Author: John Bollwitt

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Orange juice and cereal is desperate, not delicious

There’s part of me that has this memory of my brother eating cereal with orange juice in it when I was a kid. At least that is something that I recall happening, but it could be one of those things that you make up and it becomes a memory. I also recall seeing this in a movie at one point in my life, so maybe I took that scene and commited it into my own memory.

I can’t recall the name, but there’s a kid who constantly gets crapped on and ends up having things turn out positive for him in the end. I realize I just described the plot of hundreds movies out there, but this one in particular has a scene where there’s no more milk in the house for his bowl of cereal, only to have his mother tell him to use orange juice instead, just after some other sibling or something mocked him for using up all the milk.

The other day, the situation was similar in the apartment. In all actuality, we go for the soy milk here, being that neither of us can handle straight milk too well. Cereal is all we really use it for. Ice cream and gelato is no problem, thankfully.

So I tried it. I was really craving cereal for breakfast, and this thought about using OJ instead seemed worth a shot. I did eat all of it, but it was a little too much on the sweet and sour side, not to mention the whole, being very… watery part.

Bottom line, it pretty much sucked. I won’t suggest it, and my years of not being interested in trying it until the other day makes complete sense.

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Don’t make your sign too confusing

I walk by this place often when heading to the downtown core, and it bugs me a little bit. If you are going to have a sign hanging, make it easy to comprehend through a brief glance. Don’t make me have to stop and sift through the details.

Breakfast All Day on Pender

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A new trend in the rich giving to those in need

At least that is something I would like to see happen. Bill Gates started it with his announcement of retiring from Microsoft in 2008 to focus on his foundation. Now the guy who ranks number two in the richest people in America is looking to add to the thought, pledging $40+ billion of his fortune to charities.

The nation’s second-richest man, Warren Buffett, has decided to turn over most of his $44 billion fortune to the nation’s richest man, Bill Gates. Buffett is committing to give about 10 million Class B shares in his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, to the $30 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Here’s the Gateses’ gracious response.) He’ll start by handing over 500,000 shares this year (worth about $1.5 billion at today’s price), and will make annual donations of smaller numbers of shares. Buffett will also give billions to foundations run by his children, and to the foundation created by his late wife, Susan Thompson Buffett. [slate]

I want to believe that people around the world who seem to have more money than they know what to do with might take some inspiration from this. Instead of hoarding it, building huge mansions, buying islands, or tucking cash away for trust fund babies, we might stand a chance at dealing with world issues. Famine, disease, debt, cleaner energy. It’s not wrong to enjoy the fruit of your labor, but why not try to do the world some good, even when you’re long gone?

Let’s just hope that Buffett’s fortune actually transfers without too much headache.

He and the Gateses sat down for an interview Monday with Buffett’s close friend, PBS talk show host Charlie Rose.

And Rose says the most excitement came when the session ended.

“We were all walking down. I was gonna say goodbye to them at the sidewalk,” he told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm Monday. “And Warren turns to me and says, ‘I forget the documents!’ I said, ‘Where are they?’ And he said, ‘I left them in the studio.’ So, I ran back to the studio and brought back the documents and Bill said, ‘Check and make sure I (Rose) didn’t change the beneficiary!’ [cbsnews]

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What’s more Vancouver than Douglas Coupland?

Douglas Coupland signed a book for meIn a last minute dash of cool, free things that Rebecca seems to win a lot lately, the streak continued when she was selected for a CBC Radio One live taping of North By Northwest yesterday morning. The entry went in on Friday, we got the word on Monday morning, and the event was that night at 6:30 PM at VCC.

Douglas Coupland was the guest last night, and it was an excellent event. Rebecca’s been a fan of him for most of her life[her post], and “City Of Glass” was one of the first things I read when I got out here. I have more of his stuff that I want to read, but sitting down to read a book has always been a challange for me. Regardless, his works is a great way to familiarize yourself with Canadian culture, more so the ins and outs of what makes up Vancouver.

Coupland was not what I expected, but I like him even more than before. He’s scattered, smart, random, geeky, educated, and entertaining. This is just my impression of him as a person during the recording. I have yet to really say anything solid about his writing.

Douglas CouplandStill, I’ve come into contact with many authors during my days in college and public radio. Among all of those experiences, this guy ranks up there with some of the best. And by best, I mean some one who is cool. That goes a long way with me.

