In a few short hours I will be off to pickup a bunch of friends on route to the Arrow Lakes. Some of my friends are from the Arrow Lakes, while others had never heard of Fauquier, Burton or Nakusp until they had met us. We are all traveling to the valley to take part in a celebration of Burton Hockey, and the 10 years since it’s official formulation when we added Kyle Kusch to take stats for us.

For most of us though, hockey has been a part of our lives for more than 10 years, but rather a lifetime. Hockey was never about winning or losing, how many goals you scored, or that sick deke (not that we didn’t want to win, score goals, or revel in how awesome that deke was!); It was about getting to spend time with your friends and having fun. Some of my fondest memories of when I was young were from playing hockey. Foot vs blade sessions in the Fauquier Rink, knee hockey in Steve’s living room or shooting balls at his shed, and of course those ridiculous sessions up at the Burton basketball court with some of my closest friends.

As we grew older, hockey became more and more a tool to keep friendships together. Often times coming home for a visit your time was short and mostly spent with family, so it was tough to see all your friends. However you were bound to see most of them if you showed up to a Burton Hockey session. In that way Burton Hockey was a tool to reconnect, to be apart of something, and to be with Friends.

With many of us original players now living in Vancouver it was natural for us to branch out, and start what we had in Burton here. It took a while, but that same enthusiasm for the game was found here with the new Vancouver based players. In the same way, Burton Hockey in Vancouver provided friends to get together, to have fun, and reconnect.

Why were stats important? Stats first and foremost were a way to include a really close friend in the fun we were having. Stats turned out to be more than that though. Stats provided a way to document our sessions, and have a record of all the good times. Along with the website the stats were a way to build excitement, and a way to make things ‘official’. It was a way to build excitement, and to entice new players to play, and in the more recent years they have been a good way to fuel the friendly rivalries between the two leagues.

While the stats provided the momentum to Burton Hockey 10 years ago, it would all be for not if there wasn’t a rink. It took a major effort from Lorne, Joern and Simon and their parents to fight for the community to build that plot of asphalt. When they had won the community over and were given the grant money, those 3 spent every day at the rink to help build it. It was a community born effort that has gone on to strengthen not just the Burton community, but the community of the Arrow Lakes as a whole.

This weekend as I take part in the DecaSession, it will to celebrate a lifetime of great times I have shared with friends. It will be to take part in something that has reconnected old friends, and made new ones; and finally it will be to play as much hockey as humanly possible to help kick start another lifetime of great memories.

Most people who know me knew I wasn’t a big proponent of the Vancouver Olympics. The city of Vancouver has a laundry list of problems that the money spent on the games could have gone towards. Despite my opinion the games were going to go on, and I had the choice to make the most of them, or sit them out sulking. I decided since I would likely be paying for these games (along with the rest of Canada) for many years I would do my best to enjoy all they had to offer; and to be quiet honest, it was hard not to.

My Olympic experienced started off with the torch running through my neighborhood down 4th avenue. Chip Wilson of Lululemon fame was the torch bearer, and got to run it past his flagship store. I was blown away by how many people were on the streets. hundreds packed 4th avenue in both directions as far as the eye could see. The city was excited.

One of the things I was looking forward to during the Olympics was all the free concerts that were going on around town. I was able to catch a good number of great bands. The Arkells and Broken Social Scene at Ontario House, The Stanfields and Julie Doiron at Atlantic Canada House, Wilco at Livecity Yaletown, and Wintersleep at the Ozone in Richmond. The sheer musical talent that was in the city over the 2 weeks was outstanding, I just wish I was able to catch more of it.

I was also able to attend one event during the Olympics; a hockey game featuring Russia vs Latvia. It was a bit of a blowout by Russia what was expected. I got to go with Jason for free courtesy of our good friend Brian in Lethbridge.

In addition to the concerts and the events I tried to get out to many of the houses and pavilions after work. It was often tough to get into specific places as the lineups were just horrible. This is to be expected when over a million new people show up in your city.

Ultimately though the Olympics came down to experiencing the excitement of the games and the city with friends. The experience wouldn’t have been the same if it weren’t for my buddies.

It was also great to have visitors from out of town in the city. Joe and Kasie made the trip up from California, Sophie was in from London, Bryan from Lethbridge, and of course Mr Newfie Joe made it to town as well.

