Category: Canada

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First Farmer Tan of the Year

Walking over the Granville Street Bridge in the hot, hot sun.I had to run an errand over in Kits last week, so Rebecca gave me a scenic route to take to get there. I’m always up for a good walk, so the trek seemed like a good time to me. I ventured over the Granville Street Bridge[wiki] and went all around to the Cambie Street Bridge[wiki] in time to meet Rebecca after work.

It was quite the hike. I cannot forget to mention that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and temps broke 65F in the downtown area. Combine all of that with my mexican blood and you get a nice farmer tan starting to show on the upper areas above my biceps.

I snapped some pics along the way that you can check out on my flickr. It was a gorgeous day in the city.

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Tracking the Price At the Pump

I found this interesting website from CNet News that tracks the price of gas across the U.S. and Canada. GasBuddy.com has a tracker that is color coded by county for the states, but I can’t find anything similar for Canada. At the same time, I’m not too sure of how often this is updated, but it seems to have valid information.

As of right now, California and New York seem to be getting slammed the most with prices going around $3.30+ per gallon, the rest of the U.S. not fairing too much less. And the U.S. congress wants to give everyone in the nation a $100 rebate for gas? At this rate, $1000 would be a better amount for everyone. I say save the money and put it into energy alternatives.

Hey, the oil companies seem to be loving this.

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NewMusicWest 2006

I would love to be attending NewMusicWest this year. In fact, if you are reading this and could hook me and Rebecca up at the last minute, contact me! I’d love to run around the whole weekend with my minidisc and mic to capture some stuff for the podcast.

NewMusicWest offers emerging artists and bands a chance to showcase their talents to industry professionals from across North America and around the world. Once a year, Vancouver is invaded by large numbers of managers, publicists, label reps, A&R, and media. In 2004 alone, over 40 A&R attended, including representation from Sony, Universal, EMI, and many more. With 5 nights, 25 venues and over 200 bands, NewMusicWest is Western Canada’s largest and most successful music festival.

Basically this is like a CMJ or SXSW, and I would love to have total access to everything. So many bands performing around the city, and it all kicks off tomorrow.

Raine Maida from OLP will be the artist keynote speaker for the event. Being the OLP fan that I am(which was much more back in high school than I am today), I would be interested in hearing what he has to say about the industry. The guy remains about the same, but I hear the ego has changed.

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“We Always Wanted to Become Canadian”

Mates of StateAfter having the South show cancel out on us for last Thursday, the Mates of State show at the Plaza Club was an outstanding way to fill the void. One wouldn’t think that a little bopper club like that would be a good venue, but it turned out really well.

It seems like Kori and Jason are getting better and better with every album that they are producing. They’re name is getting to be a little more well known, so many people at the show on Friday knew the words to their songs, and the press is starting to catch on to their sound.

Dare I say it, but they are cute on stage. For those who don’t know, they are married. They took off from the midwest to make their way to the west coast of the U.S. During the show, Jason was saying how they always wanted to become Canadian, but they married each other. Looking over at Kori, “Looks like we married the wrong people.”

Their set on Friday was a little short, but some minor technical issues at the start of the performance might have had something to do with that. “Goods” was their second song with other cuts like “A Control Group,” “A Duel Will Settle This,” and “As Night As Now.” At least I think so. I should have payed more attention to the set list. Plus I’m not overly familiar with the latest album, and they played a lot of cuts off that one.

In the encore, Kori played the keys while Jason stood away from the drums to sing “These Days.” It’s that one song from The Royal Tenenbaums[imdb]. You know, the one that Nico recorded on the soundtrack, but Jackson Browne originally wrote. That was a pretty awesome highlight of the night.

I have yet to be let down by Mates of State. If you get a chance to check out their stuff and like it, go see them live. You won’t be disappointed. Don’t expect stage theatrics. They’re just really incredible to see perform.

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Sun Run 2006

Sun Run NumberWhat an incredible experience. The weather was great, the mass of runners were crazy, and I had a lot of fun. I walked with Rebecca to work this morning so we could pick up today’s edition of the Vancouver Sun to check out my time.

58 minutes and 26 seconds. I’m pretty happy with that. This was my first time ever running in an event like this. It seems to be pretty on par with the pace that I’m used to doing during my regular running routes. Of course, I took today off from my normal routine.

The one major complaint I have about the whole event was the waiting. The word was that access to the areas where you would be starting were going to be closed at 8:30AM, so Rebecca and I got in place around 8:20AM. I knew about the wave starts, but our group didn’t cross the start line until 9:44AM, or at least that was what my iPod told me.

