human powered and gas guzzler

a little later on, well, actually soon, i'm gonna take the cruiser bike out for a little ride action but before i do that..or did that or...i ran a few errands on the old motorcycle and i gotta say - pretty good. sure, it creaks and makes some odd sounds now and then but, who doesn't? especially when you're 40 plus years old..

okay...i'm off to ride around and get snacks.

g. xo

caveat emptor

last night after cutting all the grass that was fit to cut - and more, and watching a little of the red wings/penguins game (how can one be scared of a team called the penguins?....) i know we can call our teams the wolves or rattlers or...no, i've got it, the penguins...corie had called on my way home and suggested a little 'whimwamba', as he calls it, i was game after such a day of cutting, so the dye was cast. sara made her way here and, after i bolted on the second seat, we were away on the geezer bike and off to topanga...which, as usual, was great - i have taken to eating a corie staple, the 'surf and turf' enchilada (carne asada and prawn...) and love it...a little lighter than the big ass burrito and mucho tasty.
afterwards, sara and i headed to see the new jim jarmusch film, the limits of control, at the fifth ave. and let me say this up front - i love jim. or his films anyways. but last night's 'film' was such an art/film school disaster that i don't know that i'll be able to ever see another of his films. ever. an art film for other art film types and makers and really, not for a regular film goer...and i'll say this, i've seen a few art school wank films in my day, well, lots...but this display really made me want to contact jim jarmusch and tell him he not only owed me the cost of admission but also the cost of my time to sit through that piece of crap and that as punishment he had to come and do something boring and painful with me for a couple hours. slow, deliberate, sparse, meaningless, contrived....go see it, by all means, but you have been warned...
but it was nice to have the bike out, ride around, see a movie and eat some food...
have a great sunday.

g. xo

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of grass...

i got a late start today - well, compared to the last few weeks - cutting. i didn't hit the dog lawn until just after nine a.m. and wasn't back in vancouver to cut in kits until 11:45 am - after a short stop at meinhardt for a couple of their egg muffin breakfast thingys...pretty good...and i was kinda in slacker mode between lawns - little visit with jen with one N in kits, a short visit with mishi down at the pickle and a fine cafe medechi coffee thingy from chris at jj bean -, which is fine except one thing leads to another and before you know it, it's 5 p.m. and time for game one between pittsburgh and detroit...
besides the usual suspects today, i helped out a co-worker, natalie, with her lawn...she's in reno. hell and her lawn at her new place - a place she doesn't live i yet and may not until the end of the summer - has kinda taken on a life of its own...her neighbours are, seemingly, people who aren't big on lawn cutting either and were concerned that if i made her lawn look good they's have to cut their's too...at first it seemed a little much but once i got at it i made a decent dent and in the end, it looked pretty good...
i'm a little tuckered out i have to say...i need a snack, and soon.

g. xo

before...



after...

two-wheeling to get some mole

i had been trying to get my motorcycle to run for a few weeks - now, that said, i wasn't working at it too hard but was doing what i could and working through the thing...i'd be downstairs kicking it over - not kicking it over over - and it wouldn't turn over...i changed the gas, the battery, etc...nothing...well, in the end, paul helped me get it to shail's motorcycles - by coming here at 6:30 am and putting it in the back of his cube van..what a good guy...and shail fixed it up with a new coil and away i went yesterday riding it for the first time in over a year (since last summer i had a small blip with my driver's license....) and what a great day to have the bike back. nice.
mark mushet also called me last night and invited me over for some chicken mole and jicama salad...he's been threatening to make me this dish for some time and last night was the night. and it was wicked. nice work there senor mark. gudrun, his far better half, and i ate like champs. it was nice to see them both and eat some snacks. also a very nice ride over there on the bike, although i forgot clear glasses for the way home and had to try with my sungalsses for a few blocks - so i didn't lose an eye - but had to give up and ride without any...still nice.
have a great friday. i'll be attending marty's service in the morning up on main street with floyd, who's coming over from the island, and will see his family for the first time in a while so it could be strange entering these uncharted waters.
it's a beautiful day...go enjoy it.

g. xo

garbs and muc

the garbs sent me this picture bob - garbs' dad - took over the weekend at the pickle of him and muc.

good lord.

