I can't really say that I've seen much of Victoria since being here, since I haven't really been out that much. That said, it's been really great just hanging out with some old friends and taking it easy. My friend Jeff (who has been a friend of mine since high school) picked me up at the Helicopter pad in Victoria on Friday night, and we spent most of the night just chilling at his place watching movies. Today Jeff, Michele and I took Maya (their 2.5 yr old daughter) down to her gymnastics class and watched that ...

I actually shot about an hour's worth of video on New Year's eve, but thanks to my crummy internet connection at home, haven't been able to upload any. Today I was down at Starbucks, so I decided to upload a video of Mike Smith (who plays Bubbles on the TV show 'Trailer Park Boys') playing "Born Losers" with Matthew Good and the band. I actually was a big fan of Mike Smith's previous band, Sandbox, back in the day. I'll be posting a few more to Matt's Facebook Fan Page, so follow along there if you want to see ...

I'm currently sitting at Gate C43 in Vancouver International airport, on my way to Charlotte, NC for New Year's eve party with a few friends. My friend Matt is the live entertainment for a party that Dale Earnhardt Junior is throwing, and I thought it would be cool to ring in the new year with everyone down there instead of spending it in Chilliwack. Flights around this time of year are around $800 return, but thanks to that recent terrorist scare, I found a couple steals for a little over $300 return, which is why I booked yesterday. ...

I'm down here in Punta Cana, drinking a few beers with my friend Dale. I saw on Twitter that my good friend Kasia is expecting her first child, and I wanted to share. There aren't really too many aspects of my old job I miss, but Kasia is definitely one of them. Despite our best efforts, we haven't been able to meet for lunch or anything since I left my job in January, but hopefully sometime soon. That said, I'm super happy for Kasia and her husband, Rob, on their recent announcement. I wish you all the best, and ...

I'm nearly packed for my trip. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to getting away this weekend and relaxing a bit. The main reason I'm going is because Dave and Lauren are getting married on Saturday. That said, I'm hoping to meet up with a friend tomorrow night and maybe go catch a movie or go bowling or something. My friend Lynn is also coming along to the wedding on Saturday, which should be a lot of fun. The wedding is in a really cool location called the Herban Feast near Sodo Park. It looks like a really amazing ...

Two of my friends, Dale and Patrick, are currently out from Ontario visiting. For the most part, it's been a university type weekend, filled with late movie nights and copious amounts of beer. We've also been eating for six people, even though we're only three, thanks mainly in part to Patt's love of cooking. On Saturday we woke up in the morning and decided it was such a nice day that we'd head down to Stanley park for a few hours. We ended up on the patio at Lift, drinking a few beers around their outdoor fire pit. ...

Today is my sister and brother-in-law's 15th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe really, since I vividly remember being at their wedding years ago and doing the chicken dance over and over. It was a nice little wedding, right up at Cultus Lake, in a tiny little community hall that held around 80 people. In true Ukrainian fashion, the bar was completely open (a definite requirement for when I get married -- I'm willing to compromise on everything else, but the bar has to be open). The wedding photos were across the road and on the edge of the ...

As I mentioned during Blogathon, Canadian musician Matthew Good's new album, Vancouver, is coming out sometime in October. As Matt has mentioned on his blog previously, the new single will hitting the airwaves sometime in mid August. I don't know the exact date, but Matt is mysteriously counting down to something on his Facebook page, so you may want to follow along there. For those of you who read my blog from other countries (which appears to be about 50% of you), you can read about Matthew Good over on wikipedia, or from Matt's About Page. ...

I'll admit, keeping up with birthdays on my blog is pretty hard to do. I have a hard enough time remembering dates and making phone calls when they roll around, something I'm thankful my sister helps me out with. That being said, I missed blogging about one on Sunday, probably because I was so exhausted from Blogathon. It was my dad's birthday this last Sunday, and I just wanted to wish him a happy belated birthday from my website here. I managed to remember to call him on Sunday, but somehow this blog entry got ...

I first met Rebecca at Northern Voice a few years ago. I had recognized her from her Vancouver blog, and also from some photos from a private Matthew Good show that happened a few years ago in his living room. We were both on our way to get some beer (a recurring theme in our friendship), and chatted briefly. At the time, I'm pretty sure she thought I was crazy, but I'd chat with her every once and a while during the course of the weekend. Strangely enough my 30th birthday was shortly afterwards, and I invited ...