xmas in ouray

there was much cribbage, eating, and drinking had by all.

i want a new drug, and other huey lewis favorites (favourites)

so i've found a new drug... well more accurately i've found my favorite purveyor of my favorite drug (caffeine). actually i found it a while back, but now it is a part of my routine. there is a coffee shop on the corner of broadway and kingsway called "our town". not only is there a lack of scenesters (ala soma), but they have really comfy chairs that affords me an excellent view of people walking down broadway. to top it all off their coffee is really good. ok, enough of my useless yuppie talk... so, i'm back in the canadia. the flights were good and just in the nick (knick?) of time as dia is getting hammered again with snow. the highlight was getting to see teresa. it was good to catch up and it made the 4 hour layover very pleasant. here are some photos from my new computer.

viva america!

holy monkey there are a lot of pickup trucks in colorado! and a whole lot of good times to be had with the fam. we ate lots of great food and relaxed in our cabin in the san juans. tomorrow i head back to vancouver. hopefully i don't get stuck in DIA. happy post-xmas everyone!

weekend f.a.q.

1. is it true you went to america last weekend? yes
2. why didn't you tell me? spite
3. did you have a good time? damn straight!
4. did you smuggle a small asian girl accross the border? why not?
5. did you go to walmart? would it be "america weekend" without a trip to walmart?
6. you're not going to tell me you went to burger king are you? yes
7. has hell frozen over? maybe
8. how long did you spend in portland? 17 hours
9. is it the greatest city ever? yes
10. do you think you've been there long enough to make such a strong statement? yes
11. where else did you go? seattle
12. what did you do in seattle? went to a concert and danced like a maniac/idiot
13. was it americatastic? what the hell does that mean?
14. you know, did trailerparks and violence figure prominently? of course
15. was catherine overwhelmed? does this look like a "catherine's weekend f.a.q." to you?
16. are you going to answer all my questions with a question? no?
17. did you sleep in your car? yes
18. why would you do something like that? alcohol and rock stars
19. what was the best part of "america weekend"? new hobo gloves

yet another master card joke

ball cap with company logo: $15 CAD

two canucks tickets, 6 rows from the ice: $280 CAD

being nice to lori in the quality control department: free

trading the ball cap for the lori's tickets: priceless

people watching

it's already dark as the line of commuters grows under the street lights outside the train station. for the most part the people are quiet. the only thing escaping their lips are small wisps of breath that quickly disappear into the cold air. a young man in a black hoodie and a crooked ball cap clutches a shivering chihuhua in one arm and presses a cell phone to his ear. aside from the dog, his appearance is that of someone who would sock you in the face for looking at his sister. he paces along the sidewalk as he speaks into his motorola, but his conversation is lost to the sound of cars rushing down broadway. shortly the bus arrives and the people file on as the man with the dog speaks earnestly on the phone. he is obviously distraught and contemplates whether or not he should follow the rest of the crowd . as the people walk by they catch pieces of his conversation, "i don't know what to do." "he won't stop shaking." "are you near the hospital?" "i'm getting on right now." with that he edges into the plodding mass and then quickly climbs the stairs into the back of the articulated b-line. the bus is full and people scramble to find a seat in a nightly contest of musical chairs sans the music. as everyone settles in and the driver eases the bus into traffic the young man continues his strained conversation. the rest of the bus is quiet and the only discernable dialogue is his frantic phone call. it is clear that his worry is directed at the shivering dog pressed against his chest. "i came home and he was curled up in the corner." "he had puked blood and pooed on the floor!" "i'll be there soon." "he doesn't know what's going on. he’s totally out of it" the other passengers squirm uneasily. his voice cracks, "what's wrong with him." some struggle to hide their awkward smirks while a man reaches into his messenger bag to turn up his ipod. the young asian girl sitting next to him shifts herself slightly and leans into the woman on the other side. the conversation continues for several more blocks as his voice becomes more shrill in sharp contrast to his tough guy appearance. one passenger smiles as he finds the mans unabashed compassion for his furry companion a nice break from the typical stoic and silent passengers at the back. at the next stop he quickly and clumsily extricates himself and his dog from their seat tucked in the corner and departs back into the city. he walks briskly toward the veterinarian’s office at the end of the block. as the bus speeds away normalcy returns and passengers shuffle to fill the spots of people that left in an effort to avoid sitting next to someone they don't know...

red letter day

i almost forgot to tell everyone the exciting news: they checked my ticket on the sky train for the very first time last weekend! it was truly an exciting moment.

back story: the sky train is the elevated train that i take to work every morning. the sky trains are operated by the same company that runs the buses (translink), but unlike the buses they don't check your fare getting on and off the train (i.e. no turnstiles). apparently it works on the honor system (only in canada). they do have random checks by transit police and you can get a rather large ticket for not having valid fare. these spot checks are few and far between and after spending $100 for a two zone transit pass you want some validation. well, i finally got some when the transit cop asked for my ticket.

weekends = fun

so, it wasn't all fun and games. speaking of games, i went to the avs-canucks game on saturday night with steph... booooo! (not steph, the hockey game) at least the game was a good one and the avs didn't get blown out. plus we were freakin' close! only 6 rows back. it was a lot of fun except the part where luongo stopped 40 of 41 shots.


i know it's on it's side. i can't fix it.

the rest of the day was spent wanderin around town with the pan.