all aboard...

got some news from my asian friend, fellow raconteur, partner-in-travel-in-crime, the wasta.

i'm not sure it's good news.

the great maoist train from beijing to lhasa has been completed (with the shameful aid of bombardier - a canadian company).

despite the fact that it will result in massive immigration of ethnic chinese to tibet, the extreme marginalization of the tibetan peoples, filling the coffers of the communist party, the prospect of traveling on this train is intriguing to say the least.

the train is the cat's ass mode of travel.

the fares are outrageous though. beijing to lhasa, one-way, 2 days, starts at $102 USD.

train fares to lhasa...

anyone game?

a sad day...

as of today, LB and LG no longer live in calgary.

they will live in BC.

it's a sad day for our family.

it will be really quiet around here.

i wish them well.

mish mash, again... and a world cup 2006 update.

after a dismal winter on this tundra, i love the hot weather. makes running a little tougher but i'll take the heat for it.

reality tv is killing me. i watched snippets of america's got talent tonite. it bad. really bad. it's really a poor knock off of the 70's the gong show. let's see... regis philbin was chuck barris, david hasselhoff was an unfunny version of soupy sales, and brandy was an equally unfunny version of j.p. morgan. all that was missing was mean gene the dancing machine, the unknown comic, and, of course, the gong. the gong show was horrendously bad. so was america's got talent. america's got to get a life, eh.

what the hell's going on in ottawa? looks like harper writing cheques left and right buying up killing machines. where's he gettin' all this moolah? hmmm... 5 billion from kelowna 1st nations accord, 10 billion from the ex-universal childcare program, and probably the rest from making absolutely no effort to satisfy the terms of kyoto accord. it all adds up, eh. (the only purchase i've agreed with so far was the order for heavy lift aircraft.)

world cup coverage has been skimpy for the last few days. too many sportsnet games. the best game so far was the elimination game between portugal and the nederlands. fights (ok, pushing matches), chippy play, players gettin' thrown out. i thought it was ice hockey on grass. excellent. worst game was same day coverage of switzerland vs. the ukraine. soooooo boring. i don't think they should let those bastards off the hook by ending the game with penalty shots. they should have kept playing till someone scored.

due to circumstances beyond my control, i have to make revisions to my predictions. for the quarterfinals: argentina, italy, england (i would have picked portugal except for the fact that half the portuguese team got red-carded the last game - but i'll hoping for an upset by portugal), and brazil (unfortunately, france finished second in their pool) will prevail...

sorry means nothin'...

my great grandpa (l), my grandpa (r)

my great grandpa was born in china in 1868. to seek a better life for himself and his family, he journeyed to canada in 1888. he was smart. he didn't work on the railroad. instead he set up a shack at the side of the railroad and sold cooked oysters to fellow chinese and da man. to maximize profits, he only sold oysters.

he left canada for good in 1930. in between time, he took the slow boat to and fro home in china 3 times. he missed home and was afraid he would forget his roots if he didn't return home.

my mum remembered the forks he brought back from the new world. he taught her the first english she knew. the phrases were: hand towel, the same thing, chicken hen, chicken cock. it was ironic that he didn't learn the word oyster.

by the way, he moved on up from his oyster shack to a real restaurant in kamloops, bc.

he died in 1961.

my grandpa (father's dad), was born in 1906. at age 16, he came to canada to seek a better future for himself. he would run a laundry in golden, bc.

he would make two trips back to the homeland. one of those trips, he married my grandma.

on his last trip, he took back to kaiping, china, the money he made here and started construction of a family tower. he would not see the completion of the tower. in 1949, the communists took over. he fled back to canada.

he would spend the rest of his days in canada. his family would join him. my dad, in circa 1950. my grandma and auntie, in 1952.

my great grandpa and grandpa knew each other over here. it was a small world.

they both had to pay the head tax.

my great grandpa had to sell off parcels of land in china to finance the tax. he never mentioned anything to my mother about the tax.

my grandpa never mentioned anything to me about the tax.

the great stephen harper is suppose to offer an apology tomorrow to all those who were subjected to the tax.

i'm not sure if the apology would mean much to either man if they were alive today.

super-salmon returns...

capote.

i can't remember who won this year's oscar for best motion picture but capote must have been close to the top.

i really liked phil seymour hoffman's portrayal of truman capote.

before watching the film, i didn't know much about the mr. capote. now i know he was kind of creepy. as a writer, capote was a ruthless, lying, manipulative SOB. anything to get the scoop. ethics? schmethics... otherwise, he was a really funny guy. i liked how he got along with harper lee.

this was a very entertaining film.

i thought it was going to be boring...

