Dreaming With a Broken Heart
"When you're dreaming with a broken heart
The giving up is the hardest part
She takes you in with her crying eyes
Then all at once you have to say goodbye
Wondering could you stay my love?
Will you wake up by my side?
No she can't, 'cause she's gone, gone, gone, gone, gone...."
I've come a long way from where I was nearly three years ago. I had a heart that was shattered into so many pieces I wasn't sure it would ever heal. I survived, endured and with a lot of help and a change of scenery I found myself a happy, healthier me if a little bit poorer (ok, maybe a lot poorer). I felt I was finally ready to put a toe in the dating waters this summer and it wasn't exactly bountiful but I did enjoy the dates I did go on. Then one cold December evening I went to meet a friend to help celebrate her birthday and I met someone. It wasn't fireworks. More like finding your favorite blanket. It was warm, it was comfortable and it was familiar. I could have stayed wrapped in the comfort of that blanket forever but I couldn't. She had to go home. Home is across the country in Ottawa. I got to spend one more afternoon with her before she left.
I couldn't believe my luck. Single, Sparks and close. That has always been the trifecta. I can't seem to get that. Most of the time the problem is with the sparks. I'v felt this strongly about three women in my life. The first was adamant I was too young. The second wasn't single so she was off limits. This time, I had chemistry in spades. She just happens to live 13,000kms away (13,200.91 kilometres to be exact). The Proclaimers might walk 500 miles to be with the one they love but I would have to walk 8200 miles.
We spoke at length about what we should do about our situation. Neither of us had expected this but we also had no illusions that should we choose to pursue this we were going to be in for a huge uphill battle. There were hurdles beyond just the distance that we would have to overcome but we both agreed to cautiously pursue this. We'd been given a gift. How could we not?
We tried.
In the short time that we tried we did all we could to make this work but reality would bring us down to earth. I got a text message from her the day before yesterday. She wanted to talk to me. I think both of us half expected it would come to this but neither of us wanted to believe it would. If anything I was surprised how quickly it happened and I think I was a little surprised she was the one to cave. I know why she did it. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to say the words. I don't hold it against her. I have nothing but love for her. I wish the circumstances were different. I wish we could make this work.We were given a gift. I am eternally grateful.
I will be ok. I hope she will too. Fare thee well love. I will hold you in my heart forever.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
June 2, 2010
Alert Status Red
There are days that just don't go well and then there are days when things just keep wanting to go for from bad to worse. Just as a preface to the story I am about to tell I have intentionally removed an identifying details so please forgive me if the structure is a little awkward but it needs to be this way.
A friend called me this morning and left a message saying they were on edge. Unfortunately for me the missed call didn't register but the voicemail did and I didn't see it til I was on my way to a meeting. I tried touching base with them later in the day and although still quite depressed it was explained to me that they just needed some time to themselves. 15 minutes later I found a facebook post that I interpreted as a suicide threat and I panicked. I called their partner who also happens to be a good friend and asked them to check in with them as I was in a full on state of alert status red. I think I may have inadvertently come across badly and although I sent follow up messages apologizing I never heard back. In the end the only thing I can do is trust that what I did, no matter how it was taken will be forgiven and forgotten in the end as it came from a place of grave concern and a spirit of altruism.
A little background.
Growing up I had always steadfastly maintained I would never go to a suicide's funeral. I always thought it was the most selfish thing someone could do and if they felt they couldn't reach out in that moment to a friend then I couldn't and wouldn't support their final sentient decision. That was until two Christmas' ago. It was my first Christmas after the breakup. I was massively depressed. I was in so much emotional turmoil and was feeling so much pain that all I could think was that I just wanted this pain to stop. It was more than I could bear. I reached for a bottle of sleeping pills and came within a moment of downing the entire bottle. At that moment, call it fate, call it luck, call it a higher power but my action was interrupted. An instant message from a friend in Texas. She talked me down and I lived. Looking back at that moment I understand now why some people hit that breaking point. It' not out of selfishness, it's not that they've stopped caring, it's not that they want to die even. All they want is quiet. It seems like such an extreme way to find that peace but in that moment of chaos, it makes sense. If I can just make it stop it will feel better.
For some of you who have never been to that edge, it doesn't make sense and never will. For those of you that have never seen the edge, I hope you never do even if it means you never understand. It's a scary place and I hope I never find myself there again. I have one friend in El Paso, Texas to thank for pulling me from the brink and no words, actions or currency will ever be enough to repay the debt I owe her. I will, however, do everything I can from this day forward to live this life the best way I can and pay it forward every opportunity I get.
I think that's why when presented with this situation today I panicked. I didn't want to lose someone and I wasn't close enough to be able to intervene. I called, I text messaged and the only thing I could think of was to call their partner in the hopes they could intervene even though their relationship was on the brink I was hoping humanity would prevail. In the end I may have created a further catalyst for the demise of a relationship. There are hurt feelings and what I think may be some hard feelings to me as well. All I can do is trust what a very wise man named Theodor Seuss Geisel once said. “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” They matter to me and I hope they feel the same of me.
Something I learned today: Even in a moment of panic I should still think (even if it means quickly) what the consequences of my actions might be.
Reason to smile today: Thank you Joy for a second chance.
There are days that just don't go well and then there are days when things just keep wanting to go for from bad to worse. Just as a preface to the story I am about to tell I have intentionally removed an identifying details so please forgive me if the structure is a little awkward but it needs to be this way.
A friend called me this morning and left a message saying they were on edge. Unfortunately for me the missed call didn't register but the voicemail did and I didn't see it til I was on my way to a meeting. I tried touching base with them later in the day and although still quite depressed it was explained to me that they just needed some time to themselves. 15 minutes later I found a facebook post that I interpreted as a suicide threat and I panicked. I called their partner who also happens to be a good friend and asked them to check in with them as I was in a full on state of alert status red. I think I may have inadvertently come across badly and although I sent follow up messages apologizing I never heard back. In the end the only thing I can do is trust that what I did, no matter how it was taken will be forgiven and forgotten in the end as it came from a place of grave concern and a spirit of altruism.
A little background.
Growing up I had always steadfastly maintained I would never go to a suicide's funeral. I always thought it was the most selfish thing someone could do and if they felt they couldn't reach out in that moment to a friend then I couldn't and wouldn't support their final sentient decision. That was until two Christmas' ago. It was my first Christmas after the breakup. I was massively depressed. I was in so much emotional turmoil and was feeling so much pain that all I could think was that I just wanted this pain to stop. It was more than I could bear. I reached for a bottle of sleeping pills and came within a moment of downing the entire bottle. At that moment, call it fate, call it luck, call it a higher power but my action was interrupted. An instant message from a friend in Texas. She talked me down and I lived. Looking back at that moment I understand now why some people hit that breaking point. It' not out of selfishness, it's not that they've stopped caring, it's not that they want to die even. All they want is quiet. It seems like such an extreme way to find that peace but in that moment of chaos, it makes sense. If I can just make it stop it will feel better.
For some of you who have never been to that edge, it doesn't make sense and never will. For those of you that have never seen the edge, I hope you never do even if it means you never understand. It's a scary place and I hope I never find myself there again. I have one friend in El Paso, Texas to thank for pulling me from the brink and no words, actions or currency will ever be enough to repay the debt I owe her. I will, however, do everything I can from this day forward to live this life the best way I can and pay it forward every opportunity I get.
I think that's why when presented with this situation today I panicked. I didn't want to lose someone and I wasn't close enough to be able to intervene. I called, I text messaged and the only thing I could think of was to call their partner in the hopes they could intervene even though their relationship was on the brink I was hoping humanity would prevail. In the end I may have created a further catalyst for the demise of a relationship. There are hurt feelings and what I think may be some hard feelings to me as well. All I can do is trust what a very wise man named Theodor Seuss Geisel once said. “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” They matter to me and I hope they feel the same of me.
Something I learned today: Even in a moment of panic I should still think (even if it means quickly) what the consequences of my actions might be.
Reason to smile today: Thank you Joy for a second chance.
May 28, 2010
The Eternal Xuanshine and a Spotless Mind
Losing something always sucks. You search high and low tearing rooms and homes apart trying to find that precious thing to no avail. What if it was a person and not a thing?
I was supposed to pick up Xuan from the airport today. She was coming back to Canada. Things had not gone well in Mexico and she was coming home. I knew her schedule. She was supposed to be arriving mid afternoon and I hustled to get my wok done early. I got to the airport and watched people filing through the airport greeted by friends or family or tour guides. I waited.
Nothing.
The schedule posted the flight deplaning had completed and after 45 minutes I inquired if there is a customs office I could make an inquiry to. Perhaps she had gotten stuck in Customs. I was told I should probably wait a good hour or so before inquiring as they wouldn't be very receptive to inquiries. So I waited some more. At 75 minutes I made another inquiry to which I was told even if she was in there they wouldn't divulge that information for security purposes. Maybe she missed her flight.
I called United and was put on hold for the better part of a half hour. I finally got through and made an inquiry as to whether Xuan had actually made her flight. After some mucking about I was informed she didn't make the second leg. I think I turned white. I began to imagine Xuan wandering around the San Francisco airport asking strangers if they would let her on a plane. She's not the most travelled person and her sense of reality is a little... different. I knew she had no money to book another flight and I certainly didn't have enough to get her on a flight home so I began to stress. The lady on the other end informed me she had changed her flight plans in Mexico to a much later flight arriving at 10pm. Now I got upset. Why the hell would she change her flight. This made no sense. I knew she wanted to catch a later flight from Mexico but her connecting flight? There was no message either. I had come all the way out to the airport and she could have sent me a Facebook message or called me or something. I sat and I stewed. What should I do? I could go home but I'd be turning back around an hour and a half later to come back here. I could stay here for the next 5 hours or so at the airport but I didn't have my laptop so I couldn't work. I reluctantly headed back home only to discover the airport was charging an extra $5 to the ticket so my return ticket cost me $10.00.
I was really choked now. I was running tight as it was and this was an added expense I didn't need. All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind the rest of the afternoon. Should I even bother going to pick her up? What was I going to say? I had several imaginary conversations in my head where I tore a strip out of her. What had I told her about being responsible? Taking other people into account? I was running a little hot. Annie pinged me on Facebook a little while later to ask if the monkey had arrived in one piece. When I told her what happened I think her response was just as baffled as mine. All we could do was wait. At 8 o'clock I called United again to confirm she got on the plane. The lady at the other end sounded completely confused when I told her what happened earlier. Apparently the first lady I spoke to wasn't supposed to give me passenger and flight information. Security reasons. Oh!... I began to feel a little lucky I wasn't left hanging for the rest of the day. She wouldn't let me know if Xuan had gotten on the plane but she was very pleasant in explaining to me the regulations and stuff. I thanked her for her time and headed to the airport. Having had several hours to cool off was good. I was a little more level headed now and I just wanted to see Xuan back safe.
Her flight arrived on time and I waited anxiously. As the deplaning crowd began to turn into a trickle, a facebook message. "I'm here."
"Where?! What happened?!" I replied.
"Big trouble," she said and I waited for her to come out of Customs.
Another 15 minutes later a very weary looking Xuan came through the doors. Big hug. She was home. She proceeded to tell me how she got in trouble at the San Francisco airport when a friendly customs agent spoke with her and she started joking around with him.
Uh-oh.
Apparently she was asked what she did for work while she was there and she replied she didn't work then made a joke about selling live animals. Oh, Xuan. You didn't...
For obvious reasons she was pulled out of line, her luggage thoroughly searched, put through a battery of questions, peed in a cup and even was given a cavity search (ouch). In the end she was let go but it was a rather unpleasant experience for her and a hard lesson learned. Do not mess with people that deal with National security. I can't even imagine what would have happened if she got caught at Mexican Customs.
Lord almighty. I'm grateful her experience was with US customs and not another country like Thailand or some other first world country that might have just thrown her in prison. I'm grateful for the lady who gave me information that she wasn't supposed to. I'm grateful that she didn't say something worse. Mostly, I'm grateful she made it home in one piece.
