Saltspring was amazing! Sharon and I chilled right out for 4 days camped just off the water at Ruckle Park (the most beautiful campsite in BC). There was tasty food, much exploring, and a very laid-back pace to our days as we adjusted to “island time.” Met some interesting locals, checked out the market, and spent heaps of time investigating the different parks and beaches.

When I got back I wound up in an 80 hour week at work so island time quickly disappeared. This weekend I’m doing some kayaking with Dave and attending a BBQ in honor of our friend Trevor’s birthday tonight.

My sister made a quick trip west from Winnipeg last weekend and we managed to meet up in Hope for lunch at an excellent little restaurant called Home. Looks like she might be working for an airline company soon so she decided to take a bit of time to do some visiting and let Rayo, her husband from Dubai, explore some of western Canada. He’s a cool guy and I always enjoy spending time chatting with him.

Now I need to get my laundry done and sort out my gear for kayaking tomorrow.

So what’s been happening the last couple of weeks? Well… last weekend was  a whirlwind of action! There were gypsy bands at the Anza Club and $3.50 beers. First thing Sunday morning I woke up at Dave’s place and within 15 minutes we were on the road to Squamish where we enjoyed some fine grilled cheese sandwiches courtesy of Grilled Fromage, the “cheesiest place on earth.” It’s a nice hipster joint with tasty food and cheesy album covers (Tom Jones and Slim Whitman were a couple of my favorites) decorating the place. There are a few prominently-placed pictures of David Hasselhoff too.

After loading up on grilled cheese, we took Dave’s truck up into a forestry road past Squamish and got to chill out in the outdoors for a bit. Then it was our friend Kris’s BBQ for his birthday and finally into bed after a great weekend.

Next weekend is Kimli’s birthday and the “no pants” party that she has planned. I will be pressing my sexiest manties for the occasion.

One of my more recent finds was a band called Ask Alice. They were active in California a couple of years ago, put out an independently-financed album, and have since disappeared. I still throw that album on so I can hear 3 of the hardest charging punk songs I’ve been exposed to. Every time I listen I’m seized with the urge to put an ad on Craigslist, “drummer wanting to start loud angry punk band that makes people wet their pants in fear and awe whenever we play.”

Sadly, Ask Alice’s myspace page has disappeared and I don’t see twitter updates from them anymore. Hopefully they put together a new punk band that’s as good as the old one.

So this weekend I took it easy. Spent loads of time chilling out with Sharon and cooking a small mountain of food. Now I’ve got a freezer full of lasagna, pizza, muffins, and pita bread. Oh, and chocolate cake too!

Saturday night Sharon and I saw the John Butler Trio at the Commodore. Great show! Three incredibly talented musicians who play a diverse range of music. Imagine Ben Harper but a little more worldly. The drummer was one of the most talented I’ve seen and even had a steel drum to add melody to a couple of songs.

I’ve never been one to embrace domesticity but this weekend I wallowed in domestic bliss and loved it!

Frightened Rabbit are an indie band from Scotland and while I don’t listen to their recorded stuff too much (it’s kinda mellow) I like seeing them turn it up at their live shows. So good!

In other news I’ve been thinking a lot about financial planning lately. There’s a site at getrichslowly.org that I read often. Tonight I stumbled across an article which I found best summarizes my idea of retirement: An Interview with the Millionaire Next Door. I’ve been making lifestyle changes, slowly, over the past few months to help get me there and I’m excited about my push for financial freedom.

The first session featured a couple of journalists talking about how they use social media in their work now. Really interesting session. I didn’t realize that they used twitter in the newsroom to pick up on developing stories although it makes sense. They had a good story about following up on a shooting by digging through the shootee’s Facebook page and finding out that he had all these biker gang connections. They even got in touch with some of the guy’s Facebook friends for interviews and pulled pieces of the story out of them.

This afternoon was a batch of sessions that were more Q&A about social media and how it was affecting different industries. Knitting, for instance, has exploded since everyone’s been able to connect online and we got the perspectives of three people who’ve made careers in the knitting world because of it. Right now I’m in a room where four artists are explaining how they put their material out and market it through social media.

On a side note I’ve been finding it strange to be back in a school. Up until a couple of years ago I used to make it a point to be constantly taking courses at night to learn fun things like accounting (yes, you read correctly, I enjoy accounting). In the last couple of years I’ve found I’m more inclined to read a book and get my hands dirty instead of following a formal course structure. Things are more interesting to me that way and I find I get more out of actually doing instead of reading about doing. Being back in a school reinforced that I’m not really a “school” person anymore since I don’t get the same value out of it as I do just jumping into something.

Tonight we’re going to hook up at a friend’s place for after-NV beers and Thai food. Then I’ve got to hop by Matt’s place for his housewarming. I’ll be curious to see his place, especially since it’s just a few blocks from where Sharon lives.

The headliner was pretty bad though. They were talented, but the singer was some dude who was dressed up like a fancy lad from the 30′s and when they began the first song he broke out this ear-splitting yodel! Good thing there weren’t any dogs in the venue or they would have been howling. So we fled after two songs.

