hands on, hands up...

a few things...

i know i have lost some interest in the NHL over the last few years but i think it may be reaching a high water mark. i turn on games, thinking i'll settle in after a day of cutting grass and watch a game, but quickly become disinterested and find myself surfing to other shows or cleaning the house. though seeing pavel datsyuk throwing some fists last night gave me some faith i could still be interested - and i'm not a fan of the fights...
i will say this...
i love being unemployed during october - not that i wouldn't go to work if there was some right now - but i do love watching the baseball playoffs. love it. and the games thus far have been great. i know most of my pals hate or at least have a strong dislike for baseball but it's a great game. in terms of a game that has remained, basically, unchanged for a hundred years (with the exception of the designated hitter rule in the american league..) it's awesome. bats made of wood - no exceptions, balls, strikes, guys running around bases, guys throwing balls around, peanuts, etc...(i know, i know, drugs have changed the game but that's not baseball, that's idiots taking drugs and drugs are in every game. i'm talking about the game itself. a pretty pure game. i try not to pay attention to the fact a-rod makes 33 million a year doing it - that part is retarded...but the game. the game is amazing. and perfect as is.) and while i love hockey, the changes in hockey sticks, equipment, four on four overtime, shootouts, etc..kills me.
just sayin'.
after cutting yesterday i just didn't have it in me to drive downtown to my hair appointment so i decided to walk....and my walk took me across the granville bridge and, of course, down granville street. now, i don't wanna sound like a guy dissing the downtown scene but, wow, that stretch of granville between drake and robson is nasty. crappy restaurants disguised as 'classy' joints, terrible bars, drug dealers, cheap pizza joints, weekenders from the other side of the skytrain coming downtown to see the big city...my friend pete says he now walks home via richards on weekend nights and i see why...too much for this geezer.
and in case you need a great hair cut...and i've said it before...get yourself in to see k-win at storm salon (deluxe hair action)...i'm sayin' it and you should give it a listen...
ok. as much as i love watching flip this house, i really should eat something and get my shit together...

have fun today.

g. xo

ham-tastic

turns out dinner tomorrow - or tonight - at issy's is ham, the famous thanksgiving ham. i'm a fan of ham.

g. xo

what he said

it's been a week of wonder...i wonder this, i wonder that...neil young had a great song, well has a great song called 'wonderin'...this week that's me. with work over, film wise, for now, i find myself on the couch in the morning having my coffee, and often a smoothie, and wondering exactly what i'll do that day. lawns have been the main focus with the only real variable being whether or not the weather will fuck me that day and make it so i can't cut...but once the week's cuts are done i'm back to wonderin'....i even went and made myself a list of things i needed to get done...wash the windows - did it, organize the cupboards - done, get my final paycheque from the office - done and deposited, e.mail the school in mexico and see if they have space for this gringo - yup, they do, and so it goes...i am going to plant my winter garden stuff very soon, mishi's gonna help me get some curtains made for the dump, ailsa needs some demo done at her place to make room for a new bathroom, i may go over to floyd's to help him do some wiring at his new place in sannich.
still i wonder...
two turkey dinners this weekend...one at issy's and then the next night more gobble at ailsa's parents...nice. i'll be all full of stuffing and goods and need to be rolled home both night's i'm sure - truth be told i have been a one-plater the last few years as i hate the super full feeling ater those dinners...
ok. i need some lunch...then maybe some coffee...later on it's a nice new hairdo by k-win...

g. xo

bunt this

ok. so i bought this bunt cake pan yesterday for my pal andrew who runs the famous topanga cafe. he told me the other day that he couldn't find one, so i found one and bought it for him while we were in bellingham...well, it turns out, he can find them - like the one i bought him, but he can't find the ones that actually work well for him...so...now i have a cake pan i have no need for. i don't bake a lot of cakes...
anyone need a bunt pan?

g.

hello bellingham....mishi's here to try on your used clothes!