Thank you thank you. I held her tight.
Losing something always sucks. You search high and low tearing rooms and homes apart trying to find that precious thing to no avail. What if it was a person and not a thing?
I was supposed to pick up Xuan from the airport today. She was coming back to Canada. Things had not gone well in Mexico and she was coming home. I knew her schedule. She was supposed to be arriving mid afternoon and I hustled to get my wok done early. I got to the airport and watched people filing through the airport greeted by friends or family or tour guides. I waited.
Nothing.
The schedule posted the flight deplaning had completed and after 45 minutes I inquired if there is a customs office I could make an inquiry to. Perhaps she had gotten stuck in Customs. I was told I should probably wait a good hour or so before inquiring as they wouldn't be very receptive to inquiries. So I waited some more. At 75 minutes I made another inquiry to which I was told even if she was in there they wouldn't divulge that information for security purposes. Maybe she missed her flight.
I called United and was put on hold for the better part of a half hour. I finally got through and made an inquiry as to whether Xuan had actually made her flight. After some mucking about I was informed she didn't make the second leg. I think I turned white. I began to imagine Xuan wandering around the San Francisco airport asking strangers if they would let her on a plane. She's not the most travelled person and her sense of reality is a little... different. I knew she had no money to book another flight and I certainly didn't have enough to get her on a flight home so I began to stress. The lady on the other end informed me she had changed her flight plans in Mexico to a much later flight arriving at 10pm. Now I got upset. Why the hell would she change her flight. This made no sense. I knew she wanted to catch a later flight from Mexico but her connecting flight? There was no message either. I had come all the way out to the airport and she could have sent me a Facebook message or called me or something. I sat and I stewed. What should I do? I could go home but I'd be turning back around an hour and a half later to come back here. I could stay here for the next 5 hours or so at the airport but I didn't have my laptop so I couldn't work. I reluctantly headed back home only to discover the airport was charging an extra $5 to the ticket so my return ticket cost me $10.00.
I was really choked now. I was running tight as it was and this was an added expense I didn't need. All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind the rest of the afternoon. Should I even bother going to pick her up? What was I going to say? I had several imaginary conversations in my head where I tore a strip out of her. What had I told her about being responsible? Taking other people into account? I was running a little hot. Annie pinged me on Facebook a little while later to ask if the monkey had arrived in one piece. When I told her what happened I think her response was just as baffled as mine. All we could do was wait. At 8 o'clock I called United again to confirm she got on the plane. The lady at the other end sounded completely confused when I told her what happened earlier. Apparently the first lady I spoke to wasn't supposed to give me passenger and flight information. Security reasons. Oh!... I began to feel a little lucky I wasn't left hanging for the rest of the day. She wouldn't let me know if Xuan had gotten on the plane but she was very pleasant in explaining to me the regulations and stuff. I thanked her for her time and headed to the airport. Having had several hours to cool off was good. I was a little more level headed now and I just wanted to see Xuan back safe.
Her flight arrived on time and I waited anxiously. As the deplaning crowd began to turn into a trickle, a facebook message. "I'm here."
"Where?! What happened?!" I replied.
"Big trouble," she said and I waited for her to come out of Customs.
Another 15 minutes later a very weary looking Xuan came through the doors. Big hug. She was home. She proceeded to tell me how she got in trouble at the San Francisco airport when a friendly customs agent spoke with her and she started joking around with him.
Uh-oh.
Apparently she was asked what she did for work while she was there and she replied she didn't work then made a joke about selling live animals. Oh, Xuan. You didn't...
For obvious reasons she was pulled out of line, her luggage thoroughly searched, put through a battery of questions, peed in a cup and even was given a cavity search (ouch). In the end she was let go but it was a rather unpleasant experience for her and a hard lesson learned. Do not mess with people that deal with National security. I can't even imagine what would have happened if she got caught at Mexican Customs.
Lord almighty. I'm grateful her experience was with US customs and not another country like Thailand or some other first world country that might have just thrown her in prison. I'm grateful for the lady who gave me information that she wasn't supposed to. I'm grateful that she didn't say something worse. Mostly, I'm grateful she made it home in one piece.
Thank you thank you. I held her tight.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
May 26, 2010
Run Hamster, Run
Today was one of those days. I was up a little late last night pounding through some work and got up a bit late today but not too bad. I immediately had my nose to the grindstone catching up on e-mails, co-ordinating new work, researching other things and creating quotes and such. Between what's left over of my Traffik work, my exchange of services work and the new 1000 Watts work I am BUSY. When I looked up it was 7:30pm. Good gravy. What did I manage to get done today? For the time I spent working, it didn't seem like much. How does this happen? Crazy isn't it?
Looks like I'm going to be burning the midnight oil for the rest of the week and maybe the weekend. If Kev and I aren't careful we could burn out before we get off the ground. Just a little more hard work and then I think we'll find our sweet spot. Until then, givin'er all she got.
I need some more coffee…
Reason to smile today: I could be complaining I have no work but I'm not so I am thankful for that.
Something I learned today: I think I'm more of a control freak than I realized...
It's actually amazing how fast time goes when you're busy and it's even more amazing how little you can get accomplished when you're trying to get a lot done.
Today was one of those days. I was up a little late last night pounding through some work and got up a bit late today but not too bad. I immediately had my nose to the grindstone catching up on e-mails, co-ordinating new work, researching other things and creating quotes and such. Between what's left over of my Traffik work, my exchange of services work and the new 1000 Watts work I am BUSY. When I looked up it was 7:30pm. Good gravy. What did I manage to get done today? For the time I spent working, it didn't seem like much. How does this happen? Crazy isn't it?
Looks like I'm going to be burning the midnight oil for the rest of the week and maybe the weekend. If Kev and I aren't careful we could burn out before we get off the ground. Just a little more hard work and then I think we'll find our sweet spot. Until then, givin'er all she got.
I need some more coffee…
Reason to smile today: I could be complaining I have no work but I'm not so I am thankful for that.
Something I learned today: I think I'm more of a control freak than I realized...
Saturday, May 22, 2010
May 22, 2010
May showers, May flowers, mother may I, and may the Force be with you
This month has been an absolute hurricane of activity for me. So much has happened high and low but I think the way things are shaping up, if I can make some good decisions, this will shape up to be an amazing year.
Right, so, let's start with earlier this month. Everything exploded. I went from no work to being so busy I was on the cusp of more than I could chew. Fantastic. Only thing was, I had no money. Literally. Tuesday May 4th will live in infamy for me. I had less than $1.50 to my name. I couldn't afford my morning coffee. I couldn't even afford bus fare. I actually considered pawning my watch just to get a couple of bucks. I walked from home to Lonsdale Quay so I could ride the seabus into the core while praying to God that they wouldn't be checking for tickets that day. That's how I got to my afternoon meeting. It was ironic that the guys begging for change on the street actually had more actual cash than I did. It's the poorest I have ever been and I hope I never get that low again.
Being busy has been nice though. I know there will be income coming. I just need to get there. I have also been doing a number of trades which has helped with a few things. My taxes for example. I saved almost $1200.00 to get them done in exchange for some design work. There has been some debate as to whether I should transfer Traffik here or dissolve the company. I've waffled on it but in the end I think I will dissolve it. Kevin has asked me to become a partner in his new company 1000 Watts Creative and I have accepted his offer. I think we have the potential to do some really amazing creative stuff and i'm really stoked about this. I'll have to clear off my plate a little bit but I think this will be an awesome opportunity and if it goes as well as I think it can we're going to be doing really well before the year is out. There are still some details to iron out and some ducks to get in a row but I'm committing myself to this so I think Traffik will be coming to a standstill.
I flew back to Calgary in mid May for convocation. This was a big event for me. Last year, although another 50-60 kids graduated, Erin, Ted and Han from my very first 101 class graduated which made that special. This year I had another 60+ kids graduating. There are a few moments in one's life where words, and pictures just cannot describe what you are feeling. I have been told your first love, your first broken heart, your wedding day and witnessing your first born are some of them. Watching your kids graduate must be another. I honestly don't know how to describe the feeling. It's just... full. I want to burst at the seams. My face felt like it was going to split in two from smiling so big. Watching them in their caps and gowns as they crossed the stage with their degrees nearly brought me to tears. I cannot explain the pride and joy I felt knowing how hard this design program is and how hard some of these kids fought, and clawed and stressed and worked to get where they are. I am overcome with joy at their accomplishment and I am euphoric at the prospect of them going out into the world and doing great things. To know I had a small hand in helping them get here is overwhelming. Every thank you, every hug, every kind word that my kids gave me to tell me I did something right by them is beyond anything I can possibly describe. I wish big things for all of them. They may not all achieve the things they dream of but I hope some of them will rocket into the stratosphere. A few kids in particular I am especially happy for.
Lionel landed a gig in NYC. He has told me on more than one occasion that he felt I was a big contributor to his education. To me, that's a huge compliment for a kid that I believe will be far and above a better and more complete designer than I ever will be. I don't think it will take him long either.
Carrie, when she came down the stage gave me a hug and whispered to me that she got an art director job. For a student that struggled mightily in my third year info design class with bringing her ideas together cohesively both conceptually and aesthetically, this was a huge accomplishment. Carrie and I also butted heads a lot in class. At the time her typography wasn't particularly strong and her projects, although trying very hard to have something unique to it just didn't have that finish, unity and finesse to be considered a really good project even by student work standard. I think that pissed her off a lot. In her defence, they were learning typography at the same time they were in my class and to her credit she really turned it out in the last three semesters. I looked at some of her final projects and the typography was leaps and bounds from where it was in my class. I think it would have been easy for her to say, "fuck you Teak" and carry on being a below average designer. Whether it was out of spite, a genuine revelation or just a determination to get better, she did and I am really proud that she got an art director position.
This was also a girl who called me out at the end of the year because she felt I was playing favourites and voiced her opinion on behalf of a few other students who apparently also felt the same thing. I have always appreciated her telling me so. I knew it might be a possibility and as much as I tried to be aware of it I apparently did and to know that was invaluable in my education of being an instructor. I think that day she was looking for a fight but I didn't give her one. She was right and I didn't see it. She called me out and I was good with that. In my eyes, that's big straight out of school and although I don't know how much influence I may have had in stoking that fire, I'd like to think that I played my part. I remember telling her that day that my job is to make her the best possible designer she can be and if that means the honest truth hurts, it's going to hurt a lot less in school than out there in the real world where a surly creative director or client could tear you a new one and get downright personal with some of their criticism. I really wanted her to know that as much as she may have felt I was stomping a mud hole in her projects I was honestly trying to make her better by demanding a higher calibre of work. It may not have seemed it sometimes but I was working for her, not against her. I hope she realized that.
Caitlin was one of my photo kids I taught her during her second year. Now, the photo class was a bit tricky because I think historically, most of the kids went into the class thinking, we're photographers, why the hell do we need to know this stuff? As a B.Des program where the majority will be working with designers and agencies at some point it's important for them to understand where we're coming from, how we problem solve and that this same process can help them as well. Caitlin pulled me aside at the pub after convocation and said to me that she really appreciated what I did for her and for me to compliment her on how much improvement I saw in her work especially from a presentation standpoint was a major compliment to her. I have to tell you the first few projects I got from Caitlin were near disasters. She had no real sense of presentation and even her photography work was a little scary in it's presentation. She made big strides in that regard and to hear that from her was... emotional. I hope she goes on to do big things.
These are just a few of the stories I could tell from grad. My cup runneth over. I couldn't be prouder of what these kids have accomplished. Go find your place in the world and blow up a giant crater sized mark that everyone can see.
