Red Paperclips to Hold Province Together?

Sure, with Greek weddings, there's always going to be a lot of syllables, but clever title anyway, right? Kon-di-len-ia. Ah, le maux juste. Yes, on Saturday, I had the privilege to be invited to Kondilenia's wedding/metamorphosis from Arvanitis (also four syllables) to Kaketsis. Despite a little melancholy from the lost syllable, it was a great time. The wedding was nice, the sun was shining, and they had a great Greek band from Toronto. Plus, lots of folks (yup, getting old) from out of town that I've not seen in far too long, so it was definitely nice to catch up with them. I don't have much else to tell you of the wedding, really, other than that it was all immaculate and I enjoyed it, but I do have a few photos up. I'm trying out Google's new Picasa Web Albums feature (still in test phase). It's nice in some respects, mainly that I have all the captions and so forth on my computer, and I think eventually it will photocast (as in, I put a photo on my computer and it automagically puts it on the web if I put it in a public place). I know that you can subscribe to a feed on the site, so that you'd be able to automatically download any photos as I add them, seems the next logical step. It has some bugs and I think I like the interface of my current gallery better, but a person has to try these things. So go check out the wedding photos, you can view them here. A few of them were blurry because of the distance and low light, so apologies for that, and as the party wound up my camera wound down.

Interviews, Barbeques, and Rosy Hues

For those not familiar, I live in a province of western Canada called Saskatchewan. It's a nice province, lots of resources, in the middle of a pretty big boom, and yet still boasting a friendly small-town attitude. That could be because the population of the province dwindles ever closer to the population of a small town. With just under one million people and slowly dropping, it's quite the problem; especially because the economy is good enough that we should be growing tremendously. Our neighbour to the west, Alberta, is rightly credited with taking many of our departing residents in. However, at least one town has found a way to convince people to settle. The town of Kipling, Saskatchewan has managed to attract one new resident by trading him a house for - effectively - a red paperclip.

About a year ago, Kyle MacDonald, an unemployed Montrealer, decided he wanted a house. While pondering his future, he spied a red paperclip on his desk and posted on the 'net that he was looking to trade it. And trade he did. First for a fish pen from Vancouver, then for a handmade doorknob from a potter in Seattle. Somehow, the doorknob was traded for a gas stove, which is a poor trade for some Massachusetts man, but the stove was bartered into an electric generator from California soon enough. This may seem an odd step, but the generator was traded for an instant party kit (a neon Bud sign and an empty keg) from someone in - you guessed it - New York. At what was probably the pivotal moment in this experiment, a Montreal radio host helped him turn that somewhat dry party into a skidoo. Now that's something. A paperclip into a skidoo. But we're not done yet. He took that skidoo and, in an interview with George Strombolopolous, was posed the following question: Is there anywhere in the world that you wouldn't go to make a trade? To which Kyle replied, Yahk, BC.

Well, someone from nearby Cranbrook called up and offered him an all-expenses paid trip in trade for the snowmobile, provided the trade was made in Yahk. He guilted CBC's The Hour into coming to Yahk with him and, because he happened to have a moving company's shirt on during his interview, he had the opportunity to trade his trip to Yahk for a cube van from Cintas. The van he used to haul the skidoo to BC and then traded it for a recording contract with Club Treehouse, which included 30 hours studio time, 50 post, transportation to Toronto from anywhere in the world, and accomodation. Nice! This he traded for a year's worth of free rent in Phoenix in what appears to be a rather respectable dwelling. Not a house to himself, but certainly a start. Now, interestingly, a girl by the name of Leslie, living in Phoenix and working at Alice Cooper's restaurant, asked her boss if he'd spend an afternoon with a fan so she could get free rent for a year. He liked the idea (as you can see in the photo) and didn't that just work out nicely...

But we're not out of the woods and into notoriously treeless southern Saskatchewan yet. It was at this point that Kyle tried what could have been his most bone-headed move so far (though I consider a year's rent worth more than an afternoon with ANYBODY - even Natalie Portman (sorry, hon)). Anyway, most bone-headed move so far: he traded the afternoon with Alice for... get this... an Alice Cooper snow globe. Surprisingly, Corbin Bensen saved the day. A big collector of snow globes, he traded a role in a movie for this rather rare weather dome. And so, Kyle MacDonald went from snow globe to a role in a movie to a farmhouse in Kipling that will indeed look like it is in a snowglobe come December. Yes, Kipling gave him a farmhouse in exchange for a role in a movie. And Kipling gained one more resident.

Now, admittedly, Kipling did not itself trade the home for a paperclip, but consider if they were to do so. Do you think we'd be seeing a massive influx of new residents? Yes! Would the current shortage of red (and other coloured) paper clips be remedied? Yes! Could this be the final clip in the report spelling out Alberta's demise? You'd better believe it. So, to all those thinking about the "Alberta Advantage" remember. The same house there would cost you at least two paperclips and possibly a staple. Read More...

