holy crap

if the americans, and the rest of the world, didn't think we were hillbillies before, they sure do now after what i saw in the little bit i watched of the closing ceremonies. inflatable beavers? really? huge mounties? guys in canoes? a huge inflatable moose? where was the huge maple syrup bottles?

g. xo

funny, not funny

i have to say - and this is not meant to provoke - that i'm a little dismayed at the reaction i'm getting from a couple friends regarding me getting smacked in the head by some drunk loogan because i wouldn't high five him.
people think it's funny.
funny, i don't.

interesting.

g.

sunshine and loogins

well...ok, i'll say, congrats to canada on winning the gold medal in hockey today. sure. ok. and yes, i was hoping for a different outcome but, in the end, not a bad game. one for the ages? i don't thinks so but entertaining enough. but fuck, crosby? really? tell me there wasn't a fix in there. i hate that fucking whiner. anyone else...that's what i was telling myself as they went into overtime, not crosby. or i suppose that murderer heatley. either of those two. but it was crosby. so be it, changes my life zero - well, except my bomber brothers will be getting some free beer on me as i made bets with the pest and espo and they're donating the winnings to beer for the boys...i'm okay with that. really good...i'm down with that.
after the game i decided to go for a walk downtown - i know...retarded. but i hadn't been downtown since i had been back and i thought i really should witness the mayhem. so i did. witness it. and i'll say this, i couldn't get back over the bridge fast enough. i like sports but have been on teams that are filled with 'sports' guys and hated it. that's why i like being a bomber, it's not like that. well, downtown was all about that. and just drunks in general. so great - the broken bottles, the people pissing in behind mishi and garbs' place because to them downtown is a giant toilet, the people getting mad at me because i wouldn't high five them - including one guy who decided to follow me on the burrard bridge after i didn't high five him and then after i told him i wasn't going to he then hit me in the head trying to knock my hat off my head. so classy. most people seemed like they were having a good time but many of who i passed called me a loser, an asshole and a fag, for not high fiving them. some even yelled at me in close and personal - i found it very intimidating, and i'm a big guy. it was unnerving. these are the fans i can do without.
now safe and sound at home, i can't wait for it all to get back to normal. to return to our regular programming. let the olympics hangover begin. to the parking meters that make better than min. wage now. to the impossible rents for my pals who don't own. to the taxes that will surely be increased to help pay for this little party. i hope we're not too fucked but, i'm not holding my breath.
have a great sunday night.

g. xo

anyone could be your brand new love

it's true.

i can't tell you more than that.

g. xo

expensive teams/medals

cam just sent me this stat...wowzers!

Here's an estimated look at how much the final four Olympic hockey teams would cost in combined NHL salary.

	TOTAL SALARIES*
Canada	$127,977,000
U.S.	$83,629,000
Finland	$64,091,000
Slovakia	$54,943,000
*For players no longer playing in the NHL, their most recent salary was used

winner

love it.

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/rnr/1617158052.html

g. xo

well...

that happened. and in convincing style. i'm still more a great eight fan than a sid fan but good on the canadians - but why is pronger there?

g.

just sayin'

years ago i made a similar prediction and got in shit because of it but, i will make it again...and this is not what i want - not that i really care i have to be honest but - i believe the russians will win tonight against canada. i do. and to say it again, i don't really care either way but...that's what my gut tells me...

car!

g. xo

and children are the only ones that blush...

..and life....

anyhow.
sometimes your own bed is where you need to be.
i left tucson and headed west-ish and as seemed to be the weay, the bad weather came with me. it followed me to mexico, then to tucson and now across california. i drove up through arizona, hitting lake havasu in the process and then up into california and just short of barstow. in the morning it was blowing to beat the band and many times seemed like the wind was gonna blow me right off the road. add terrible rain to that and you got a shitty day of driving ahead. and so it was for a lot of the day...i had had ideas of heading to the coast and going back up to santa cruz and then back to san francisco, etc...but once i had breakfast and heard the weather report i decided to just head north...maybe i'd head in if...but it was crappy and looked crappy.

i made my way to redding, california, home of the last in-n-out burger where i had my last burger for this trip and then headed into the mountains to sleep. i had always wanted to sleep at the highest point on the I-5, why i don't know i just did, and thought last night would be as good a night as any...so there i was 4210 ft. above sea level, just me and a few truckers having a snooze listening to other trucks and cars zoom by me all night...pretty good and in the morning, well 5:45 a.m., really fucking cold...so i headed out. and the rains came with me...at times i could barely see the road with the amount of water i was trying to clear off my windshield as i drove.
up to portland, through to seattle and then blaine and the border where i cruised through with, i think, three questions...none of which was , "did you buy a computer while you were down there...?"