I had purposely made my trip short to reduce the amount of time I spent in Calgary and reduce the chances of me running in to the ex. I must have ben so obsessed with the notion that I musthave manifested it. I passed her on the street downtown on Friday morning. I don't think she saw mw but I went numb and the first thought that went through my head was, "fuck. She looks good." I think my recent pudging out bothered me and to see her look as good as she did was a crappy pill to swallow. I was numb for a few hours. The good news is, I didn't fall apart or have a melt down. That's a sign of improvement. I think once I get out of debt and begin manifesting my own successes I will be able to move on. I have some work to do but I'm on the track and I'm running.
I wasn't sure I'd get to see Lukas but I was happy to be able to spend a little time with him. He's growing up quickly. I was happy for the few hours I got to see and play with him. I'd lost most of my photos of him when my software updated (I'll get to that in a sec) so I snapped a bunch of pics of him so I had some. I didn't get the opportunity to see too many people in cowtown but I was happy that I was able to see some people. I miss some of them dearly. You know who you are.
Flying back to Vancouver was a relief. I could feel some of my anxiety building back up. It had, after all, only been three months that I had been away. On some level it feels like I've been away longer and on some level it feels shorter. Either way, Vancouver is where I'm putting my feet down and although I feel very homeless right now, I hope that I will figure out where home is soon. For now, Van City is where it's at and I plan on leaving my crater sized mark here.
I had recently upgraded to Snow Leopard with the arrival of my new CS5 software and in the process about 6000 photos dating back to May of last year vanished. it's a complete and utter mystery. Even if they got erased some trace of data should have remained when data recovery software was run through it but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was like a giant cyber black hole had opened up and swallowed it. I've lost data before like music and work files and those things are replaceable for the most part. photographs and memories, on the other hand, are not. Some photos I will not miss but some like the earlier photos of Lukas, and grad from last year are irreplaceable and I am heartbroken that they are gone. The only solace I can take is that some of them were uploaded to Facebook and I will have to spend some time downloading the low rez versions back to my drive. Because of space and memory issues I had purchased an external hard drive to put all of my music and photos on and I had thought that the time machine backup system I had in place was backing up that external drive as well. Apparently I was mistaken. I'm making peace with this loss and, hard lesson learned, I will begin making duplicate backups so that this doesn't happen again. Ah technology... one good magnetic pulse and the world can come to a grinding halt...
May is coming to a close and although financially I'm really strapped the future looks really bright (insert 1000 Watts lightbulb joke here). I will be manifesting my dreams and I feel really good about the future. It's been a really long time since I have been able to say that. Ther is a lot of work ahead of me but in time I hope that I will find the right work/life balance and begin enjoying life again. I'm already starting to. Now if I can just get that motorcycle I want this summer we can start there...
Reason to smile today: I am thankful for the many blessings in my life. Especially those people who have helped and supported me the last couple of years.
Something I learned today: I need to make some more money so I can afford basics. So, I should really start cutting back on the freebies and trades.
This month has been an absolute hurricane of activity for me. So much has happened high and low but I think the way things are shaping up, if I can make some good decisions, this will shape up to be an amazing year.
Being busy has been nice though. I know there will be income coming. I just need to get there. I have also been doing a number of trades which has helped with a few things. My taxes for example. I saved almost $1200.00 to get them done in exchange for some design work. There has been some debate as to whether I should transfer Traffik here or dissolve the company. I've waffled on it but in the end I think I will dissolve it. Kevin has asked me to become a partner in his new company 1000 Watts Creative and I have accepted his offer. I think we have the potential to do some really amazing creative stuff and i'm really stoked about this. I'll have to clear off my plate a little bit but I think this will be an awesome opportunity and if it goes as well as I think it can we're going to be doing really well before the year is out. There are still some details to iron out and some ducks to get in a row but I'm committing myself to this so I think Traffik will be coming to a standstill.
Lionel landed a gig in NYC. He has told me on more than one occasion that he felt I was a big contributor to his education. To me, that's a huge compliment for a kid that I believe will be far and above a better and more complete designer than I ever will be. I don't think it will take him long either.
Carrie, when she came down the stage gave me a hug and whispered to me that she got an art director job. For a student that struggled mightily in my third year info design class with bringing her ideas together cohesively both conceptually and aesthetically, this was a huge accomplishment. Carrie and I also butted heads a lot in class. At the time her typography wasn't particularly strong and her projects, although trying very hard to have something unique to it just didn't have that finish, unity and finesse to be considered a really good project even by student work standard. I think that pissed her off a lot. In her defence, they were learning typography at the same time they were in my class and to her credit she really turned it out in the last three semesters. I looked at some of her final projects and the typography was leaps and bounds from where it was in my class. I think it would have been easy for her to say, "fuck you Teak" and carry on being a below average designer. Whether it was out of spite, a genuine revelation or just a determination to get better, she did and I am really proud that she got an art director position.
This was also a girl who called me out at the end of the year because she felt I was playing favourites and voiced her opinion on behalf of a few other students who apparently also felt the same thing. I have always appreciated her telling me so. I knew it might be a possibility and as much as I tried to be aware of it I apparently did and to know that was invaluable in my education of being an instructor. I think that day she was looking for a fight but I didn't give her one. She was right and I didn't see it. She called me out and I was good with that. In my eyes, that's big straight out of school and although I don't know how much influence I may have had in stoking that fire, I'd like to think that I played my part. I remember telling her that day that my job is to make her the best possible designer she can be and if that means the honest truth hurts, it's going to hurt a lot less in school than out there in the real world where a surly creative director or client could tear you a new one and get downright personal with some of their criticism. I really wanted her to know that as much as she may have felt I was stomping a mud hole in her projects I was honestly trying to make her better by demanding a higher calibre of work. It may not have seemed it sometimes but I was working for her, not against her. I hope she realized that.
These are just a few of the stories I could tell from grad. My cup runneth over. I couldn't be prouder of what these kids have accomplished. Go find your place in the world and blow up a giant crater sized mark that everyone can see.
I had purposely made my trip short to reduce the amount of time I spent in Calgary and reduce the chances of me running in to the ex. I must have ben so obsessed with the notion that I musthave manifested it. I passed her on the street downtown on Friday morning. I don't think she saw mw but I went numb and the first thought that went through my head was, "fuck. She looks good." I think my recent pudging out bothered me and to see her look as good as she did was a crappy pill to swallow. I was numb for a few hours. The good news is, I didn't fall apart or have a melt down. That's a sign of improvement. I think once I get out of debt and begin manifesting my own successes I will be able to move on. I have some work to do but I'm on the track and I'm running.
Flying back to Vancouver was a relief. I could feel some of my anxiety building back up. It had, after all, only been three months that I had been away. On some level it feels like I've been away longer and on some level it feels shorter. Either way, Vancouver is where I'm putting my feet down and although I feel very homeless right now, I hope that I will figure out where home is soon. For now, Van City is where it's at and I plan on leaving my crater sized mark here.
I had recently upgraded to Snow Leopard with the arrival of my new CS5 software and in the process about 6000 photos dating back to May of last year vanished. it's a complete and utter mystery. Even if they got erased some trace of data should have remained when data recovery software was run through it but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was like a giant cyber black hole had opened up and swallowed it. I've lost data before like music and work files and those things are replaceable for the most part. photographs and memories, on the other hand, are not. Some photos I will not miss but some like the earlier photos of Lukas, and grad from last year are irreplaceable and I am heartbroken that they are gone. The only solace I can take is that some of them were uploaded to Facebook and I will have to spend some time downloading the low rez versions back to my drive. Because of space and memory issues I had purchased an external hard drive to put all of my music and photos on and I had thought that the time machine backup system I had in place was backing up that external drive as well. Apparently I was mistaken. I'm making peace with this loss and, hard lesson learned, I will begin making duplicate backups so that this doesn't happen again. Ah technology... one good magnetic pulse and the world can come to a grinding halt...
May is coming to a close and although financially I'm really strapped the future looks really bright (insert 1000 Watts lightbulb joke here). I will be manifesting my dreams and I feel really good about the future. It's been a really long time since I have been able to say that. Ther is a lot of work ahead of me but in time I hope that I will find the right work/life balance and begin enjoying life again. I'm already starting to. Now if I can just get that motorcycle I want this summer we can start there...
Reason to smile today: I am thankful for the many blessings in my life. Especially those people who have helped and supported me the last couple of years.
Something I learned today: I need to make some more money so I can afford basics. So, I should really start cutting back on the freebies and trades.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
May 2, 2010
Swinging for the Fences
Wow. This past week has been an absolute whirlwind of activity. I had two to four meetings booked everyday. Since i started networking a few weeks ago, this has by far been the most activity I have been involved with. In the last three weeks I have made more meaningful connections from both a business and a personal standpoint than I have in the last five years in Calgary. This week, I secured about $6K worth of work and potentially another $6K. I am in talks for even more work and between Kevin and I, 1000Watts has it's fingers in at least three potentially huge jobs. I think we have a really good shot at all three of these jobs as well which is very promising. I have spoken with lawyers, business coaches, life coaches, and accountants who have helped me with things not directly related to design and I have met with several people and helped them with some design and creative issues they have been facing. I have been graciously endorsed with great fanfare by at least one person and it looks like things are starting to build momentum and take off. I'm excited. I think this is starting to shape up to be one of the best years of my life and I am feeling really good about it. After two years of hell all I can say is, "thank heavens for this." The pendulum is swinging in the right direction and it's picked up a lot of speed. I'm going to do everything I can to ride this wave. Right now, I am absolutely broke but I don't care. I am pinching pennies and scraping together change to maintain my morning routine but I am going to give it everything I have and hopefully this will begin to pay off very soon. I'm stoked. Bring on the new week.
Reason to smile today: I have a big buffet full of optimism and for the first time in two years I ma feeling the passion come back.
Something I learned today: I think I'm going to make Chelsey's wedding in June. Yee-haa
Wow. This past week has been an absolute whirlwind of activity. I had two to four meetings booked everyday. Since i started networking a few weeks ago, this has by far been the most activity I have been involved with. In the last three weeks I have made more meaningful connections from both a business and a personal standpoint than I have in the last five years in Calgary. This week, I secured about $6K worth of work and potentially another $6K. I am in talks for even more work and between Kevin and I, 1000Watts has it's fingers in at least three potentially huge jobs. I think we have a really good shot at all three of these jobs as well which is very promising. I have spoken with lawyers, business coaches, life coaches, and accountants who have helped me with things not directly related to design and I have met with several people and helped them with some design and creative issues they have been facing. I have been graciously endorsed with great fanfare by at least one person and it looks like things are starting to build momentum and take off. I'm excited. I think this is starting to shape up to be one of the best years of my life and I am feeling really good about it. After two years of hell all I can say is, "thank heavens for this." The pendulum is swinging in the right direction and it's picked up a lot of speed. I'm going to do everything I can to ride this wave. Right now, I am absolutely broke but I don't care. I am pinching pennies and scraping together change to maintain my morning routine but I am going to give it everything I have and hopefully this will begin to pay off very soon. I'm stoked. Bring on the new week.
Reason to smile today: I have a big buffet full of optimism and for the first time in two years I ma feeling the passion come back.
Something I learned today: I think I'm going to make Chelsey's wedding in June. Yee-haa
Saturday, April 24, 2010
April 24, 2010
Playing catch up
I haven't posted in a little while. I've been a bit lazy about posting but it's not like I haven't been busy.
The networking has proven to be ridiculously easy here. Part of that has to do with being introduced to HOBN. It's opened up a tonne of potential not just in my work but in a lot of areas in my life and I am grateful for it. Hopefully this will mean things begin to pick up for me. I had a moment yesterday when I was walking to Timmy's for my morning coffee when I felt some hope; some real hope that I was finally going to be able to dig myself out of the hole I'm in. I think it's the first time that it really felt like it was real. Not just a light at the end of the tunnel. I could see it, believe it, and it was a great feeling. Now I just have to make it happen. This coming week is packed to the gills with meetings. Hopefully, This will prove to be a really fruitful week. I'm looking forward to it.
