Road Photos

My New Record

17.5 hours after setting foot on Vancouver soil I secured full-time employment. Last time when I came back from Japan it took me about 36 hours to get a full-time job. This one is a new record for me. I start Friday morning.
There's a reason this town costs a fortune to live in. Absolutely beautiful city.

I checked things out in Calgary during the few hours I spent there the other day. The wages for the jobs I know the wages for are roughly $10 per hour more in Calgary than in Ottawa or Vancouver. The cost of a 1 bedroom apartment in Calgary ranges from $750-850 for a decent spot. Ottawa is roughly the same if not more. There are lots of rentals available in Calgary. It's a myth that you can't find a place for a decent price. Brand new condo apartments right downtown in Calgary can be had for between $250, 000 - $350, 000. That's comparable to Ottawa and very doable for someone with a decent salary. Say again, Calgary wages average $10 more per hour for what I was looking into. The town is still THE place to be for opportunity in Canada. I'll take Vancouver any day though. I was thinking about that today while checking things out here. I have come and gone from this city so many times in my life it is ridiculous. I'm obviously drawn here again and again for a reason. This is where I'm supposed to be. And this is where I'm staying.

Made It

Hello from Vancouver. I don't think I have ever felt quite as much discomfort in my life as the hours just before pulling into Van. Still worth it. Saw the whole country. Got some OK photos. Meeting a woman about a rental situation this evening. Several hours after arrival. She's wealthy, Chinese, and divorced. Going to see if we can make a deal. Can't beat the area. Very expsensive properties. Spoke with a guy on the way out here about a job at his company. Going to give the recruiter where he works a call. He gets a fee to refer me so I was told to mention his name. Can't really say how I feel about anything right now since I'm so strung out from the trip. Within a few days I should come back into myself. You remember Takae? Posted photos of her way back. She's doing really well. We're meeting for coffee later in the week.

Hello From Neil Young Country

Currently in Winnipeg,Manitoba,home town of Neil Young. Perhaps you've heard of him?Surprising city. Quite a bit to it. Cold as hell in winter and bugs from hell in summer though. Canada is a stupidly big country. STUPID large. Thunder Bay is more West than North I saw on a map after posting last. Feels like a northern town. Nice scenery to it. Leave in 30 minutes for the Paris of the Prairies. Then hammer down west to sin city, good old Van. Feels like going home.

Getting My Mind Back

Hello from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Beautiful northern city. Landscape in northern Ontario rivals BC/ Alberta for beauty. Except you have to drive for 15 hours to get to it from anywhere. You know how I know I'm coming back into normalcy? I start to write again almost immediately. Wrote a song called 'Echo Highway' once I got about 12 hours outside of Ottawa. Am looking into lyrics guilds where you register these things and attempt to sell them.

Watch This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2zkLNnlP7A&feature=related

The Kicker

So, I'm a real space buff. Love that stuff. Always check out the latest from Nasa on their site. Stumbled on the Apollo missions on youtube.com. Walking on the moon and all that. I want to believe. I really do. Then you get experts on there who have gone over every frame of footage Nasa has released and they've very effectively revealed the moon landing for the propaganda that it was. You have the guy walking by the American flag and it flutters a bit, indicating atmosphere (air). The moon is a virtual vacuum. You have Oxford PHD guys showing how the reflection off the bottom of the guy's boot as he comes down off the landing craft indicates another light source other than the sun. Nasa claims they brought no lights up. You have the guys falling over while walking around then getting back up in very odd, puppet like ways. Their motions don't make sense even in 1/6 gravity. You have the reflections from the visors that indicate square lighting, or lighting completely different from the effect the sun creates when reflecting off the astronauts' visors. You have Buzz Aldrin saying something followed his Apollo spacecraft for quite a while. Watch him closely while he utters those words. What. Ever. Don't need body language training to see the old boy's a liar. You have Buzz being confronted in an interview by a very, very ballsy reporter (I'm not sure the guy knows how brave he is being) with footage very clearly showing Buzz being cued by another source on when to speak for the cameras and how one of the earth images was a fake. Buzz's response to that tells it all. He tells the guy to speak to Nasa management and they were just passengers doing what they were told then threatens to sue the brave young guy. Buzz Aldrin later assaulted a reporter when confronted on the biggest lie in history. There is footage of a guy during the lunar equivalent of high noon with his visor up being told to put his visor down. There is absolutely no delay between him being told to do so and him doing so. It takes a bit for comm to go back and forth to the moon. Plus the whole UV thing. But then you have a guy who is in a space suit. One microscopic tear in that suit and he dies a terrible death. And you see footage of this guy (on the moon, kids) hoofing a rock down a hill. He is kicking this thing with everything he has to get it to go along in front of him. On the moon. What. Ever. I pointed out to someone that in the films from that era you sometimes see the guys getting out of the spacecraft after it lands in the ocean. The guys have been in space for a min. of ten days to get to and from la luna. Yet, these good old American boys are clean shaven when they exit the craft. She no makea no sense.
I believe that now it's the opposite. I think now they downplay what they're up to and what they know. There are probably Nasa staffers slamming Tequila shots on Mars on their days off. But the moon landing stuff was crap.

HIV Negative

Just had a bunch of blood work done. Cholesterol and sugar levels were good. Free of any and all std's. All of them were tested for. Also, praise Allah, free of HIV infection. That is a nice phone call to get. Then you have to go down to the clinic to get the results in person since they won't generally release the info except with you there in front of them.

And Dance Like A Wave Of The Sea

‘The Fiddler of Dooney’ by W.B. Yeats


When I play on my fiddle in Dooney.
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With “Here is the fiddler of Dooney!”
And dance like a wave of the sea.

Long Drive Day

Had a great day driving around the greater Ottawa Valley today. Saw lots of beautiful countryside and some interesting wildlife. Other than the photo contents also saw huge turtles beside a river we were relaxing near in a small town called Almonte. Photos are of geese and my lawyer. He is pleased with how my cases are progressing. I have seen these geese get EXTREMELY aggressive when provoked. Today they just wanted to get a bite to eat and be on their way. Both things also apply to the lawyer.
I'm kidding. Text doesn't do attempts at humour justice sometimes. The guy in the photo is my brother Dan. He does happen to be my attorney as well. Beautiful day today.

Grave Concerns

Went to visit someone's grave site today. There are many of my ancestors buried in the graveyard I was at. While walking along I glanced over and saw a large tombstone with my name on it. He died long ago. Lived to be very old. Seeing your own name on a tombstone is a very odd experience.
The crazy creatures in the photos are llamas (I think) I saw while driving around the area where my father used to live. Very strange looking animals.