Fun with tar

One interesting Los Angeles park where our fantastic hosts/tour guides took us was the La Brea Tar Pits. In pre-historic times, animals used to go drink from the water and get sucked into the tar.

The cries of the animals attracted more animals, and they would get stuck as well. That sucks for the animals, but it's great news for paleontologists today who can dig out the fossils.

It's also great news for tourists and locals who can enjoy a nice afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits.


(Click here for YouTube version.)

Santa Monica Pier

The Santa Monica Pier is an icon of Los Angeles and a staple of American pop culture. It's at the end of Route 66, and it's been in a bunch of movies and TV shows. Much like Venice Beach, visiting for the first time feels like you've been here before. Maybe that's why it's constantly packed with tourists (like us).

On the day we visited, the sun was elusive. It was a weekday so the beach wasn't packed. But it sure was nice to sit and watch the waves crash on the shore. Hadn't been to an ocean for a while and the white noise of the waves is always soothing.

(Click here for YouTube version)

We also rode the ferris wheel. It's normally five bucks, but they had a weekday special going on, so it only cost $3/person. The ride gives you great views of the surrounding area.

Vancouver Time Lapse Video (Redub)

These guys put together an extremely visually compelling time lapse video featuring scenes of my city! Unfortunately, the music they chose was dreadful.  Cheesy, Enya-inspired, new age music with lyrics about Vancouver -- just too obvious and literal.

In honor of today's opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Games, I decided to do everyone a favor and redub this amazing video with some other music that I thought better reflected Vancouver's mood.

Vancouver is such an aesthetically pleasing city, and my one Olympic wish is that TV stations covering the games transmit that in their broadcasts.  Tonight's opening ceremonies present an opportunity for all sorts of helicopter and crane shots. Let's make it happen TV networks!

Today, someone pointed out to me another amazing way to take in Vancouver over the internet.  This site gives you 360 rotational viewpoints from several points in the city.  The images are large, allowing you to zoom in quite a bit.  It's the next best thing to flying over the city!

US Highway 31 in northeast Central Texas

You don't have to go far outside Austin before you start to see the "real" Texas depicted in popular culture. Here are some images from a drive on US Highway 31 in northeast Central Texas.

Our hood

Downtown East 6th Street in Austin is nationally famous for its bars and live music, but head just a few blocks east of the Interstate, and you'll find a "neighborhood in transition". It's a great part of town to live.   Sometimes this place is a hustling and a bustling with a mix of hipsters, sketchy dudes, and homeless people.  But on this Sunday afternoon, it was eerily quiet.

High in Vancouver

Vancouver is such a beautiful city, and on a trip this weekend for my late dad's "Celebration of Life" (which went wonderfully, by the way), S. and I had a kick ass time taking it all in. The weather was perfect for our stay: clear blue skies and pleasantly mild temperatures.

The city is aesthetically pleasing up close, but it's also a delight to see from high above. Here are two videos I took that offer elevated views of Vancouver.

This is the view out the window when coming in for a landing at YVR. You can see the Vancouver neighborhoods of Burnaby, New Westminster, and Richmond. Unfortunately, downtown is just out of view. It's still a nice view!


Here's a look at downtown from the 23rd floor of the Sandman Suites on Davie. It's a centrally located hotel right in the Gay Village/West Van that offers relatively affordable suites. The hotel is not perfect but it puts you right in the middle of a bustling commercial district and a few blocks from the beach. The room is equipped with a kitchenette, hardwood floors, and stunning views.


I can't wait to visit again!

Skate park underneath Vancouver overpass

Someone put a skate park underneath this overpass in Vancouver. It never existed when I was a skateboarding teen in the late 90s. Good thing too, because I probably would have smashed my face in.

Majestic fountain on UT campus

There are a few fountains on the UT campus, but I didn't even notice this bad boy until last night. That building lit up all orange in the background is the landmark UT tower.

Seniors dancing at Donn's Depot

Donn's Depot is an old bar near our home that we only recently discovered. From their website:

One of Austin's most unique nightspots is housed in an old Missouri-Pacific train depot. Real train cars serve as seating areas, and the ladies restroom is a real caboose! The building that houses Donn's Depot was transported, via train tracks, from McNeil, Texas, to its current location about 30 years ago.

Featuring live music six nights a week Donn's Depot is the venue of some of Austin's most talented musicians. With friendly waitstaff, a full service bar, moderate prices, two dance floors, and a just-for-fun blackjack table, Donn's Depot is a haven of culture and diversity. On any given night you will find an eclectic crowd ranging from students to retirees.

Great place! Cheap drinks, good times, and a mixed crowd. What more could you ask for?

Sketchiest strip club ever

I passed by this strip club yesterday while driving through the middle of nowhere in Central Texas. You really have to click on the picture for a close-up view. I think S. put it best. She said it looks like a rape barn.

Pictures of downtown Austin

Absolutely fantastic weather in Central Texas this weekend with low humidity, comfortable highs in the mid-70s (lower-20s Celsius) and mostly clear skies but for a few wisps of light cloud. It made for a pleasant stroll through downtown Austin. Here are some pictures. Click them for bigger images.