When I gave him “City Of Glass” to sign, he asked if we were from out of town. Of course we’re not, but I told him that, yes, I am from Iowa and this was one of the first things I read while living here. That kind of peaked his curiosity, and he asked what brought me here. While I told him that it was because I married the girl standing next to me who has lived here all her life, he signed my book, “To John from Iowa, Douglas Coupland.” Pretty neat. 

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The Canucks world continues to turn

We are through one season of the “new NHL,” and adjustments to the way the league is structured has nearly every team scrambling to rethink how to tackle next season. Perhaps I’m wrong, but this rings true for the Canucks.

Bertuzzi is gone to Florida along with Auld and Allen, but Jovanovski appears anxious to join the trio there.

Ed Jovanovski is in Florida, waiting to see how many free agent offers come pouring in when he becomes an unrestricted free agent on Saturday.

According to the Palm Beach Post, the all-star defenceman would love to stay in the Sunshine State. The signs are certainly good for the Florida Panthers, who are expected to bid on his services. [tsn]

The NHL raised the salary cap to $44 million per team for the coming season, so Florida could comfortably bring Jovo on board. This adds to the holes that are opening up for Vancouver’s bench. Nonis has said that he’s not done making his changes to the team, and I expect to see a different look to the Canucks come this fall.

I also caught an interview with Bertuzzi on Sportsnet today about his trade, and, you guessed it, it popped up on YouTube. You always kind of knew that the Moore fallout was weighing on him during last season, and he finally admits it.

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You can pick your friends and do it poorly

I am all for social networking. That is the buzz phrase right now. Using technology to reach out and make connections with new people. The only problem comes from the fact that we have millions out there doing this via a terminal of some sort, but everyone is connecting to each other while still stuck in front of a computer screen.

It’s great to see folks actually getting out to meet each other, but you still have to keep your wits about you.

A Jacksonville man says he was duped and robbed by two girls after attempting to meet with a woman he met on the internet.

The victim says he chatted online with a woman, known on her MySpace.com profile as “Natalia”, for two weeks before deciding to meet with her. He says her profile showed sexy photos, and a blurb which said “just lookin’ for something fun”. That brief, friendly description was all he knew about her before they planned to meet. [woai]

This is the internet, but real life rules still apply. Don’t take candy from strangers, and if it looks too good to be real, it probably is.

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Ride the prairie with Lance

This almost makes me jealous. I’ve always wanted to do this.

Lance Armstrong, winner of the Tour de France the last seven consecutive years, is passing up Paris this summer to ride RAGBRAI.

Barry Jackson of the Lance Armstrong Foundation confirmed Tuesday that Armstrong hopes to ride at least one day of the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. [desmoinesregister]

It’s like one, big rolling party. The last time the ride stopped through my home town, I was running the beer ticket stand with some friends. I’m not sure I could handle a night of drinking followed by a 45+ mile ride the day after to get to the next town, not to mention the heat and humidty if the weather decides to be nasty. For some people, that’s the best part of the ride.

Still, it’d be pretty neat to say that you rode RAGBRAI[wiki] the year Lance Armstrong[wiki] came out.

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Been seeing a lot of Iowa around Vancouver lately

Slurpees at 7-11Did you know that American Gothic[wiki] is one of the most replicated paintings in pop culture, if not ever? You’ve more than likely seen the painting before. The dude on the farm with the pitchfork and his wife. Yeah, it’s that one. The wife looks less than impressed, and the guy seems a bit perturbed.

Grant Wood[wiki] is the man behind the painting. So often, these two facts escape the memory banks, but people know the painting when they see it. Well, at least those that stand to be familiar with American art, but it’s popularity world wide is constantly amazing.

I was born and raised in Grant Wood country. In grade school, we would spend weeks learning and celebrating who he was. There still is the Grant Wood Art Festival that goes on every year in Stone City, Iowa, which happens to be the the town that Grant Wood named my most favorite painting of his after. In fact, the 34th annual event just passed this month. It’s nothing huge, but the festival is worth the summer day and hospitality.

Now that I’m in Vancouver, my eyes catch these “signs of Iowa” more. When I walked into 7-11 the other day, it struck me to see this image above the slurpee spouts. Yet another parody of this less than a hundred year old artwork, and this time it’s to aid in the attraction of flavored, crushed ice drinks. For me, this completely envokes the summer time vibe to buy into the effect that it’s intending, not that I really need the added help.

