Tuesday, June 30, 2009

sea lions and late night partiers

rolled into santa cruz around 10 pm and found myself a nice spot, overlooking the water, in a parking spot on the cliffs. i've slept there before and know there are signs against such overnight action but took to it anyways. there were a couple other campers there - like actual camper vans and a truck with a camper on it but they left before midnight which is when they want you outta there by. no parking between midnight and 5 am...fuck it. they left, i stayed. i really like the sound of the waves at night as they crash into the shore - how very earthy of me - and the sea lions as they don't seem to take a break from barking all night...it was the drunk frat kids at 2:30 am that woke me. and as much as i couldn't give a shit, part of me was concerned i'd have to get out of the car to call the cops and then help in finding them once they fell over the cliff and down to the water...luckily i was able to go back to sleep after they took off.
i woke at 5:30 am but was able to snooze a little more finally getting up at 7 am...i seem to have gone from 100 degrees to less than 60. it's clearing up now but i am relieved to not have to deal with that heat...maybe only 80 today...
i went for a walk along the cliffs and watched some surfing for a while...that looks like a good time i have to say. not long from now i'll be sitting down to a burrito i have never seen before and a place i've never gone to before...exciting. right now it's coffee and walking around...
more later...

g. xo





Monday, June 29, 2009

bellingham stands-up, chico blows and adale cleans up


after the bomber game, which we lost - and, really, i had a few good shifts, some medium shifts and few (too many) super stinkers...oh well... i headed home, grabbed the last of my stuff, dropped off senor tornack and headed for the border. because i generally have trouble at the border, i add about 45 minutes to my time for getting 'rolling stateside', as cam would and does say...so, after the 30 minutes in line, two minutes at the guard shack, in i went for the usual 20 or so questions. i have to say, for once, i had a guy who kinda understood that why i was there, and being pulled in each and every time, was fucking stupid. he didn't say as much but made references to me getting pulled in every time i went south..and made some screwed-up facial expressions as he made his way through the bullshit, checked my car and got me outta there...while i was in line i ran into the world's great teamster/spfx driver, paul, who was just checking in as he was heading north with one of his camera cars that he had just picked-up in LA... fancy that. over all 55 minutes inside and then i was away...
after clearing the border i headed fpr casa que pasa in bellingham for the stop on the burrito tour 2009...or did i already have a burrito tour this year...who cares? i had a very nice, if simple, beef BTO (they mean burrito) supreme. it said it was filled with ground beef but it seemed more chunky than ground but, hey, they said ground...beef, cheese, guacamole, rice, beans and red (?) sauce...i added a little of thier salsa as well to make it just that much better....nice start...over all a 7.5 - 8.
i made it just south of portland around midnight and sleep like a champ. around 5 am i woke-up and was ready to meet the day head-on. didn't BTO have an album head on...? a shower in rice hill made me feel a little better and i was away once again. i rolled into redding around 1 pm and headed straight for in-n-out burger..not a bad second meal...i had had some granola bars, that sara was nice enough to buy me for the trip, and juice to get started but the first real meal of the day was a wicked cheeseburger..oh, and it was over 100 degrees out, 40 or so for you metric types...the a/c was getting a workout...
after a short drive south i veered off east towards chico to try and find the crazy taco i had read about on burritophile. i couldn't eat then so i roamed around chico a little, but the heat made it very hard to stay outside....i'd walk around a bit, go back to the car, drive some with the a/c on, walk some more...fuckin' hot. i found crazy taco - with help from 'he who can not be named on the blog', and it was kinda what i expected. a taco/burrito shop that is housed inside a liquor store....there's a little window outside where you order - where they used to sell the meth out of, and that's it....i got the super crazy grilled chicken burrito. what a mess...loss wrapping of the tin foil, and just a falling apart mess after that... and the chicken was kinda chewy...i did something i never do, i didn't finish it. it was tasty enough, i guess, but....not worth busting a gut over....i still had adale on my mind for my late dinner...overall crazy taco gets a 5.
on the way to los gatos and andale, because i had been sweating like a freak in chico, i needed some relief before i headed to los gatos proper and then onto santa cruz...i needed a bath or shower or....and there it was. a hotel i had stayed in before near dunnigan, they had a pool i thought to my sweaty self...yup. as i pulled in, there it was. the over 100 degree sun had driven me to this...i parked my car, took all the shit out of my pockets, and the next thing i knew i was sitting with my legs in the pool. a guy who was staying there walked by and asked me how the water was, i told him it was good...after some chit chat, i confessed i was staying there at al that i had just stopped to use the pool...and in i went. and after a few laps and head dunks...i was back in the car and away...i drove a block, pulled over, changed out of the wet shorts and felt so great...i think this could be a new thing...i'm sure they have pools in santa cruz...
which brings me to where i sit. in los gatos, a block away from adale, home of the original el presidente...i didn't have the el presidente today..i did one of the dinner specials..a chili releno burito smothered in a very delicious, spicey salsa...the salsa may have over powered the chili a little, but somall flaw in an otherwise delicious, well presented burrito...overall...a firm 8.75.
ok..i'm off to santa cruz...home of the 49er burrito...