I spent the day fiddling with the tribal tattoo and Kevin's 1000W website. The tattoo has proven to be more troublesome than expected but Kev's redesign went well. Hopefully he likes it. It's pretty straightforward (almost plain) but I think it will suit it's purpose.
Tomorrow my goal is to finish the tattoo. Maybe I'll see if Opus is open and get some supplies to make Chris' celtic tattoo board.
Something I learned today: I've really overestimated how easy the tribal tattoo was going to be
Reason to smile today: Sense of hope and two showers today :-D
I haven't posted in a little while. I've been a bit lazy about posting but it's not like I haven't been busy.
The networking has proven to be ridiculously easy here. Part of that has to do with being introduced to HOBN. It's opened up a tonne of potential not just in my work but in a lot of areas in my life and I am grateful for it. Hopefully this will mean things begin to pick up for me. I had a moment yesterday when I was walking to Timmy's for my morning coffee when I felt some hope; some real hope that I was finally going to be able to dig myself out of the hole I'm in. I think it's the first time that it really felt like it was real. Not just a light at the end of the tunnel. I could see it, believe it, and it was a great feeling. Now I just have to make it happen. This coming week is packed to the gills with meetings. Hopefully, This will prove to be a really fruitful week. I'm looking forward to it.
I spent the day fiddling with the tribal tattoo and Kevin's 1000W website. The tattoo has proven to be more troublesome than expected but Kev's redesign went well. Hopefully he likes it. It's pretty straightforward (almost plain) but I think it will suit it's purpose.
Tomorrow my goal is to finish the tattoo. Maybe I'll see if Opus is open and get some supplies to make Chris' celtic tattoo board.
Something I learned today: I've really overestimated how easy the tribal tattoo was going to be
Reason to smile today: Sense of hope and two showers today :-D
April 15, 2010
Smarter than your average...
Was in bed all day yesterday with a headache. Booooo...
Felt better this morning. Ian asked me to come out with him to Langley today. His Porche was in the shop and he was working today so he needed me to drive him down to Langley to give his folks money so that they could pick up the car and drive it to where he was working. He was going to drive the Porsche home and he wanted me to take the Smart car home for the evening. Still with me? The plan was actually a lot simpler than it sounds.
The Smart car, as it turns out, has quite a different driving mechanism. I had assumed it was just a regular manual transmission but it was in fact a clutchless manual transmission. For those of you that have some experience driving standards, you basically still had to shift but you didn't need to hit the clutch. Instead at the appropriate intervals you pushed up on the shifter to gear up and back to gear down. It took a little getting used to as, out of habit, I kept trying to gear down when I was shifting into second, fourth and sixth gear (yes, it has six gears although not a true six gear transmission). Eventually, I resorted to the paddle shifters on the steering wheel which worked far better for me. It was an unusual car to drive as it's wheel base is so short. Fun little car. I think I would still prefer a Mini Cooper S given the option but it was interesting as I had always wondered how it handled. It also cost very little to fill it up. Just over $18 and Ian said it would last for about 400kms whereas the equivalent for the Porsche would be closer to $70.
We saw Ian's mom. It was nice to see her again. It's been a little while since I had seen her. Just as I remember her. Nice little Irish lady. We went for Dim Sum in Langley which was quite lovely and then I dropped off Ian at work. He encouraged me to drive a round a little while I had the opportunity but the only place I really went was to Save-on to get some groceries. I had some things to do today anyways after not getting anything done yesterday.
Reason to smile today: I've always really loved the Irish and Scottish accents so seeing Mrs. Burns today was really great.
Something I learned today: How to drive a clutchless manual transmission. Very interesting experience.
Was in bed all day yesterday with a headache. Booooo...
Felt better this morning. Ian asked me to come out with him to Langley today. His Porche was in the shop and he was working today so he needed me to drive him down to Langley to give his folks money so that they could pick up the car and drive it to where he was working. He was going to drive the Porsche home and he wanted me to take the Smart car home for the evening. Still with me? The plan was actually a lot simpler than it sounds.
We saw Ian's mom. It was nice to see her again. It's been a little while since I had seen her. Just as I remember her. Nice little Irish lady. We went for Dim Sum in Langley which was quite lovely and then I dropped off Ian at work. He encouraged me to drive a round a little while I had the opportunity but the only place I really went was to Save-on to get some groceries. I had some things to do today anyways after not getting anything done yesterday.
Reason to smile today: I've always really loved the Irish and Scottish accents so seeing Mrs. Burns today was really great.
Something I learned today: How to drive a clutchless manual transmission. Very interesting experience.
April 13, 2010
Looking for jobs all day. Must find some work soon. Some potentially promising opportunities. We'll see what happens.
Mom beat me to the punch on e-mail again. Damn. I gotta be better with writing to her.
Mimi picked me up after work. She was pretty stoked about her M&Ms. Had dinner with Mimi and Tamami-san then had coconut M&M oatmeal cookies courtesy of Mimi. De-licious!!
It was nice hangin out with Mimi. Weird in some ways to see her all grown up. I still remember her hitting Li-san back after she got in trouble when she was really little. Thought it was the funniest thing ever.
Reason to smile today: Coconut M&M oatmeal cookies
Something I learned today: Baking powder actually expires.
Mom beat me to the punch on e-mail again. Damn. I gotta be better with writing to her.
Mimi picked me up after work. She was pretty stoked about her M&Ms. Had dinner with Mimi and Tamami-san then had coconut M&M oatmeal cookies courtesy of Mimi. De-licious!!
It was nice hangin out with Mimi. Weird in some ways to see her all grown up. I still remember her hitting Li-san back after she got in trouble when she was really little. Thought it was the funniest thing ever.
Reason to smile today: Coconut M&M oatmeal cookies
Something I learned today: Baking powder actually expires.
April 12, 2010
Heather got to North Van in the early afternoon. Had been waiting to make my Timmy's run cos she said she'd be by in the morning. That's ok.
Met Asher. Super cute kid
Heather was super happy with her Quorn that I picked up for her south side.
Had burgers and root beer for dinner with Dan and Lara
RTST: Seeing Heather and how happy she was
Met Asher. Super cute kid
Heather was super happy with her Quorn that I picked up for her south side.
Had burgers and root beer for dinner with Dan and Lara
RTST: Seeing Heather and how happy she was
April 11, 2010
Misa invited me yesterday to go to Seattle with him and Rob. Seeing as I had no lans I decided to tag along.
I noticed that Peace Arch border had gone through some changes. The old office was gone and some new buildings had been put up in a different location. I don't know if Calforex was in there or not but there was something a little sad about it. So many memories.
We got across the border pretty quickly and with relative ease. i had expected it to take longer with all of the new security measures but it wasn't a problem. I discovered, however, shortly after crossing the bordermy phone stopped working. Boooo. I had thought I would be able to roam using the AT&T network but apparently I cannot. This sucked.
The drive was pretty quick and as we pulled into Seattle we were able to find the SAM but we wound up driving around a little bit just to find parking. We decided to get some lunch first. I suggested we walk down to the Seattle Public Market. I was hoping to be able to have some lunch at that great little Chinese restaurant there. Unfortunately we walked the wrong direction and wound up having lunch at the Red Robin.
The SAM was pretty cool. Interesting collection of stuff but didn't flow very well both in terms of what was showing and how the layout was. Still, worth the visit.
Something I Learned Today: Seattle named after an Indian Chief
Reason To Smile Today: Crossing the border
I noticed that Peace Arch border had gone through some changes. The old office was gone and some new buildings had been put up in a different location. I don't know if Calforex was in there or not but there was something a little sad about it. So many memories.
We got across the border pretty quickly and with relative ease. i had expected it to take longer with all of the new security measures but it wasn't a problem. I discovered, however, shortly after crossing the bordermy phone stopped working. Boooo. I had thought I would be able to roam using the AT&T network but apparently I cannot. This sucked.
The drive was pretty quick and as we pulled into Seattle we were able to find the SAM but we wound up driving around a little bit just to find parking. We decided to get some lunch first. I suggested we walk down to the Seattle Public Market. I was hoping to be able to have some lunch at that great little Chinese restaurant there. Unfortunately we walked the wrong direction and wound up having lunch at the Red Robin.
The SAM was pretty cool. Interesting collection of stuff but didn't flow very well both in terms of what was showing and how the layout was. Still, worth the visit.
Something I Learned Today: Seattle named after an Indian Chief
Reason To Smile Today: Crossing the border
Monday, April 19, 2010
April 10, 2010
Mortimus Nerd
I was supposed to go to the Slush Cup today but the outing was cancelled due to there being no event. The Slush Cup, as it turns out was back in March.
It sorta worked out well as Misa called to see what I was doing. I met up with him and his friend Rob outside of Big Pete's near Lonsdale Quay.
As we were deciding what to do next, Misa decided he'd better move his car as he was parked in a two hour zone and his time was nearly done. As he pulled out of his parking space he almost clipped a rather large black guy on a motorcycle. The fella who was wearing a black leather jacket with a skull and some sort of Korean writing on it started yelling at Misa and I thought for a second he was going to get off his bike, smash the window, drag Misa out by the scruff of his neck and pound him flat. I honestly don't know what I would have done (or could have done) if that happened. I know I started looking around for something ...not that it would have helped any. In the end, angry words were exchanged and he rode off.
Whew...
We went for lunch at the Quay. I had quite a lovely sandwich and a Weinhardt's Root Beer. I picked up an extra bottle for Dan as he had never had one before.
After lunch we hit another comic book store. I believe my reaction the second I opened the door was, "Woah..." I hadn't even stepped foot in the shop yet and I was already shocked. The place was completely packed. Not in a good way either. All I could see were piles of stuff. There seemed to be a marginal semblance of order but overall, things were just piled all over the place. As far as a collector would think, this place was a disaster. I don't think there was anything in there in mint condition due to the way things were stored. I think I kicked, knocked over and otherwise got caught on a half a dozen items piled up somewhere. Some of the piles were leaning precariously. one pile in particular went up to the ceiling and when I pointed it out to Misa he poked it to which I IMMEDIATELY replied, "please don't do that. I don't feel like being buried in an avalanche of plastic toys."
Dan made bacon wrapped hot dogs for dinner. Very tasty and very harsh on the arteries. I think I could hear my heart screaming at me to stop the madness. All I can say is, they were tasty even if Lara almost set the whole barbecue on fire cooking them.
We finished off the evening watching the Bucket List. Great movie. Always been a fan of Morgan Freeman.
Reason to smile today: Bacon wrapped hot dogs. Bacon makes everything better...
Something I learned today: I am not nearly as much of a comic book nerd as i had previously thought. I think that actually works out as a good thing.
I was supposed to go to the Slush Cup today but the outing was cancelled due to there being no event. The Slush Cup, as it turns out was back in March.
It sorta worked out well as Misa called to see what I was doing. I met up with him and his friend Rob outside of Big Pete's near Lonsdale Quay.
As we were deciding what to do next, Misa decided he'd better move his car as he was parked in a two hour zone and his time was nearly done. As he pulled out of his parking space he almost clipped a rather large black guy on a motorcycle. The fella who was wearing a black leather jacket with a skull and some sort of Korean writing on it started yelling at Misa and I thought for a second he was going to get off his bike, smash the window, drag Misa out by the scruff of his neck and pound him flat. I honestly don't know what I would have done (or could have done) if that happened. I know I started looking around for something ...not that it would have helped any. In the end, angry words were exchanged and he rode off.
Whew...
We went for lunch at the Quay. I had quite a lovely sandwich and a Weinhardt's Root Beer. I picked up an extra bottle for Dan as he had never had one before.
We finished off the evening watching the Bucket List. Great movie. Always been a fan of Morgan Freeman.
Reason to smile today: Bacon wrapped hot dogs. Bacon makes everything better...
Something I learned today: I am not nearly as much of a comic book nerd as i had previously thought. I think that actually works out as a good thing.
April 15, 2010
Smarter than your average...
Was in bed all day yesterday with a headache. Booooo...