a quick stop at the shop to get rid of my bed stuff and cooler, a drive-by mishi and garbs to give them there goodies from the trip and then off to corie's to give him his new fancy tequila and then, of course, topanga for a beer and some chips - they were closed...
now, home and hockey highlights...

talk to ya tomorrow.

g. xo

nancy's world famous lemonade

anyone who knows my likes and dislikes knows i do love the lemonade....love it. may very well be my favorite drink...maybe.
spike's parents have all sorts of citrus trees in their backyard and this morning i picked a few lemons and nancy, spike's mom, walked me through a recipe she has for making her lemonade. awesome. it was a great thing to do in the morning to have some lemonade to take on the road with me. i have a great stainless steel cooler so it'll be all frosty when i want to have a little chug-a-lug on the road in the middle of nowhere.
i'm going into tucson this morning to do a couple of things and then heading elsewhere...kinda west, kinda north....

have fun today.

g. xo

a nice fresh meyer lemon.

and a few more and a fancy squeezer.

cut 'em up.

squeeze away.

nancy adds the right amount of sugar.

and there ya go...lemonade for the road.

when in tucson...

spike outside the congress.

..always take the time to visit the hotel congress. you'll be glad you did.
spike and i went to the congress tonight for dinner, the cup cafe - a place mishi loves - and we had a great dinner. i had a chicken mole and spike had tamales. they also make a very good don julio tequila margarita so...i had one...they also have a great home made limeade. wicked. now we're back in green valley and watching some bobsled. perfect.

have a great night.

g. xo

when it rains...

my late lunch today was at nico's tacos. i had a great meal there once - great for fast mexican food...seriously, great, but this time it was terrible...oh well.

...it really fucking rains. in mexico, as i was leaving sayulita, it rained like crazy, then today as i was leaving to go into tucson to go run some errands and buy some shit - you know, get shit done - it rained like a fucker. now my car is a little cleaner and i have some shit for the garbs and corie and paul...lucky fellas.
the sky was amazing so i took a few pics. i don't have much more to report...oh, except i'll be leaving tucson tomorrow so, if there's anything you need...let me know.

g. xo

a little bit of goodness

sadly, a blurry photo of my lunch today at little poca cosa...

ok. there's this small restaurant in tucson called little poca cosa, sister to the bigger restuarant poca cosa - both have wicked food. poca cosa is fancy traditional mexican food, little poca cosa is more casual and only open during the day and plays loud music and they give out hugs and have a menu on the chalkboard. i have only been there a couple times, i think, but love it. they have an option there where they pick what you eat - i go for that and a lemonade...today was three types of fancy tacos and tortillas and beans and as an added thing, i ordered a bit of horchata. so great...and i bought a new little poca cosa t-shirt..i had too. they also give a lot of money to charity through their tips and t-shirt sales so...i had a conversation with the woman who owns and runs it - her sister owns and runs poca cosa - and she wants to move to vancouver - loves it there....really, loves it...i got extra hugs today because i was from vancouver...nice.
after lunch we went to epic, a coffee shop here and had a little relax and unlike last time, they, too, had the right size t-shirt for me....the last couple times i have gone there i have been shut-out. good coffee there too...
we also went to a new art gallery that is having a huge andy warhol show or photos of andy when he was in tucson in 1968 shooting a movie at old tucson studios. the photos have never been seen before and are being printed just for the show and it's, apparently, a very big deal. people from all over the states are coming to see the show and have already put down some serious cash to buy the photos, which are - depending on the photos and size - are being produced in editions of 5 to 50 copies and range from 2500 bux to 6000 bux...there's also a book being made for the show which will travel to new york after the tucson show. man, if i had a few bucks i'd be buying one and hoping....a guy could make a few bucks off this show, and as much as i'm not an andy fan, the photos are very cool.
we then trucked around a bit, saw some more shit - including a store called plaza liquor that has more brands of tequila than i've ever seen. i bought corie a bottle there before, went to a local toy store the garbs wants me to buy him some ugly toys at (garbs e.mail me let me know what's what....) and then we were off to a function - a book launch - at the university of arizona for a book that spike had done the front cover for...
a nice day out...now a little relax and dinner with spike's folks. then the night's olympic viewing...

