Shiny new red cabinets

I'm supposed to be making a report on the expected costs of a trip to Montreal to attend the CSPS conference. I'm also supposed to be reviewing nomination packages for Faculty members that have been nominated for an excellence in teaching award.

However, I have back-burnered these tasks to design a new kitchen for my apartment tonight. My kitchen is severely lacking storage space and work surfaces for preparing food. Currently, I have about 20" of linear open countertop and must use my cluttered tabletop for chopping, mixing, or whatever other kitchen activity I need a flat surface for. I downloaded Ikea's kitchen planner software and went to work installing new cabinets and counters. Here is what I came up with - a solution that provides lotsa storage, lotsa new work surface, and a bar seating area for casual eats.

Now, I need to figure out how much floorspace this new peninsula will take up and how everything in my apartment will need to be moved to accommodate a bigger, better kitchen. Masking tape time... then I'll get to those reports.

Soliciting private function invitations

I did a run-through (almost literally) of Portobello West on Sunday. Nettie's stuff is fantastic, though needs a bit of time to save up for. But what truly left a lasting impression with me is the venue that the trade show was held in. The Rocky Mountaineer Station is gorgeous. The number of tables and people present for crafts and independent designers did not fill the space very well, so it seemed cavernous and empty. However, I bet (and there are photos on their website to make me feel confident in this bet) that an event that hosts hundreds of people, has a good sound system and good tunes, and generates really good energy would make this place incredible.

I want to be in this place when it really buzzes. If you're hosting an event there, invite me, please.

Grey's Envy

I didn't think that I was looking for a regular, on-going relationship with a television series. However, maybe because quite a bit of time has passed since I went steady with Six Feet Under or maybe because it seems that everyone I know books Thursday night dates with Grey's Anatomy, I looked for and found a series that I'm looking forward to curling up on the couch with on a regular basis. The show is The Black Donnellys.

There was something about the preview trailers leading up to the premiere episode that perked my interest. I threw on my t.v. last night and had it playing in the background while I did some reading. Through the first half-hour, I devoted 60% of my attention to the show. Through the final half-hour, I devoted 100% of my attention. I may be hooked. I can tell already. I'm already wondering what is going to happen to the brothers next week. The show looks great - all of it taking place in the shadows and alleys of New York City. The show sounds great - I recognized Imogen Heap and Snow Patrol, both bands that have had regular myTunes rotation, in the first episode. The writers of Million Dollar Baby and Crash, both movies that I have not yet seen but I mean to see, are involved with the show.

So, my Monday nights may now be booked.

I need home for a rest

Lotsa music in the past few evenings. Fun!

Thursday night - I was called off the benches to pitch-attend a concert with Andrew. John Mann (of Spirit of the West) opened, Josh Ritter headlined. This was the first show I've seen at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and I love this venue. Small, sounds good, comfy seats, pretty old theatre interior, and easy access. This is the second time I've seen Josh Ritter perform. The first time he was with his band opening for Jamie Cullum at the Commodore. This time he was acoustic and also performed one song acapella. Great show.

Friday night - Tambura Rosa at Rime. Happy birthday, Jo-Ann.

Saturday night - Following dinner at Nirvana, karaoke with Table 21 at Icon Karaoke. Group singing Sweet Caroline and Survivor is a good way to work off a lot of pakoras and butter chicken.

When machines go bad, part II

Cell phone 2, Ryan 0.

In the battle of my personal mobile telecommunications, my phone is winning all of the battles. I have been left twice now with a dead cell phone battery, though I have been diligently charging it through the evenings. Something seems to be wrong with either the battery or the charger. Instead of having the nice four bars of battery life after a night plugged in, I have zero. It seems that it is in fact discharging when I plug it in. Helpful charger.

It is time for me to change my phone. I have had my current phone for nearly three years. However, I hope that my current cell can postpone its retirement for one more month. On March 14, 2007 wireless companies in Canada are required to allow customers to keep their cell phone numbers even when they change providers. I hope that this will mean that I will be able to shop around for a better service/phone plan at a lower price.

This is my neighbourhood

There's a little something for everyone on Main Street.

