County Clare (continued)

More whatevers:

• The Aran isles are made up of four islands the smallest and closest to the Irish mainland is Innismeer. This is the island we visited. The people of the Aran Isles are fluent in Irish. It's been their primary language since Cromwell in the 17th century, when many Irish fled to the islands. Today many Irish send there kids to the islands for the summer to learn the Irish language. They stay with families where they learn Irish through immersion.
• I didn't find the locals to be particularly friendly toward the tourists, but I'm sure it gets old when four boats a day unload a fresh batch of people, especially in a region with so few people. By nature of living on an island for much of your life with 3oo people (max) you probably don't have gregarious tendencies.
• There were so many rocks on Innismeer that they'd stack them into walls just to get them out of the way. So it looks like there are crazy mazes all over the island. Check my flickr pages to see what I'm talking about. They would also mix layers of sand and seaweed on top of rocks to create fertile soil in order to be self sufficient.
• On the island there was this one church which was completely submerged by sand. You can still see into the church by looking through the roof. The site has become a cemetary which is at the same level as the church. It was pretty odd.
• Day 4 still no snakes.
• We got a flat tire on the way back from the Aran Isles to Spanish Point. No spare in the trunk. Took three hours to get a replacement car. But it turned out to be pretty cool because we met this wonderful man Mike Wolf (just now realized that Josh has a friend from San Marcus with the same name) who was originally from England who lived across the highway from where we parked. He was extremely helpful. There were three stangers, probably cussing across the street, on this very quiet stretch of highway, and he looked up taxis and check on us several times to make sure everything was ok. He showed Patty and I his conservatory and even gave me a copy of the Webb Society Deep-Sky Observer's Handbook Volume 9 that he put together in his spare time over 4 years. I will find his email address someday and send him a thank you message.
• Where we stopped with the flat tire was next to a field with a lot of cows. Mike told us this story of how the owner bought this special breed of bull from France that was particularly mean. It was so mean it broke the owner's ribs when he first approached it. So he called in the vet whose ankle he broke. The owner ended up having to call in the Irish military to take down the bull because he couldn't seem to take it down himself. Now that's one mean ass bull.
• Haven't seen a single big box store here. Haven't missed them. Unrelated thought, it's not easy to find bottled water here.
• I fucked up and left my windows open with the light on in my hotel room. When I got back several hours later, I had hundreds of tiny flying insects waiting in the room for me. Fortunately, I was told earlier in the night that Ireland doesn't have any mosquitoes, because if it, did I'd probably have West Nile virus right now. After living in a state where just about any creature could kill you, it's comforting to be in a land without any poisonous critters...not sure how much I believe this...
  
• The rumors are true, people like to drink here.
• Bands I can't stop listening to on this trip:
• Pela
• The Twilight Sad
• Apparat
  
• St. Vincent
• Oh, and Enya since she seems to be playing everywhere we go.
  

County Clare

On Sunday my dad, aunt Patty and I drove from Dublin to Spanish Point in County Clare. Here are my notes from the last couple days.

Driving.

• The scenery along N7 which runs east-west across Ireland looks a lot like upstate New York. I can see why so many Irish settled there.
• On the drive Patty filled us in on an article she read in the paper on "Stab City" aka Limerick. Apparently there is quite a bit of violent crime.
• I thought I might die a gruesome death several times riding down R474. Tim did a great job of driving, but the roads are as narrow as the car we're driving. There was one bridge that would only allow one car through at a time. A couple times I suggested "Get in the middle" of the bridge. Finally, I could see this stone wall coming at me so I shouted "Get in the middle!" Thankfully Tim obliged.
  

Notes about County Clare.

