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Lower mainland adventures with my parents

To explain a long story as to why I’ve been a tad MIA in the past week or so, here is my attempt at a photo blog post sort of thing, thanks to my cellphone camera(our digital camera is experiencing battery issues). My parents have been in town for the last week and a half, so we’ve been doing out best to be good hosts and show them how beautiful the lower mainland is. This is a far cry from Iowa, and I think they have really come to love the beauty of B.C.

White Rock walk

Walking along the water in White Rock, B.C.

Dad digs the gelato

Introducing my dad to green tea gelato. Who knew that is could taste so good?

Brockton Point - Stanley Park

Last time they were here, we were only able to drive through the park. This time, we stopped and did a fair share of walking.

My parents on the dock

Road trip to Osoyoos, B.C.

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Vineyards of the Okanagan. We did our fair share of enjoying the fruits of the labor.

And finally, this could potentially bore the pants off you, but I did all the driving this weekend. It was my first time driving through the mountains to that extent, so a huge adventure for me. The trek is not overly stressful when you kinda of know what to expect. Still, there are two words that I keep visualizing in the back of my head: “brake failure”.

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The Crazy Canucks on CTV!

Ha! I just saw myself on CTV, and the package on The Crazy Canucks wasn’t that bad. The only thing is that they said that we meet up every game day, and that’s not true. It’s once a week. Other that, pretty cool stuff. If someone recorded that, let us know. We’re hoping to get a copy of it on DVD. Ha!

Update: God bless the internet. Someone put this on YouTube. Thank you, whoever you are.

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Response from students who opposed a U.K. rock show

Awhile back, I made a post about how I couldn’t believe that students at a small college in the U.K. protested against a rock show by the band Clinic so they could focus on their studies instead. You can read my post and get more background information here.

The beauty of the internet is that someone who was actually there found my post and left a comment on it, four months after the whole ordeal. Additionally, “Sue” was one of those students who opposed the show and gave her account of what happened and why. I find this incredibly fascinating that I’m posting her comment here to make an update to my previous post in this topic.

This is such an old story if feels odd posting a comment, but I only came across all the internet ranting on the issue today. I was one of the students that protested about the gig, to be honest we were told it had moved venue and thought nothing more of the matter. However now I feel that I should set the record straight(although probably no-one will even read this).

The gig that was to “last a couple of hours” demanded that we destroy our sculptures in order to move out of the performance space; our studios. We were given one weeks notice. A couple of weeks after the scheduled gig we had a very important assessment that lead directly into our degree show. After three years of studying our result is determined by the degree show. This assesment was CRUCIAL. However we were told to remove everything from the studio(which demanded destroying many of the works). We would have less than 1 week to build new work before our 3 year degree began to be assessed on the basis on what was being presented.

Also in response to the endless record company lies, It wasn’t the first gig to be played there since the sex pistol. A year prior to the clinic scheduled gig a big promotional gig with the paddingtons had happened to mark the 30th anniversary of the sex pistol’s first gig. Central Saint Martins has used this fact to establish itself as a venue to whore band, making false connection with rock’s history, to create artifical connections between the music industry and art students, when infact its just the old money making men pushing promotional bullshit. It was a disguting act of record label PR/branding. Yuk!!!

And finally, not to be rude but St Martins is not a “small” school, it is internationally reknowned for its on going contribution to our creative environment. Its just a shame that the reality of this reputation (you see really the sex pistols played for 5 minutes before college heads unplugged them and chucked them out)is perpetuated by vulgar marketing, where the dean ignores his students in order to contrive PR stunts with money hungry record companies.

Thanks for the clarification, and I certainly stand corrected on the details. I am very much against having anything destroyed when it comes to art, so you officially have my support, Sue. This shows a real beauty in the reach that blogging has, and your comment certainly reached me.

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Fun with video, podcasting, and Canucks hockey

In the midst of the craziness that has been this past week, I’m doing my best to surface here and there to make some updates. This piece of news involves one of my fellow Crazy Canucks hosts, Dave Olsen. He is taking his podcasting endeavors to new heights with a live video cast.

For the first ever live, streaming video episode of the Canucks Outsider on Saturday. April 21st at 5PM PST. The show will be delivered via UStream.tv and feature live chat, guests, hi-jinks and libations. Stay tuned for details and save the date/time. [canucksoutsider]

The brains behind this experiment is Roland Tanglao, and he has already tried a variety of vidcasts on his own via this same method. I do believe that if you miss the live part, the video will be archived so you can view it or download it later. Fun stuff, indeed.

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The Crazy Canucks #30 – Library Square Pub with CTV

Hello, world. I have not forgotten about you, but there are so many things going on that I can barely wrap my head around them all. Alas, I did get an episode of The Crazy Canucks out today. Watch CTV tomorrow, between 5pm and 7pm, to catch the story behind the story on this episode. Actually, the podcast gives you a better story, but whatever.

CTV in Vancouver contacted TCC about doing a “light feature” about our podcast, especially since this whole city is Canucks crazed with the first round of the playoffs going on. They started out with doing some shots with John “in the studio” and then followed us to a gathering of sorts at Library Square Pub, near GM Place.

Playoff record as of this recording:
Vancouver 1
Dallas 1

The package has not aired yet, and we’ll post a link to it if we can. Otherwise, enjoy the mayhem that is The Crazy Canucks. We break down the four OT win in game one, look at the injuries that resulted, who has come up, and get into a little listener feedback. Raw audio from CTV’s interview with Alanah is also included. Even though she couldn’t be apart of the fun at the pub, she (hopefully) still made it into the TV news. And if you found us from the CTV story, welcome!

