Today is Tony Pierce's 104th birthday. Tony's a great guy who has built himself quite the media empire down in LA. The last time I saw Tony, it was at some dimly lit, somewhat seedy strip club in east Hollywood. Prior to that, Tony and I sat in his car in some parking lot, drinking cheap beer out of a brown bag and reminiscing about life. Good times. Have yourself a good birthday dude, and try not to get into too much trouble. ...

Yesterday morning I woke up to a call from Passport Canada that basically let me know that they didn't really have a solution to my problem. From their perspective all I had to do was to drive down to Vancouver, show some ID, and pick up my passport. The main obstacle was that Canada Post was saying that they would refuse to release it to me within a government issued ID that has my old address on it. Despite all that, I figured it was worth a shot anyways, so I packed up some documents that had my old address on them (including a copy of my 2009 tax return, and some T4 slips), and headed into ...

So, I made a mistake. I can't really understand how I possibly made it, but it seems clear it was definitely my mistake. When filling out my passport application about a month ago, I accidentally put my mailing address as my old address in Vancouver. Perhaps I thought it read "Previous Address" or something like that, but after looking through what I sent them, I definitely put my Vancouver address into the "Mailing Address" portion of my passport. Which would explain how it was mailed on the 8th of October and also why I still don't have it. I thought I could simply drive ...

It's true, I'm a nail biter. I have been for as long as I can remember. I blame it on my mom, she was a nail biter too! The thing is, I've been biting them so long that for the most part I don't even know I'm doing it. That's what makes it a hard habit to stop. It's not like smoking where you have to go find the pack, pull out a lighter, and then light up. I'll literally be on the couch and realize my hand is in my mouth and I'm biting. I've actually never been successful quitting, but I'd really like to stop. I've tried all those fancy polishes that are supposed to help you stop, but I eat those ...

I pulled a pile of boxes out of storage today and started the packing process. I don't technically have to be out of my apartment until the end of November, but my plan is to have a storage facility rented for November 1st. At that point, there's no reason why I can't load it up and get most of the big stuff done. I'm also going to be pretty busy in November (I'll be in Mexico for a week, and have a few weekend activities going on), so I'm not sure how much time I'll have then to get it all done. I packed up about 50% of my office today, and the majority of the electronics in my living room. ...

Well, I cooked my first thanksgiving dinner tonight, and for the most part it went off without a hitch. First, based on suggestions people made on this site, I decided to brine the turkey before hand. Brining involves soaking the turkey in a salt/water solution for 12 hours or so before cooking it, and ultimately forces moisture into the turkey, keeping it nice and juicy. My grandma hates dry turkey, and she couldn't believe how moist the one was that came out of my oven, so definitely mission accomplished. I was a bit worried the meat would taste too salty, but that wasn't the case at all. On ...

This morning I put a deposit down on a nice apartment right in the heart of the trendy area in Buenos Aires, Palermo Soho. Soho, of course, is a reference to a hip, upbeat area in New York City. Given that I'm only staying for three months, I thought I would spend my time in the cool part of the city. Palmero Soho is extremely green, with lots of parks and trees. In addition, it's also full of great restaurants, pubs, patios, and shopping. In Buenos Aires it's next to impossible to get a super cheap apartment unless you have a local guarantor. That said, the place I'm renting is a pretty good ...

Given that I'm hitting the open skies in a matter of months, I've been trying to spend more time with the family. For easter of this year I went out and bought a pretty nice organic turkey from JD Farms in Langley, but never got around to cooking it. Since I've always been an eater of turkey and never a cooker of it, I offered to do thanksgiving dinner for my mom's side of the family this year. I have to say, I can cook a pretty mean chicken these days. So I'm hoping I can pull off a turkey. If anyone has any suggestions, then by all means, drop them here. I'm hoping to turn the awesome knob up ...

Last week I went over to my grandmas house to finally organize some boxes that had been there since my university days. At the bottom of one such box was the majority of my hockey and baseball card collection from the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, I probably have around 5 or 6 smaller boxes of cards, many of which come close to being a complete set. If you were around in those days, you probably remember how hockey cards went from being considered little cardboard things that came with gum to investments basically overnight. Most of us starting selling transformers and whatever else we could ...

A few days ago I pulled the trigger on a trip to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico. I'll actually be heading down there with Dale, mostly so we can drink a few beers and also strategize a bit about the next year before I head off on my little adventure. While we sometimes meet in Hamilton or Chilliwack, it's obviously much nicer to be able to have those kind of meetings around a pool in Mexico with some nachos and beers. And truthfully, it's really not much more money to meet down there: a typical trip to Hamilton during high season probably runs $700-$800 for the flight, plus all the expenses we incur ...