g. xo

welcome distractions

last night i ate dinner with 'he who can not be named on the blog' and senor bull and it was a great distraction from the day's earlier news. between that, seeing muc and the lawn cutting i made it through the day with minimal meltdowns.
muc was leaving town today to go back to his life in smithers and as a send-off mina and brent organized a snack hoedown at their place before he had to leave for the airport. i had to do some sliding door work at topanga early in the day but after that went and grabbed ' h.w.c.n.b.n.o.t.b' and headed over to the eastside and brent and mina's - lovingly refered to as the shums.
it was cool. some hash brown cheese thingy to eat, eggs, homemade bread, seven layer dip and prawns fired up on the bbq by dean...aka chef. the weather couldn't have been better and it was nice to see some folks i don't see very much...the fortunes, petetastic, dan deloo and chef...
afterwards i drove muc to the airport, which had become somewhat of a tradition...and he was away in the sliver eagle back to smithers...i always enjoy the time i spend with him when he's here... as an added treat he got to meet lindsay, the sandwich queen, and enjoy one of her fine creations at meainhardt..he also got to enjoy a jj bean fresca medichi made with just a little bit of love by chris.
in other news...
bubbles (al) and erin, new-ish home owners in the land of dunbar, joined the ranks of those who have had lawn order pay them a visit in a time of great need...it was a big day of cutting yesterday and today i'm beat, i have to say, but i was happy to help them out..good kids.

i'm tuckered out. i don't mind sayin'. i need a good sleep...night night.

g. xo

a mix from the last day or so....

lindsay outdoes herself...again.

pete loves hanging out at the shums...

brent and tai...

mina, hostess with the mostest...

dave 'killer' fortune.

muc shows off his sandwich and his new g-shock watch...

chris serves up some fine coffee drinks...

muc and the chef talk hockey...or something...

bubbles and erin's finely cut lawn...



my pal rick needed the grass cut...how could i say no...he's a teamster and probably knows guys who could hurt me...

muc and angela...

one of my new clients on fifth ave. in kits...nice lookin' cut...

marty basso was a friend of mine.

i was going to tell you all about my last couple of days. how i worked 18 hours the other day (and how that went...), then slept for four hours and then back at it...and how in that time i cut three lawns as well...and...
but i'm not going to tell you any of that...not really. (beware rambling entry coming on....)
i met marty basso around 1977 when i was living in prince rupert. i had seen him around before that, as rupert was and still is a small town, but we hadn't really met officially. we had been on opposing sports teams before that, baseball and basketball, but never on the same team and never in the same school. for a small town rupert had a lot of elementary schools and marty went to the catholic school down the hill from my school so it wasn't until junior high that we started to see more of each other and became team mates and later great friends.
marty and i experienced a lot of firsts together as young men with some of these firsts coming as highs and others as lows but all important in their own way. we learned from each other and the wrong steps we sometimes made were just a little bit easier because we had each other around.
marty was an exceptional athlete and naturally gifted when it came to basketball and made everyone on the court better by just being around. i learned a lot from him when playing with him and was often in awe of his skill on the floor.
marty was also gifted in the looks dept. as well and i used to love when issy's would tell me about marty coming to visit her at the UBC hospital, when she was working there, and he'd stroll into her office after being at the gym and her secretary's would always mention to her how much they liked it when marty would come to visit.
through the years marty and i moved in and out of each other's lives mainly because marty was at UBC and moved a few times between vancouver and price rupert before finally settling back here for good and eventually becoming the shop teacher at van tech. i'd visit him from time to time at high school to see what he was up to, other times marty would come by whatever fx shop i was working at and we'd load him up with scrap metal and bits and pieces of this and that to give to his students.
as the years went on we saw less of each other but had the kind of relationship that would pick-up at whatever point we had left off the last time we saw each other. i liked that about us. with marty working full time as a shop teacher and me in film it made our time together less and less but we would talk via e.mail or on the phone and if there was a gathering at his place i'd try and drop-by and see who i recognized from the 'old' days.
marty finally found the love of his life a few years ago, helen, and after dating a while made the leap and married her - i took issy as my date to his wedding. and not long after that, well long enough, marty and helen had a little boy, david.
marty was a great friend and an even better brother, son and husband. i knew him well and was proud to call him a friend.
marty died friday after a battle with cancer and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. and while we did drift apart, i feel a void already knowing that i can't just phone him, or e.mail him or drop by his school and just say hello. just because.
today as i drove from richmond to vancouver on my way to another lawn, issy told me the news. at first i didn't process it or what it meant but as i made my way down 41st ave towards blenheim st. it began to sink in. and before i knew it i was having a bit of a meltdown and needed to just go and sit somewhere and just sit. be still and try and get my big boy pants back on, and as 'luck' would have it i was a block from tom and judy's place so i made my way to their carport. and just sat there. then after a while, knew that one of the reasons i cut grass is to zen out and just think and, sometimes, forget about everything and just mow. so i left the carport and headed over to bubbles and erin's and got down to business. and, for a bit, the world was back on its axis.
marty basso was a good man and i'll miss him. and while it's sad how, sometimes, this sort of thing has to happen to make us think of those around us, and how we feel about each other, i know how i feel about my friends and try, as best i can, to tell them how i feel, it happens and we can't ignore it nor should we. and if i haven't told you lately that i love you, i do. and if i haven't seen you for a while, please know that i think about you and wish i could see you more. i need to work on that. and if you have people in your life that you wish you could see more. call them. and even if you can't see them in person, tell them you were thinking of them, and that you love them. you'll feel better once you do.
wherever you are marty, thanks.
ok...i'm sorry for the rambling...

