FED/EX...FUCK YOU!

i'm gonna try and make this story as short as i can.
i ordered a new laptop from apple the other day. it was being sent out via FED/EX and was due to arrive today at noon. i was working today and was close enough that i was able to come home at 2 pm to check and see if they had been by and had left a note telling me how to arrange a new delivery time. nope, nothing.
i went upstairs and checked my fed/ex tracking number. it said that the computer had been delivered. at noon, like they said it would be, problem was, and is, the person who signed for the computer, wasn't me. it was and is some other guy...or gal. and now they have a great new computer. for free.

thanks fed/ex. you fucking idiots. why would they let someone whose name was completely different from mine sign for my stuff?

more phone calls tomorrow to try and figure this one out.

the good times just keep on comin'.

g. xo

bike flowers and new deck flowers...

camille gets excited.



it was a day of running errands and trying to get shit done. here's what went down...kinda...i went and looked at a new lawn in north van, picked-up some cash for a lawn cut while over there, went by jj bean and saw the kids there - who i have not seen in a long while and it was good to se them (kim was nice enough to give me her weekly pound of coffee they get there as part of working there....thanks!), then it was off to see pam and tobe and show them the new electric bike the voltage kids gavce me to give to penelope. it's actually charging up there right now, i'll check on it tomorrow or later tonight - pretty cool. picked-up some bedding plants at the home depot, of all places, for my deck, saw the garbs, mishi and network on the island, dropped off some pictures at ABC photo to have them developed - what else duh, dropped by zulu to see erin and see if she wanted to be part of the t-shirt show corie is doing at snap gallery....went to the bank, bought a new french press style coffee maker to use with the coffee kim gave me, came home and waited for camille to come over and help plant the new goods on the deck...no-show to this point...that's ok, i got it all done. i think it looks ok...every year i put in too many plants and they get very crowded so this time out i spaced them out and am hoping they'll all grow together better than previous years - although they still looked great the other years...just busy.
ok..i need a snack...

g. xo


camille's bike and fancy flowered basket.



the deck before and after the new goods. i need a few more but for now away we go.

your art fix for wed.

i really like blaine fontana's work...well, not all of it but i like these....

holy crap bill

i kinda missed this when it was first shown on this site but...wow. pretty fuckin' cool.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html

garn

six lawns, 2 litres of lemonaide and a whole lot of sweat

today after i cut lisa's lawn (pardon?), i headed over to capers to get one of their 'power muffins'...pretty good. i also noticed that thay had santa cruz organic lemonaide on sale, 2 for 3 bux...that's a good deal my friends. so i bought two - they're a litre each. by the end of the third lawn - laurie's, i had finished the first bottle...and then it was off to do jessica's and then to voltage to meet corie and re-introduce him to the voltage kids. he's having a t-shirt show whereby artists design shirts, then have them printed in a small run and then the shirts get displayed at a gallery in july and they're sold..... it's a cool idea and i have - with the help of don bull done one as has the garbs. others need to get their collective butts in gear and get theirs done...DON BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!....ok. there. it'll be a cool thing. if you know any artists who'd like to be a part of this thing contact me and then i'll forward it on to corie. corie has a PDF with all the details...maybe Lena, maybe byron, maybe kirsten, maybe devon, maybe stanley....ok.
after voltage it was off to do a couple more lawns, including a new one that was gonna be a one-ff. a guy had sold his place and wanted the lawn to look good for the new owner....nice guy....i made it look pretty fuckin' good i must say..really nice house..the second lemonaide was almost all done by this point as welll....as was i.
today i decided that i also had to go and have a burger at Wally's burgers on kingsway. i have eaten there before but never an actual meat burger. one day it'll be gone and i would never have had a burger from there...i had the chuckwagon deluxe - or sumptin'...strange place that wally's....but i have now had a real beef burger there...do i need another one? nope. and for some reason they no longer sell milkshakes there....what the .....?

ok...the good times keep on coming and i have to go out now and picjk-up penelope's new electric bike ....

