Saskatchewan Plates

I’m hanging out in Portland International Airport waiting for my flight back to San Francisco, hopefully my last flight for at least a month. I was shipped out to Portland for a week to represent the company at a conference. It didn’t too much convincing; I’d been hearing great things about Portland for quite a while. In fact, it was the last remaining list of cool kid western cities (others being Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, and Vancouver). It’s common knowledge that I have very strong feelings for a couple of the cities on that list so it’s fair to say that I had high expectations. 6 days later, I’m happy to report that my expectations were far exceeded. Portland, I think I love you.

On the convention: Tech conventions are necessarily weird. This one was no exception, but I learned a ton nonetheless. I won’t bore this crowd with the details, but definitely worth my time. I was a little heartbroken I had to miss the conference that followed ours afterwards: The three-day Bead Fair. I am sure there is a hilarious mockumentary in that crowd.

But why Portland? Portland may in fact be everything I love about Vancouver and Austin, but in a city that reminds me a lot of Saskatoon. The city is amazing. I spent most of mine time in the downtime that straddles the Willamette River. A long series of bridges dot the river just as they do in Saskatoon. The downtown is filled with people all the time, has great shops, bars, breweries, restaurants, in addition to an amazing (and free!) light rail system. I saw a number of bands while I was in town (check out Admiral Radley which counts a couple members of Grandaddy as part of the group). I stayed at a great hotel. I wore more wristbands during the trip than the last six months. I ate wonderful food and drank amazing beer. I lucked out that the Oregon Brew Fest happened to start just as my trip was ending so I managed to take in a pint along the banks of the river. I walked everywhere. And the locals are awesome. Lots of hipsters but much friendlier than your typical west coast hipster, not so aloof. I immediately felt welcome.

And, I managed to make it to the Doug Fir Lounge. I hope that name brings back cherished memories for those of you that did fourth year in Waterloo. For everyone else, the Doug Fir Lounge was the name of the party room/music listening space/attic in our apartment. We had named it after this Doug Fir thanks to some old KCRW live set, with no expectations of ever setting foot in the actual Doug Fir. To sit down along the wooden log bar and drink yet another local craft beer was almost a home coming for me, even though the actual memories I was remembering were took place on the other side of the continent. Surprisingly the decor of both Firs weren’t all that different. Maybe it was fate.

I had some great times with coworkers, I ran into customers that I’d only ever talked to by email, I met some hilarious guys from the BBC, and hung out with some great locals as well. It was always sunny, warm, and green, and no one died of dysentery.

So yes, Portland rocks. Vancouver and Austin please make room on the list. I could definitely see myself living in Portland.

Ghosts n Stuff by Deadmau5

Well it’s probably fair to say that 2010 will not win the award for most prolifically blogged year of my life, though maybe I can pick up the slack in the second half of the year (it’s unacceptable that we’re almost at the midpoint of 2010 already by the way).

Lots of things are now on the record books: A trip to Toronto involved a much needed reunion with Gee, Trish, and some other Waterloo faces, a launch of the product that I’ve been working on for the last six months and some very crazy days at the conference we launched at, and a trip to Vegas with Terri for Ringo’s bachelor party. Mix in a handful of concerts, hikes, bar nights, and hockey games and you have a pretty high level recap of the last few months.

What else can I update you about? I’ve finally re-tuned the banjo, but it’ll need a couple more weeks of love before I find myself jamming. I’ve got a growing queue of embarrassingly nerdy books that need reading so I can clear them off my night stand. I’ve been failing at cooking for myself often enough, but I’ve been succeeding at taking a liking to wine, thanks in part to Cloe and Jenna’s various wine recommendations.

As far as travels go, I’m just in the process of booking summer and fall. Saskatoon trip is rapidly approaching of course, though I hope to precede it with a camping trip to Yosemite. I’ve got a trip to Portland in July, a possible Vancouver trip in August, a Vancouver Island trip in September, and hopefully a return trip to Sydney either in September or October. I’d like to mix in another trip to New York at some point this summer as well.

