Riot Nose Slide

Super bummed the Canucks didn't win the Stanley Cup. The riot after the loss was brutal. I hope every jackass that participated in the looting, torching and vandalizing gets arrested. It's definitely not a reflection of Vancouver and the people that reside here. Not sure if this photo above is a photoshop or not. It appears to be the same guy saving this Smartcar in this clip below @ 2:01. Coincidentally, or maybe not, he's stopping a few skateboarders from smashing the Smartcar.

Washington Capitals Mike Green

Most people that know me know that I'm a hockey nut. If an NHL game is being broadcasted, there's a good chance my tv will be on that channel. Not only do I watching games, I partake in fantasy hockey, which is just hockey Dungeons and Dragons.

Lots of pro models have come out with NHL logo inspired graphics such as Gino for 101, Colin x 2 for Plan B, T-Ferg for Girl, Wade for DGK and Getz for Habitat.

I was perusing frozen in carbonite and came across this post and apparently Mike Green of the Washington Capitals is into skateboarding. The Maxim article referenced is partially available here. I have a feeling he wasn't a very good skater. I found this video below from a google search and he says his best trick is/was a kickflip, which, let's be honest, is just a stock trick for any kid who's been skating for more than a few months.

Regardless of how good or bad of a skater he was as a teenager, it's cool that he's still into it and collects boards for art. I'd be psyched to get one of the above Mike Green boards. Dude really is an amazing offensive defenceman. I think he should've been on the 2010 Canadian Olympic Team.

Top 10 Jobs?

10 Best Jobs

1. Software engineer: $87,140
2. Mathematician: $94,178
3. Actuary: $87,204
4. Statistician: $73,208
5. Computer systems analyst: $77,153
6. Meteorologist: $85,210
7. Biologist: $74,278
8. Historian: $63,208
9. Audiologist: $63,144
10. Dental hygienist: $67,107

In this article, the majority of the top 10 jobs require a keen sense of mathematics. My day job is #4... it's a good steady job but I never really thought of it as a top 10 sorta thing.

Krtek shirt

When I visited central Europe over the summer, I didn't really come home with any souvenirs. While in Prague, I kept seeing this character in a lot of the tourist shops. I wasn't even sure what animal he was and didn't know his name. It turns out he's a mole named Krtek. Most of the Krtek stuff was for kids so I didn't end up getting anything.

When I got back to Canada, I decided to make my own Krtek shirt. I got a crappy low res image from google, enlarged it and tidied it up. I uploaded it to Wordans and got them to print it on a medium heather gray Hanes Heavyweight shirt, which fits as a medium should. When I received the shirt, the print was kind of translucent and the colours weren't are bright as I would have liked. It reminds me of a typical faux vintage Mickey Mouse ringer t-shirt. I contacted them about it and they said it was printed on their "Brother printer", which doesn't print white. They offered to redo the shirt for me with their other printer and they said to put in the comments section that I wanted the eyes white. My second Krtek shirt is below... much brighter colours. That one was printed on a medium Alstyle 1301 charcoal shirt, which fits a bit small.


I've done another shirt there and I'll post that up in the weeks to come.

T-shirts

For some reason, the past few months, I've been accumulating logo shirts, which is rather odd for me. I typically just wear plain t's, usually heather gray. Figure I'll start posting a shirt every once in a while.

At the end of October, my wife was in Orlando and got me this shirt.


Yes... I'm a giant nerd and I'm stoked on Harry Potter. Part one of the Deathly Hallows opens up this weekend. Looks sick.

Back from Vacation

Lagged on the blog posts the past few weeks. I was vacationing in central Europe (Budapest, Vienna and Prague) and I happened to fuck up my ankle two days before departing Canada. Bad timing...

AT-AT not on Hoth

I yanked this from my friend Karoumy's blog. Super slick.

Demolition Fail

I walk by this building every weekday on my way to and from work. I watched them smash down the corner on the alley side but didn't stick around to see this craziness.