yup.
it's was another trip to bellingham where mishi tries on the best of the best at the value village - she goes there to buy vintage clothing patterns and fabric but can't resist trying on some goods while she's there. good times.
yesterday's action was also garbs-centered as she needed to get the man some new clothes that are a better deal down there - dickie's this and that...he scored pretty well yesterday.
we both also loaded up at trader joe's - the garbs doing very well here as well as did garvie - and had a nice quesadilla each at casa que pasa - the house of what's up...
it was a very domestic type purchase day for me - new bath towels, dish towels, rubbermaid storage containers, trader joe's...not as exciting as new clothes but all needed....nice.
ok.
have a great tuesday!

g. xo

demo party, tacos, lawn cutting, hockey and dinner out...nice saturday....

that was a day i'll tell you...during our sandwiches yesterday at the cheese cave, corie asked me if i was available to help them saturday - he and katherine - at their house to help load the bin with stuff that had been demo'd from the house. sure, i'll help...love to. it's an exciting time for them and i'd like to see some of that so...saturday morning i made my way over there, as did graham and chris - two other good friends of theirs - and away we went to loading the big orange bin outside. wood, bricks, plaster, dishwasher, etc...nice. good times.
then i cut their lawn...which, really, is the most important thing of all...they have a pretty decent lawn that really should be the envy of the 'hood...i had a couple more lawns to cut before our hockey game so i left them and went to get that done...after the two lawns up in sunny dunbar i figured i deserved a couple tacos as my pre-game meal and headed down to la taqueria for that action before going back to get corie and go to hockey...we won in convincing fashion but had little time to savour it as he had to get back to the demo with katherine and i had to go cut more grass...two more lawns and it was time for dinner...
ailsa and i had decided to have a meal at campagnolo on main, neither of us had been before and last night seemed like a good night to go...ailsa's been working like a crazy person on a campaign that's kinda drivin' her so a nice meal out was good tonic for that ailment...they don't take reservations but we were very lucky and waltzed right in and before you knew were eating like champs. good food, great company - at least for me...so all good...
today it's house cleaning, hanging with garvie and then dinner here with katherine and corie - i thought it would be nice to save them the trouble of making dinner after all the hard work at the house - they deserve it...mmmm, short ribs...
ok...have fun today...

g. xo

graham gets down with his mask...

as does katherine...
corie givn'er..

demo action.





that's a nice load of crap.

nice cut man.

tree trimming

i have taken out all the plants that have done there time this year and am in the process of picking new stuff for the winter - garlic, kale, chard, spinach perhaps...i'm also thinking of winter color of some sort - pansies, etc...who knows...but what i am trying to figure out is trimming this japanese maple i have. it's grown a little out of control - can i just shape it? the information i have found so far on the interweeb says i can - kinda. i like it so i don't wanna fuck it up. if you have any ideas let me know, otherwise i'm gonna break out the fiskers and let 'er rip.
ok...i'm off to run errands and cut some grass...i'll be cooking ribs a little later for my first post show meal...

have fun today.

g. xo

bombers best dressed list, donuts a-plenty and more last days ahead.

last night after our game, a spirited affair that saw neither team play very well but we did well enough to win, we took our team pic for the year...good fun...we have spanking new sweaters/jerseys that are quite nice and wanted to show them off to the folks who are responsible for us having them - park place dental (for all your dental needs...) great bunch of guys, even better looking in our gear.


i mentioned a while back that ethical bean - very close to the shop - had bought a donut machine and were trying their hand at making a good product to sell there..well, that time has arrived. they hired a woman who has some degree of baking experience and she's turning out some fine death/fat bombs...a cake donut for those who care about such things...go there, have one. it's not gonna kill ya. well, not today.
today is my last day on the film i've been working on for the last four months or so...we just had a nice lunch down at me and julio's and i'm about ready to pack it in. it was a tough show, for everyone and i think we're all happy we made it through without killing each other. sure, there were arguments, pissing contests and such but. like any family, in the end we're all still here and have each others best interests in mind...until the next one when we want to kill each other once again at some point.
tomorrow's october and sees the last month of the lawn cutting season upon me once again. it has been a weird lawn order year, the hot weather killed me and the lawns with not much cutting for almost a month at one point. but i still had a great time cutting and will, still, for another month. so, if you need a final cut call me, if you owe me for cuts, pay me, if you just wanna say hi, call me.
have fun.

g. xo

the scottish national...maybe....