I’ve also ended up with too much shit. I’m considering moving to the Mission to be closer to Diana/Jake/Matt/Greg/Zach/Simon/etc, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have to downsize if I do. I think Rockband’s going to have to go. Maybe you too DJ Roomba. I think the N64 is safe… for now.

But the weather in SF has been great, for reference, see the pictures of our epic frisbee game at Ft. Mason this weekend. I’m looking forward to a lot more of that now that work has slowed down and summer has picked up.

I’m somewhere over the Pacific between Sydney and Vancouver. It’s almost 4am PST now. I’ve tried to sleep, but lack of medication has made it ineffective. I also realize my sleep techniques are incredibly juvenile. Definitely not impressing any ladies.

To pass some of the time, I’ve watched every good movie on top, three of which included George Clooney. Pro tip: never watch George Clooney movies back to back or else you won’t be able to separate the plots in your mind. It’s weird not be able to draw the line between Up In The Air and Men Who Stare at Goats (neither of which were that good). Someone recommended Up In The Air to me specifically at one point. I’m not sure why. Maybe they knew my weakness for non-happy endings or maybe they just thought I’d identify with George Clooney’s character (thanks a lot). Then I switched gears to get my romantic comedy on with Couples Retreat and The Invention of Lying, both of which were pretty mediocre despite all star casts. But not all was lost as Fantastic Mr. Fox (Clooney number three) was most excellent. Damn you Wes Anderson for continuing to make me identify with other hipsters everywhere.

I’ll also admit that I got a little misty during the opening scenes of Star Trek despite having seen it what is probably close to ten times now. I blame the second bottle of airplane red wine.

Oh yeah, context. I’m flying back from Sydney after spending a week there for work. Sydney’s an absolutely beautiful city. I’d love to spend more time there exploring. Very nice people, great weather, beautiful location. I plan to get back at some point in the not too distant future. But that’s adding to my growing list of unscheduled travel plans (Vancouver Island, BC Interior, Saskatoon, Toronto, Halifax, Seattle, Portland, Vegas, Ireland, South America, Zurich – holler if any sound enticing).

Before Sydney was a 48 hour trip to Cabo. And before that was four days in Austin. Both trips were absurd in a number of ways and both trips make me miss traveling with friends. Sydney was great, but it was more solo than I’d like. Also, needless to say, I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Before the trip, there’s the last three months which has not been well documented on this blog. You didn’t miss too much though as they’ve been hectic with work. The next two are expected to be worse to the point where I’m officially grounded upon my arrival back in San Francisco later today.

Work is an interesting beast in its own right. It’s going much better than I could have imagined, even since Christmas. But as always, San Francisco could be treating me better. I briefly revisited the idea of an office switch to Tokyo or even Sydney, but I quickly realized that being separated from my primary support group by an additional six hour time difference is unworkable. I’ve actually been spending a fair amount more time chatting over IM with various folks back home(s) that have been unwittingly been keeping me sane. Hopefully when May wraps up and work calms down, I can take my social life in San Francisco a little more seriously. Or at the very least, schedule some of those flights.

I have completely ignored this. If it’s any consolation, may other things went way side with it. In leu of a proper post, I give you this gem that sums up a number of things quite nicely.

For me, gushing about Vancouver has become a cliche. Since moving there for the first time four years ago, my prattlings about the city have made up a sizable chunk of the content on this blog. But there’s a very good reason.

Vancouver is a bit like my disneyland. It’s filled with the sights, smells, and sounds I love. The people in it seem relaxed and there’s certainly excitement in the air because of the Olympics. There’s no chaos, no discontent even in the busiest of streets (I’m looking at you Robson). And I’m always there with friends.