Well, according to my little Excel spreadsheet, my trip begins in 96 days now. Depending on whether or not you're a glass is half full or half empty kind of person, that will seem like a lot of time or not very much. It doesn't seem like very much time to me, considering how much I need to still do before taking off. First, I gave notice on my apartment the other day. My landlord confirmed it today, which basically means the clock is ticking on this place. I've been waiting for October to officially arrive before starting the mad craigslist dash to sell pretty much everything that isn't bolted ...

I just sent an email which effectively gives my landlord my 60 day's notice for leaving my apartment. I'll probably drop one off in person in a few days just to cover my butt, but assuming I get a reply tomorrow, I'll officially start packing this week. My goal over the next two months is to get rid of as much stuff as humanly possible. Books, clothes, furniture, you name it. If I get my whole life down to just a few boxes, that would be ideal. Probably not possible, but I'm going to do my best. The unfortunate part of this process is that as my furniture starts to sell, it's going to be less ...

Without a doubt, probably the best book I've read on food, nutrition, and the ongoing obesity epidemic raging through the world is a book called Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Gary Taubes is a New York Times best selling author, and has been featured on quite a few TV programs, including Larry King Live. I've probably read Good Calories, Bad Calories in its entirety around four or five times now, each time managing to soak up a little more of the content. Shortly after returning from Cancun last year, I went searching for Gary Taube's website, only to find that he didn't have one. ...

As I mentioned before, I have tons of engineering and science books here, most of which I'm looking to get rid of. I could of course just drop them all off at the library, but I'm aware that some libraries actually give receipts for charitable donations, and I would prefer to use one of those (for obvious tax purposes). Can anyone recommend any library in the Fraser Valley or Greater Vancouver Area that might offer something like that? Thanks. ...

Air New Zealand is having a contest now where they'll fly the winner from Canada to New Zealand. I think I'm the perfect guy to go, so I wanted to detail a few of the reasons why. I have a good friend in New Zealand (Belinda) that I haven't seen since high school! I've had a few photos published by other airlines, namely Air Transat, and would love to take some photos of New Zealand I can work from anywhere, even a New Zealand pub. People need to know what the WiFi is like, and I can share it with them I'm a 5'9" tall hobbit, three times removed from Frodo After reading Lord of the Rings ...

Last week I pointed out that I was down 11 lbs or so I believe, which is a fair distance along my goal of being quite a bit skinnier before I take off for South America. I still have three months, so I can still do a lot more damage to my fat cells before I leave. Last month I decided to take an engineering approach to things, so I went out and bought a digital scale. Weighing food is obviously kind of a pain in the ass, but I thought it would be a good spot check to make sure I was actually eating as much food as I thought I was. Surprisingly, I was actually underestimating some food by as much ...

Unless you've been living in a cave, you've probably heard about BC's New Drinking and Driving Laws, which are now in affect. Here are the bullet points: Warning range 0.05-0.08 (1-4 drinks): 3-day ban + $200 fine... additional fees make total $600 Greater than 0.08 (2-5 drinks): 90-day ban + 30-day car impound + $500 fine + possible criminal charge... additional fees of towing, interlock ignition device, responsible driver program, etc make total up to $4,060 I fully recognize that drinking and driving kills people every year, but these changes seem like they are completely targeted at making ...

In about ten days, I'll be giving my notice on my apartment out here in Chilliwack. Without a doubt, it's probably the the nicest place I've ever lived in. High ceilings. Crown mouldings. Gas fireplace. Air conditioning. Patio. Hardwood floors. Definitely pretty posh, despite being in the middle of farmland here. I've been asked a few times if it's hard to give this apartment up. Truthfully, not really. Having gone to university for eight years and stayed in university dorms for five of them, you get pretty used to living light and moving in and out of random places. In fact, I remember literally ...

In case you don't know who Garth Turner is, he's a former MP and now financial guru who has been predicting the troubled real estate market for years. Obviously not many people took him seriously a few years ago, but the majority of his predictions have panned out. Tomorrow night Garth is speaking to a sold out audience at the Four Seasons hotel in Vancouver. Since Vancouver is thought to be ground zero for the impending real estate market implosion in Canada, many people are obviously eager to hear him speak. The event was originally planned for around 300 people, but due to popular demand, is ...

I booked my ticket across the pond tonight. In April of 2011 I'll be leaving New York City and heading to Shannon, Ireland aboard Continental airlines. My friend Andy is living near Shannon with his girlfriend right now (she's in med school over there), and I told him recently here in Chilliwack that I'd like to come for a visit. So, now it's official! While I'm not much of a golfer, I'm eager to play a game of golf with Andy in Ireland, for the geography alone. I really haven't seen much of Europe. I spent a week in northern Finland at Nokia a few years ago, and had a brief stop over in Helsinki. ...