'the twilight sad' have always sounded great to me on paper...know what i mean? you hear a band's name, you hear people talk about them, read a little about them, then hear a few songs and think, 'they're ok..." and that's that...well, i don't know about their new album but i sure like this new track, 'the wrong car'. it's epic and the video is just creepy enough. a little 'veils', a little 'the national'....and little...

check it out...

g. xo

last days and pianos to the bible belt

a couple things are coming to an end in the next few days - the show we're currently working on and the tomatoes that have been growing on my deck the last few (many) months...
yup. the show - unnamed here - is a goner and all the film is in the box and it's all up to the editors now and we'll be expecting our invites to the crew screening and the oscars very soon. i think i'm outta there wed. of next week and then it's just the death throws of lawn order for the year and then....i dunno. i was thinking, as some of you may know, of going to mexico to take some intensive spanish lessons but am now rethinking that as...well, i just am and may be staying put. (i'm not happy about it, honestly, but life is what it is and sometimes that's that...) i may still go but....
the tomato plants met their end this morning and really, they owed me nothing. i got a great harvest and even as i write this am making more sauce to freeze and eat at a later date. garvie brought over some sauce she had made from some of my stock and it was great. while the count got muddled, as my neighbours grabbed a few from me, i grew over two hundred usable tomatoes and i think that's pretty great.
last night after work andrew and i went over to ailsa's ex's and picked-up a piano that she wanted moved as the place has been sold and the piano needed a new home...and it found one in abbotsford. andrew helped me load it on the cube van - thanks andrew - and then i went and got the garbs and we made the trek out to the bible belt to unload a piano. i think the worst park was seeing the garbs - all six foot six inches of him, crammed in the front seat of the cube van...he's a trooper.
it's a funny place, abbotsford, and i can't get into all that now, but it's kinda funny scary, funny religious, funny....not ha ha....
we ate dinner at me and ed's pizza, got dipped cones afterwards at dairy queen, and then hit the road back...fast.
so a big thanks to the garbs and andrew and paul for lending me him cube van for a quick run...nice guys. good men.

ok. i have to finish this sauce and get to cutting grass....

g. xo

pics from the end.





the last harvest.

movin' on out...

my wicked tenants - they really are and have been awesome - have given me their notice as they're moving back to montreal. too bad. great couple. and nice enough to gve me lots of notice - six months notice.
so. i know it's a long way away but, if you know anyone who's looking for a place come march first 2011, let me know and i'll shoot you all the details.

g. xo

great...just fuckin' great.

this from the official canadian government web site....and i'll say this, if i can't drive there, i may not go at all. driving is half the fun....i'm officially bummed.

"OFFICIAL WARNING: Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada advises against non-essential travel to the border areas between Mexico and the United States, due to continuously high levels of violence linked to drug trafficking in those areas.

Canadians should avoid crossing Mexico’s northern border by land, as shootouts, attacks, and illegal roadblocks may occur at any time. Criminals especially target SUVs and full-size pickup trucks for theft and carjacking along highways of the states of Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora, and Sinaloa. Travellers are advised to reconsider their need to travel by land to or through these border states and should do so only if it is absolutely necessary, and after making appropriate arrangements to ensure their personal safety."

