trim-a-roo sunday.

i have a tree on my deck that needed a trim and while i had a decent idea of what needed doing - i wanted to consult the pros so that it continued to grow and not die by my hand. i asked around and then remembered that chelsea - who i know through my many meals at topanga cafe (she works there) and her boyfriend drue, collectively as growing green organic land care - or at least that's their company's name, did such things...so i enlisted them to do the trimming. and i'm happy i did, it looks good now, while much smaller, and will, hopefully, grow out now much fuller come spring and summer. i thank them for coming by and helping me out...
it was a busy weekend...ran some things to my accountant yesterday - a big cheque i'm not crazy about having to write but what can ya do?, ran larry through the car wash and put his new collector plates on him - pretty exciting, did a little work down at storm salon, watched beverly hills chihuahua, did some bbqing at garvie's, had a meeting with damon about lawn boy and how to get more of the ducks in a row, and few other errands...gettin' shit done...i like it.
tonight a movie at ailsa's after a groovin' pasta dinner and then beddy-bye early as it's a school night...

have a great week....

g. xo

tree trimming action...

old school pizza night

the end of the first week on number four...nice. last week it was a movie about animated rodents, this week a movie about vampires. it reminds me of the night i went and saw dolly parton at the pne and then afterwards headed to 86 st. to see george clinton and Parliament. pretty cool.



i called mishi and asked her if she and the garbs wanted to get some food...as it turned out the garbs was hungry so we were off. i have been having a craving for pizza lately and mishi had suggested george's pizza up in crazydale - a place i had talked about before that has been there for ages...so off to george's we went.

and it was good...so good we needed dessert after at meinhardt's on granville.
now...a little tv and a nice nap.

night night

g. xo

cart-horse horse-cart

so i kinda fucked-up.
shocker. i know.
but it's true. i had a photo thingy made for floyd - with great help from cam (thanks baby...) - and output it in the size i thought would be best...it wasn't ready to go when we went to floyd's so i took over a proof to show him and as it turns out, he likes the proof size and thinks the 'real' size would be too big...so...i now have a huge photo of my father and me (approx. 48" x 30").
and.
nowhere for it to go...so, it may be up for grabs. (though the thought of anyone wanting a photo of me and floyd in their home eludes me...especially one mounted on 1/8" aluminum with a mounting bar on the back and cleat for the wall...lol.) anyhow.
a new version of the proof size is being made and will make it's way over to floyd very soon.
the good times.
they're right fuckin' now.

g. xo

island action and day one on four.

garvie and i headed over to victoria on the weekend to see floyd and janine and give them the mole i brought back from mexico for them. i also had a set of speakers to give them and i had a photo i wanted to give floyd as a housewarming present - that part didn't go as planned but...more on that later...maybe.

it was really good...i helped floyd do some work around the house, ailsa and janine went for a long walk through the 'hood and we ate like champs - we brought lunch along and floyd cooked a great meal for us - floyd does the veggies and various goodies and janine grilled up some wicked steaks...at the end we enjoyed floyd made pecan pie complete with moose tracks ice cream - an ice cream with steaks of chocolate and peanut butter in it...nice.

janine's daughter, tracy, came for dinner as well with her daughter maya. maya is a three year old with a eight year old - or more - vocabulary. she's hilarious.
pretty good action.


today was day one on a new film job - a film that is the fourth movie in a series...why have one when you can have four? good times. i'm happy to be back at the BOC working with the boys - i believe corie starts next week so we'll be complete then. katherine is also on this show so it's all good.
i'm off to show the gastown apt. tonight to a few folks - hopefully they all show up like they say they are...and when i get home the roast i put in the oven a while ago will be ready to at least taste and see how it's going...

have fun...

g. xo

more from the weekend...

we ate at a bbq joint called pig. pretty good...

they just put stuff right on the tray...on wax paper.



this elevator is in the same building as pig.

more food at floyd and janine's.


garvie outside pig...happy to have eaten a great lunch.

she and maja playing.

fawn's big brother

the fawnz sent me this thingy...

listen up!

