Right, so it didn’t end the way Disney told me it would… and then the riots downtown.
But here I am, the day after hockey, and I feel pretty good. Canucks had an amazing year, game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final… and come October, we do it again.
I woke up today after a terrible sleep to a wonderful day. I thought, “oh right, its pretty much summer now.”
I watched TV shows about medieval cathedrals in France and a show where they renovate backyards and I glanced up form the TV for a moment and it was day time. Fuck. I managed to sleep for maybe 3 hours. I’ll sleep well tonight. And I am thinking I am getting sick? Summer sick? Lame.
Tomorrow I buy sound equipment for my wedding DJ company. I wanted to head down to Long & McQuade and make sure its all moving forward, and while there… bought a ukulele.
I’ve now owned this beast for about 3 hours as of writing this blog, and I love it. Ryan Awram told me that his friend took a 12 week ukulele course and she is loving it and can play it pretty good now. I wonder….
Got back from camping in Fort Langley with Grandma and Grandpa this past Sunday.
We stayed on Brae Island which is a beautiful green little hunk of land in the Fraser River.
My folk’s have an RV so… OK, not really camping. And yes dinner was steak, lobster and chicken with potato, Greek and Caeser salad… or as my sister Andrea called it, the Double Trifecta Dinner. And yes, we drank imported European beers… BUT there was a campfire… so it was kind of like camping.
I am happy that my daughter continues to show signs that under her soft Victoria girl shell, there may beat the heart of the Explorer… or maybe she is just 3 and they’re all like that. But she really took to the tent, the campfire, dirt, bugs, eating strange berries and trying to jump in the swift moving Fraser River.
and of course… ice cream.
My parents, god bless them… gave me their old 1998 mini-van. So now I have a van to haul gear for my Wedding DJ business! I am so thankful to them for that.
My Dad went over how to care for a van that is old and has close to 200,000km on it. But my Mom and Dad took good care of it, so all things considered and minus a side-mirror being held on with duct-tape, it runs pretty good.
Mads and I came home Sunday night and the ferry was packed. Then yesterday, she woke up with an eye infection. Eye infections are so gnarly. She has some green goo pouring out of it, its swollen and pink. Took her to the doctor and bingo-bongo, pink eye!
I dealt with that last night. She woke up bothered by it so I also slept in her bed. Ouch, sore back today. But the doctor thinks if we keep it clean, keep washing our hands like obsessive-compulsive types and put the medicine in as directed, we’ll be good to go.
To be honest, Madelyn hasn’t gotten too sick or gets sick very often… so knock on wood; compared to what other parents go through, this hopefully won’t be a big deal.
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That’s all I got right now. This weekend will be rad as I am DJing at V.I.C. Fest at 11AM. The weather for the event looks awesome. Then a wedding at Sea Cider! And some other exciting things at Spin The Black Disc… so I’ll let you know as they play out.
Madelyn and I just got back inside from the rain. We spent our morning out at Madrona Farm filming a video for the Land Conservancy of British Columbia.
If you click that link you can see some of the videos already made… and I guess in the next couple days Dave the Intern will have ours up there too. I’ll be sure to post it on the blog when it’s all done.
Lately I’ve been pretty much obsessed with the idea of camping.
I used to camp more… but now I almost never do.
I have no time, too many responsibilities, but those are things I have control to manage, so I’ll just make some time and push some work aside.
Not only that, but I can forecast the need for a tent a few times this summer already as I’ll be DJing a couple weddings outside of the Capital region and I think tenting will be a good way to catch some ZzzzZzzzs after a night of the chicken dance. Coral is off to Sasquatch with her girls… and somewhere in there, I plan to try and do a bike camping trip with Dave. Try an easy(ish) 2 day, 1 night hike trip, explore Bamfield, and also jettison off in the car for some Vancouver Island beach camping.
Long term… well there is camping in Hawaii on my to-do list.
I went to Capital Iron and Mountain Equipment co-op and looked at some tent ideas. They have those big family dealio’s that maybe you remember from your childhood.
I don’t know if that is my style. I kinda like these little 3-person tents like this Black Diamond or the Tarn 3.
