I got my PSP upgraded a couple of weeks ago, almost to the day. I'm able to play SEGA Genesis on it, and NES, and pretty much any PSP game I can get my dirty little hands on(which, beieve me, is not easy at all). Usually, I just pick it up and waste time on it. I have ONE THOUSAND Genesis games...it's pretty hard to resist for a gamer. But I have been watching lots of movies. I don't even know where to start telling you what movies I've seen in the last two weeks. LOTS. I'll start a seperate page I guess, for letting you know what movies I watch each day. Rest assured, I do see a new movie every day.

I've been considering what I'm doing with my time lately though. I'm getting little to no exercise between walking to work and home, since I'm not shipping/receiving anymore. Those were labour intensive jobs I had back in Edmonton! I'm starting to put on a little gut...I always had a little one I guess, but now it's getting a little bigger...anyways, I'm gonna register for a gym membership at my building in the next couple of days. I want to hit the gym, and I really need to turn my life around. I mean, away from video games, and towards important stuff like exercise, studying japanese, and learning from the movies I watch. Thankfully the first two things only take about an hour a day to achieve, and I can play my video games while I watch movies.

I can only imagine what all you cunts in Edmonton are up to(I mean cunts in the charming british way, not the crude american way...more like "coonts"). Prepping yourselves for the snow are you? Well, it's starting to get pretty cold here too. Not a ton of rain yet though! I'm thankful, I really am. Apparently we've been really lucky this September/October regarding rainfall. Still, I should buy a sweater and a raincoat...some rainboots...you know, the necessities. Better safe than sorry.

I've been missing E-Ville a lot lately...not so badly that I'm having second thoughts, just for the nostalgia really. I miss Steel Wheels...it really seems like a joint that should have Hollywood recognition. I havn't found anywhere nearly as cool as Steel Wheels since we got here, or anyone as REMOTELY cool as Phil. Cheap pizza, booze, rock and roll...lots of good memories from that joint. I've been missing my friends too. I've been loving it here, and making lots of friends, but I just find myself reminiscing at work on the good times I've had, and I start laughing out loud! Really, laughing out loud about nothing but the memories of me laughing. It really makes it easier to get through such a shit job like washing dishes, but harder to work as hard as I can.

Thankfully, Rogers is easy. I'm still getting the hang of the till, but hopefully I'll have it under wraps soon. I hope they like me there, sometimes it's hard to tell.

Anyways, I'll bugger off now. I'll put up a list soon of the movies I've been watching, and I'll update it DAILY. Because really, that should only take a minute or two a day, right? Here's hoping I maintain some kind of regular blog, I'm sure you're all tired of ridiculous, short, sporadic updates. I love you all, I miss you all, I'll see you all before you know it.

-Brendon

You would think that, being in social media, bloggers would be VERY social. Some of us are (at least, I admit that I am!) but some are not all that much. I am an extrovert by nature, I get a lot of energy from hanging out with people. But not all bloggers/PR/tech people are like me.

For me, hanging out with people from the blogosphere is now kind of second nature. There are a few people online that I haven't met in person yet, although Twitter and our respective blogs, and email do keep us in touch and thus I feel as though I've grown to know them (to cite a few examples -- Mel, Barbara, Tania, Paul Hillsdon or Dan).

However, it is indeed rare that I don't *know* some of the people whom I've befriended through my blog (in person, that is). I was going through my blogroll very briefly and noticed that, really, only very few of those people I haven't met in real life (IRL).

I like to think that social media has given me an outlet to socialize, and while sometimes I do enjoy taking off my "blogger" hat and just hang out, have a beer, or go for a walk, have a coffee, or simply just enjoy birthday parties with my blogosphere friends, I have to recognize that it was through my blog that I met them, and for that, I'm very appreciative and grateful.