g. xo

frisbee, sliding fridge doors and grass

it was a big one today. i went to the shop and did a little lawnmower maintainance and had little chat with al....love that guy. we spoke of lawn cutting and favors and barter and how some people seem to get it, while others, don't get it at all. oh well.
the other night at topanga andrew asked me of i would, or could, fix the cooler door as the rivets had come out and it was all fucked. it looked simple enough and i could use a free meal so...why not. well, today i went there and after a whole lot of swearing, cut fingers and incredibly dirty fingers i got it done. old parts broke, screws were bent and nuts failed to thread in any real fashion. in the end, the door slides once again and i had a nice little taco snack.
penelope had called while i was in mid freakout at topanga so i called her back to see what was up. she wnated to go play some frisbee - something i had not done for a long while. in high school i played a lot of frisbee golf at windskil park not far from the high school. ok, stop laughing. so we met at a park on dunbar not far from her place and whipped the disc around for a while....it was fun...i liked it.




i decided after that, that i would just head to richmond and cut the dog lawn. when i got there dr. yvonne was just leaving on her bike. we had a nice conversation for the first time - not that she hasn't always been great to me because she has, it was just tonight she wasn't working and could stop and actually talk. she and her husband live not far from the vet. office. i'd have to say that she comes across as a pretty hip vet - good hair, rides a bike to work, fixes dogs and cats...after she left i got going on the lawn and when i was about 1/2 done an SUV came into the driveway and stopped near me. the guy in the car rolled down the window and introduced himself as dr. yvonne's husband, rob. after a few minutes we were chatting about the lawn, living in kits, food, que pasa, etc...he seems like a good guy...maybe they're the coolest couple ever...lol....maybe if i play my cards right they'll invite me over for a bbq before the summer is over....i like griiled chicken.

more lawns tomorrow....

g. xo

dear dodson...

the dodson hotel is on hastings street right at carrall street. it is home to those a little less fortunate than myself. but tonight i have to write them a little letter.

dear dodson,
i have over the years come to know you quite well. your hotel rooms doubling as shooting galleries for heroin junkies and chippers. home to the unwashed , the lowdown, the scummy and the downright smelly. your bar plays host to a scene even mickey rourke would find unappealing. the needles in your back alley, the junkies using your bathroom as their own because they have none. so it's not that unusual for me to see things others would be horrified or even frightened by but can you please try and keep your tenants from throwing so much fuckin' trash on the rooftop of the building next to you? can you? every month it gets worse and worse and no one comes to clean it up. is this something you tell the tenants to do if they don't like the things they have in their rooms? and to not bother to take their garbage down to the trash room or garbage area - just throw the fuckin' stuff out on the roof - no problem.
come on you blithering hayseeds. get your collective act together. you're making the downtown eastside look bad. next people will be shooting heroin in the alleys and bars and giving blowjobs for 2 bucks or a smoke. can you imagine?

thanks

garn
xo

the good times just keep on coming....out the window.

tony takes the weekend off, marcy hangs out and mishi brings candy

lazy sunday.

i got up this morning and decided i'd hang around and do domestic shit and then watch the final of the memorial cup with the giants playing the tigers. it was all going great and then simon called - which i had told him to do, but i had forgotten, so, in the middle of the game i had to go and meet-up with simon to show him the BOC shop. he and some pals, one of which is ex-Grapes of Wrath drummer chris hooper, are making a short film and need a location somewhat like the BOC shop...i'm not sure if they're gonna use it or not but...we'll see.
afterwards i came home, watched the end of the game and then headed out to go and meet up with marcy and help her run a few errands...and hang out, drink a few beverages and tell a few stories...penelope ended-up calling and was in the area and came and met us at jj bean on commercial. nice.
sunday is sopranos night and mishi called and i told her to meet me at the house and we'd see what tony was up to this week....well, he's having a little time out....i guess because of the US Memorial day weekend they decided not enough people would be home to watch tony flip out so..next wek it is. it wasn't a total tv loss though. i had recorded an episode of Flip This House tht was so insane - a house that was literally rotten and shitty and filled with rats and cats....so we watched that and i think mishi was a little horrified by it...i ate bbq while mishi viewed the carnage. good times.
more lawns tomorrow....

have fun.

g. xo

i took a few pics of beautiful vancouver on the way home.

more lawns, more topanga, more shitola

one of my lawn order clients had to cut back my visits because they wanted to save a little cash, which is cool. they said they were gonna cut it twice a month and i'd cut it twice a month, so every other week it's my gig. so imagine my surprise today when i got there and it hadn't been cut since i was last there - shocker. they're great people and i'm sure they just were too busy or....but, it was long...hopefully they'll cut it before i get there in two weeks time...i don't like the long lawn...neither does my mower.
went to topanga with mishi tonight and saw that des is now sporting lemmy-style facial hair so a picture had to be taken...after dinner it was off to london drugs to pick-up some photos i was having done there. as we were leaving and mishi was paying for some crap she was buying, i looked over at another cashier who looked like she was super bored. i told her not to worry that it would all be over soon enough. she mouthed to me, "it sucks here...."...i laughed and gave her a hug....she deserved it...