• We're staying at the Burke Armada hotel which is named after the Spanish Armada. The hotel is owned by Clare Burke, who's family has lived in County Clare for as far back as she knows. The hotel is named after the Spanish Armada which fought the English off the coast.
• Clare's husband John opened the Armada as a small pub in the late 60's. Over time they added a little bit here and a little bit there. Now it's a huge hotel with over 100 rooms and a new addition starting later this year.
• Clare was surprised when I asked about boxties, they're like potato crepes. I guess they haven't been made in a couple generations. I had some a Fado's in Austin, they're very tasty.
• It's been wonderful sleeping with the windows open, letting in the cool ocean breeze and listening to the waves crashing on the shore.
• In Doolin I ordered a cafe americano and asked for it in a to-go cup. The guy served it in a coffee cup. I asked if he has any cups I could use while I'm wandering around the town and he said, "That's the problem with you americans, you're always wandering." I think the tourist season is wearing on him a bit.
• I found a map with Oola on it, this is the town where my great great grandfather came from. Tim was saying that it's kinda of far away from where we were and I said, "it's about an hour away. We've been waiting three generations to get there. It's not too far."
• Riding the front upper deck of the ferry to Inisheer, Tim says, "Look out there's rainbows coming at us." Right before the splash hits our faces.
• Priest I was talking to on the ferry, "You can't tell an Irishman what to do." Explaining why Ireland had stopped mandatory Irish in the schools. Irish is still taught in the better schools, so parents are putting their kids in those schools. But when it was forced on everyone it was a different story.
• More to come....
  

Day 2 in Dublin

No internet access the past couple days. Here's the run down of the last day in Dublin. By the way, I've been posting pictures of the trip on flicker

Here are observations I jotted down while wandering around:

• It's impossible to get a cup o' joe. The only option most places is cafe americano which is espresso with hot water. Other places just have instant coffee.
• There are a ton people from other countries in Dublin. This impression could be the result of only spending time at the tourist spots.
• 45 pounds per year for 9000 years. This is the sweetheart deal Guinness has for 60 acres in downtown. My dad mentions that the properties in the newspaper are going for anywhere from 500,000 Euros to over a million for modest sized homes.
• My cell doesn't work in Europe because it's CDMA. So I haven't had it with me for the last couple days. Sometimes I think I that feel the vibration of it going off in my pocket, like an itch amputees get on their missing limbs.
• Finally found fresh brewed coffee. It comes in the irish coffee at the Jameson's distillery.
• The Guinness brewery has the best view of downtown Dublin. There aren't any tall buildings in Dublin. So the 7th story bar towers over the rest of the city. All the walls of the bar are glass so you have a 360 degree view of the surrounding area.
• The river Lifey is pronounced like "lift" not "life".

Quotes from Dublin:

• "It's like sheep porn." Comment after looking at a rack of post cards containing hundreds of pictures of sheep.
• "What team do you play for?" by my aunt Patty. The Celtic games were taking place in Dublin the weekend we were there, so we saw lots of people in different jerseys. Patty asked this question of the girls below, who we found out were going to a 72 hour dj festival, which I regrettably missed.

• "Don't worry, it'd cost me too much if I hit you." - Taxi driver to Tim after he jumped away from his car, because Tim got a little nervous.
• "Took the smile right off your face, didn't I?" - Dublin tour bus driver. We were running up as he closed the door and drove 10 feet. The he opened the door and let us on.
  

4,694 Miles Later

I'm about to finish my first day in Dublin. I think I feel right now how Sammy must feel most of the time. I've had approximately 2 bad hours of sleep the past two days. Woke up at 7am Wed to finish packing and get to the airport. Had a 5 hour layover in Newark. The layover wasn't bad, since my dad hooked me up with a Continental Presidents Club card and I had the free drink hookup. The flight for Dublin left at 10pm EST, landed at Dublin airport at 10am local time. It was impossible to get comfortable enough to sleep for long on the plane.

In this sleep deprived state, we now get to drive from the airport to the hotel. I'm really glad Tim was driving. But it was pretty funny when he got in to back up the car and was sitting on the wrong side. I must admit that riding on the other side of the road is pretty intense.