g. xo


casa que pasa beef BTO supreme.




crazy taco in chico. home of the super carzy griiled chicken burrito.






adale's in los gatos, near santa cruz, chili releno burrito. nice.


Sunday, June 28, 2009

bombers taco saturday

yesterday was our second playoff series - which really aren't series' at all just winner take all games that advance us to the next game or send us packing. well, we don't need to pack-up yet...we, courtesy of brent's goal in overtime, won our game yesterday and will be playing in the final today at 1:15 pm at ice sports in north vacouver - feel free to come on by and cheer the boys in blue on...we'll be playing the chicken pac...yup, that's their name.
after yesterday's win we had a little taco fest in the parking lot. cam and i made fillings and such, leroy brought his coleman burner set and away we went....it was pretty fuckin' good...or as the bombers would 'kin rights ...
ok...i'm gonna start packing so i'm ready to hit the road after the game - cam is as well but he's heading east to boston in a rent a car while i'll be heading south to santa cruz...
wish us luck today...

i love you.

g. xo

some pics from yesterdays taco rama

the set-up


nice...

a little after and before pics...


the boys dig in...

ben and damon...what's ben doing?

senor lime cutter.

cam and brent...cam's telling brent something. brent's wondering if it's true.

blair was awarded the first ever bomber mvp trophy...good work!


craig looks lovingly over at drew...who doesn't?

heartbreaker

cam sent me this. as a guy who used to know what was etched into the endwax on vinyl singles and had the gatefold, the colored vinyl and regular domestic of alot of records...i get this.

g. xo

Saturday, June 27, 2009

first i fall out of the shower...now this



so, after hockey the other night i fell/slipped when i was getting out of the shower which felt wicked on my bad back...and really, i think, the image of me there naked on the floor is gonna haunt damon for many years to come..sorry pal...and today i took a little tumble while talking to joel on the phone about his sprinkler problem...
joel called me this morning, because i had phoned him and told him i thought something was up with his sprinkler...he asked me to call the irrigation company and to go into the main water box, near the stairs - in a slightly rocky area - and turn off the main valve. simple. well, there was only one valve that i could see right away - and when i turned it, it opened a small 3/4" valve that sprayed me in the face and soaked my shirt and top of my shorts...cue swearing. all this of course while i'm getting sprayed from above by the actual sprinklers.
joel called back to ask how it was going and as i took the call i went to move from the rocky area where i was so i could talk without being sprayed with water and i slipped on a rock and then a shrub and away i went ass over tea kettle and onto the cement stairs/sidewalk...knee first, phone second. that was the end of that call...cue much more swearing. lucky neighbours.
joel called back and he told me of the right valve, which i found, and presto, water's off...all's well that ends well...except for my knee which is now numb.
ok...i'm home, gonna change and get out there and buy some avocados...

rock on.

g. xo

nice work


i like this shirt...like i need another shirt..but you could get one....here.

g. xo

good to go

a new lawn i'm doing over on 30th and fraser...a little dry right now but really, a nice lawn to cut..