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Dream Vancouver is a new site that I have come across via Stephen Rees's blog.  He's always a good source of information and opinion.  They have a debate coming up for candidates from the 3 major civic parties - Coalition Of Progressive Electors, the Non-Partisan Association, and Vision Vancouver.  The debate is set for October 28 at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

The Dream Vancouver group apparently did a survey over the summer to see what Vancouver "Dreamers" are most concerned about.  The survey looks like it is still available online.  There is also a Forum at St. James Community Square where people can give more input.

It all sounds good, but as usual, life will likely get in the way of participating in any of these events.  However, if you have time, check out the details on the Dream Vancouver site about the Forum and Debate08.

Few ethnic cuisines have such a see-saw effect on me between love and hate as Greek food does.  The reason for this revolves around the use of certain ingredients or cooking methods for which I have a strong fondness for: cheese, grilled meats and seafood, yogurt, garlic, lemon, potatoes.  And on the other hand, my dislike for anything that tastes like licorice such as ouzo and fennel,  and the generous use of things such as mint, grapevine leaves, olives and eggplant that turns me off from many dishes in Greek cuisine.  Over the years, I also grown to enjoy lamb meat which is a popular protein, though this tends to heavily depend on the quality and how well its cooked.

My impressions of the Lamb Souvlaki at Candia Taverna was just so-so.  The pieces were generous in the large serving, though I felt they were under-seasoned, overcooked and dry.  The accompanying rice was really bland, and the grilled vegetables also very ordinary.  The simplicity that I usually associate with Greek food was there, but the bold, bright, over-the-top flavors were not.  I know there are better versions of this in Vancouver, and will aim to seek them out.

As a second dish, we had the Greek Pizza, as recommended to us by our server.  This was a home run!  A full combination of toppings, even those dreaded olives that I usually pick off (I've learned when they are cooked, the taste does not bother me as much).  The crust was crispy but not overly so nor burnt, and the base of the pie had a still soft consistency that would fold nicely when lifted from the plate.  The spread of the toppings was generous, as peeling off the layers of cheese revealed, you could see each of the ingredients on every single slice.  I had not thought of a Greek restaurant as being so skilled at serving up pizza, but this place certainly changed my mind.

For atmosphere, Candia Taverna is very homey, rustic and the lighting is set quite low.  The spacing between tables is narrow, making for a cozy setup, especially when the room is full, as it was on this weekday evening.  Larger groups should probably phone ahead and reserve, as there are only a few tables that can really accommodate parties of over six.  Service was friendly and not obtrusive.  I could sense that they have a decent delivery business for their pizzas, judging from the phone calls and staff chatter I could hear while dining.  Based on my experience, the callers know what's really good on the menu.

this one is for my Buddy Nick Threndyle.

wack pic of me on the seawall

Christa & Abbey

Mad Cabbage yo

I should have bought it...

Right as I was coming into Vancouver, I was starting to hear a slight scrapping sound coming from one or both of my rear brakes. I thought to myself "Well, I'm going to have to get that fixed soon." Being that the car was about to be sitting in a parking garage for a week, I wasn't in a huge hurry. I figured I'd take care of it when I got back into the States.

Then, a few days ago, I ended up driving to check something out before the end of business, a slight scraping turned into a less than slight scraping, and I diverted to finding a service garage. I found one that gave free inspections (bonus) and made the earliest appointment I could, for 1:30 today.

Well, that slight scrape turned out to be the swan song for my entire rear brakes system and an stanch warning sign for my front. Long story short, it will cost a over $800 for me to get back on the road, and, because it's Thanksgiving weekend up here, the work won't get done until Tuesday, meaning I'm stuck in Vancouver until at least then.

This won't derail the entire trip, but I will have to be much more careful and selective with my funds and driving from here on out. And if there are any other similar bumps, then I'll almost certainly going to have to cut my losses and make an about face back East.

That's it for now. I'll try and make the most of my forcibly extended stay. There are worse places to be stuck than Vancouver.