Once I Was the King of Togo

It's been about as hectic a few weeks as I've had in a long time, so I'm sorry there's not been much to update on. Ironically, there's been very little worth writing, much less reading, in spite of this sudden deluge of activity, but I will continue anyway at the risk of boring you. First, most recently, and most excitingly at least for me, was the Canada Day release of our tenth FrankBlack.Net Podcast. This is a little radio show of sorts that I host with a friend from New Jersey, Brian, bi-weekly, and we talk about the latest news in the world of Frank Black, play tracks from albums and offer a little (we hope) insight, and thanks to his manager, Ken Goes, have a rare track to put on our podcast every time. Not to some of our favourite live recordings, covers, and tracks from Frank Black fans. We started with a surprising 1500 downloads in the first two weeks we played it and now coming ever closer to 5000 subscribers. So it was with some excitement that we released our tenth episode, and we went all out to make it special. It's hosted at a swanky penthouse party at the halfway point between Brian's home and mine, Thunder Bay, and the most exciting thing, at least for me, is the appearance and conversation with Frank Black at this party!

Yes, on July 19th, the day his new album, Fastman/Raiderman, that same day that the Edmonton Oilers lost Game 7 to the Hurricanes, Brian and I were chatting with him using VOIP. And this is largely thanks to his wife, before I go on, who helped us set up the interview with him and also was working on family friends Jack Black and John Flansburgh among others. Maybe in the future, but I digressed with the intent of thanking Violet, and will do so now. Thank-you! So, that done, we were chatting after a few initial technical difficulties, and chatting. We talked about everything from the new Pixies tracks that were recently trashed to his new album to his touring plans (with a band) to, well you name it. Spaghetti sauce. How songwriting is like making a sandwich. A very funny man and he entertained us for 2.5 hours before we finally let him go, and he didn't ask once despite a cold and, initially, the ruckus of kids getting ready for bed. If you want to listen, there are a few ways. You can listen/subscribe to the whole in iTunes, stream it from the web using Yahoo, or download the latest episode directly here. You don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast, just a computer with speakers or a CD burner.

In other news that's exciting for me and less so for you, my sister finally got back from Europe/Greece late last week. Her backpack weighs more than her I'm pretty sure, or at least is very close to being on par. Or at least, it weighed, she is hopefully unpacked by now. It's nice to have her back home though she probably wishes she was still there rather than taking a summer version of Math 110. We had to trade her for my uncle, unfortunately, he was here a month but I only saw him three or four times. We had a barbeque before he left though, and it was nice to have some family and friends out. We also got very lucky with the weather; it had been raining for weeks on end and cleared up just in time for us. We had the lamb and tzatziki roast and a bunch of other good stuff, which you can probably see in the pictures I took. Click on the image on the right to check out some more.

What else? Well, I've managed to get a few games of golf in this year and hope to do a little more of that this summer. Maybe this weekend I'll go with my dad. I went with John to his uncle's golf tournament a couple weekends ago, it was a 9-hole course in Watrous, and we had a good time. I wound up golfing with a relative of Brett's, what are the odds of that? Well, in case you thought that was a genuine question, the answer is, not very good. Not very good. But we all had a good time and a bit too much sun, hence to rosy hues. John also was good enough to invite me to his cousin's pool party on Canada Day, which was nice. They have a very nice backyard/pool, and we sat around, swam, and enjoyed the warm weather. His cousins seem like pretty cool people too.

Otherwise, nothing much to report. The family's doing well, the soccer team too, the weather's nice, and the skies blue. I've almost watched my entire Hitchcock collection, I am now a definite fan; if you ask me, dear reader, he was a brilliant man. But I don't intend to rhyme all day, so I will stop right now and go away. Well, stop anyway. I still haven't had time to look at making plans for Aus/NZ next year, and I know I'd better get my act together, so perhaps this week I will make an effort to do something towards that. I still want to look into that tour that Juaquin did of NZ. Oh, I've also been biking quite a bit trying and failing to get into shape. I should probably start biking to work, but it's a looooong trek from here to there, it's a good 45 minutes at speed and without too much wind, and quite frankly I have enough trouble getting up early enough to drive in. But I'm already rambling, so I will see you again, hopefully sooner than last time.Read More...

Dynamite Dean Lives Again!

