dinner, drinks, downtown...

where to start...
hhhmm.
ok.
after arriving here wed. afternoon, and walking the thirty blocks to the wonderful YMCA - i have a dorm/prison cell style room there - i made my way out and found ailsa and fiona walking along the street after completing one of their many adventures - statue of libery, empire state building, etc...we hung for a bit and later that evening had a very nice dinner at a joint called puttanesca with dorothy and tom.

in the mornings here i get up and get my shit together and then head over to where they are staying which is approx. ten blocks from the wonderful Y. the walk is an easy one and i kinda like it. thursday ailsa and fiona and i made our way over to the museum of natural history and attempted to have a look at everyhting but it's so over whelming and you really would need days to see it all so...we did our best (i had been there in the early 90's so i was a little ahead of the curve but not much) and then called it a day. (we actually did a little then met up with everyone for lunch over at a burger joint called the shake shack and then went back to the museum for round two.)

after a short relax at the hotel, not the fabulous Y, we headed to the subway to get ourselves out to the new yankee stadium in the bronx. i had hoped to see a mets game while here but they're outta town so yankees it was - and i was kinda stoked to see the new stadium. fiona got the corn dog she had heard so much about, ailsa and i had some nice italian sausages and beer and peanuts so all was well at yankee stadium. we met the four guys in front of us and they turned out to be great guys - all in the banking or insurance and one of them, john, actually lives near philadelphia and gave me his card and told me to look him up if i wanted to see a phillies game. nice.

friday. yesterday was roaming around central park with gavin, fiona and ailsa and for a little bit dorothy - but she had to leave us to go get her nails done and then have a nice lunch out - fiona had never had a hot dog from a street vendor so fiona and i had hot dogs and ailsa had some sort of meat treat i can't remember...then it was time for some mr. softie ice cream and the zoo...i didn't go in the zoo but instead waited outside and decided to get some shut eye until the park cop told me i couldn't sleep on the bench...you can't smoke in the park either but as he was telling me to not sleep in the park, there were three guys right next to me all hacking butts...

last night was the rehearsal dinner down in soho with michelle's parents, her sister's, brother and all our team - tom, doro, fiona, and gavin. i, sadly, can't remember the name of the joint but it was great. we had a table downstairs in a wine cellar and it was a set menu of (kinda) tapas and everything was great. tom made a speech he was very nervous, in advance, of giving but did very well and should be proud of himself. good work tom.

then it was time for bed - even though i had been told lambchop was playing across the water in brooklyn....dorothy had pointed it out in a magazine for me...if i see them again it will be in seattle..
and now...the big day. later on the girls are all getting their faces on, hair done, dresses set and shoes on. i'll be sporting my suit, such that it is, and we'll be heading to the wedding. it's sounds like a low key affair with the actual ceremony taking ten minutes and then it's drinks and food and dancing and a waffle truck shows up at 9:40 pm...i have to be in bed around 11 pm as i catch a train out of here tomorrow morning for washington, d.c. to see the nationals game at 1:30 pm sunday. nice.
later on today i'll hopefully be eating tacos out of a small window in the back of a mexican grocery on tenth ave - gavin has given me the goods on this and it sounds like my kinda deal so i'm going to seek it out. and if i'm still hungry i'm going to hunt down the fill your hole burger truck as well...go big or go home....or then go home.
ok. coffee time.


have fun.

g. xo

Dirty water hot dog

Internet is a bit of a nightmare at the Y so...no update but for those who care- all's well...some street meat, done museum action, Yankees game, dinner out with Ailsa, Fiona, tom and Dorothy to a nice Italian joint...dud a little laundry this morning, very exciting and I think today is a hangout/park day..