Random Travel Thought:

I found it wryly amusing that everyone at the garage kept pronouncing "Sportage" like "Sport-ashj", making it sound like some overly hip, urban yuppie wine.

I was intrigued, but on my way to do other things, and so let it pass. The next day, I decided that if there's a restaurant willing to sell me two pounds of beef and happiness, I was obligated to take them up on the offer. After all, why am I here? To wander around idle and complacent, or to risk gastric rupture?

I think you know the answer. Now, just to be clear, I never intended to actually finish the item in question; just to have The Experience of ordering and making a play at eating a two pound burger. So, later that night, myself and Jeremy, one of the guys from the hostel (moral support) stepped into the Two Parrot bar and grill on the corner of Davies and Granville and made our orders. I was not, could not have been, prepared for what was coming my way. Jeremy saw it first, and was rendered speechless. It then rounded the corner and into my field of vision, and I became truly aware of the enormity, nay, the absurdity of the task before me:

Just to give you a clear idea of the scale of this culinary conglomeration, I've drawn up this diagram as a visual aide:

Clearly, I was outmatched, but I soldiered on, intent on testing the limits of perseverance, at least until it stopped being fun.

Overall, I got through the pickle, the first two layers of bread, both patties, and two heaping piles of mushrooms (note: I hate mushrooms). The Two Pounder was left undefeated, a page unturned, a mountain unconquered. meh. It was tasty either way (except the mushrooms).

Random Vancouverishness:

Financial Bliss

Starting next week I will be contributing regular business news over at Blissfully Domestic http://www.blissfullydomestic.com read all about living frugally, homeshool, healthy living, fashion,food and lots of other great topic ideas served up their ever growing talented and creative writers. So pop here at my blog--then pop over at Blissfully Domestic and I am sure you will find lots of information to keep going for a long time. ]]> http://plansforhope.wordpress.com/?p=895 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:00:14 +0000 alyssa http://plansforhope.ro.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/passion-world-tour-seoul/ Message from Passion :: Vancouver (pics courtesy of 268 Blog)

My college friend, Tammi, (who desperately needs to update her blog) would have loved to take a group of university students to Passion :: Seoul!

Instead, she spent October 10th & 11th in class.

So you'll have to catch up with what God's been doing across the globe here and here.

Next stop: Tokyo :: 13 October.

(100th post---whoo!)

I was walking the alleys of Gastown when I found this great building.  The texture of the building was fantastic.  Gotta love brick buildings for that.  Taken with a Canon 5D, Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens.

Now that we have that out of the way, allow me a moment or two of your time to explain why.

Though many a learned person has dissmissed the theories of Dr. Freud as nasally obsessed tomfoolery, the notion of the Id remains an alluring one. Imagine your inner being, driven by the pleasure principle, met at every turn by the arbitrary and domineering Super Ego, ruining all its fun. Whether we can ever silence this subconscious, primal scream remains unseen to all but the individual. More likely, it is either modified (in which case, we grow up to be alien to ourselves) or, it is repressed (in which case, we grow up to be grow up to be Civilization's Discontents, to use Freud's terminology).

In the end, I think people end up being disappointed when they realize that life is its own reward. I would cautiously suggest that Bill Gates lives the same life of any man who benefits from his own merits; only the tax bracket is different. If the "poorer" man concentrated more on the life he has, compared to nothing, he would be less likely to hate his life because of what he doesn't have and more likely to love it through appreciation of what he does.

No man can be happy when his family is starving but not buying into every stupid fad that crosses your line of sight buys a lot of food. Also, the ridiculous fortunes of those he enviesare built upon his buying their useless products to service his lifestyle, not his life.

I still defend the Id because the Id is about thought, desire, and action, not "stuff"; primal desire shouldn't have anything to do with a PSP or the jewelled sneakers some crack whore socialite wears in her latest softcore porn music video.

