just a shirt

i know it's just a shirt...but i want it...

g. xo

tid bits not tim bits

i'm pretty sure i could eat a box of those things...
took a few shots off my foot yesterday in our hockey game - our first playoff game - and now my foot hurts...maybe it's karma as i laid a guy out yesterday in our game old school style. a hit i didn't even feel but the result was the other player laying out on the ice and his team mates giving me the gears...i didn't blame then and made my way to the penalty box without arguement. i played a terrible game yesterday...i felt a step behind the whole game...we ended-up losing in a shootout - a bogus way to lose but...there ya go.
nice day out there, or looks like it...i may have to go for a little walk...
megan and i were suppose to go out last night but i had been feeling crappy during the game and alergy riddled so decided i'd be crappy company and ened-up grabbing a quick dinner at topanga and then back home by 8:00 pm...a big saturday night...falling asleep on the couch.
and as far as topanga goes...i am now down to the last meal. yup, one more meal, the two tostada dinner, and i'm done. what started sept. 11. 08, will hopefully end in the next week or so, maybe as early as wed. when i go to topanga with chris and lyndsay...but i may hold on until a little later. i'm looking forward to having it done and over with so i can get back to ordering al a carte...and i can welcome back the el presidente.
my man ricardo, head honcho at headquarter, who had been sent packin' back to mexico by canadian immigration, is back in vancouver and able to stay, initially, for six months and in that time will work on staying permanenty. welcome back.
he garbs was offered something other than money the other day at the pickle...ask him about it.
when is it going to get warm? really? this is bullshit.
i want a new tv...i know i don't need one...i just want one. issy's getting a new pvr thingy soon so she'll be able to see things the way they're meant to be on her new flatscreen tv....soon.

ok.

have a great sunday.

g. xo

make mine pork

after yesterday's pork fest i may have to lay off the swine for a time...pork and beans, pulled pork sandwiches and pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, all in one day...but it's so damn good and really, it is the other white meat...(?)...
floyd's baked beans turned out great - thanks floyd for the recipe - the (slightly) pulled pork sandwiches were pretty good too, i think....nice sauce...good times. and it was all 'Snacks' approved...

i'm now looking at options for next thursday....

g. xo

the sauce for the sandwiches...

goodness.

more beans than one shop full of guys needs to eat in one day...

issy rocks out at don and donna's....

tonight a few of us gathered at donna and don's place in kits - that place you probably all read about in the vancouver sun - yup, that place - and had a little birthday feista for issy...and sure, i bug don about a lot of things but, their house is a very, very nice and they should be very proud of it...i'm still a tad jealous and wonder what donna's thinking sometimes but..(i'm kidding...) and it was very nice of them to allow us to invade their place and take over and mess the joint up....but issy's only 70 once and don practically grew-up in her house so...and issy's so damn loveable...
it was great...marcy brought byron and some great quiche. the queen of the universe brought some pork tenderloin with bacon and potatoes. i brought mac and cheese and topanga cake and some beverages. mishi brought salad and lox and cream cheese. don and donna put out some great cheeses and crackers......and corie and the garbs brought their appetites.
a good time was had by all...now i'm full of food and need a nap...

happy birthday issy....

love everyone. xoxo

garbs loves the cake. mishi loves the garbs eating cake.

the card mishi made for issy. mr. spock's birthday is the same day at issy's.

marcy at don and donna's

byron and marcy at the issy-fest.

mishi and the birthday girl.

marcy made quiche that spelled out the big day.

me and donna...

the garbs rocks his new bomber wear..

don and corie...a meeting of the minds.

party action.

corie rocks the party.

byron let's me know what's up.

then gets back to drinkin'

issy.

happy birthday issy! issy turns 30 today and rocks march 26th like no one else! happy birthday kid.
if you'd like to send her birthday greetings:
isobelh@telus.net

g. xo

pork and beans, man.

lately i've been loving the pulled pork...i don't eat it that often but i love when i see it, hear about it, smell it, and sometimes, eat it...the beef short ribs i made the boys last week were in the world of pulled meats - i say pardon...anyhow...this week's meat of choice here at the salt mine is pulled pork which we're gonna put on nice whole grain kaiser buns...and while i was thinking pulled pork i also remembered the beans floyd used to make when i was a kid. beans that took many, many hours to make but that were so fuckin' good..so the boys tomorrow get pulled pork sandwiches and home made from scratch (fuckin' rights!) baked beans with ham from a ham hock i bought today at bosa...if the garbs could ever pick a day that he should make his way out to the shop...tomorrow would be the day...
heavy prep on this baby but i think it should worthwhile...

