more it keeps my taxes in check. Our municipal government benefits from a percentage of the take. As a downtown resident of New Westminster, the Royal City Star has become a part of our daily existence. Even from the living room, we can look over the balcony and see the floating casino. Because of this, it is in many pictures on my Flickr account.

We've known for quite a while it'll be leaving. The gaming license will be moved to a brand-new facility in Queensborough in our fair city. When at the Walmart today, we drove another half mile up the road to see how things are coming along on the Starlight Casino. It looks like there's still quite a bit to be done before this week's soft opening.

Five By Fourteen Feet

It'd seem very strange to live in an unattached, single-family dwelling. We really are condo people. As mentioned here plenty of times, we're also resolute New Westminster residents. Apparently others agree as there are hundreds of new apartments being built within a kilometer.

I don't want to sound like one of those people who always comments that time flies, but it does. We've lived on the 10th floor in this building for nine years now. That has afforded many opportunities for me to snap pictures from the balcony. In fact my Daily Picture Parade probably has its share on those days I forgot to get a photo elsewhere.

The following photo was taken from the balcony during the Fraserfest fireworks display last night. To see fifty other photos from or of the balcony, look on Flickr.

Light Saber

I didn't get up until quarter past eight today. Well, that's what the clocks said although it's due to the early arrival of Daylight Savings Time. Sunrise was 7:35 and sunset will be at 7:10. I like the idea of the additional light in the evenings. I fear that today is going to be too overcast to be able to really tell the difference though.

There's a memorable Expedia TV commercial flogging their winter get-away packages. A woman looks up from her computer and out of a downtown office window. It shows the time is only after 4:15 pm but the city lights are on because it's as dark as midnight. Tears start to well up in her eyes and a pout forms on her face. Of course, then she can hardly contain her glee when she notices the great deals on Expedia.

Rather than feeling sorry for her, I'd say the bitch should be given a warning for her personal web-surfing at work.


This is a sunset from my balcony last week. This will now occur
an hour later due to the early adoption of Daylight Savings Time.

Fog You Can Bank On

In many places the weather is the same for miles around; however, around Vancouver a few kilometers can make a lot of difference. It sometimes rains on one side of a hill whereas it's as dry as a bone on the other. There are effects from the mountains and the sea. Most importantly, in this part of downtown New Westminster, we're affected by the Fraser River. We can be completely socked in with fog, while uptown basks in sunshine.


A harbinger of autumn: This photo shows the first fog I've noticed
for a long time. I snapped it from the balcony just seconds ago.

A Visitor

Yup, Bret came out to New Westminster. He was able to stop sales shmoozing with doctors before noon today. His wife had been up as it was their 13th wedding anniversary! I appreciated the beer Bret bought me on the casino boat even if he consumes the non-alcoholic variety nowadays. He looks great 'cause he's off all carbs.

Royal City Star - Floating Casino

From a balcony picture earlier in the month (September 8th), one could see the New Westminster Quay. Parked near the market is a casino riverboat which seldom leaves the dock nowadays.

Afternoon on the Balcony

Laurie, you should recognize this scene. Doesn't it seem a long time ago that you were visiting?

This apartment is on the tenth floor overlooking the Fraser River in New Westminster. There is still some industry up river, so barges with logs and working tugs regularly pass by. The apartment faces south, but for this picture, I was looking downriver. Can you see the riverboat casino that's parked at the Quay? Behind that, you should be able to see the Alex Fraser Bridge. The river splits into a north and south branch almost within view. The Fraser's waters enter the Strait of Georgia about 18 kilometers from here.

I took the picture just seconds ago: