A Weekend to Remember: PacBlue’s IT Manager volunteers as bike mechanic for the Ride to Conquer Cancer

Ride to Conquer Cancer

Steve Overland, PacBlue's IT Manager volunteering for Ride to Conquer Cancer

We are happy to have a guest blogger, Steve Overland, PacBlue’s IT Manager who volunteered his time with Obsession: Bikes to set up a mobile bicycle repair shop to assist the thousands of riders who rode in the Vancouver 2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer this weekend. PacBlue was proud to help out by tricking out Steve’s truck with cool graphics and was also involved with printing graphics and promotional material for Team Finn, the largest participating team in the ride.  Team Finn, Ron Sombilon and PacBlue Printing collaborated on a the website for a project called ‘Put Yourself in the Picture’ where you can donate to fight cancer and have your picture in the 2010 Team Finn Ride to Conquer Cancer Art Piece which will be created by Ron Sombilon and produced by PacBlue Printing. We’re proud to have dedicated employees like Steve and to play a role in supporting this fabulous event.

Now on to Steve’s blog:

A Weekend to Remember:

A few months ago my friend asked if I would help him support the Ride to Conquer Cancer as a mobile bike mechanic. The plan was to bring our two trucks loaded with all the tools and parts we would possibly need to get 2000+ bicycles from Surrey to Seattle over two days.

I knew he would have two goals:

  1. Help as many participants as possible.
  2. Look good doing it.

I received his company logos via email on Wednesday afternoon.  By Thursday afternoon our vinyl team had printed, cut, trimmed, weeded (a new word for me – it means removing the unwanted parts from a cut vinyl decal), and masked.  By Friday morning our installers transformed my pickup truck from a plain black pickup to a sharp looking mobile bike shop.

At 5:30 AM Saturday we marshalled at Guilford mall to await the start of the event.  Soon after, swarms of cyclists descended on the mall parking lot.  We were instantly swamped with requests for air, oil, tires, tubes, adviceand assurances.  It was very much the typical whirlwind of activity that preceeds the start of any major event I’ve helped at.  Murphy’s Law is an early riser, and in typical fashion the generator we had thoroughly tested the previous evening would not start.  Consequently, we all got good back and arm workouts using the hand pumps!

Fixing a flat tire

Steve assists a Team Finn rider who needs a hand

Our vehicle left quickly, ahead of the ride, to setup at the first rest stop just across the border.  As we checked out the route we saw the helicopter hovering over all the riders waiting at the border.  Soon we were passed by several “pelotons” of “those fast guys” who had sailed through the first rest stop on their fancy bikes without even stopping.  And that was the last I ever saw of those guys…

But we were not there for them.  And soon “our people” began arriving at the rest stop, our people being all the middle-of-the-pack riders.  The riders came in all different sizes and shapes of bikes and people.  All of them had a similar mission – to push themselves to raise money and push their bikes because someone they know has been affected by cancer.  Thankfully most were in good shape – both physically and mechanically – and it was a beautiful day to be out riding a bike.  We did a few repairs and innertube changes, chatted with some friends (old and new) and then packed up.  Our second truck was radioed back to the border to help with some flat tires and we continued south.

The rest of the afternoon was spent patrolling the course looking for bike casualties.  Our truck was setup as a workshop-on-wheels.  We wanted to be manoueverable and efficient so we could assist the maximum number of riders.  We had a bike rack, toolbox, spare parts, etcetera on hand to get everyone back on the road ASAP.  It was great to see stranded riders faces light up as we pulled up honking the horn and grabbed their bikes for “triage”.

The camp that evening was beautiful; the other volunteers took great care of us – hot showers, tents, dinner and well deserved cocktails. That evening was very pleasant, we did a few freeby repairs, helped some people with bike fit, and chatted with some great personalities.  I have worked several competitive bike races, and while the logistics are very similar, the atmospheres are very different.  Gone was the animosity and intensity of competition.  It was replaced by joy exuded by thousands of positive people suffering on their bikes for 250 kilometers.  I’m sure everyone there had a personal reason to suffer through this challenging ride and many people looked a little out of their element.  It was literally heart warming to see everyone’s determination.

The heart warming aspect was appreciated, as Day Two brought a classic Northwest cool drizzle.  But despite this, I don’t think I heard a single complaint or saw one frowning face among the riders.  As I enjoyed my hot coffee and heated seats, we passed hundreds of bikers through the backroads of Washington.  There were some cold hands and damp bums,  but spirits remained high.  Many hours and many flat tires later we arrived at the final rest stop in Seattle.  Watching the final few riders “gut it out” over some pretty tough rolling hills was inspiring.  Soon everyone was cruising a bike route between the final rest and the grand finish.  Our weekend of work was done.

As it was also Fathers Day, we skipped the finish ceremonies and headed back up to the border.  This was the best part of the weekend, about a dozen cars full of participants passed us smiling, waving, and flashing the same unidigital hand gesture we had been flashing them all weekend.  A big thumbs up!  I have never felt so appreciated (I AM the IT guy after all!).

The event was very well organized and the atmosphere was great.  It was like 2200 friends going for a bike ride together, and $9.2 million dollars were raised for Cancer research.  I would encourage anyone with or without a bike to consider this event.  I’m sure many of the riders found it to be “positively” life-changing!  I am proud to have been just a small part of this event.

Thanks to PacBlue for their generosity with my time and for making us look like a real professional operation with the vehicle decals.  Without the assistance of several PacBlue staff we could never have achieved our 2nd goal!  Thanks to Obsession:Bikes for inviting me to help out.  Thanks to the event volunteers for making my job easy.  And thanks to all the participants for making last weekend one of the most positive, fun, and touching weekends of my life.

Steve Overland

Our dog or the First Dog, that is the question?

Obama’s Bo or PacBlue’s Bo?

As many of you may know, PacBlue is a dog friendly office and has an Olde Boston Bulldogge puppy, who is now 15 months old and who happens to be named Bo, after the esteemed Barack Obama. The story of our Bo, goes like this. My wife and I were looking for our own Olde Boston Bulldogge after falling in love with PacBlue’s other Olde Boston Bulldogge ‘Ozi’ a four year old male. The breeder where Ozi came from had a new litter on the day of the big US Presidential election in November 2008 and we thought we would get a dog from there. In discussing it, we decided we would get a male dog and honour the newly elected President and came up with Bo as the name because of Barack Obama’s initials. Unfortunately, this entire litter of puppies died, so we had to start our search again.

We found this fabulous breeder, Bella Bullies in Puyallup, WA who had a litter in January 2009. We went down to select our puppy, and ended up changing our mind and getting a female puppy. After much debate on the name, we said that Bo could be a girl as well (hello, Bo Derek!) and kept the name. What an ironic twist of fate when a few months later, the President selected his Portuguese Water Dog for his girls and decided to call it Bo as well. Of course everyone thinks we stole the name, but we know the truth.

So this little blog is to decide once and for all who is the cuter Bo? Below you’ll find pictures of their Bo and our Bo, both as a small puppy and full grown. It’s your call – Obama’s Bo or PacBlue’s Bo?

Obama’s Bo:

Obama's Puppy Bo

Obama's Puppy Bo

Obama's Bo, full grown

Obama's Bo, full grown

PacBlue’s Bo:

PacBlue's Bo as a Puppy

PacBlue's Bo as a Puppy

Bo full grown and trying to get some food

Bo full grown and trying to get some food

Vote now:

Which Bo is Cuter

  • PacBlue's Bo (83%, 5 Votes)
  • Obama's Puppy Bo (17%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 6

Loading ... Loading ...

Check back often to see the results of the poll!

The Roof Came Down – BC Place

Pacblue printing had a good view of BC Place’s roof coming down. Here’s a series of photos showing the progress of the deflation.

BC Place 9 am before deflation

BC Place 9 am before deflation

BC Place start of deflation

BC Place start of deflation

BC Place Roof Deflation

BC Place Roof Deflation

BC Place Roof Deflation Its Gone

BC Place Roof Deflation Its Gone

Last week’s scan of the week revealed!! 04/30/10

Happy Friday everyone! Our scan of the week is still on and off due to some unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully we’ll have it back on track real soon. For those of you who enjoy the scan of the week, we’re always open to new ideas for things to scan (it can be hard finding interesting things each week). If you have a good idea, pass it along to us at reception@pacblueprinting.com and you might just see your idea show up as a scan of the week one time soon.

Congratulations to @marcmcpherson for being the first to correctly guess our scan!!

In the meantime, here is last week’s answer revealed. Use the controls below to zoom around and take a close look at the close-up of a a rusty screw. The + zooms in and the – zooms out. You can also move the red ‘field of view’ box around inside the upper left hand corner thumbnail image to see different sections of the image or drag the image with your mouse in the main window. To reset image click the circle with an arrow inside of it.

Last week's PacBlue Printing close-up 04/23/2010

Close-up from Last Week

First correct guess = Free movie tickets!! What did we scan this week?! 04/23/10

Two Free Cineplex Movie Passes to First Correct Guess in the Comments or via Twitter

This week should be challenging, but I’m sure someone will claim the movie tickets! The first person who correctly identifies the scan of the week and enters it into the comments on the blog page or replies via twitter will receive two movie passes for Cineplex Odeon. Obviously this is a local contest, so for those who aren’t in the Vancouver area, we’d be glad to offer you the movie passes, but you’d have to fly to Vancouver to use them. We’ll notify the winner via email or twitter and you can swing by and collect your prize at our W. 2nd location in Vancouver. Happy guessing and best of luck!

For those of you who haven’t seen the Scan of the week before, here is our usual intro:

At PacBlue Printing we just happen to have one of the most powerful scanners available anywhere called the Cruse Scanner. It’s the same scanner used by the Vatican, NASA and the Getty Museum to digitally archive their artifacts. So, let me tell you that it scans in an amazing amount of detail so when you zoom in real tight, it remains crystal clear. On Friday of each week we are going to scan an everyday object or item on our ultra high-resolution scanner and see if you can guess what it is. It could be just about anything, food, household item, you name it we might scan it. It’s that simple.

So, here goes. Take a look at the picture below and see if you can guess what it is by answering in the blog comments section below the post. This one is harder than last week, so we’ll see how you make out. Next week we’ll scan something new and send it out along with the answer to this one. You’ll be able to check out the full size image and zoom in and out on the image to see your own extreme close-ups. Have fun and if you are interested in learning more about our high quality scanning services be sure to check out our website’s scanning services page.

To get automatic notification of these subscribe to the blog at left or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pacblueprinting

PacBlue Printing Scan of the week 04/23/2010

Scan of the Week 04/02/2010

Here is the answer from 2 weeks ago revealed again.
Use the controls below to zoom around and take a close look at the close-up of a a leaf. The + zooms in and the – zooms out. You can also move the red ‘field of view’ box around inside the upper left hand corner thumbnail image to see different sections of the image or drag the image with your mouse in the main window. To reset image click the circle with an arrow inside of it.

Last week's PacBlue Printing close-up 04/09/2010

Close-up from Last Week

Last week’s Scan of the Week revealed! 04/16/2010

Our scan of the week is still on and off due to some unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully we’ll have it back on track real soon. For those of you who enjoy the scan of the week, we’re always open to new ideas for things to scan (it can be hard finding interesting things each week). If you have a good idea, pass it along to us at reception@pacblueprinting.com and you might just see your idea show up as a scan of the week one time soon.

Unfortunately, no one was able to guess are last week’s scan’s identity.

In the meantime, here is last week’s answer revealed. Use the controls below to zoom around and take a close look at the close-up of a a leaf. The + zooms in and the – zooms out. You can also move the red ‘field of view’ box around inside the upper left hand corner thumbnail image to see different sections of the image or drag the image with your mouse in the main window. To reset image click the circle with an arrow inside of it.

Last week's PacBlue Printing close-up 04/09/2010

Close-up from Last Week

What did we scan this week??? Be the first to guess correctly and WIN Movie Tix!! 04/09/2010

Two Free Cineplex Movie Passes to First Correct Guess in the Comments or via Twitter

In the interest of keeping the Scan of the Week exciting, we’ve decided to step it up a notch and offer a prize to the first correct guess each week (see rules below). This week should be challenging, but I’m sure someone will claim the movie tickets! The first person who correctly identifies the scan of the week and enters it into the comments on the blog page or replies via twitter will receive two movie passes for Cineplex Odeon. Obviously this is a local contest, so for those who aren’t in the Vancouver area, we’d be glad to offer you the movie passes, but you’d have to fly to Vancouver to use them. We’ll notify the winner via email or twitter and you can swing by and collect your prize at our W. 2nd location in Vancouver. Happy guessing and best of luck!

Congratulations to Sheri Alexander from for guessing our scan correctly last week :) Enjoy the show!

For those of you who haven’t seen the Scan of the week before, here is our usual intro:

At PacBlue Printing we just happen to have one of the most powerful scanners available anywhere called the Cruse Scanner. It’s the same scanner used by the Vatican, NASA and the Getty Museum to digitally archive their artifacts. So, let me tell you that it scans in an amazing amount of detail so when you zoom in real tight, it remains crystal clear. On Friday of each week we are going to scan an everyday object or item on our ultra high-resolution scanner and see if you can guess what it is. It could be just about anything, food, household item, you name it we might scan it. It’s that simple.

So, here goes. Take a look at the picture below and see if you can guess what it is by answering in the blog comments section below the post. This one is harder than last week, so we’ll see how you make out. Next week we’ll scan something new and send it out along with the answer to this one. You’ll be able to check out the full size image and zoom in and out on the image to see your own extreme close-ups. Have fun and if you are interested in learning more about our high quality scanning services be sure to check out our website’s scanning services page.

To get automatic notification of these subscribe to the blog at left or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pacblueprinting

PacBlue Printing Scan of the week 04/09/2010

Scan of the Week 03/12/2010

Here is last week’s answer revealed. Use the controls below to zoom around and take a close look at the close-up of a 45rpm Record Label. The + zooms in and the – zooms out. You can also move the red ‘field of view’ box around inside the upper left hand corner thumbnail image to see different sections of the image or drag the image with your mouse in the main window. To reset image click the circle with an arrow inside of it.

Last week's PacBlue Printing close-up 04/02/2010

Close-up from Last Week

Rules: The rules are pretty straightforward (after all this is for fun right?) and haven’t been vetted by our legal team to avoid a monster law suit based on alleged discriminatory practices. Basically, first correct guess to post via twitter or the blog comments can claim the movie tickets. In the interest of fairness and to spread the wealth around, previous winners will be ineligible from winning for 1 month at which point they are free to win again. So, have fun, and guess away.

Scan of the week is back on!! Guess what we scanned and win free movie tix!! 04/02/2010

Two Free Cineplex Movie Passes to First Correct Guess in the Comments or via Twitter

In the interest of keeping the Scan of the Week exciting, we’ve decided to step it up a notch and offer a prize to the first correct guess each week (see rules below). This week should be challenging, but I’m sure someone will claim the movie tickets! The first person who correctly identifies the scan of the week and enters it into the comments on the blog page or replies via twitter will receive two movie passes for Cineplex Odeon. Obviously this is a local contest, so for those who aren’t in the Vancouver area, we’d be glad to offer you the movie passes, but you’d have to fly to Vancouver to use them. We’ll notify the winner via email or twitter and you can swing by and collect your prize at our W. 2nd location in Vancouver. Happy guessing and best of luck!

For those of you who haven’t seen the Scan of the week before, here is our usual intro:

At PacBlue Printing we just happen to have one of the most powerful scanners available anywhere called the Cruse Scanner. It’s the same scanner used by the Vatican, NASA and the Getty Museum to digitally archive their artifacts. So, let me tell you that it scans in an amazing amount of detail so when you zoom in real tight, it remains crystal clear. On Friday of each week we are going to scan an everyday object or item on our ultra high-resolution scanner and see if you can guess what it is. It could be just about anything, food, household item, you name it we might scan it. It’s that simple.

So, here goes. Take a look at the picture below and see if you can guess what it is by answering in the blog comments section below the post. This one is harder than last week, so we’ll see how you make out. Next week we’ll scan something new and send it out along with the answer to this one. You’ll be able to check out the full size image and zoom in and out on the image to see your own extreme close-ups. Have fun and if you are interested in learning more about our high quality scanning services be sure to check out our website’s scanning services page.

To get automatic notification of these subscribe to the blog at left or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pacblueprinting

PacBlue Printing Scan of the week 04/01/2010

Scan of the Week 04/02/2010

Here is the answer from 2 weeks ago revealed again.
Use the controls below to zoom around and take a close look at the close-up of a bowl of dog food. The + zooms in and the – zooms out. You can also move the red ‘field of view’ box around inside the upper left hand corner thumbnail image to see different sections of the image or drag the image with your mouse in the main window. To reset image click the circle with an arrow inside of it.

