Month: March 2007

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The Crazy Canucks #25 – Kukla’s on our Korner

Recorded last night, and posted this morning.

This is an episode that is chalk full of good stuff. Everyone is here this time around, and we even have a special guest, legendary internet hockey guru Paul Kukla from none other than KuklasKorner.com. We get to know him and look ahead to the game the Canucks will have this weekend against his favorite team, the Detroit Red Wings. Yes, it’s difficult to not talk about Bertuzzi being there now.

Record as of this episode: 41-23-6
Northwest Division: 1st
Western Conference: 3rd

No need to fear, we talk about the Canucks a lot as well. We take a look at the games against Phoenix(W), San Jose(W), Anaheim(L), and Minnesota(OTL). A new thing we’re trying is calling in after a game at GM Place, John and Rebecca being the suckers to try it out after an overtime loss to the Wild. We also are starting look towards the road ahead since the playoffs are coming into sight, and Paul chimes in with his perspective on how everything is going this season.

61:30 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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Bringing on the Bra Power

20070313(001) I appreciate the trend, but men wearing bras (without a shirt) in the seats of GM Place during the Canucks game last night, in which they lost because of Christina Aguilera, is slightly disturbing. I’m all for it replacing tower power[wiki], but for crying out loud, they should be spun in the air, not worn.

By the way, this dude was selling them for ten bucks as people ventured to the game last night. I don’t think he was the only one, but they made me hesitate a little. Not that I would buy one, but you might find something similar in a dumpster somewhere. At least their dinginess made me think that.

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Jealous of you SXSW’ers

The last and only time I went to SXSW was in 2002. It was a free ticket to go, thanks to KRUI. We crammed nine people into a University of Iowa SUV and drove the whole way down. That sounds like fun, but when you only have certain days that coordinate with classes and exams, things get tight for time, money, and space. 17 hours of driving, without stopping, we put all of us into two rooms, not far off 6th Street[wiki] in Austin.

Oh, Austin. The one place in Texas that I would seriously consider moving to. Incredible music scene? Check. Good food? Check. Warm weather? Double check. Large Hispanic population? Ubercheck. I even applied for an engineering position at KUT, and there was hints of interest. Sadly, the call back never came.

I loved my time at SXSW, but my reason for going there were way more music related than the film and interactive part, and I kick myself now for not understanding what that “interactive” thing in the title meant. That should say “internet” in big, bold letters.

In hindsight, if I had more of a mindset to pay attention, I would have used some of the knowledge being spread there to apply it to the realm of radio that I was slaving away in. How? Let’s just say that when I checked out the KRUI website the other day, I was so happy that someone took the initiative of setting up a WordPress blog to run the site. It’s a really great step in the evolutionary petri dish for that particular student run radio station.

If I went again, and you know that I’m thinking about it heavily, I would completely pay attention to this interactive, internet, blogging, podcasting, geeks-on-steroids conference with much more anticipation and enthusiasm. At the same time, I would have to check out the music portion.

I can’t tell you how often I think about that opportunity. I saw so many great acts. They Might Be Giants, Lo-Fidelity All Stars, Shiner (twice), Jurassic 5, The Promise Ring, Boys Against Girls… and that’s just what I can remember without spending too much time recalling all of them.

Combine all of this internet and music stuff, it makes me sad every year SXSW rolls around. I want to do it again soon. There is good news though. You can download podcasts from some of the panels now. It’s the next best thing I’ve got to being there.

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Why hockey isn’t bigger in the U.S.

Totally stealing this one from J.J.

I am convinced that the only way that hockey is to grow in the U.S. is by instilling a love for the game with the younger crowd. In fact, let me translate this video clip for said folks who live in this said country. She is taking a cue for her, I assume, father that when he says the first name of the player on the Canucks, the little girl responds with the last name of the player. And she’s probably two or three?

Changing rules or scheming marketing plans don’t lure long term fans to a sport, or anything for that matter. Most Canadian fans will tell you that hockey is something they grew up with, and that’s why they are so passionate about it. And even if they’re not living and breathing it, they might still have a fondness for it. And if you think that’s stupid, then ask someone from Mexico as to why anyone would find futbol, aka soccer, interesting.

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A very Vancouver weekend

20070311(002) Rain. So many people are going to be talking about it, but this has been a stereotypical weekend in Vancouver. Not the gentle mist or light rain that is more common place. Instead, nice, steady drops of water, seemingly never ending as they fall to the earth.

We made ventures downtown to find massive puddles in the intersections, proof that even the sewer drains were struggling to keep up with the amounts. Just trying to navigate through the crowds of people was enough to drive one a bit mad. It never fails that you run into that one group of about six folks who are walking along the sidewalk at a snail’s pace, taking up the whole width of the walkway. Give them all umbrellas and ye’ abandon all hope of getting ahead of them.