In the final few days of the Olympics I got more and more into watching the events, especially the hockey and the curling. Out of shear luck we were able to find a place to watch the semifinals game against Slovakia as we just happened to be watching the womens curling finals outside a fully booked bar that happened to have one table just come available.

Since finding a bar to watch the gold medal hockey game was near impossible, I invited friends over to my place for an impromptu brunch to watch the final game. It was an amazing finale to the Olympics, and a nail-biter of a game to watch. Eventually Canada pulled out the victory in overtime thus calming all of our nerves.

After the game we took to the street and marched down Granville Street to join the city wide party to cap off an amazing 2 weeks.

Despite my opposition to the games I did do my best to make the most of them. Now that the party is over, it will be interesting to see what happens with this city. Will it go the way of Barcelona and turn this city into an exciting, “fun” city? Or will we be the next Athens riddled in dept. Only time will tell. One thing is for certain, that 6 billion dollar price tag certainly won’t be going away anytime soon.

* Just a warning this is an extremely long post, and potentially boring *

Anyone who knows me, would be able to tell you two things about me. One, I am a huge Philadelphia Flyers fan and two, my favorite band is Pearl Jam. So when Pearl Jam announced they would play 4 concerts in Philadelphia to close out the Spectrum, the very arena the Flyers won back to back Stanley cups in, I had to make the trip. It also helped that several friends would also be going, the Flyers were playing 3 games during that time, and I have never been to Philadelphia before.

I arrived into Philadelphia in the early morning on a Sunday. Flying into the city as the sun rose up to kiss the vibrant coloured leaves of autumn was certainly a nice welcome. It was a quick train ride into downtown. My hotel was really close to the city hall where I got off the train, and was impressed that they had a room available for be at 10am. After having a shower and cleaning up after my red eye flight I took to the town to do a bit of touristy activities.

Philadelphia is a really great city to explore on foot, with it’s easy to navigate grid design. The city itself is busting with American history. Being the first capital of the US a lot of major historic events took place there. It was fun to wander the old cobblestone streets, and explore the old historic parts of town. During my walk I eventually made my way to Jim’s on South Street. Jim’s is one of the big name cheese steak places in town, which was evident by the lineup that looped around the block. The line moved pretty quickly, and before long I was chomping down on a hoagie filled with beef, cheese, onions and peppers. After lunch I headed back to the hotel for a nap to rest up for my first ever Flyers home game.

I took the subway down Broad Street (hence the nickname Broad Street Bullies the Flyers were given in the 70’s) all the way to the end where all the stadium’s are. Literally every professional sports team has their stadium at this one location. I got there pretty early so I could wander around the complex and checkout the Wachovia Center. I have been to a lot of hockey arenas and I have to say this is one of the nicest ones I have been in. The building has really wide hallways making it easy to get around even with big crowds. I also really loved how many windows they had on the outside of the building letting a lot of natural light into the main aria. After wandering around I was able to find the Stanley Cup banners, which were hung up in the hallway (odd that they were not in the rafters).

I had great seats to the game. I sprung for lower bowl seats, and it was great to see all the players up close. I have to say Chris Pronger is absolutely massive. He towers over guys, even the ones who are suppose to be the same size as him. Anyway I really enjoyed my first game in Philly. The Flyers ended up losing the game to the San Jose Sharks, however for most of the game they outplayed the Sharks but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. It didn’t help either that Boucher who got the start in net played absolutely horrible. Regardless it was still a fantastic experience.

The next morning I got up at 6am and made my way to the train station. I was off to Washington DC to spend a few days and catch my next Flyers game against the Capitals. It was nice to be on a train, a nice change from the flight the day before. I got into DC in under 2 hours and found my way to my hotel. Again I was impressed that the hotel was able to accommodate me with a room despite arriving so early. After checking in, I jumped straight to work. This trip I planned to work most days as I have been running low on vacation days. During the day I found out that that night the Monday Night Football game was in Washington, and it was against the Philadelphia Eagles. So I decided to check craigslist if there was any tickets available. Sure enough I was able to find a really good lower bowl ticket for only $70. The best part was the guy who was selling it was only a few blocks from my hotel. So after work I ran down and picked up the ticket, got myself a coffee and jumped on the DC subway out to the football stadium.

Fedex Field was a long way out of the city, and took over half an hour on the subway to get out to it. Not only that, once you reached the subway station you had to walk a good 15 minutes to the actual stadium. Once I got to the stadium I was blown away at the sheer size of the building. Fedex Field is said to have a max capacity of over 91,000 people. That is practically the entire population of Kelowna to put things into perspective.

