A Hazy Shade of Winter

So here we go again. The turkey leftovers are stewing in the soup pot. The registers are ringing like the bells on Santa's sleigh, and the Salvation Army has embarked on their annual war on poverty. The x-mas merchandising machine has to come to life once again.

You look at everything going on in the world. The attacks in Mumbai, the world economy burning like a raging California wild fire, pirates stealing oil tankers. It just seems crazy. But do you know what seems really crazy? How about a group of Christmas shoppers fueled with visions of grandeur (of saving two bucks on a piece of crap Taiwanese Cuckoo clock) trampling a young man to his death just to ENSURE they could get their hands on the &^%$ing Tickle Me Elmo first?

How appropriate that they call it Black Friday. This ACTUALLY happened. We are talking about a Long Island New York Wal-Mart. We are not talking about some Wal-Mart in a slack jawed Alabama town. We are talking about LONG ISLAND!!

I have said it before, and I will say it again. We can't comment on what goes on in the world, the genocides, the tortures, the cleansing of nations, until we can bring in the reins of our own society. There is a 34 year old man dead today. Why is he dead? Because some psychopaths decided that they had to wait outside of a Wal-Mart starting at 9 o'clock at night for a 5 in the morning opening. This is a &%$*ing Wal-Mart, a god damn &%$*ing Wal-Mart!!

The young man went to unlock the doors at 5. The crowd, a crowd that was already being "controlled" by the police surged forward crashing through the doors. The man didn't stand a chance, falling back and screaming for his life. His fellow workers were yelling at the top of their lungs for people to get back. Even the police were pushed aside. The man was trampled repeatedly. People were "cognizant" that they were stepping on a fellow human being, but they had to, HAD TO, get to the "deals". It wasn't that they finally got the crowd under control, quite the opposite, they had to wait until everyone was in before they could find his body lifeless on the floor. There were already people demanding service at the registers, people that went into further rage after being told the store wouldn't be doing business. Employees with tears streaming down their faces tried to explain the situation, but to these SAVAGES, that wasn't acceptable. SHAME ON YOU PEOPLE!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!

You have to keep in mind that Wal-Mart has hundreds of every item they sell. It's a month to Christmas for the love of God. What would happen if these people actually shopped at a place like Neiman-Marcus, or Nordstroms? Places that literally only have a few of each item, items that are quality made. Items that aren't made by children in the sweatshops of Asia.

I just hope that everyone of those %$#&ers look at the joy on their childs face Christmas morning as they unwrap their blood covered gift, I hope they pause and reflect on the mother, father, siblings, wife, children, and grandparents of the man they killed to get it. I hope they feel a pain for every tear they will shed. And I hope they get to say hi to the RCMP, YVR, and border services employees responsible for Robert Dziekanski's death as they all burn together in Hell.

Merry Christmas you %$#&ing bastards!!

That's How it Happened Living Life by the Drop

I heard this song last night for the first time in probably 15 years. You really have to wonder what Stevie would have done if he had been around longer. Incredible talent.

Beware the Cobb Salad

So I fancy myself as a bit of a wiz around the kitchen. I've had to look after myself for so long, it is something that eventually just comes to you. You can't survive on restaurant food, at least I can't. I need soul food, I need stick to your ribs home cooking, hopefully incorporating as much cream and cheese as possible.

Being single of course I don't tend to capitalize on my cooking skills during the weekend. Nothing says loser like sitting around home all night and cooking by yourself, or perhaps sitting around a public house night after night for no particular reason?!?! I don't tend to do the restaurant thing much on weekends because most of the time it turns into some type of disaster. People will fight over the bill (classless), some will drink too much, and some people will make the plans and just not show up at all. I was invited out for dinner on Saturday night. I thought about it, but to start with it was around six, that is usually the time I have lunch so that wasn't going to work. Secondly, it was an invite from people that had been drinking, and take my word for it...you can't trust that. Sure enough I heard on Monday that nobody even made it to the restaurant, so I would have been sitting there on my own. That is a big no no people, that's the kind of thing where you can invite me out a hundred more times and I will never say yes.

Anyhow, with a weekend full of hockey and championship (CFL, you decide) football, I hadn't eaten the best, so I decided it was salad time.

I have always loved Cobb Salads, they are just not very popular on the west coast, but I fell in love with them all over again in New York. Now I try to have at least one a week, whether I go to Bacchus or just make it myself at home. I was fresh out of ingredients yesterday, so it was a full start from scratch. For those of you in the know on Cobb Salads, that means chop city.

I'm pretty handy with a knife, and I must say we keep very high-end ones around the house. A good, well-balanced knife is important, especially when you are doing as much chopping as it takes to make a Cobb.

