September 4th, 2007

1:10PM
This just in: I have a cell phone. Feel free to call me as i have unlimited incoming calls so I'll never pay if your calling me.

604-818-5057

It is just briefly after lunch and I have decided that since my computer wont be here for at least another week... i might as well do a recap on everything that happened last week *that i remember*

WEEKLY RECAP

Saturday

Packed my things and got to the airport, leaving wasn't much of a hassle. The flight was pretty smooth with the exception of the landing as it was mildly raining in Vancouver and so the clouds offered plenty of turbulence to help ease the pain of my head literally deflating. My seat was near the back of the plane, so naturally it took a while to get off when it was all done. Enough time it seems to even get bored enough to take this picture...


After getting off the plane i went in search of my luggage. A task that you would think would be easy... you would think... So when u get off at the Vancouver airport *at least with domestic flights* you get off directly into the airport... meaning you are NO WHERE NEAR your luggage. So after a 5 minute walk across the airport and down a shady set of stairs you have to re-enter the "secure" area of the airport where you can pick up your bags.


After that I proceeded to get a cab and headed for my new home. This is what i discovered when I walked in...

pretty sweet for $800 a month, and thats not all here's the view from my balcony.

Not bad i know, it also wraps around but ill save you from the panorama. After settling down a bit I unpacked my room and took a few photos.

Nice and cozy, but after all that unpacking and the really long extended morning, i was exuasted and went to sleep.

When I got up I was full of energy and decided to go out on a walk and explore downtown Vancouver. Here's the walkway between my building and the one right beside it.


Vancouver has a lot of construction going on. Several streets are completely dug out i would say 4-5 stories down and I've been told they're putting in a new "sky-train" track from the airport to downtown. Ironically the "sky-train" runs mostly underground from what I've seen. This photo shows a street hanging in mid air as it crosses one of the dug outs. It was kinda hard to get a good picture where it was deeper cause everything is fenced off for safety.


I would walk to an intersection, pick which direction looked the nicest/most interesting and then head there, eventually i made it to a lookout point type area where you could see the harbor. Its pretty cloudy/foggy and my camera can't catch half of it but it was a pretty stellar view.


I treked on some more and eventually got to the end of some sort of exhibition peir called "Canada Place" looked interesting inside but I didnt have time to be a tourist :P But i did manage some cool photos.

The clouds are creeping up and covering the mountain but the gas station in the water is neat!


I'll post some cool mountain shots later, but it's gotta be sunny first. That was it for saturday, after that walking i got pretty tired and the sun was already setting so i just went back home.

Sunday Morning

Turns out it gets really bright in my room in the mornings.


I guess that will be useful for getting up in the mornings though... So i went for another trek, this time across the bridge. First thing i noticed when i stepped outside was this sign.

Apparently they don't tolerate any shit in Vancouver, lol.

My goal was to find a grocery store, ultimately I failed. There was one thats right across the bridge but someone told me it was expensive to I left it as a last resort if my trip would be unsuccessful. I continued on and saw this Esso sign, something told me Arthur would want to see it, he would drive very slowly in Vancouver...


I'm told that this is relatively low price for gas here... good thing i don't have a car. I went into the "On The Run" and bought myself a map of Vancouver, its now on the wall in my bedroom.

After circling around town for a few hours more i did manage to locate some other grocery stores but they all seemed equally overpriced and "organic" so i kept holding out. Finally i gave up and decided I'd just go home and grab groceries at the place that i had been reserving as a last resort. I took this picture on the way back, i had after all walked a LONG walk uphill and the view was quite nice.


One block down from that location while waiting at the lights i witnessed a hit and run! A white GMC cargo van smoked a small Corolla and just took off. By the time i realized what had happened it was too late to snap a picture of the guys license plate. There were A LOT of really confused people at that intersection... everyone just stood there for like 30 seconds without moving.

I had finally made it to the grocery store, and found out it was CLOSED ON SUNDAYS! Man was i pissed, but i was also defeated from the 3-4 hours of walking in the noon sun. I went back to my apartment and called it a defeat.

Sunday Evening (round two)

I redoubled my efforts and decided to give it another try, this time heading out in teh opposite direction. Once again, primary objective: locate grocery store. This time after only about an hour of walking! SUCCESS!! Shopping for food turned out to be extra difficult, half because the store was half "organic" products and expensive fat-free alternative, and half because the stores here are loaded with brands of things I've never heard of. Here's my receipt!


And here's the goods:

My bad that they're both sideways... forgot to rotate them...

Pretty pricy, but i acquired all the essentials for one DELICIOUS sandwich! After making it home and a little bit of effort i created this:











Mmmm-mmmm good! That was pretty much it for the day...

The rest of the week went pretty good, I think I'll do a work summary post later on in the week but I dont feel like doing it now. Stay posted for it though.

Oh I bought a desk on this most recent weekend. Only paid $70 for it, really nice desk too. It's brand new but the guy that was selling it lives in the apartment and he's moving out cause of a new job offer.


Will keep posted, Make sure to comment!

3:57PM
Here's a tour of my place that i forgot to put up earlier.