Stone City - Grant WoodCombine this with the passing of some dude that I freaked out just the other day who was wearing the Tigerhawk[wiki] on his baseball cap. We were on the way to the NHL draft at GM Place when we passed him in the crosswalk on Burrard Street. I gave him a “Go Hawks!” with a fist pump, the universal thing that any good Iowan would do when we spot our own. He was caught off guard and just kind of looked back at me as we walked on. I’ve lived here for nearly eight months, waiting for that moment to come.

Anyhow, I have to say, Grant Wood truly is one of my more favorite artists, even though many critics of his time, and even today, don’t regard his works with much enthusiasm. I can’t say much more artsy fartsy things about him than that. I like his work, and his works help reflect the beauty of where I grew up.

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It is what you want it to be

I came across this blog post via Podcasting News:

I’ve been following some podcasts on and off for the past six months or so, and have begun to question whether it’s an efficient use of my time. The content of the shows I listen to are generally very high. […]

But, it begins to seem to me that this is an inefficient means of receiving information. In the time I can listen to an average podcast, I could have caught up on my 50 favorite blogs, or read a chapter in a book, or read the latest issue of Red Herring magazine. I do read super fast. It’s a habit I learned as a grad student. You learn to read fast in grad school, or you get crap for grades. Podcasts deliver information slowly. [petertdavis]

This raises a good question. There’s a large part of me that understands and agrees with what he is saying, but this is an age old argument being rehashed over a “new” medium.

For instance, why watch TV news when you can get in depth new coverage from a newspaper? TV is more timely while you have to wait for tomorrow’s edition to be printed. Well, why read a newspaper when you have the web? The news is timely and published by the same people pumping out info that shows up on the pages of your favorite newspaper. This argument has gone on for nearly a hundred years in various forms.

It’s all about preference. If you want timely info, then maybe podcasting isn’t for you. I doubt that there are people out there that love the news so much that they set their DVR to record the news every night so they can get dated information later. Radio can cover those gaps if need be, right?

By the way, radio broadcasting turns 100 years old this year.

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Time well spent at the 2006 NHL draft

NHL 2006 Draft - behind the benchWe had a pretty jam packed weekend go by, so I’m just getting around to my thoughts on the 2006 NHL Draft that took place in Vancouver on Saturday. In a sense, I think we were milking the very last ounce of hockey goodness before summer takes full effect. Regardless, for $5, this event was well worth the time and very little money it took to get in. The frosty beverages were still outrageously over priced.

Granted that I could have really used my binoculars to see him, but I saw Gretzky[wiki]. He came on stage to announce their pick in the first round, and that’s when it hit me. All the way up in the second level of GM Place, I realized that all these guys walking around in suits were not just the business of hockey, but very important people in the history of the game.

NHL 2006 Draft - Scottie!Gary Bettman[wiki] is a real human being, not just some CGI character that the NHL brings on the TV from time to time. The same goes for Wayne Gretzky. He’s real, too, albeit from a distance. And Ovechkin[wiki] is really from Russia because his accent made it really difficult to understand the name he announced when the Capitols sent him up on stage to do the honors. Without all his hockey gear on, he seemed just like a happy go lucky kid, just bouncing around from corner to corner of floor. The trophies the players get are very, very real, and are some of the most impressive pieces of hockey history that I have come into contact with yet.

After the Canucks made their pick in the first round, over half of the place cleared out. It made sense being that the next pick for the local favorites wouldn’t be coming again until the third round. We made our way towards some seats closer to the floor until we were directly behind one of the benches. We were just off to the side from the families of these young players that were being swept off to their dreams.

NHL 2006 Draft - On the way there; the Bertuzzi era is overIt was really exciting to hear when players were being traded along with swapping draft picks. People were screaming for some teams to pick this guy, trade some one from this team to that team, etc. It made the announcements of teams swapping fourth round picks for sixth round picks seem boring.

I did quite a bit of recording for the podcast, so I don’t want to get into too much detail. There’s a lot more that speaks for itself there that documents the experience. Rebecca already made her post and you can check out some pics on my Flickr as well as hers. Might be some duplicates, but oh well, that happens.

Overall, it was a really good time. There were high points and long points. By the end of the night, the die hards were all that were left. I don’t know if that includes us, but we stuck it out till the very end.