Congress Ave always makes for a scenic cruise right up to the headquarters of state government.

There is a shitload of construction going on in downtown Austin as this city continues to grow in the face of a national economic downturn.

Republic Square is one of many parks in the heart of the city.

This is the view looking east down West Sixth Street.

A random cluster of buildings.

This is a really weird building that changes shape depending on the angle at which it is viewed. From the front, it looks more like an Aztec pyramid.

The Frost Bank Tower is currently the tallest completed building in Austin, but it will lose that title later this year.

Stevie Ray Vaughn statue

 

Austin built a tribute to one of its most famous musicians and it's right on the Colorado River across from downtown. How scenic!

Texas "Autumn"

Finally, after sweating through two months of blazing hot temperatures, living in Texas pays dividends in the form of beautiful weather! Maybe we missed Autumn, but as you can see from these forecasts comparing Austin and Montreal's weather over the next couple days, Austin is about to get a nice Canadian-style summer. Just in time for Thanksgiving!



Sorry for rubbing it in Montreal, but come on! A warm Montreal afternoon right now is like a cold Texas night. I've finally been rewarded for all those weeks I had to spend in shorts.

Large oak tree

This is one of the oldest oak trees in Austin. It is estimated to be about 500 years old. Damn, that's old!

River City Saunter

Earlier this month we took a trip to San Antonio and stopped by the city's historic Market Square (or El Mercado in Spanish) and then ventured over to the Alamo. Here's some video of the interesting products on sale at the Mercado, followed by a few shots of the Alamo.

Enjoy the interior shot of the Alamo, as I was almost kicked out for ignoring the signs that read, "No photography under any circumstances." I guess they consider disrespectful to the "shrine". My apologies to the ghost of Davy Crockett!

Bats! Bats! Bats! Bats! Bats! Bats!

Holy hell, there are literally hundreds of thousands of these little guys living under the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, and every night they emerge screeching and starving for insects. This is some video I took last night when we went to go check out this popular Austin attraction. Admittedly, it is kind of hard to catch on a YouTube video, but hopefully this conveys some of the spookiness of it all.

Even though they look like evil bloodsucking monsters, you gotta love the bats for devouring thousands of pounds of insects every night. And let me tell ya, as a red blooded Canadian boy, there are some fucking freaky big bugs down here in Texas that I ain't never seen up north. I'm glad the bats are doing something about it!

This ain't the frickin Kootenays

Pretty fuckin rad animated gif hey? Looks like it was made in 1994. It would make a rad neck tattoo. It also truly sums up the seasons in Texas: hot and hotter. This weather is definitely foreign to my Canadian experiences.

I added a Weather Underground (Voted Best Weather Website 2007 by me) widget at the top of this page to share my current conditions. Like many warm locales, it's not the heat that kills you as much as the humidity, that damn sopping wet blanket of thick air.

Remember the Alamo

Today, we're heading out on a short road trip to historic San Antonio - site of several battles of the Texas Revolution and home of the 2007 NBA World Champions! Of course the first time I heard of San Antonio as a kid was when Pee Wee went looking for his bicycle in the basement of the Alamo. Because of that movie, I now know that there is no basement in the Alamo!

Aside from the history, the food, the amazingly large highway infrastructure, and the diverse culture, one of the things I like most about San Antonio is the sight of ominous military aircraft. There are six military bases in the San Antonio area, so when you see a swarm of Blackhawk helicopters flying by - it's not a sign that martial law is being imposed. At least not yet.

Goodbye Montreal

It was a fun trip in June, and while I really loved seeing friends, I was definitely relieved to leave the city. I love Montreal. It's a good looking place. But for me it feels like an old skin. Going back at first was really magical. I felt a powerful nostalgia for the city's buildings, streets, restaurants, lights, sights, etc. But it very quickly became the same old buildings, same old streets, same old bars -- same old language politics. Ultimately there are too many reasons to list why I wanted to leave the city in the first place, but the essence of it is that living there felt like a chapter of my life that was long over. The city is much better to me in retrospect, as a super cool vacation destination, a place to recall fun times. I think the memories I have of the city are better than anything new I could ever experience again.

Anyway, I brought my camcorder there and shot some random shit. We went there during Grand Prix weekend (not intentionally). The music is from one of my favorite Montreal bands of all time, the late and great Crackpot!

Italian Carnival in Nonantum

Small but fun touring carnival rented by Italians in Nonantum (Newton's Little Italy, built on a paved lake) to celebrate their 72nd Annual Saint Mary of Carmen Society Festival. At the end of the night, around 10 p.m., they parade a statue of Saint Mary through the streets while banging a massive bell and playing marching music. People follow behind holding candles in cups to prevent the wind from blowing them out. I made the music to accompany the ferris wheel ride, probably the sketchiest and scariest ferris wheel ride of my life. It was run by a teen on a cell phone who would yank the lever so fucking hard this rickety little piece of shit ride would be whirring around way too fast. When he stopped the ride, it was so sudden that the seats would swing violently and little children would scream and squeeze their parents. After awhile it became kind of amusing.