I notice that I bump into people while walking here all the time. You know how when people are walking in opposite directions back home how everyone gravitates to the right side of the sidewalk or door? Well here it's the opposite, just like the driving. It's really hard to rewire myself to dodge by going to the left.

All I wanted to do was sleep when I got to the hotel this morning, but every jet lag suggestions site says to force yourself to stay up and go to sleep at the regular local time. So we ended up taking a train into downtown Dublin and took a site seeing tour bus around the city. Which would have seemed lame to me two days ago, but it was about all I could handle in my sleep deprived state. Now I'm thinking it was a good idea, because we know were everything is and got more ideas on what to go see and do tomorrow.

My Aunt Patty can't stop mentioning how Irish everyone looks. It is kinda weird, in that everyone has similar features to me, my dad and my aunt, which is different from about every place I've been outside of upstate New York. Another thing that's cool is most of the people here are paler than I am. I don't know that I've ever experienced this. Except for the time I delivered pizza to 3 african-american albinos who shared and apartment in Denton. But that was freaky, this is cool.

White is the New Beige

Has anyone else noticed that Apple has moved away from white devices? With the new iPods there isn't a single white option. The new iMac has taken on a brushed aluminum over the previous white. The MacBook is one of the last with the white option. I remember when it came out the black MacBooks were priced $200 more just because they were black. This may have signaled the end of Apple's sparked white molded plastic electronics movement.

I give it 10 years before retro white devices make a comeback.

ps About the new iPods, couldn't they have made a touch iPod with a hard drive? 16 Gb doesn't cut it.

Emerald Isle

I'm finally packed for my first overseas trip to Ireland. Many thanks to Molly for suggesting the compression bags, because of them I have tons of room to stash a bottle or two of Jameson's in it for the return trip. Also thanks to Mary and Sammy for their recommendations on where to go and what to do.

I'm meeting up with my dad and aunt Patty in the Continental Airlines presidents lounge in Newark tomorrow where we leave for Dublin. My layover is for four hours, so I should be sleeping pretty well on the flight.

We'll be in Dublin for a couple days before heading to County Clare. From there I have no idea where we're going, but I'm sure we'll cross a pub or two. Our hope is to track down more info on where my great great grandfather came from, we know the general area from his gravestone in Keeseville, New York but we don't know anything about his parents, siblings or other relatives.

With any luck, I'll find free wireless while I'm there and be able to post pictures of the trip and be able to maintain a bit of a travel blog.

And Now Something Really Sweet

NINJAS!!!

One of my earlier posts on this blog three years ago was devoted to ninjas. Incredibly they're no less cool now than they were then. But it's only been recently that people have begun to uncover how ninjas work.

In Case You're Looking For Me This Month ...

I'll be at Emos.

13th - Die! Die! Die!
14th - Sebadoh with original lineup
18th - Deerhunter with the Pony's and Brightblack Morning Light
20th - Parts and Labor
21st - Tapes N Tapes
27th - Sunset Rubdown

Can the body take that many Sparkleberries?

SXSW 2007 Show Reviews

Here are some short notes on the bands I saw this past week. Most of them written after drinking for hours.

Wednesday

• Prototypes - Looks like they have garages in France too.
• Menomena - Fire sound guy at Beauty Bar. Sammy says, "Boring. Pussy rock."
• Black Angels - Incredible percussion. Dark guitar riffs. Moody vocals. Check!
• Hogpig - Can I get a little metal, please?
• Blacklist - Drummer wearing a leather jacket? Too busy looking cool not being good.
  
• Lilly Allen - Live dancehall with full band. Damn she's sassy.
• The Comas - Why the fuck am I back at the Beauty Bar?
• Rob Crowe - Love his voice, wish I could catch the lyrics.
  
• Die! Die! Die! - Please don't take my knee out. I think I'll need that later
• Blonde Redhead - Would sound much better at home with the lights out.
  
• Schwazy - schweet slacker rap and there's enough crack (butt) here for everyone.