I’ll need to research more about camping and hiking and hiking/camping to understand what the difference is in all these things. But basically, I want something kinda compact if I go on a solo or bro adventure with Dave or my brother… but big enough if Coral and Madelyn and I need to do some camping. Also, double as our shelter for if/when the earthquake comes.
If you are a modern day adventurer and have some insight into different tent ideas please do leave me a comment. I am some-what price sensitive but will save and buy something more expensive if there is true value in it.
What sort of stuff do I NEED to camp, what kind of stuff is fun to bring?
Summer is coming. And to get ready, Coral and I went down to Capital Iron to buy a barbecue.
She said it is pretty funny how guys always like to grill food. But with the weather turning as it is… its hard not to. We’ve had our little Weber Q 200 for two days, and I’ve created two great grilled feasts. I think Easter dinner tomorrow will be on the grill as well (or maybe we’ll do it on Monday).
We ended up getting this little portable beast after our old full sized until gave up the ghost late last summer. My brother and his wife have the same (or similar) model and he loves it. Said it would be so worth the $250.
It has a cast iron grill, which ensure it cooks very well. Its gets nice and hot and sears the meat fantastically. However, cast iron has some cleaning and maintenance challenges. You need to season the grill with oil before and after use. That might take some time to learn and get good at. But the quality of the heat and the small size makes this BBQ ideal for my life as a condo owner and my aspirational life as an adventurer. Now I need a tent and maybe a sleeping bag or mat, and I can finally get back to camping!
At the very least… when Coral starts getting weekends off agin, it will be WEST! to Jordan River for a beach/BBQ day. That I can foresee in my future.
I get a pang from time-to-time where I think it would be good to create or make something tangible. Live in the tropics and grow stuff.
But sadly, I have no idea how to be a farmer or where I’d live.
I love coffee, so growing coffee might be fun. But how do you even begin to become a coffee farmer? Can I go to coffee farmer school, get a piece of paper that makes me legit then walk over to Coffee Farms R Us and use on-site financing to get a coffee farm? Nope.
It seems to be the domain of working poor people in third-world countries or retired wealthy folks in Hawaii.
If I had to pick to be one of the two, I’d saddle up to be and be wealthy retired folk.
A quick search on the internet found that coffee farms aren’t overly expensive all things considered (I thought they’d be way more). But still outta my price range. So maybe it’ll be my retirement goal.
But before I retire… I could take a holiday and be a coffee farmer. My interneting took me to a website for a group called World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, or WWOOF. You volunteer your labour on a farm, and the farmer provides a place to lay your head and some food.
AND they have a ton of WWOOF hosts on the Big Island of Hawaii. Maybe I don’t have to sell all my processions and move my little family to Hawaii… I can just take a couple weeks off around the harvest and be mercenary farmer!
I’ll just have to keep plugging my pennies in my RRSP fund and get a little more serious about retirement saving. Yeesh, is there anything worse than thinking about retirement? But if there is one thing I take away from Krystal’s blog, its that if you can take some abstract thoughts (like retirement) and apply practical steps today, things can happen for you. At least now the $000s taken from my pay-cheque every two-weeks that go to some faceless account now have a purpose.
Huzzah, my Jeep is all fixed. It was bad battery so it ended up costing a little over $200 when it was all said and done.
I got lots of great advice and feedback on my Facebook from everyone the other day in regards to getting a new battery, so thank you if you took the time.
I do love my Jeep. This one is leased and the lease is up at the end of July. I’ll be sad when its gone.
Krystal’s blog is a financial blog and she is pretty hardcore so it was neat to read how she’d splurge but at the same time what a sane, responsible person would do. Since it is my goal to one day “be responsible” I enjoy her blog.
Before I write anything about it… I’d have to really think hard. One of the only things I might buy is a Jeep.
But then I really think about it, and I just like cars period. That’s not very Green party of me, but I do. A Jeep, a motorcycle maybe… and still yet, shit I’d have to invest the money quick… because I’d randomly buy cars!
To think, if this was the 1900s… they would have have just left me for dead. They’d say, “Oh the war didn’t get him? He wasn’t carried away by werewolves? And he’s 31! Well he lived a life longer than any man has a right to.”
