What can I say...

It was amazing. Manu Chao and Radio Bemba Sound System at the Commodore Ballroom last night. So much energy, nobody standing still (in the audience or on stage). Not a brilliant idea to decide to wear sandals (think mild mosh-pit in the first twenty rows of people, minus crowd surfing) and apparently, the laws against smoking indoors don't cover marijuana, but nonetheless, a truly unique experience. Lara and I came out of there with tired legs and big smiles!

Here's a video that comes pretty close to what we were experiencing, although we were much closer to the stage. I love it, check out around 3:35, guys jumping on stage to dance with Manu and he turns the security guys away. He loves his audience, I don't know how many times he thanked and applauded the crowd, he shook hands, he came back four or five times for additional songs after they finished, the show lasted over two hours with no intermission!

Many shades of green

My calf muscles are still stiff from the six-hour hike Joanne and I did yesterday on the Diez Vistas Trail at Buntzen Lake. Joanne is training for her trip to hike Mount Kilimanjaro in August and I was more than happy to join her. The beauty of the Diez Vistas Trail is the many (10!) viewpoints along the hike. I'd say we came across probably five of these viewpoints, and three of those did not have much of a view because of the low clouds. Oh well, if you wait for the clear and sunny day to do anything outdoors, you'll end up staying at home!

I have to admit that hiking in misty, cool weather is very pleasant, my lungs were quite content with the bowl of fresh air and it didn't feel hot, even on the way up. We couldn't stop for very long, mostly because the black flies were too happy to snack along with (on) us.

I posted a few picture of the day here.

Last night, I watched Spiderman 3 with Rafael, Kookie and Irene. The movie was OK, some fight scenes were too busy for my poor tired brain to follow, but generally, the outcome was better than I had expected, given all the bad reviews.

Climb on!

Great little hobby and even greater way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. More pictures with Sarah, my climbing partner, and Ziad, a friend from school, can be found here.

Day off

Being focused on the important stuff means that certain items remain unaddressed week after week. Sometimes, you need to break this cycle and get them off your plate. That sometimes was yesterday.

Even though I took Friday off, I was up early because I had so many things to do. I had an electrician coming in at 8 to fix my neon light fixture in the kitchen. Turns out two of the contacts were broken. Now I can see what I'm cooking again!

I then went for a short run along the seawall since it was sunny outside, and spent the rest of the morning cleaning up and sorting paperwork.

In the afternoon, I had an appointment at the bank to renew my mortgage. Mortgage rates went up 0.2% yesterday, but I had spoken to the personal banking specialist the day before and he agreed to give me a special on the five-year fixed rate mortgage. Instead of 6.84% which is the posted rate, or even 5.78% which is the bank's current special, I am getting 5.25%. It's not the 4.1% rate I negotiated the first time around, but it's fairly good given current rates. I was working with a very young banker who was apparently eager to make sure I was going to keep all my financial services with his bank. He changed my personal line of credit to a homeowner line of credit (2% less interest) and got rid of the banking fees on my checking account as long as I have my mortgage with them. He also ordered cheques on my behalf ('cause the format is changing and I still had the old ones) for free.

I call this one hour well spent!

I made myself a nice dinner (a hearty stew, appropriate now that the weather was cooling down and it was starting to rain) and watched Volver with Penélope Cruz. I enjoyed Volver, the movie is warm and includes many charming characters. Reminded me that Spain was still on my list of places to visit one day.

Yawn

Madonna released a new song that you can download for free from the Live Earth web site. Being a huge Madonna fan, I couldn't resist. The song is terrible, but grab it anyways, 'cause she's donating $0.25 per song for the first million downloads to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

I checked out the lineup for the concert in New York and it's not that appealing. If you ask me, the artists in the UK concert are far more interesting: Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, David Gray, Duran Duran, Genesis, Madonna, Red Hot Chilli Peppers (and a few more). Should be a good party.

I have mixed feelings about the impact of these world-wide benefit concerts. Remember Live 8, the 2005 version of the original Live Aid held 20 years earlier? I know these are not supposed to be fundraising events, but vehicles for raising awareness. Then what? What happens after everyone is aware? Do people return home after a concert and suddenly feel strongly for the cause?

I have my doubts.

Sun, wind, and water

I have to admit that sometimes, I find myself thinking Vancouver is the best place on the planet. Yesterday was one of these times. I'll have to keep the memory of that day for next winter, so I can pull it out for energy after suffering through weeks of rain.

I woke up early, without an alarm. The sun was shining and the temperature was almost hitting the teens in the early morning. I had a quick bite, drank a small cup of coffee and set out to meet Libby, Dan, Jonah, and a few of their friends at English Bay. I walked down to the seawall, quickly passed through Granville Island market to pick up some cheese and sourdough baguettes, and headed for the docks to take a water taxi across the harbour. The little water taxis are amazing, $4 return trip between Granville Island and the Aquatic Centre, and these little ferries run pretty much throughout the year. The operator told me that they canceled the service only two days last winter. Considering the nasty weather we had, that's impressive.

