Living For The City

Good work, Toronto.

Am I the only one that’s seen this many a time and always read Fist Pumps?

And so it begins… finally…

Lots of yard-work ahead. Oddly enough, I can’t wait!

Treme. Huge.

New work box. Serious business.

Go here…

& then go here…

&&&& then heeeeeeere…

Tonight @ The Garrison w/ Red Sparowes! HUGE!

After what seems like a veeeeery long time – The Brothers McCracken, who together form an incredible design team in Doublenaut, have updated their website with a new look, new logo (which is seriously fucking awesome!) and a bunch of new work while simultaneously trimming the fat on their now quite extensive and consistently impressive portfolio.

Do yourself a favor and check ‘er out!

While you’re checking out the site make sure to swing by the shop and get yourself some new duds for the summer!

These shirts are guaranteed to get you laid. If they don’t, you get to ramjam either Andrew or Matt like a ramgoat; your choice.

I know a few people that read this blog sent in some shoes to Chrome as a part of their Turds For Gold “program” or “promotion” or whathaveyou… I haven’t gotten my “gold” yet but I was happy to get rid of my “turds” that were sitting in my living room… Yes, Robbie, “on display!”

In any case, for anyone that was wondering what they were going to do with the shoes;
We’re now going to be giving 500 pairs of shoes to the local St. Vincent de Paul, recycling close to 1,000 pair that can no longer be worn, distributing several hundreds ourselves to those currently living on the streets here in San Francisco and an additional 3,000+ will be going to Haiti with the help of the Soles4Souls organization.
(Read the full story here.)

Pretty great – had I known what they were doing with them I probably wouldn’t have sent a pair that didn’t have holes in them… Or at least sent a few more pairs of shoes that I no longer wear.

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For the next few weeks I’m going to be putting in a lot of hours at work… Down-side? Lots of hours at work. Plus-side? The office is sweet and getting sweeter all the time! I still haven’t gotten around to taking nice photos of the whole new office space because it’s massive and still very much in the process of being completely set up, but in the meantime check out this pretty sweet Castor Recycled Tube Light in one of our boardrooms!

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I wish I’d snagged a decent photo of the anchor that Kris knocked into Sean‘s leg last week. I’m super proud of the work he’s turning out already and glad that he’s getting the support he needs to really take his work to the next level.

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Sometimes I think I should change the name of this blog to Things I Got… but then I’d need to make another blog called Things I Want and then I’d have lots of double posts as the things I want become the things I have. It’s a whole big to-do. So, in the meantime… Things I Got this week that rule…

I stopped by Art History (one of a few new vintage shops in my neighborhood that also rules) and got these lovely little lovebirds. To quote my boss, Andrea, “you’re like a chick with all this decorating stuff.”

PS Seb, I think the sign is about 1 degree off. How embarrassing for you!

PPS I’m not sure if you’ll read this or not but if you do were you in the park last Friday? I was looking through pictures and think you maaaaay have been in the group next to use playing some sort of “throw things into things” game. Sheeeeeit.

Ok, so the iPad isn’t mine but we got a few of them at work and they are pretty rad! I doubt I’ll buy one but definitely would not turn one down if one came my way!

My good bud Toby popped by earlier today with a little gift courtesy of him and the boys at YNOT.

Not totally unlike the Yanco/Tracko Chalk Bag, this little prototype beer jammer has found a welcome home on Lucille.

My ’78 Zippo came in the mail this week and she’s a beaut! The packaging, especially…

It works well but the hinge is a touch on the loosey goosey side and I’m not a huge fan of that. Fortunately, Any Zippo pocket lighter, when returned to our factory, will be put in first-class mechanical condition free of charge, for we have yet to charge a cent for the repair of a Zippo pocket lighter, regardless of age or condition.

So, if it ever bugs me enough I’ll just send ‘er in for a tune-up! Why is this noteworthy, even in the slightest? Sure, it’s just a pocket lighter but the fact is that we live in a throw away society full of built-in obsolescence and here is a classic example of a useful little invention that you could literally have for your entire life. I like that.

This is what today feels like:

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Alright, dicks! Can you please take a moment to go over to Now Magazine and vote for your favorite bike shop, which is obviously Bikes On Wheels, in their annual Best Of T.O. poll? Both in the Reader’s Picks and Critic’s Picks sections… All you gotta do is “Disagree” with the 2009 Winner and then Nominate BOW! Don’t forget that in the Reader’s Picks category there is a Best Bicycle Mechanic section so make sure that Dan Lambert, King Louis and Robin are well represented by pumping in Bikes On Wheels in there as well…

Good. Great. Now, GO! then GO!

Ain’t nothin’ worse than a long week that sucks… You know, you’re all excited to have that extra day off work and then you get stuck doin’ a bunch of things you don’t want to do or the weather sucks of whatever the case may be, it’s the worst. I recognize that this is an extremely privileged and superficial point of view but as a privileged and superficial kinda guy, this is one way to seriously harsh my buzz… fortunately, this long weekend was NOT one of those!

Friday:
Woke up nice and early and went out for a quick rip with Killer and Robbie to Port Credit and back… 50k, give or take, perfect!

As soon as we got back we grabbed a coffee and then set up camp at Bellwoods – staking out a sweet spot that, as the park filled more and more and more throughout the day, turned out to be awesome… Bikes, beers, budz, babes, babies… it just literally doesn’t get any better. Ok, it does, but that was a beaaaaaaauutiful day!

Saturday:
I woke up nice and early again and headed out to Aylmer with the folks’ to meet the newest addition to the Rennick clan – William Frederick Rennick (Douglas?). Born on the first of the month in a birthing tub in their living room…

This crib belonged to my father’s great-grandmother… It was built in 1892 and it’s been housing little baby Rennick’s ever since. My sister thinks, somehow, that it belongs to her first son Alistair but it belongs to the clan and if/when the the time comes my baby will lay in it. Sorry D, those are the rules.

This is my favorite picture in recent memory…

Sunday:
Dutch rules, Sean is a baby.

I meant to go pick up some groceries and then go home and do a bunch of things around the house that I seriously, seriously need to get accomplished… But then I ran into Lambert & The Champ who had just come back from doing The Donut and my rubber arm was twisted into joining them at Ronnies where I would ultimately spend the rest of my Sunday. Met some new folks, caught up with some old ones, had a few pops… seriously can’t complain even a little bit.

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Last but most certainly NOT least; when my folks’ picked me up on Saturday morning the whole neighborhood was blocked off because of a fire down the street. I’d heard the sirens while in bed, the emergency vehicles were everywhere, I thought “that sucks, I hope everyone is ok” and got in the car.

Little did I know that the place that was burning down was the home of a good friend of mine’s brother, his lovely girlfriend and her two children… Fortunately the kids weren’t at home at the time of the fire but they lost everything… Like, literally, everything.

They say that there are no altruistic acts – that everything we do is ultimately in the name of self-gratification and for the most part I believe that to be true. We often do nice things for people because it feels nice for us – the most selfless acts often being the most selfish at the root. In the end, who gives a care? Folks that need help get it and you sleep soundly with a back well-patted. Win/win. So, even if it isn’t empathy that drives your action… Sarah has set up a place for you to donate so if you’re in a position to do so – please, act.

These are lovely folks and they need your help. I’m not saying that folks left homeless in Haiti don’t… I’m not saying that folks left homeless in Chile don’t… But these are folks right here in Toronto that need it and it’s not hard to help – clothing (women’s & children’s esp.), household supplies, toys, food, cash… Whatever you’ve got… You’ve got it and they need it. Thanks.