i love you.

g. xo

hey! garage sale! saturday!

hey kids...
this must be catching...fawn and simone are having a yard sale......

Just wanted to let you know that Simone and I are hosting a Garage Sale this
Saturday in the park at Adanac and Salsbury from 9 am to 1 pm (outside our Co-
op), swing by and cruise our treasures. OR if you want to sell crap to my
neighbors, you can set up a blanket!

Or just swing by to say hi.

Love you guys,
F

g. xo

one belated...one correctly dated....

oh, i'm a bad friend...
let's all put our hands together and give a big round of applause to one marcy emery...her birthday was yesterday and i forgot to make mention of it here...happy birthday!!!!
and today, it's that one man photographic wrecking crew's birthday, mark mushet....happy birthday to you my friend of 30 years...yup, happy birthday to you.

ok...i feel a little better now...i love you both.


g. xo

heads up...there's a yard sale in the works

on the weekend i was talking with my pal lisa, storm salon head honcho, and we were talking about getting rid of stuff that we don't need...i told her i'd love to have a yard sale but had nowhere to do it. she suggested her place, a place i cut so you know the grass will be decent....so that's it...issy's basement will get a little less clutter very soon. we're thinking of july sometime, early july. i'm gonna pull out all the old punk rock t-shirts, wash 'em and let them go out into the world...all the cassettes i have been collecting, rock posters, cd's, framed art/posters, blank picture frames, clothing, shoes, tys, nick knacks....it'll be good....
i'm kinda excited about it...

g. xo

damn!

this is good....

g. xo

edit....

if you have the time...you should read this...

like a drooling bloodhound

i was just reading the Andale menu on-line...fuck. if i lived in los gatos i'd be working my way through that menu pronto. three weeks until the end of this show..three weeks until the end of this show...

g. xo

small steps

well...
the deck is now ready-ish for the growing season - i still need to get a couple things but, it's a good start. out with the old crap...this season snap dragons make an appearance on my deck along with the usual petunias, etc...we'll see how they do. i get a lot of sun and they're a full sun number so i think they'll like it out there. i'm not going to grow tomatoes this year since i never actually eat them - i love them but i forget about them and they just grow and then...nothing.

have a great holiday monday.

g. xo


before i started given'er


after some given'er

ok...all clean

so...just in case you're keeping score at home.
after several trips to the home depot yesterday, on one of which i ran into my old high school pal and former cbc radio personality, katherine gretsinger, and was telling her son to get tattoos but just don't tell his mom and to also forget about post-secondary education and just go right into a trade (which i fully endorse..), i finally got the old dishwasher - (which is actually the new dishwasher...) to do it's thing. i ran a load last night as i cleaned-up the mess that my place had become and man, that thing cleans dishes alright. i have left the lower panel off for now and will run a few more loads before closing it up just in case there are leaks...
today is flower box and deck day...while at the depot yesteday i picked-up a few plants and will get them all set in and let nature take it's course. i'm a fan of the flowers on the deck...brings just a little bit of beauty to the hell that is gastown...or my portion of it.