ok...

that's that.

g. xo

i stole this coffee cup from topanga tonight. i like it a lot. whenever i drink coffee there it reminds me of drinking coffee at truck stops around the states. it's sort of a classic cup.

granny cool....go ella!

that's a bob mould/sugar reference....never mind.

ella turned 99 a couple of weeks ago and the local paper had a picture of her.



go ella!

g. xo

beat like a rented mule...

yesterday was a killer i have to say. i had received and e.mail from a guy in east van about his lawn and i went over and a little look and then e.mailed him a quote. it was expensive due to the fact i had to cut it twice to get it down to a reasonable length, etc. he was cool with that so yesterday away i went. it took a long time so i definately earned my money on that one - and he seemed very happy. note: i think he had been living as a bachelor for a few weeks, maybe more, and now his wife was coming home so it was time to make it all look as if he had been cutting the grass etc....not sitting around watching hockey and eating pizza.
while i was doing his place, an older guy came across the street to talk to me. he asked me if i would cut his lawn when i was done. i went and had a little look and it turned-out he had actually cut half the lawn but couldn't finish it - too hard for him. after some heavy negotiations, we settled on a price and he left to go get a snack at the T&T market up the road.
when he came back i was just starting his lawn and was a bit horrified by the shortness of the cut he had done. the lawn was all yellow and shitty. peter, my new pal, just couldn't stop talking about how he could get me a lot of lawns in the area, and that after his lawn- which turned out to be his rental property, we would head over to his house and have a look at his lawn as well - maybe i would like to cut it as well. i told him i couldn't today but would another day. he seemed cool with that.
maybe.
he also went next door to the neighbours and tried to convince them that they should have me cut their lawn as well. he was fast becoming my pimp. i liked peter right away.
after i finished his rental lawn he told me we would now head over to his place. so after i had loaded in my mower, etc., he jumped in my front seat and away we went. he didn't ask if he could ride with me, he just jumped in and started directing me to his place. now i really liked this guy.
on the way he told me some things i can't repeat here, but they were good. odd, but good. when we got to his place it was another 1/2 cut lawn. his wife had tried to cut it but had given up as it was too much work. "so you can cut it for me? now?"
oh i see, the bait and switch was on. um, sure, ok. more negotiations. and away i went. he's convinced that if i put an ad in the chinese newspaper, etc...i'll be super busy. he really wants to be my pimp. peter came here from hong kong 30 years ago, owned a produce store in chinatown for years, sold it, works as a extra sometimes, and talks a lot.
then it was off to my friend michelle father's place in east van for a cut there. i cut his grass a few times last year after he had had a stroke and was taking it easy getting better. that done i headed to east 51st and another lawn i have now begun cutting. i had also told the owner, louise, that i would do a run to the dump for her because she's been doing gardening and had more 'green' material than the city would take right now as well as some cardboard recycling....so after her lawn it was off to the dump...good times.
i was beat. sweating like a freak, stinky, and really fuckin' dirty. i kinda liked it but i needed food as i hadn't eatten anything since the morning and that was only a smoothie and coffee...
after the dump i still needed to get back to the shop and cut some wood for some shelves i was putting up at sasha's place in the evening, and i had to do that before meeting andy and julie at topanga at 5:30 pm...nice. so i rushed back to the shop, operated a large power tool and headed home for a quick shower....and finally dinner at topanga with the kids and their kid taylor. it was really nice. they be good folks.
after dinner i headed to home depot and grabbed some stuff for sasha's shelves and made my way there. it all went pretty well, i think. sasha has some new shelves, i sweated some more - that girl needs to get more fans and open a few windows....then home to sleep the sleep of the dead...overall a fairly successful day getting shit done and i met a new pal, peter low, or would it be LO. i dunno.

ok...more lawns today...have fun.

g. xo

sasha gets some new shelves.



andy and taylor.



taylor has some good food at topanga.



honey. i cut the lawn so it would be nice when you got home.





all done.



peter's lawn. nice.

hez makes it to chez garn - after nearly four years away.