Eat at Nikkyu

Do you like your cooked Japanese food to be excessively salty? Do you like your rice to be cooked with too much water and therefore be sticky and soft? Do you like having to ask for refills of tea and for a plate to mix wasabi and soy sauce for dipping (even though you are seated near the service station so the staff can see your empty glass and lack of dishware each time they pass by your table)? Do you enjoy having to wait for a table and to pay your bill even though it is a quiet restaurant on a Sunday evening and there appears to be plenty of staff on-shift?

You should eat at Nikkyu Sushi on Main St.

I can feel my cholesterol levels rising

It could be due to the Tim Horton's triple chocolate muffin that I had mid-morning or the Tim Horton's peanut butter cookie that I ate at the lunch seminar.

Or it could be due to the large piece of beef rib-eye steak that I cooked and ate for dinner.

Or it could be due to the caesar salad that I had to accompany the steak. (For those are keeping score at home, the romaine is still fresh as a daisy and there's still lots left - 3.5 heads done, 2.5 remain.)

Or maybe it was the sliced tomato that was also on my dinner plate and that I ate tonight.

The end of Toronto

Toro is short for Toronto. It was a men's variety magazine for Canadians (think aiming to be Esquire or GQ, but accomplishing to be a Canuck version of Details by featuring national (well, more honestly, primarily Toronto, secondly Montreal, and in a distant third place, Vancouver) people, places, and things).

I once won a prize pack of old man-scent cologne from Toro.

On February 12th, 2007, Toro officially suspended publication.

PS. I assume that I should not expect any refund on the issues that I pre-paid for and will not receive. I don't know if anybody else has ever had a Canadian magazine fold up shop while they were a subscriber and can provide insight into how it plays out.

When machines go bad

Custard was acting up today. First, she wasn't going to play through my iTrip to the truck radio. Then, she did a complete seize up. Clicking any or all of the buttons didn't do anything, it didn't appear to be charging when I plugged it into the Firewire cable, and iTunes didn't pick up that an iPod was plugged in through my USB connection.

Here are the steps for a lockup reset when your iPod freezes. In short, cycle the hold switch (for those of you have iPod's with functioning hold switches) then press and hold both the Menu and selection buttons until your iPod resets. This is information that I didn't know before, but am very happy to know now (and to have work for Custard).

Round 1: Chinese New Year's Parade

By the Chinese lunar calendar, it is the year of the pig. Alyssa, Andrew, Trisha, and I watched the celebration parade for the Chinese New Year in Vancouver's Chinatown this morning. The parade is a spectacle of colour with brightly decorated dragons, dancers, and flags. I hope that the photos that I took capture at least part of the eye-candy punch that the costumes and decorations had in today's spring sunshine.

Some of my favourite photos from today are of the kids watching the parade. It was a long parade, so I had lots of time to gawk around and grab these snaps rather than devote all of my attention to the parade. You can view more of my photos from today here.

You can also view photos from today at WATK, but I can't say how soon they will be posted by that blog's fearless authors.

Update: Photos are up on WATK! They are a formidable competitor.

My prescription to feel (somewhat) better

Blah, I got sick. Yesterday I was feeling really crappy (congested, coughing, achy head, sore body, reduced appetite, and low energy). Today, I still feel bitten by the bug -- after grocery shopping and packing it all away, I'm feeling ready for a bit of rest -- but much better than yesterday. What are my healing ways? Here is a summary:

• Drink tea;
• Sleep on backside for 2 hours, head at head of bed, socks on;
• Eat small meal consisting of whatever foods are convenient - toast, cheese, and fruit;
• Remain awake for 1.5 hours, reading and checking e-mail;
• Sleep in chair for 0.5 hour, socks on;
• Remain awake for 0.5 hours, reading;
• Sleep on stomach and side for 2 hours, feet at head of bed, socks on;
• Brush teeth and prepare for bed;
• Sleep on backside and side for 9 hours, head at head of bed, socks removed.
  

Bread, glorious bread

Take me here or here and I have the wide-eyed, big-grinned look of a kid in a candy store.

I was in Terra Breads on 5th Ave for the first time this morning. Only blocks away from where I live, I expect that it will become a regular shopping destination. My one complaint with this store is their hours. Because they are servicing the industry folk in the neighbourhood, their hours are banker's hours during the week and closed Sundays on the weekends. I will need to build a wander to Terra into my Saturdays.

Finally, on this subject, whoever finds the coupon that worked its way out of my pocket on the way to Terra Breads, please take advantage of it and enjoy the bread. $5 off your $10 purchase of bread is a great deal!