rock on.

g. xo

a found a store today with a great number of awesome luchedor mask shirts...i may have to go back and buy some more...

the library we were at today for the book launch is a beautiful place...

everyone needs a shirt with two coffee thingys (groups...?) crossed like bones...

sara from omaha writes...

well..not really but, the lovely and talented sara mitchell did send me this great lawn mower photo a little while ago and i've been meaning to post it...now that i'm in tucson - home of the rock lawn - it just seems right. it looks as though it was taken down near wall st. somwhere.

thank sara!

g. xo

2010

like the olympics in vancouver being hosted in, of course, 2010, this is post number 2010 of this blog....weird.
this morning i got going pretty early as i wanted to make nogales by nightfall but also wanted to go to a couple of places and have some time to just look around and see what was what.
i stopped off in guyamas because floyd had told me to go there and have a look, and if i was missing hearing english, i should also stop by san carlos to see it as well. i needed some lunch once i got to guyamas and saw a trailer that had a good crowd so i figured it must be decent - and i was right. sure, it was just tacos but that's like saying an in-n-out burger is just a burger. these tacos were great. the filling? um, i'm pretty sure it was beef. pretty sure. and they had cabbage on them as well and they had a great variety of sauces as well. the guy standing next to me turned and said, with his mouth full, "good, huh...yes? good?" yes, i told him as i mowed down my second taco knowing i was ordering a third...it's funny, not really funny ha-ha, but, for all my (sometimes) gregarious nature, i do, still, find it hard in some situations to bust right in and get something going...like, walking up to a trailer selling tacos, surrounded by locals, and trying to order something in a language i'm not very fluent in...but once i do it, it always seems to kinda work out. today it did and it made my day - just hanging out at the cart eating tacos with some cool local folks.
i looked around town a bit and then headed to san carlos.
san carlos is a small coastal town that really is a gringo retreat. not really my deal at all. so i left. and that's my report on san carlos. period.
i drove then to hermasillo - where i had an very funny and charming and cute exchange with a young woman working at a medium sized grocery store. i was in buying some sabrita's peanuts for mishi and it all kinda went down...it's a long, well maybe short, but kinda confusing story for here but so fun...ask me later, i'll tell you. in the end her co-workers were telling me to take her back to canada...funny.
i made nogales and let me tell you, the border at nogales is unlike any other i have ever been at. kids accosting you in your car for money, people selling stuff you really don't need, kids stealing license plates off cars, a hundred squeegee kids, etc...it's insane. it was far from awesome. really far.
anyhow. i made it and am now in green valley, just outside tucson at spike's parent's place...it's great to see them, even better to see spike. i'll probably stay here for a couple days and then see what's up...i think tomorrow we'll go to a great little place here little poca cosa - amazing lemonade and mexican food...i hope.

more.

g. xo

nice wheels, man.


one of the bigger shrines i saw today...thought i'd show you the inside of this one.


and this was painted on the outside if this metal recycling place.

cool...no hassles.

and there on the side of the mountain is...

a really huge guadalupe. hold crap this thing was huge. and the only way they could have painted it was to scale down from the top and paint it while hanging there...

guyams...home of the wicked tacos.


fishing for prawns near guyamas.

from all reports..

things seems to have settled down there, thank god. no more mishaps. no more smashing of windows, etc. the traffic hasn't been a huge issue - though i did hear gordo missed a metal ceremony because of the traffic once - who needs him anyways. i hear it's sunny - that's good too...so good on ya. so what if cypress has no snow and the games dudes have to give back 1.5 million in tickets.
i do have a story i have been meaning to tell you and about speedy olympic action though.
a woman i know, just shortly before the games were to begin, was in downtowen vancouver and waiting at a light in her car. people were walking in front of her, naturally, as it was a crosswalk. when all of a sudden someone plowed into the back of her and sent her into the crosswalk into a pedestrian. the person in the crosswalk was ok, more or less, and the person who had hit her had gotten out of his truck - i believe it was a truck - and was now drinking a litre of pop he had in the back of his car/truck. turns out he was loaded, in the middle of the day on a sunday. and more than that, he was driving a VANOC vehicle and was an employee of theirs.
nice.
now we all know how slow it can be to get things even somewhat settled, but she had a cheque in her hands days later for 23K to pay for the car. the ICBC portion of the accident - the injury portion, i think, may still be ongoing, but VANOC gets the gold for the fast payment.
i believe the driver is being charged as well - and why not...he'll get his own gold.