i have no pictures to prove this happened but, my pal heather - hez for short - or something. made an appearance at my place for some coffee and storytelling....i met hez years ago through my pal sue angle and that stupid thing myspace. she has a rather entertaining blog, http://civixen.blogspot.com/, that you should really check out. lots of commentary with dime words and even a few dollar words thrown in for good measure.
she's a smarty pants to be sure, but in a good way...and can tell a tale with the best of them and even if she's making it up as she goes along she makes it sound as if it really happened exactly the way she's tellin' ya.
it's kinda scary how many people we both know and/or have in common in our small vancouver world...truth be told though - i was here first.

g. xo

i (generally) hate videos...

but i really like this one.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/41452-battles-atlas

dig it.

g. xo

did someone say turkey tostada? and a marg? why yes i will thanks!

another night....another margarita. bad, i know but, sometimes you just have to give into good taste and no one ever said you can't have margaritas two nights in a row...i don't think. marcy and i had talked about taking each other out for our respective birthdays so tonight was the night. i suggected lolita's on davie so after some phone calls to determine the time we were away. marcy had never been there and i thought she'd like it - and i think she did. we shared the turkey tostada - which is amazing and then both had the really overstuffed soft tacos...i will not eat again until lunch tomorrow i don't think. we ran into lisa and alex there - i've been seeing a lot of lisa lately....maybe she's stalking me....anyhow..it was a good noght out and home early - after stopping at Choices on the way home for some needed groceries - regardless of what you may think, i don't eat dinner out every night....

ok. couch time now. i'm tuckered out. lawn cutting today, errands for the garbs, shopping for groceries and a big dinner....

g. xo

the kids have a snack at lolita's.




wires.

today's agenda....make fun of garn

i had a busy day i must say.

i cut the dog lawn in richmond, picked-up some laminate at pj white hardwoods for my side table, went to basa and had a very nice aggplant and such sandwich, went and looked at another new lawn in burnaby, went to propellor to see pam and tobe and put the laminate on the tabletop - with the help of tobe....thanks man....then drove to west van and cut yvonne and then joel's lawns...then to the west end to cut lisa's lawn and then help her move some furniture from her storage locker to her place...then back to propellor to get my table and take it back to my place...then off to topanga for some dinner and few margs....well deserved. the queen cme along as did penelope a little later on...then it was time to mock garn. see the pics below....it was a good time...

i had to park on lisa's lawn to get her stuff into her place...well, i didn't have to....




i need a big sleep now...more lawns tomorrow....

g. xo

make fun of garn day... "hey let's make garn faces...."





jenn can't take it...



lisa waves...why? i dunno.

that's right! just because i love these albums.

there was a time - many, many years ago, when rock was great and albums were albums. ones you'd listen to from front to back. i present two now that you should own if you don't already. forget the obvious hits, these albums are incredibly important.

it's a fact.

ok. i have to go cut grass now.

g. xo



about cheap trick cheap trick....
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide wrote:
Cheap Trick's eponymous debut is an explosive fusion of Beatlesque melodic hooks, Who-styled power, and a twisted sense of humor partially borrowed from the Move. But that only begins to scratch the surface of what makes Cheap Trick a dynamic record. Guitarist Rick Nielsen has a powerful sense of dynamics and arrangements, which gives the music an extra kick, but he also can write exceptionally melodic and subversive songs. Nothing on Cheap Trick is quite what it seems. While the songs have hooks and attitude that arena rock was sorely lacking in the late '70s, they are also informed by a bizarre sensibility, whether it's the driving "He's a Whore," the dreamy "Mandocello," or the thumping Gary Glitter perversion "ELO Kiddies." "The Ballad of TV Violence" is about mass murder, while "Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School" concerns pedophiles. All of it is told with a sense of humor, but it doesn't come off as cheap or smirking because of the group's hard-rocking drive and Robin Zander's pop-idol vocals. Even "Oh, Candy," apparently a love song on first listen, is an affecting tribute to a friend who committed suicide. In short, Cheap Trick revel in taboo subjects with abandon, devoting themselves to the power of the hook, as well as sheer volume and gut-wrenching rock & roll -- though the record is more musically accomplished than punk rock, it shares the same aesthetic. The combination of off-kilter humor, bizarre subjects, and blissful power pop made Cheap Trick one of the defining albums of its era, as well as one of the most influential. [The 1998 Epic/Legacy reissue of Cheap Trick features a different track sequence than the original and also adds several bonus tracks, many of which are previously unreleased.] RATING: 5 (of 5)



