say hey!

it was a beautiful day today and i took advantage going for, yet, another long walk...around science world, along the sea wall- where i ran into joel - to granville island - to see the kids and have a coffee - up fourth to vine, back down and back across the granville street bridge and then down robson to bute and on to urban fare for some stuff for dinner and home...pretty good...and now, if there is any justice in the world, i'll be able to enjoy my rice and chicken curry and watch the canucks lose yet again...so great.
last night i finally got around to using my new blu-ray player to watch Mad Men and i gotta tell ya...it's wicked, in two ways...one: mad men is a great series based on ad men of the 60's in NYC. and 2: the blu-ray is all it's cracked up to be....it even seems to sound better...shauna and i had rented it before but it was a while ago so i watched the first season right from the beginning to re-fresh myself on what's what. you should check it out if you're stumped one night on what to watch...
yesterday was a busy day...and one of the things i did was go and try on more glasses...check out the pics below for more shots of me in frames...i'm not crazy about trying on frames but, i'm working it out...

have fun...

g. xo

joel was kicking ass today on his bike...he'd gone 42 kms. when i saw him...

some downtown glass action.


more frames....

a quick read indeed..

i just finished reading chester brown's 'i never liked you'...and i think it took me less than an hour, in fact, i know it did...i won this book at the topanga cafe xmas party and really, i was hapy when i opened it...if ya wanna read it let me know...if you think you may have a spare hour...
years ago i played baseball with chester brown and some of his pals up near fraser and broadway. he was dating a woman i knew, remotely, and she brought him out to play with us...skinny fella that chester brown and not entirely athletic. she went on to become kinda famous - at least in canada - and he wrote more graphic comics...
more on him here....

ok...i'm outta here, there's this big shiny yellow disc in the sky today...

g. xo

and the winner is...

well, that's tough to say really but, having now seen a few of the big flicks of late i here now say this...about that...

really mickey's being mickey but no one does it better than mickey. he plays it hard and fast and the looks he gives and the unsaid really drive this baby forward. best actor...? maybe but he may come in second...even though they don't vote like that...the flick, for me is great but again, comes in second...

sean...from spicoli to harvey milk, that's a real move. and one that took a while but the evidence was there early one that he was gonna be great as an actor. even in racing with the moon and bad boys you could see it...and by dead man walking and then mystic river, you knew he was it. as harvey milk people think he may, again, win best actor. i say yes, he will. but people have said it's a wierd victory of sorts, if he wins - not that he wouldn't deserve it...people win oscars for playing a great drunk, a great soldier, or...with penn they're saying he plays a great gay man...the problem, some see, is that that may say to some people that all gays are the same or, how is gay acted out, are they all to be portrayed the same if we're to believe they're gay and not a straight actor playing a gay man?...did that make sense..? anyhow...he's great in it and it's a great story.


oh clint. we love ya, i love ya but it ain't your year pal. for every "get off my lawn" there's a trailer loaded with other less inspired lines...and two young actors who play along side clint who need a little more seasoning. an enjoyable film made with a weak script and if it wasn't for clint, you may have never even have heard of it...clint sings a nice song at the end....and then you'll go home.

ok opie. once again ron howard serves up a winner. megan and i went and saw this the other afternoon and i loved it...i've always had a place in my heart for nixon and his portrayal in this is wicked. as is frost's. this could get best picture except i'm not sure enough people have seen it...i'm giving it my nod of the one's i've seen...

g. xo

big ass tv ad...

g. xo

taking out the trash....

i told 'he who can not be named on the blog' that if he really wanted to get rid of his big ass tv, that we should put it on craigslist and it would be gone in less than an hour....he was suspect...i was confident. i'd been down this road before. hell, we got rid of al's car at the shop for a case of beer with an ad on craigslist, so a tv should be easy...after i got to his place, we put an ad up and shortly after, as i was driving down (g)arbutus street and before i was at broadway, i had my first call...and 45 minutes later, i was dropping off the tv to a guy at yukon and 5th ave. done. and he couldn't have been happier. all in all i had approx. 20 calls in less than a half and hour and one text message about the boob tube...
he also gave me a gordie howe bobble head that he no longer needed or wanted, a padded plaid work shirt/jacket thing that i gave to a guy named tex behind mishi's place - you may have heard of tex indirectly. he was on a bus a year or so ago, maybe longer, and had his throat slashed by a crazy dude - anyhow, he's got a new jacket, and he also sent me away with two backpacks. one of the internal frame variety and the other just a nice pack...so if ya need a pack, let me know....
fawn, corie, katherine and i went to topanga tonight and while they ate like reasonable people, i returned to the menu and ate a huge, sickening amount of food...i dunno...it's just wrong. i long to return to the a la carte plates...i'm so close to the end though, i may have to keep the trek alive...i've been eating, otherwise, like a champ...nice meals made at home, salads, pork roast, soup, etc...oh well...
i was to start work this next money, the 2nd, but now will be starting on the 9th...all good...it'll give me time to get a few more little things done before i get down to the grind..a grind i am really stoked about...
ok...i love you.

