Vancouver Rocks! (Part I)

As I mentioned earlier, I was in Vancouver over spring break, giving a lecture on corporate board diversity, meeting some UBC faculty, and just generally hanging about.  I spent several very happy pre-tenure years at the University of Oregon, and always jump at any chance to head back to the Pacific Northwest – Vancouver did not disappoint.

I was invited out by the wonderful Cristie Ford, Co-Director of the National Centre for Business Law, whose research interests include comparative administrative and public law, securities regulation, corporate governance, and the legal theory surrounding public decision-making.  Cristie combines an unusual and refreshing knowledge of both public decision-making and “new governance,” as it is sometimes called, and financial markets and institutions.  Much of her recent work focuses on the financial crisis, corporate governance, compliance, and corruption.  Her recent piece, "New Governance in the Teeth of Human Frailty: Lessons from Financial Regulation" Wisconsin Law Review (forthcoming 2010), which I read in draft form earlier this year, deals with very difficult issues relating to financial regulation.   It’s nice to see someone with Ford’s knowledge level and command of the literature grapple with them.

David Duff, the Director of the National Centre for Business Law and the school’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, was also there, with thoughtful questions and insights about corporate board diversity.  And I was lucky to meet Ben Goold – whose many accomplishments include six years as a Lecturer at the University of Oxford Faculty of Law and a Fellow in Law at Somerville College, and stints as a visiting researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute and the Centre de Recherches Sociologiques sur les Droits et Institutions Pénales in Paris – over a lovely dinner of sashimi and oysters (and lots of wine). 

Finally, and this is my primary Vancouver travel tip, pictured at the top is The Winking Judge Pub, which is directly below the best yoga studio I’ve ever seen.  Now, our BC readers (of which there must be thousands by now) may write in to tell me that, in fact, YYoga is the worst yoga studio in all of Vancouver and that no local would ever go there.  I don’t care.  I went every day – sometimes twice – to the spinning/yoga class, with much nicer bikes than I’ve ever seen in a spinning class.  They have classes all day long from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and, in addition to the four YRide (spinning/yoga) classes each day, have classes like “yoga for stiff guys,” candlelight flow, and yoga for recovery of cancer and other illnesses.

I’m convinced that if I lived in Vancouver I’d be 20 lbs thinner, because I would live at this gym.  You might protest that the enormous quantities of dim sum I consumed while there would offset even the most vigorous exercise.  You would be right, but wasting your breath – I won’t listen. 

Which brings me to the two lower photos, of Japadog, where Jin ate when he was in Vancover.  Like most humans, whenever we see long lines of people standing in the rain for food, we’re going to stand there too and order whatever they order.   I don’t even like hotdogs, but had to have one, since everyone else in Vancouver seemed to be getting one – I have to admit that the taste of teriyaki and seaweed on a hotdog was not unpleasant, but not one I would wait in a 50-person line in the rain for again. 

More on Vancover, my adventures there, and corporate board diversity tomorrow.

Comments

[Jeff Yates]

Vancouver dim sum = fond memories :-)

[Kim Krawiec]

I can understand that, Jeff! I ate more dim sum there in a week than I eat here in a year. Loved it!