Maybe you’ve had someone send this clip to you on email, like I did. If so, you can enjoy it again. If not, sit back, turn on your speakers and prepare for your jaw to drop.
Besides the obvious skill, balance and sheer stones required to do this stuff, I’m also astonished at his creativity. Awesome.
HOCKEY STARTS TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Strong words, I know. And I’m not really against having lawns per se. Lawns are kinda nice. You may ask yourself then, “why would he have such a hate on for an innocent little grass variety?”. Well, most of our yards are covered with Kentucky Bluegrass,the most common lawn grass on the continent, mostly because it grows well here (though it’s not a native species) and withstands the winters. As a result, many of us feel compelled to care for this yard covering by watering, fertilizing and mowing it. These are three things I also kinda hate. We use WAY too much water to maintain our “Pleasantville” lawns, add chemical feritilizers that come with a whole host of collateral damage (in their production, run-off, packaging and shipping etc.) and are for our troubles are simply left with a faster growing, albiet greener, lusher field that needs to be mowed more often with a (commonly) gas lawn mower, one of the worst polluters out there.
So since buying our house, we’ve gotten rid of our gas mower, opting instead for a push style reel mower, and removed a fair amount of sod (replacing it with gardens - with veggies as well as drought tolerant plants). And while I have aerated the lawn, never has chemical fertilizer touched it. And it is looking WAY better than when we bought the place.
Anyhow, yesterday we began the next step; removal of all the current lawn. No, we didn’t dig it all out. But we did overseed with a fescue blend that promises to be much better. It requires little or no water (though in this climate I suppose I will have to water a bit even after it is established), no fertilizer, and little or no mowing all summer, and has a natural weed resistance. Not bad. There are a few blends available out there if you care to look, but the one I finally found available in our town is Eco-Lawn.
Now because we are not actually removing the old lawn, opting for the overseeding method, this will be a 3-5 year transition with overseeding being repeated each year. So it is not an instant lawn (you know, those rolls of sod that are likely bluegrass), but I’m a patient guy and am willing to wait and see how this all plays out.
France is part of the EU. Thus, they are certainly part of the EU’s act of legislation banning the import of Canadian seal products on the basis that commercial seal hunting, notably in Canada, is “inherently inhumane”.
You know, despite this bill’s potential hit to the Canadian economy (and perhaps identity), I have basically been on board with it. I mean, as a country, we can’t expect the French to get behind something that they deem to be “inhumane” right? None of us would. So good on ‘em…. right?
Well I thought so until recently, while in France,…
I saw THIS!
WTF? Seriously?
So clubbing seals is “inherently inhumane”, but clubbing orientals is openly advocated on the French streets? As a Chinese Canadian I have to say that I’m deeply troubled by the promotion of this kind of activity. I mean up until this moment, I felt pretty safe in France. Really, we saw none of the strife and violence that has plagued the country in recent memory. So I was literally walking the streets openly; sipping tasty french coffee at the cafés without a care in the world. Little did I know the peril I was putting myself into. Needless to say, I was WAY more cautious after viewing that poster. I even considered fleeing the country before things went from sweet to sour for me, and I wokked into some trouble.
In the end, I got outta there without incident. But not without being severely troubled by the whole situation. I can’t believe this has been allowed to go on unnoticed by activists ’round the world.
So I would like to use this forum to call for the immediate ban on certain French products, starting with French Fries. That should hit them where it hurts eh? Especially when you think about how many French Fries are consumed in Canada each day. Perhaps then they will start to think twice about this activity. Are you with me people? No more French Fries! And if that doesn’t work (though how could it not!?), I say we ban berets next. That should cripple their economy, leaving them little choice but to come to us begging for our mercy! Ha, they’d probably start asking us to ramp up the seal hunt and send extra seal pelts to them so they can create seal skin berets! I seriously don’t think they know who they are dealing with here.