g. xo

that's a big tv.

the calls kept coming in...

bobblehead anyone..? it's gordie!

hey! it's fawn...

no one should eat this much food.

just because i love you....

...i give you this. it's just a picture, sure, but...i was thinking of you when i took it.

g. xo

leftovers - pork and gloves

ok...so i was telling k-win today, after she told me that she thought the pork roast looked great, that i was a little disappointed in my presentation...so i took another picture today, as i prepared my plate of leftovers, and hopefully it looks a little better..

speaking of leftovers...someone left some black leather gloves in my car...i have asked a few folks and no one seems to own them...if they're yours, e.mail me and i'll send 'em your way...

have fun.

g. xo

put some pork on your fork

well...i have to say it all turned out pretty well...thanks to some decent timing on the food front, great suggestions from floyd on prep. and great company, it was a great pork fiesta with ang, shauna and emilie. oh, that and great pie that ang and shauna brought for desert...good times...thanks to you guys for trying my first crack at pork roast...

g. xo

nice. pork, yam/potato mash mix, parsnips, carrots, beets and a leek/mushroom grilled topping thingy....

shauna gets into the cutting...


emilie takes care of dishing out the veggies.

ang wonders when the next pork (or any kind of roast) hoedown is...

from the desk of mr. cam andrews, esq.

i saw a t-shirt the other day that read, "i will punch you in the face" (check it out here...)... love it. direct, to the point, let's you know what's what. or what may happen.

and today from the desk of cam comes this nice link. in the same vein...kinda.

thanks cam.

g. xo

pork pics...

sure. it's a crappy blurry shot...(i was excited...) but look at that goodness...carrots, beets, parsnips...

oh...
this is going pretty well...rubbed-in some goodness and cut-up some veggies and i think i'm ready to throw this baby in the oven for some lovin'...i got some cooking advice from floyd and am going with it...a simple is better approach that i agree with.
soon my place will be smelling like roast which is just slightly better than toast...

nice.

g. xo

bringing home the bacon...

..actually pork, which is kinda the same but different, like ham...same animal, different stuff...tonight is the night i attempt my first pork roast. nice. i'm excited. about pork. and cookin' it.
i'll let ya know how it goes...i have a few take-out menus here just in case but i have faith it's gonna rock.
yesterday i walked down to granville island and picked out a pork roast, popped it in my bag then made my way to choices, grabbed some parsnips, carrots, beets, and some other goodies and i'm ready to rock...for real.
ok...time to get to it...

g. xo

karate kicks, cowboy boots and towels...

this is pretty good. sure, it's just another internet site that's dumb - but a good dumb. it may will keep you entertained for a good three to five minutes...

ladies and gentlemen...diamond dave.

g. xo

i have a plan...sort of...

i have been formulating a plan of a attack for (and about) the next 12 months and i'm getting closer to setting it in motion...nothing big, not really, just a guide, of sorts, for myself. and it's not related in any way to new year resolutions or anything like that...nope. it has more to do with, well part of it anyways, to not being here for the 2010 games, in fact, being very far away from here...a destination that has been narrowed down but one that hinges on me doing certain things over the next 12 months to be ready to hit the road...more on all of this as it develops, or doesn't develop...i have faith though...i really do. ok...
i have also been getting ready to start work again, maybe on feb. 02, maybe not...but that's kinda the way it always is...i have been getting my car all sorted out - new mirror on the driver's side because it was fucked, new clip thingy on the roof rack, the new bushings on the rear sway bar, etc...the elephant is good to go. i also transferred over all that i wanted moved to the new imac from my laptop. it took a while, both the transferring and the deciding what to delete that i didn't need anymore, etc...but that machine seems alright. i'm glad i got the larger 24" model as i can have a few things open and not have to have them hidden by one or the other...i bought a refurbished model rather than a new one so i could afford to get the bigger one at the smaller version's price...full warranty through mac so it's all good...i was initially thinking i would need to buy new speakers as well but i think for the office, this thing sounds just fine...it ain't no disco...
today's i was suppose to get my new windshield installed but they forgot to order it in so when i got there....oops..but it wasn't a total loss, they had put a mirror in an old picture frame for my pal ricardo so i paid for it and took it to him at his place in the west end...the more i talk with him outside the store the more i like him. he's had a very interesting life, both here and in mexico. i like him...the mirror looks really good in the frame...
had lunch today with my man al waldron...another really good guy, in fact, one of the world's nice guys, as floyd would say. we dined like champs at the slocan family restaurant up on hastings...it was like we were back at work. alas, al won't be coming to work wth us, at least not full time, on this next show...he's been teaching at BCIT and really likes it and wants to try and get on full time...love that guy.
marcy and i are gonna hang out tonight - sushi i think, which i haven't had in a while...good times...