here's hoping.

g. xo


corie's ready for some pork and beans and a nice big pulled pork sandwich.


ready to go...only eight hours of cooking ahead.

the navy beans before they go into the crock pot with all the goodies...behind them, the sauce for the sandwiches which is made up tomatoes, molasses, coarse mustard, onions, ginger, bourbon, and ...i dunno...

losing my edge

the kid in front of us the other night at the hockey game loved the action...

i feel a little edgy right now...i'm not sure why, well, maybe i do. i went to bed a little later than usual last night...which is ok, but it can set in motion- in a potentially bad way - a week that starts off a little sleep deprived. i don't regret staying up late, i do that sometimes...i'll just have to make sure that tonight i get a full lie down...
mishi and i are heading off to ikea (which is swedish for 'cheap shit') after work. she's taking the crime train out here from downtown and i'll pick her up and we'll head out to coquitlam...don't even bother going to the richmond store anymore...it's not even regarded as a full store by ikea, only the coquitlam one is...just a heads up.
i feel a little behind today...i have paperwork to do, things to add up, calls to make, etc...but i'm leaving most of it for after coffee break when the phones usually die down...
i didn't eat lunch today. maybe that's my problem...

more as it develops.

g. xo

grant's not feeling very well...

matt gets to see the grill...

the medium/house shoes made their way back to me...and they fit...nice.

yesterday morning i made my way out to tsawwassen and then eventually point roberts to pick-up some packages i had at the letter carrier. i dropped by matt's place, he's not only a bomber and all-round good guy, but a newish resident to tsawwassen....welcome to the T my friend...matt wanted to get gas so i left my car at his place and we headed down in his truck...and, in a first for matt, he got to see the inside of the border station (shocker, he was with me and got hauled inside). i knew what it looked like inside but had to go inside and report too...and then matt got to see and hear the rigermerole i go through almost everytime i go through the border...some good comments yesterday from the woman 'helping/processing' us. in response to me telling her and showing her the bill of a book i was picking up that i had bought off of ebay (a stephen shore photo book...) while shaking her head in disbelief.. "you paid 47 dollars for that book" , "yes", "are you an art dealer?" "no"
and after getting matt's keys so she could go and have a snoop around. "do you have any drugs in the car?", "no", and a few more 'do you have's'...which were answered 'no'..."do you have any money in the car", "no", "any loose change?", "no"..."are you sure because i went out there once and almost had a stroke.." (me) "why", "because i went out once and looked in someone's car and found money...." and then she walked to the back of the station kinda mumbling....i know when i find money, especially change, i totally feel like i'm gonna have a stroke. a few more questions - do you have a driver's licence in the states? (all these to me...) have you been arrested, etc...where we work...and we were away to get our stuff in the metro of point roberts....
after the pick-up at the letter carrier we headed down to the market place grocery store to have a look for some Bush's Best Baked Beans...grant, at work, talks about these beans like they're the best beans he's ever tasted so i wanted to a: get him some since i was right there and b: get some for me to give them a go. while we were buying ours, matt decided he needed to try the beans to, a couple of guys came down the aisle and they started loading up on the Bush's - armfulls....they looked like they knew what they were doing so we knew we were on the right track.
so all in all it was a pretty good day in point roberts...
i went by issy's after to say hello and also install some RAM in her emac that i had picked-up at the letter carrier. i had been at her place a couple of weeks ago and after sesing how long it took to open programs on her computer, checked out the ram action and saw that it needed to be added to...now she's all RAM'd up and rockin'....

go issy....

g. xo

the new books i picked-up in point bob...new richard ford, new stephen shore and issy's new RAM...

matt loves his new beans.

when i was picking up cam for hockey last night his wife, jess, came out with their new dog...rangbuncious...

thursday....must be ribs!