** UPDATED**
Um… OK, perhaps I got this a little wrong. Thanks to all of you who have written me to let me know that this “Oriental Clubbing” thing is just some kinda craze or something at the Discotheques. Wow, um, who knew?
And yes, I also NOW know that French Fries are a bit of misnomer and that they were invented by the fine folks over at McCain Foods. Well, at least the beret is a French invention!
**UPDATED AGAIN**
Thanks to all of you who emailed me to let me know that in fact the beret really has Basque origins. I mean, come on, a good part of Basque territory is in modern day France! Give me a break here people!
**Updated**
Many of the autos here in France seem to run on Gazole (Gas and Oil…aka diesel). This seems to be pretty good on the efficiency front as Glenn’s car is getting well over 700 kms per tank. Nice. Not nice in that demand seems to be high. Mich and I pulled into an Esso station (L’Esso?) only to find a little paper sign over the yellow gas gun saying “Gazole de pannes”. The attendant informed Mich that perhaps they’d have some in the morning… or the afternoon maybe… he wasn’t really sure. The problem was that the boat didn’t come in. Hmmm. I think I may have seen a similar sign at another station at some point. You may be asking at the point “what’s the big deal?” Really, on it’s own it wouldn’t be. But we were on the ODYSSEY DE GAZOLE!
I should explain. When we took the car today, Glenn’s only requirement for us was that we got some gazole. We were pretty low, about 1/4 tank. Again, you’re asking “what’s the big deal?”. The problem seems to be that a lot of stations will ONLY accept credit cards. Unfortunately that means Glenn’s may work at some stations, mine at none so far. Other stations accept cash, but ONLY at the times when there is an attendant in the little booth. These times seem to be few and far between (no matter what the sign may say).
So… we were low on fuel, and we had a plan of attack. Go check out a few cool sites, zip in to the Carrefour and get gazole and groceries. Then see the new Harry Potter flick. Good plan.
All went well with the tour. We had a really great time. Then things took a turn for the worst. Our camera battery quit quite suddenly. We were about done for pics anyway, so not a biggie. Next however we had trouble actually finding the Carrefour, site of gazole, groceries and the movie theatre. Eventually we did get there… only to find that the gas attendant was nowhere in site. Hmmm. No gazole for us! OK, we’ll get the supplies. Oh, Carrefour is NOT open at all today. Hmmm. No groceries. Now what. Well, howz about a quick bite and then off to the flick. The ONLy thing around is a McDonalds. So we make the ultimate sacrifice and go to Micky D’s. Off to the theater for the new Harry Potter!!
Upon arrival at the box office my first question is “Is the film Harry Potter in English or French?” You know what the answer was don’t you? “En Francais.”
Wow. Now not only are we now heading home with none of the tasks accomplished, but we can’t even go out for a nice dinner with our extra time as we bolted down the McD’s. Morale was low to say the least.
There was one last chance to redeem the situation; get gazole on the way home in Estagel. Remember le afformentioned Esso station? Yeah, that was the one in Estagel. So needless to say, we came home with a pretty empty tank. Glenn was forgiving as he’s had a less than smooth ride getting fuel too.
Hopefully that boat gets in tomorrow.
Update!
Glenn and I were able to fuel up. Of course we did it in a way that is consistent with the feel of “L’Odyssey de Gazole”…. See pics below…
That’s us at the end of the line
Nice glove Glenny!
On the ferry recently, as we returned from our travels and paddles on Vancouver Island, Mich and I sat down for something to eat. There was a fella moving around the room, cleaning up tables, picking up trays, etc. After we finished eating and had gotten a couple of coffees he approached our table. I expected him to either ask if he could clear away our tray for us, or ask us to take our coffees with us to a less busy place on the boat. Instead he said “Excuse me, can I ask you if you’ve ever spent any time in Fort St. James?” Of course I gave him the double take and answered that I had indeed lived there. He queried further and then called me by name! I had been his science teacher way back when.