The problems with being busy are twofold with respect to this blog. First of all, it means I don't keep this quite as up to date as I'd like. Secondly, it means that I have so very little to tell from week to week. Since last time, I have seen X-Men 3 (very good, deviates from the traditional superhero formula, bound to raise some hackles), The Break-Up (funny at moments, but the fights often forgo comedy and become quite uncomfortable which in itself is something to be impressed by), and a run of Alfred Hitchcock movies which I will probably go into detail on in some other post. Steph also graduated and a bunch of us went out for dinner and to the Hose. Andrea got married and I had a lot of fun there. And so on. For the moment, here's a recap of what I've been up to...

Soccer To Me
Now as I mentioned in my most recent post, we had our first soccer game on Thursday in the rain. It seems the rain is here to stay, I have no idea how people live in Vancouver. So tiring. Anyway, with a light rain, the other team didn't all show up and so we won by default, but played a fun game anyway and came out of it 4-3. Playing in the rain, aside from slippery, was actually kind of nice in a way, because you stay cool even running around. Our game next week is at 7:00.

Kurt also organized a World Cup draft that I bought into. We drew teams. My Australian associates will be happy to know I'm representing Australia's chances at the cup and I also have Mexico, who just won their first game today. So, I'm pretty sure I'm better off than the people who drew, for example, Brazil or Germany. Or at least Togo.

Day of the Beast: Day of Dan
It was an eventful weekend of sorts this weekend. Last week was Dan's birthday... yes, on the supposed day of the beast, 6/6/06. At least, if you're in North America. In Malaysia, Chinese couples were falling over each other to get married on that day, apparently the word for six sounds like "luck" and so it was 'triple luck day' there. One church had 200 weddings. Meanwhile, here at home, people were rescheduling c-sections and doing their best to prolong labours while others were watching The Omen, a movie marketer's dream. Down in Vegas, oddsmakers cheerfully gave 100,000:1 odds that the world would survive Tuesday. Of course, there are some scholars who believe that 666 refers to Nero (not exactly beloved, but remembered for playing a fiddle as Rome burned) using Hebrew letters for numbers.

In any case, it marked the birthday of a friend of mine, whom I've often thought of as evil, Dan. We went out for his birthday on Saturday night, out to Winston's, and had a good time. I don't always get a chance to see all those people, so it was nice to catch up a little bit. And on the topic of things I have not done in a long time, we went bowling later that night at KG and I set some new records in 5-pin bowling. The first game we played I set a personal best and hit three digits. 103. The second game, a much more impressive 64.

Oilers and Hurricanes
Maybe it's just me, but it seems prophetic on a year where meterologists are calling for even more hurricane activity and economists for even higher oil prices as a result, that the two teams competing for the Stanley Cup are the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes. Still, I'm happy to see my old favourite team back and after the cup. Will they win? Oh, I don't know. It's an uphill battle after losing Roloson, that's for sure, but I will be able to tell you definitely tomorrow night. You see, if the Oilers win tomorrow, they return to Carolina with the series tied, with the momentum of a two-win streak, and the confidence they've been lacking since being thwomped in the first two games. If they lose, the playoffs, effectively, are finished. My two cents.

So, that's all for now. This week, an IEEE Gold Meeting, at least two more Playoff games, recording podcast 9, and hopefully a really exciting prospect for our tenth Frank Black podcast.
Read More...

It was a very tough battle, but thankfully after my one-year absence, Dynamite Dean and the Formidable Pylons are once again intimidating lesser pylons and soccer balls for profit. This is a co-ed rec league team, which in my opinion is the best way to have fun playing sports. No need to be good, no need to get stressed, just get out on the field, have some fun, run around, and if we win, great. If we lose but have fun, great. I'm telling you this in part because I'm excited to reincarnate the team and in part because perhaps someone from Saskatoon will read and be interested in joining. Soccer experience/skill not required, and I really need female players especially. In any case, it should be a fun season, there are a lot of teams this year! Hope to see you out on the fields, and here's the schedule for those interested (just leave me a comment here or email me). If you scroll down to the calendar on the left side of the page you'll also see that I've entered all the games in there.

Every game is on a Thursday night:
June 8 - 6:00/Field 4 vs. VIDO
June 15 - 7:00/Field 4 vs. Brokeback Mountaineers
June 22 - 6:00/Field 3 vs. Quantum Tunnelers
June 29 - 7:00/Field 3 vs. Team Chuck Norris
July 6 - 8:00/Field 3 vs. The Chernozems
July 13 - 6:00/Field 3 vs. Hanso Foundation
July 20 - 6:00/Field 4 vs. Four
July 27 - 7:00/Field 3 vs. Agent Orange
Aug 3 - 7:00/Field 4 vs. PSA
Aug 10 - 6:00/Field 4 vs. VIDO

Fields 3 and 4 are at the corner of Cumberland Ave and College Drive, Field 4 being on the west/closest to Dairy Queen, Field 3 on the east.

For game rules, please kick here: Summer Soccer Rules