...in print

brief stints

Sun, 3 Jul 2011 19:48:24 -0400

I need to stop having brief stints all over the place.

a panoply of song

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 02:25:43 -0500

“Years from now, when this light isn’t ambling anymore, will I bring myself to write?” - The Decemberists

I went to the Decemberists concert a few weeks ago. AMAZING! What a great band live. They are so engaging and the crowd interaction is wonderful. Especially with The Mariner’s Revenge Song. I like the Decemberists because they tell stories with their songs. And they are also quite musical.

It seems a little unfair that the majority of “good” music comes from the Pacific Northwest. I wonder if it is because of the water? Or maybe just the relaxed carefree culture? Who really knows. But I say keep it all coming!

i’m on a bike

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:42:10 -0500

I’m on a bike motha%$#%!
This is a play on that SNL digital short “I’m on a boat”. I’m normally not this vulgar. :)
Dan, Adam and I spent 3.5 weeks touring New Zealand on motorcycles. Dan and I had BMW GS650S and Adam rode a VFR800. It was incredible. Everywhere you turn in NZ is a postcard. And this is not an exaggeration. There is plenty of wide open space but there are also lakes, mountains, rivers, rolling hills, sheep, glaciers, desert, ocean, bright sun, winding roads, quaint towns, big cities, farms, etc. I like to describe NZ as I would Canada except that in NZ you don’t have to drive 8 hours to get to the next land formation. You could legitimately drive 30minutes to an hour and get to a completely new landform. And to see all of this on a bike. Well, that’s just bonus.
I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to do this trip and with a couple of my best friends, made it that much more amazing.
If you haven’t been to NZ, I suggest you put it at the top of your list. If you have, I imagine you are like me presently - wanting to return and stay (for a significant amount of time.
If you want to see pictures, please contact me. Though the pictures don’t give the beauty due justice.

the peak

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:00:14 -0500

is an awesome new radio station in Vancouver. Check out the list of artists they have played in the last few hours:
Black Mountain
Miniatures
Pearl Jam
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Jets Overhead
Mumford & Sons
Watchmen
Cake
Feist
Incubus
Vampire Weekend
Sam Roberts
Interpol
Stills
Franz Ferdinand
Diamond Rings
Our Lady Peace
Weezer
David Gray
New Pornographers
Snow Patrol
Mother Mother
Blur
Ray Lamontagne & The Pariah Dogs
Tragically Hip
Tegan and Sara
Said The Whale
City and Colour

for sale

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:01:52 -0500

Black 2009 Triumph Street Triple 675:
Synthetic oil (Mobil1) only
3-1 Lowboy exhaust (ECM tuned for this exhaust)
Gel Seat
Black LH bar end mirror (Triumph OEM)
Black Shorty Pazzo Levers
Carbon Fibre Heel Guards
Fly Screen (Tinted)
Ogio Saddle Bags/Tail Bag
Tail Tidy (Competition Werkes) uninstalled
All original OEM items included
7806070497

moments and memories

Tue, 9 Nov 2010 18:19:38 -0500

Today is the first day of the rest of your life but it is also the last day of the first part of your life. You pretty much only have one day at any given time. And it’s not even a full day. It’s really just a moment. As I stand in this moment, it has already past. The moment I talk about now no longer exists. So indeed, what is in a moment? Is it even worth cherishing? Somehow, though, we live one moment at a time, forming cognitive thoughts as they pass. But that is all moments really do. They pass by and disappear, constantly being replaced by new moments. Some of them are fun (these pass by fast) and some of them are not (these seem prolonged) but, in the end, they all will pass. Something strange happens when we look at all these moments grouped together. They become something more than past moments, they become more than fleeting. Un-understandable things. They suddenly have substance, they begin to mean something and really, they become memories. It is the memory, made up of instantaneous moments, that is worthy to be cherished. Just like the seconds, minutes and hours make up a day, so do the moments make up a memory. And memories are great things. Seemingly coming from nothing, they become the only things we can hold onto sometimes.
Thanks for the memories...

cbc radio

Tue, 9 Nov 2010 02:02:00 -0500

My sister says that once you hit a certain (old) age CBC Radio becomes interesting. No longer are you interested in top 40 radio stations or listening to music whilst driving. Instead, the preferred mode of entertainment comes in the form of the talk show. My reluctance to listen to this station is probably rooted in my sister’s theory - I certainly don’t want to be dubbed “old”. Though, this may be inevitable, especially when my idea of a good time is sitting at home in bed, reading a book and sleeping before 10pm.

As I drove today for ten hours from Calgary to Vancouver, the radio station selection was limited to non-existent - CBC Radio being the limited selection. I laughed to myself thinking about what my sister had told me but I had no choice but to listen. It was CBC Radio or silence - and to be fair, I gave the latter some very deep thought. Much to my surprise, the programming on CBC Radio was actually very entertaining! I listened to Q, The Next Chapter and The Current. Very interesting and thought-provoking stuff. I even got to the point where I was disappointed that I was losing reception in the Rocky Mountains.