Thursday

• Andrew Bird - Whistling, violin, xylophone and harmonica are not typical components of music I like, but this was great.
• Pete Townsend - Solo acoustic rendition of a song off quadraphenia. He's been doing this for 45+ years, wow!
• Kid Beyond - Spot on beatbox remix of Nine Inch Nails song, incredible!
• The Shys - Only song I liked was the sample from SXSW site.
• Bob Mould - Solo acoustic. Is there anyone better than him and Rob Crowe at crafting a bitter sweet pop song?
• Cold War Kids - Best show of SXSW at this point. Start with 4 people on stage end with 30.
• Don Caballero - Not doing it for me.
• Jesu - The sound guy really likes bass. Can't hear any of the guitar, which is what I came for.
• These Arms Are Snakes - I just moshed myself sober.

Friday

• Breast Feeders - Sharing a garage with the Prototypes. Best tambourine player ever!
• Thurston Moore - It's a feedback party and you're invited. Set list = 1 song.
• Clem Snide - Please something good happen to this man. If not, I'll continue to enjoy the music his misery creates.
• Perry Ferrell's Satellite Party - Nice shiny pants. Steve keeps saying "Kill me now!"
• Yuppie Pricks - Hummer in My Hummer, an instant classic.
• The Clutter - Always great straight up Rock & Roll.
• Ariel Pink - Why, oh why did I have to see this show?

Saturday

• Pink Nasty - CD is good, no advantage in hearing the songs live.
• 7 Shot Screamers - Ooops forgot that every rock-a-billy song sounds the same.
• Walter Meego - Wish I'd gotten here earlier, good electronic pop.
• The Parlor Mob - Singer has a picture of Robert Plant on his bedroom wall.
• Danielia Cotton - Little black girl rocked my world. Back in Black finale, magnificent!
• Marnie Stern - I really hate it when bands start 15 minutes late. Josh reports that badge line at Stubbs is around the block for Stooges.
• Kid Koala - Amazing, spins 3 records without headphones.
• Amon Tobin - One of the best shows I've ever seen! I felt like I was in one of the crowd scenes from It's All Gone Pete Tong. Encore with Kid Koala was insane, speed metal scratches with Tobins big beats, oh so crunchy, I think this is what the big bang sounded like.
  

SXSW 2007

Well I starting to feel pretty good about the upcoming SXSW. I spent a couple weeks listening to over 700 songs from different bands that are playing this year. There are almost 1800 bands playing showcases this year.

Here's my list of bands that to check out. There no way I'll be able to see everything, so I've highlighted the ones I can't miss.

Wednesday, 14 March 2007

08:00PM Chris Letcher (Red 7)
08:00PM The Diffs (Redrum)
08:15PM iLiKETRAiNS (Emo's Jr)
08:30PM the Comas (Beauty Bar Patio)
09:00PM Rubicks (Co-op Bar)
09:00PM Hogpig (Bourbon Rocks)
09:00PM Imperial Teen (Antone's)
09:45PM Blacklist (Elysium)
10:00PM The Dansettes (Continental Club)
10:45PM The Twilight Sad (Mohawk Patio)
11:00PM Lily Allen (Stubb's)
11:15PM Calla (Emo's Jr)
11:20PM The Faceless Werewolves (Beerland)
11:45PM Rob Crow (Mohawk Patio)
12:00AM Experimental Aircraft (Blender Balcony at the Ritz)
12:00AM All the Saints (Lambert's)
12:00AM Holy Fuck (Beauty Bar)
12:00AM Damien Dempsey (Copa)
12:00AM mothercoat (Latitude 30)
12:00AM The Sammies (Light Bar)
12:00AM Manic (Bourbon Rocks)
12:15AM Die! Die! Die! (Habana Calle 6 Patio)
12:30AM Peter, Bjorn and John (La Zona Rosa)
12:45AM Blonde Redhead (Emo's Main Room)
01:00AM Black Moth Super Rainbow (Blender Balcony at the Ritz)
01:00AM KTU (Pohjonen, Gunn, Mastelotto) (Uncle Flirty's Loft)
01:00AM Bermuda Triangle (Co-op Bar)
01:00AM The Wombats (Friends)
01:00AM Les Savy Fav (Red Eyed Fly)
01:00AM Special Guests from Austin TX (Antone's)

