How is Teddy?: August 2006

I wrote another long day by day post of the past few weeks happenings and went to fill in the gas with the accompanying photos and found that the photos were no where to be seen on my portable hard drive. I was really mad... I mean really mad at my self for not checking that they were there before erasing my memory card. I decided to start a new post with a quick summary of the highlights and put up a few photos that I have taken since being a techno-idiot.

I continued to hang out with Lauren and Lauren until Lauren ended her Vancouver experience by returning to the Big Apple at the end of July. It was a fantastic month and one that I will never forget.

The start of August was a bit of a come down. I had kind of been expecting it. After 6 weeks where every weekend topped the previous one, the market was ready for a correcton. It wasn't a crash, just a correction. I did quite a bit of over time at work, and I took on a side project with a mate from work. We built a railing for the house next door. It was a good experience and a bit of a boost to the bank account. Check out our handy work.

Emma and the kids and I took a road trip up past Whistler to see what lay beyond the 200Km stretch of road that my entire Canadian experience has been centered around. We found a little farm where you could pick berries. The scenery up there is amazing. Picture an open field running into a snow capped mountain 1600m high. I could show you a picture if I wasn't such a tosser. We headed another 100Km up the road to a lake, the name of which I am too lazy to look up. It was equally as pretty. I even braved the cold and had a bit of a swim. We stopped in at Whistler on the way home for an icecream. We also stopped in at the Furry Creek golf course, which is where Happy Gilmore was filmed. I snuck out onto someones patio to get a better photo (lost that one too!) and unfortunately they were home having dinner on the patio. I told them not to be alarmed and explained that I was Justin from Australia and just wanted to get a better shot of the course. They were a little surprised but didn't call the police.

I play my sax every weekend without fail. I played here a few weeks ago. Usually at one of the Rossini's clubs but last weekend I played at a Polish Club with Bob, my Polish friend. Polish are good at three things. Beer, Sausages and Donuts. I tried them all and it made for a pleasant evening. We played for about an hour and a half and then I headed down to Rossini's at Kits to meet Chris and Nicky for a beer. I had no intention of playing, however, I did have my horn and they practically dragged me up on stage. Ok, I didn't resist too much, but I only played one set. I'm not addicted, honest! After a few beers, we headed down to the beach to watch the meteor shower that was scheduled for that night. Sure enough, we saw shooting stars. We all had minor arthritis in our necks the next morning but it was worth it for the light show.

This weekend I played with Foundation, the group that I stood in with back in June. It went off!!!! Straight Funk, no chaser! We were the headline act at the Backstage Lounge on Granville Island. It was a kick off for their 10 day tour of Canada. Unfortunately I won't be tagging along, but they assure me they'll have a few gigs back in Van before I leave. Chris, lead guitar and vocals, asked if I really, realy had to go back to Australia. I said he should bring the band to Aus and I'll tour with them down there. Here is the gang.