While not a huge football fan, this game was definitely an experience. I felt like I had gone back in time to the Roman ages and was watching a gladiator match. The fans in the stand were ruthless, and all very much drunk. There was fights breaking out left and right, not only between Eagles and Redskins fans, but also fights between fellow Redskins fans. The game was a complete blowout for the Eagles from the opening kickoff. I cheered outwardly for the Redskins, but inwardly was rooting on the Eagles, hoping the Flyers could follow in their footsteps the next day. As the forth quarter was coming to a close I left the game early so that I didn’t have to wait at the subway, and could get back to the hotel a little quicker.

The next day I decided to work a half day in DC. So I took the morning off and did a bit of exploring. My hotel was just a few blocks from the White House, and most of the site of DC, so I decided to walk around and explore. I had been to Washington once before when I was really young, yet don’t remember much from the trip (besides a visit to Ikea, and the Smithsonian). So it was nice to experience everything over again. While the weather wasn’t the best for a day of tourism, it did mean that most of the monuments were deserted, which was nice. I also found it really amazing how beautiful the fall colours were despite the dreary weather.

After checking out the major monuments in the city I decided to goto one of the museums. I decided to goto the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which I had heard good things of. Despite being very somber, I have to say, it told the history of the holocaust extremely well. One thing I found was really well done about the exhibit is that it really showed the human aspect of holocaust through use of photos, videos, and informational panels. I highly recommend going to the museum if ever in DC.

I made it back to my hotel after lunch to put in my half day of work. I was really excited about going to the hockey game that night as the Capitals are one of the most explosive offenses in the NHL right now. I was also extremely excited to get to watch Ovechkin play, and to see how the Flyers would stalk up against him.

So after work I made my way down to the Verizon Center. The nice thing about the arena in Washington is that it is right downtown. So it was a quick 15 minute walk from my hotel room. As I approach the arena, I couldn’t believe how many caps jerseys I saw. This team had really become a big thing in Washington, largely due of course to the personality (and of course incredible talent) of Ovechkin.

This was now my third game in three nights, but I was still energetic. Actually probably more so for this game than any other. I really had a great time at this game. While the fans in Washington are not the most knowledgeable, they made up for it with their enthusiasm. After tying the game 2 – 2 with the Flyers the arena exploded into cheers, and I hate to admit it, but was a more exciting, and loud venue than what I had experienced in Philadelphia.

As it turns out the Flyers lost again in Washington. The game was a lot of fun though, as the Flyers again outplayed their opponent but were shut down by solid goaltending, and missed opportunities. I have to admit, it was fun to watch Ovechkin score 2 goals!

The next day I was once again up at 6am to catch a train back to Philadelphia. Once again I was impressed by another hotel for having a room ready for me so early in the day. After putting in a full day of work I was really excited, as I was going to meet up with my two favorite Californians, Joe and Kasie. They had arrived into town the day before and would be around for the rest of my stay. I hadn’t seen them in close to a year so it was nice to be able to get together with them. That night we went out for dinner with their friend Susan from Philadelphia who they were staying with. Wednesday was the first game World Series of Baseball game being played in New York against the Philadelphia Phillies, so everyone was dressed in red, and ready to watch the game. I really wanted to experiencing seeing a game in Philly, while Joe and Kasie were more interested in seeing Pearl Jam. So we parted ways, they went off to the show, and I stuck with their friend and who I accompanied to a sports bar to catch the game.

I have to say I am not really a baseball fan, in the very least. With that said, watching the game in a packed bar of 300 people, all rooting on the Phillies was sure fun. Everyone was cheering, and chanting, and clapping, and just overall having a great (albeit suspenseful) time. It helped that the Phillies won the game. The next day after work, I met up with Joe, Kasie and Susan again to catch game 2 of the world series, unfortunately, the Phillies weren’t so lucky and lost the game.

As Friday rolled around it marked the arrival of a lot more friends coming in for the remaining 2 Pearl Jam shows. I had taken the day off so that I could hang out with those who were arriving, and spent some more time with Joe and Kasie. I had a fun day exploring the market in Philadelphia with Vanessa and Tatiana, before meeting up with Jason and the rest of the gang. It became evident very quickly that our hotel room wasn’t going to fit all those who were suppose to stay in it, so I jumped ship to stay with Joe and Kasie. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with everyone and doing some more touristy things.