Hi There,

One of our initiatives this year is to generate awareness that Big Brothers’ has volunteer opportunities for women in the In-School Mentoring Program (ISM). As such, we launched a campaign entitled The Search for 100 Women in 100 Days to raise awareness that Big Brothers is not just for the boys. More information about the campaign itself can be found at www.notjustfortheboys.com. This campaign started on November 29^th and will end on March 8^th which marks the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day. A committee of female ISM volunteers is helping us spread the word with the tagline you know you wanna tell someone. We have just under two months to find 80 more female mentors.

Given each of you sits on one of our Boards and is likely regularly asked why you sit on the board for a seemingly male based organization, I thought perhaps you’d be interested in helping us with this campaign. It’s very simple. All we’re asking is that people talk about ISM and how women can volunteer with either an elementary school aged boy or girl.

A few things you could do include:

· Update your social media with a link to www.notjustfortheboys.com

· Send an email to some of your female friends or family

· Talk to people at work about it

· Ask your company if they would be willing to host a lunch and learn

Really, we just want you to help us spread the word. Even if we don’t get 100 women on board by early March, we are happy to generate awareness. But of course 100 new volunteer would be fantastic too!

Please let me know if you have any questions and have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Ashlee King

Marketing and Communications Manager

Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Foundation

604.876.2447 x242

strawberries

ok. so they're not in season but a guy i work with has a greenhouse and grows organic - not certified but he's the one growing them and says - scout's honor - that they are not fucked with...
anyhow...he has them, frozen strawberries, for $5.00 a pound...if you want some let me know and we'll figure out how to get them to you - cash on the barrelhead.

g. xo

the longer you wait....

hey there...

so i don't have a post so much as i have a listing..again. i mentioned a while ago that my place in gastown was coming up for rent, and then i had someone, and now i don't...so...

if you know anyone who would like to or needs to rent a place, let me know.

here's a link to the craigslist ad i just placed - know that if it's a person i know or is referred to me the price will be less....

garn xo

como lake

yesterday, after i dropped-off andrews's truck, i had to walk about 40 minutes down como lake road then down north road to get to the skytrain. como lake rd. is a long stretch that runs, sort of, through the middle of coquitlam, and it's, seemingly, the land of the home that time forgot. i am going to go back and take pictures of some of the homes along that stretch as i find it all kinda interesting. homes that haven't been painted since the 70's or earlier, cars in yards, some clean and tidy but they look like they were just built and have fresh paint but like they would have been in the era in which they were built originally.
the pic above is a corner store along that route that i drive by quite often.

have a great monday.

hockey time warp and sunday skytrain action.

yesterday was a day to get shit done, catch-up and play some hockey...
mishi and i went tool chest shopping in the morning while the garbs held down the pickle. and after a few stores mishi grabbed a nice number from the ukranian tire over on grandview highway - it'll be a nice addition to the pickle.


after the shopping fun i met-up with megan - who i don't think i've seen in many months - and had a sandwich at the cheese cave on commercial and then a nice coffee at prada - a full commercial drive day for me. (later on i would have a burrito at red burrito so it really was a day there...) it was good to see her after so long and give her the bag i brought back for her from mexico.
then it was cowboys hockey with senor tornack - a game that was weird and odd and not well played and full of bouncing pucks and...we lost. but still good to go skate. then it was time to skate more - after a nice visit at corie and katherine's place (they've really done a great job renoing that place...they should be very proud...). the next gane was out in tsawwassen on a team bomber matt plays on - the bruins...and it was funny because the team we played against - the pirates - is made up of guys i used to play with on THC and other teams. it was a trip back in time for sure.


this morning i took back andrew's truck - i had been borrowing it because i lent the new element to cam and blair to help them out as they were going to apex to play hockey this weekend - and then took the skytrain back home...the skytrain is awesome...
now....lunch..and then later on, yogi bear with garvie and fiona...i'm excited!

g. xo

issy's new action, from parts beyond and make-up chocolates

issy loves her new computer.

big day.

after work today i headed out to issy's to give her my old imac - which is really only a year and half old i think...pretty good computer action. her old imac was i need of replacing so away i went. now she can skype with video, i showed her more action on itunes and how she can listen to internet radio, etc...she's ready to rock now. go issy.
while i was there i picke-up my package that i had mailed from mexico to point roberts, that issy was good enough to go and get for me today - and surprise! everything was in there...the bags, the clothes...all good. thanks issy!!!