More soon including photos of the carnage.

g. xo

goes to show. communique from boston.

my flight landed at 7:30 am this morning but i wasn't able to check in to my hotel until 3 pm - which turned out to be half YMCA, half hotel...i dunno...and in the middle of nowhere, but that's ok...so i dropped off my bag and then went and had a nap in the park for an hour because i was too tired to go walk around. i was hoping i could get into my room before 3 pm. i was able to and had a little downtime between 11:45 and 2 pm or so...so i was good to go.

i dropped a few emails to leora, my pal here, and we made a plan to meet at the gate at fenway. i was very excited to go to fenway after a lot of years of trying to get there and with the help of jess and cam i was getting great seats as well.
now for those of you who don't know, i recently drove to boston and then flew to berlin to see lambchop - a great trip and a great show in berlin...and tonight, by complete fluke, lambchop were in town a few blocks away from fenway. so i bought tickets to see them in case we could make it. why not? they were 16 bux.

before i left vancouver i was telling he who can not be named on the blog that i was hoping to see lambchop and see the whole sox game and that i had, rarely, left a game early (i did once so i wouldn't have to see barry bonds hit in the 9th - he hit a home run as i drove away listening to the game on the radio, and the other time i left a long game in kansas city and bob hamlin, a player i loved, hit a game ending home run as i drove away listening to the game on the radio..) he who can not be named said i could have a pass since it was a kinda a road trip and i should try and get it all in...so.

tonight in the eighth the texas rangers were beating the red sox 8-2 we decided to leave to and go see lambchop. and then the texas rangers really went to town. the final score 18-3...good lord.

in the end it was a great day here. a heat wave is happening, i had a great walk around town, saw the red sox at fenway, saw lambchop at the paradise rock bar and saw leora, a friend of thirty years....i think. great.

tomorrow morning i'll be hitting the amtrak station and heading to NYC and meeting up with ailsa, fiona, dorothy and tom for some action in the big city - yankees game thursday, MOMA, and gavin's wedding saturday.
ok..bed time...

g. xo

more pics from the day below...

 

 

sodo steel scrap pile

it is just that. a scrap pile. of steel.

enjoy.

g. xo

gravel, red eyes, eggs and lunch with issy.

it's been a big few days.
corie and katherine had a few loads of gravel and sand delivered to their back yard and enlisted the help of the garbs and me to move the pile into place. they're redoing and augmenting the drainage in the back yard and the garbs and i couldn't wait to get at it...but of course we needed a nice breakfast at the slocan family restaurant first. and after we had eaten like champs we were ready to go.
it was a good way to start the day. seriously. get the blood flowing, help make something better helping out your pals...

then it was time to cut their lawn and head off to roma to meet issy for a little lunch. issy was in town house sitting and i thought a nice lunch at roma would be a great way to have a visit and for her to try the great food there...i was right. the garbs always loves having snacks with issy so he was excited to see her. good times!
then it was time for some cowboys hockey - we lost in a weird way...not to be gotten into here....and then...more lawns and burgers at garvie's for dinner. i was ready for some dinner buy then and a little relax for the rest of the night because there were more lawns to do sunday...
and so it was....four more lawns and errands to get ready to leave today/tonight for beantown and the red sox game and, possibly, lambchop show tuesday night. we also went to barbarella pizza last night so ailsa didn't have to worry about cooking before she and fiona headed off to their red eye flight last night - they are in nyc now and i'll hook-up with them wed.
ok...more action today before i can get outta here including a visit with mishi and lunch with juliete...
the bombers play tonight and i wish them good luck and hope they win so i can play some more with the boys when i get back...

nice.

g. xo

this just in....

lambchop is playing in boston tuesday night.

what the hell?


g. xo

corndogs and old dudes...