g. xo

here are a few pics from the weekend so far....

karen sat with us for a few minutes at topanga sat. night...

the garbs pre-birthday meal...

corie takes advantage of the magic hour sun...


sara..last week blonde-ish..this week...brunette-ish...

um...

stevie janz had me over to his place to 'cut his grass'...which was really more of a hack and slash with the weedeater, and a little lawn cutting...

hhhmmm

well...i did it. i went to the home depot one more time and i now have quite a collection of brass fittings that will be finding their way to the alley very soon and a dishwasher that's still not working...this is doing wonders for my self esteem...
i wonder what time the home depot close tonight...

g. xo

one more time...

so...i'm having fun with the installation of my new dishwasher....
first, i got the wrong part from my pal brent at mackie agencies - not his fault it was just wrong. then i went to the home depot and got, what should have been the right part....nope. ok...the package was labeled weird...i guess i just don't know how to read..so i went back and got another part....but a different part was in the package than was written on the package...so it didn't work either. this thing is never gonna wash dishes at this rate and i have to be honest...i don't know if i have it in me for one more trip to the depot today...and my house is a fucking pigsty with bits and pieces of this and that everywhere and garbage and dirty dishes and shit...
i was suppose to play hockey tonight but i think i'm gonna stay home and watch tv...it's a mess out there.
this long weekend rules.

g. xo

i shouldn't be allowed.

to do home improvement.

period.

g. xo

happy birthday mr. garbis

happy birthday senor garbs, mr. garbis, el garberator...it's your big day. enjoy! and, you're in good company. others, less famous than yourself, celebrating today include: dennis hopper, trent reznor and bill paxton. so go get yourself a sandwich, relax, have a coffee, have some cake and then have another sandwich because, you've earned it.
we love you, you knucklehead.

g. xo

times

In my lifetime there have been times, or more accurately, events, that have happened to me that have shaped the way I think, changed my direction significantly or made me take a second, or two, and say, ‘wow, that happened…” I remember meeting Alan Trammel (albeit briefly) – World Series MVP and Detroit Tiger shortstop – at Tiger Stadium in 1986 and thinking I was meeting someone of a particular greatness. The same feeling came over me when I met Tony Bennett in one of the hallways at CBC after he had finished an interview with Vicki Gabereau and, as he shook my hand and asked how I was, I felt a little in awe and slightly shocked at the same time. I remember getting a few line e.mail from Tom Snyder after I had found his address and had sent him a note saying how much his work meant to me. I wish I still had that e.mail. It was short but it meant the world to me. In and around 1990 I came home from work and as I was checking my answering machine I had another of these moments as it began to reel off the messages of that day. One was the voice of David Wisdom, host of CBC’s ‘Nightlines’ (a show I was a listener of…) and he was, in his way, saying he know who I was, and I kinda knew who he was, and that I should give him a call and, well, that I should call him. I played this message over and over, for me, for my friends, for my girlfriend, for anyone who’d listen.
I met with David one afternoon, and while he ate a Ruben sandwich, we talked about radio and how the powers that be thought he should have a co-host or sidekick or at the very least someone who could come in when he was on vacation and do the show. Was I interested? I remember feeling like I had been drafted. I was being asked if I’d like to play music on the radio and talk and get paid for it. Before my brain could even really assess what had been asked of me the word ‘yes’ was coming out of my mouth. I gave no regard to my current work schedule at the printing house I was working at. Why would I? I was being asked to work with David Wisdom. At CBC. Home of Vicki Gabereau and such. My cheque would be signed by the same person who signed David’s and Vicki’s. I was all in.
As the years went on I hosted Nightlines a fair bit, did spots very regularly, became good friends with David, did spots on other shows – both am and fm (Early Edition, Afternoon Show, Radio Sonic, Reatime, etc.) – and had a great time within the walls of the CBC on Hamilton st. and I always felt proud of being able to work along side, shit privileged, David, who in my eyes – and those of many others – was the Canadian equivalent of England’s John Peel.
Then as life does sometimes, things went awry at CBC for many, me included. And while I’m not going to go into the details here, I will say this, it was shitty. And with that my relationship with David kinda fell away as well, in fact, as of this writing, I have not seen David for five years but still regard him very highly.
I’m not sure what happened but I do know the last time I saw him. It was at my 40th birthday party that I celebrated at the Topanga with a bunch of my closest pals. David and Connie – David’s amazing wife – showed-up and then, after looking around, said they were just gonna go for a walk and come back in a bit, they never did. Mutual friends of ours tell me that it’s nothing, that he still speaks of me fondly and that I’ve done nothing that life just goes that way sometimes. I agree with that.
We were suppose to have lunch one day a couple of years back that I failed to make it to, my fault, and since then there has been talk of other dinners but nothing has materialized, and there’s a part of me that’s ok with that.
David changed my life in a huge fashion and I will forever be thankful for my time spent with him talking about music, women, more music and life in general. He introduced me to people, some famous, some not I still see and know and others I am glad to have met even if it was only once.
Why all this?
Well, David wisdom is having a show of his photographs beginning may 17th at the Teck Gallery, SFU Vancouver Campus, 515 Hastings st. Photos taken between 1970 and 1975 of Vancouver during that time. You should go and see it.
I hope that wasn’t too painful – my little trip down memory lane – but I just thinking about David and me and radio and life and stuff….

