Gus Digital

Just a place where I can give my opinions about Vancouver life and beyond.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Naked Pumpkin Run

Ok I just heard this and had to share.

On Halloween night at 8pm there will be a Naked Pumpkin Run along the sea wall between Beach Ave and Yaletown. This event people wear a carved pumpkin over their heads and run about 1 mile naked. Supposedly this event started in Boulder Colorado [wiki] years ago and has expanded. Hmmm they must be liberal minded Americans!

Hmmm I might just have to go check it out as it will end in my neighbourhood! :)

EDIT: Boulder Colorado has posted up their pictures at the following link: http://web.dailycamera.com/soundslides/1101pumpkin/

Parade of Lost Souls



So Russ and myself attended the Parade of Lost Souls on Commercial Drive this past weekend. It was amazing to see all the people dressed up for Halloween, especially the older croud.

The Parade of the Lost Souls I found out is a neighbourhood's annual celebration to honour the dearly departed, wake the living and overcome fears. there is a colourful torch-lit procession that made its way through neighbourhood streets and alleys. Held at Grandview Park, the evening's grand finale featured performances of fire dancing and fireworks.

We definately plan to go next year and this time I will bring my camera, as you can only do so much with a cell phone camera.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Week From HELL!

This week has been a week from HELL, and yes I know Halloween is just around the corner. My stress level has never been so high than it has been this week. Any little thing seems to get my blood boiling. Not only has work been hectic, but the home life hasn't been a breeze either.

It's that time of year again for us at work, add the usual earnings, but now throw in Budget projections for next year in the mix. First it was due at the end of this week, but that was pushed foward twice to this morning. Let's just say it is done and leave it at that.

At home, Chelsea (our cat) has started doing her "business" at the front of the door. So every so often we have a nice little wet spot in the hallway. Today she decided to do her "business" on my shoes. UGH!!! I am not amused, nor impressed and she has avoided me all morning long because of this.

I'm just waiting for the work week to finish so I can just try to RELAX!!!

Hmm maybe I should take some YOGA classes or something to help with this stress!

Friday, October 20, 2006

TGIF!!!!

After a fairly busy week at work (only to get busier this month), it's finally Friday!!!

We had Harley, a great colleague of ours from our Ottawa Officed, join us for a few days here at work and he proved to be a blast. Sometimes the quiet ones are the ones you have to watch out for when the day is over! hehehe!

Aside from that, Andrea and Alix will be dropping in tonight for dinner and we will have our slide show of our Paris trip for viewing (not my choice, but they want to see them with narrative...oh my!)

Later this weekend hopefully we'll catch a couple of movies. Russ and myself want to see Marie Antonette, as it was filmed in Paris and we have to remember the places we were in. Hopefully also catch The Prestige.

I'll have to write up a review this weekend so stay tuned!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Friday the 13th!!!

Well today is Friday the 13th!

If you are superstitious, this is a perfect day for you to just stay home, hide under the covers and hope the day to go by quickly. For others this is a good luck day. Being 1/2 Italian, this is suppose to be a good luck day for me. I've always tried to remember if I ever really had any luck on this day? I can't think of anytime in the past when it was lucky nor unlucky for that matter. Hmm maybe I should just consider myself lucky for living another day and enjoying tomorrow or I should just buy a lotto ticket and hope for a big pay out! :)

So for all of you out there that are scared of this day, becareful, avoid black cats crossing your path, stay away from crows, don't break any mirrors, and above all don't walk under someone on a ladder.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Have Clothes Shrunk?!

Ok I'll admit it, I'm a big boy. Some would say overweight (mom, dad, neices and nephews), but hey it's me. Lately I've been trying to update my wardrobe abit and I'm having the worst time finding clothes.

When I was in Paris, it was difficult to say the least to find something that would fit me. For example I was looking at this great shirt and the size on it said "XXL". I thought to myself, self, this should fit. When I picked it up I was surprised to see how tiny it was. I don't even think it was a SMALL. What is going on in this world when you can't buy something fashionable unless you are skinny!

When I was in Chicago, I thought to myself, self, this would be the perfect place to buy some clothes as I'm sure the clothes are geared to a North American clientale. Well I was again shocked to see that clothes don't fit the normal person there. Are we going for an Asian Market here (sorry to all my Asian friends).

I know some of you would start to say, well maybe you should be working out, but I started thinking what about all those bodybuilders out there, are they having the same problem? Isn't there any stylish clothes out there for us big folk? Considering 50% of Canadians and over 60% of Americans are overweight, wouldn't it be wise to tap into this market? I want fashionable clothes, not huge t-shirts or aweful Paul Bonyan shirts.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Where is the Customer Service?!

Ok I work in Customer Service, granted not in retail sector anymore, but I can understand working on the other side of things.

Lately I've been having the worst luck with people that work behind the counters. I don't know what it is, are they having a bad day, am I too nice, I don't know. I have been trying to get something resolved from Restoration Hardware (I'm not even going to link to their website here) for the past 5 weeks!!

I had purchased a shelving unit from them back in December and a few months ago one of the attachments broke off. Well a week before I took off to Paris I stopped in there to see if there is something they can do. A counter person was great, and helped me with my concerns, took my name down, etc and said they would order a new piece for me. Well when I got back from Paris I still didn't hear back from them.

So about a week ago I returned to the store and they had no record of taking any of my information down. The lady there at least was able to come back with a print out of my original order and said she would call me back later that day. Well I never heard back from her that day. A few days later I called to inquire what was going on, having my name being taken down yet again. Well to my surprise no one called me back.

Now I'm back from Chicago and my patience has run to an end. I call and quickly asked to speak to a Manager. I was first told by a girl that she would take my name down and they would call me back. At that point I said "Listen, everytime I give you my number, no one calls" She quickly got a Manager. To my surprise the Manager was the lady I dealt with 2 weeks ago. I let her have it! I had enough.

To end this long winded story I'm getting a new shelve sent to me. It seems you have to be a bastard to get things done around lately. What ever happened to be being nice to get things done. I think I'm going to develop this strategy a little more often.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Taste of Yaletown Event


Thanks to Anne (a coworker) for this.

Yaletown is having an event October 13th - 29th called the Taste of Yaletown Event (web)

During this event, participating restaurants will be showcasing a 3 course menu for $25, $35 or $45. The participating restaurants will be donating a portion of the cost to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.

If you are in the city please check this out. I know I will, though I have to figure out where to go. Hmmm maybe all of them :D

Chicago Came and Gone

Well our conference is now over and I think it was a great success.

To my collegues from all over the globe who attended, it was a pleasure to meet every single one of you and I hope we all learned from each other the value of a true global team!

To some of the speakers, thankyou Howard Olsen from High Output and David Meerman Scott for the great write up on your experience at the conference.

The only downside I can find is that we didn't get enough time to explore that city. That city has lots to offer and there are tons to do and see there. I missed the King Tut Exhibit and the musical Wicked the Musical was playing. Sigh. One day I will return.