fire sale, old motorbikes and a new dinner date

a good friend and former member of the great mexican power rock band, pepe deluxe, rosa del chihuahua, has had a little bad luck and there may be a way you can help him out. rosa owns hacker design - a t-shirt and graphics company, and last week they had a fire so things are a little smokey...they've moved locations and could use a little work to help them get back on their feet. so if you need any graphics done or t-shirts made give them a call...tell them garn sent ya.
i also got a sweet picture in a text today of a motorcycle, NSU out of germany (the bike is 77 years old...) a guy i know just bought it and it's on its way over here from england in a big crate. pretty cool. last year he bought a bike like mine and now he's bought this...guys with money..
i had dinner last night with juanma, shauna's new man, he had a: worked very hard on my apartment painting it and such that i wanted to say thank-you besides the money i paid him and b: he seems like a good guy who needed to go out and have a few drinks with me...it was nice... a couple of guys out shootin' the shit. me trying some bad spanish every now and again.
oh...and bringing it full circle..if anyone needs anything done, from dog walking to painting to spanish lessons let me know and i'll pass it on to juanma.

ok. go have a day.

g. xo

if you see...

...a 4 x 6 enclosed trailer for sale - let me know. i have all but given up looking for one as it seems i'm fighting a losing battle. the trailer i looked at in portland sucked, the trialer sales guys all over the lower mainland and the island say it will take seven or more weeks to get one here...so i'm getting close to saying fuck it - the lawns are nearing the time i have to start cutting and my thoughts/plans of having a trailer by the time i started again...well, it's starting to fade.

so...

g.

erin meet sully, sully meet garbs, garbs meet erin....

today i gathered 'lawn boy's' main players - sully, the garbs and erin - and took them to a couple of the locations to run them through what's going to, hopefully, happen when it happens a few weeks from now. i want the thing to be fairly organic when it happens but wanted them all to meet and see the places so on the day, so to speak, it's not all foreign to to them...such good sports and i'm excited to be making this thing with them. we had a few good laughs and at the end i felt ever better about lawn boy.
then the garbs and i went for burgers at refuel.
seemed like the right thing to do.

below...the lawn boy main players...lovely bunch.

g. xo

issy's birthday taco party

issy and the garbs loved the taco action.






happy birthday issy!

g. xo

happy birthday issy!

yup..the big day is today!
happy birthday to the greatest mom ever...(i hope you all say that about your mom's as well...)
today i'm making issy lunch - tacos (pulled pork and halibut with all the goodies...) garvie is, unfortunately not able to jon us as she's under the weather so i'll have to eat her share...get better babe...
the garbs will be here to help out though.

g. xo

keys. to this. to that.

i have a lot of keys. well, i actually don't think i have that many but, some do. so..i took some off my ring - those i don't use that much - and keep them in my glovebox in case i need them.
i seem to have acquired a lot of keys that gain me access to different shops around town. i have keys to the pickle, keys to pacificwest special effects - tony's shop, keys to zircon enterprises - bill's shop, keys, of course, to the BOC, keys to propellor - pam, tobe and nic's place and keys to joel's trailer.
i also have keys to garvie's, issy's and keys to my place and my rental joint downtown.
i know where the keys are to judy's place - tom's old place.
i'm a regular Schneider.
it's been a tough week. here at work, in my head and, honestly, on my heart. things will pan out, i'm sure - for better or for worse. they always do.

i need to relax tonight.

g. xo

the weekenders

garvie and i hit the road friday morning and before you knew it we were in portland...actually nope, we weren't there that quickly as we did a little shopping along the way and then had to boot it to get to portland in time for them to not give our room away at the awesome boutique hotel - the jupiter. um... nope. not so fabulous. not really. truth is our trip, kinda tripped along at a weird pace initially and it all started with the jupiter hotel. more like stupider than jupiter. i knew it was a hipster hotel but nothing prepared us for the skit like characters at the jupiter hotel. we were the geezers. hitting on their turf. more beards than a main and fraser combined. and our room in the quiet section of the hotel wasn't. hipsters, little dogs and guys in toques and beards. nice. we ran into nick from destroyer there as they were playing there that night and he said the jupiter wasn't the place to stay. ever.
though i will say this - the restaurant at the jupiter - the doug fir - makes some great food and while dinner can be a test as it's very noisy, the breakfast vibe was much more sedate and worthwhile.
now we know.
we changed hotels and moved over to the moderna downtown...and really so. night and day between it and the stupider. like a real grown-up kinda hotel. because we're grown-up i guess. we went for a grown up mexican joint on belmont that's really great - i forget the name but will get that to anyone who cares to know...good food, nice service...all good.
sleeping in a decent hotel room with a great set of curtains and bed made a huge difference.
we went for a nice walk to stumptown for a coffee, walked around afterwards doing some shopping downtown and then headed off to get some lunch before making our way back to the 'couve.
all in all a nice weekend with a few bumps...(most caused by me and my lack of planning on the trailer front and my skitterness around that - i know about google map and should have used it...next time...) got a few new pairs of shoes, ailsa got some great deals on clothes for her and some for fiona as well, and we ate well but not a ton - which was about right i thought.