Have a great Friday.

g. xo

fiddleheads and rain

shauna's dinner of halibut included a little number she'd never had before - fiddleheads....

last night, after literally months of trying, shauna, ang and i went to the rain city grill for dinner - issy had given me a gift certificate for my birthday (last year...) and we finally got it together and made it...and it was a great little dinner we had i'll tell ya...thanks issy...

g. xo

shauna likes fiddleheads now.

ang had the mussles...loved it. i had short ribs... nice.

nice shoes...

i like shoes...and normally i wouldn't be interested in these, or this type of 'runner' but, i like these. i tend to stay away from shoes, especially sport shoes, that have a white sidewall...they tend to look like shit after a few days...these bob cousy numbers by pf flyer are good lookin'...

g. xo

sometimes

sometimes it pays to just keep your mouth shut - i should have done that today. not the end of the world, by any means but, i laid into someone today in a way i don't usually do. i usually keep, what i said, in my head and keep it that way...i think one of my co-worker's unedited style of speaking is rubbing off on me and i don't like it. i have, in the past couple of weeks, let a few people know how i feel about the way they conduct business or how their (whatever) has fucked me. i can be grumpy (much less so in recent times...) sure, but this is different...this is me not holding back whatever it is i wanna say and letting it all go. and sometimes, that's ok...not today. i'm gonna say sorry and hope all's well because he's a good guy and is just, um, different from me and operates in a different manner than i do, and maybe a different manner than the rest of the world does, but that doesn't make it wrong. just different.
i need an el presidente is all. maybe an in-n-out burger...it's the 'near the end of the show' pissyness and it's kicking in. all will be well and the world will be back on its axis soon enough.

in other news. someone came and took the dishwasher away. i picked-up the new one yesterday and will try and find time over the long weekend to install it...say hello to clean dishes again - though i have had those but have been doing them by hand (which i don't mind a bit...kinda zens me out....)

ok.

g. xo

home improvements and free shit in the alley

last night, as i watched the best canucks game i have seen i a long while - and i don't mean that as a slight (i really don't), if they played like that all the time then it would be worth watching...sure, i hate them, and i wanted them to lose but, that was a pretty fun game to watch - ups and downs and...anyhow, as i watched it, and secretly hoped my neighbour was drinking himself into a depressed stupor and an ugly ulcer over his team losing, i was fixing shit around the house..a new flapper in the old toilet - very exciting and taking out my old dishwasher getting ready for the arrival of the new unit that i'm hoping to pick-up tonight or today or whenever...but i'm ready for it. and i'll tell you what, a lot of crap - dust, pennies, corn, etc. - gets behind a dishwasher over twelve years. nice.
and now, as i love doing the craigslist giveaway, my old dishwasher is sitting behind the shop waiting to be nabbed by someone who really needs a crappy old dishwasher...maybe you need one...

have a great tuesday...

g. xo

go ella!

ella sommerville (second from left and seated) and her pals get ready to go and kick some ass 101st birthday style.

over the weekend, may 9th to be exact, my grannie - isy's mom - turned 101 years young...lookin' good grannie!

keep on rockin'

garn xo