Vector Watch

400 g package, $3.88 at Buy Low Foods. No free wrist/ankle weight included.

On Valentine's Day

I can't think of a better day than Valentine's Day to post about the bag of hearts that takes up the bottom shelf of my refrigerator. Romaine lettuce hearts.

This weekend all of the greens in the produce section looked brownish on their edges, and a pile of romaine hearts (6 to a bag) were being advertised as an in-store special at the low price of $2.99. I was surprised at how hefty the bag was when I grabbed it. What a fantastic deal!

Now that it is here in my fridge, descending along the path to eventual brown squishiness that my vegetables often follow, I am puzzled about what one can do with so much romaine. So far, I have been thankful that I have mistakenly double purchased caesar salad dressing -- one day I will learn to compose a shopping list -- and have a Costco-sized box (double bag enclosed) of croutons (pronounced crau-tons).

First it was the cilantro

My friends and family can describe me as having some stubborn and possibly silly opinions. For example, I don't like cats (and their pointy ears), don't use emoticons, and nearly exclusively purchase my music in the old-fashioned format of CDs.

It may take me a while to jump onto a more sensible bandwagon, but I occasionally will come around. My hate for the soapy taste of cilantro made me avoid ever buying or stocking the herb in my kitchen. This opinion was changed with good experimental results I obtained using cilantro as one of my reagents.

This morning I purchased the new album by a band I like and an album I've meant to buy for several months from iTunes. I had initially intended to shop downtown for the albums, but when I look at the uncontrolled stacks of jewel cases, liner notes, and CDs in my apartment, maybe digital purchases are the way I should go. It is super convenient (possibly too convenient), saves a few dollars, and cuts down on the litter in my apartment and in landfills. I get good music faster and Apple gets more profitable - continuing along my old ways now seems like working against the universe's natural movements.

However, I do enjoy the physical act of shopping in music shops, so I'm certain that I'm not done bringing more jewel cases and printed discs home.

Better than brie

For a raclette, cheese is heated and then scraped onto the diners' plates.

At Alice and Clint's housewarming, I was treated to fun company and a ginormous spread of foods. Where the Evite stated hot-pot/fondue/raclette, it wasn't a list of options that the hosts were deciding between. Instead it was an incomplete list of the hot foods being served. One of my favourite interactive foods was toasted baguette topped with melted brie on the raclette grill.

Something that is better than brie is still-warm, gooey melted brie.

Boo, Bao Pham

Granted that this quote may be presented out of context, I still am putting a heavy black mark against Caffe Barney. Here, the quote by Bao Pham, owner of the building which Soma and Monsoon once occupied and currently occupy, published in the Westender:

Asked whether he thought kicking out two landmark businesses would have any impact on the neighbourhood, Pham did not express any concern. “It doesn’t matter — it’s business,” he said. “I bought the building for [my] business.”

I heard a rumour that Caffe Barney on Granville St is closing and that its relocation to Main St was possible. This article may explain the origins of that rumour.

Release me now!

I just found out that the new album by Rufus is expected in May 2007.

There has been a long break between Want Two and this new album, so I am looking forward to hearing some new tunes from Rufus. I guess he has been focusing on his Judy Garland show rather than producing/recording new music. If only he would bring that performance somewhere closer to Vancouver.

Let's talk about it

We can talk some more about his facial hair or we can talk about how big-budget/over-the-top/random/weird and very cool their new music video is.

I have been punished

For all my whining and complaining about the #84 bus line, I received a 35 minute wait in the misty rain this morning when I was trying to get to campus. The wait would have lasted an additional 15, but I decided to haul myself up the seven blocks to Broadway to wait for a bus on a different transit route.

Due to all of this waiting for buses I nearly missed my opportunity to become a UBC celebrity - the development office was in the house for a photo op of students and equipment that was purchased with donors' contributions. I can tell you that some of the poses were quite provocative. Look out for photos of me getting friendly with the nitrogen generating system in the May 2007 issue of UBC's development office newsletter.

Carrie Bradshaw left something on my hard drive

I was doing a bit of housekeeping of my computer's hard drive this evening. There was a curious file sitting in My Documents simply titled "document". When I opened the Word file, there was a single line which reads in a very Carrie(SATC)-esque manner.