and then, on the way home, i stopped by the kinkos/fed-ex office on broadway because there was something there for me - or so fed-ex told me. i wasn't expecting anything so i was curious what it was. turns out it was a little 'i'm sorry' from fed-ex over the hassle with the new computer i bought from apple and the delivery bullshit that came along with it. some chocolates. nice. thanks fed-ex...

stew at work today making shit happen.

i'm beat. i need a nap.

night night.

g. xo

and so...

it's here. in issy's hands and i'll see it tonight - the long lost package from oaxaca. now i'll get to see what customs took out of it.

thanks issy!

g. xo

like it never happened...bonus round - package makes it to the point.

i have never mentioned this before but i will now...actually i'm not going to now. i don't think. i was going to talk about how it's kinda funny, but not really, that if you go to wikipedia or whatever it's called and look up Nightlines or Radiosonic or Realtime, all shows i worked on, a lot...there's no mention of me. at all. i was going to say how i was basically blacklisted from there by someone, who is still there, who wanted to get ahead in the corp. and had a very clear agenda, etc. and that he is still there now and that i'm happy i am not. my life is better without the CBC in it (very much so.) - i make more money than i would have ever made there and have less can-con bullshit in my life. but i am still in a little wonder about my obviously intentional ommission from the pages that talk about these shows. i was gonna talk about theft i knew about by producers and researchers during my time there, but why bother? the CBC is a place that eats its young and for all it's liberal trappings is a very conservative place run by old people - and they're spending your money unwisely. i hadn't listened to the CBC for years and years until recently when i heard it because garvie listens to it. it's bad. and radio3 is some kind of cruel joke played on the nation. who listens? no one i know. i know this probably sounds like sour grapes and there may be some, stored away somewhere but, i rarely think of my days there - much like i don't think of my days at the railway club either (two places that have one thing in common - there are some serious career drunks at both places.) i also only thought of it today when someone i know, a local musician, asked me about someone who i used to work with there, and i told a few stories about how he had fucked the mothercorp by stealing some pretty pricey gear to use at home for his home sideline business. and when the mothercorp found out, they did nothing. they didn't care. most people at CBC, when i was there, were too scared to say anything about anything because they didn't want to lose their job...some because it was the only job they'd ever had and if they ever had to get a real job they'd be fucked because they had no real world skills.
oh..i should stop. i'm glad i'm not there as i would have turned into just another asshole that works at CBC..instead i'm just another asshole that works in film and cuts grass.

oh. on another front, my package from mexico is, apparently, in point roberts. somewhere.

garn xo

2011 updates...

i case you were thinking i was getting soft in my old age...i'm here to set that straight. a little.
some things never change.

- laurie mercer is still an asshole and still owes me money. i'd like to see him just to kick him in the shin.

- rick rock/priske is also a fucktard and also still owes me money. i will get it one day. i promise.

- the mexican post office web site still shows my package as being in san francisco - though it never actually went through there at all. and is now shown on the US postal site as being in Everett on it's way to Point Roberts. note to self - don't send anything to or from mexico ever again.

- i find oranges a hassle. i love them, but the peeling process bothers me but, lately i've taken to it and have eaten a fair amount of them in the past two weeks. nice.

- wanna feel better? like smoothies? try putting hemp hearts in when you make one. not hemp seeds, hemp hearts. you'll thank me later.

- go have some toast.

g. xo

way under.

this is some good shit. really. i like it. sloppy, graphics based art stuff, man. kind of a messy steve espo powers....or not. check out his work here....oh, his name is rob tucker. he's from new zealand.

g. xo

to live and be sent from LA

well, it appears to be on its way...my package i sent from mexico many moons ago. it left mexico city, then went to LA, sat for a while in customs and has now left. i wonder what they took out of it at customs...

g. xo

ones comes back, one's on its way...

is this a snow day? on the way to work this morning cknw radio listed off all the schools that were or are going to be closed today and it made me think that there'd be a lot of baking going on today...on days when i would stay home from school, or before i went to school, issy and i would bake things as a fun activity. we also played a lot of card games that helped me to learn how to count and hone my bluffing skills for later in life.