have a great tuesday.

g. xo

ailsa has a few pics on her camera but for now a couple shots...

the washroom door at the very hip doug fir lounge.

ailsa's enchiladas

my stuff relleno thingy ..


nick from destroyer tells us what's what...

what can i do?

i dunno...but i do know this - if there was a t-shirt that looked cool, that i could buy and the proceeds would be sent to the folks in japan...i'd buy it.

so i did. and you can too. right here.

just sayin'.

garn xo

to be not to be...

this is the question now for sure.
as you may or may not know, i am in the process of getting ready to make 'lawn boy', my mocumentary based on lawn order - my lawn cutting company. very loosely based. thing is, i'm at a crossroads - kinda - and am having a tough time deciding what to do - though my gut says just fucking do it...
this thing isn't gonna be cheap and i have to figure out/decide if spending thousands of dollars is worth it. (could be in the 'hood of ten thousand...) what do i want in the end? where is it going? what the fuck am i doing this for? i'm not a film maker...it keeps me up at night. i need advice. i really do.
most days i am less concerned with the cost and am just stoked to do the production and see it through but..man...today - i feel like a bit of a loser. or more an idiot. and not in my usual self deprecating way, but in a 'am i being realistic' way.
i've spent more crappy money than this on stupider things so ...maybe if i just sell some toys to help finance it - decent option i suppose...

g. xo

meatballs and coffee meetings

jerry pender - lawn boy's production manager

last night the garbs and i went to refuel for a last minute meal and, when we got there, i told him that it could be a little weird as i had been there for dinner the week before and had a less than stellar meal and had sent them an e.mail about it. and i was right...we were treated like gold. refuel really is great and they appreciated my candor and gave us a few little extras last night that helped put me into a heavy slumber once i made it home again...it was a bit of a super meat fest - even the garbs thought it was a huge meal. thanks refuel!

damon - without whom i'd not be getting this lawn boy thing done...

and thank god for jerry.


i woke-up very early this morning and after doing the laundry, cleaning up, etc. i walked downtown and met with jerry, damon and the garbs to talk over some lawn boy issues and ideas - the garbs gave me some gold ideas last night so it was nice to talk about them today and see what jerry and damon thought as well. we're about a month away from shooting so it's starting to ramp up now - pretty exciting...
after the meeting the garbs and i walked around a bit and ended-up at 'meat and bread' on cambie where we both hossed-down a meatball sandwich....pretty good stuff...you should go there.
tonight ailsa and i are going to la regalade for dinner - i hear it's fancy! it'll be nice to have a nice dinner with my ladyfriend.

have fun today!

g. xo

go see suckerpunch...

that's a sandwich!




the garbs after his sandwich.

bagel date

a year ago today i took ailsa for a bagel at benny's on broadway and, lucky for me, she's hung around for more food and adventures.

happy number one garvie.

g. xo

that's a lot of action in one place...

two things that have a lot going on - the db bistro burger and the new shoes from puma...sure, totally different but you could be wearing these shoes while having that burger (although after this week you're out of luck as far as the burger is concerned as db bistro is closing...)
as for the burger...pretty interesting. and complex. i'm not sure it's a burger you could eat all the time but it was great to have it last night. dan had mentioned he had a gift certificate he needed and wanted to use and invited me to dine with him tonight - well, actually last night but when we got there they were closed. so tonight it was. and because they're closing it's a packed house every night until the end of the week. so go now. the burger has so many things in it - foie gras, mushrooms - i think truffles actually, etc, etc...and it all dribbles down your hands and onto your rums and down your face - here's what the globe and mail says about the burger and the bistro's closing. pretty satisfying. thanks dan.

