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Music and my Bike

May 28, 2010 By Jeff Leave a Comment

This is Memorial Day weekend, and I get Monday off.  So what are we doing you ask? No clue. If the weather holds we will be going on numerous bike rides on our new wheels, and possibly check out a couple short Spokane area trails.

My New Nishiki

My new bike.

If the weather refuses to hold, well I guess we will just have to find some people and hang out at the local watering hole, or maybe get caught up on home stuff.

But that is later, tonight we are going to watch what will be a very cool show that Colleen Rice (a Co-worker of mine) will be headlining at the Whitestone Winery Tasting Room, check out the Facebook invite for all of the info.

What are you doing this weekend? Anything cool/interesting?

The Swamp Bus Stop IMG_5873 Stair way detail Westminster Apartments Enjoy the Sun IMG_5865 IMG_5864
Filed Under: Hoser Music, Rambling Tagged With: biking, Blogging, Hoser Music, Long Weekend, Spokane, Whitestone Winery Tasting Room

Summer is here in Spokane…Almost

May 24, 2010 By Jeff Leave a Comment
Enjoy the Sun

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

Cool Trees Enjoy the Sun The Space Needle IMG_5873 Reflection in the Glass IMG_5614 Stair way detail Westminster Apartments
Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: bicycle, biking, Caper-in-Spokane, HABS, Hoser Music, NHL Playoffs, Pizza, Seattle, Spokane

My first update in the Caper-in-Spokane series

February 16, 2010 By Jeff Leave a Comment

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.

Games Room Westminster Apartments Stair way detail IMG_5864 Westminster Apartments IMG_5865 Bench by the River IMG_5873
Filed Under: Featured, Rambling Tagged With: beer, Caper-in-Spokane, Spokane

The Winter of Capebretoner

January 4, 2010 By Jeff 4 Comments
“So, has the summer of George begun? Or are you still decomposing?”
“Decompressing.”
- Jerry and George, in “The Summer of George”

121736-org

This is going to be the Winter of Capebretoner, this last few months have been the “Fall of Capebretoner”, and not in a good way.  Broke my hand, broke my glasses, gained weight, etc. So this is going to be the Winter and the year of Capebretoner.

First I am starting a new job, in a new country, on the other side of the continent.  I am heading to Spokane, Washington and loving it, in a nervous excitement kind of way.  I have been there a couple of times since August to visit and the area seemed like an interesting place to be.

On the suggestion from @VelvetCyclone I am going to document a “Capebretoner in Spokane” and why not do it on this very blog, its not like I was doing much else with it.  Along with that I have added a couple of new categories Hoser Music and Hoser Fitness where I am going to document all of the local Spokanish music that I find and my progress on getting rid of those pounds that I added to my frame this fall.

The music category is pretty self-explanatory, Halifax has an amazing music scene with Cousins, Room Doom, Mardeen, Superfantastics, Joel, Wintersleep, and I could go on and on (Check out The Coast’s Best of Music). So my goal is to find some great local acts in Spokane and get to some amazing live shows.  I know they have to be there somewhere.

Regarding the fitness category I am going to write a detailed post with my plans but it will mostly revolve around NOT EATING CRAP, and getting back to the gym.  I might even borrow @mysteriouswayz’s Nike+ and do some running.  The company that I am going to has a deal with a local fitness centre with a pool and gymnasium so maybe I can get a couple of basketball games in there too.  I will be checking out @untitleddesign‘s newish blog Your Inner Skinny (also on twitter @yourinnerskinny)

So if you are from Spokane and you are reading this blog, post a comment and let me know where I can find your music scene, or better yet is there any Pick-up Hockey that a guy can get into.  I had to fight to get my skates in my bag so I better find a game.

Cheers,

Jeff M

Bench by the River IMG_5865 IMG_5873 Enjoy the Sun Games Room IMG_5864 Bus Stop The Swamp
Filed Under: Featured, Hoser Life, Hoser Music Tagged With: healthy, Hoser Fitness, Hoser Music, Spokane, TheCoast