I first met with Fiona, her husband Owen and her daughter Faro. Although we had never met, we had no problem finding each other. We quickly discovered that our initial plan to rent kayaks out of English Bay might need some revision, since the Ecomarine location showed no sign of being open (or even on site). We waited for Owen's brother Toby to join us, and then for Dan. Libby was meeting us later, after Jonah's dance class was over.

Still in the mood for a little paddling, we decided to take the ferry back to Granville Island and rent kayaks from there. Fiona had a gift certificate for a two-hour rental of two singles (a wedding gift), which the Ecomarine staff kindly turned into a three-hour rental of a single and a double. Woohoo! Dan and Fiona took the double and I the single. Owen had stayed behind at English Bay with Faro, the plan was now to paddle back to the beach and have a picnic there with everyone.

We made it to the Burrard bridge without too much effort. Then, the wind picked up, and so did the waves. We decided to head out without spray-skirts, not sure that was the best idea. We paddled against the wind and the current all the way to English Bay. It sometimes felt like white-water paddling, but boy was it fun! The tricky part was to land the boats without flipping over. We did get a little bit wet as we hit the sand and caught the next few waves straight on.

Everyone met at the beach, where we had a lovely picnic in the sun. Too bad the wind was so strong, it made it a little bit cold (especially for the paddlers who were a bit wet). The ride back was a breeze, but since we left a bit late and were on a deadline to bring the boats back, I paddled with Dan in the double while Owen took the single.

I made it back home in time for a quick shower, then met with the Strata Council to discuss ongoing business. We managed to keep the meeting under two hours, which was perfect because I wanted to drop by MEC before 6 to pick up a climbing harness.

Needless to say that last night, I was pooped. I had dinner, watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica, and headed straight to bed.

How cool is it to live in a city where you can walk 20 minutes and rent a few kayaks, then paddle half-an-hour to a beach for a picnic?

Very cool.

School started again, but I prefer climbing

Duh, you say. I know, I know. I had my first class on Monday, another tomorrow night. It looks like this semester is going to be really busy. Either that or my brain is offering more resistance now that there is so much else to do!

Wednesday afternoons are for climbing (as are Sundays) and today I was pretty happy with myself. I found a 5.7 route that was challenging but not completely impossible. Am I already getting better? Looks like it. I pulled a few moves that were a bit more daring this time. I'm starting to feel comfortable with the equipment and Sarah's ability to belay me.

My arms are strange shades of green and yellow because of the bruising from playing volleyball. Pretty. Maybe I should get a spray-on tan, I'll hide most of it.

This is the song I'm listening to: Innocence, Björk (who is in Vancouver on May 23, anyone wanna go???)

Pretty accurate, no?

Your Birthdate: August 18

You are a cohesive force - able to bring many people together for a common cause. You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too. Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others. You also keep your powerful emotions in check - you know when to emote and when to repress. Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities Your power color: Crimson red Your power symbol: Snowflake Your power month: September

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Not sure about the snowflake though...

Bandwagon

Oh my... I am sore and bruised. But I had so much fun, as soon as my arms stop hurting, I plan to do it again.

Beach volleyball. Sand everywhere (including in your ears), twenty-something courts, sun going down over the water, and the weather giving us a break from the rain and cold: perfect!! I started the train and play program at Urban Beach and had the opportunity to work on technique as well as play for over two hours. It was great, we have a varied (and large) group of participants, early 20s to early 40s, everyone was really nice and eager to play volleyball. I will look forward to Friday nights.

The Canucks lost to the Ducks on Thursday, have you heard? This unfortunate turn of events gave me the opportunity to witness the "bandwagon" effect that inundates Vancouver during playoff season, and how quickly the enthusiasm for the local team fades once they lose. I'm sorry to say it's not the first time, but this year it was much more obvious. I was having a drink on Thursday night at Relish, they had a couple of large TVs in the lounge. BTW, I haven't found many bars in Vancouver that don't have TVs. That's still strange for me. I wasn't really following the game, maybe looking at the screen now and then (you can't miss it). I heard people cheer, excitement grew as the game went into overtime. Then a loud cheer from the broadcast. And dead silence from the room. Anaheim scored, the Canucks were out of the playoffs. Just like that.

By the time we asked for the bill, our waiter, who was previously wearing his white Canucks jersey, was now wearing a black shirt. I asked what happened to the jersey, he said "not funny". I was going to say "what happened to all the love?", but I figured that wasn't a good idea, I didn't want to get blacklisted from Relish, I do enjoy dining there once in a while. The morning after, while I was waiting for the bus at the bottom of the Granville bridge, I noticed a stunning decline in the number of cars going by with Canucks flags. A few days before, two out of three would have had at least one.

The playoffs are over as far as Vancouver is concerned.

I, personally, haven't watched hockey consistently since high-school. I do go out to watch a game now and then with friends, but won't cancel plans because it's game night. For a large part of the city though, everything stops when a game's on. I've left work late a few times, after the game had already started, and probably could have walked in the middle of Broadway without encountering a single car for a few blocks. In the evening, if I left a window open, I could tell when the Canucks scored just by the loud cheers coming from neighboring condos.

It's all so quiet. Ssshhh, ssshhh. It's all so still. Ssshhh, ssshh.