and them runners...i'm getting a pair of those fer sure. if you go to the puma site and have a look, you can see they have different color combos. nice action.
speaking of nice action. on sunday night ailsa and i took her parents and issy out to refuel for dinner. it was really nice to have all of us together for a nice dinner where no one had to do the dishes...we had some good food, had a few laughs, talked of future trips - issy with barbara driving to arizona like thelma and louise and tom and dorothy flying off to scotland to drive through narrow streets and drink finely crafted scotch. nice. good.
the apartment has been settling, naturally, and with it has developed cracks in the paint and such and all this week, so far, a woman has been in my place correcting these imperfections. i think she's gonna be done tomorrow sometime and, i have to admit, it's weird being at work knowing someone is in your place all day working, hanging out, waiting for plaster and paint to dry and, maybe, looking through your stuff - she could be and i'd never ever know. it's the truth. i have some problems with my hardwood as well but that's not her deal. i'm not sure who's it is. i guess i'll find out.

ok. sleep soon. it's been very busy at work and my brain is tuckered out.

g. xo

do it for alice

the fawnz sent me this...and if the friend of the fawnz' needs help - i'm gonna do what i can...and i like MEC.

..........

I'd really appreciate if you could help me with ensuring that my father-in-law, Bill Gibson, is re-elected to the Board of Directors of MEC this year. Bill is the former CEO of MEC - and one of their most valuable contributors. However, not enough of us voted and he lost last year he by ONLY 13 votes!

Having him back on the Board is something he'd personally enjoy AND it is essential that MEC has leadership like his!

SO - this request has a few elements … and each one counts in the campaign to elect Bill! Please do whatever you can to help.

#1 YOU need to vote. Everyone who has ever shopped at MEC can vote (that $5 you had to spend the first time got you a "membership card" .. And all "members" can vote).

Please request your election package: https://www.mec.ca/Apps/election/electionRequest.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302887427

ALSO - ask yourself: "Who else in my household can vote?" Should you get a package for your spouse?

#2 SPREAD the word. Even if you are aren't a member, many people you know likely are.
E mail: It would be greatly appreciated if you would forward this message to as many people as possible, along with your endorsement.

Facebook: we have just started a Facebook campaign called "I LOVE MEC": http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Love-MEC/175716239138237?ref=ts … if you are a Facebook user, please click on this like and hit the "Like" button…. Then… I'd ask you to use the "Suggest to Friends" button. IF you are so inclined, please add a comment about why you "Love MEC". People who join this group will eventually be asked to vote for Bill.

Your vote and the votes of your friends and family are very important to this campaign. If you are able to support, I would consider it to be a personal favor!

thrill my gorilla

today, as i was out driving around gettin' shit done, i was listening to the radio and they said that the horse to bet on today at hastings park was and is Thrill My Gorilla...i'll say! perhaps one of the single best names in horse racing ever. if i have a chance today i'm gonna put a hundred on that number.
the UV film looks pretty good - though it was hard to see in the light last night - or lack of it. this morning it looked pretty good - hard to tell there's even film on there except the color is slightly different...i like it.
ok. the pedal's the metal here so...

g. xo

sneaker action.

when i was in mexico and, because i had left my new balance at home, i bought a nice pair of adidas in a snazzy yellow and blue combo..nice action. now i see these numbers on the old interweb today. i may have to buy these.
summer's comin'.

g. xo

early worm.

the works for lawn boy are coming along. a d.o.p. / cameraman has been secured as has a fancy camera - have i told you this already? screw it - i'm telling you again...and even before it even gets going and is anything more than a bigger thought in my head day by day, i'd like to thank damon vignale for getting me going on this and his support and enthusiasm and....well, everything. i'm lucky to have him as a bomber brother. i sent cam an idea i have for the poster for this bad boy - cart well in front of the horse but we'll need a poster so why not start now?
speaking of film - i'm getting fancy UV film on my condo windows tomorrow morning to protect the furniture, wood floor and the various pieces of art hit by the sun. it'll make a huge difference to the place as it always looks better when the blinds are open and you can see out onto the deck.
also tomorrow some dudes are coming by to look at my geo thermal heat pump thing that has begun to make some noise. the neighbours' pump had to be replaced so i'm on this early so the warranty can take care of me if there is indeed a problem...lots of heat still - just noisy.
another potential tenant for the gastown loft bailed on me this week and i really can't be mad - but i can be dissappointed. they had been trying to get into a co-op for three years and just got the call so literally 1/2 an hour from meeting them and signing paperwork they called and said they were sorry but that they had to back out. bummer. for me. so i'm back to interviewing potentials again tonight. so great. at least i have a full month until i need to get someone in there.
tacos today with senor tornack downtown...good snacks. i've been kinda bummed lately and when i get home at night can hardly even think about food, so i have been eating packs of stoned wheat thins instead of cooking. nothing on them, just the crackers. i like them but i know they're not meant to be a meal.
ok. that's it.
i'm off to meet the new folks in spookytown.

g. xo

welcome to march. post 2500.

i got nothin'.

welcome march. we hope you leave like a lamb.

g. xo