Thursday, 15 March 2007

06:00PM Rachel Fuller w/ Special Guests (La Zona Rosa)
08:00PM Errors (Karma Lounge)
08:00PM Ana Laan (Visions)
08:00PM Kid Beyond (Elysium)
08:00PM The Cinematics (Flamingo Cantina)
08:30PM The Shys (Exodus)
08:30PM The Besnard Lakes (Mohawk Patio)
09:00PM Young Widows (Lambert's)
09:00PM Bob Mould (Buffalo Billiards)
09:30PM Jim Bianco (The Parish)
09:40PM Bisc1 (Spiro's)
10:00PM Cut Off Your Hands (Co-op Bar)
10:00PM Cold War Kids (La Zona Rosa)
10:00PM Bang Bang Bang (Opal Divine's Freehouse)
10:00PM Special Guest (Eternal)
10:30PM Shout Out Out Out Out (Beauty Bar Patio)
11:00PM Champion (Maggie Mae's Rooftop)
11:00PM Fujiya & Miyagi (Karma Lounge)
11:00PM The Octopus Project (Emo's Main Room)
11:00PM The Dears (Stubb's)
11:00PM David Vandervelde (Mohawk)
11:00PM MuteMath (Dirty Dog Bar)
11:00PM Lionheart Brothers (Emo's Jr)
11:00PM Architecture in Helsinki (La Zona Rosa)
11:00PM Panthers (Flamingo Cantina)
11:00PM Don Caballero (Room 710)
11:15PM Ocelot (Beauty Bar)
11:30PM Land Of Talk (Maggie Mae's)
11:30PM JESU (Emo's Annex)
11:40PM Air Traffic (The Rio)
12:00AM RWAKE (Room 710)
12:00AM DATAROCK (Emo's Jr)
12:00AM Deerhunter (Soho Lounge)
12:00AM Ghostland Observatory (La Zona Rosa)
12:00AM Bloc Party (Stubb's)
12:00AM Amy Winehouse (Eternal)
12:00AM Fucked Up (Lambert's)
12:00AM Special Guest (Karma Lounge)
12:15AM Shitdisco (Beauty Bar Patio)
12:30AM Vashti Bunyan (Central Presbyterian Church)
12:45AM Okkervil River (Mohawk Patio)
01:00AM Fair to Midland (Eternal)
01:00AM Asobi Seksu (The Parish II)
01:00AM Menomena (Buffalo Billiards)
01:00AM Voxtrot (Emo's Main Room)
01:00AM Pop Levi (The Ale House)
01:00AM These Arms Are Snakes (Lambert's)
01:00AM Special Guests (Habana Calle 6)