My 48 hour trip this weekend was no exception and the guest appearances were many. Lunch with Cloe, dinner, drinks, and dancing with Kevin, Shannon, and Jeff. I finally got to try The Salt Tasting Room and the Lamplighter seems to have adopted the half-alive crowd for our benefit. I wandered the downtown streets with Cloe and Gage parting the crowds, managed to catch up for a few hours with Dan and Paula and the latest addition to their family, and then capped off the night over beers with James, Davin, and Kerr. Special thanks to Kevin for being the most gracious of hosts and putting up with me for the weekend. And the weather was unseasonable perfect, with some familiar drizzle to send me off this afternoon.

When I took my job, I promised myself to get back to Vancouver in 2010. Unfortunately, things in San Francisco are going well enough that I may not be able to keep it. But my occasional pilgrimages remind me that the date is still out there, marked with a red circle on some future calendar of mine and I’m damn excited for its arrival.

I’m killing time in the boarding lounge in Calgary after the fastest consecutive security screens I’ve ever had. My good fortune with the TSA has given me two hours to jot down some of the post-holiday trip reflections. For the most part, it’s nothing I haven’t felt or likely posted somewhere in the archives of this blog, but I appreciate the therapeutic benefits of keying it out.

I remember when I left for Waterloo back in 2003. People asked me “When are you coming back?” Depending on the person, I would often soften the response but the answer in my head was “Never”. After seven years though, I’d be lying if I said I was as resolute as I was back then. Every single one of my trips home rattles my resolve just a little bit more. Others that left have plans to return home or already have in some cases. As Jer points out in our occasional video chats, we had (and still have) a very good thing going in Saskatoon.

The usual disclaimers apply: Returning permanently wouldn’t be the same as the concentrated hang outs that happen over my short trips and not everyone would be as willing or interested in my forced intermingling. But it’s certainly an intoxicating thought.

On the runway this morning as my flight was taxiing for take off, the pilot momentarily pressed on the throttle only to immediately pull back. In tandem, I could hear some airplane instrument chime from my first row seat in response to their action. As it did, my heart skipped a beat at the thought of a mechanical failure marooning me in Saskatoon for one more night. Alas, no encores of last night’s trip to O’Shea’s were in store (thanks to everyone that made it out!), but it does serve to illustrate my attachment.

I’ve given a fair amount of thought to the idea over the last few days, but unfortunately no conclusions were reached despite the suitable timing for a new set of resolutions. I know there’s a set of things I want (nay need!) in my life that I currently don’t have and it’s not hard to identify the things that would need to be sacrificed in order to avail myself of them, for lack of a less sterile word. It’s a tradeoff I’ve rarely made before and it’s got me to where I am today, but certainly at some cost. Now that I’m halfway through my twenties and a quarter century into life, I’m giving a lot more thought as to whether the on-going cost is too high.

I’ve been blessed with incredible fortune, family, and friends over the last year and decade, and I’m thoroughly excited about what these new ones will hold.

Happy New Year!

It’s the very last day of 2009 making it the last possible moment for me to publish my music picks from both the last year and the last decade. I had planned fancy descriptions for all of these, but time constraints as a result of excessive holiday celebration have tied my hands. Thus I present four categories of musical picks: Top New Albums of 2009, Top New (to me) Albums of 2009, Top Singles of 2009, and the Top 40 albums of the decade. There’s probably a couple of questionable picks on the decade list as a result of me including a few albums that, while I don’t particularly love now, were fairly instrumental in my musical upbringing through the highschool years. You’ll know them when you see them.

Without further ehdo:

Top New Albums of 2009

1. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
3. Vitalic – Flashmob
4. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
5. Burial/Four Tet – “Moth / “Wolf Cub”

Top New (to me) Albums of 2009

1. Fujiya & Myagi – Transparent Things/Lightbulbs
2. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colors
3. Yogoman Burning Band – Yogoman Burning Band
4. Paramore – Riot
5. Lovage – Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady to

Top New (to me) Singles of 2009

1. Das Racist – Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wall Paper Remix)
2. Friendly Fires – Skeleton Boy
3. Ohbijou – Black Ice
4. Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind
5. Miley Cyrus & Nortorious BIG – Party and Bullshit in the USA