"More! More! More!" is the new life mantra. Want becomes need and anything with intrinsic value falls by the weigh-side and chokes on its own last breaths in a roadside ditch, sitting shiva with the other animals that couldn't navigate the new super highway.

My Id screams for freedom from all of this. It desires the simplicity it once knew. The Super Ego grows exponentially. The middle man, my Ego, is content that life is its own reward. I only wish, dream of a time when it is again the life not found in a crack whore socialite's latest softcore porn music video. I'd like to live in that world.

I'm excited and panicking and a little giddy. In one short year, we should be married. That's heavy stuff!

We're still looking for The Venue, but I'm confident that it will all get sorted out soon. My mum will be in town in early November, so we're hoping to have it narrowed down enough that she can come see 2-3 places and help us decide. My goals are to have a venue booked by the end of November, a photographer booked by the end of December, and a dress chosen by the end of February.

So happy -1, bubba. I love you so much, and I can't wait to stand up in front of our loved ones and take the next step together.

How about this for a lede:

A person can achieve an average savings of $9,499 per year by taking public transportation instead of driving based on yesterday’s gas prices and the average unreserved parking rate according to the American Public Transportation Association’s “Transit Savings Report”.

Almost $10,000 a year!   There's more:

“As Americans look for ways to tighten the family budget, public transit riders know the cheapest gallon of gasoline is the one you never have to buy,” said William W. Millar, president of APTA.  “This report reminds commuters that taking public transportation is the quickest way to save money from the high cost of commuting by auto or light truck.” The analysis also includes the cost of parking.  On average, according to the 2008 Colliers International Parking Rate Study, the national average for the monthly unreserved parking rate in a city’s downtown business district is $143.  Over the course of a year, parking costs alone can amount to an average of $1,720. In addition to the annual savings, the report calculates the monthly savings for public transit users at $792 per month based on yesterday’s gas price of $3.524 as reported by AAA.

I haven't owned a car since 1991 and take transit most everyday.  I'm not sure we see these levels of "savings"; but even with our increased use of cabs and a monthly weekend car rental, I know we are well ahead of the car game.  Not to mention the health benefits of walking in the fresh air.

Many will disagree with me, I'm sure, but I think we are lucky of transit in Vancouver.  I travel to the Richmond suburbs every day from Commercial Drive.  A good walk, two express buses, and I'm there, rested and ready to go in about an hour.  During that hour, I can nap or read or listen to music or surf the net.  Hard to beat.

I have a trip planned for Toronto. I would go for the 17th and be home on the 21st. I would meet up with one man for two hours on the 18th and make 300, before going to a Madonna concert and staying in the Hazelton with another. Then on the 20th I would fly to Vancouver where I would meet another man and then take the ferry on the 21st home... where I have no home.

I know how I got here, and I find myself thinking over and over, "What the hell did I do to deserve this."

I have found myself at the mercy of those around me. Not a situation I am comfortable with. I have lost friends this year, lost "love", and lost my sense of self. I have been forced into laughing off all these tragedies in the hopes of not burning bridges. I appear to be something of a pyro as I cannot seem to stop all this destruction. I am young, and intelligent. I should be going home to Prince George and rebuilding myself. I can't stop clinging to this pile of rubble though as I'm haunted by how it once gleamed. The flames burn bright sometimes and look beautiful but they always leave me scorned, ashamed, embarrassed.

I feel so stupid about who I am and how my immature heart has only just begun to heal from it's first love. It has taken so much cruelty to get me over it, but it was needed, as I fell so deep into it. I can't deal with any of this anymore. Not tonight. Benevolence.

I close my eyes and tell myself that all the words and memories mean nothing. With every breath I try to blow it off. And with my feet firmly planted on the ground I suppress my love.

Granville St in Vancouver BC is a great street to walk.  From the area of the Pan Pacific Hotel on one end to the ferry dock for Granville Island at the other, there is a lot to see.  Near the Pan Pacific end is Gas Town with its historic buildings.  But try walking up the hill along the Granville St route.  You won't be disappointed.