Friday, 16 March 2007

01:00PM The Buzzcocks (SXSW Live Austin Convention Center)
07:45PM Public Enemy (SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake)
08:00PM Thurston Moore Instrumental (Mohawk)
08:00PM Cities (Dirty Dog Bar)
08:00PM Special Guests (Club de Ville)
09:00PM Adrienne Pierce (Light Bar)
09:00PM Clem Snide (Buffalo Billiards)
09:00PM Peter, Bjorn and John (SXSW Live Austin Convention Center)
09:30PM Andrew Bird (Stubb's)
09:30PM Smut Peddlers (Emo's Jr)
09:30PM Sybris (Red Eyed Fly)
10:00PM Ane Brun (18th Floor at Hilton Garden Inn)
10:00PM Six Parts Seven (Maggie Mae's)
10:30PM Perry Farrell's Satellite Party (Stubb's)
11:00PM Yuppie Pricks (Habana Calle 6)
11:00PM The Black Angels (Antone's)
11:00PM Los Abandoned (The Rio)
11:00PM Clockcleaner (Exodus)
11:20PM Bedroom Walls (Club One 15)
11:30PM Daedelus (Zero Degrees)
11:30PM Badly Drawn Boy (Stubb's)
11:30PM Thurston Moore Songz plus special guest (Mohawk Patio)
11:40PM Hoodoo Gurus (Blender Bar at the Ritz)
11:45PM Special Guest (La Zona Rosa)
12:00AM The Clutters (Habana Calle 6)
12:00AM Apostle of Hustle (Habana Calle 6 Annex)
12:45AM The Walkmen (Emo's Annex)
12:45AM The Good, The Bad & The Queen (Stubb's)
01:00AM The Ettes (Whisky Bar)
01:00AM The Emeralds (Elysium)
01:00AM Ariel Pink (The Ale House)
01:00AM Beach House (The Tap Room at Six)
01:00AM Sasquatch (Room 710)
01:00AM The Woggles (Habana Calle 6)
01:00AM Special Guests (Habana Calle 6 Annex)

Saturday, 17 March 2007

02:00PM Gallows (SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake)
07:30PM Special Guest (Whisky Bar)
08:00PM 7 Shot Screamers (Dirty Dog Bar)
08:00PM Pink Nasty (Elysium)
08:00PM Buzzcocks (Emo's Main Room)
08:00PM Walter Meego (Exodus)
08:00PM Mastodon (SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake)
09:00PM Danielia Cotton (The Ale House)
09:00PM The Parlor Mob (Bourbon Rocks)
09:00PM Mew (La Zona Rosa)
09:00PM Honky (Dirty Dog Bar)
09:00PM The Berg Sans Nipple (Elysium)
09:00PM Jello Biafra (spoken word) (The Parish II)
09:15PM Electric Apricot featuring Les Claypool (Opal Divine's Freehouse)
09:15PM Meat Puppets (Emo's Main Room)
09:40PM ANAVAN (Emo's Jr)
10:00PM Golem (Habana Calle 6 Annex)
10:00PM Metro Riots (Lambert's)
10:00PM Tia Carrera (Red 7)
10:00PM Marnie Stern (Emo's IV Lounge)
10:00PM Kings of Leon (Stubb's)
10:00PM The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello solo acoustic) (Central Presbyterian Church)
11:00PM Bang Gang (Elysium)
11:00PM Lions (Bourbon Rocks)
11:10PM Lesbians On Ecstasy (Exodus)
11:10PM Ryno (Zero Degrees)
11:30PM Detroit Cobras (Red Eyed Fly)
12:00AM Lab Partners (Lambert's)
12:00AM Lions In The Street (Club de Ville)
12:00AM Au Revoir Simone (Copa)
12:00AM Prototypes (Exodus)
12:00AM The Presidents of the United States of America (Maggie Mae's Rooftop)
12:15AM Amon Tobin (The Parish)
12:30AM The Stooges (Stubb's)
12:30AM Special Guests (Cedar Street Courtyard)
12:30AM Special Guests (Emo's Annex)
01:00AM Gorch Fock (Red 7)
01:00AM Special Guests (Room 710)

My 20 Best CDs of 2006

1. Passover - Black Angels
2. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
3. Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet
4. Broken Boy Soldiers - Raconteurs
5. The Campfire Headphase - Boards of Canada
6. Stay Afraid - Parts & Labor
7. Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh
8. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
9. Shut Up I Am Dreaming - Sunset Rubdown
10. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case
11. The Loon - Tapes 'n Tapes
12. Vessel States - Wilderness
13. A Life Less Lived - The Gothic Boxed Set
14. Silent Shout - The Knife
15. Garden Ruin - Calexico
16. Bang Bang Rock & Roll - Art Brut
17. Rather Ripped - Sonic Youth
18. Show Your Bones -Yeah Yeah Yeahs
19. Eyes Open - Snow Patrol
20. Everything All The Time - Band of Horses