have a great weekend...i love you. i really do.

g. xo

something for your books

nice.

1500...

the queen smoking out in the deck.

had a dream the other night that i was out somewhere, i dunno where, but i was with someone, don't know who, but we ran into donald judd...yup, right there, he was there and we, well i, was talking to him...and then shortly after that - at least it seemed like a short time later in the dream (and i'm not a guy who remembers anything - gemerally - from dreams) i was in a store on hastings street across from propellor and my phone rang and it was pam, from propellor....and i told her i was gonna be right over - and i remember looking out the door of the store i was in and looking across the street towards propellor, and that was it. pam and donald judd. same dream. i remember nothing else.
i do rememeber the queen coming over the other night to watch the canucks lose, yet, another game...so great. and in overtime. and not only that, overtime, short-handed after a suspect penalty call. even better. we ate hot dogs and the when the time came, the queen made her way out to the deck and hacked a butt...not a lot of smoking going on here anymore, except when the queen comes over. the garbs also made his way over once he found out we were having dogs and scrafed down a couple his own self. nice to see both those kids...speaking of kids, i'm going to attempt a roast of some sort next week and i think shauna and ang are gonna come over and try some of my home cookin'.
oh..and speakin' of home cookin'...the other day my pal aimee and i went for lunch to nick's spagetti house on commercial drive...i believe i went there for my 16th birthday, and it was wicked...i have only been there a handful of times in my lifetime but i love it (sure, it's not fancy or anything but i still love it...)...eric and i went there a while ago for lunch and wondered why, afterwards, why we didn't go more often...i had been craving lasagna lately and made my way through a plate of it there and had a huge smile afterwards like i had just eaten at in-n-out...really. aimee was craving steak and had the steak and spagetti. while we were walking there she casually mentioned, which seems to be her way, that she was pregnant, so her craving steak didn't seem that odd after that info...we ate like champs...
oh, and speaking of eating like champs...last night as we were dining at topanga, i ran into bubbles (al) and his all-around fabulous babe and loyal blog reader, erin, as they were about to sit down with some friends there for a fine burrito or two...very nice to see them. i mentioned to erin that she was part of ...well, a story, that i can't repeat here, and she liked that she had been a part of it...erin and al recently bought a fixer-upper and i just wanna say to them, good luck and if you need help give me a call...i know a few things and i also know a few good handymen...even better.
ok...i'm off to pick-up my new imac as fed/ex had trouble delivering here and it's now at their depot in burnaby...wicked.

i love you.