Top 40 Albums of the Decade

1. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
2. Justice – Cross
3. Stars – Set Yourself On Fire
4. Broken Social Scene – You Forgot it in People
5. !!! – Louden Up Now
6. Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
7. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
8. Mark Ronson – Version
9. Deltron – Deltron 3030
10. The Streets – Original Pirate Material
11. The Postal Service – Give Up
12. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
13. Cadeaux – Physical City
14. Radiohead – In Rainbows
15. Daft Punk – Discovery
16. Jamiroquai – A Funk Odyssey
17. Zero 7 – Simple Things/When It Falls
18. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Yanqui U.X.O.
19. The Rapture – Pieces Of The People We Love
20. Corb Lund – Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer
21. Manitoba/Caribou – Up In Flames/The Milk of Human Kindness
22. Shout Out Out Out Out – Not Saying Just Saying
23. DJ Shadow – In Tune and On Time
24. Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans
25. Reverie Sound Revue – Reverie Sound Review
26. Andrew W.K. – I Get Wet
27. Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary
28. Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
29. Arcade Fire – Funeral
30. Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
31. Blink 182 – Enema of the State
32. Four Tet – Pause
33. Raising The Fawn – The North Sea
34. Thunderbirds Are Now! – Justamustache
35. Dashboard Confessional – Swiss Army Romance
36. Death From Above 1979 – You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine
37. Chad VanGaalen – Infiniheart
38. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
39. Matthew Good – Avalanche
40. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

For the interested parties
Flight from Calgary (YYC) to Saskatoon (YXE) – Air Canada 8592
Depart: Calgary (YYC), 10:55pm MST
Arrive: Saskatoon (YXE), 1:00am CST(+1 day)

Let me poke a hole in my tough, plaid-accented, male exterior for a second to lay a truth out there: I’m lonely.

I can think of all sorts of potential contributors: First time living on my own, move to the city has left me disconnected from my regular coworker social group, new role has involved a lot less travel, new role hasn’t really generated a lot of new friends, lack of any meaningful relationship with a significant other, general “winter” doldrums, the fact that 2009 was a shitty year for music, new reliance on public transit, I’m just making this up as I go along now.

The hardest part of coming out and admitting that to myself is that I really don’t have a plan for how to rectify the situation. I’ve got lots of suggestions such as classes, meetups, online dating, and so on. This all feels so incredibly foreign though. Making new friends is one thing when you’re forced into a situation where everyone else is at the same disadvantage. It’s much harder when it’s just you and that’s a wall I’m having a hard time breaking through.

Not sure what I’ll do, but I do know something will need to change. In the meantime, I’m two weeks out from a return trip home for the holidays, which I’m notably excited for. Hard to argue with an instant (if temporary) fix for all the problems listed above.

The Tragically Hip – Wheat Kings

I listened to a lot of The Tragically Hip growing up. Not because I liked them, but because my dad did. I personally wasn’t a fan of the band until I left Saskatoon. Now I argue that Up To Here is one of the greatest Canadian Rock albums of all time. It’s also completely impossible to listen to Wheat Kings without being thrust back into warm summer nights in Saskatoon. I thought I was an isolated case, but I’m happy to see Jer afflicted with the same condition.

It doesn’t stop at The Hip either. I’ve watched a couple of jPod reruns during my recover this weekend, a show that’s particularly heavy on the CanCon. I get shivers watching the end of the first episode, kids in toques overlaid wandering around a snowy Vancouver with Stars. I’m so Canadian it hurts.

On the wisdom tooth front, I’m up to white bread and pasta and I’m looking less like Lennie Small everyday. Getting one tooth out wasn’t that hard, but I think I’ll have to hold off on getting any future teeth out until I have a girlfriend around. What’s the point of being out of commission for an entire weekend when there’s no one around to take care of you?

Not much else to update on. Work’s a little ugh right now, but it’s t-minus a month til the Christmas holiday so I should be able to make it through.

I wish I was more like Ted Mosby.