i have decided that on this trip, as short as it is, i'm going to be as organized as possible - not that i have been in the past but i do kinda let things just happen sometimes. and sometimes they don't. i don't always write addresses down because if i've been there once or twice i can, usually, find it again - i do possess a great sense of direction but sometimes the exact street eludes me. but i have printed off the flights and numbers, hotel addresses and yesterday got the yankees tickets in the mail - i really am a little bummed that the mets are not in town because the mets are baseball in new york for me, the yankees are...well....not. but i haven't been to the new yankee stadium and it'll be fun with garvie and fiona so...it's all perfecto. fiona is stoked to have a corndog and i think a baseball game is the exact perfect place to have one. i will not, however, allow her to leave the park with a yankees hat.
cam has been heading up the coordination of my boston red sox tickets and they arrived in the mail yesterday as well. sadly they were for the game on saturday not the game on tuesday...the tickets are courtesy of jess' uncle in boston who has season's tickets. so they have been sent back and the correct ones are being sent to my hotel, the fine constitution inn, in boston. all online reports suggest that it is a shit hole. i'm excited to find out. so a big thanks to cam and jess for making this happen...hopefully the front desk staff don't steal my tickets..
yesterday was interesting...lunch with he who can not be named on the blog - though i was suppose to be having an already scheduled lunch with the lovely miss marcy emery - which i did after my first lunch...(no, i didn't have two lunches but did race from one to the other after my brain made the connection that i was suppose to be somewhere else)...it was great to see marcy, who is looking great and seems happy with her life with the horses in the valley and her new man...not so new now but she's all shacked up and happy and smiling.
last night was the first bomber playoff game and it was a spirited affair. we played the north shore blazers, a team we had never beaten, until last night. we played a pretty solid game. lots of shots, heavy fore checking and finished up 4-2 in the end...but the best part, for me...is the chirping from the young guys on their team near the end. and maybe i didn't have the trash talk chops when i was that young either but really, they have to work on their material. it all centres around how old we are...our youngest player is, i think, 30 and our oldest 50...so they love to dish out the old guy comments. at one point i was getting a penalty of something and one of their players, a kid about 25, took one as well and as we were skating to the penalty box, he was going off about how old i was and a few other choice age related comments...i loved it. it's so good. especially when i told him how many goals i had scored and asked him how many he had...oh, none. and how the old guys were schooling him. at one point one of their guys yelled that i was 100 years old....LOVE IT! ah to be young. i will miss the second game of the playoffs but hopefully the bombers win the game and i can come home to more hockey. go bombers.
ok...off to get shit done.

g. xo

CU AND C?

huh?
so i drove over and dropped off my taxes today. good. all done. i get two done, one personal and corporate. no biggie. just is.
then when i get home this afternoon after cutting a couple lawns, i find a letter from canada revenue asking for $ 728.26 because they did a reassessment on my 2010 personal tax thingy and figure i owe them some loot. something about CU & C health services society and child income allowances and credits and....wtf?
good times.
a short concise and polite email has been sent to my accountant asking what the fuck?

rubber side down.

g. xo

jesus sees his shadow

well, that's easter for another year. jesus saw his shadow, bunnies delivered eggs and kids worldwide suffered severe sugar crashes around five pm sunday....as adults we delivered flowers, gave hugs and ate ham and/or turkey. i broke out larry and gave him a car wash and then headed out to deliver some goodies to issy and have a little visit and then head to garvie's parent's place for the hossdown. my new policy, like mine at xmas and other such pagen celebrations, is to eat one plate of food and one plate only. i go home without having to let my belt out a notch and not pass out on the couch after dinner while trying to have a conversation with someone.
today is hand in the paperwork and receipts for my taxes. i take one day - yesterday - to sort and calculate and today to deliver it all to my guy in north van. i'm always nervous but it always seems to work out....fingers crossed as usual. i need to find a box and some elastics but i'm basically done. i wanted to get that all sorted before i head off to boston next monday and i managed to do it...look at me go.
a little later today - before the rain comes - will be two lawns at opposite ends of the city and maybe a mirror hanging at ailsa's place. maybe. i've got it in the back of my car but i may need some help from the garbs....i'll just have to be able to find him...and i have a chiro appointment later as well so...maybe tomorrow.

have fun today.

g. xo

and now, season eight, lawn order.

yup.
the eighth year of cutting grass began today. who woulda thought it? not me, that's for sure. but here i am still stealing jobs from kids. and loving it - well, until it started to hail as i was going for lawn number five. maybe tomorrow or sunday. or monday. i'll get the trap line all set again and it'll all be great, and come july i'll be wishing for some rain...maybe even hail.

ok. i'm off to get some provisions for dinner tonight.

have fun.

oh btw...i still have blue lawn order shirts (not the nixons) in the classic (original) design. men's large and x-large only right now...

g. xo

hatzic action and couch thoughts...more of them.

so a little more...
i touched on the seattle sofa trip yesterday but will expand a bit here. even though the sofa made by steven anthony in california was a bust, i think i just got a lemon. i still love his sofas but have decided that i will not order one from him but will look for one on a showroom floor that i like and buy it. i am still open to other sofas but have not sen much that i like. i did go by design within reach in seattle to look at a number but in person it looked less appealing than it did on line. too bad. i went by area 51 in seattle, on mishi's recommendation, and saw that they had four or five steven anthony sofas. one too short, one amazing sectional, one with crazy fabric and one i am considering - but it may be too long. i had a couch 76" long, the one i bought from fullhouse was 84" and looked great in the room but it was subpar and had to go back and the one at area 51 is 90" and i think it may be too long. beautiful sofa. same style of sofa except with a different configuration. anyways...i'm thinking about it. a lot.