Felt better this morning. Ian asked me to come out with him to Langley today. His Porche was in the shop and he was working today so he needed me to drive him down to Langley to give his folks money so that they could pick up the car and drive it to where he was working. He was going to drive the Porsche home and he wanted me to take the Smart car home for the evening. Still with me? The plan was actually a lot simpler than it sounds.
The Smart car, as it turns out, has quite a different driving mechanism. I had assumed it was just a regular manual transmission but it was in fact a clutchless manual transmission. For those of you that have some experience driving standards, you basically still had to shift but you didn't need to hit the clutch. Instead at the appropriate intervals you pushed up on the shifter to gear up and back to gear down. It took a little getting used to as, out of habit, I kept trying to gear down when I was shifting into second, fourth and sixth gear (yes, it has six gears although not a true six gear transmission). Eventually, I resorted to the paddle shifters on the steering wheel which worked far better for me. It was an unusual car to drive as it's wheel base is so short. Fun little car. I think I would still prefer a Mini Cooper S given the option but it was interesting as I had always wondered how it handled. It also cost very little to fill it up. Just over $18 and Ian said it would last for about 400kms whereas the equivalent for the Porsche would be closer to $70.
We saw Ian's mom. It was nice to see her again. It's been a little while since I had seen her. Just as I remember her. Nice little Irish lady. We went for Dim Sum in Langley which was quite lovely and then I dropped off Ian at work. He encouraged me to drive a round a little while I had the opportunity but the only place I really went was to Save-on to get some groceries. I had some things to do today anyways after not getting anything done yesterday.
Reason to smile today: I've always really loved the Irish and Scottish accents so seeing Mrs. Burns today was really great.
Something I learned today: How to drive a clutchless manual transmission. Very interesting experience.
Was in bed all day yesterday with a headache. Booooo...
Felt better this morning. Ian asked me to come out with him to Langley today. His Porche was in the shop and he was working today so he needed me to drive him down to Langley to give his folks money so that they could pick up the car and drive it to where he was working. He was going to drive the Porsche home and he wanted me to take the Smart car home for the evening. Still with me? The plan was actually a lot simpler than it sounds.
We saw Ian's mom. It was nice to see her again. It's been a little while since I had seen her. Just as I remember her. Nice little Irish lady. We went for Dim Sum in Langley which was quite lovely and then I dropped off Ian at work. He encouraged me to drive a round a little while I had the opportunity but the only place I really went was to Save-on to get some groceries. I had some things to do today anyways after not getting anything done yesterday.
Reason to smile today: I've always really loved the Irish and Scottish accents so seeing Mrs. Burns today was really great.
Something I learned today: How to drive a clutchless manual transmission. Very interesting experience.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
April 9, 2010
The dumps
Woke up late. Again.
I puttered around all day. Not particularly productive at all. I tried. I've been a little discouraged with the way the job search has been going lately and I've started to lose my momentum. Gotta stay positive and focused.
Went to the store at 4:30 to get dumpling stuff. Made dumplings for dinner which were incredibly well received. Afterwards, Lara and I rented movies. We watched Max Payne.
I wish I had more to write about today but I don't.
Something I learned today: Rogers stopped per second billing a long time ago
Reason to smile today: Dumplings?
Woke up late. Again.
I puttered around all day. Not particularly productive at all. I tried. I've been a little discouraged with the way the job search has been going lately and I've started to lose my momentum. Gotta stay positive and focused.
Went to the store at 4:30 to get dumpling stuff. Made dumplings for dinner which were incredibly well received. Afterwards, Lara and I rented movies. We watched Max Payne.
I wish I had more to write about today but I don't.
Something I learned today: Rogers stopped per second billing a long time ago
Reason to smile today: Dumplings?
April 8, 2010
Dogging it
Had trouble sleeping again last night. I gotta get on a regular sleep schedule. I was going to buckle down and get stuff done but the day seemed to just pass with nothing productive getting done. Ian pinged me to see what I was up to and I suddenly realized it was almost 11pm. Yeesh. What a day. Ian picked me up after he was done work and we hit Denny's. Nothing like Moons Over My Hammy after midnight.
There was a really loud cougar in the restaurant tonight. Looked like she had just gone out on the prowl with her friend. I think the best part of today was the new menu item at Denny's. Basket of Puppies. So very wrong on so many different levels...
Reason to smile today: Late night out with Ian
Something I learned today: an iPad will blend... with a little help (Seriously. That's about the extent of my knowledge today).
Had trouble sleeping again last night. I gotta get on a regular sleep schedule. I was going to buckle down and get stuff done but the day seemed to just pass with nothing productive getting done. Ian pinged me to see what I was up to and I suddenly realized it was almost 11pm. Yeesh. What a day. Ian picked me up after he was done work and we hit Denny's. Nothing like Moons Over My Hammy after midnight.
Reason to smile today: Late night out with Ian
Something I learned today: an iPad will blend... with a little help (Seriously. That's about the extent of my knowledge today).
April 7, 2010
Rainy day, working day
It was raining today so it was just as well that I stayed in and worked. Spent most of the day hammering out the Oil Kings proposal. Putting this together was a lot more difficult than I expected. Ran into a glitch though. How the heck am I supposed to get this printed and bound? Hmmm... Maybe that zoo print place by Buzz.
Something I learned today: I need to go grocery shopping for more veg
Reason to smile today: more forward progress on another delayed project.
April 6, 2010
Finally...
The tattoo got done today. I'd been fighting that thing for awhile now and it was nice to finally put my head down and just get it done. I think overall, it worked out well all things considered. Not completely sold on the gradient but it works with the red. I hope Chris likes it.
Something I learned today: Immediate actions after making a decision does help you get stuff done
Reason to smile today: The Celtic Tattoo is done
Reason to smile today: The Celtic Tattoo is done
April 5, 2010
Walk abouts
After the late night last night I slept in today. Chir and Marina pinged me and it sounded like Flavio flaked out on them so they were itching to get out. I helped them figure out how to get from where they were (which was reeeeeeeeeeeeally deep south) and get downtown. I met them downtown on Granville. Lara was looking for something to do for a bit too so she came along.
Unfortunately, it was holiday Monday so a lot was closed. Still we did a bit of wandering around. Granville Street, the library downtown, the CBC office, Yaletown, and Robson. We saw a set being prepped for filming a segment of Fringe on Granville. Lara had somewhere to be so she left us just before dinner. We tried to find a good sushi place for dinner but the place Tomi suggested was closed and because we were starving we went to Tsunami sushi. It was alright. Not the best but even for being crappy sushi in Vancouver it was still pretty good. Chir battled me hard for the bill. I was really surprised at how hard she fought for it. Full on body blocking. I had to laugh. We went to the crepe place on Granville for dessert. I thought it was the one on Granville that as the nicer one but I guessed wrong. It was the one on Robson. Still, it was good stuff. The girl who made our crepes had a great haircut. Mohawk tied back in to a ponytail. We wnt for a stroll after to Gastown to find a coffee shop and relaxed as we waited for Flavio who had said he would come in to downtown to pick the girls up. After the coffee shop closed down Flavio asked that we meet him down in Richmond so we walked up to Waterfront to catch the train. On our way there, we got the impression he wanted the girls to meet him where he was to hang out at whatever thing he was at which the girls were completely not into so we figured out a way for them to get home. At the Knightsbridge station we had some time to kill so we wandered into the RimRock to use the facilities and hang out. We rode a curved escalator which was cool. Never been on one of those before. Also had an opportunity to charge Chir's phone a little bit.
It was really beginning to rain hard and the sun had gone down so I took the bus with them down to Langley as close as the bus would go to where they were staying. I was going to walk them to the house but they insisted I stay on the bus so i rode it down to the border and back up to the Knightsbridge train station before heading back in to the core and the night bus home. On the bus a couple boarded who were very obviously out enjoying the Easter holiday. I think it put a grin on most of the passengers faces.
All in all, it was a good day. Discovered some cool new shops, got to hang out with the girls and still had a full day considering I slept in. Can't complain.
Reason to smile today: Hangin out with Chir, Marina and Lara today
Something I learned today: You can have a curved escalator. Didn't know you could do that.
Something else I learned today: Peep Shows actually still exist. Who knew.
After the late night last night I slept in today. Chir and Marina pinged me and it sounded like Flavio flaked out on them so they were itching to get out. I helped them figure out how to get from where they were (which was reeeeeeeeeeeeally deep south) and get downtown. I met them downtown on Granville. Lara was looking for something to do for a bit too so she came along.
All in all, it was a good day. Discovered some cool new shops, got to hang out with the girls and still had a full day considering I slept in. Can't complain.
Reason to smile today: Hangin out with Chir, Marina and Lara today
Something I learned today: You can have a curved escalator. Didn't know you could do that.
Something else I learned today: Peep Shows actually still exist. Who knew.
April 4, 2010
A full day of activity
Helped Thalia move in to her new place today. Probably the easiest move i've ever done. Ons van load. Packed in 10 minutes. I don't think I've ever done a move that easy before. Well, it gave me an opportunity to have some brunch with Thalia and Whitney which was cool. It's a nice place. Nice area, cool space. I think Thalia and Whitney will have a really good time there.
Had dinner with Dan and Lara at the Memphis Blues BBQ up here in North Van. I have to say, it is waaaay better than the Big T's in Calgary. Mmmmmmm tasty. I noticed a new menu item. Well, I guess it's not new to the restaurant but new to me. It was called the Priscilla platter and was basically twice as big as the Elvis platter. I thought it would have been funnier if they had renamed them Young Elvis and Old Elvis platters. I think a Priscilla platter should be a single serving of the Elvis platter. Just a wee taste of everything. I don't remember her being that big.
In the evening I went to see Chir at the airport. She was flying in from Cowtown on her way back to Prince George. I haven't seen her in a few years so it was nice to see her. Big hug from her. I don't remember her ever being that animated. Sorta caught me off guard. It was nice though. It's always nice to feel like you've been missed. Her friend Marina was also there and together along with another fella, whom for some reason, I keep wanting to call Flavio, we went for late night Dim Sum in Richmond. I've never done late night Dim Sum so I was curious to se if there might be anything different on the menu. As it turned out it wasn't anything different. Still, it was nice to put a twist on something familiar.
By the time we finished Dim Sum and went our separate ways it was well past 1am. I was a little concerned about how to get home but I figured worst case scenario I'd just hang out at a Timmy's or something. The last SkyTrain heading North had already gone so I asked a girl in a Transit uniform what the best way back, if there was any, would be. As it turns out there is a night bus so I hopped it into downtown. Now for my next trick, how to get to the North Shore. I figured worst case scenario I could cab it and it wouldn't be that bad of a hit. As it turns out there was also a night bus to North Vancouver as well. Fantastic. The transit service here actually works. Nice. Love it.
Something I learned today: You can actually do Dim Sum at night
Reason to smile today: Big hug from Chir
In the evening I went to see Chir at the airport. She was flying in from Cowtown on her way back to Prince George. I haven't seen her in a few years so it was nice to see her. Big hug from her. I don't remember her ever being that animated. Sorta caught me off guard. It was nice though. It's always nice to feel like you've been missed. Her friend Marina was also there and together along with another fella, whom for some reason, I keep wanting to call Flavio, we went for late night Dim Sum in Richmond. I've never done late night Dim Sum so I was curious to se if there might be anything different on the menu. As it turned out it wasn't anything different. Still, it was nice to put a twist on something familiar.
By the time we finished Dim Sum and went our separate ways it was well past 1am. I was a little concerned about how to get home but I figured worst case scenario I'd just hang out at a Timmy's or something. The last SkyTrain heading North had already gone so I asked a girl in a Transit uniform what the best way back, if there was any, would be. As it turns out there is a night bus so I hopped it into downtown. Now for my next trick, how to get to the North Shore. I figured worst case scenario I could cab it and it wouldn't be that bad of a hit. As it turns out there was also a night bus to North Vancouver as well. Fantastic. The transit service here actually works. Nice. Love it.