ok..

go canada.

g. xo

night time at the taco shack

you better fuckin' run!

i decided today to leave sayulita today before i wore out my welcome at terry, sheryl and jasmine's...and i have to say - seeing them in their new setting and the house they've bought and turned into a little home away from home for those who need one (for 50 bux a night...) was well worth the drive down. i do love those kids...they really are special people to be sure.
i know to some these drives i do make no sense when there are planes and trains and such but, i love driving...and i know it often seems even more weird that i only stay in place a few days, or less sometimes but, that's just the way i do it...i have to keep moving and see what there is out there. i did manage to read on the beach the other day, relaxed a little but that was that and now i'm back on the road.
the weather was fucked today and it rained a great deal for the better half of my drive today. it didn't clear up until i got near culiacan - the illegal drug capital of mexico (i'm not kidding..)..and it was there that i nearly ran out of gas today...that would have been wicked. running out of gas where they have strung up guys from overpasses...of course last night i was reading all about the drug trade in mexico. man....serious shit. don't tell issy...
they have these random check points on the highway down here and i manage to make it through all of them no problema...they're usually just looking for fruit but sometimes they're looking for other 'stuff'...i saw some guys who, i guess, they thought had some 'stuff'...and they were basically taking their car apart and putting all the parts on the road next to the car. as soon as i was waved along...i made my way outta there.
i'm holed-up again at the best western in navajoa. and after having a few carne asada tacos at the stand down the way have decided to hunker down and get some sleep...
i'll continue north tomorrow with a few little stops and should be back across the border tomorrow night or the next morning. i'll need to grab a bottle of this, some of that, and then head into arizona to see spike.

g. xo

in case you've forgotten...

mmmmm....dinner.

see ya sheryl!


huh?

nice mazatlan hotel.

some folks who live outdoors near mazatlan.

fucking rooster. one of many.

the famous agave plant. as far as the eye can see...in fact, both eyes.

see ya terry! thanks!

even me....

...drinking beer..not a lot but i have been enjoying a beer or two at night with the kids here.
it rained last night and there's a dampness to sayulita today. i think the roosters got wet and that makes me somewhat happy - though i did have ear plugs in last night and that seemed to help.
ok. i'm packing up and heading north. i should be back in tucson in a couple days - depending on what i find along the way back - more road side mystery meat tacos and other such things.
have fun today...

g. xo

sayulita burrito report.

ok.
i know a couple people who have been waiting for this so here it is.
there's a place here, in sayulita, called burrito revolution. they loosely use zapata and che as characters on their t-shirts and in the advertising but make no mistake, these guys are all business and less about politics and they're striking images used in a fun way and not politically and they mean it when they make you a burrito. i would call this joint a nuevo burrito place and really it's not more than a burrito stand nestled into a corner of a block and not a restaurant per sa. a few bar seats and a few at a make shift counter on the sidewalk make up all the seating. the revolution may be in the ingredients or in the prep. of the burro but no matter how you slice it, and they do for some reason, it's a good burrito worthy of a solid 8.5. instead of the traditional, if there is such a thing since it's not really a traditional mexican food (but instead think of it as a thing unto itself and the traditional burrito you know and love...make sense....for get the country...) a steamed or slightly fried tortilla then filled with goodness and rolled and given to you in a foil wrap or on a plate...well, they do it slightly differently here. they grill up the meat, in my case i had some chicken, add the other goods - mine was loaded-up - beans, avocado, tomatoes, cheese, etc...and then put on the grill to cook a little more giving the tortilla a slightly brown action. nice.
what results is a very fresh tasting burrito that rivals many i have had elsewhere but since it's not offered in a 'wet' form or smothered or...it doesn't have the same impact as a la bonita chicken/relleno mole burrito or a fully loaded grilled pork burrito in santa cruz...or, heaven forbid, the original el presidente, but it's still a solid, fresh addition to my best of. they do, however, offer up three different home made sauces that you can accent your burro with...all very good and very much different from each other...awesome.
ok.
i think that about does it.

go eat some dinner.

g. xo


the sliced in two - something i'm not big one - burrito revolution fully loaded chicken burrito.

your sauce awaits.


raine and graham walked by as i was mowing down my burrito...graham thinks the burritos at the revolution are great. so do brent and mina who were here last week and ate a few themselves.