We're on Vacation

We'll be back from our friends Donna and Jenn's cottage in a couple of days and I'll start blogging again soon. Check back next week.

The view off the back deck, Garden Bay, B.C.

No Sweat

One thing I really notice about Vancouver thus far is that I don't sweat very much. Maybe it's that it's usually in the seventies, but more likely it's that it's that the humidity isn't. In this photo, I just returned from a brisk fourteen-minute round trip to the store and I'm dry as a bone. If this were in Iowa, I'd have to change my shirt right now.

We had a great little lunch outing yesterday and I snapped a few iPad pictures for the sisters. I think Trisha will especially like the name of the little taqueria where we had a wonderful and cheap lunch.

 Pinche Tacos: 4 meat tacos $9.50; 4 veggie tacos: 7 bucks (loonies).

I especially liked the Rajas con Crema: roasted poblano peppers with creamed corn, sour cream, and cheese. The sauces and condiments were also amazing. 

This is actually our counter mate's order. We'd wolfed ours down by the time I thought to take a photo.

Right around the block is the Vancouver Film School. I think that might explain this filming of a modern Caesar (or is it Caligula?). Or maybe it's a toga baptism for some new-age religion, or perhaps a wedding. All I know is that most of the guys were sportin' Ray Bans.

Couldn't resist taking a shot through this shop's window. Thought of you, Marty. Unfortunately, they were closed.

Prez Perry

Looks like the new Republican frontrunner is none other than Texas nut burger, dumb-as-a-box-of hammers tool Rick Perry. And he’s a toss-up with Obama in the general election. This a rather sobering prospect, y’all.

Consider Governor Rick's legacy:

• 27 percent of Texas workers lack health insurance compared to 17 percent nationally.
• Fewer than half (48 percent) of the state's workers have access to a retirement plan at work.
• Texas ranks 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores, 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates.
• An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma.
• Texas is 48th out of 50 states in the number of physicians per 100,000 residents.

All this in spite of the fact that Texas was the recipient of over $20 billion in stimulus money in 2010 (half a billion of which he rejected because it would help the unemployed). What a douche.

Read more from the Michael Winship article in in Salon. Michael Winship is senior writing fellow at Demos, former senior writer at "Bill Moyers Journal" on PBS and current president of the Writers Guild of America.

I guess what I'm trying to say with this is, while we are beginning to really miss all the folks we left back in Ioway (and Illinois, etc.), we are given daily reminders of one of the reasons we left: the lack of a left.

On a lighter note, cousin Matt came to town. Just to show you what a small town Vancouver really is, here's the story in the Vancouver Sun.

Evelyn Cortes of the Dundarave Beach Tea Hut and Oscar-winning actor Matt Damon pause for a photo outside the West Vancouver concession stand. Damon was buying ice cream for a group of kids. Photograph by: Raymond Poirer, for North Shore News

Artsy Fartsy

Today we frittered away the time because it was so beautiful. I'm really missing the camera, but that didn't prevent me from attempting a few art shots with the iPad. Not so great for framing.

There is a surrealist exhibit in town for all our surrealistic friends and family members, so come on out! We have plenty of surrealistic pillows. From Ikea.

Note of disclosure: I did move two leaves to cover up a couple of bits of gum.

Below: I couldn't decide which one of these I liked best so I left them all in.

Patty, shooting herself in the foot. Usually something I do.

Ikea

We're have a day off after spending a mind-numbing, soul-sucking acid trip through Ikea looking to replace, on a chintzy scale, some of the furniture we sold/gave away. Suffice to say, the meandering route through the plastic and formica, and the faint screaming of small children and prison labor wafting up at us from the pre-programmed route designated by our Swedish overlords, proved too much: we're shopping at Goodwill. Now I must drink another beer, from here:

--photo to come when I figure out how tf to use my iPad-

We did go and liberate our cube from customs. After an hour drive down to the border, a quick stamp of our paperwork, we secured release of the pod which we'll have delivered September 2 (at our new apartment--details to be forthcoming). I hope the migrant workers can last that long. 

After the customs "ordeal", we stopped off at a Sichuan place in Richmond. Patty's smiling because they nailed the pepper and salt peanuts.

Yep, pretty much a plate-load of peppers, sprinkled with tongue-numbing "ma la", ground from the Sichuan peppercorn, or wild prickly ash pepper (花椒 huājiāo).

More Food Porn: Steamed Buns

My cousin Alecia and her husband Ken were in town today for a quick visit before their ferry ride to the Island. Of course it was pouring down rain after a week of seventy and shine. They love microbrews as much as we do, so I Googled our favorite place, since we walk there and don't yet know the street names. Of course I just grabbed the first link that popped up, and didn't read the subheading (Stay Connected with Steamworks Vancouver Bulge Party 3rd Saturdays Lights Out ...), just the address. So naturally, they ended up at the other Vancouver Steam Works (age 18+ or parental  consent).

Didn't do much after lunch today except wander the streets and find this amazing restaurant, Cibo Trattoria, where we had a late dinner and did our best not to over eat (and only by taking the risotto— with morels & red wine, thyme, butter & parmesan—home with us). Even their menu makes you weak.

Unfortunately, the heirloom tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad didn't have any iceberg lettuce or thousand island dressing. :-(

The Lord's Day.

And in Canada, labor's the King. Day off, MFs. Oh, and no school tomorrow because I quit my other-muckin' job.