That night I got to see my first Pearl Jam show at the Spectrum with Vanessa. We had really awesome seats, and it was a lot of fun to rock out with her. The show that night was really excellent, and Pearl Jam played a large number of my favorite songs. It was really exciting too knowing that in that arena the Flyers had won their Stanley Cups. It was sad to think they are going to destroy the building in a few short months.

After the show we partied it up until the wee hours. Despite my urge the next morning to sleep in until the afternoon, I had to get up early once again, as the Flyers were playing an afternoon game. It was also Halloween so I had to get my costume ready. Jason and myself decided to go as Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World. I was Garth.

We met up at the Wachovia Center at Noon, and were shocked to find so few people dressed up for Halloween. I didn’t let it get my down though. This was my last Flyers game of my trip and I wanted to enjoy it. As the arena filled up we did manage to see a bunch more people dressed up, which made us a little more happy.

So the last Flyers game I caught was a complete blowout by the Flyers. They won 6-2 and completely dominated the game from start to finish. The game was also full of fights which made the Australian Hinn, and Brazilian Tatiana happy. After the game we parted ways, and I met back up with Joe and Kasie. We had a really lovely dinner at this restaurant called Pumpkin, before heading back down to the last ever concert at the Spectrum.

For this show I was sitting with Jason. Our seats were really similar to the seats I had the night before, which was nice. After we got settled we sneaked his friend Sophia down into our section as well. The final show by Pearl Jam was one crazy show. Pearl Jam played for close to 4 hours, and played some songs they hadn’t played in 10-15 years. It was truly a memorable night, and a lovely way to end such a fantastic trip.

The next day I left early for my flight back home and my week long recovery from my week of no sleep. While busy, I really had an amazing time on this trip, and look forward to the next time I can visit Philadelphia and Washington again.

Here are a few final images from my trip.

Despite getting screwed by Avis and CarRentals.com Jason and myself carried forth with our initial plans to drive up the coast of Croatia in our rental to Zadar. We would then travel east to visit the Plitvice Lakes, before heading back north one again to reach our final destination of Rijeka, where we planned to spend a few days with our friend Sid.

Our route took us initially through Bosnia and Herzegovina, then back into Croatia. Once we passed back into Croatia the coast got absolutely gorgeous. High cliff-side roads overhanging the Adriatic Sea. We stopped in at random villages and towns exploring as we went. One village were we broke for lunch at, lacked any roads into the town so Jason and myself packed our lunch and hiked down into the town. Everyone in the town must have known each other, because when we walked down by the water, we got a bunch of peculiar looks. The people were just curious though, and when they saw we were just looking for a place to have lunch, went back to whatever they were doing (mainly frolicking in the water).

One of the next villages we stopped at was a little more touristy, and we were able to get our daily gelato. It dawned on me here what a major role the water played in the lives of Croatians. It appeared the life of each town was found along the water, and when you have such a beautiful sea, it makes a lot of sense.

We eventually made our way up to Split, where we initially had planned to spend the night. Split was a much larger city than either of us had anticipated, and Jason was having troubles finding parking and navigating the narrow roads. We eventually found a place to leave the car and did a little exploring. The old part of the city really reminded me of Seville in Spain, but not as nice. We had dinner in Split and caught the sunset, and then decided to drive a few more miles north before calling it a day.

Finally we stopped in a town called Trogir. Trogir was a wonderful little town that had a lot of the charms that Dubrovnik had, just a lot smaller. We were able to get the last two beds at Hostel Trogir, and after showering and settling in, we hit the town. We had a few drinks in the main square, then found this fantastic open air bar. It was situation within the city walls, so it was like being in an ancient tavern, however the building had no roof or ceiling, so you could look up to the stars while drinking your beer. It was really quite spectacular.

The next morning we left Trogir amid a massive traffic jam. Took us nearly an hour to move 10km. Finally we got outside the city however and were able to get moving. We cruised inland for a while and got to see the agricultural side of Croatia before heading back to the coast, on route to Zadar. We made it to Zadar by noon, filled up on gas, and headed inland towards the great lakes of Plitvice.