I hate waiting in general, but it was the standing on the pavement that got to me. I could feel my knees getting sore and the lower portion of my back get a little stiff. It felt good to just start moving when we did start, but I didn’t feel really loose until I was around 3km in.

The route took us into the west end, through a slice of Stanley Park, up to the Barrard Street Bridge, into Kits and False Creek, and the home stretch taking us over the Cambie Street Bridge for a finish at BC Place. I parsed through the KatKam archives last night for the off chance that I could spot myself crossing the bridge. I found four pics that could be me. The one at 10:20AM seems most likely, but it’s hard to know. The clock on the KatKam could be off, and I was one of 50,000+ people.

KatKam - April 23, 2006: 9:45AMKatKam - April 23, 2006: 10:16AM
KatKam - April 23, 2006: 10:20AMKatKam - April 23, 2006: 10:40AM

The oranges and bananas they had at BC Place afterwards was awesome. With spring here and summer approaching, I think we’ll be making a better effort to stock up on fruit.

I wanna do more races like this. There seem to be a lot coming up this summer in Vancouver. We’re going through and picking some out. I might even be really brave and try a half-marathon. We’ll see.

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What Is It About TimHo Coffee?

I’m on a mission to figure something out.  What makes Tim Horton’s coffee so good?  Sure, it’s all a matter of personal preference, but I’ve found that it’s some of the better coffee that you can get compared to the other, bigger chain alternatives.

Is it the beans?  The way they brew it?  Something they put in it?  I don’t add anything to the coffee I drink, so I know it’s not about the cream or sugar either.

I’m looking to experiment in the near future.  I’ll bring some of their coffee home and brew it a couple different ways.  First I’ll try the straight up coffee pot.  The other thing I’ll try is via french press as well.  I have to find out if it’s something they do or just the coffee being good coffee.

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Running Vancouver With the Masses

Tomorrow will be my first running event of any kind.  The 10k Sun Run will go around Vancouver, and I’ll be in the group of 50,000+ making the trek.  The worst part of it is what we learned at the doctor’s office today; Rebecca has laryngitis.  She’s still going to get out there and walk it the best that she can, but I’ll be lonely without her.

I got a playlist put together on my iPod to keep me company in the meantime.  I’m excited and nervous.  It’ll be a lot of fun, but I’m unsure about what to expect.  We picked up our numbers and scoped out a place to meet up at BC Place today.

Wish us luck!

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Cut And Cover?

There is an interesting post about the Canada Line on Beyond Robson that feeds my hunger in terms of more information about the project. As with anything that is constructed in this magnitude, politics is always the story.

There is no doubt that additional SkyTrain service is going to be beneficial to the Vancouver area. I think we all agree that mass transit is a great benefit to any, major metropolitan city and its surrounding communities. What’s hard for everyone to agree upon is how it’s done, who will be responsible for it, and where the money will come from.

It is incredibly interesting that for a long time, the building of the underground portions of the Canada Line was going to be done by bored tunnel. Unless you were paying attention, the project has switched to a cut-and-cover operation, shutting down portions of Granville for approximately two years, starting at the end of April.

And you think that area was struggling for business before?

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Life Back In the Rolling Prairie

Got an IM from my brother tonight while watching the game.

Major storm damage in the Iowa City area. Anamosa got hit bad, as well, where they have called out the Red Cross… someone must have lost their home.

Iowa City Menards had a roof collapse. University Heights homes damaged. I’m sure more stories will come out by tomorrow morning.

Probably about four confirmed tornados since about 7:30ish.

It’s spring time in the midwest. A far cry from the constant rain that we’ve had in Vancouver all day long.

To tell you the truth, it’s kind of a rush. Big, rolling storms in the Iowa countryside. I kinda miss it.

Update: The Iowa City Press Citizen has a story about the big storm. Also check out their site for photos. You can also check out the Cedar Rapids Gazette Online for their coverage.

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Ogopogo

Sign for sighting Ogopogo at the Gray Monk WineryIt’s no secret to people who know me that I have an affinity for the supernatural. There is this magical, magnetic draw that will suck me in things that seem so rediculous to some people that there is part of me that thinks there might be truth in the story somewhere.

Ogopogo is just that. This is a legend that has just recently come to my attention, and I find it to be fairly fascinating. A mythical creature that lives on the bottom of a lake. Dragon or serpent like, the legend has been around for hundreds of years. Now I will admit that I still don’t grasp the reality that I am living in Sasquatch country and the legacy of that myth, but that’s another topic for later.

I had heard Rebecca’s mom mention the name before we left, but I wasn’t sure what they were talking about until we set out on our wine adventure. That’s when I started getting more and more curious. Continue reading “Ogopogo”