It would be a wonderful time reading in the sun.

I haven’t had nearly as much time as I would like to be spending just writing down my thoughts, however I thought that I should write a short update.

It is now coming on to June, and all of the great Tweeple that I am following back home are getting ready for the 2-4 Weekend.  I don’t get a long weekend until Memorial day.

So what have I been up to?

Well I have been following my belove Habs on there path to the Stanley Cup, this is harder than it seems since I don’t own a TV. The games start at 4pm (local time) and NHL.com doesn’t stream them if they are playing in your market (Versus or NBC have them all), so I have had to sneak out early a couple of days, or just catch the 3rd period.

As for actually watching the games, I have settled for the local pizza joint.  [rant]The reason being that one evening when I went to the only sports bar in walking distance they had ALL of the tables RESERVED for the UFC fights that night, which wouldn’t even start for another 2 1/2 hours.  Needless to say I was rather perturbed, and haven’t graced that establishment with my presence since.[/rant]

Anyway, The Avenue (the pizza joint) is great.  The guy that owns the place used to play Major Jr with the local team, and comes from a family of hockey players, so needless to say the game is always on.  We have become regulars over the last couple of months, basically spending at least an hour there every second day (maybe we will teach them about Donairs or at least Donair Sauce).

Shows

For some reason we can’t get the ambition to go to many shows.  We have gone to one female song writer circle that was decent and fun ( I think that I will write a short post on it too, even if it is a couple of months after the fact).  It was held at Sunset Junction which is very close to our place and seem to have shows semi-regularly.

Finding the shows have seemed to be an issue though.  There are a couple of places to look, but some of the better shows seem to advertise only on Facebook, and if you are not looking for it you will not see it.  There are little to no posters around downtown, and The Inlander is hit and miss.  As I get to know more people though I am getting better hints on where to check out and where to avoid.

On the plus side, we are heading west in a couple of  weeks to see Wintersleep, that’s right we are heading to Seattle to see a local band.  Kind of reminds me of the time that I went to NYC and saw Joel Plaskett open for The Hip.  It should be a blast, I have listened to some of their new stuff and it seems that they get tighter with every show.

I want to ride my bicycle; I want to ride it where I like

Last weekend we hit up Craigslist and finially got a bike.  Both of us got Nishiki’s which are awesome.  They are similar to the rides that we had back in halifax, but need some work.  They have both been cleaned, but they need new tires, tubes, and such and I haven’t had the chance to find the 27″-ers that we need.  That is a chore for the next couple of days and I hope to be on it soon.

It will be great to be able to tour around town and some of the neat spots without having to jump in the car, find a parking spot, walk around, get back int he car, go home, etc.  Cars are such a pain in the ass in the middle of the city, which is one reason why I never bothered to get one when I lived in Halifax.

That is all I have for today.  I will be writing up more frequent, shorter (read better editing) posts in the next couple of months.

Cheers,

JeffM

Well, I made it and have survived so far.  I joined the everyone else in North America and bought a car. Now that HURTS the pocketbook.  It was a necesscity, and if you talk to anyone that knows me you will find out how much I didn’t want to buy  car.  But I did go for a beauty, a 2006 VW Passat.

There are a lot of things about here that are different than home. I am living downtown and have a grocery store close, but the only shopping down town is for clothes.  For everything else you have to jump in the car and drive for 15-20 minutes to the big box stores.  There are no, or at least none that I can find, independant retail stores.  No Greenlyph computers, no Duggers, no Mac Store, no Biscuit, no Carsand.  I think that last one is the one that is bothering me the most.  I am trying to develop my photography skills and the only store that sells cameras here is Huppins which reminds me more like Wacky Wheatley’s than a Carsand Mosher. When I spoke with someone there, they seemed to only know what the description tells them, and not use the equipment themselves.

I commute East 20 mins every day and the snow covered mountains in Eastern Washington is what I look to out the car window. This is one thing that makes the commute to work a decent drive in the morning.  I can’t wait for Spring and summer so that we can do some serious exploring and hiking.

And the weather, well I must boast and say that I haven’t seen snow, other than on the mountains in the distance, since I came here.  My folks have sent me many pictures of the white stuff, and it is nice coming down, but walking around in a sweater with no hat or gloves is really nice too.

The Beer Lovers Paradise

And the BEER, it is amazing, and there is a micro brew for every taste.  I really don’t understand why people out here still drink from the large breweries, there is really no comparison to the quality and taste.  I have talked to a couple of local “experts” and I have learned a lot about the different varieties.  @mysteriouswayz is another great resource as she has a much better memory than me, and had a 5 month head start on sampling the wares.  I still haven’t been able to find something similar to the Granite Breweries Peculiar, but I am sure to find something soon.

Right now my favorite is Arrogant Bastard, not only is the beer great the marketing is pretty good too.  Washington beer has some of the best graphic design that I have seen in Spokane.  With the large number of micro brews out here and the relatively small market (the majority still drink the coloured swill), they have to do everything that they can to be competitive.

I have been able to check out a few eateries and pubs that are in the area and I will be putting together some reviews in the next couple of weeks.  I am also hoping to get out to some live music, I work with someone who plays around the area and I am hoping that she will be able to help me out with finding some good tunes.