g. xo

rage against the (new) machine

that was a weekend for sure...lawns, hockey, bbq, movie, laundromat, etc...
i bought a new trimmer - weed eater - on friday and gave it a test run on the weekend...what a fuckin' disaster. it made me hate the guy who stole mine last saturday even more...fucker. and while i bought a super duper pro. model shindiawa, it's a learning curve to be sure. i have always used a bent shaft machine - pardon? and this new one is a straight shaft and it's messing with my brain. i'll get it eventually, but as i told corie in a fit of rage and over-worked sweatiness - it's hard learning a new tool while cutting people's lawns for money...they don't expect me to be using their lawns as outdoor classrooms...lots of swearing, more learning. it'll be fine...just not yet.
cracked my head on the ice during our bombers win saturday night. it hurt. i had my feet taken out from under me and the next thing i knew my back hit the ground, then my elbow and then, finally, my head snapped back and hit the ice...good times. all's well now - well, some soreness to be sure but i can work and cut some grass yesterday so it's not so bad, but the muscles in my neck hurt today and the elbow is fuckin' sore when i touch in on anything...but, as i saw this morning, i wasn't the only one to get dinged on the weekend. corie has a pretty decent wipe out while running with some sandwiches in hand near meinhardt. (hopefully some pics soon...) oh, and i also walked into a trailer hitch on the back of a pathfinder on sunday - shin first. that smarts.
garvie and i had a great weekend, after all my falls and scrapes. went and saw 'the american' staring teen heart throb george clooney sunday afternoon... was it good? um, maybe. i think so. sure. then we had a little rainy day bbq action at the house doing up some salmon fillets and a great beet salad thingy. nice relaxing sunday night.
my pal tammy, who lives not far from my dad over in victoria/sannich, is now the proud owner of the lawn order hoodie i had on her last week...nice to see her smiling face and the lawn order hoodie making its way to her...wear it with pride!

ok. back at it.

g. xo

tammy and her new hoodie!

my care gland fell off

g. xo

happy birthday senor tornack.

yes, the man with the fanciest mountain bike in town, is having a birthday today...we, katherine, corie and i, went out last night for a very casual birthday dinner at topanga complete with our own bottle of tequila - that we really didn't take advantage of but it was very nice of andrew to being it to us...and then the staff came over and sang happy birthday to him...nice.

have a great day mr. tornack.

g. xo

probably not on issy's playlist

i just came across this...and i sent the link to the garbs and then thought i should put it here...wowza.

check it out...and stay until the end. and then check this for more...

nice work.

g. xo

main st. metal man

g. xo

lip reading

this is awesome....

g. xo

workin' it out

tolbert. his name is mike tolbert and he's 5' 9" tall and he weighs in at 243 lbs. they call him the bowling ball. he plays for the san diego chargers and since 'he who can not be named on the blog' and i decided we'd follow nfl football this season - he picking the green bay packers as his team and me taking the colts (or at least we're saying we're following it so that we have something to talk about monday mornings) - i have chosen tolbert, even though he's not on 'my team', as my player of the year. the one i'm gonna watch. he plays it like he means it. i like that.
garvie went back to work today after a nice long vacation and i know it's gonna be tough getting back into the swing of things but it'll all work out... i tried my best to make her first day back at school just a little bit bearable...she knows what's what and is very good at her job, makes me proud just to be in her presence doncha know...
tonight, for the first time since moving in here, i went down the hall - after throwing my dinner in the oven to heat-up - and used my gym...well, the building's gym. pretty good, i'm not entirely sure why i haven't before today. and when i was all done the left over pulled pork i made the other night was good to go and wicked potato salad that ailsa had made for us was a perfect little dinner...the headphones i have though are gonna have to be exchanged for something a little better or i'll have to go tuneless....
the last gasps of this show we're on are happening now, and they're big gasps...a lot of changes in the final days...six more days after today...all over and then the crying...
ok...

sleep well.

g. xo

** 164 tomatoes...and counting...**

my man wilson...

i gave the super pest a t-shirt today that i had thought his son wilson would like. i bought it in tuscon the last time i was down there...
looks like he likes it...

nice.

g.