Category: Burnaby

Peter Julian

Peter Julian was standing at the south east corner of 10th and Canada Way as Jeff and I drove past at 8 am this morning on the way back from the grocery store, with a big sign saying thank you. He has served this riding and its predecessor riding since 2004, serving currently as NDP House Leader. He’s been called one of the hardest working politicians in Canada, he speaks French and English and gets by in ASL, he was born in the riding he serves, and he’s all round worth voting for.

Local MLA office vandalized

The terrible behaviour of anti-vaxxers that we saw on Wednesday when they blocked the path of an ambulance and cancer patients in front of Vancouver General Hospital has spread into Burnaby with a despicable act of vandalism. Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen announced on Twitter that the window of her constituency office had been vandalized. The words “no passport ever” were smeared on the window, referring to the upcoming B.C. rule that will restrict some activities of unvaccinated residents, like going to a movie. This is out of control. How long until these conspiracy theorists start physically attacking people?

Rest of the article by Chris Campbell is here.

Her kid goes to the same school as Alex.

In other news, Microsoft continues to release shit without testing it.

Fun things to do in Burnaby (parody)

Fun things to do in Burnaby!

– Encounter a bear in our parkland – Burnaby doesn’t enjoy 25% greenspace for nothing, y’all

– Experience one of the world’s most obnoxious English-speaking sidewalk preachers

– Thrill-seekers will enjoy the challenging brevity of all our highway on-ramps, and thrill harder to the challenging brevity of the attention span of most Burnaby drivers

– Try to find a residential address in Champlain Heights at night

– Enjoy an on-line city council meeting with Joe Shithead (okay it’s not his name any more but it’s funny)

– Ride the miniature train in Confederation Park (legit touristy thing)

– Get a cold malted beverage from Glenburne Dairy, but bring your own straw, the ones they supply suck little but ass, and call first, their hours of operation are wtf

– Catch COVID in the lineup for the Arcade at Brentwood

– Quarantine yourself at the Days Inn Motel afterwards

– Figure out the City of Burnaby garbage schedule without resorting to performance enhancing drugs (if you suffer from deficits to colour vision you can skip this one)

– Fistfight with your neighbours about parking

– Call Burnaby City Hall about parking

– Write a strongly worded letter to the editor of the Burnaby Now about parking

– Get Chris Campbell of the Burnaby Now to write an editorial about your letter. You won’t have to try too hard.

– Get a small dead fish dropped on your head by a heron in Fraser Foreshore Park

– Argue with anti-maskers in Deer Lake Park; flee to the parking lot like a little bitch when about twenty of their walking buddies show up behind them

– Quarantine yourself at the Days Inn Motel afterwards

– Write a review of all the Burnaby Skytrain stations in rank order from least to most scary. Post it to r/burnaby on reddit and watch the fur fly, kids!

– Be grateful you’re not in Whalley

– Visit one of the world’s most beautiful carousels. Bring earplugs.

– Blow through the speed trap at the bottom of Gaglardi Hill at 90kph and then cry all over the cop about how it shouldn’t be 60 kph if it’s built like the Coquihalla

– Get stuck behind the 100 bus in heavy traffic

– Try to beat the train signal on Cariboo Road

– Rent a hot, pipey two-stroke motorcycle, score a grab bag of pills and ride like Nic Cage up and down Kingsway all night

– Try to figure out if the restaurant you’re ordering delivery from is a money laundering operation

– Wake up to the terrifying sound of pyrotechnics for a night shoot at the location on Marine Drive

– Redesign the civic flag, please, have you seen that schmata

 

Yesterday and today

First, have a bear from the Capilano neighbourhood of North Van, as of about last week.

AND we don’t deserve dogs. Nor cats. (Buster when he see WOMBAT he CRAZY). NOR ORANGS.

Yesterday Paul and I walked in Fraser Foreshore. I had a dizzy spell coming out of the house so I didn’t drive, and thus nagged Paul freely the entire way back and forth.

Virtually no birds singing, none of our usual animal companions, not very well attended, nobody but us and an Asian couple bothering to wear masks. I told Paul the Delta variant is like cigarette smoke and even outdoors on pathways where we have to pass close by to people you can can get a whiff…. also I’m getting REALLY MIXED PRESS on how good Astra Zeneca is on suppressing Delta. Apparently, the word is now that it’ll keep me out of hospital if I get a breakthrough infection but I’ll be more likely to be contagious to other people if I’m asymptomatic. Not exactly the shit ya wanna hear when you’re going to visit your parents, who while not frail are elderly (sorry guys but you are over 80 after all.)