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God is doing great things!

This photo was taken walking through Gastown one morning just after sunrise.  As I walked by, I couldn't help but notice the sheer yellowness of the garage.  Taken with Canon 5D, Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens.

After some speculation which caused a mislead to my earlier blog posting and some well-kept secrets about the Telus/Bell plans to upgrade to GSM/HSPA, it seems that the plan will go ahead as plan - this time it's official - but instead of dropping their CDMA networks for GSM/HSPA, the 4G/LTE network will be deployed.

I was reading through the press releases of both Bell and Telus and by reading those press releases, I realized that they are deploying the 4th Generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) network coast to coast. Thanks to their recent licences they had managed to secure during the Wireless Spectrum Auction back in May of this year (2008), it is expected that the new network will be ready by 2010. Both Bell and Telus selected Nokia Siemens and Huawei to provide the infrastrucutre that Bell and Telus will deploy. After all, it seems that both companies has the "Angels & Airwaves" on making their network to be adaptable for visitors in Canada - especially the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the recently announced plan for Toronto to bid on the 2015 Pan Am games (which I will cover on my next blog posting).

This is spreading like wildfire! From the message boards to many blogs such as WirelessNorth.ca. The only problem is, how will other providers that run on the big players' networks will benefit from the upgrade - especially Virgin Mobile, Koodo and Solo? It's up to them to decide for themselves.

References:

"Vendors cheer Bell-Telus network announcement, posts unoriginal quote." National Post. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2008/10/10/carriers-cheer-bell-telus-network-announcement-posts-unoriginal-quote.aspx>

"BCE and Telus announce joint network upgrade." National Post. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=873515>

"Bell, Telus to upgrade networks." Toronto Star. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/515644>

"Telus and Bell announce GSM plans for Canada - HSPA 3G networks by 2010." IntoMobile.com. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://www.intomobile.com/2008/10/10/telus-and-bell-announce-gsm-plans-for-canada-hspa-3g-networks-by-2010.html>

Changing gears, after a two week strike set up by union members who operate the Viva bus service all across York Region, it seems that they have accepted the offer and it is anticipated that full VIVA service will be back up and running this weekend. It seems that people in York Region are coping with the situation, quite similar to our strike in the Durham Region back 2 years ago. The strike will be distant memories for me of course.

References:

"Viva strike over." Vaughan Today. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://www.vaughantoday.ca/story.php?id=1133>

"Drivers vote to end Viva bus strike in York." Toronto Star. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/515754>

First stop was Shogun.  However, once we've arrived, it turns out this place closes at 4pm every working day.  It also seems like it doesn't open on the weekends or holidays.  What a way to do business huh?

Fortunately I anticipated this mishap, as these things seem to happen often.  We always seem to venture out to a place only to find them not open on the exact same weekday we visit.  My next choice is Noodle Express.

It was relatively easy to find.  There's a parking garage nearby too on Alberni Street, above the liquor store.  It costs $2.50 per half hour, and you can ONLY pick between half an hour or 24 hours parking.  Weird.

As with most ramen places, you have a choice between Miso, Shoyu and Shio soup base.

It wasn't busy at all the day of our visit.  It was a weekday afterall and it wasn't quite dinner time yet.  They have quite a selection on their menu, and there were items posted on the walls all around also.  This led me to the suspicion that this is not a japanese-owned restaurant, as we would've like for a ramen place.  My suspicion was confirmed later when the waitress talked to the cooks in the back in mandarin.

First up Hanz was enticed by the menu item Roasted Beef.  Upon reading I would think this is equivalent to the chinese style of five-spice marinated roast beef.  So we had high hopes for it.

Unfortunately, this was obviously reheated in the microwave (we could hear the beep of the microwave).  Despite the dark coloring of the meat, it was bland and dry.  The only good part was the part near the tendon, and that had barely tasteable flavor.  I suggested we leave it to dunk into the ramen soup later.