Since my youth I have had a propensity of damaging myself with sharp objects, so I always have to be extra careful around knives. Last night my mind was many miles away so it probably wasn't the best time to be chopping as it was. Sure enough, I had made it through almost all the ingredients when I decided to get a little cocky with my cucumber slicing. I made it through about four slices when the inevitable happened, right through the tip of my finger.

It's funny, I'm never one to panic, the knife was so sharp I didn't even really feel anything. I just knew. I looked down at the finger for that split second when all still looked fine, then like a spring river it came. Still no panic, but also a REALLY bad time to be out of paper towels. I had no choice, I had just pillaged Linen 'n Things earlier in the day for a well deserved new bath towel set. It ain't new anymore.

I used to have industrial first aid, I was the king of applying pressure, all that other stuff took too long. I have been told many times after the fact that cuts that I had applied pressure to on myself obviously needed stitches. Normally the pressure I was applying was just my other hand. I even went as far once to put hot wax on the cut to seal it so I could go back to what I was doing.

So following my medical checklist I first got the towel and applied pressure. Second on the checklist, I lit a cigarette and took a seat. Within a couple of minutes the new, Twilight Blue towel was looking like a sunrise that a sailor should take warning of. This was not going well. I made a vain attempt to find a band aid I knew I didn't have. I rummaged around in Danny's washroom to no avail. I finally went downstairs where Roman was watching the hockey game. He thankfully found some and I ran back upstairs.

I carefully unwrapped the band aid and had it ready by the sink. I finally took the towel off and quickly realized I was in over my head, there was no pressure or candle that was going to stop this. As quickly as I had walked into my room, I exited. Roman asked how it was, and I was just like "clinic time!!!"

He flipped the phone book open for me and found the Park and Tilford one open until 9. It was about 8:30 at this point. I had found some paper towel in Danny's closet while looking for the band aids and wrapped a bunch of it around my hand as I dashed out the door to my car. I made it there fairly quickly, and thankfully there wasn't a lineup. The paper towel on my hand looked like a large cotton candy by now.

The nurse saw me get out of the car and was holding the door open for me as I came up the walk. So told me to go to the room in the back on left and she would send the doctor straight in.

He came walking in and said the old "let's have a look at this" a phrase I had heard so many times. He held it over the instrument tray and unwrapped the cotton candy. When I had climbed out of the car in front of the clinic I had noticed how the inside of it now resembled a CSI scene (I just want to put in a shameless plug for the detailers at my North Shore dealership who dealt with it today) so I knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

The doctor, and I think this is hilarious said "Say, you don't get nauseous looking at stuff like this do you? Man, that's a lot of blood." I told him I was fine to which he said "Really? that stuff always gets to me. I'll be back in a minute." He seriously went to the washroom, I don't know what for, and I don't want to know.

He came back and wrapped a tourniquet around both my finger and wrist, and then let me sit in his office and watch the hockey game for a minute waiting for the flowing to stop. After he froze it, I got to help him with the stitches, something to do with "an impossible angle". He was a really nice guy, but I don't think I would want this guy in surgery.

So I'm all stitched up now and stuck with them through my Toronto trip. I hate having things on my fingers. Still beats sitting alone in a restaurant though.

During These Tough Economic Times We All Must Learn to Live With a Little Less (Unless You Live in Dubai)

This is the opening ceremony of the new Atlantis Resort on Palm Island in Dubai. Just to put it in perspective for you, that outer ring is more than 11 kilometers long. It's nice to know that not everyone is suffering.

I'm sure when we open the Olympics here they will just hand out a bunch of sparklers.

7 Degrees of Separation

It's that time of year when just like the birds, the mercury heads south for the winter. We have been somewhat lucky lately, it's been a little mild but that will soon change.

With our new "situation" on the patio, that will mean more inside visits than the past. Back when the patio was mostly enclosed I used what we called the sandal index. If it was below 8 Celsius, you couldn't wear sandals anymore. If it was at 1 Celsius or lower, you headed inside (this could be delayed by the consumption of spiced rum.)

Lately it has been hovering around 11 degrees. I figure with the walls out the most that can be tolerated without wind as a factor will be around 4.Those are the 7 degrees of separation before I join my friends that are through the looking glass. Heading quickly toward December, our days are surely numbered. Summer is so far away even though it feels as if it was yesterday.

So I'll get to the point. I know I need to get re-acclimatized to the indoors. I want to a lot of the time, there are people that sit in there that I would like to talk to, but they won't sit outside not that I can blame them. I actually tried last night. I ran into Dan in the washroom. As we were walking out he said "I'm over here" pointing to the side bar. "I'm out here" I said motioning for the patio. I went back out and it looked like it was thinning out pretty quick. I was about to go in when one of the boys showed up, so I put in off for awhile longer.