Bad News, Good News, ad naseum

The bad news is that our camera battery died, the good news is that the charger was packed in the cube, the bad news is that the cube is in storage, the good news is that we'll probably be able to get the cube out earlier rather than later because we have a good line on a place to live, the bad news is that we won't be able to charge the battery for at least a week or ten days, the good news is that our new phone has a camera (duh you say, but our old one intentionally didn't have one), the bad news is that we don't know how to use it yet (well, how to import photos into the Mac via Bluetooth, 'cause it's got an effin' stupid troglodyte operating system, probably related to Windows). And so it goes. Oh, one more bit of good news, we do still have the pictures to put up from the evening of the twentieth and the morning of the twenty-first. Oh, and bad news, they aren't all that great.

After a day of apartment hunting, we drove south to Richmond for the nightly market, full of cheap Chinese crap and a big smorgasbord of cheap eats, especially if you're a carnivore.

How many hello kitty bouquets do you need? My theory is that the Chinese are laughing all the way to the bank as they export all their toxic waste, while the world pays the shipping (and other costs).

Wanna sell the hell out of something? Ram a skewer through it and slap it on a grill.

Yes, it really was kind of like Beijing or Taipei, but with some interesting international touches.

Like this mushroom guy. Mushroom in Chinese is  蘑菇 (mógu) and hence the name.

These trucks would be right at home at the Iowa State Fair.

Except for maybe the chicken tandoor poutine?

This was an interesting treat, steamed corn prepared many ways: Patty opted for the spicy peanut sauce, and I chose the Indian.

Holy Smoke! You gotta love Canadia.

The most exciting thing we did today was mailing our application for health care. We did that here after lunch at Shizenya Japanese restaurant. We have to stop pretending we're on vacation and start eating in, but it was cheap.

Apparently, many U.S. expats are unaware of the fact that they MUST pay income tax even on Canadian income and even if they haven't lived in the U.S. for years (You can thank douche bag Republican Senator Chuckles Grassley of Iowa for that one. He won't touch corporations, though). Now that it's crunch time, the U.S. is stepping up enforcement efforts.

In other news: B.C. inmates are getting high with a little help from on high, by using prison-issued Bibles to roll their joints.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Holy+smoke+inmates+using+Bibles+stoned/5264592/story.html#ixzz1VaPkd1g7

They block off streets in downtown Vancouver and put out these rolling turf islands in the street for people to sit on and eat their lunches. The Howard in me objected to the germ potential. Ew. Plus, it's a little precious.

After a long day of apartment hunting, we settled in for a meal at "home."

Banking is Boring

Boy, how does one keep interest in a blog about banking, buying a new phone, applying for Social Insurance Numbers, and shopping for groceries? One doesn't, unless one lies, or at least stretches the truth. And that's just what I intend to do. 

We started our day at TD Canada Trust, setting up our accounts. We were helped by Tommy Qu, who's lived in Canada since 2003. He's originally from Qing Dao. He was especially helpful when I spoke a little Mandarin with him. Setting up our accounts was much like I imagine it must have been in the States fifty years ago, before the free fall from regulation that made our banks seem more like pay-day lenders than serious institutions. Tommy was thorough in the extreme, and very helpful. We spent two hours with him. Two hours! Then we were all robbed at gunpoint by men in Smurf® costumes.

After the banking incident, we bought our new phone from Fido (at Tommy's recommendation). I tried to take a picture of the escaping Smurfs®, but I couldn't figure out how to use the camera.

Then it was off to Broadway and the Shao Lin Noodle House 少林麵莊, where they specialize in "Making noodles by hands", that is until some English-speaking twit corrected them; now they're made by hand. BORING. We split a plate of cutting noodles with veggies and tofu, and a plate of scallion pancakes. We could have eaten dinner with the leftovers. As it turns out, a crazed elderly Chinese grabbed the plate off our table and threw it across the room while doing some fancy Jackie Chan back flips out the door.

After lunch, we headed over to 10th and Main to this Service Canada Centre (affectionately known as Building 5910). Here we endured some very polite and professional socialists who were very concerned that we kept our new SINs secure, and properly applied for our socialist health care and just generally seemed to care and have compassion. That's so socialist.

After lunch, we walked down to Granville Island for a little grocery shopping at the public market. 

It was a cluster-duck of tourists and we couldn't wait to get the hell out of there. It was a lovely stroll down, though.

Finally, we retired to our abode, for a little dinner and refreshment. That's when the Earthquake struck. Thanks a lot, Mark and Judy!

But cirrusly folks...

As we left Kelowna this morning, Patty was taken with these rather odd clouds. I hadn't the heart to tell her they were the drifting remnants of a nuclear meltdown in Southern Russbekistan.

Patty loves her lumbering trucks loaded with wood.

A wee peak at our 400 kilometer day trip.

Van City.

Our new temporary digs.

Vertical, on the eighteenth floor, but with a speedy elevator and free underground parking (expertly negotiated by Patois).

Conveniently located downtown on Granville Avenue. We can keep the car parked and give the gams a workout.

Living room. Really too much space for the furniture we now have: none.

Patty perusing the flat's rules: have fun and give us money.

Our balcony, overlooking the ocean.

Living room view.

Our favorite brewpub from past visits, a short five-block saunter.

The Steam Work's raspberry Belgian and the yummy cask-conditioned porter. The edamame was not as good as the Star Bar's.

Unfortunately, there will be sun but no humidity the next six days.