ok. that's the sofa update.

it was nice in mission today - it had the potential to be super shitty but it never happened. nice to hang out and have a few laughs with the boys, work on some gags, blow a little smoke...even if it took me and hour and a bit to drive home...all good.

now, after a long shower, a little relax.

have fun.

g. xo

Out in god's country

Floyd just emailed me to tell me that the picture of Richard ford had been up for a while and if everything was ok...yup, all's well. Still above ground. I was in Seattle yesterday looking at more sofas and having a lovely Mel at dick's burgers!
Today it's work action out in mission.... Can't beat it. It's beautiful out here but sadly you have to leave at 4:20 am to make it here for call time..I'm sleepy...
Tomorrow....who knows...

g. xo

reading instead of rocking

i saw yesterday that richard ford is coming to the vancouver international writers festival. cool. but who would have ever thought i'd be thinking about going to something to watch someone read from a novel? one i am going to buy and read anyways....but i am. forget the rock and roll...god dammit i'm going to rock out with richard ford....maybe. i haven't actually decided if i will go but i may...so even the thought of paying to see someone read freaks me out...is it an age thing? i remember seeing spalding gray years ago, twice in fact, and loved it, but he wasn't really reading from a book. i suppose richard will answer a few questions, chat a little. or chat a lot.

hhmmm

g.

design within 200 miles

after a day that started off pretty well, then became a bummer (for a few reasons), i ended up in a few furniture stores looking for a new couch to replace my new couch. and i'm here to tell you, the pickings in this city are slim...so, south i must go. i was on the 'design within reach' site and they have a couch, the Bantam, that i have to have a look at. i have a great chair i bought at Bombast in Chinatown, near storm salon, but they never seem to be open or return calls so as much as i'd like to buy local Russell, who owns Bombast makes it kinda hard to do so. nice sofas on their web site but hard to try if the doors are never open. Living Space near my place didn't have much that caught my eye and what did was over ten grand so that's out. i also went by the Style Garage, which is the storefront for Gus Modern out of Toronto. they have some nice stuff but i found i liked part of one sofa that i'd like to combine with another part of another sofa...and everything is made off shore and i'm not usually too fussed about that but in this case i'd like something that's made on this side of the ocean.
i work tomorrow but i think i'll drive to Seattle tuesday morning for a quick trip to the design within reach store in Belltown and see what's what...it looks awesome on-line, hopefully it'll look good in person as well...
today...a little house cleaning, contacting Fullhouse to arrange getting this couch outta here, Bomber hockey in the afternoon and then bed early as i have to be up at 4:00 am to go to work....

have a great sunday.

g. xo

sofa no more

so..the tale of the couch takes an unexpected turn....
fullhouse has decided they don't want to sell me the floor model either now, not because they don't like me, they have lost confidence in the company, steven anthony, that makes the couch and don't want me to have a bad sofa. they have had a little trouble recently with his couches and would rather have me have my money back and find a couch i will like and be happy with rather than have me return in a few months complaining about my sofa...and i respect that. i like that they are being upfront and honest. i still have no couch and now have to go back to looking around to try and find one i like and then...
anyhow. they have told me they will give me a couch to sit on while i find one i like - be it from them or elsewhere...that's very nice of them.
so...away we go.

g.

hello boston! hello new york city!

hey, didn't i just come back from the east coast? (the long way....) but yes i did. well, i'm going back. ailsa's brother is getting married in new york on the 21st of april and i am going to do my hair and put on a clean shirt and watch it all unfold.
years ago, so many, i decided i wanted to see every baseball team play at home and i have done pretty well but still have a few to go - including the boston red sox so, with the great help of cam and jess, i have tickets to the rangers/sox game on the 17th, so one more park will be taken care of.
i have also booked some tickets to the yankees game - hate the yankees but the mets are out of town - for the 19th with ailsa and fiona. i have been to a few yankees games but have not been to the new stadium so that's cool.
i am contemplating going to washingtion d.c. as well to see the nationals but we'll see how that goes...i was going to take a train to washington and then fly back to seattle from there. i'll let that one unfold as it does.