last night, after work, i met-up with morgan and picked-up a framed photo i had lent him a few years ago. i originally got the piece from my friend (?) jamie sinclair who had made it and had had it shown in a few galleries here and there. when i was living in gastown, one day this huge plywood crate showed-up and inside was this photo and he said it was mine. it's kind of hard to explain but it's a b/w picture of the prairies (?) and an acetate piece hangs in front of the photo - hanging out about 5" from the frame - and falls about 1/2 way down the height of the photo. the acetate has pictures of suburban homes all over it in rows. anyhow...now i have it back and nowhere to put it. so...if you have a blank wall you'd like to fill up let me know. it's a great piece with or without the acetate.

the piece i bought from ronnie p. will be here soon - i hope, and when it does get here i'll be getting it framed and then i'll show you what's what...exciting.


g. xo

more En Via

i have spoken of this before and will again...and probably again...but En Via, the miscro-finance group i am trying to help out by doing some work for them - cam is also lending a very big helping hand - have just gotten incorporated in mexico and can now accept donations - if you care to give. they have also just uploaded a video - made with the help of alex levy (he of various appearances on the blog while i was in mexico) and it's on youtube if you care to have a look. (you'll have to turn it up a little as the people speaking are hard to hear sometimes...)
good stuff...i tried to watch it but couldn't as seeing myself on camera sends me into a tizzy.

have a look at the video here.

g. xo

on track...

i met with damon yesterday and hashed out some more ideas for the 'mocumentary' i wrote and am now trying to get shot - i kinda dropped the ball last year on this and am now hot for teacher and moving ahead to get this thing shot in march or april - pretty exciting. damon and i - both bombers - are enlisting the help of other bombers (some know, some don't...yet) to get this thing done. (funny how many pros i am surrounded by....) it was a great meeting yesterday and i'm even more stoked than before.
nice.

it was a bit of a domestic day yesterday - garvie and i washing our resepctive cars out the BOC, having a nice casual lunch at solly's bagels, going to the island to see the kids at the pickle - senor tornack was there as well, buying some snacks for dinner - nice bbq's chicken tacos with all the fixin's...and then a casual night at home catching up with desperate housewives and some 60 minutes...goodness.

oh..i forget to say, we saw black swan at the fifth ave the other night...um, and i'm not sure what to sat about it. i will say this, it's dramatic, it's maybe funny where it's not meant to be - people were laughing as did i (out loud), but maybe it's nervous laughter - i dunno, and it kinda goes off the rails a little but it's totally meaning to - as far as i could see. natalie portman is great as the crazy ballerina but overall i'm not sure i can give it a thumbs up...but the weird factor is quite high. just sayin'.
and...for those scoring at home, the package i sent from mexico is now somewhere between mexico city and san francisco...so they say.

have a great monday.

g. xo

i love the garbs. i really love the garbs.

today i was trying out my new camera - which i love thus far - and my subject was the garbs. garbs was doing his best bob faces today. and i captured a few of them.

g. xo

a celebration of ages...

today started with something good and then, later on, something sad - even if expected.


sure, it elvis' birthday but it's also my dad's. yup, today is floyd's birthday and i learned today, after ailsa had called him to wish him a happy birthday - i sometimes call him on his birthday but don't say the words ' happy birthday' because as a kid growing up i was told, basically, not to - that now it's a-ok to say the words...so i did. he's still a young fella and he sounded well and happy and ready to have a nice relaxing satuday at home...happy birthday floyd!
and...


it is with a heavy heart that i relay the news to you that Tiny, fawn's not so tiny cat - has left us. Tiny had been fighting cancer and ailments that come along with that shitty disease and today lost the fight. Tiny was in the neighbourhood of 12 and could possibly have been the biggest, and most loved cat i have ever had the pleasure of meeting. see ya Tiny!

g. xo

frenzy.

i have from time to time, or at least a few times, bought things i have long wanted to have, for two reasons - one: to enjoy them because life is short and come on, live it up two: maybe in the future sell them and make a tidy profit and use that money to buy a house or...who knows. of course, these purchases have generally been art related, and today is no different.
in a weak moment i bought a piece today that i have been wanting for a few years now. and i'm pretty happy about it. above is a sneak peek.

g. xo