We bailed on pho as soon as I mentioned Schnitzel, by gar, and I got three takeout schnitzel dinners from Balkan House so Jeff could enjoy our celebratory meal too. Paul took exactly the same amount of time to get beer from the Oliver Twist, which faces Balkan House (I suspect he actually used the crosswalk, since jaywalking across Edmonds is something only silly young people do) as it took for the food to arrive. It was fantastic… much better than the last time, although the food portions on the rice and potatoes were smaller than I’m used to. The breading though… always a classic.

That plus beer (Red Racer Vanilla Stout, a total rip off of Granville Island Winter Ale) and a blueberry turnover for dessert, and we had a lovely meal.

Finished Swan Song and loved it. I think it’s a one-watch but it was a lovely, heartfelt movie with lots of great bit performances, the young gay bartender being a standout. Wish I had his name but imdb is oooooosssssssslessssss.

We’re really feeling the Lack of ‘Wanted’. They made three seasons and stopped, like sensible people, but we are not sensible people and want more. As always, we are salved by Elementary and the inhuman perfection that is Lucy Liu in that show.

Danny DeVito’s been locked out of his Twitter account for supporting the Nabisco strike. LOL

hanging with Susana Ville and Jarmo and Sauna and Mike

In the morning on Sunday Alex and Katie took us out to IHOP. Then at four we were off for Hastings Sauna – I respected my blood pressure and only went in for about fifteen minutes. Mostly we talked. The manager fell on Mike’s neck like he was hoping he’d reinvigorate the business single handed. (In the meantime, we’re plotting our next trip to the JJ Korean spa in Coquitlam) and Jarmo offered me a peach Bubly which was nice.

Earl’s on Lougheed afterward for a celebratory meal. I would NOT have ordered the second most expensive entree on the menu if I’d had any idea Jarmo would pay for it, but that’s the kind of friends I have and I had been daydreaming about surf and turf for a very long time. It was fantastic. Seriously. Best restaurant meal I’ve had in ages, and despite being on the Lougheed highway side of the building it was cool and deliciously quiet.

Then hugs while the folks drive back to Chilliwack where they live now, and hanging out at Mike’s for the evening (congee and garlic shrimps for brekky), plus body work and the first three episodes of Loki (also got to listen to Mike work his way through Kane’s theme in Skyrim which is always a treat) and THEN he three Dee printed me some pick holders for my ukelele and my other guitar. Consider all that and wonder not why I follow that man around like an awkward pupdog.

Then we walked back here, split up and I came home and rehydrated because it was berloody hot out there and I thought I was going to have a heart attack for a while there, and Mike went to Oliver Twist and bought a Steamworks party pack and some munchies. We then watched two movies (Jolt and Boss Level) with Jeff and Mike walked home.

little birdies

The nesting pair of Great Blue Herons was at Fraser Foreshore Park today; they went to their usual haunts and one of them yelled at the water for a while for reasons that were completely opaque to me and Paul. We saw what I believe was a Pacific wren trot at a great rate of knots across the trail. I fed the last of the unsalted roasted peanuts to the crows, and glad they were of it.

It was almost too hot to walk, but in the shelter of the cottonwoods it was deliciously cool.

No other critters…. it’s starting to get to be the quiet part of the year, the male birds aren’t singing as much. But even when we see nothing, this guy sees lots.

wotta meal

four perfect things:

seared ahi tuna

homemade wasabi sauce

pan seared yellow peppers

thai rice with a macédoine of vegetables

Plated beautifully and served red hot.

Plus nearbeer and some OG Kush

WHAT A MEAL

THEN I slept in until 8:30. Mike bought a weighted blanket. I’ve had coffee and I think eggs are happening and life in the eyrie is once again glorious.

Wednesday on 3.5 hours of sleep

I’m just finishing up the last of the Indian food from L&R today; it’s succulent, mild lamb curry over rice pilau. The naan and the samosas always go first; I didn’t quite eat the four samosas in a row, but over about a six hour period; truly great veggie samosas nom nom nom.

Two straight nights of terrible, terrible sleep. It hasn’t been warm enough to leave the AC on but I really feel the difference in the humidity and I feel like I’ve been going through a mini menopause every night. I leave the box fan on just to get some circulation, but it’s most sticky. I shifted the little icon of Sandman from the Gaiman comics so it’s closer to my head and hopefully I’ll start sleeping better again.

I have a list to get through before Jeff gets home as long as your forearm. There’s a shower in there somewhere as well.