"Why does adding clarity cloud a situation?"

Moo-Lay... the diet pills made her do it

Hee hee. Yesterday I got my hair cut by Taylor at Ego.

Follow the link and scroll down to the entry from Friday, January 27, 2006 (right before the photo of the blond) to find out what I find so funny.

I don't live on Cambie St, but I do blog

I can blog about how I am repeatedly confused by a bus route that is not overly confusing. The #84 Translink busline runs from VCC-Clark to UBC approximately every 15 minutes in the morning. Why I can wait over 20 minutes in the rain at a bus stop that doesn't have a shelter to see a bus fly by because it is too full to take on additional passengers confuses me. This morning, for the first time, an accordion bus arrived after only a few more minutes of wait. Thank you for the accordion, Translink! Let's deploy it every morning from now on.

From the final row, center, of the accordion bus, it was fun to watch the Dance of the Busriders. There's the slide past another standee (ass-facing or crotch-facing); the bag take-down and the bag lift; and, naturally for a route that has a lot of starts and stops, the deathgrip hold so you don't fall in your (non)partner's lap.

Less than 3.5 kg of fat!

This week, as part of my initiation membership package for old Elevation fitness centre, I had a personal fitness/health assessment completed. After a few short tests and body measurements, my numbers were entered into a computer. After running the Polar TriFIT algorithms, the computer spit out some body composition results (including total body fat) and provided this conclusion:

"Ryan, your BodyAge is 23 compared to your chronological age of 28." It goes on to describe that by increasing my strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular capacity I can knock an additional seven years off of my BodyAge. I can be 16 years old!

Since I don't have a burning desire to revisit my teenaged years, I think that I can take this evening off from visiting the gym.

P.S. By some rough estimations, 3.5 kg of fat is contained in 8,750 Que Pasa chips or 76 QuarterPounder meals (without Supersizing).

Herzog! Herzog! Herzog!

I attended VAG's members' opening for the Fred Herzog and Photography as Theatre exhibits on Friday night with Donald.

The Herzog exhibit is great. I loved seeing the life of downtown Vancouver, Main Street, and Chinatown in the 1960s. I can't wait to visit the photos again when there aren't so many people in the way.

(Art stolen from fredherzog.com website.)

In the heart of Chinatown is Phnom Penh

I ate out last night at a Critic's Choice (and other awards) winning Vancouver restaurant that I have never paid any attention to. Phnom Penh serves up Vietnamese/Cambodian (it is Cambodian - I should have gone with my first guess, rather than allowing my weak geography knowledge to second-guess myself) in a unassuming dining room located off of Georgia St.

The food is good value, great tasting, and served up smoking hot from the kitchen. The service is fast and helpful.

Trisha and I shared a mountain of food (prawn spring rolls; dry egg noodles topped with smoked meat, prawns, and beef; fried chicken wings; and fried squid). After this good survey and tasting from their very extensive menu, I easily recommend this restaurant.

Notes on a movie

A lot of the movies that I have seen lately (and I am on quite a kick of movie-seeing) reveal how desperation, confusion, and helplessness will drive characters to commit otherwise incomprehensible behaviours.

This weekend, I saw this theme play out in Notes on a Scandal. What a wonderfully twisted thriller. Though it has none of the tricks of the traditional suspense-thriller, the movie had me guessing all the way throughout how the characters would resolve their seemingly desperate situations. Judi Dench is frightening; Cate Blanchett is gorgeous and full of emotion. The movie has a great British tone. The soundtrack is hypnotizing, a trademark of the compositions from Philip Glass.

Constructicons, transform and merge to form Devastator!

In the site where once stood autobody shops and other unknown businesses on East 2nd Avenue (aka my back yard) is now a flattened empty lot. It, like every other plot of undeveloped land in Vancouver, will become a site for a new condo development.

The new building better not steal away views from my second floor apartment of the North Shore mountains.

My problems with Translink

< Insert photo here of three #3 Translink buses, southbound nose to ass-nose to ass, at the intersection of Main St and King Edward Ave, each carrying a maximum eight passengers >

I wanted to take this photo from the bus stop where I was waiting for a northbound bus, but my hands were full of grocery bags. By the time I set my bags down and reached for my camera, all three buses had continued on their way down Main St.

Having missed that photo op, I resumed waiting for my bus.