View from F&F Headquarters

Olympic madness.

Canada

The old Georgia Hotel in Downtown Vancouver is covered in a gigantic Canada flag. Super stoked on this pic. Yanked from VIA.

NYC rehash

I just got back from NYC and had a great time. We flew with Cathay Pacific and stayed 5 nights. Here's a few observations.

1. We stayed at the Best Western Bowery Hanbee, an all around great mid-range hotel in Chinatown. Highly recommended. E at CBI stayed in the same hood a few weeks ago at the Comfort Inn Manhattan Bridge, which sounds like another good spot. Both are fairly new hotels which is always nice.

2. I decided not to bring my board. We caught the tail end of Tropical Depression Danny so there was lots of rain for our first few days. I figured it would either be too wet or too hot and, to be honest, the only thing I would have skated is the Banks. I ended up getting a cold on the 2nd day and was pretty much fighting through it the whole stay. I did see my first Shut, 5boro, Roger(PS Stix) and Habitat Ecoply boards. The former three companies are pretty rare in Vancouver.

3. Being dog owners, my wife and I notice them where ever we go. Surprisingly, at least 50% of the dogs we saw in New York were Frenchies. We also saw a PBGV, a rare breed which is what my OG pup Basil was (RIP buddy).

4.
This Puleo ledge is at Chrystie and Delancey, which is a few blocks north of our hotel and south of the Whole Foods in the Lower East Side.

5. Only "celebrity" sighting was Jason Dill and his entourage (urban cowboy + random dude) walking down Grand St near my hotel. His arm was in a sling so I'm guessing he's injured.

6. This store Uniqlo was pretty awesome. It originated in Japan and the Soho store is the only one in North America. 95% of their gear is really clean and basic.

7. Restaurants always seem to be hit or miss. Here are a few that we enjoyed and would eat at again.
a) Mary's Fish Camp in the West Village - it's small, it's not cheap and it has an open kitchen. Expect to wait but it's well worth it.
b) Baoguette Café in the East Village - it's rare to find a good veggie Vietnamese sub. This place has a great one.
c) Lombardi's in Little Italy - America's first pizzeria. Stoked on their pizza margarita.
d) Wild Ginger Vegan Restaurant in Chinatown and Brooklyn - lunch menu was great. Lots of options. It's healthy and it's always nice to be able to order anything on the menu rather than trying to weed out all the meat dishes.
e) Sobaya in the East Village - hand made soba noodles. Traditional Japanese style. Awesome.
f) Baja Fresh and Chipotles - we don't have either of these in Canada so I always stop by when visiting the States. I'm a sucker for double fisted veggie burritos.

The one's we thought would be good but didn't blow us away were: Freeman's, Angelica's Kitchen (Vancouver does organic healthy food better than both), B & H (my wife's matzah ball soup is superior and the challah we get from Terra bread in Vancouver is better as well), Acme (it was good but I don't think we'd go back), Bleecker St Pizza (Food Network's #1 Pizza in NY, I have no idea how that happened)

Thanks to everyone who hooked me up with information on cool shit and bunk crap in the city.

Vacation

I'm heading out on vacation for a few weeks. I'll be chillin' at the beach for a bit as well as hitting up NYC for several days. If anyone has suggestions for NYC, leave a message here or shoot me an email.

Saturday, July 25, 2009 in Vancouver

We seldom get thunder and lightning in Vancouver but we got a killer display this past Saturday. It's probably better to watch this sucker muted.

Shots fired in my hood

Almost everyday for the past few months, there seems to be news stories about gang violence and shootings in the Lower Mainland. All of it has been in neighbourhoods far away from where I live and has little to no affect on my daily life. Unfortunately, that all changed yesterday. I walk within a block of this intersection daily. Not stoked.

Feedburner Alternative

Feedburner was pretty sweet to keep track of traffic for your blog. Ever since Google took it over and forced your feed over to their server, it's been complete garbage. I found this StatCounter which pretty much does the same thing.

Barack Obama

Good Luck today.