Terri stealing a bite of my cookie at Jericho Beach in Vancouver
Canadian Thanksgiving weekend marks the end of summer in most of Canada. The summer has been filled with hiking, XC biking, downhill biking (ouch!), golf, barbecues, trips to the beach and travel. Although, it was a fun summer – I’m definitely ready for winter!
Image below: one of many images from my flickr set, 100 days on the mountain in 2008/09. I’m not sure what I’ll do this season but I’ll think of something because one has to have goals.
April Fool – Chalk Circle. A song I heard on the radio today. Shazam on my iPhone couldn’t figure it out; but I managed to somehow pull it out of the archives.
Yesterday, trying to make a hung-over friend feel better, I mentioned how beer makes one smarter by killing off the weakest brain cells like killing off the weakest buffalo in a herd – à la Cliff Claven in Cheers…
“Well ya see, Norm, it’s like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”
Beers on the weekend. Click here for the slideshow or click on the image below to advance to the next image.
The 2010 Olympics are rapidly approaching; the February 12, 2010 opening ceremony is six months away, but it feels like it is only three months away. While it is only August, the available housing in Whistler has shrunk to a level that is normally seen in November when the ski/snowboard bums show up because they don’t want to waste any time or expense to pay for an extra month of rent before they find the fresh powder on the mountain.
This season, the situation has be exacerbated by property owners hoping to cash in on the Games. Many landlords are not renewing leases for the 2009/10 season in hopes of making some fast and hopefully big cash from visitors. I’ve seen properties listed for rent for as much as $20,000 per month. [Edit: here's one for $70,000 per month!]
The other problematic situation that has occurred because of the housing crunch are listing that have vacancies for one or two months in September and October because of the summer crowd moving out. Most of these vacancies will remain unfilled until the leases expire. Nobody arriving in their right mind would take one of these spots. If they did, they might have to move out of the BC lower mainland until the 2010 frenzy has died down in April.
The last unusual situation are landlords that are requiring their tenants to move out of their dwellings during the time of the Games – as seen in the above posting on Craigslist. This raises a few questions. Where will these people live? Couchsurfing may not be an option because every available couch and likely floor space will already be taken up by family, friends and long-lost acquaintances. Then there’s the 30,000 or so volunteers that will be rolling into town for the Games. Vancouver and Whistler will be bursting with homeless natives and visitors alike. Maybe Vancouver will go back to it’s roots and erect a tent city for the homeless.
The Internet isn’t new to many, I’ve had the Internet on my mobile phone for almost ten years (it sucked at the beginning). Many of us have access to the Internet via mobile phones. With the advent of smartphones such as the Palm, iPhone and similar devices, they brought mobile Internet to the average consumer. I’m not sure if this or Facebook caused our addictions.
I had some free time on the bus this morning so I though I would try to connect to the Internet from my computer via my iPhone. Without too much effort, and not very much technical knowledge, I got it to work – I just had to look for the information on the Internet!
Rogers sells a mobile internet plan for computers for about $25-$100 per month plus the fee for Mobile Internet Stick – this is mobile Internet without the hassle – for a fee. I wouldn’t be willing to pay more than I do for Internet service as I have Internet access already at home. I pay about $30 per month for 6GB of data on my mobile phone. When I had an ADSL connection, I wasn’t able to exceed even two gigabytes of data so I should be okay with this connection when I use it periodically. Now I can get Internet access where I couldn’t before!
Published from the bus while on the Sea to Sky Highway. Woot!
Some of my friends say that strangers are friends we have not yet met – I think they’re correct. A trip from Whistler to Vancouver that was delayed by five hours after meeting up a Craigslist rideshare and making a few detours along the way. 250+ images later, the result is above; entitled, Parking Lot Yoga.
West vs. east; Vancouver on the left and Toronto on the right. December 2008.
It feels like I’m trapped in the Twilight Zone in some sort of crazy weather spiral. However, the weather I’ve been experiencing over the last several years has been so drastically that crazy weather seems to be the norm.
When I arrived in Whistler earlier this month, it was warmer than usual and there was not enough snow to ski. Then it became too cold and snow started to fall slowly. When I returned to Vancouver before Christmas it started to snow – and snow it did. I think there was a snowfall warning issued daily for over a week on Environment Canada.
I flew from a snowy Vancouver to a rainy Toronto on December 24th – barely making it because there was a shortage of crew available in Vancouver because many flights were canceled from several centres in the west. Toronto is now enjoying spring-like weather. It reached almost +15c yesterday. Warm enough not to require a hat or gloves – something that I was never without in BC this month.
Much of what I do is dependent upon the weather so I will be glad when things return to what we once knew as normal – except in the mountains where it should snow as much as possible!
I recently went to a Vietnamese restaurant, Au Petit Cafe, with some Couchsurfers. Before I arrived, I knew there was nothing vegetarian on the menu, but I knew it was easy enough to make something vegetarian by omitting the animal products.
What I received was a vegetable banh mi, a Vietnamese baguette sandwich (see above photo above). The vegetables were pedestrian enough, however, the bread was fantastic. It was the best French baguette that I’ve had outside of France. What makes the bread so good is that it is baked on premises at Au Petit – the way it should be done – just like all the neighbourhood bakeries in France.
The sandwich brought me back to the time I spent in Nice, France eating the pan bagnat – a sandwich loosely based on the salade Niçoise. For years afterward, I used to make these sandwiches myself but the bread was always lacking. Unfortunately, the pan bagnat is not vegetarian; however, I may try to create my own vegetarian version with some of these amazing baguettes.
This was the first thing I saw when I arrived yesterday morning in Whistler – a bare mountain. It was 8c and raining.
This was my first visit where I did not ski – for an obvious reason. It was still a good day for other reasons. I’ll cross my fingers that there will be snow on my next visit!
Today is the first Sunday of the month and I’m fasting today as I do occasionally. When I do fast, I always think of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was intrigued to read that members fast on the first Sunday of each month and donate the amount of money equal to the amount of the missed meals to the church.
I’m more spiritual and not so much religious. When people ask me what religion I practice, I state, vegetarianism – because it is based on science and fact. However, if I were to practice an organised religion, it would be Jainism because their vegetarianism is based on ahimsa (literally, non-violence) which is the core of their beliefs. Jainism has been around since the 9th century BC, however, it has progressed with the times. Many Jains that I met in India have also stopped consuming animal milk and follow a vegan diet.
I prefer not to practise only one religion, but practise a bit of each religion and work it into my own life. With the money I save today, I will donate it to the Toronto Vegetarian Association.
100 days, Banner Image, Hiking, Skiing, Vancouver, Whistler | Garry October 11, 2009 | 
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