drive, lie down, drive, walk around, get more drinks...repeat...

oh...ok.
i left san francisco last night around 7 pm but got caught in the traffic from the 49ers football game so it was slow going...i only got to just short of redding but was starting to fade so i pulled over and gave into it...
it was a long haul today - one i have done more than a few times before but this back thing really takes it out of me and makes it hard going...it wasn't all bad, the drive, but there were sections where the pain and numbness took it's toll and forced me off the raod. i'd have a little lie down in the back of the car or walk around the rest areas and try and loosen-up. it woked most of the time but sometimes it was not so good...
i was popping pills like a junkie at some points but not getting good results but it was what i had and that coupled with the shifting in the seat made it bearable....
i made my way to portland and had a little look around - a stop at upper playground, compound, levi store, missing link, mac store and then my last stop, la bonita, for a last mexican meal...i mixed it up a little instead of a burrito i had the enchilada dinner...nice. then it was time to come on home...
oh, and there was a stop in seattle for some coffee and a dick's burger....now i'm home and tired and need a nap...

more later.

g. xo

a little la bonita action.

ladies and gentlemen - the el presidente. a great burrito in its simplicity.



more santa cruz.

dick's.




look closely at the gas prices to the right. notice the difference in price between self serve and full service. yikes.

oh my achin' neck!

ok...so maybe driving all the way to santa cruz with my back and neck the way they are wasn't a great idea. but then again, it was a great idea. i needed to get outta dodge and what better place than here...well, i guess there are other places that are great but i love it here. last night after the giants/pirates game - which was great - i headed up to the castro district where my pal sheryl now lives. she used to live in los gatos - home of the el presidente - but has now moved into the city so...we walked around for a couple of hours with the idea of getting some food but in the end all we got was ice cream...great ice cream but not really food. not that it mattered, i was still full from my pancho villa green chili pork burrito a few hours earlier. i had actually ordered chicken but ended-up with pork so...pretty good stuff. durig our walk sheryl asked me why i was going to santa cruz...i have to admit i really have no great answer when asked this. but i guess just tht i'm drawn to this place for some reason. sure, i don't surf, i'm not really a beach guy...so what is it?...i came here a few times by myself years ago, and once on a roadtrip with a friend but it was never really a plan. to come here, i just ended-up here. then it became a plan. all of a sudden. i would make sure i came here if i was in san francisco or on my way back from LA or arizona. judy, tom's wife, grew-up here and i feel close to that family through my association with topanga and tom. when tom died just over two years ago i started putting tom and santa cruz together, even though he never lived here, it was jusy's hometown but tom has spent a lot of time here and when i'm here i think about tom. he was a great guy and taught me a lot about 'stuff' and as we sat sometimes at topanga eating and drinking he would help me through tough times, give sage advice and say things i can not repeat here. ever. ans so santa cruz has, perhaps, a calming affect on me...or something. i come here, i roam around, i sit near the loner surfer statue, look out at the water, watch the surfers, read the paper, drink coffee...and just do that until i'm done doing that. sometimes i'm here for a few hours, sometimes all day, and, like last night, sometimes i sleep in my car near the beach on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and wake-up to the sounds of sea lions barking. pretty good. it's a good town and i know there are a lot like it scattered along the coast but this is the one i like.
later on i'll go and get the world famous - or at least to me it's famous and i'm gonna try and make it more famous - el presidente burrito at andale in los gatos. i have just finished my breakfast which today was what they call here at the santa cruz taqueria, the 49 super sauce shrimp burrito...good lord. it was like trying to eat a burrito that was the same size as one of my forearms...
ok...
i'm gonna go walk around and try and digest this donkey i just ate.

more later...

i love you.

g. xo

the surf in santa cruz.


where i woke-up this morning.


my pal sheryl enjoying her ice cream.

after our ice cream.

the super sauce shrimp burrito. good god.



my view of the game last night.

more game shots.


pancho villa action....


the salsa bar at pancho villa.

the alley behind pancho villa.

let's see now....

i had a dick's deluxe for dinner and a cafe vita coffee for dessert....and for lunch tomorrow, an in-n-out double double...

where am i?

g. xo

stevie moves fast, i pull the trigger and chris gets topanga'd..