Local news, or newish items:

Burnaby Council has peed on the most direct route for the proposed gondola from Production Way/University Station to SFU. I hope they shitcan the idea entirely, at least until they’ve asked MST peoples for permission among other steps that seem to have gone missing. It’s likely to be an expensive boondoggle and for what… to carry 10K people a day at most? sounds like bs to me. Anyway, the translink people didn’t ask any of the businesses and scarcely any of the residents that would be under the shadow of the gondola what they thought about it (not that I have experienced Burnaby as a place that gives two shits about small business owners, but that’s just me) and it just seems all very hasty and poorly prepared.

I have learned that there is a 60’s style diner (they have no website and it wouldn’t help anyway since the internet’s off between 4 and 7 am so I have no way of checking and I’ll probably forget to before I post this; Chris Campbell at Burnaby Now says they have neither social media presence, nor change in the menu for decades – I mean they still serve salisbury steak, try finding that at a restaurant) here in Burnaby and I’d like to drag Jeff out to there at some point, they’re up around Kensington and Lougheed, which isn’t too far a trek, but they don’t open until 8 and keep bankers’ hours so we may not go since we prefer first thing instead of messing with the morning traffic.

Buster is currently kneading my left tit like he plans on drawing a paycheque.

Ah, he’s stopped; I’m supposed to pet him and I’m still typing, so now he’s parked on my right foot.

He’s already had his breakfast (wet and dry food) and I refreshed his water, and I told him repeatedly that daddy is coming home today but I am not sure he believes me.

I tried locking the cat door at night while Jeff was gone as I didn’t want Buster to get et by something, but he was adamant; even if he wasn’t planning on using it he complained vigorously about it being shut.

Time to start some laundry and attack that list.

(Shower’s done.)

aw shit Jeff’s noticed I’m playing on twitter, back to work

RANTING ABOUT 10TH AND CANADA WAY

oh FSM, Parking Goddess, anydeity on this frequency, aid me now and for all time to come https://newwestrecord.ca/local-news/opinion-someone-is-finally-trying-to-fix-this-gong-show-burnaby-new-west-intersection-3904159 YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND HOW BAD THIS INTERSECTION IS
Opinion: Someone is finally trying to fix this gong show Burnaby-New West intersection
·

1/ within the first 90 seconds of my brO having a dashcam, we watched a black suv go through this intersection southbound through a red light at 70 kph while stopped in the next lane over.

2/ there are three *heavily* trafficked driveways and two bus stops within metres of the intersection so you are continuously making evasive bumpercar/whackamole maneuvres with the most rancidly incompetent drivers in the lower mainland

3/ the advance green lights are wrongly bad and they should run all four ways, this is a busy intersection!!

4/ it’s at the bottom of a 150 foot elevation drop (over 6 intersections) people come screaming down that hill hoping to get through both the pedestrian crosswalk light which is two blocks away and the intersection itself, so drivers are routinely going 20 over the speed limit

5/ There’s a 7-11 + gas station on the corner and this weird fucked up fake lane that is basically how Mr. Audi and Ms. Accord get to know each other as one smashes the other trying to sneak around to the right while the other’s doing the same thing from the 7-11

6/ I’m not blaming the teens who go to the high school next to this intersection, they don’t usually seem too intent on throwing themselves under cars in my experience, but gawdam some of the wildest ad lib pedestrians on earth stroll adjacent to these crosswalks

6/ continued… I mean brO and I are happy if they make eye contact, mostly they don’t.

7/ every pole for a block around pleads for witnesses to accidents

8/ IT’S A SHARED JURISDICTION intersection. So the Burnaby RCMP (eye twitch) and the NWPD (shrug) get to share the duties when the blood/debris crosses the intersection. I don’t know how they figure out who does what but I’m sure it doesn’t make things sparklier

9./ I’d need a contour map and some dinky toys to demonstrate some of the ways in which momentum, gravity, common sense and, provisionally, space/time itself, fail to operate normally at this intersection, so please I beg you just take my word for it.

Further comments: I travel through this intersection an average of 4 times a week during the pandemic and more like 10 times otherwise. I live close enough that I once heard a collision there. This is on the bus route I mostly use.

So I read with interest that they intend to spend a quarter of a million dollars on this intersection, and this would be great except for one teensy problem. Not a single intersection ‘improvement’ I’ve seen in the last 20 years actually made things better.

brO and I are going to watch them spend a quarter mil to make it worse. The banging and construction delays will be horrific. and in the end…. I’m prepared to wager twenty bucks that it will be distinctly & measurably worse.

And I haven’t even MENTIONED the truck traffic, which is heavy and continuous during the day and steady at night because the biggest food storage depot (400 SQ METRES OF BUILDING and much more for truck parking and storage) in the lower mainland is a kilometre west.

cheerful but lazy

Uh, yup, that’s me.