i have to admit that i was a little leery of making the ribs with stout, as in thick ale/beer/booze...as i don't really like booze in food. i once had a pack of those shitty liqueur filled chocolates under my my bed for at least three years when i was living at home. someone gave them to me and i couldn't for the life of me get through them...then one night my pal nancy heenan was over and she somehow found them and asked if she could have one...in the end i think she may have eatten them all - i was happy to have them gone. but today the recipe for the short ribs called for a couple/three bottles of stout and who am i to fuck with a recipe...? after work last night i grabbed the garbs and we headed out on our mission to find the goods for the thursday hoedown...and i'm here to tell you, it's no easy task finding short ribs in this town. i/we had to go to three or four places before we finally found some at the urban fare on davie street...the guy was a little alarmed that i wanted 8-10 pounds of ribs buy i assured him i knew what i was doing as i had several big eaters to feed...
i also bought a crock pot, as i don't have one and thought i should, and a new hand immersion blender to puree the veggies and stiut at the end to make the gravyish sauce that covers the whole deal at the end.
it worked out pretty well...and really, if i had bought less meat old 'snacks' woulda gone hungry.

next week....pulled pork sandwiches...i think...

g. xo

the veggies i grilled up and then put in the crock pot with the stout. in the end they got all nicely blended-up and turned into sauce....wicked.

snacks loves the ribs.

sauce.

braised short ribs at 6:45 am after i gave them a turn in the pan before putting them in the crock pot.

stranger than fiction

it is. as below is a work of fiction. sure, we borrow from our lives but, don't get confused. i received an e.mail this morning from a friend who had decided to write me a little story about her life and where it was, where she thought it would or could have ended-up, but didn't. was there a secret she didn't know about? did i know it? nope, i don't. i'm not where i would have thought i'd be at 44, and less than 50 days from 45. but, i'm just trying to move along, make it, and not be so wound-up about what may or might happen...what else can you do?

above is a picture of our man stewart and the back of our man mike. stew decided that mike's suit needed a little dressing-up. nice work.

lunch soon. and i'm kinda looking forward to it.

enjoy.

g. xo

hotwire spark

Sometimes it’s in my hands. Most times it, seems, as if it’s not. But I have seen the mistakes of others, and know now not to move too fast. Tattoos mark my body like road maps, marks on my arms are like constant reminders of the past and the turns I’ve taken and the shots missed and hit and the ones never taken. There have been cars ditched on the sides of single lane highways in the middle of nowhere, and times left walking for miles towards small towns I only remember because of their familiar names – Nixon, Nevada, Paris, California, Portland, Maine. I remember one late night driving through Bangor, Maine and thinking of Stephen King and how he probably owned that town but had no idea that he did. And how earlier in the day I had been at a pay phone, one of the last around, in Boston, talking to my former girlfriend, and her telling me that I could tell her all I wanted that I still loved her but, we were never getting back together, and how I was more upset that I had missed the Red Sox game than the actual termination of our deal. I’ve still not been to Fenway.
There are always guys jumping cars in the middle of wal-mart parking lots, kids watching them while dressed in Levi cut-offs and flip flops, and not because it’s hot or summer but because it’s all they have. Slinglets and shorts, mom’s dressed in sweats and smoking Salem’s. I’ve seen it. Cars packed with family members in the Burger King drive through. Shakes and fries and onion rings and kids with home styled haircuts and pockets with holes in them where they lose all their change. Hours spent in laundromats looking across at the kids running around, looking in dryers and checking the coin slots for forgotten coins. I’ve spent a few hours in those places, once in Chicago across from Wrigley Field. I had, earlier, convinced the guy at the counter of the YMCA to let me shower for free because I had been living in a five ton truck, in the back with all the furniture I was moving, for three days and just needed a little goodness. And now, it was time to sit, I usually try and find a local newspaper and read the local sports page while the dryer makes my clothes just a little bit thinner. I remember the Cubs beating the Rockies later that day. I remember meeting Harry Carey. I remember it was hot.
I remember her. I remember Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s ‘The Wild One Forever’ playing over the gas station radio stuck behind the counter on a shelf. “Something I saw in your eyes told me right away that you were gonna have to be mine”. Those few hours linger on in my head, a line from the song as well as the truth. I hear it now, the song, and it’s like our song. A sadness. It carries over to now like a sickness. She didn’t mean it. I didn’t either. I never meant to hurt her. But I did.
The days seem to have four seasons lately – mornings set with rain and blowing wind, afternoon snow, sun by early evening to close off the day. I go for walks along the yard late in the day, catching what I can of the sun and watch it as it sets behind the fence. I never keep track but some days it feels like I’ve walked ten miles or more. I cross the bridges and look out over the beach and see the ships heading out to places I’ll never see. The girl at the breakfast place I go to has recently added a streak of green to her hair that seems to fit. Her hands are tired, I can tell, from making all the drinks and having them above the heat on the grill for hours at a time. She’s from the valley, or out there somewhere, where they don’t all lock their doors – a habit she learned wasn’t a good thing in the city – where they know what their neighbours are doing. Here we keep our heads down and wave or nod but have no idea where our neighbours go in the morning, or what they’re doing when we don’t see them or their not at home. I remember that. To keep quiet.
I don’t know how I got here. And not to this spot, but close to here. The job. The trouble. Her. The songs in my head. The acting out. The wanting. The not wanting to make a wrong move – and I’ve made plenty to be sure. We used to talk of driving from work and just taking a left onto the highway and keeping going. A permanent road trip. More tattoos, drinks, bars, guns and emptiness. Maybe. I’m in now I know, and there’s no changing that. All I can do is drive cautiously and keep my eye on the speedometer and try and fly right. It’s not far. I’ll be alright.