last year wendy's introduced a burger called the baconator and the garbs and i - but really more the garbs than me because i had just gotten back on the meat wagon - wanted to give it a go...but we just didn't seem to ever be able to pull the trigger. we'd drive by wendy's and give each other knowing glances but we just didn't do it...but yesterday as i was on my way back from langley with a car load of steel tube and chairs i decided that today was the day and pulled into the wendy's just off the highway and ordered up the prize. i had to. and for the record, it's not as big as the ad would have you believe...sure it has all the bacon and the double patty but, it's medium sized at best...tasty for sure but it looks nothing like the ad, none ever do, well, with the exception of the white spot double double which looks almost perfect....most look like cans of smashed assholes but not the white spot double double - and it's a wicked burger so...anyhow...
yesterday, after i got the tube back to the shop i convinced stevie janz that he should help me put it all together and after we mocked on up, actually we welded on right up, we decided to give it a full go today and make all the rails today. the rails are for the new headquarter store in richmond - a new store that should look great...so this morning i went to the shop a couple hours before stevie was suppose to get there and made all the plates and drilled all the holes, etc., so that when stevie showed up at 11 am we were ready to rock. and rock he/we did and by 1 pm we were done and the stuff was at the chromer down the street...is chromer right?...anyhow, they're getting chromed. thanks stevie...i then went, as part of our deal, and cut stevie's lawn and did a bunch of weed eating in his back yard....good deal.
i think i may have to break-up with one of my lawn order clients due to an over abundance of dog crap in thier yard. i made mention of this to them previously but when i was there today it was worse than ever...i don't know if i can go back....or maybe i should, since i'll only cut their grass two maybe three more times, just take the money and be done with it at the end of the season...i dunno.
i got some gas in my eye today as well when i was at joel's...so there i was in joel's kitchen trying to wash out my eye while joyce, joel's wife and fourth or fifth degree black belt, kept asking me how i got it in my eye and the kids did arts and crafts paying little attention. it was like of you were cooking and cuting peppers and then put your hand to your eye, except i was filling the gas tank and some gas must have gotten on my hand and then i rubbed my eye when i had an itch...and then wham! it starts to hurt more than...well, a lot of things...shitty...fine now, but shitty then.
tonight the garbs and i took chris from jj bean out to topanga for a snack. he'd never been so who better to go with than us?...it would have been that much better, as a guys night, if corie had joined us but he didn't make the scene...chris seemed to love his margs and his food so all in all it was a success....we dropped him off at his place just off main street a little tipsy and full of topanga goodness...good times...
ok...i'm sleepy...this is the second time i had to write all this as firefox crashed and lost everything the first time around....
plese enjoy the fine pics below....

g. xo

chris helps michelle garnish the food at topanga.

chris really enjoyed his cake.

so happy with his meal he had to jump.

the garbs joined in of course.

chris meets the man who made his dinner, serge.


stevie moves to fast to be photographed..

the baconator. tasty.

like being on parole.

it's a strange sensation driving a car after having a three month vacation from it. the steering wheel feels like it's in the wrong place, the rear view mirror somehow seems too small to actually see anything behind me, etc...it's weird. and to think it was three months ago that i had to hand it over, my license, seems so long ago but somehow i made it through without freaking out. i kind of made a decision when it happened that i had no choice but to not freak out. sure, there were days i say here thinking, "how the fuck am i going to get to (fill in the blank) without having a car?"...but i did, most times. there was just more planning involved in getting shit done, riding the loser crusier, slipping onto the skytrain to get to work at vancouver studios, enlisting the help of others when the need arose. and thanks to my pals for that....
thanks to issy who drove me to set one day at 6 am in delta like the champ that she is...thanks so much to ang and the garbs who helped in the biggest way possible keeping lawn order alive and functioning by driving and cutting along those three months, to shauna who gave me rides to the shop, around town to get shit done and in so many ways got me to where i needed to go knowing it was hard for me to ask, to marcy and mishi who both drove me a few times to get some lawns done when ang and garbs couldn't help me and sat there while i cut and then brought me back to home base, to cam and corie who made no bones about picking me up so i could play some bomber hockey, ian korver and eric who gave me rides to and from set so i could check out craft service and make a little cash as well...thanks also to the queen, k-win and the fawnz who gave me rides during my time in the penalty box as well....
so it is now that i drive around - or really drove around yesterday - constantly looking at the speed dial, making sure my seat belt was on, that i was usimng my signals, etc...scared t make one wrong move, but i made it through day one unscathed...here's to a hole lot more of that....

thanks again to everyone who helped out....

g. xo

razorburn....

oh god it hurts!!! make it stop...my face hurts....

i love you!

g. xo

watch as the face gets redder and redder...good times.