Riding the SeaBus to meet up with our friends for yet another Canucks PPV game(three in one week is just slightly annoying), I told Rebecca that this is a very, upper northwest day.

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Lessons in quick thinking

The cheese fell between the counter and the fridge.

Hanger Hand Sweeper Thing
This is what you do so you don’t hurt your back or pinch your fingers while trying to get the cheese you sent flying across the counter and into that tight space between said place. Don’t ask me to explain how. The cheese grater just slipped.

Doing stuff like this always takes me back to the days of KRUI where this type of rigging was far too common, if not being too far from an exact replica. We called it “ghetto engineering”. This is a testament to those quick thinking skills that still exist today.

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SkyTour seems kinda lame

SkyTour markings at Waterfront SkyTrain stationI know that sounds harsh to say, but this marking on the platform at Waterfront Station caught my eye last night while heading to meet some friends for the Canucks game last night. I had heard of it before, but it inspired me to check into it a bit more today.

You can check out more about SkyTour youself, but the basic story is that you pay for this audio tour that takes you around Vancouver via SkyTrain, telling you various things about the city. There are also walking tours included, but I’m really unsure if other forms of mass transit are required as well.

The one thing that gets me is that you really want to make sure that if you are planning on taking this tour, then make sure you have a nice, sunny day to do it. The audio sample on their website has you looking out the windows of the SkyTrain to see The Lions[wiki] among the north shore mountains. On a rainy day, which we have a few of those here occasionally, you’re hard pressed to see those twin peaks.

At the same time, you better hope for a non-crowded day on the train as well. Trying to listen to an audio tour while trying to peak through the group of kids talking at the top of their lungs, in whatever international language it is that they speak, just screams like a good ol’ time. Ahh, money well spent.

We offer to take friends and family around the city all the time, and I think that the only way to experience any place is with locals. Even though Rebecca has lived here all her life, there’s many places I’ve made her go that she’d otherwise never had explored unless my curiosity didn’t drag us there. It goes both ways.

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What do you want to be when you grow up?

In about a month, give or take one to five because the Canadian government is just that awesome with paperwork, I’ll have my green light to be fully employable. We haven’t had the bash to celebrate because this whole process has been a long story of hurry up and wait. It’s a multi-stage process where you’re happy to hear good news when you just start to abandon all hope. Then there is a wave of elation, followed by the reality of more paperwork that you have to send in to start the waiting process once again.

The biggest dilemma is the question that I’ve been fielding quite often lately, and Northern Voice was the worst places of all to have this come to be a moment of clarity. What do I want to do once I’m able to, legally, work?

That’s a lot harder for me to answer with a simple, concise, non-lengthy explanation. I have seven years experience in radio, a combination of on-air talent, production, producing, I.T. and engineering(not uncommon for people in radio these days to wear many hats). There’s the fact that I’m interested in all things new media, especially the world of podcasting and blogging.

I’ve been doing designing of websites since I was 16, wavering in and out of doing a lot of it. For a time, I worked for my parents where we had a side project doing this for local businesses in the town I grew up in, a different time and era for sure. Blogging has really brightened my understanding of PHP, SQL, and CSS a whole lot, and I’m in the middle of a couple of projects, unrelated to my current ones, that are using these skills in full force.

So when someone asks me this question of what do I want to do, it’s tough. Would I like to get into the radio market of Vancouver? Absolutely, and I’ve actually interviewed with a lot of the major players since first coming here in 2005, CKNW and Team1040 being a few prominent ones to mention. All those ventures came up short when they get to that part about having the necessary status that makes you legit for getting a paycheck.

I’m gearing up to start the hunt when the time comes, but there is no simple answer to the question. I’ve had the past year and a half to think about it, and during that time, I’ve watched a lot of opportunity pass me by, if not slip through my fingers. That’s bound to change, and Rebecca can’t wait until she can have me out of the apartment more often. Quite frankly, I can’t either.

Trust me, everything I have done in life has been an earnest effort of tackling it with persistence. More than a few people in Vancouver have mentioned that about me, and I hope that was a compliment.

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The Crazy Canucks #24 – All Cowan, all the time

Recorded last night, posted this morning.

Everyone is able to bring this episode together, and no SeaBus will stop us from having Dave chime in on his commute home. The rest of us gather together in traditional form, discussing the games against Phoenix(W), Minnesota(W), and Tampa Bay(W). The race for the playoffs is still tight, but now we’re fighting for the top of the division, maybe even a long shot to win the conference. It’s really getting to be an amazing season, considering where we started out from.

Record as of this episode: 39-22-5
Northwest Division: 1st
Western Conference: 3rd

There’s a variety of topics covered in this one, but this one was done just after the five goals in three games that Jeff Cowan inspired a fan to toss a bra on to the ice in jubilee. If it was theirs or not, and if it was a he or she, we’ll probably never know. Regardless, it was too inspiring to not talk about.

56:51 minutes
The Crazy Canucks