I ordered the Pork Toro Shoyu Ramen.  It came with succulent pieces of fatty pork belly meat.  They were the best part of the dish.  They were perfectly marinated and prepared, soft and melted in my mouth.  Good for my tastebuds, not so good for my arteries~

I like the fact that they serve their ramen they way sapporo style should be -with bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and corn.  The fact that Ezogiku changed their ways and serve it with cabbage, artificial crab and bak choy (sometimes) had disappointed me little by little.

The soup base was just okay.  It didn't live up to my expectations since that one time I had the best shoyu soup base at Ezogiku, and even THEY don't live up to it anymore.

Hanz's choice was Chicken Teriyaki Shoyu Ramen.  Everything else was the same as mine.  The chicken was not as flavorful though.  I found it rather bland.

Having said all that, I'll still come back, perhaps to try their miso soup base to see if it's any good.

När han i somras var hemma i Östersund körde han runt i en 93! Som SAAB-frälst så tackar jag för den reklamen, men kunde man inte tryckt upp den lite extra, varför låte stans just nu enda NHL-proffs köra runt i en sniken 1,8?

Called and met up with Tris Hussey for a walk into Gastown.  Actually, he had to go there and I just tagged along as I was going to go that way at some point in the day to wander.

So coffee at Starbucks on Howe going towards Gastown.  Nice walk.  Loved the architecture of the buildings, the window layouts, the old and the new mixed together.  I think I drove Tris nuts as I would slow down to take in some sights...some of them being men in dress suits.  Oh how I love a man in a suit.  He remembered this and I think he rolled his eyes at me LOL.  Then I saw the sign for the Orpheum Theatre.  I remember seeing this when younger and realizing that one day this icon may not be here to enjoy anymore.  Then I realized that Tris was still walking and hurried up to catch up to him.  It was tough as my feet were still feeling the walking from the day before.  But I loved it and continued on (hopefully without too much complaining).

We walked into Gastown and I saw the Steam Clock and just had to have a picture of it.  It was just chiming off when we were walking past.  Walked a little further down the road all the while Tris telling me of the places Tris and Sheila go to.  I loved that he shared these moments with me.  And I am very happy that he is happy.  And very happy that we are friends.  We hit where he goes to work and parted ways but not before getting the "where to go and the roads not to be travelled" talk. Tris always looks out for me...that's his way.  Tris..thank you for everything.  It was great catching up and seeing you again :)

I walked around Gastown a little more then met Tanya Davis at the Old Spaghetti Factory where we had lunched and chatted a bit before she had to get back to work.  At this time, I got a ride to the Skytrain station and made my way out to Surrey.  Thank you Tanya for the awesome time:)

One thing I noticed at the Main Street Skytrain terminal was 5 tile designs titled ENVIRONMENT COMMUNITY INNOVATION INTEGRITY RESPONSIBILITY.  These tiles are words any community should live by.

Surrey is where my ex-husband's sister and family live.  I am so grateful that my ex and I parted on good terms as I may have not been able to spend time with Cathy, Kevan and the girls if it was a bad break-up.  They are a part of my family too.  We chatted and had dinner then watched the Canuck's game.  Woohoo  6-0 for the Canucks.  And the fights they had in this game...I loved it.  During the game, I was having email meltdown as a friend needed some guidance.  Love him to pieces and hope that the guidance helped Hun.  It was time for bed then.

Day 3 was a bit sad as my travels were ending and I had to go back home.  Kevan dropped me off at the Tsawassen Ferry Terminal and I made my way home.  Pretty much checked mail when I got home, uploaded pics to flickr and had a nap until going out with Ian, John and Andy for wings and a drink.

In some ways I wished I had a bit more time.  On the other hand, missed my Desmo (cat) and was really happy to be home.

That is the end of my trip to Vancouver.  Thanks for reading and cheers<3