30/50/80

yesterday i went for a walk.
i had a dvd to return to the blockbuster at main and 14th so i decided to walk there. it was decent out and what the hell?....after i dropped it off i decided to walk down to granville island and see the kids at the pickle, but after getting there i saw that they had decided to take the day off...that's ok, i needed a pound of coffee at jj bean...hhmm, now what?...i thought, "i'll go get a snack at the templeton and see jessica and whatshername"....nope, not there once i had walked over the bridge to see them...ok...then i decided to go and see tropic thunder because i was told it was good....um...well, i saw it, and it was....well, it was a movie for sure. then home and later on out to vera burgers with my pal jane...nice...pretty good walking day....
today i have a ton of shit to do. cut a lawn, pick-up some steel in port kells, get some chairs in langley, go to the shop, plus a whole lot more...
good thing i have a car, that i can drive, by myself, on the road. legally.

back later...

g. xo

the time is now! lawn order swag!

ok..
so i've dragged this out long enough.
this week - hopefully - i will order all the new lawn order gear.
people have asked about ordering so i thought i'd post links so people can see the options for colors etc.

so...

the guy's t-shirts are at:

http://www.casualimpressions.ca/?q=node/103

the color choices are all there. the original lawn order shirt color was LEAF but there were some made in OLIVE as well...so pick a color and size and let me know.

the women's t-shirts are at:

http://www.casualimpressions.ca/?q=node/134

the original shirt was KELLY GREEN, but there were some LIGHT BLUE as well. again, pick a color and size and let me know.

and for hoodies....go here.

http://www.casualimpressions.ca/?q=node/378

pick a color and size and away we go. but please note, the darker the color the harder the design is to see....if you care....

shirts are 20 bux and hoodies are 40 bux.

let me know by the end of the week if you can.

g. xo

what are they saying?....

ang and i kicked some lawn ass today in north van and then headed over to whole foods to get some grub...i know, i know, "that's quite a report garn..." whatever. thanks ang for the help! we ate like champs and then got the hell out of there....
i stayed home and watched, for the first time, the show MAD MEN, after stealing the dvd from mr. tornack last night. i had heard a lot about it and while not completely convinced i did like it and will try another disc to see if i'm gonna continue. and for those who keep asking me if i've seen THE WIRE, i will very soon start in on that as well so i can change my answer from no to yes...first, however, i have to watch THE CORNER, which came before THE WIRE and was written by the same guy. lucy i got some watchin' to do....
fawn invited me to tag along with her and two other fabulous babes - tanya and jen with one N, to go see some action at bard on the beach tonight. it's usually bill shakespeare fair but tonight it was opera, don giovanni to be exact...pretty cool. really, i really liked it, them kids have some kinda pipes....thanks fawn!
ok..time for more pie thanks to that great pie shauna bought me...thanks shauna!

g. xo

me and jen with one N.

pie.


wicked sweaters at the bard thing tonight.

they can really belt it out.

i didn't have a clue what they were saying.

nice night.

fawn gives her patented hand shot.

peach pie, blue sky and bbq at corie's....and katherine's..

i just have to say...shauna bought and dropped-off an an amazing peach pie, from aphrodite pies on fourth ave, that was, well, amazing. actually, it's still amazing as there's still half left. the garbs came over today and missed it completely, good thing. he didn't miss the eggs, big yummy or bacon however. he was out last night at auntie fanny's 80th birthday party and was hurtin' a little. thanks for the pie shauna!
ang was here as well this morning and she enjoyed some coffee as well as some bacon...and then she split. afterwards the garbs and i rode our bikes down to granville island to see mishi and get a coffee. oh, and we saw chris at jj bean and have made dinner plans with him for thursday night. we're gonna take him to topanga cafe. he needs a burrito or two and a few margs. it'll be good for him. i'm kinda excited about it. i think he's a little scared.
dinner was at chez tornack which is now chez tornack-fraser...so great them kids is shackin' up. katherine had prepared some great grub that corie did up on the bbq...it was great...some pork tenderloin - which i have in my freezer and need to cook-up - some steaks and some salmon...along with some great veggies and such..thanks for dinner kids.
i then booked out of there to meet-up with megan. we had plans to maybe see a movie, rent one, or just watch tv...by the time she got her it was all about tv...and peach pie. we watched home reno shows and megan made comments about how stupid some people are/were while eating cereal...after she had goten over the pie.
ok...bed time...

have fun.

g. xo

kristy - who we ran into at the market - had bought a stuffed raven/crow for her husband...as was wearing it on her head.

nice.

bearded mouth breather

bearded coffee drinkin' guy.

corie's deck and all his freakin' tomatoes.

garbs gets down.