Something I learned today: You can actually do Dim Sum at night
Reason to smile today: Big hug from Chir
April 3, 2010
Show and don't tell
My brain was cranking last night and I had a a hard time sleeping. On the bright side i have a few more ideas for Fred and Friends. Really gotta get on that one of these days.
Went to the car show with Ian today. There was some interesting cars. Truth be told, I was hoping to see a few more concept cars but I imagine that unless you go to Detroit or Tokyo or Geneva you probably won't see anything totally weird. Did see some nice cars though. I got a couple of Timmy's cards out of it too. There was some sort of a competition called Cliff My Ride and all I had to do was vote on which car I thought should take a ride off the edge of a cliff and I got a $5 Timmy's card. Nice, nice.
In checking out some fo the cars i did change my mind on a couple of cars. I sat in the new Camaro and immediately didn't like the huge blind spots it had. Yeah, it's off my list of hot cars i'd like to own one day. The Scion xD on the other hand was a vehicle I had originally looked at and went, "meh" but now having sat in one I can say i would definitely drive one. Potential ride in the coming years...
Had lunch at Jimmy's afterward. It was kinda nice out so we sat on the patio. I do like the fact it's warming up. Hopefully I'll get to sit on a few more patios soon.
The evening was busy with Lara's mom's b-day. I don't know what I was thinking but I pulled a completely retarded move when packing my get up for the shindig. I packed a greyish shirt with black pants, tan socks and brown shoes. Like, seriously?!?!? I think the Fashion Police would have booked me on all sorts of crimes against colour co-ordination and thrown me in the sin bin for a few years. Eeeeeek. Unfortunately i didn't have much f a choice so I had to wear what I had and spent most of the evening hiding myself from the knees down.
The False Creek Yacht Club was nice. Great view of False Creek. Very pretty. Dinner was fine and for the birthday cake, Lara bought two wheels of brie and put 70 candles on them. The thing looked like it was fully ablaze in my pictures. Pretty funny.
Reason to smile today: always fun to experience new places and things.
Something I learned today: I am still fashionably impared and really should get other people to dress me for formal occasions.
My brain was cranking last night and I had a a hard time sleeping. On the bright side i have a few more ideas for Fred and Friends. Really gotta get on that one of these days.
In checking out some fo the cars i did change my mind on a couple of cars. I sat in the new Camaro and immediately didn't like the huge blind spots it had. Yeah, it's off my list of hot cars i'd like to own one day. The Scion xD on the other hand was a vehicle I had originally looked at and went, "meh" but now having sat in one I can say i would definitely drive one. Potential ride in the coming years...
Had lunch at Jimmy's afterward. It was kinda nice out so we sat on the patio. I do like the fact it's warming up. Hopefully I'll get to sit on a few more patios soon.
The False Creek Yacht Club was nice. Great view of False Creek. Very pretty. Dinner was fine and for the birthday cake, Lara bought two wheels of brie and put 70 candles on them. The thing looked like it was fully ablaze in my pictures. Pretty funny.
Reason to smile today: always fun to experience new places and things.
Something I learned today: I am still fashionably impared and really should get other people to dress me for formal occasions.
April 2, 2010
Crashing
Had another late night last night. Strange how I'm having trouble sleeping but for completely different reasons. Still not good though cos I have afternoon crashes where I get really tired.
I woke up at 2:30. Lara came a knockin' to see if I wanted some soup. Her cousins were coming today so I had to clear out of the suite this afternoon.
I did a little cleaning, had soup with Lara then went back downstairs to finish packing and cleaning. I had a weird craving for coffee all afternoon but it was pouring out so I didn't go out. Eventually, I was going to have to head out to go to Ian's so I got all of my gear together that I was taking with me to Ian's and headed out into the rain. It was actually pretty amazing how much crap I was taking with me for two nights. Sleeping bag, sleeping mat, two changes of clothes, a set of dress clothes and toiletries. I had a full pack. It looked like I was going on a month long back packing trip. Nutty.
I got my Timmy's then headed for the bus. It was really wet out. Ironically I was going to meet Ian and Laura on Water Street at even more ironically, the Pour House.
Dinner was very good. It took a minute to actually find the place. I had a new drink today. It was called a Raspberry Collins which I think is a virgin version of a Tom Collins1. Not bad. It was much like an Italian soda. I had a not so sloppy sloppy Joe for dinner and a Treacle tart for dessert. Tasty.
Reason to smile today: Finally got my Timmy's after craving coffee all afternoon
Something I learned today: I have too much stuff...
1. Discovered a Tom Collins is a cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. The name is derived from two sources. One is the Collins glass which the drink is typically served in. The other is a big hoax from 1874. A person would ask someone if they had seen Tom Collins who had been speaking rather badly about them. the idea was to get the victim to get so worked up and agitated that he would act like a fool in public over a non-existant person. The author of the book it was first published in was Jerry Thomas and since New York based Thomas would have known about the wide spread hoax and the contents of the 1876 published book were developed during or right after The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, the hoax event is the most plausible source of the name for the Tom Collins cocktail.
Had another late night last night. Strange how I'm having trouble sleeping but for completely different reasons. Still not good though cos I have afternoon crashes where I get really tired.
I woke up at 2:30. Lara came a knockin' to see if I wanted some soup. Her cousins were coming today so I had to clear out of the suite this afternoon.
I did a little cleaning, had soup with Lara then went back downstairs to finish packing and cleaning. I had a weird craving for coffee all afternoon but it was pouring out so I didn't go out. Eventually, I was going to have to head out to go to Ian's so I got all of my gear together that I was taking with me to Ian's and headed out into the rain. It was actually pretty amazing how much crap I was taking with me for two nights. Sleeping bag, sleeping mat, two changes of clothes, a set of dress clothes and toiletries. I had a full pack. It looked like I was going on a month long back packing trip. Nutty.
Dinner was very good. It took a minute to actually find the place. I had a new drink today. It was called a Raspberry Collins which I think is a virgin version of a Tom Collins1. Not bad. It was much like an Italian soda. I had a not so sloppy sloppy Joe for dinner and a Treacle tart for dessert. Tasty.
Reason to smile today: Finally got my Timmy's after craving coffee all afternoon
Something I learned today: I have too much stuff...
1. Discovered a Tom Collins is a cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. The name is derived from two sources. One is the Collins glass which the drink is typically served in. The other is a big hoax from 1874. A person would ask someone if they had seen Tom Collins who had been speaking rather badly about them. the idea was to get the victim to get so worked up and agitated that he would act like a fool in public over a non-existant person. The author of the book it was first published in was Jerry Thomas and since New York based Thomas would have known about the wide spread hoax and the contents of the 1876 published book were developed during or right after The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, the hoax event is the most plausible source of the name for the Tom Collins cocktail.
March 31, 2010
One thought for the day
Bleh, woke up feeling sick. Craptastic. Sick twice in two weeks. What the frick. I wasn't actually going to post anything today except on my way home from my morning Timmy's run I saw the used Apple store was open so I wandered in. Wow. Talk about going back down memory lane. There was a tonne of old Macs and it was like a frackin museum. Very cool from a novelty standpoint. Anyways, some pics:
Reason to smile today: Reminiscing about old Macs
Something I learned today: My immune system isn't as good as i think it is.
Something I learned today: My immune system isn't as good as i think it is.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
March 30, 2010
Forgetful Teaky
Got together with Ian to get my laptop power cord back this morning. Yeesh. It's becoming a bad habit. Leave Ian's place, leave something behind. We met at Brioche to have a little breakfast. Well, probably closer to brunch seeing as it was 11. I have to say I do enjoy being able to hang out with Ian a lot more these days. Good for the soul.
After breakfast, Ian had to work so I went to the VPL to do some work. What a great building. I got a great spot next to one of the exterior windows looking out over the street. As I hammered away at work I started to get really tired. It's funny. I've found I get really tired during the days even when I get more than enough sleep. I actually dozed off at my desk for a few minutes. Well, at least I was still productive. I got my business cards done which is nice since I was starting to get razzed for not having any by some of the HOBN folk. The printing was super cheap. $1 a sheet for colour printouts on card stock. Gotta like that.
After, I noticed the CBC across the street so I wandered over to see if the CBC store was open. Lara and Dan had raved about it. As it turns out, the CBC store is actually more of a kiosk than an actual store. They had some pretty cool stuff in there though. Some really nice retro design apparel and bags, HNIC door mats, and a whole shelf full of stuff they were trying to clear out. I could have easily dropped $300 there but I retrained myself. Must... not... buy... unnecessary stuff... In the end I bought a touque and a jersey. The jersey was half off and the touque was $1.99 so I couldn't turn that down. I got $70 worth of stuff for $30. Score!
I was meeting Jarusha over in East Van for a photo show in the evening so I walked across the Cambie Street bridge and into East Van. It turns out this gallery is actually located in the lobby of a residential apartment complex. Interesting. It was a small space and it was jam packed with people. I wandered around the show for a bit and then found Jarusha. So good to see her again. She came with a friend who was also an ACAD grad so it was like a weird ACAD reunion thing. Then Chelsea Hailes appeared out of nowhere to say hello to Jarusha. This is where things got awkward.
You know when you have one of those moments where you don't recognize someone you should? Well, Chelsea was one of my kids from my Photo design class and she is a very talented photographer whose work I quite like. This wasn't a case of forgetting someone, just... completely not recognizing them. Now in my defense she had cut her hair and she looked a lot thinner than I remember her. I also didn't remember the nose ring or her other piercing. In any case, she immediately remembered me and I did one of those, "where do I know you from" greetings before realizing to my horror that it was Chelsea. I used to be good with faces and bad with names. Now i seem to be bad at both. Yeesh, I can't wait to get old. I'm going to be a complete mental case. I felt sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad. I hope Chelsea doesn't think I'm a complete moron. *sigh*
I caught the Skytrain partway home with Jarusha before catching the bus back to the North Shore. Apart from my gaffe with Chelsea it worked out to be quite a good day.
Reason to smile today: Seeing Jarusha. I hope we get a chance to hang out a lot more.
Something I learned today: sometimes coffee tastes soapy if made with ice cold water
Got together with Ian to get my laptop power cord back this morning. Yeesh. It's becoming a bad habit. Leave Ian's place, leave something behind. We met at Brioche to have a little breakfast. Well, probably closer to brunch seeing as it was 11. I have to say I do enjoy being able to hang out with Ian a lot more these days. Good for the soul.
After breakfast, Ian had to work so I went to the VPL to do some work. What a great building. I got a great spot next to one of the exterior windows looking out over the street. As I hammered away at work I started to get really tired. It's funny. I've found I get really tired during the days even when I get more than enough sleep. I actually dozed off at my desk for a few minutes. Well, at least I was still productive. I got my business cards done which is nice since I was starting to get razzed for not having any by some of the HOBN folk. The printing was super cheap. $1 a sheet for colour printouts on card stock. Gotta like that.
I was meeting Jarusha over in East Van for a photo show in the evening so I walked across the Cambie Street bridge and into East Van. It turns out this gallery is actually located in the lobby of a residential apartment complex. Interesting. It was a small space and it was jam packed with people. I wandered around the show for a bit and then found Jarusha. So good to see her again. She came with a friend who was also an ACAD grad so it was like a weird ACAD reunion thing. Then Chelsea Hailes appeared out of nowhere to say hello to Jarusha. This is where things got awkward.
I caught the Skytrain partway home with Jarusha before catching the bus back to the North Shore. Apart from my gaffe with Chelsea it worked out to be quite a good day.
Reason to smile today: Seeing Jarusha. I hope we get a chance to hang out a lot more.
Something I learned today: sometimes coffee tastes soapy if made with ice cold water
March 29, 2010
Culture Shock
Started the day with Ian and Chris. Well, not quite started but close enough. I was meeting Chris for the first time today to talk about his tattoo. We went for brunch and over the course of our discussion I discovered the Celtic design he wanted wasn't really Celtic at all. Apparently he meant tribal but got his descriptive terms wrong. The tribal one will be easier as I won't have to deal with the technicalities of knot work so I'll get on that next week.