We arrived at the lakes to find a mass of people. This was definitely one of the major tourist destinations of Croatia. We paid the the entrance fee and made our way onto the path leading to the lake. Half way to the lakes I realized I was going to have a hard time enjoying it. The paths we were walking on were packed with people. You essentially were herded around the lakes with everyone else. No time to take in the beauty, or simply enjoy the environment you were in. It was a shame really. I imagine if you came early in the morning it would likely be a lot better, however what we experienced was not all that enjoyable. With that said the lakes themselves were very pretty. Someday it would be nice to visit during a less busy time of the year.

We finally hit the road again on route for Rijeka. In typically Jason fashion he was coming as a surprise to Sid. So when we finally arrived we parked the car a good 2 blocks away, and I went off to find Sid. After finding her, I told her I had to get my stuff from the car, so we walked back to our car. Jason was rummaging through the trunk when I brought Sid. As I got close to the car I told Sid, “So Sid, I have a surprise for you…”, Sid responded, “What Jason?” Then started to laugh, only to realize a moment after I had brought Jason!

We spent 3 days in Kastav (where Sid lives close to Rijeka). I wish I could tell you they were packed with sightseeing. Rather it was 3 days of a lot of alcohol, good food, and great company. I realized during this weekend that Croatians, really know how to have a good time. We did have a chance to briefly checkout the town of Kastav, and spent our last day on the beach, which was the perfect way to relax before heading off again.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. I wish like i often do, that I had more time to explore, to get off the beaten path, and to see the more hidden parts of the country, but I shall leave that for another trip, as I will be sure to return. A special thanks to Sid for making our last 3 days extremely memorable, and for taking car of us. Especially when we were in an inebriated states such as this:

During my stay in Montreal this past July I wanted to make a point of visiting some new poutine places in my ever ongoing search for the Best Poutine in Montreal, something I started the year prior. This years search almost didn’t happen due to me getting sick. I wouldn’t let my little gastrointestinal problems stop me, as the day before I flew off to Germany (and the first day I started feeling good) I went out on an excursion to find the best poutine in Montreal.

Now I must first preface this and say I had a warm-up poutine my first weekend in Quebec on route to a chalet in small town Quebec, and a second warm-up poutine at a fancy restaurant in Montreal. All the other poutines were ingested on the Sunday, with my tasting crew of Jason, Tatiana and Vanessa.

Alright enough jibber jabber, onto the results!

Casse-Croute Chez Mon’Oncle Emile

Located on the side of the road in the small town of Saint-Gabriel, this little take away restaurant provided me with my first poutine of the year. I had high expectations as my Brother and his Wife both told me the best poutine in Quebec was to be found in places little take aways like this.

On first inspection the poutine looked really good; very clean fresh cut fries, lots of cheese curds, and a good serving of gravy. But did it pass the test? Lets see what people thought:

End result? The poutine was average. Yes my Nephew and his friend scarfed theirs down in probably 30 seconds or less, but that is likely more attributed to their hunger than the taste of the poutine. So why so average despite the initial good impressions? It was just kind of bland. The gravy wasn’t overly tasty, the cheese curds were not that stringy, and the fries, were nothing special. Don’t get me wrong, the poutine was still good, just nothing amazing.

Au Pied de Cochon

Jason, Tatiana and myself went out for some fine dining in Montreal at the Au Pied de Cochon. It is a happening French restaurant in a cool part of town. We enjoyed a really wonderful meal here, and the fact they had poutine on their menu, made things that much better.

So the poutine they served is a Foie Gras Poutine. At $23 a plate, we decided it was best to share. This was ultimately a good idea as the poutine was quiet large. So what was in the poutine? Basically it was a standard poutine, with a large chunk of Foie Gras placed on top. The gravy used was in the poutine was not typical however. It was more a creamy gravy that was extremely rich in flavor, a bit of a change from your typical beef/vegi stock gravy. I do have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the gravy of this poutine. The cheese curds were of high quality, and overall this was one delicious poutine. My only grips about the poutine was that the taste of the Foie Gras became a little overwhelming, but that could simply be because I don’t normally eat Foie Gras.

Overall this poutine stands near the top of my list!

Rapido

This diner I had wanted to try out the year prior however didn’t get around to it. It is often listed as one of the top places to get poutine in Montreal. One of the big draws for Rapido is that it is open 24/7, so it often turns into the big drunken hangout after for people coming out of the bars looking for a poutine to fill their stomachs with.