Temporary crown has not come off yet.

Timmy Ho’s yesterday morning, followed by Time Team… happy sigh.

Fed Paul over at his place yesterday – finished off the Salad Shirazi (finely chopped english cuke, couple tomatoes, fresh mint, fresh parsley, juice of one lemon, a little onion – absolutely amazing, who needs salt?), provided him with chicken curry and rice pudding. He ate it with gusto.

Keith seems to be doing okay. He had a tiny bit of Shirazi salad and Paul hoovered up his leftovers… lol. Keith’s thinking about going back to school. Obviously I am more than happy about this and will approve whatever he chooses to study. Also, offered him shelter/respite if the baby turns out to be colicky or has a bad turn and he needs a decent night of sleep for his own health.

Prior to that we went to Fraser Foreshore Glenlyon side. Paul and I have watched any number of herons do any number of things – shit on our windshield while we’re going down the 401 at 90 kph – make a left hand turn on final descent into an airport on Christmas Day – leap into the air in front of us while we’re bike commuting – FUCK THAT’S BIG – gain three meters in altitude instantly upon taking a massive dump after take off – but we never saw what we saw yesterday before.

The heron landed sideways. It looked like it was doing a sliding tap dance on the surface of the water, and then just flung out its wings and set down. The grace, the total coolth and control… fabulous. Just wonderful. Like Fred Astaire possessed its body for five seconds.

SO MANY BEES: bumbles, honey bees.

Nice people to talk to. and Dorgles.

Amazing, beautiful weather, not too hot in the sun or chilly in the shade. Tide was EXTREMELY low.

Only grit was MUCH NOISE from Parks workers and the local industries.

Today – laundry and a quick shopping expotition.

beautiful walk at Fraser Foreshore

Saw an eagle roosting in a tree overlooking Sto:lo

saw our first Western Swallowtail of the season

nearly died of cottonwood fluff

Saw a heron in the same place as the last time, fishing

Saw a pileated woodpecker flying from tree to tree

the woods were full of thrushes and towhees

We got really close to a crow

Lots of widdy dogs

Quite a mix of people with masks and without – I was without.

Afterwards we went back to Paul’s and Keith fed us pita and veggies and roast chickpeas. I loaned Paul my three-guitar floor stand to encourage him to play more. kMike came home before I left so I got to talk to him, but I missed Katie.

At home, Jeff prepped and fired up the air conditioner and I’m sure we had a much more pleasant sleep.

Tiny amount of practicing (I’m working on my hammered guitar skills) and writing.

 

Biscotti x 2

So the biscotti for Paul and the kids and kMike and his parents and Tom and Peggy has been delivered. Came back into the house just now and IT STILL SMELLS OVERWHELMINGLY of biscotti HA HA I win.

Got assaulted by a hummingbird (or as close as made Paul and me go holy shit as she went by) in Deer Lake Park. Watched two bush tits go twittering by and then HOW RUDE they had sex right in front of me.

We heard but did not see a pterodactyl (pileated woodpecker) and were surrounded by bird song. Paul’s rain magic continued – we ate on a patio (it was my mother’s day late luncheon, which was founded by Paul and SO KIND of him) and the rain held off until after we got to his place. kMike and Keith were there.

Told Peggy Katie’s news; she was thrilled. Her news is that she hurt her leg three weeks ago so that’s why the biscotti tin hadn’t come back yet, plus her Prius needed a new battery. Also, they are getting a heat pump and Dan T (who was there and said hi) is doing hordes of work on their garden. FUCK I wish her krankenhaus wasn’t in fucking White Rock. Imagine driving an hour to find out they ordered the wrong battery after a ninety minute wait, when your leg hurts so bad you could cry. She also got a simply spectacular haircut from Brooke’s sister.

So I have spoken to so many different people today I feel like I need to pull a blanket fort together.

Hold me to this

Never getting in Paul’s car again unless someone else is driving. I shall not provide details, but I got super screechy

It’s a shame really. Deer Lake Park was beautiful yesterday and I was shaking with rage by the time I got home.

I actually DREAMED about Misha Collins last night. He was in a supermarket being interviewed about his cookbook and said, “My husband and I – ” and then I woke up. He is married to a woman (who wrote a book about threesomes, hey a girl can dream) so this is just fanfic trying to run my life AGAIN.

I’M DYING UP IN HERE

The most recent supernatural episode was one of the most wildly and offensively insipid 45 minutes I’ve ever seen. I obviously missed something. Also, is Lucifer (in this show) really dead because if I never see Mark P.’s punchable snoot again it will be too soon.

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