I was so glad he approached us as although his name registered right away, I NEVER would have recognized him. Indeed, I checked out the old FSJSS yearbook when we got home to see what he looked like back then and the memories came back instantly. I is so fascinating how some people can change so much physically in a few short years.
Of course, poking through that yearbook brought back so many memories for both Mich and I - old stories of the time we spent in FSJ teaching and living. Fun. That led to Mich getting on Facebook too to see if she could locate any of those old students, just to see what they are up to, or at least where they might be now. Again, it is so fascinating to see where peoples’ lives take them.
Anyway, it was good to see ya Dustin E. Thanks for saying hi!
“They give us those nice bright colours.
They give us the greens of summers.
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day
So, mama don’t take my Kodachrome away.”
- Paul Simon -
Well Eastman Kodak has announced that after 74 years, production of Kodachrome, the film that made color photography what it is, is coming to an end. The end of an era? Certainly. But with the masses eschewing film for digital instant gratification (myself included) this hardly comes as a surprise.
I’m sure someone will come up with a “Kodachrome” plugin for Photoshop. Heck, maybe there already is one…
Anyway, take a few minutes to check out the slideshow that Kodak has posted to pay homage to the late, great Kodachrome. They are stunning images.
Food, Inc. opened in theaters a few days ago. I have my doubts that it will actually make it to my town (though the local film society might bring it in….), but if it does, you KNOW I’ll be there to check it out.
Kamloops is home to one of BC’s regional Fire Centers. So we see and hear the water bombers coming and going as they head out on fire suppression missions. Today as Mich and I and Lindsey paddled the North Thompson from McLure to Riverside Park, we floated right on by a fire. As we approached it was amazing to watch up to four planes (three water bombers and the bird-dog plane) buzzing around the fire site. They seemed highly organized and coordinated. Good thing as they were all in pretty tight.
Mich and the bombers.
Lindsey wondering if peeing on the fire would help out any.
Anyway, we got closer and closer and came around the last corner in time to see the last run. Yes we ended up a little close, but these guys are pretty precise with their placement of the fire retardant. It was a sight that we likely won’t see close up again anytime soon.
Lindsey thinking about peeing for a different reason.
My buddy Brook is a darn good guy. Among other things, he raises money for cancer research annually via the Relay for Life. As cancer is likely to touch pretty much all of us in some way during our lives, this is a particularly worthy cause. Brook is super cool on this one, ‘cause he (and all the others involved of course) not only talks the talk by fund raising, but walks the walk (literally) by participating in the relay. Brook you rule.
Last year he was able to raise $750 for the cause. This year his goal is $1000.
If you are able to support him, go on over to his website and donate! It’s quick and easy to do online.
Click HERE to visit Brook’s site and help him with his cause.
If Brook has inspired you beyond simply opening your pocketbook, head on over to the Relay for Life site and start your own team as there is likely a relay in your town too!
CO2 is “a Natural Byproduct of Nature”
Here is Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann on carbon dioxide. I’m relieved to hear that actually everything’s cool - that is we don’t have to worry about all this CO2 stuff because really it’s such a small percentage of our atmospheric gas, and really, the human contribution to this small percentage is also very small, and further, that because it’s “a natural byproduct of nature”, we need it, and all the little critters and plants on the earth need it! So really, we don’t need to erode our nice cushy way of life here to fix it ‘cause it’s not a problem! Phew, glad she cleared that up for us.
Where the hell do these people come from?
** Updated March 29 ** Well looks like we didn’t do so well. In BC power consumption dropped 1.1% on Saturday. That it dropped at all is a positive, however last year the number was 2%, so this seems like a step backward. Hopefully increased awareness of the issues improved…
City Lights from Space
Hey folks. Tonight you have an opportunity to participate in a symbolic move. Earth Hour is tonight between 8:30 and 9:30 pm local time. To participate all you need to do is switch off all your lights! Doesn’t sound too tough eh? This idea started a few years back in Australia, went global last year and tonight, hopefully, will happen on an even more “viral” scale.