thursday goes rib-tastic

braised short ribs may be the meaty delight thursday...

i need to go get a couple crock pots....

g. xo

the smell of grass in the morning

love it.

g. xo

a three legged dog, answers to lucky.

Lucky me getting the Lucky Luc – as in Luc Robitaille. It’s been over a year, not that I haven’t played decent game since then, just, maybe, not Luc-worthy. And I have to admit; I was kind of touched when Dan Devloo, winner of the last Lucky Luc, chose me as the player of the game…nice. I love bombing and do the best I can, most nights, but have been re-thinking my game – not the week before however when I was all trash talk and stick -but am trying to play smarter and just keep the fucking puck outta the net, keep the other team to the outside and make decent passes out of the zone…
I have the Luc now proudly displayed on my desk here at the old salt mine and it makes me just that much happier…good times.

g. xo

like lightning

...i was looking at the lambchop web site today (www.lambchop.net) and was reading some reviews from recent shows they had done (one such show being in seattle less than a two weeks ago in seattle...fuck..!), and they made me more determined than ever to see them - i just need to keep a better eye on their tour schedule. i told someone recently that they were/are a band i would travel hundreds of miles to see, maybe further..and how...that's not my point...(if i really have one at all...) but more that there was one review that reminded me of a song that's so great that whenever it comes on i just can't not turn it up..

"The Chop Wagner brought to D.C. was modest compared to previous lineups (which have swelled to 20 players), but judging from the dynamic range they displayed, it may be the ideal setup to express his soul-rock-jazz-poetry hybrid. The key was guitarist William Tyler, who played with a sympathy, tastefulness and sting worthy of Steve Cropper. "

steve cropper played with a million but i first became aware of him when he was part of the dan and john traveling show called the blues brothers...tasty. and i'm not a blues guy at all...really...but on the way home tonight from dinner i put on "b" movie box car blues from briefcase full of blues (written by delbert mcclinton) and wham..! so great. if steve jordan isn't one of the swinginest-studdersteppin'-rock-a-roll drummers...(a term i plan to copywrite..) i dunno who is...you listen to his drumming on that number and it's so clear...rich even.
i'm not sure why i'm telling you this except that music has always played such a huge part my life, from kip (my hero as a young man) bringing home fleetwood mac's self-titled album in 1978 to hearing whiskeytown's stranger's almanac while i was working at the railway in the 90's...and later listening to it as i coursed my way through georgia with rachel on the arguements across american tour and it being perfect. i'm rambling a little perhaps...but suffice t say, i love the music in my car still..i still like singing along...and i'm surprised sometimes how much i like that new deathcab for cutie...ah, so be it. what i sing to inside the car stays inside the car.

ok...i'm tired...

have a great week.

g. xo

holy fuck

now i'm not one to, usually, pass along youtube videos that i think you should check out...but today i am...

i have given you the link to the site where i found it, not youtube directly, because the gizmodo site gives greater detail into what the video is.

check it...

g. xo

the garbs goes one more...

i had asked the garbs to make me a cover for my new imac to keep the dust off of it when i wasn't at the shop, he and mishi were gonna collaborate on this task but the garbs decided he wanted to make something else entirely....a glitter vinyl luchedore pillow...nothing like a cover in fact but, i loved the idea and yesterday he gave it to me and i love it...it's my new favorite thing...maybe it could be your new favorite thing...go see the garbs...or e.mail him:

sebastiancuradeau@gmail.com

thanks garbs...