CDs I still need to check out from 2006:

1. Built To Spill - You In Reverse
2. LCD Sound System - 45:33
3. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
4. Beck - The Information
5. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
6. Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light
7. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
8. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Balad of the Broken Seas
9. Converge - No Heroes
10. The Futureheads: News & Tributes

T-Mobile Phishing

I got a couple calls today from people claiming to be from T-Mobile using a restricted phone number. They said that I'm delinquent on a $156 bill from 2004 and that they were going to report it to a credit collections company.

I called T-Mobile directly to verify their claim and was told that I left everything in good standing (I've been with Verizon for the last couple years). After I called T-Mobile, the "collections" people called back. Fortunately, I didn't give them any personal information on the earlier calls. Once I told them that I cleared everything with T-Mobile and that I wouldn't give them any information, they immediately hung up.

Thought of the Day

Web sites are like digital toilet paper.

Drunkest cities in the US

Here's a Forbes article on the drunkest cities in the US. Austin's #4 before I moved here it was #10.

Planetarium Hell

Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet earlier today by the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union.

In other planetary news, did you know that there is a movement to change the pronounciation of Uranus? Instead of y-rns prudish Jr High teachers are pronouncing it yr-ns. Nothing they can do about the Sperm whale.

SoCo Seems To Be Moving My Way

I was driving down Congress yesterday and noticed what looked to be a big development project breaking ground. Ramona said she thought it was going to be the site of some new lofts. Well she's right, it's going to be the home of the SoCo Lofts. Do they have to look like a warehouse?

When I bought my house earlier this year, I admit to harboring fantasies of all my favorite SoCo shops uprooting and planting themselves right around Hills Cafe. Maybe rent would become so expensive that Vulcan Video, Jo's Coffee and Ecowise would have to move a couple miles south closer to me.

I'm already pretty lucky to have Hills Cafe, Ruta Maya, El Borrego del Orro, Opal Divine, Amy's and Crowne less than a mile away. If only some of it would cross 290 to my side of Congress.

A Saturday

Started by heading out to a cafe called Subeez, a trendy yet cool cafe/bar with a goth theme. Ate a delicious thai salmon sandwich on a baguet with chili mayo, I'll be going back.

While walking to buy tickets see Wilderness and Pinback at a nearby record store, realized that there are some really big freakin' birds here. I think one mistook my head as a furry rabbit and swooped in pretty damn close. Downtown Vancouver is surrounded on 3 sides by water so I guess I can expect to see some pretty big sea birds flying around.

Found out about the Sasquatch! Music Festival, which is happening over Memorial Day weekend. Line up includes: Nine Inch Nails, Bauhaus, Trail of Dead, Shins, Neko Case, Flaming Lips, Beck, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and the Arctic Monkeys, and those are just the bands that I gotta see. Probably won't be able to make it, because of prior commitments that weekend.

Decided to check out Robson Street which is about a two mile stretch full of all kinds of shops. After walking up and down Robson, I find it to be just like an outdoor mall complete with Gap, Express and Payless Shoe store with added bonus of bars.

While walking down the street, I saw two skinny white kids; who watched too much "Yo MTV Raps", or whatever the equivalent is maybe it's all MTV programming now, screwing around with this scrawny semi-toothless homeless looking guy who had a bike (the bike makes me think maybe not homeless, but everything else about it was pure hobo). The hobo calls out skinny M&M# 1 and says, "Come on man just you and me", this was repeated about 5 or 6 times. The two decide something along the lines of "uh oh this guy's serious", back down a bit, then chuck a drink at hobo's bike and start rapidly walking off. Apparently, they forgot that our hero has a bicycle, as they are walking away, he rides by and pops skinny M&M #1 really good along the side of the face, not an easy thing to do with a sidewalk full of people. As our hero is riding off into the sunset, the two give chase. As they are racing after him though, their baggy pants drop off their asses almost to their knees. By this time, because the pant malfunction, our hero has exacted his vengeance and has gotten away. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Here's another Vancouver picture. Anne says this is a tulip tree.