There is actually a cool plug in for blogs that will “shut down” your blog for the hour, instead displaying a splash screen showing that you are participating. Unfortunately Blogsome does not let users install third party plugins at will, so you won’t see it happen on this site. If you have a (non-blogsome) wordpress site though and want to install this super cool item, click here.
If you’d like more info on this, go to the Earth Hour site here.
Remember… 8:30 to 9:30 pm… turn ‘em off!
That’s a question I’m sure we are all asking. Anyway, props go out to Dean for sending this my way.
…yesterday we set a new record low in Kamloops of -11.4 degrees. Yeesh. And this while we are on the leading edge of “Spring” Break. Ha, at least it warmed up a bit overnight. Looks like those of you who decided to travel to places like Mexico over spring break were crazy like foxes!
I can’t think of the last time I bought a beer produced by a major label. In fact, it’s possible that I never will again. I think it’s pretty funny that in my younger years me and my friends routinely reached for Bud, or Kokanee, or MGD, or one of those stupid Ice Beers that I don’t think they even make anymore. Now by no means do I feel I’m a beer expert, but I know what I like and why, and yes, I feel my palate is enlightened. Not that I drink light beer. Sorry, that was a bad pun. Anyway, these days Mich and I stock the fridge with mostly micro brews, often the local swill. Of course we have our favorites, the current being Granville Island Brewery’s Lions Winter Ale. In fact I just picked up the last three boxes of it that we’ll see until next winter as it’s seasonal. It’s a wonderful little brew, dark and rich with this awesome vanilla finish that has earned it the moniker of “Pudding Beer” in our household. We will miss it when it’s gone for the year, but though sad, its passing means we are on the cusp of enjoying other tasty suds including a nice array of wheat beers and fruit wheat beers. Though before the snow is completely gone, I do have one bottle of Young’s Luxury Double Chocolate Stout waiting patiently for us!
Anyway, the point? I guess it’s that there are too many awesome beers out there for us to ever pour the “beer” from major producers - you know the ones: Labatt, Molson, Anheiser-Bucsh etc. I find them worthless. And I know there are those of you out there who have Coors Light in your fridge. And I have heard you say things about the Silver Bullet like, “Hey, it really tastes good”. Except, actually, no it doesn’t. Bite your tongue. Go ahead. You might as well as you haven’t been using it to taste anything anyways. Folks, that kinda stuff really isn’t beer. I don’t really know what it is! Go out to the import section at the liquor store and pick yourself up some Belgian stuff brewed up for you by Trappist Monks like a Chimay. Mmmmm. Thanks to Blake D. for introducing it to us. The only reason I don’t quaff more of that stuff is that it has to travel a long way to get to me. So I focus on the local brew(s).
So off you go - find yourself a nice beer that is NEW to you - there is so much great stuff out there! Now crack it open, pour it into a glass and enjoy it while your watch this:
And if you are still reading, perhaps take this opportunity to suggest a great brew to us in the comments! What’s your favorite?
Back in ‘96 I was fortunate enough to be in a position where I had five weeks that I didn’t have to spend at work or school. What to do with such time on my hands? Well I had long figured and stated that though many Canadians frequently traveled to exotic locales such as LA, Palm Springs, Mexico and Hawaii, not nearly as many had seen their own country. I was certainly guilty of that crime! So I packed my tent, fly rod, camera, discman and sundries, kissed my mom and sister goodbye, and pointed the tires east. I didn’t make it all the way across (I ran low on time), but after 118 hours, 48 minutes behind the wheel and 13,016.0 km of pavement behind me, I felt I’d begun to connect with my country. Previously, I’d never been east of Edmonton. Shame on me.
After driving east across the prairies, I had decided to shake things up on the way back and return through the States. Something struck me on that return leg that I had to capture in words; the difference between us and them (you know who I mean).