Otherwise it’s been a busy night. Monday our band rehearsed and Reilly and Shan put together a MGMT cover. Sounds good. I’ve got some ideas from drums but I’m not yet talented enough to pull them off. Need more practice!

Tuesday was the ABC meeting for our Amenities Building that’s part of our complex. Since I’m administering the music studios I’m involved in these meetings. I also took on the role of secretary, not only because I look hot in a skirt, but it’s good to help keep the minutes organized. Organization is what I do best these days. After I returned from the meeting and writing everything up I met Dave for a beer at the Alibi Room. The Alibi Room is the best pub in Vancouver because they bring in an ever-changing selection of esoteric beers from BC. Dave discovered they had another specialty brew list of beers brought in from other countries and so he asked for it. The waitress dropped a notepad off with several handwritten pages of beers from all over the world! We went for a Scotish beer that had been aged in oak whisky barrels. You could smell and taste the scotch in the beer and it was one of he best beers I’ve ever tasted.

Wednesday I hooked up with one of my co-workers, a former co-worker, and their girlfriends for dinner at a fancy-pants place in Yaletown called Lupo. Delicious Italian food and amazing desserts. Totally recommended if you want a tasty night out.

Last night Sharon and I went to the Hollywood Theatre to see Crazy Heart, the story of a washed up country singer who’s an alcoholic touring whatever bowling alley or pub will have him play. Fabulous film! Very well done. I won’t say much about it other than it’s well worth seeing.

And then tonight: 2 great bands and one terrible one. But a great time was had even if I did have to hear that the Canucks got pushed within one game of elimination with a 7-4 defeat at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks, who put Vancouver out of the playoffs last year.

Tomorrow is the Northern Voice social media conference over at UBC. Should be fun! I enjoyed last year quite a bit. Then it’s our friend Matt’s housewarming.

Sunday I need to see about picking up the acoustic panels that have arrived at Tom Lee and installing them in the music studios in our building.

So a busy week! But good. I like busy… I feel more alive when things are happening.

I was a little wound up from work and stuff the last couple of weeks but I’m feeling pretty mellow again after hanging out with everyone tonight. Thanks peeps!

Tomorrow I’m hooking up with Tamara for dim sum. Then I’ll check out Got Craft where Miranda and Kimli are selling cool things. Got Craft is one of the neatest things to check out. Everything’s funky and super-artistic. Not traditional crafts like your Grandmother would be into. More like fun things that are cool and interesting to some punk like me. Finally I’ll be picking Sharon up from the ferry when she returns from her visit to Victoria.

So I should get some sleep! Or should I watch another episode of The Office, my latest addiction (thankfully coming to an end since I’m halfway through season 5)?

Theresa, my sister, arrived in town last weekend to collect her and her husband’s stuff which landed in Vancouver after being shipped over on a container from Dubai. We got to hang out all weekend, which was nice, and then on Monday, with the help of Dave, she loaded everything up on her Ford Ranger for the drive out to Winnipeg. Dave said it was about as much as the truck could carry and they used several tarps and 200′ of rope to tie the whole load down! Then they took a test drive up to Horseshoe Bay, adjusted a few of the ropes, taped down some loose tarp corners, and she went on her way. I got word that she made it back alright and now has a mountain of stuff to unpack and sort out.

This was probably the last time I’ll see her in Vancouver for quite some time but I’m planning on going to Winnipeg in the next couple of years to check it out. I’d like to spend a few days exploring the culture out there and I’m going to try and tie it in with a show happening there. Maybe the Weakerthans will do another performance at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

She even brought me cookies from The Tall Grass Prairie Bakery! They were some of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. The bakery is obsessive about quality ingredients to the point that they mill their own flour. So I need to go there and sample more of their goods.

Noise

Reilly and I jammed downstairs on Thursday night sans singer since Shan’s enjoying Thailand where Josh’s brother is getting married. Reilly and I have occasionally been making noise under the guise of making music in the jamspace downstairs. We have one song which is about greasy bar hookups. We started writing another one and we had an idea about another greasy hookup gone wrong. Then this morning I had a flash of inspiration about another song featuring greasy people hooking up at the bar and I’m hoping this leads to a third song!

If anyone’s wondering how sleazy people hook up at bars then consider our music your formal education minus the STDs.

The Canucks Are Canada’s Only Hope!?

Montreal and Ottawa are facing elimination which leaves Canada’s playoff hopes pinned on the Canucks. Pandemonium! Dogs and cats living together! When I first moved to Vancouver I tried to root for the Canucks but I found they would fizzle out in the playoffs every season. So I formally said, “stuff it” to the Canucks and trumpeted my love of the Calgary Flames to all who would listen. I was born in Calgary so the Flames will always be my #1 despite this season’s poor showing.

But the Canucks!? Art Ross trophy for Sedin and Luongo taking Canada to gold at the Olympics! It seems too good to be true. I’ll believe it when I see them enter the 3rd round. Long way to go until then.