About an hour later I decided to do a reconnaissance run, sort of dip my toe into the bath water to see where it was at. I have problems with the noise alone when I go inside, it has this white noise type din like that of an aircraft engine. 20 conversations always going on at once. There is no order, your seat has the validity of a prospectors claim in the old Klondike. You go into town to get supplies (go to the can) your stake is gone as soon as you return. I ambled over toward where Dan was. He was sort of blocked off by some imaginary line that I will not cross in a crowd of people. I made some comment of how the collection of people resembled a blood clot, they were all just jammed around this central point. I mumbled a few things about football to Danny, and then plunged into an anxiety attack that made me run straight back for the patio. I think when I do eventually go inside I will have to dress like the Unknown Comic so I can talk and hyperventilate at the same time.

I am just kidding around, but I have always had problems walking into a big crowd and having a conversation. Introversion is my specialty so maybe I can just sit at the fireplace with my back to the wall and just yell things from there. The 7 degrees of separation are getting closer, so to all my inside friends, and there are many, fasten your seat belts, Johnny's coming!!

Somebody Filmed Me Enjoying My Sunday

The Re-Taking of the Patio (Charlie Don't Smoke)

Okay, so it didn't really happen that way. There was loud music, but it was just me approaching in my little mule listening to the appropriate "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do?" on Sirius 12. But common sense did prevail, with the beer bellies around there it would have been more "Battle of the Bulge" over "Apocalypse Now" anyhow.

Thankfully I don't have to worry about the pursuit of the happiness anymore, I can just go right back to my mundane life. Just in time for the weekend!!

I was trying to think of some smart quote I could end this with, but this is all I have.

"Thank you for your support"

-Bartle and Jaymes

No Man is an Island (Unless He is a Smoker)

"It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times."

-Mark Twain

So I have a little problem that I alluded to yesterday, I have been forced to make a change in my life.

I have never had the easiest life. I'm not saying mine has been harder than others, but it has been hard nonetheless. People have always tried to take my personal freedoms, they have tried to clip my wings. Sometimes they have won, but I will tell you one hard truth. No one has taken my freedom since the day I brushed the sand off of my jeans and left the homeless streets of Vancouver forever, and no one will take it ever again. I have fought for everything I have, whether it be the clothes on my back or the company I keep. It is mine, I have shed the blood, I have wept the tears.

Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, then it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted. We all have the hurdles that are thrown at us. We all must address them in OUR way. I for one have always been subjected to being alone. My family moved a lot when I was young, and it seemed every time I had finally made friends I was pulled back like the small child that could never reach the brass ring on the carousel. It made me quite introverted over the years, with almost a crippling shyness. I fight it all the time but it's one of those things that lives in the back of our minds that I can't control. It led me to needing constants in my life. The constants could be anything, my beloved dog Reno, a favorite shirt from years gone by, a recipe for some soul food from my Grandmother, and most importantly, a cigarette.

I know smoking is the shits. I know what it does, I know what it does to others. Hell, I used to flush my mothers cigarettes down the toilet I hated them so much. But until the day I find "it", or the "one who", I need it. My mind races sometimes, a cigarette slows me down. It lets me pause to remember, it allows me to look forward into the future, it lets me reflect on all that I have, all that I had, and all that I want.

I would like to think I have always been a courteous smoker. When the new laws came into play in 2000, even though there was leeway, Kelly and I permanently moved to the patio without a single complaint from either of us. And there, over the years we found our band of brothers. We came together, smokers and non-smokers alike. The best people I have known in my life I have bonded with through that patio. Beyond no doubt I found a great part of what I have been looking for in my life through the smiles and stories of that patio, and I would like to think I had the same affect on them. Pericles once said "What you leave behind is not what is carved in stone monuments, but what you have woven into the lives of others." And I hope I have had that to offer to some people, because I know it was given to me.

Now the patio is gone, but it is not gone physically, it is just empty. Empty of the stories, empty of the laughter, soulless and cold as when we first found it. And I now once again find myself alone. And why did this happen you ask? One cannot say for sure. I know a few people had a problem with a gate being locked meaning they would have to walk an extra 10 feet to get into the bar. This opened it up for non-smokers to walk through and be exposed to our cloud. I can't really blame them for being angry, but I tried to stop it by having the gate locked. I wouldn't really say it was a selfish action on my part, I would question the intentions of those that wanted it unlocked. Then again maybe I tried to take away their freedoms once and don't remember. (If there is some award for sarcasm, this should be a shoe-in.)

So that's it. That's all. I will not return until it is the way I want it, which is only the way the district wants it. I know, seems kinda odd.

As Green Day would say:

My shadows the only one that walks beside me

My shallow hearts the only thing that's beating

Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me

Until then I walk alone

And a little Woody Allen just for the hell of it:

"And remember, if you smoke after sex you're doing it too fast."