13 lawns in two days...i'm not sure if that's a personal best or not but, that's what i knocked down and out in the last two days so that i could make my way south and not worry that there were lawns getting out of control in my absence. (although joel's front lawn has been left uncut due to his automatic sprinkler system running a little too long and me not wanting to wait until it finally stopped so i could cut...shit, it's only grass and i'll get to it when i get back....there are burritos to be had god dammit!)
so with the mower and such all tucked away and the element all washed, i am ready to hit the road after the bombers final playoff games - well, i do have to throw some gonch and other clothes in a bag and sort out who's gonna water my plants, but that's it...bring on the meth burrito in chico.
last night as we were finishing up our meal at topanga, i looked outside and there strolling up for a little burrito action was floyd...yup, floyd and janine, who are over here to catch a plane out to ottawa tomorrow - well, today - decided that they'd drop by topanga and see if i was there...shocker. i was. but so was don bull and corie and sara...so....it was nice. we sat with them, ate our desert while they go down to business with their meals and all ended-up leaving at the same time. my father, floyd, decided he should be a true canadian and be in ottawa for canada day, so off they go...good on him...i'll be in the US on canada day eating mexican food and hanging with yankees.
this morning i am going and buying the goods to make guacamole and grilled chicken as were gonna have a post-game taco fiesta in the parking lot at the rink in north van. why? i'm not sure but it seems right. cam and i are taking care of the food portion and others are bringing beer and burners for us to use...(pics later i'm sure...) cam is making a fancy fish filling while my chicken will be grilled al garn-style....nice.
ok...have a great saturday...

g. xo

Thursday, June 25, 2009

more about tortas

not an actual picture of what i ate but very close....

so i was right about the tortas...last saturday, as i reported, i went to a secret location and ate lunch with some very nice mexican folks and enjoyed what i thought was a version of a torta. i asked my companion if they were indeed tortas and he said yes but that they were tortas that were specific to a particular region of mexico, and that they were called and are called torta ahogada.
man, they were good....

g. xo

new richmond fontaine...vinyl and otherwise....



portland alt-country-rock-n-rollers richmond fontaine are getting set to release their new album, ‘We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River' in sept. but in the meantime are releasing a 7" vinyl single sooner than that. you can have a listen if ya like too, and even, if you're crafty, download it and listen away, over and over and over...and if you want, and i did, order up one of the singles and have the mailman bring it to you right at your home...hand silkscreened cover, short story by willie included, etc...why not? spend 10 bux...

g. xo

good pics there ricky


i came across these today...

i like 'em...

i need a burger. or cold pizza.

g. xo

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

new thoughts on burritos...

i've been reading burritophile today and getting ready to head out sunday afternoon on the burrito tour 2009...i've been doing some google mapping...i love the internet...

Driving directions to Iguanas Taqueria
(408) 995-6023
Suggested routes
I-5 S
1,580 km
15 hours 29 mins
I-680 S
1,595 km
17 hours 2 mins
22 E Cordova St
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Edited - Show original
1.Head east on E Cordova St toward Columbia St
0.3 km
2.Turn right at Main St
2.0 km
3.Slight left at Kingsway
2.5 km
4.Turn right at Knight St
7.6 km
5.Take the BC-99/BC-91/ALDERBRIDGE Way exit toward Delta/Seattle/Surrey
0.2 km
6.Keep right at the fork to continue toward Hwy 91 N/BC-91 N and merge onto Hwy 91 N/BC-91 N
1.0 km
7.Take the exit onto Hwy 99 S/BC-99 S
Entering United States (Washington)
36.9 km
8.Continue on I-5 S
180 km
9.Take the exit on the left onto I-5 S
Passing through Oregon
Entering California
1,154 km
10.Take the exit onto I-505 S toward San Francisco/Winters
53.4 km
11.Take the exit onto I-80 W toward San Francisco
24.5 km
12.Take exit 40 to merge onto I-680 S toward San Jose/Benicia
115 km
13.Continue on I-280 N
1.4 km
14.Take the 7th St exit toward CA-82
0.5 km
15.Merge onto Margaret St
0.4 km
16.Turn left at E Reed St
0.2 km
17.Turn right at S 3rd St
Destination will be on the right
0.5 km
Iguanas Taqueria
330 S 3rd St # A
San Jose, CA 95112-3614


wicked....

g. xo