I’m reading the book The 4-Hour Workweek which hasn’t been what I thought it was. It’s a lot better. Just some quick thoughts.

Crazy going outside on a BC Ferry during a storm like this but you only live once.

A little too busy to be riding a tandem bike and holding a video camera in one hand but I like the challenge.

What co-op living is teaching me is that we are “the man”.

I gave up home ownership, (namely strata corporation) for co-op living in 2006 and I sold my tenanted condo on May 31st 2008 during a real estate peak and I wait with a pocket of cash for that proverbial expected downturn in the real estate market to pounce on a deal (or two). And I wait. And I wait. And now I worry but still I wait but I won’t go into that right now.

Often an active board member of any strata corporation I owned in, I did the same thing when moving here to Helen’s Court Co-op and looked to offer my time on committees to help run the place. The big difference here was the pull to be a part of it rather than being talked into it. I was asked to join but also drawn to a position on the board not from the feeling of ownership but from a feeling of community. For this reason most of the people sitting on the board of the co-op want to be there and as I am nearing the end of my 2 year stint, will be giving up the position to a new and willing person. The board is fresh and ever evolving.

Things to know about this co-op: We are required to only charge a maximum of 70% market rate. At the same time we must subsidize a certain percentage of the homes. The 1, 2 and 3 bedroom homes must be occupied appropriately. We can not make a profit and our only subsidization equals about 4% of our operating cost. It’s like the setting for a sims game.

Because we have a wider variety of people living here in our 44 homes than in any strata development or even a large subdivision spanning square kilometers, the co-op community really becomes a micro society. A bite sized piece of what our larger masses are around us. young and old. People with grown kids and people with new borns. People living hand to mouth with little to spare and some with so much money they have summer homes and real estate.

As a board member and finance committee member I have discovered that we are the man. We are responsible for our community and outcome.

I compose music when the mood strikes but I dislike the process of recording. Perfecting studio recordings is not my idea of fun. I think I’ll just start doing this, play it through once and let that be it. So this is as good as it’s going to get.

My music is relatively simple, melodic and easy to remember. I enjoy writing as if for television. This one in particular might work as a drama. If you want to use it or record it, please contact me.

This song is called Patricia.

Spring comes early with cherry blossoms blooming and a clear blue sky but winter is alive and well fresh snow on the mountains. I’m not complaining.

A video blog of me ranting on about spandex cycle wear.

I’m not sure why so many cyclist dress in spandex like they’re in some bike race when clearly they are just communting to work. Perhaps they are racers in their spare time and it’s habit to but on the full regalia.

Stripped down to its bare cold bones, the Olympics, simply put, is a world sized party. A party that no wedding planner or online event organizer could ever imagine putting together in their wildest wet business dreams. It’s a party that’s been planned again and again for a long long time. O.K., it’s history is fuzzy so blur your eyes. It’s still been going a long time. It’s only because of it’s ongoing history that it is possible at the scale it is today. It’s only because of its shear size that it is the way it is.

Who doesn’t like a party? If you left town then it must be you. You don’t like a party. Maybe you just don’t want the party in your house. Maybe you went to Mexico and delivered your tourist dollars there were they get distributed to the disenfranchised… oh wait.

Maybe you didn’t leave town. Maybe just sat there and complained about crowds of people who (how dare they) were enjoying themselves aimlessly walking around. Perhaps you might try aimlessly walking around sometime, it’s a lot of fun. How was your commute? did it affect you you you?

Fun was always having an event to watch and root for. Fun shows and events put on for free and popping up everywhere magically. Fun was learning more about my country. Fun was accidentally walking into a giant crowd of happy people – all the time. Fun was being a part of the elation that built in an ever increasing momentum – because I let it happen to me.

I think that’s the difference. I let it happen. If you’re pissed off you will remain so because you need to be right.

To be honest, I voted not to have the Olympics here. I could, (and still can) see all the issues it brings. I lost that vote. Are we better off? who cares? nothing can be done about that. I know that party will have a hang over. I know we need to clean up. I know.

Yea, it’s easy to critisize and point to everything wrong with the Olympics. I am surrounded by these people. It’s easy to say in loud online voices how you hate the people “invading”, hate the organizers, hate money being spent for anything other than healthcare, schools, the arts, and any other special cause that personally affects you. In reality, there never is enough money for those programs. There never will be – ever. Let’s talk about that some other time.

What’s hard for some is being happy because in their minds, happiness equals stupidity. Happiness has a bad reputation among pissed off people. Let’s talk about that next time.

I am so glad I experienced an Olympics in my town.

On the business side of things no one cares but I’ll save that for the other blog. On the friends and family side of things, it might be mildly interesting but I’m not expecting a huge following on this one. I’ll make it easy read point form. Here is today:

• Didn’t have enough energy to make breakfast until it was almost lunch.
• Had to get outside to meet BCAA dude and prove the car wouldn’t start. (banging on the gas tank, etc)
• He called a tow-truck
• The BCAA tow-truck came and did the exact same things, (banging on the gas tank, etc).
• Towed it up and out to Midas on 4th and Arbutus (pic) and what an idiotic time it was towing it there.
• Walked to the clinic on Broadway to be poked and prodded and sent to the lab
• Walked to lab one block down and was drained, wizzed and stooled.
• walked to pick up Brandon with Danielle because I needed one of those fruit cups that a sandwich shop near us carries but she wanted to go to … wait for it…. Starbucks! so that’s where I had my fruitcup lunch/dinner
• Left them to play cards while I walked across the Burrard Street Bridge to cash cheques at TD Canada Trust because I haven’t made into work to get my regular pay cheque.
• Got to TD Canada Trust on Davie only to discover I left all the cheques at home.
• purchased bus tickets, rode home, got the cheques, rode back, deposited, rode back
• Made dinner for Brandon and I and it all made me feel so good when he finished the whole thing, casually got up and said:
• “I’m getting some more”

Brandon the bench coach

It’s funny. Which makes it fun. My Son’s team, The West Side Warriors,  is made up of 8 and 9 year old boys, which is the youngest they let kids start at tackle football with all the gear. If you’re a good player at this age it means you’re pre-disposed genetically to athletics in general because there is nothing in life at this age which could seriously prepare a child for this sport. (OK, maybe flag football for a few years).

The very first practice was like watching a Keystone Cops installment. Footballs were bouncing off helmets, Kids bouncing off each other in full football uniforms they were barely able to move in. Brandon, my Son, had never even held a real football and only now is beginning to understand the game.

Eight weeks later and these pack of kids have been expertly coached into a pretty decent team. Surprisingly so. I’m talking interceptions, passing  and double reverse plays. The defense is excellent too. So far we have tied one and lost one. We’re looking for a win. We play tomorrow against the White Rock Titans Blue.

Pictured is Brandon offering support to a team member in turmoil at our last game. He’s good at this sort of thing.