Oh, and here's a picture of Josh in a baby seat.

Late SXSW Recap

The best shows I saw at SXSW in chronological order:

Sleater Kinney
Gorch Fock
Bright Channel
Lesbians on ecstasy
Art Brut
Sereena Maneesh
The Black Angels
Art Brut (not as good second time around)
The Go! Team
Beastie Boys (Had the feel of a spontaneous unrehearsed show, fucking incredible)
Hurrah Torpedo
Tapes & Tapes
Darker My Love (along with Lesbians on ecstasy the greatest unexpected surprise)
Subways
Arctic Monkeys
Neko Case


Watched Old Boy. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It's got everything - humor, vengeance, martial arts, angry hero wielding a claw hammer, plot twists galore, mystery, and a little love story (for the ladies).

Ugly American

It's the simple things where you realize, "shit! This isn't Texas any more." Picking up a couple thing at the market on the corner, I stopped at the deli and asked for a 1/4 pound of potato salad. Getting a quizzical look from the attendant, I thought, "hmm, maybe that's too small a portion of potato salad." So I instead I changed my order and said "just make it a small container." As she's filling the container, it dawns on me, "Damned metric system!"

Here's a picture from outside the office building where I work. It was dark and I didn't have a tripod, but you can almost see the lights on the ski slope.



Right after taking that picture, while walking to the train station a rat scurried across my path. Vancouver's got everything!

Still haven't had the chance to ask a thick accented native to read aloud:

A boot
A boat
about

Curious to see how different they all sound.

I lost my profession composure the other day when Sean, who I work with, was talking on the phone as said with dreadful seriousness, "Did you take a dump this morning?" I could be 100 and still snicker at hearing that phrase.

Vancouver

Well I've been in Vacouver almost a week now. I think I've almost finally caught up on sleep after an great swsw followed immediately by a long flight up here that left me leaving immigration at 2:30 a.m. local time. I'm staying in a furnished apartment downtown while I work at the Telus office. The picture is the view out the window of my living room at night.

My first day here was quite challenging. I had to wake up early in the morning after my late arrival to meet with my leasing agent. Signed the rental agreement. Got my bags from the hotel to taxi to the new apt. Once I'd loaded everything into the new apt, it was time to take a train to work. Only one problem, I didn't have any Canadian money. Tried an ATM but it rejected my bank card. Fortunately, I was able to buy tickets with a credit card. I later found out that some ATMs will work with my bank card while many won't, depends upon the banking network they use.

Everything has been pretty cool here so far. Spent the weekend wandering around the neighborhood to see what sort of stuff is close: Tons of restaurants, beauty salons, clothing stores, trendy furniture stores, a whole strip of XXX shops, bars, grocery stores. Looks like there won't be any need for me to get a car, everything I need is within a couple blocks.

I finally talked to Verizon to switch my plan to one that includes Canada, so I can stop answering my cell phone with "Hey! I'm in Vancouver and this call is international and roaming! Make it snappy!"

Saw my first person shooting up on the street today. They were tearing up caution tape from a building site and using it to tie off. Read something in the paper here where the police have been cracking down on people fixing in public, I guess it's against the law. The heroin addicts have a park designated for doing their dirty business but the crack addicts feel like they are being descriminated against because they don't have the option of hanging out in a park, so they get busted more frequently by the police, crazy city, but I kinda like it. Especially, when I'm reading in the paper up here about how TABC in Texas can bust you for being drunk in a bar. I wonder what the criteria is for drunk. Is it the same as the legal limit for driving? What's next? Are they going to go to parties and anyone but the hosts who are drunk get busted?