The Family Sports Legacy Continues

It's been a long twenty fours hours. I am not one that tends to subscribe to or accept change, and after all I've had to fight for in my life, I'm tired of fighting. I don't like being told what to do...hell, who does?

So I needed a day off from it. I took my nephew Parker down to the aquarium in the morning, and follwed that up with a very nice autumn walk through Stanley Park. Once we finished that, we wolfed down a couple of Pirate Packs at White Spot before going to Burnaby to watch my nieces ringette game.

As you can see in the video (she's number 9), she is still getting her ice feet, and is slowly working her way into the action. I especially enjoy the panning shot I did showing where she was compared to the action. Hockey helmut 30 dollars, ringette stick 15 dollars, watching your niece not having a clue what is going on around her....priceless.

I will take about the change stuff later, I'm just really not in the mood for it right now and I need to go find a place to hang out.

A Prairie Home Companion

I don't know if you have ever heard of A Prairie Home Companion or not. I have a long history with it. I have always been a big fan of Sunday night radio shows, just something that I can throw on and slide under the covers. Radio shows almost seem to amplify your sense of hearing, you just get so much out of it.

I first heard of Garrison Keillor's radio show from Charles Kuralt when he used to do his "On the Road" segments for the CBS sunday morning news.

His did this one segment about this simple old school radio show that still broadcasted for two hours every Saturday night from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul Minnesota. A great little variety show where they still sang their advertisments (love that) between songs by various guests. Very down home.

I soon found it simulcast on a Spokane station on Sunday nights. I always looked forward to my Sunday night bedtime stories.

Once we moved to Vancouver, it took a little while, but again I found it broadcast from a station in Seattle on Sunday nights.

Anyhow, in 2006 Robert Altman, the great Robert Altman decided to make a fictionalized account of A Prairie Home Companion into what would be his last movie. He put together one of the fantastic ensemble cast he was known for, Garrison Keillor himself, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, and Lindsay Lohan in what I think was the only good role she has ever played.

This IS the best movie of 2006, I don't give a rats ass what the academy thought of 2 gay cowboys, this was the movie that should have won it all.

Great music!! Great acting!! Great direction!! They say Altman made all the stars sing their own songs, and they all had to do it in one take. Amazing once you watch it. It is on MC2 at 1:30 today, but if you can't watch it rent it. Hell, buy it, you wouldn't regret it.

Did You Happen to See the Most Beautiful Girl in the World?

"There is something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself"

- John Gregory Brown

Miley sent me these pics last night, I must say I got lost in thought for hours. When you live your life through photos there is no transitional time, just suddenly, when you are not really expecting it, the beautiful little girl becomes a beautiful young woman.

I had hopes that watching Miley gracefully ascend to adulthood would have a type of Dorian Gray affect on me, but no, I looked older in the mirror today than I care to remember.

She has been extremely busy this school year, and I miss the frequency of our spontaneous talks of music, politics, movies, and whatever else seems to come up. But if there is one thing I have always been, it is patient and understanding, and I think that is all anyone needs to have around them. At the same time it makes you treasure what you have, and when my phone rings, or I receive an unexpected e-mail with photos like these, I am like a pat of butter in a hot frying pan.

Campaign Wrap-up 2008

I can't beat that.

And as I Watch the Drops of Rain...Weave Their Weary Paths and Die (10 Years Later)

I know it is election day, I will get to that. This day marks something more important to me. It was 10 years ago tonight that I found my "balance."

It was a random meeting that turned into so much more. I now have that voice that tells me when to quit while I'm ahead. The voice that has no hesistation to call me a "weenie" (more often than not), and most importantly the voice that will sincerely ask me if I'm okay.

I went to a place not knowing what I would find, and found all that I wanted and more. The years have flown by, there have been highs and lows, yes and no's, and a caring that has grown stronger than oak. Everything I am today started on that night. Sometimes when I think about it, it just doesn't seem possible. And now I find myself forever inspired.

Don't Forget What Happened to the Man That Suddenly Got Everything He Ever Wanted (The Comedic Genius of Gene Wilder)

He should have made way more movies, but like Johnny Depp once said "nobody knew how to write a script for him."

I felt so bad for him when Gilda died. I am certain she was the only person on the planet who understood him.

This is What Tim Russert Was All About

Sorry John McCain, you're busted!!

Plaster of Paris Bagel and Cream Cheese Paperweights

"After Hours" was on this morning. One of the classic black comedies. Anyhow who has even questioned a directors talent will be rendered silent by Scorsese's one night romp through Soho.

Griffin Dunne shined in this role, before moving on to a producing career.

We have all had a night like this. Just nothing seems to go right. Defines most of the '90's for me.

I love this scene. We have all had that moment where we were toltally into somebody, but then instantly wanted out. Fast!!

It is on again at 6:20 on Encore Avenue if you want to see it. Nobody does New York like Woody or Martin.