g. xo

shit disturber

i have been known to get pissed-off about things i have no control over, and more so about things i may have some influence on - but - i am more inclined to say nothing as i'm a guy who hates confrontation. it's true. bad service at a restaurant? i just don't go back. poor customer service at a store or some other business where i'm spending my money? again, i just don't go back and i tell people i know abut my experience there. and, hopefully, they tell two friends, who tell two friends, etc....but i have seen, recently, some friends of mine. let people know, in the best way they can, at the time, that what ever was happening, or how it was happening, was unacceptable. assertive without being shitty. just getting the point across. clearly. and, sometimes, getting things the way they should be, can't happen every time, but at least people know how you feel.
one day, recently, as i was giving shauna a ride home from my place, i mentioned a few things that were going on here and how it pissed me off and how i had spoken to some of the council members in the elevators, etc...and she told me to stop with those people and those conversations and go direct, write a letter or go to a council meeting or...she was right. is right. so while i don't think i am going to be the agent of change, i did write a letter about one issue in particular, and since have had at least one decent conversation about it.
since then i have written a few letters to a few folks. and while i'm not sure how they'll be recieved, or if i'll hear anything back, i'm glad i did write them, and send them. they, the businesses i wrote letters to, are in business to make money, i would think, and would and should welcome letters of complaint and thanks for a job well done, to maybe improve service or slap someone on the back for a job well done.
yesterday i was out getting shit done and one thing i did was try a new honda dealership for my element repair needs because the last place i had tried, carter honda, dropped the ball and i needed to go elsewhere. and instead of 'we don't know' and them taking the path of less resistance, Kingsway Honda, made a suggestion of how to fix my problem that would cost me 18 dollars. and it did. a problem that not only they could see and hear (a bump/clunk in the back that pissed me off...) that carter honda could not see or hear, they started at the cheapest fix -a couple of new bushings - to see if it would help, instead of moving right to the sure fix and having it cost me over 1500 dollars. nice. i'll go back there. i won't go back to carter honda.
ok...all good. a few letters written that may not change a thing, but i feel better about putting them out there, without being or sounding like a complainer or asshole.

good times...

g. xo

say goodnight george.

"Information is moving -- you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 2, 2007



g. xo

the garbs asked me the other day....

...while eating a taco at momma's in seattle...
"how many pictures of me eating do you think you have...?"

well...here are a few...just for fun.

g. xo

and for the record, as i went through all the photos from the last year and a bit, i think i may have more of ang eating than the garbs....

ok..here we go...

these are the Moscot glasses i tried on while we were in NYC...nice hair.

nice long walk today...cold but good...i received a call from my boss and it looks as if we'll all be getting back to work soon and i need to get some shit done before that happens...sure, i've been off for a while doing big rookie and lawn order stuff but this is meal ticket stuff so...here we go. and i'm ready, i feel good about it...but, like i said, i need to get some stuff done.
i decided after the last show that i wasn't going to take my laptop back and forth anymore so i'm looking at a new apple imac instead..and i think, since they have great deals on-line for their refurbished stuff, i'm gonna get the big 24" baby and be able to have a lot of crap open at once and not have to move stuff to see them all, well, sometimes sure, but it's a great machine and the 24" looks great. so i was out looking at that today before i order one on-line...also i need to get a new set of speakers for the new imac and an external hard drive. so exciting.

the pair i tried on today on fourth ave.

i also think i need to get a new pair of glasses...sure, i'm only suppose to wear them for reading and computer work but my eye doctor said i should just start wearing them full time and get used to having them on so (i told her i got tired of taking them on and off and she said just wear 'em, won't hurt) i was going through the painful throws of trying on pairs today...painful. i only found one pair i kinda liked here in town, so far, bit when shauna and i were in new york we saw a few that were good...it's so hard...
i also have some car stuff to get done as well but it's all pretty minor or easy so...whatever...it's a car, they have garages, i'm all good that way...
tomorrow is the crew screening of Watchmen and i'm, for once, kinda excited to see it...even though i'm fairly sure the story isn't my deal, i think it's gonna look good...i'll let ya know what i think...
have fun...

g. xo

welcome back

while i'm not a big fan of bringing in the aging hockey player to help a stuggling team...mats will never help the canucks, or at the very least it he will not help them 5 million bux worth...i am a fan of mr. shanahan. more goals than sundin, more rings - three with the mighty wings, more heart and tougher. much. the devils signed him to a pro-rated 800,000 grand contract, meaning he'll only see about half of that this year...but he'll be worth every penny...


welcome back! you're the man.

g. xo

into the turnbuckle

mishi and i went by the brian howell show at the windsor gallery last night....

i think the wacky walker may have done a number on me...i'll have to ask the doc. if he thinks i should stay off that one...i sure like it though but it makes my back not feel so great....i'm gonna stay off it until i get some sort of confirmation either way. yesterday when mishi and i were out running some errands i was hurtin'...but we did get to go by bosa where they were giving away cheese samples like they were going out of style..i was very good though, just a couple little pieces of each...tasty goodness...i had enough cheese the other night when shauna was here watching housewives and we had grilled cheese and soup...i gotta lay off that stuff...the cheese not the soup.
today i'm going to my third honda dealership in the hopes i find one that actually does what they say they're gonna do and maybe, just maybe, cares a little...we'll see....
other than that...hhmm...i think i'll go for a little walk today..maybe gran torino.

see ya.

g. xo

megan was over the other night and was showing me some moves on the ball...