ok. i have a coffee date with mr. mushet at 9 am and then i egt to go get my new glasses at eyes on twelfth and then....a meeting with the owner of fullhouse about my couch and what's going to be done about mine...they have offered me the floor model, which i am cool with, but a discount should be in order. more details as this unfolds as well. lunch and art show with garvie and fiona....big day.

ok. have fun today.

g. xo

Señor sofa...gonzo

Well, after discovering a few too many things I don't like about the sofa - and we're talking manufacturing errors not me just not liking the thing... I'm now in discussions with Fullhouse about what is to be done. And it wasn't just me...the Garbs weighed in on the problems as did he who can not be named on the blog. And better yet, a friend of he who can not be named on the blog is a professional interior decorator and buyer of very high end furniture and she came over to have a look and gave it the thumbs down.
So...we'll see what happens but that couch ain't staying'.
I am bummed but want a piece like the one I fell in love with at the store - which may be the one I get in the end...some discounts may have to be applied..
Details as they come.

g. xo

i thought...

... i was just kinda bummed about the broken wood and less than perfect finishing on my new couch but...i just realized after sitting on it, in one basic position, for about an hour now....it's not comfortable.
i better learn to get used to this...

fuck.

g. xo

raiding trader joe's and the couch comes home....

damaged.
yes.
after all the waiting and the delays, the couch i ordered from fullhouse on fourth ave. - who i am really not so impressed with right now but that could change...maybe not.
anyways.
mishi and i decided to drive to bellingham today and make the rounds - which includes a trip to her favorite junk store, a little value village, la gloria for lunch and a huge run at trader joe's...some great crap in my pantry now. yup.
just as we were leaving bellingham, fullhouse called to say that i could pick-up the couch at their warehouse over near main street...sure. ok.
then they called to say i needed to pay them the balance before i could take it home. i told them i kinda thought i should look at it and make sure it was ok before i forked over the cash. makes sense right? could be damaged? or green instead of blue or?....i came home, dropped off my shit and went over to fullhouse and told them i wanted to put the while deal on my debit not my credit card but that they could take a swipe of my credit card and once i knew the couch was ok i would come over and pay them with my debit...nope, they were having none of that.
they came up with some other scenarios that were retarded and in the end i left my debit and credit card there along with my driver's licence so that i could go get the garbs and then go pick-up the couch, go back to fullhouse and pay for the couch.
when we got to the warehouse the couch was still completely covered in the plastic and foam and whatever else with a small part exposed so you could see the top fabric. so we just took it and told them we would inspect it at my place after we paid back at fullhouse.

which we did. both things. though, sidebar....the woman who owns fullhouse, who told me that a credit card imprint expires the next day - which is a load of shit since i had already used the same procedure to take a carpet home from their store less than a week previous and i told her so - was still at the store when we got back there to pay and she was on her cell phone talking shit with someone. she didn't so much as move, look at me, or say a word upon our return. no, 'how's the couch?', 'thanks for understanding about the money...', 'i hope you love the couch'....nothing. i'd say it's very unlikely i will be buying anything for fullhouse again....nice stuff...kinda shitty communication with the customer...and i'll tell you right now, i was at my most polite ever. just sayin'.

anyhow...we got it back to my place..
and low and behold...damage. the wood trim that was an option looked like someone took a a small hammer to it...so, a phone call was made and then an email was sent with pictures attached...(there are a couple of other things i'm not stoked about but i know i'm just being super fussy so i'm gonna let them go....)
the rest...not sure. but something.
then the garbs and i went to pronto on cambie street for some pork. that place is good. we'll be back....good stuff...more of a report on this joint later...but enough to say that it's garbs approved.

g. xo

issy birthday pics...

issy wanted a steak and a nice salad. i reminded her that she had loved the triple mushroom demi-glace reduction steak thingy at the cactus club - the food is very good there now since rob and elizabeth took over .... so...away we went...the garbs and mishi met us there and it was on.

(issy pulled out her camera a few times - a camera i bought her after i saw the old camera she was using one day - and when i saw it and tried to make it work and couldn't, decided after dinner we would all head to london drugs and get her a new one, which we did....pretty exciting!)

anyhow...nice dinner....(sadly ailsa and fiona couldn't be there with us ....then it would have been a party...!)

g. xo