God bless modern medicine.
I did venture outside yesterday for the first time in a couple days to take Madelyn for a bike ride. We bought her this little bike in February but I haven’t really had a chance to take her out. I feel so like the Dad from a Harry Chapin song.
She must be riding it out at Nana’s because she was a bit of a wizard on the thing. We went around the track by our condo twice. But in the end, the call of swings and slides were too much. She bailed on the bike to be pushed in a swing.
Today is my first day back to work and already filled with stress. Lame. My Jeep died so I had t take that to the shop. Likely $200 if its a minor repair or covered under warranty and cost to me will be $0 if its major. So I hope its major? Seems weird, but thus is the modern car industrial complex.
I get to the Zone and see I have a missed call from HSBC. I get calls from them all the time. Drives me nuts. I already have a term loan with them and haven’t missed a payment so I always wonder what there is to talk about… yet every month… like my own private period.
Now I get it, if I walk into a bank with my hand out, I am going to get a serious helping of rejection. That’s not lost on me. So I stopped doing it.
But I guess the banks missed me, because every month, HSBC calls me. Then they pull up my file and reject me. Thank you HSBC for the reminder I am failing at capitalism.
Today’s call was a bit of an extra dagger.
HSBC: “Hello Mr. Baker, I am going through your file and see you have a loan with us.”
Me: “yes”
HSBC: “Wow, it is a really terrible loan. a bagillion percent interest rate. Is that a real number? I am embarrassed we even offered it. We’re worse than the worst loan sharks. Really, this should be illegal. We straight up took advantage of your need/ignorance.”
Me: “You did. Its fine, I’ll deal.. its a term, it’ll end in my lifetime. thank you for calling to tell me I’m a retard. I don’t get that enough in my life at home or at work.”
HSBC: “Well I’m calling to tell you we can do better to get that rate down.”
Me: “Fuck eh! then do it.”
HSBC: “OK, well let me punch up your file.”
Me: “you just said you reviewed my file.”
HSBC: “Are you a home owner?”
Me: “oh god.”
HSBC: “I’m sorry sir, you’re still poor and can’t take your business elsewhere. There just isn’t enough equity in your home yet for us to stop fisting your anus. But you know, you can call us in like a year or if you win the lottery and then maybe we can take your winnings or swindle you out of your house then.”
Me: “Why would I phone you when your auto-dialer will just waste my life force next month with another bullshit call?”
HSBC: “OK have a nice day, thank you for using HSBC.”
I am not too sad in that… well the band hasn’t been functioning lately. It was like a married couple that gets separated. We’ve seen this coming… and now the paper just got served and its official. Sad, but we’re glad they’re both happy now.
I like that they ended it, because it helps preserve the great amount of art they have created before. They can’t become a parody of themselves. PLUS, now we have a future “Oh My GAWD!” reunion show for Coachella to think about.
The White Stripes – “Fell In Love With a Girl”
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I need to cut my nails. I hate, HATE, H A T E typing with nails. gross.
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So I am pretty much obsessed with both the desert and the arctic.
If there is a documentary on my holy trinity of HD channels of Discovery World, Nation Geographic or Oasis on either hot or cold climates… I HAVE to watch it.
Saharan Africa… well I have my night planned out. I know pathetic, I also have four channels of porn, but I’d rather hear about Timbuktu or Berber peoples.
The other day, there was a show about Hammerfest, Norway. The northern most “city” in the world.
Such an adorable city. If Canadian northern communities looked more like this and less like … uh, well less… I’d be living in Nunavut.
To be fair, there is a $10 BILLION dollar natural gas plant pumping $90 million dollars into the local economy every year… so, yeah, they can afford to pave a few streets and open a few pubs.
But I keep reading about all the potential of the Canadian North and how there *could* be riches buried beneath the ice or sea bed, but it sure ain’t no Hammerfest.
I may never make it to Hammerfest, but I do hope to one day get a chance to explore the Canadian Arctic. There is a radio station in Iqaluit. neat.
Tomorrow I buy sound equipment for my wedding DJ company. I wanted to head down to Long & McQuade and make sure its all moving forward, and while there… bought a ukulele.
The Morning After 