Last week's PacBlue Printing close-up 03/19/2010

Close-up from Last Week

Last week’s Scan of the week answer revealed

Our scan of the week is on a short hiatus due to some unforeseen circumstances, but we’ll have it back real soon. For those of you who enjoy the scan of the week, we’re always open to new ideas for things to scan (it can be hard finding interesting things each week). If you have a good idea, pass it along to us at reception@pacblueprinting.com and you might just see your idea show up as a scan of the week one time soon.

Congratulations to Jamie Champagne for correctly guessing our scan last week!!

In the meantime, here is last week’s answer revealed. Use the controls below to zoom around and take a close look at the close-up of a bowl of dog food. The + zooms in and the – zooms out. You can also move the red ‘field of view’ box around inside the upper left hand corner thumbnail image to see different sections of the image or drag the image with your mouse in the main window. To reset image click the circle with an arrow inside of it.

Last week's PacBlue Printing close-up 03/19/2010

Close-up from Last Week

WIN Movie Tix by correctly guessing our scan for this week! 03/19/2010

Two Free Cineplex Movie Passes to First Correct Guess in the Comments or via Twitter

In the interest of keeping the Scan of the Week exciting, we’ve decided to step it up a notch and offer a prize to the first correct guess each week (see rules below). This week should be challenging, but I’m sure someone will claim the movie tickets! The first person who correctly identifies the scan of the week and enters it into the comments on the blog page or replies via twitter will receive two movie passes for Cineplex Odeon. Obviously this is a local contest, so for those who aren’t in the Vancouver area, we’d be glad to offer you the movie passes, but you’d have to fly to Vancouver to use them. We’ll notify the winner via email or twitter and you can swing by and collect your prize at our W. 2nd location in Vancouver. Happy guessing and best of luck!

Congratulations to Jon from @ronafajardo and dori for guessing our scan correctly last week :) Enjoy the show!

For those of you who haven’t seen the Scan of the week before, here is our usual intro:

At PacBlue Printing we just happen to have one of the most powerful scanners available anywhere called the Cruse Scanner. It’s the same scanner used by the Vatican, NASA and the Getty Museum to digitally archive their artifacts. So, let me tell you that it scans in an amazing amount of detail so when you zoom in real tight, it remains crystal clear. On Friday of each week we are going to scan an everyday object or item on our ultra high-resolution scanner and see if you can guess what it is. It could be just about anything, food, household item, you name it we might scan it. It’s that simple.

So, here goes. Take a look at the picture below and see if you can guess what it is by answering in the blog comments section below the post. This one is harder than last week, so we’ll see how you make out. Next week we’ll scan something new and send it out along with the answer to this one. You’ll be able to check out the full size image and zoom in and out on the image to see your own extreme close-ups. Have fun and if you are interested in learning more about our high quality scanning services be sure to check out our website’s scanning services page.

To get automatic notification of these subscribe to the blog at left or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pacblueprinting

PacBlue Printing Scan of the week 03/05/2010

Scan of the Week 03/19/2010

Here is last week’s answer revealed. Use the controls below to zoom around and take a close look at the close-up of a Guitar. The + zooms in and the – zooms out. You can also move the red ‘field of view’ box around inside the upper left hand corner thumbnail image to see different sections of the image or drag the image with your mouse in the main window. To reset image click the circle with an arrow inside of it.

Last week's PacBlue Printing close-up 03/12/2010

Close-up from Last Week

Rules: The rules are pretty straightforward (after all this is for fun right?) and haven’t been vetted by our legal team to avoid a monster law suit based on alleged discriminatory practices. Basically, first correct guess to post via twitter or the blog comments can claim the movie tickets. In the interest of fairness and to spread the wealth around, previous winners will be ineligible from winning for 1 month at which point they are free to win again. So, have fun, and guess away.

PacBlue Digital Imaging Inc.

380 West 2nd Avenue, 2nd Floor, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Y 1C8 Tel: 604.714.3288 Fax: 604.714.3289

© 2010 PacBlue Digital Imaging Inc. All rights reserved.

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