Border
I drive across the mighty Canadian prairie
telephone pole
telephone pole
telephone pole
telephone pole
telephone pole
telephone pole
abandoned barn
cows
telephone pole
telephone pole
telephone pole
turnoff to distant town with no services
telephone pole
_______________
I return via the Interstates
telephone pole
telephone pole
BILLBOARD
telephone pole
BILLBOARD
BILLBOARD
BILLBOARD
telephone pole
EXXON MEGASTATION WITH FASTFOOD TOO!
telephone pole
OK, it’s crappy poetry, but it’s how I felt at the time.
Anyway, it was on this trip, in Montreal as I recall, that I purchased “Last of The Ghetto Astronauts” by the Matthew Good Band. I’ve been a fan of Matt Good’s work ever since. As a result I tend to read his blog a fair amount. It includes a diverse range of topics from human rights issues to world events to mental health issues to the music and personal sides of his life as well. Recently he made an interesting post. I read it and something about it struck me. I got distracted and didn’t give it my full attention. Later, after a colleague at work (also a Matt Good fan) mentioned the same post to me, I took another look.
“The Only Juno Worth Receiving”, and its subsequent comments triggered the memories of my trip across the country, and though expressed far more eloquently than I could, inspired this post of mine.
I’ve got so many shots that are sitting on the hard drive and haven’t been shared. So I thought I’d start a new category called “Pic of the Day”. Now, this won’t mean everyday of course, but when I’m going through shots and see something that catches my eye for some reason, I’m going to post it here. It’ll be pretty random, but hopefully enjoyable for you to see.
Today’s shot is a new one. I took it with the Rollei (yes, that camera uses film! Remember film?) on our recent Nicaragua trip. Paul was awesome enough to get my film processed for me in the big city and mail it up to me. This is one of the few from this roll that I’m happy with. It is of some lovely Nicaraguan street vendors hawking their bananas. We bought a bunch from them before I took this shot. They were so tasty that I had to get another bunch before we moved on.
Well, it seemed there were no wardrobe malfunctions this year at the halftime show. Just good old rock ‘n roll! He did a nice medley of old classic crowd pleasers with a quick new one thrown in. Here it is…
Part 1
Part 2
Though I think this would be better to a Run DMC track…
The National Film Board has recently launched a new website that offers a big part of their catalog up for free home viewing in their new “screening room” (basically an embedded player much like YouTube). This includes shorts, trailers and full length features. Of course, in Canada, we all grew up watching many of these films in school and TV. It’s kinda cool now to go in and search for these old gems from our childhood. Of course I began with “The Sweater”…
Click for the NFB Screening Room.
…that it’s all my fault for buying a Subaru. Sorry everyone.
My buddy Rob has made some interesting (and very valid) points on his blog. He has a week-long challenge for you with reference to the Email monster. I do have to say that I actually do a bunch of the stuff that he suggests - I think I’m slave more to this blog and my hockey pools than Email… That said, Mich and I have been considering changing our shared Email address of about 7 years as the junkmail coming in has started to get outta hand.
Anyway, check out what Rob has to say, and perhaps take him up on his challenge by clicking here. Me, I’m gonna call him now.
… on the recent political gong show in Canada
Click here.
There is a lot of talk about the Canadian political scene right now. Some are (still) making a big deal over the times when Dion stumbles over his words in English. A couple of points. First, we are a bilingual country. I think that Dion’s use of English is WAY better than Harper’s use of French. Second, if you read Dion’s speech, you will see it is a strong one. Let’s not get caught up in the superficial; to do so is to fall for a cheap parlor trick. Why not read what these men had to say tonight and decide for yourself.
Read Harper’s speech here.
Read Dion’s speech here>.
Mumbai, Bangkok, the Canadian political landscape, Afghanistan, Iraq, the financial crisis… heck, even Christmas. There are a lot of things on our minds these days. But, let us not forget that the AIDS epidemic has not and will not go away. Today is World AIDS Day.
Click here to find out more.
