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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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).

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

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.

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

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.

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.

April 1, 2010

all day doing nothing

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.

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

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