After dinner Ian and I hit a movie. We saw How to Train Your Pet Dragon. It was quite good. Much better than I expected. There was some good, dry humour by the main character and the dragon, Toothless, was curiously cat-like but still pretty fun.
We were going to go to Guu for dinner but it was closed. We made the walk up to Dougie Dog instead. Ian and Laura said they were really good gourmet hot dogs so I was expecting at least Le Chien Chaud and Tubby Dog. After having a peruse over the menu I decided on a Crif Dog. Bacon wrapped sausage with pineapple and green onions. Tasty. I also tried a Boylans root beer for the first time. Not bad. I still like the Henry Weinhard's the best I think.
On the walk home it was getting a bit chilly and I had forgotten my touque back at the apartment so we popped into a few shops to see if I could find a touque. Complete fail in terms of finding a good touque but I did find a hat. A fedora actually. Fedoras have made a comeback in the last little while so I've seen them all over the place. I've tried a few on for curiosities sake but haven't been entirely convinced. Recently I posted a photo and a number of people commented on it. Tonight, both Ian and LauI thought I would give it a go. After all, I am re-inventing myself in some ways. Guess we'll see how I feel about it.
Hung out at Ian and Laura's for the rest of the evening then got dropped off at home. I discovered, much to my dismay when I got home, that I had forgotten my power cable for my laptop at Ian's. It's becoming a bit of a bad habit, me forgetting stuff at Ian's. I guess I'll see if Ian is free for brekkie tomorrow...
Reason to smile today: A new hat. Something different
Something I learned today: If you have a hunch about something. Clarify... Celtic vs Tribal
After dinner Ian and I hit a movie. We saw How to Train Your Pet Dragon. It was quite good. Much better than I expected. There was some good, dry humour by the main character and the dragon, Toothless, was curiously cat-like but still pretty fun.
On the walk home it was getting a bit chilly and I had forgotten my touque back at the apartment so we popped into a few shops to see if I could find a touque. Complete fail in terms of finding a good touque but I did find a hat. A fedora actually. Fedoras have made a comeback in the last little while so I've seen them all over the place. I've tried a few on for curiosities sake but haven't been entirely convinced. Recently I posted a photo and a number of people commented on it. Tonight, both Ian and LauI thought I would give it a go. After all, I am re-inventing myself in some ways. Guess we'll see how I feel about it.
Hung out at Ian and Laura's for the rest of the evening then got dropped off at home. I discovered, much to my dismay when I got home, that I had forgotten my power cable for my laptop at Ian's. It's becoming a bit of a bad habit, me forgetting stuff at Ian's. I guess I'll see if Ian is free for brekkie tomorrow...
Reason to smile today: A new hat. Something different
Something I learned today: If you have a hunch about something. Clarify... Celtic vs Tribal
Sunday, March 28, 2010
March 27, 2010
Like father, like son... or daughter
I went over to the Li's today. I promised Tamami-san that I would help her out with her Skype. She's not a tech person so I said, no problem. I got there around 3:30ish (well, she came and picked me up on her way home from downtown) and after eating some noodles set abouts sorting her out. First order of business was figuring out why her headset didn't work. Turns out it was simple enough. A combination of the headset and the computer volume being turned down. No problem. Next was testing her Skype connection. I had brought over my laptop so I could play telephone with her. After some quick fiddling, poof, Bob's-your-uncle. I showed her how to set it up, make calls, receive calls, sent chat messages and look for contacts. All pretty basic but easy enough to show. I hate the PC set up of Skype. I think it's a bad layout. The Mac layout is so much easier to visually comprehend. I imagine once you get used to it it's no big deal but off the bat... Mac layout is waaaaaaaaaay easier to grasp. It was about this time that I noticed the signal strength of their wireless was really low. Weird. I got full bars when I set it up. I wandered downstairs to have a look. Everything seemed fine but I rebooted it just in case. I was gonna be really pissed if there was something wrong with this rig. I went back upstairs and same thing. Low signal strength. I picked up my laptop and started walking towards the basement stairs but I got 15 steps from the table and my signal strength went up to half.
You've gotta be kidding me.
By the time I got to the topof the basement steps another 5 steps away I had full bars. Wow... I double checked with Tamami-san's laptop and same thing. So the reason we had full bars last week was because she was sitting on the couch by the stairs. Hmmm... something was interfering with the signal. As I went downstairs (Oscar the bulldog in tow) I looked over the wireless set up and wondered if it would make sense to move it upstairs. Mimi's room is downstairs so moving it upstairs might cause her some grief but... hmmmm. Worth a shot anyways. I disconnected everything and hauled it upstairs. I asked if there was another cable outlet upstairs but was told there was only one in the house. Huh? I just disconnected the modem from one downstairs so where was the tv connected to? She showed me the cable wire coming directly out of the wall. Ah. One cable outlet and one wire coming out of the wall. Gotcha. I went back downstairs to try and figure out how to set this up to increase the signal strength. Tamami-san showed me where the cable from the tv came through the wall and down to a splitter box on the other side of the basement. Ta-daaaaa! This splitter box was directly below the kitchen where she likes to work so this should dramatically increase the signal strength. Except... where was this second cable going to? I followed a rather long cable that had been fed through the wooden trusses and then duct taped along the ceiling across the other side of the basement down the wall and under the door into Mimi's bedroom. the cable then continued back up the wall across the ceiling and back down to connect to a tv at the foot of Mimi's bed. This had to be THE most ghetto cabling setup I had ever seen. I mean, the duct tape wasn't even flat in some parts. It looked like it had fallen a bunch of times and the remaining ball was just stuck back up on the wall or ceiling. Even the way it cut across the ceiling wasn't very pretty. Ah, teenage ingenuity. It ain't pretty but it's functional. Tamami-san told me there used to be another cable that ran through the ceiling and into Mimi's room somehow but the Shaw cable guy cut the line when he installed the modem so Mimi rigged up this set up so that she could get cable in her room. Interesting.
I spent the next 20 minutes or so inspecting the walls and ceiling in Mimi's room trying to figure out if there was a way to feed a cable line in through the wall. I couldn't find the other end of the original cable line and after doing some head scratching I noticed the 2-way intercom. on her wall. Seen that before. I walked back to the cable outlet where the modem used to be and lo-and behold there was the other end of the intercom next to the cable outlet. Some hope. If I could figure out where the line was getting into Mimi's room and if there was enough room, I could feed the cable through the same way and into her room. Then I could connect Mimi's cable to the outlet where the router used to be hooked up and hook up the router to the second side of the splitter. Sweet! Now, to try and figure out the wiring. It took several minutes but I finally was able to follow the tangle of electrical wiring to a small hole in the wall at the back of some shelving. This hole led into Mimi's blanket closet. It was gonna be tight but I thought I could probably feed the cable through the hole.
I set about collecting the cable from Mimi's room, "disassembling" her ghetto duct tape set up, discovering about another 10 feet of cable squished into a space in a wall panel and hauling it over to the other outlet. I fed the cable through the ceiling trusses and over towards the hole in the wall. I was standing on a rickity folding chair with one foot, bracing myself on a bedframe that was leaning against the wall with m other foot and trying to pull myself up on to this top shelf which was about 3 feet deep and 3 feet from the ceiling without touching these exposed copper wires that seemed to be connected to my only source of light up there. I think after I failed to ease myself up the first time because of the awkward position I was in, I resigned myself to the fact I was going to half to do some sort of jumping motion which would inevitably bring me reeeeeeeeeeeally close to if not in contact with these exposed wires. I think I must have stared at these frickin things for a good five minutes not wanting to "test" the possibility of a live current running through them with my fingers seeing as I had one foot on top of a metal bedframe that was sitting on the floor. I finally decided to see what i could do about gingerly trying to move them out of the way. Thankfully the wires were a bit on the stiff side and I was able to bend them so they pointed in a much safer direction. Namely, away from me. Five minutes later I got the cable to the hole in the wall only to discover the hole was just a wee bit too small. Fabulous. I inquired about some tools. There were some but they were a bit of a mish mosh. The saw was too big and there was no drill so i wound up having to use an old Xacto utility knife. Now, for those of you who have never tried to cut through wood paneling and a bit of drywall in near virtual darkness while leaning at a precarious 45˚ angle with your arms fully outstretched whilst trying no to cut the wire of a two way intercom in the process, let me tell you, it wasn't exactly easy. In fact, I believe it took me the better part of 20 minutes just to make the hole only slightly bigger but large enough for the cable line to get through. i ended up running the cable through that hole, down the inside of the closet where i created another small hole at the bottom of the wall so the cable could come out and run along the floor to Mimi's tv. During this whole process I found out the shelving in this particular closet was built by my father including some bracing elements built out of old hockey sticks. Tamami-san laughed and said I was like my dad. I think what she meant was that I was handy like my dad. Yeah, I'll take it as a compliment... sorta. My dad, after all, had at one point built me a toilet paper stand out of the bottom half of an old lamp (the Ikea ones that every person in their 20's with their own pad has), a stick and some CD's. You could just imagine the look on my face when dad offered it up to me. Dad, if you're reading this, I love you but it wasn't really aesthetically great and Rose being an interior designer almost turned white when she saw it. Maybe Mimi could use it in her bathroom though. She seems to be down with function over aesthetics.
K, so this story is getting a little long in the tooth. Anyways, I got Mimi's cable hooked up, The router got placed in a better spot, Tamami-san can work in the kitchen now with a strong wireless signal and as an added bonus, the desk where the modem used to be got cleaned up and is a functional space again. Oh, and I was able to swap out two fluorescent bulbs so the laundry area is brighter now too. Damn, I am turning into my dad. I'm becoming Mr. fix-it.
Li-san brought home dinner from Lime and Van Ya. Deeeeeee-licious. Seafood does taste so much better closer to the water. At some point during dinner, Tamami-san made some crack about how no one does anything around the house except her or something to that effect to which Li-san and Mimi high-fived each other. Like father, like daughter. Mind you, we've seen that in Mimi since she was 5...
Good times, good times.
Tamami-san gave me a lift home after dinner and she packed me left overs. what i didn't realize was that she tucked in an envelope with $150. Grrrrr... That's not cool. I'm gonna have to give her grief about that. I'm sure that's her way of getting me back for paying for the wireless router last week. Still, not cool. Grrr...
Reason to smile today: Hangin out at the Li's . Even if I was kinda working it's nice to be able to hang out with them. It's been ages and they're good peoples. Bonus - GSP beat Hardy in a unanimous, dominating decision at UFC 111.
Something I learned today: I'm more like my dad than I think.
I went over to the Li's today. I promised Tamami-san that I would help her out with her Skype. She's not a tech person so I said, no problem. I got there around 3:30ish (well, she came and picked me up on her way home from downtown) and after eating some noodles set abouts sorting her out. First order of business was figuring out why her headset didn't work. Turns out it was simple enough. A combination of the headset and the computer volume being turned down. No problem. Next was testing her Skype connection. I had brought over my laptop so I could play telephone with her. After some quick fiddling, poof, Bob's-your-uncle. I showed her how to set it up, make calls, receive calls, sent chat messages and look for contacts. All pretty basic but easy enough to show. I hate the PC set up of Skype. I think it's a bad layout. The Mac layout is so much easier to visually comprehend. I imagine once you get used to it it's no big deal but off the bat... Mac layout is waaaaaaaaaay easier to grasp. It was about this time that I noticed the signal strength of their wireless was really low. Weird. I got full bars when I set it up. I wandered downstairs to have a look. Everything seemed fine but I rebooted it just in case. I was gonna be really pissed if there was something wrong with this rig. I went back upstairs and same thing. Low signal strength. I picked up my laptop and started walking towards the basement stairs but I got 15 steps from the table and my signal strength went up to half.
You've gotta be kidding me.