about heaven tonight.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide wrote:
Heaven Tonight, like In Color, was produced by Tom Werman, but the difference between the two records is substantial. Where In Color often sounded emasculated, Heaven Tonight regains the powerful, arena-ready punch of Cheap Trick, but crosses it with a clever radio-friendly production that relies both on synthesizers and studio effects. Even with the fairly slick production, Cheap Trick sound ferocious throughout the album, slamming heavy metal, power pop, and hard rock together in a humongous sound. "Surrender," the definitive Cheap Trick song, opens the album with a tale about a kid whose parents are hipper than himself, and the remainder of the record is a roller coaster ride, peaking with the sneering "Auf Wiedersehen," the dreamily psychedelic title track, the roaring rocker "On Top of the World," the high-stepping, tongue-in-cheek "How Are You," and the pulverizing cover of the Move's "California Man." Heaven Tonight is the culmination of the group's dizzying early career, summing up the strengths of their first two albums, their live show, and their talent for inverting pop conventions. They were never quite as consistently thrilling on record ever again. RATING: 5 (of 5)

sometimes life it gives you surprise part two

so tonight, after mishi and i had finished watching the sopranos, i headed to the shop and grabbed my mower and such and headed over to bruna's place. i also had recently gotten in contact with laurie - who lives next door to bruna, and was, once again, going to start cutting his lawn as well. after i had finished cutting bruna's lawn she came out asked if i had spoken to her son - he had been the one to ask me to keep cutting her lawn after her stroke. she said she didn't want me to cut her lawn anymore since i had given her the bill last wek and there had been a price increase. ok. background.
when i first started cutting bruna's lawn two seasons ago, this being season three, i did it for $15.00 a cut. really. not making any real money on it but just wanting to help out, and i was there doing laurie's lawn anyways. this year i decided i needed to up it to $25.00 after the two years at $15.00. gas costs have increased, etc. i cut it four times, and never saw bruna, except once when she was with her home nurse, so i never mentioned the increase - my fault. then i left a bill for four cuts and now she's kinda freakin' about the cost. oh well. my fault. so now it's back to just doing laurie's lawn and not doing hers. i'm sure she'll come out and try and get me to cut it but i am now less willing to cut lawns just because i feel for someone....no more mr. nice lawncutter guy.
sure, all the lawns i do aren't for cash, but some are for bater and for things i want or need. i don't think, god bless her, bruna has anything i need - unless she's gonna start making me some of her fine italian cooking.

good bye bruna.

i also decided to night that 'i've seen the saucers' by elton john may be one of my favorite songs of all time. i'm admitting it right here and now. i remember once listening to it over and over as rachel and i cruised through the florida keys on our way to key west, stopping in key largo just after it got dark to get a hotel on the water. pretty cool.

that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

more lawns tomorrow.

g. xo

forget steve nash - here's issy!

long before steve nash took the court and put canada on the basketball map - even if we did kinda invent the game - issy was out there rockin' the court.



check out # 15.

go issy!

g. xo

new floors and getting paid in cake!

last night penelope and i went to hapa somethingorrather to have dinner with marcy for her birthday. byron wqs there as was keith and claire - who i haven't seen in a while...no real pics...i dropped my camera before i got there and for the short term it wasn't focusing correctly...i did get one of claire and keith...(see above...) nice a blurry...it was a nice dinner. a small affair with some good food and drinks...nice...
today was fix the floors in the kitchen at topanga day. oh, and it was rain like a ....well. like a ....fucking rain. anyhow. before the rains really came i managed to get to the shop, steal a few things and then go to home depot - wish i could steal a few things, and then get to topanga cafe...corie was shortly behind me and away we went....i did most of the work on the new coutertop thingy andrew needed for the tortilla cutter and corie headed-up the floor action near the dishwasher. i was the crowbar guy and hammer guy....and picking up old tiles and throwing them away guy. i think i helped..corie was the fit and finish guy. all in all it went fairly well...and now a lot of good food is coming our way....andrew says he's gonna start issuing corie and me topanga bux. andrew also gave us almost 1/2 a cake each....i took mine to the island and had a cake party with the kids down there - penelope, garbs and mishi (and also gave a piece to jergen from forge and form...)
sopranos tonight....and i think i'm helping lisa from storm tomorrow move some shit from her storage locker to her place....good times...

more later...

g. xo

woking in the mexican kitchen.








garbs gats back to work after a big cake hossdown.