Jason, Tatiana and myself tried the standard poutine at Rapidos, and it was another case of looking good, but tasting nothing special. The gravy had a bit of a peculiar taste too it, somewhat of a poultry flavor, and had the consistency of one too (think chicken or turkey gravy). The cheese was extremely melty/stringy, however Tatiana was very concerned that it was not even cheese curds, but rather mozzarella. The taste of the cheese strongly pointed towards this.

So overall this poutine was average. I would likely get a poutine at Frite Alore before hitting up Rapido, but in a pinch their poutine will do.

Fameux Restaurant

Famuex is located right across the street from Rapido, and apparently there is a lot of debate who has the better poutine. In a video podcast from CBC Radio 3, Murray Lightburn, lead singer of the Dears claimed Fameux had the best poutine in Montreal. He swore by their poutine gratinée. Basically gratinée means they put the poutine in the oven, so the cheese is very melted. We had high hopes, thinking the poutine gratinée would be a poutine lasagna of sorts.

We were joined by Vanessa at Famuex, and our high hopes for the gratinée ended in disappointment. We found the poutine gratinée to be a bit dry, had an odd tasting gravy (similar tasting to Rapido oddly enough), and not really making us feel like we were eating a poutine.

Perhaps if they had used more gravy in the poutine it would have tasted better, but from what we got, I can’t say I can recommend this poutine. So Murray Lightburn, while you can write one hell of a song, you sure could use a lesson in good poutines.

Maamm Bolduc

Yes what would a poutine tasting tour of Montreal be without a stop at last years favorite Maamm Bolduc. This was our final stop on the tour as Jason had to get back to work (as poutine chef at Montreal Poutine!). So we marched our way in the pouring rain to Maamm Bolduc. We arrived to find it extremely busy. It took us a little while to get a table, and likewise to actually get served. Finally the waitress realized she totally forgot about us and got to our order.

We order the same meat in wine sauce poutine as I had last time, as well as 1 small regular poutine for Vanessa as she is a vegetarian. Need I tell you what the overall consensus was from everyone?

Best poutine they had ever had, and best in Montreal. I fully agree. The beef wine sauce is of course the favorite. It’s gravy is rich, but not over the top. The meat is tender, and adds to the overall flavor of the poutine. The fries are perfectly cook, clean (a sign that they change their oil), and fresh cut. The cheese curds were of good high quality, and very stringy. What more could you ask for?

Conclusion

Maamm Bolduc is my top choice once again. A few places I really had high hopes for this year, turned out to be average or disappointments. Au Pied de Cochon did provide for a solid challenger for best poutine, however at $23 a plate, and the clashing taste from the Foie Gras, I had to stick with Maamm Bolduc. That is the beauty of the beef wine sauce poutine from Maamm Bolduc. The beef and wine gravy don’t clash with the flavor you expect from a poutine, but rather enhance it. Maybe someday I will find a better poutine, but for now, my Montreal favorite still remains Maamm Bolduc.

So I had been meaning to write up a Sasquatch review, but have been way too busy. So I am just going to send you to Jason’s writeup instead. I think he covered things well:

http://www.thisallencompassingtrip.com/2009/05/26/sasquatch-festival-at-the-gorge/

Things to note. The Decemberists new album in full was amazing. I will possibly write a blog post about that in the future (but yeah you know how it goes). Explosions in the Sky were amazing, “We’re not trying to bum you out, we’re going to try and bliss you out”.

“Party On Dudes!”

So myself along with friends Jordan and Oliver have started something that is starting to pickup some traction. We have been organizing sessions of Capture the Flag in the city which we dubbed Urban Capture the Flag. We had an initial “beta” match which worked out really well, then our official launch last week. Both were a lot of fun, and everyone involved seemed to really love it. Anyway this is just my quick little “introducing” email to what we have been up to. Just put a blog today for it, so go check it out at http://www.urbanctf.org/. if you are interested in playing be sure to let us know. We are always looking for more players.

2008 was another really good year for me. I was able to do a lot of traveling, see some good shows, spend time with family and friends, and find a new passion in photography.

At the start of the year I decided I wanted to get into photography. So as a Christmas gift to myself I purchased an entry level DSLR, and made a commitment that I would learn how to use it. Over the past year I have thoroughly enjoyed learning and shooting as much as I can. I will be posting a 1 year of photography post later so I will leave this at that.