Ullr Fest is a yearly tradition that we are going to join this year. Basically it is a paganish night of ski sacrifice to the (probably Icelandic) snow god Ullr. There might be drinking at it too. Anyway, it was clear today that Ullr is hip to the whole thing because in preparation… HE MADE IT SNOW ALL DAY TODAY IN KAMLOOPS!
This is what my dreams are made of these nights…
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| From The Gorge |
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and yours!! All the best to you in this, the holiday season!!!
Now you may be saying to yourself “Kev, you’re a little early on this one; it’s not Christmas. No sir, Christmas is over a month away”. But you’d be wrong. Take a look around you. Crappy X-mas junk has been rammed down our throats since the morning after Halloween. That includes Christmas music at the stores, advertising on the tube and in the papers and merch everywhere. Yeesh. The only good part of this I can see is that the sweet mandarin oranges are now everywhere.
The Stick. Now in the Toy Hall of Fame
I came across an interesting article recently on cbc.ca. Upon reading it, two surprising things came to light for me. First was that there is a Toy Hall of Fame. Who knew? I guess it’s not that big of a surprise in this day an age where we have a hall of fame for pretty much everything, and if not, at least there is an “award” for it. I mean really, our house is already in the Dust Hall of Fame (according to Mich) and I’ve won several awards for outstanding bed head. Anyway, I digress - enough about us. So the Toy HOF must be filled with incredible wonders of Toyland like slinkies, and silly putty and Matchbox cars, games like monopoy and checkers (not really toys I guess) and of course… The Stick. Now at this point you may expect me to poke all kinds of fun at the crack Induction committee over there at the Toy HOF (they’ve inducted the cardboard box too), but actually no, I think it’s all quite wonderful. In this time of computer games, and robot dinosaurs and other electronic wonders that younger and younger kids are all hoping to see under the imminent (according to Big Box) Christmas trees, the idea of the Stick and the Box, nay, the idea of ideas is what really warms my heart. I’m talking about imagination here folks.
I remember way back when I was a little kid and my parents received beautiful rosewood furniture from China. It was shipped all the way over in wooden crates. After the furniture was out these amazing crates were moved to the basement and passed on to my siblings and me. In our care they became forts, garages, jails, castles, beds and whatever our little imaginations could dream up that day. They had no moving parts. They had no decoration or electrical plug ins. They had no lights, bells or whistles. But they did have us. And we spent countless hours in the worlds they provided for us.
I remember my nephew as a youngster (maybe 1? 2?) at Christmas one year in PG. Though he didn’t really get what was going on with the whole present thing, we were able to convince him to rip off the paper of his gifts. Soon though he seemed less interested in presents and stuff, and more interested in the boxes! Awesome.
And that brings me to The Stick. Its induction in the Toy HOF shows the genius of the selection committee. There are few places on Earth that a kid couldn’t come by a stick, obtain it for no cost and have it become myriad playthings for him or her. I have many personal stick stories I could share from the simpler days of my youth, but instead I want to share a modern day finding that I thought of instantly upon reading the headline of the aforementioned article. On our spring break trip to Laos we had the opportunity to spend a day and a night in a village on a home stay. It was a very interesting time for many reasons. One of them was that before dinner, we sat on the front porch of our hosts’ house and watched the village kids play a remarkable game. They played for hours, stopping only for lack of light. It was basically a team contest. The only things required were a couple of sticks, a hole in the ground, some space and a bunch of kids. While we didn’t totally figure out all the rules, they were fascinating and intricate. Now there were a few TVs in this village, though not too many other modern amenities. But these kids weren’t interested. They were outside. They had no shoes. They were having fun. ‘Nuff said.
My fav part of the game comes around the 30 second mark of the video below. I’m thinking that’s an advanced move.
And for next year, if it’s not in the Toy HOF already, my nomination goes to The Ball.
Looks like fun eh?
For the whole list of toys that have made it so far into the Hall of Fame, click here.
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