World Cup 2006 wrap...

england 2 sweden 2? pfft. 38 years of swedish domination? ugh.

what is wrong with france? dismal. bring on the freedom fries.

really big ad...

bigger the better...

i think it's time for a really, really, really bloody big ad... now that world cup 2006 is back on the big tv.

damn TSN. damn Sportsnet. damn the USGA. damn the edmonton oilers while i'm at it...

go togo go!

they're out but it was fun typing that...

the 'hood ain't so bad...

beautiful sunday. so, the bikeclub convened for a massive trip into the 'hoods of east calgary. destination: elliston lake via the slums of forest lawn, marlborough, and radioactive lynnview.

i was a bit nervous about my quick release tires but nothing happened out of the ordinary. in fact the bicycle ride was quite pleasant.

as it turned out elliston storm water pond, i mean lake, was inundated with stormy waters. the path around it was submerged. at least we saw a great blue herron (Ardea herodias). that was exciting.

well, nearly ran out of gas on the way home. pure exhaustion. i stumbled through the front door just in time to watch that knuckle head phil mickelson choke on the 18th hole of the freakin' US open.

i felt much better after attending LB's piano recital in the evening. more on this later.

i'm not sure about this photo...

purdy flower at elliston...

soapydave doin' his best impersonation of barbara eden as the jeannie... or it's exactly 12:26 pm.

then there was light... or cirque de booger de soleil by soapydave...

soapydave and soapygina...at elliston lake.

post-lunch physio or another awkward moment for the rest of bikeclub.

floating chinese delicacies...

some dvd reviews...

aeon flux... charlize really hot. movie not so hot. ok, average movie. a bit of a vancouver feel to the movie. gnome sane?

blues brothers... never thought i ever write this about a movie: too many car chases. not very funny except the part where dan ackroyd ordered toasted white bread in the soul food cafe. the movie felt like a 2 hr. version of SNL. zzzzzzzzzz.

photographic tip of day...

this device may have practical application my photography friends.

white-tailed jack rabbit (Lepus townsendii) and world cup 2006 update.

bunny in the garden...

bunny in flight...

bunny snacking on dandilions...

world cup 2006 update...

1. is this the world diving championships or is this the world cup of soccer? oh, brasil hasn't played yet... i've seen a few dives that would challenge for the olympic gold, eh. i would suggest that FIFA implement NHL type manpower shortage-type penalties for divers. that should take care 90 percent of the diving in soccer.
2. world cup games should not be awarded to upper-tier cable channels.
3. the american soccer commentators (on ABC) talk way too much.
4. the sound mix for the TSN's day 1 coverage was terrible. could not hear the commentator over the crowd. maybe that was for the best...
5. where's the BBC coverage?
6. i like trinidad and tobago's team. if they can qualify a team why can't we? they're puny in comparison.
7. it's fun watching countries like portugal play their ex-colonies...
   
8. bhutan 1, montserrat nil. bhutanese commentator's line of the game: the ball will reach heaven before it reaches the goal... (source: the passionate eye doc called "the other final")

the beautiful game...

World Cup of Soccer 2006...

i only pay attention to professional soccer or football once every 4 years. it took me 12 years (3 world cups) to figure out the offside rule.

i love the world cup though.

prognosis #1: brasil vs. france... in the final game.

brasil is obvious. they are the montreal canadiens and new york yankees of football. would i cheer for the present day pele's? yup. at the drop of a hat. i don't care.

france, if i remember from previous world coupes is pretty good. they're pretty tough. i like that henry guy. i like that zidane guy as well. i hope he's still around. they have to finish tops in their group for this prediction to come to fruition, but i see no probs.

if france chokes, i have soft spots for the nederlands (because the most beautiful goal i ever did see was scored by the nederlands and orange is a fun colour), denmark (because of a danish girl i knew once), sweden (because of a swedish girl i knew once), and any african team (because they are the best dressed).

prognosis #2: brasil will be the 2006 world cup champions by 2 over france, with the last goal being a empty net goal.

duhhhh...

canada's hockey, i mean soccer, team didn't qualify. so, like every other canadian immigrant (say 95 percent of us) i'll pick the team from the old country.

besides, like i said, brasil's pretty obvious.

supplementary prognosis: the pommes will choke once again... just wanted to get that one in. ha!

here's to lots mo tv watching and soccer hooligans!!!!!!!!!!

current observations...

looks like we have "homegrown" terrorists in canada.

dang you anne mclellan. why didn't you prepare me psychologically for this!!!???

security consultants/experts are dregs.

the more fear they can drum up, the more business they get.

canadian terrorists, when they're on, are very very busy people.

beheading stephen harper? pfffft... that's so weird.

then taking over the cbc building? why? you have some really bad canadian terrorist shows to put on?

a great muslim friend of mine, i'll call him ahmed, has not experienced any backlash yet, but he's decided to cut back on the lawn fertilizer this summer. ahmed really said that. i'm not kidding.

y'all terrorists just pissed off at the rest of the universe or do you feel a little on edge 'cause you're just a bit hungry? in rolls a stand of snickers bars... if it were only that simple...

the edmonton oiler's biggest problem? not goaltending but a really porous defence.

just realized that the RBC in RBC arena in raleigh, north carolina is THE real RBC. bastards?!?! who put the C in RBC, eh? glad i don't park my money in that bank.

the carolina anthem singer is hot but she can't sing...

saw another over-aged kid stuffed in a BOB (bike) trailer last weekend...now that was terrifying.

there's ant farm in my keyboard.