As far as shows go this year I didn’t go to as many as the previous couple years, but the shows I did see were pretty special. Some of the bands and festivals I attended this year:

Justice, Eddie Vedder (x4), Black Mountain, Metric, 3 inches of Blood, Bison, Shawn Smith, Wintersleep, Bonnaroo, Wolf Parade, Pemberton Music Festival, Stanley Park Singing Festival, Finntroll, Mission of Burma, Sigur Ros, Gogol Bordello, Neil Young, and the Cave Singers.

My only regret was that I skipped the Mars Volta concert. I had tickets, but arrived back from England a few hours before the show, and didn’t have the energy to make it out to the PNE.

Speaking of travel, in 2008 I really began to take advantage of my ability to work anywhere with my Job. My first major trip of the year was a 5 day stay in California with Joe and Kasie for the Vedder tour. I found I was quite able to work productively with a noisy distracting environment. At one point I was even worked in the back of Joe’s Prius!

The Vedder tour also was the catalyst for my next trip. For the 2 Vancouver shows I had invited a Flickr friend, and fellow Pearl Jam fan from London to come spend a week in Vancouver with me and come to the shows. She accepted, and during her 1 week stay we really hit it off. A month after she left I flew out to London to visit her for two and a half weeks.

I had a fantastic time in London, and was even able to spend a weekend in Paris visiting my cousin. Surprising Jason on my arrival was also a nice bonus. However he really didn’t seem to shocked to see me there.

In June I flew to Nashville and embarked on a mini adventure with Jason and Lester through the south. We drove south from Nashville to New Orleans, then up through Mississippi to Memphis, and finally back to Nashville. We ate food at a Bar with a Kitchen, saw some fantastic live jazz, saw the home of the King, and had our vehicle fully searched by the police. All in all a great adventure. When we arrived in Nashville we met up with Kasie and Joe, and made our way to the Bonnaroo music festival.

Bonnaroo was a real blast (and did I mention extremely hot?), even if on the first day I didn’t quiet feel into it. However after seeing a couple of really great sets I got right into it. There were some really great acts at Bonnaroo, and it was a real pleasure sharing the experience with some of my best friends!

After Bonnaroo I flew east to Montreal where I spent a week visiting with my brother and nephew. I was able to celebrate my nephews birthday, take part in the Saint Jean Baptiste celebrations, as well as do a search for the best poutine in Montreal. On my way home from Montreal I made a brief stay at my parents place to deliver my nephew to them for his summer stay.

July began with another visit from Laura. We had a pretty chilled out time together touring around some of the summer hot spots in and around Vancouver. Despite nursing a horrible toothache, Laura was a really good sport all week. The day after Laura left, my parents came for a short visit. They stayed a few days before bringing my nephew to the airport and send him on his way back to Montreal. The day after they left I headed out to Pemberton with Lester and Bernie to take part in the inaugural Pemberton Music Festival. Despite a few hiccups the festival was a glowing success.

August was a relaxed month. I spent a bunch of time in Fauquier, and got to attend the wedding of high school sweethearts Dustin and Sarah. At the end of the month I went with Lester and Bernie to the first ever Stanley Park Singing Exhibition put on by the New Pornographers.

September I invited Kyle to Vancouver to attend his first “real” concert with a band he really liked. It was great having Kyle around, and to take part in his first ever concert. We also managed to organize a session of hockey for him, and were able to get Jen and Steve out.

October I caught a bunch of really good shows (Gogol Bordello, Sigur Ros, and Neil Young). Near the end of the month I had my wisdom teeth removed. While in November after the depression of the Canadian election, and the exciting of the US election, I took a trip to Ventura, California to visit Kasie and Joe. It was a really relaxed visit. We played lots of settles, surfed, protested, ate some really excellent food, and I took some of my favorite photos of the year. Like all visits this one was too short.

At the end of November I organized a surprise stag for my best friend Joern. Bernie, Lorne and myself kidnapped him after work and flew him to Calgary to attend a Flames game, play paintball, and visit with some of his close friends. I would like to say I was the star of the weekend for doing something really cool, unfortunately this weekend will go down in everyone’s memory as the weekend Stefan jumped (or was it fell) down 5 rows at the Saddledome.

Finally December marked the end of the year. It was a true December, with snow, sledding, family and fun. It was also one of the best Christmases I can remember.

So tonight I will cap off another great year, and look forward to the new year ahead, and a month (or more) in Hawaii.

Happy New Years everyone!