Good day and a warm welcome to you. Thanks for dropping in to our little corner of the interweb.

It's now a bit more than 15 years since we launched Virtual Saskatchewan Online Magazine in March 1997. The magazine was a full-time gig for my brother Paul and me for just a short time; we soon discovered it was difficult selling internet ads to a business community only just beginning to embrace the Web. We couldn't afford to wait.

But I've continued to add new stories and update old ones - as time allows - because visitor data and feedback show me you folks still find interesting and/or useful information here. Thanks! I'm pleased to see that. And while I acknowledge the Google ads may be a bit intrusive, they generate enough money to cover hosting, domain fees and some of the other costs I'd find difficult to justify otherwise.

In addition to adding new stories, I'm now carrying out a thorough, page-by-page update of the entire VS website. I've spent a good deal of time on this already and expect to be giving it more attention in weeks ahead - there's a lot of stuff here! But as a guy who understands we all look to the Web to find good sources of accurate, up-to-date information, I intend to provide nothing less for Virtual Saskatchewan readers. . . .

. . . Saskatchewan Parks' new online campsite reservation system is up and running, but not without first hitting a pothole or two. I accessed the new system on the morning of March 12, the first day it went live. My experience was mixed. I tried to reserve a campsite at a popular provincial park, to no avail. I won't bother you with the details; suffice to say the system was extremely sluggish and at one point offered a raft of campsites to choose from and, a moment later, there appeared to be none. I've helped roll out websites and I wasn't startled by the glitches. I planned to try again the next day.

Then around mid afternoon on March 12, four or five hours after my last failed attempt to reserve a site, I received an email confirming my site reservation. Near the end of March, I received a phone call from the Guelph, Ontario company contracted to set up the new system. The friendly woman thanked me for using the new system and assured me the double billing would be taken care of within about two weeks. Huh?

But you know, I really wasn't discouraged by any of this. In fact, if there was anything discouraging here it's the fact Saskatchewan is one of the last provinces to adopt an online reservation system for provincial parks. I presume everything is working well now and most of the bugs have been ironed out. But I won't be surprised to see a few glitches each year on the first day the system is activated for reservations. Campsite lotto, anyone?. . . .

. . . . The illustration on the cover of a recent issue of New Yorker magazine included a blue carry-on bag with the words "Saskatoon Airport Duty-free'' printed on the side. The artist, an expat Canuck, told a local reporter he included the name of Saskatchewan's largest city because, among other reasons, it has a musical sound.

Many centuries ago while backpacking around Europe a number of American travellers told me they loved to say the name "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.'' I'm not sure they knew where Saskatoon is located, but they sure loved the sound of the name. Ever since, I've been well aware of the musical cadence of the place name I now call home.

At that time, I was living in Regina, a city whose name gained a certain notoriety of its own years later when Mick Jagger quipped: "Regina: the city that rhymes with fun.''

That's it for now. I invite you to grab a coffee, put your feet up and click around VS to explore the virtual version of our province: the lyrical, the lewd and everything in-between. Don't forget to grab a slice of virtual saskatoon berry pie!

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