36:48 minutes
The Crazy Canucks

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Side stitches while running

Ok, I’ll admit it. I listen to a fitness podcast. Does that really surprise you though? I like to be somewhat healthy, mainly for combating my Gilbert’s Syndrome[wiki]. It also helps that running bug that I have. (Although, with my parents coming to town this weekend, I won’t be doing the Sun Run this year, not that there aren’t a billion other running events that I can do this summer in Vancouver.)

Listening to the Fitness Attack the other day, this episode caught my attention because any runner can relate to the topic of those cramps you get in your side. I always called them “side cramps”, but the term “side stitch” is a newer one to me. I like that one better, so from now on, that’s what I’ll call them.

You can listen to the 60 second episode yourself, but I transcribed the tip below for my own purpose. If you are a regular runner or person who exercises, you might be able to use this or even expand upon the topic.

One common and annoying problem that can develop during exercise is a sharp, stabbing cramp you might feel just under the lower edge of your rib cage, known as a side stitch. One way to over come this is to perform deep, belly breathing by maintaining a strong, core muscular system. You can minimize the appearance of this exercise related, transient related abdominal pain, and leave the stitches to the tailors and the surgeons. [fitnessattack]

I don’t get them a lot, but my mental mantra while running is that I don’t stop to walk unless I feel pain or the urge to throw up. Gross, I know, but you can’t simply stop when tired if you’re a more seasoned runner. When I get tired, then I’ll slow up my pace to a slow trot, but the point is to keep moving. It’s usually that first 20-30 minutes that is always the hardest, and if a side stitch pops up on me, then it’s around that time, maybe once every three weeks.

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Gonna wash that horse right out of my hair

Mane n' Tail

I know that it’s good for the health of your hair or something, but this is oddly amusing. When shopping for groceries, it’s good to know that you can also find shampoo for your horse, especially around downtown Vancouver. Making a mental note on that one.

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The inside scoop on Cowan and the bra

I made a post over the long weekend about how we released another episode of The Crazy Canucks. What I didn’t take the effort of mentioning was an added bonus we had in that episode.

Canucks fans will be used to the whole hoopla of the bra incident and everything that has resulted from the night that Jeff Cowan scored his fifth goal of the season in three straight games. For those of you unaware, a bra was thrown on the ice in midst of the jubilation at GM Place.

In the latest release of The Crazy Canucks, we got the story from an event host who witnessed the throwing of the bra. She gave us her story and adds a lot of insight to the phenomenon that resulted in “Cowan the Brabarian”. Go check it out. We got permission from the Canucks organization to record from inside GM Place during the open practice on March 24, 2007.

In case you need some more back story or a refresher, check out the YouTube video below. And when you watch that, check out this one to see what I mean about hoopla, at least one week after the fact.

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The costs of cellphones in Canada

This is a topic of conversations a lot, and just last night I was saying how I missed being on Verizon back in the states. Sure, it’s a CDMA[wiki] network, but living in Iowa, GSM[wiki] isn’t your best option unless you never travel outside of major population centers or venture away from the interstate highways that crisscross the state.

For me, it was that last point that made Verizon a good deal. The coverage reached where I needed it to, the cost of the package deals were friendly to my income, and the data plans of their “In” network were pretty sweet. There was never hesitation to chat for a long time with friends who were also on Verizon, plus I could send photos to the same people at no charge. They also had a super nice online presence that I could track my account on, all the way down to the last call I received being updated on their website within minutes.

Plans like that simply do not exist here, at least where all of this is included for just $60 a month. In fact, it still boggles my mind that you have to play extra for caller I.D. or voice mail. In fact, I think it’s rare to find the two packaged together. And data plans? It gets worse. Text messaging is just the start.

Below is a chart that Boris made regarding the cost of moving 1 GB of data through the various competitors in the country. This includes things like sending pictures, videos, emails, files, and and anything else you can zip through your wireless phone. Granted that all the data is valid, and I have a lot of faith in Boris that it is, the results are eye opening.

Canadian Mobile Data Rate Costs (1GB)
Photo credit: Boris on Flickr

I hate playing the grumpy American role, but the costs for using a cellphone in Canada should hardly be this expensive. I’ve heard someone tell me before that some of the highest costs in the world of owning and operating a cellphone exists in this country, and this certainly rings true now. I thought I was just being picky.

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He looks like a deranged Easter Bunny

Easter Bush

On a very serious note, it was really sad to hear that director Bob Clark passed away last week. He was killed in a car accident, along with his son, by a drunk driver while driving around L.A. Clark was the man behind a constant staple of quotes in my daily vocabulary, not to mention the mandatory watching of A Christmas Story[imdb] every year… at least twenty times… in one day.

Not to be a complete downer, I do hope that your Easter was a good one and you enjoy the Easter Bush. In a week, my parents will be visiting Vancouver for a little while, so our long weekend will be spent preparing for their arrival, not to mention figuring out where to explore while they are here, not to mention being just in time to experience playoff madness as the Canucks take on the Dallas Stars in round one. Woo! Should be a blast.

Note: The Easter Bush is a personal creation. We took Rebecca’s official, A Christmas Story Ralphie (action) figure and removed the pink bunny outfit that comes with it. We then applied that to a George Bush figurine that my parents gave me, comically, for my birthday one year. Thus, the Easter Bush has been born.