I spent the next 20 minutes or so inspecting the walls and ceiling in Mimi's room trying to figure out if there was a way to feed a cable line in through the wall. I couldn't find the other end of the original cable line and after doing some head scratching I noticed the 2-way intercom. on her wall. Seen that before. I walked back to the cable outlet where the modem used to be and lo-and behold there was the other end of the intercom next to the cable outlet. Some hope. If I could figure out where the line was getting into Mimi's room and if there was enough room, I could feed the cable through the same way and into her room. Then I could connect Mimi's cable to the outlet where the router used to be hooked up and hook up the router to the second side of the splitter. Sweet! Now, to try and figure out the wiring. It took several minutes but I finally was able to follow the tangle of electrical wiring to a small hole in the wall at the back of some shelving. This hole led into Mimi's blanket closet. It was gonna be tight but I thought I could probably feed the cable through the hole.
I set about collecting the cable from Mimi's room, "disassembling" her ghetto duct tape set up, discovering about another 10 feet of cable squished into a space in a wall panel and hauling it over to the other outlet. I fed the cable through the ceiling trusses and over towards the hole in the wall. I was standing on a rickity folding chair with one foot, bracing myself on a bedframe that was leaning against the wall with m other foot and trying to pull myself up on to this top shelf which was about 3 feet deep and 3 feet from the ceiling without touching these exposed copper wires that seemed to be connected to my only source of light up there. I think after I failed to ease myself up the first time because of the awkward position I was in, I resigned myself to the fact I was going to half to do some sort of jumping motion which would inevitably bring me reeeeeeeeeeeally close to if not in contact with these exposed wires. I think I must have stared at these frickin things for a good five minutes not wanting to "test" the possibility of a live current running through them with my fingers seeing as I had one foot on top of a metal bedframe that was sitting on the floor. I finally decided to see what i could do about gingerly trying to move them out of the way. Thankfully the wires were a bit on the stiff side and I was able to bend them so they pointed in a much safer direction. Namely, away from me. Five minutes later I got the cable to the hole in the wall only to discover the hole was just a wee bit too small. Fabulous. I inquired about some tools. There were some but they were a bit of a mish mosh. The saw was too big and there was no drill so i wound up having to use an old Xacto utility knife. Now, for those of you who have never tried to cut through wood paneling and a bit of drywall in near virtual darkness while leaning at a precarious 45˚ angle with your arms fully outstretched whilst trying no to cut the wire of a two way intercom in the process, let me tell you, it wasn't exactly easy. In fact, I believe it took me the better part of 20 minutes just to make the hole only slightly bigger but large enough for the cable line to get through. i ended up running the cable through that hole, down the inside of the closet where i created another small hole at the bottom of the wall so the cable could come out and run along the floor to Mimi's tv. During this whole process I found out the shelving in this particular closet was built by my father including some bracing elements built out of old hockey sticks. Tamami-san laughed and said I was like my dad. I think what she meant was that I was handy like my dad. Yeah, I'll take it as a compliment... sorta. My dad, after all, had at one point built me a toilet paper stand out of the bottom half of an old lamp (the Ikea ones that every person in their 20's with their own pad has), a stick and some CD's. You could just imagine the look on my face when dad offered it up to me. Dad, if you're reading this, I love you but it wasn't really aesthetically great and Rose being an interior designer almost turned white when she saw it. Maybe Mimi could use it in her bathroom though. She seems to be down with function over aesthetics.
K, so this story is getting a little long in the tooth. Anyways, I got Mimi's cable hooked up, The router got placed in a better spot, Tamami-san can work in the kitchen now with a strong wireless signal and as an added bonus, the desk where the modem used to be got cleaned up and is a functional space again. Oh, and I was able to swap out two fluorescent bulbs so the laundry area is brighter now too. Damn, I am turning into my dad. I'm becoming Mr. fix-it.
Good times, good times.
Tamami-san gave me a lift home after dinner and she packed me left overs. what i didn't realize was that she tucked in an envelope with $150. Grrrrr... That's not cool. I'm gonna have to give her grief about that. I'm sure that's her way of getting me back for paying for the wireless router last week. Still, not cool. Grrr...
Reason to smile today: Hangin out at the Li's . Even if I was kinda working it's nice to be able to hang out with them. It's been ages and they're good peoples. Bonus - GSP beat Hardy in a unanimous, dominating decision at UFC 111.
Something I learned today: I'm more like my dad than I think.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
March 24, 2010
Seeing is believing
Had another good night's sleep and woke up at 8. I was feeling a little lazy so I lay in bed for a bit surfing through the latest posts on Facebook on my iPhone. When I finally decided to get up, I rolled out, wandered over to the dresser, pulled out a clean pair of shorts, walked to the doorway, turned back, looked at my hockey bag and went, "...how come I can see?"
Apparently I forgot to take my contacts out last night. They're so comfortable that they didn't even bother me when I woke up this morning. Now, I've fallen asleep with contacts in before and prior to this incident, every time I wake up, whether it's a full night or a nap, my eyes sting. This morning, nothing. OK... I guess we'll see how long this lasts before I have to take them out.
Spent the morning applying to iStock. I've taken so many photos I thought maybe I'd post a few of them and see if anyone else likes 'em. Now, I know all of my photo friends will probably frown at me and I totally understand and I'm reeeeeeeeeally sorry but I could use a little extra dough. Not that I expect to make anything substantial but if it covers the cost of my Timmy's double double in the morning then I'm gonna be happy. Spent the rest of the day battling the Celtic knot. I got a lot further with it today than I did yesterday. It's sorta there. Not quite happy with the unity or the front hooves but I got the steam/flames and the back end resolved for the most part. I'll try and have another go tomorrow in between all my meetings.
Not a whole lot to report today. Predominantly a work day. Missed out on the sunshine. *sigh* Tomorrow is an early day and a lot of meetings. Right, I gotta take my contacts out tonight...
Reason to smile today: Progress on the tattoo. (yay)
Something I learned today: I need property releases for buildings. I recognize that iconic buildings you probably do but I didn't realize that you might possibly need one for any building. Interesting. Also, public crowds. I thought you didn't need model releases for public crowds in a public place. Hmmm. How about that.
Had another good night's sleep and woke up at 8. I was feeling a little lazy so I lay in bed for a bit surfing through the latest posts on Facebook on my iPhone. When I finally decided to get up, I rolled out, wandered over to the dresser, pulled out a clean pair of shorts, walked to the doorway, turned back, looked at my hockey bag and went, "...how come I can see?"
Apparently I forgot to take my contacts out last night. They're so comfortable that they didn't even bother me when I woke up this morning. Now, I've fallen asleep with contacts in before and prior to this incident, every time I wake up, whether it's a full night or a nap, my eyes sting. This morning, nothing. OK... I guess we'll see how long this lasts before I have to take them out.
Spent the morning applying to iStock. I've taken so many photos I thought maybe I'd post a few of them and see if anyone else likes 'em. Now, I know all of my photo friends will probably frown at me and I totally understand and I'm reeeeeeeeeally sorry but I could use a little extra dough. Not that I expect to make anything substantial but if it covers the cost of my Timmy's double double in the morning then I'm gonna be happy. Spent the rest of the day battling the Celtic knot. I got a lot further with it today than I did yesterday. It's sorta there. Not quite happy with the unity or the front hooves but I got the steam/flames and the back end resolved for the most part. I'll try and have another go tomorrow in between all my meetings.
Not a whole lot to report today. Predominantly a work day. Missed out on the sunshine. *sigh* Tomorrow is an early day and a lot of meetings. Right, I gotta take my contacts out tonight...
Reason to smile today: Progress on the tattoo. (yay)
Something I learned today: I need property releases for buildings. I recognize that iconic buildings you probably do but I didn't realize that you might possibly need one for any building. Interesting. Also, public crowds. I thought you didn't need model releases for public crowds in a public place. Hmmm. How about that.
March 23, 2010
Pass me the buffet...
Another day, another dollar. More job searching, more celtic knot work. I'm going to make $1.50 an hour by the time I'm done with this. Thing is, I don't want to half ass this. Not that I ever want to half ass my work but tattoos are something personal and permanent (well, for the most part) so I feel compelled to do a good job. Hard to tweak a tattoo after it's been inked. As I've mentioned in my previous posts, Celtic knot work is not my thing and it's been tricky to try and get it not only to look aesthetically nice but also somewhat culturally correct. Now, I know that there were more than likely no traditional Celtic knots created in the shape of a leaping bull with steam/fire coming out of it's nostrils but there is some personal pride on the line here. I am a professional after all. Hopefully I'll be able to get this down soonish. I know Chris is pretty anxious to get this and I'm starting to get anxious to get it of my plate before I start dreading working on it. Nothing like working on a project for too long and starting to hate it.
It was sunny today and I'm a little sad to be cooped up inside but gotta do it. Dinner with Graeme tonight. We're going for sushi. Woo-ha, Woo-ha.
I met up with Graeme at BC Sushi on W. Broadway and Arbutus. It's an all you can eat joint. Being on a budget sorta sucks but what do you do you know? It was good seeing Graeme again. He's a character. You could almost put him in a sitcom (sorry buddy. My warped sense of perception). We chatted about school, Eugene, work, design, girls, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, and, of course, sushi. Now, BC Sushi isn't the best sushi but it was certainly better than passable. I've had worse in Cowtown at proper restaurants. They had a surprisingly big selection for AYCE. There were a number of items on the menu that would definitely have been on the B or C list in Calgary. Benefits of living near the water. Easier to get stuff. We ate and ate and ate and when all was said and dne I was surprised we didn't scarf down more. For me, I had only had a coffee and a banana all day so I was starving. Maybe I hungered myself out of an appetite. Still, sushi is always a treat for me and with sushi restaurants seemingly around every corner here I imagine, even on my limited budget that I'll be having sushi a little more often.
Reason to smile today: uh... hello? Sushi. 'nuff said.
Something I learned today: Get over pass relationships quickly! (Remember) if you cant get over,, u will go under! - @RevRunWisdom
Another day, another dollar. More job searching, more celtic knot work. I'm going to make $1.50 an hour by the time I'm done with this. Thing is, I don't want to half ass this. Not that I ever want to half ass my work but tattoos are something personal and permanent (well, for the most part) so I feel compelled to do a good job. Hard to tweak a tattoo after it's been inked. As I've mentioned in my previous posts, Celtic knot work is not my thing and it's been tricky to try and get it not only to look aesthetically nice but also somewhat culturally correct. Now, I know that there were more than likely no traditional Celtic knots created in the shape of a leaping bull with steam/fire coming out of it's nostrils but there is some personal pride on the line here. I am a professional after all. Hopefully I'll be able to get this down soonish. I know Chris is pretty anxious to get this and I'm starting to get anxious to get it of my plate before I start dreading working on it. Nothing like working on a project for too long and starting to hate it.
I met up with Graeme at BC Sushi on W. Broadway and Arbutus. It's an all you can eat joint. Being on a budget sorta sucks but what do you do you know? It was good seeing Graeme again. He's a character. You could almost put him in a sitcom (sorry buddy. My warped sense of perception). We chatted about school, Eugene, work, design, girls, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, and, of course, sushi. Now, BC Sushi isn't the best sushi but it was certainly better than passable. I've had worse in Cowtown at proper restaurants. They had a surprisingly big selection for AYCE. There were a number of items on the menu that would definitely have been on the B or C list in Calgary. Benefits of living near the water. Easier to get stuff. We ate and ate and ate and when all was said and dne I was surprised we didn't scarf down more. For me, I had only had a coffee and a banana all day so I was starving. Maybe I hungered myself out of an appetite. Still, sushi is always a treat for me and with sushi restaurants seemingly around every corner here I imagine, even on my limited budget that I'll be having sushi a little more often.
Reason to smile today: uh... hello? Sushi. 'nuff said.
Something I learned today: Get over pass relationships quickly! (Remember) if you cant get over,, u will go under! - @RevRunWisdom
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