I guess the fact is that I am getting old. And it’s a natural enough thing, I suppose. The hardest part is remembering when I used to go out everyday of the week, drink like a fish and knock over newspaper stands at 3am, walking home (sometimes drunk) from downtown. Maybe it says something about me that I don’t do those things anymore. Maybe I’m maturing? Maybe I’m looking for something that will more permanently satisfy, engage and develop myself as a person. Maybe...

I’m not fully immersed yet though. My sister says the next evolution is listening to NPR, which I have listened to in the past but we’ll see how long it takes for me to listen to CBC Radio/NPR exclusively.

8 hours later

Fri, 5 Nov 2010 18:18:07 -0400

I’m still waking up at ungodly hours. This morning I woke up at 5:15am MST. I think I was too excited to blow the Fort McMurray popsicle stand so I had a hard time sleeping. Anyway, I ended up leaving with Kevin from Fort McMurray for the very last time at around 6:00am MST. I yelled a bunch of curse words out the window of my ’96 Jetta as we passed the last exit off of highway 63. I’M GONE! $#%@$&%#$&$%!

I’m sitting outside Kat’s house in Calgary waiting for her to get off work so she can let me into her place so that I can take a shower. Don’t you hate that layer of grime that builds up on your skin after a long drive? I do. And it’s worse when the cab filter on your car is actually completely plugged with dust so it just blows it into your face...:S. The good news is that after some warwalking/driving I was able to find a free internet connection. Sweet!

A little bit of bad news concerning Jas though. I realized my radiator fan motor is busted. Fuse looks good but I think the harness may have busted or perhaps some internal motor components. All I know is that it doesn’t turn the fan. This isn’t TOO horrible cause if I stay at speeds above 80kph (depending on ambient temperatures) I can keep the engine at a good operating temperature: RAM AIR! The problem is when I’ve been driving for a bit and I have to slow down to stop and go traffic....:S. I have a few options:
1) Go find a fan motor to replace the busted one here in Calgary.
2) Leave the car here in Calgary and catch a flight to Vancouver.
3) Make sure to stay at cruising speeds on my 10-11 hour drive to Vancouver and hope for “cooler” weather.
And as I was writing out these options, I have already decided to drive and take my chances. Wish me luck! Hahaha. Otherwise, Jas is doing great! Thanks for asking...:)

I might go hiking tomorrow!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I think it’s 20 degrees celsius outside!....what is going on?!?!?!?!

choice

Thu, 4 Nov 2010 15:43:39 -0400

An interesting TED talk on choice:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html

I have been blessed with the ability to choose. And it certainly is a blessing. Sometimes I feel petty about this though. I feel like I am so fortunate to have choice yet I still fret over the tiniest ones. As Barry Schwartz says in the TED talk above, we are essentially inundated with choice living in the North American developed society. Many times it gets us to a point of inaction and that is not fruitful whatsoever. I wonder how many times I have been in this exact predicament.

I tend to juxtapose my privileged position of choice next to the under privileged child in a developed country that has none. In An Imperfect Offering James Orbinski describes a young Rwandan victim of the hardships there who does not have a choice. He must steal in order to eat. Its tough for me to relate to something like that - and at times, morbidly, I want to be able to. What is my dilemma for choosing what food to eat or what school to study at next to this young child’s choice to eat or break the law? Put me in that same situation and I would have no idea what to do; or maybe I would. Humanity is a strange being. Somehow we have the ability to empathize. And I find myself empathizing more with those without a choice.

I am presented with a distinct choice presently. I have passions, interests, dreams and goals that lead me to various choices for the future. I love smart design and technologies that will make this world a better place - specifically, I know I would enjoy the clean energy industry. But at the same time, I have a deep passion rooted in water, water management and water engineering. I am currently in the process of applying to various programs around the world in these two fields. A part of me feels like the choice will be made clear with which program accepts me. But what if both accept me? What if neither accepts me? Regardless, I am finding it hard to focus on one or the other. Maybe this is a character flaw. I haven’t exactly stayed in one place or doing one thing for a very long time. JUST CHOOSE! It seems a little more involved than that but probably not right? I don’t know. I am beginning to ramble. I will stop.

organic vinyl

Wed, 3 Nov 2010 09:38:33 -0400

There is something so organic about listening to vinyl. The sound isn’t digitized and flows through you like something real - not digital - analog and pure.

My buddy Brady (shout out) has an old record player and a BADASS collection of old classic rock records. Everything from Supertramp to Jackson Browne to Chicago to Frank Sinatra to Medicine Head. Just phenomenal. I spent all afternoon yesterday listening to vinyl. It was great. I want an old record player.

Apparently many of the music labels are re-pressing old vinyl and packaging them up to sell like the original. All the popular stuff is already done like Hotel California, Running on Empty, etc. Jackson Browne is so cool. I wonder what it would be like to live in that time period. The sex, drugs and rock n roll. Hmmm.

Anyway, Running on Empty is such a marquee album. I love the theme of roads and cars and traveling. The open road. I suppose that’s where I am again. The world is my oyster, so to speak and I intend to make the most of it! Where will I be? What will I do? I suppose only time will tell. I am excited though. Very excited of the prospects.

And for those that have been there with me through various stages, thanks a bunch!!! I appreciate the support, the banter and the thought-provoking moments.