Even though I am stuck in the city right now I find my bike takes me interesting places. Here are a couple snap shots from the last couple weeks:

Night Speed	Freak Snow Storm
East Van Rain	Crazy Clouds

So I got the digs on some cool up coming events and a point of interest (POI) in Vancouver area I thought you may be interested in:

1) Movie: End of Suburbia (Event)
2) Flash Mob Pillow Fight (Event)
3) Bike! Bike!! Bike!!! Party!!!! (Event)
4) Getting your say in on the Port Mann Gateway Program (POI)

There is some interesting bike culture going on in Vancouver right now, and a prime example is the first inaugural East Van Bike Wars. I have to say it was well worth the short journey down Commercial Drive to catch the action at Britannia Fields. At first when I read about it I had no idea what to make of it, but after that enticing description, how could you not got? Now that I have seen it, I have to say its pretty hilarious.

So I went to the Chilli Pepper house the other night. It rocks. It is a fusion of traditional Chinese and Indian cuisines and I highly recomend you check them out if you can. Its not too long of a bike ride from East Van or you can ride the Skytrain to Joyce station then walk!

Chili Pepper House
#1 - 3003 Kingsway (at Rupert St)
Vancouver
(604) 431-8633
< Review >

This however, is neither here nor there. The important event on the night was the associated fortune cookie. The urban legend has it that you should always add "in bed" onto to yours to recieve your true fortune. Well all I have to say is Giddy Up!

So a bit has been going on behind the scenes here. I swapped ISP and with that I have gotten more storage, bandwidth and a number of tools to make FG a better experience. So what else have I been up to?

1. Integrated Flickr: (/photos/). I have been using Flickr for a while to host the photos I take. Now via a great falbum plugin, it is seemlessly embedded into the site (try tags). I have also displayed links to all the Full Size originals. Yes full size. They are lisenced under the Creative Commons 2.5 Deed. So feel free to print, share, and use if it is for non-commercial purposes. Commercial uses should contact me, I would like some reimbursment.

Burning the midnight oil

Lately, we have been pretty lucky weather wise in Vancouver. Despite the odd shower or two, over the last month we have been blessed with some sunny weather. Sure its February and cold, but this is of little consequence when rain stops and the sun shines. In response to this lovely weather, I have been taking the opportunity to commute to SFU via the trial systems available in Vancouver. Basically, everyday when there is sun, regardless of how cold it is, I hit the trails on my way to SFU. Since I often ride up early in the morning, I often get to catch the sun breaking through the forest as I hit the top of the mountain. Plus trail conditions have been fantastic since, well, the ground is frozen on most days.

About the only drawback is the fact I am often up on campus late, which means a lot of solo night riding for me as well. Oh, sure, I could play it safer and ride on the road, but whatever, my soul belongs to dirt and damn it I am not riding the road unless I am forced.

I make no bones about it, I ain't no frickin' courier. I don't in any way pretend to be one either, but for shits and giggles I thought I would join those crazy folks out to the St. Valentine Alleycat. And yo... I am tellin' ya all it was cereal.

My good times weren't hurt by the fact I had some good luck on the day, provided by FG readers, Lyle and Nick. Heading into the event, I knew maybe a handful of streets in Vancouver, plus in all my preparedness I forgot to bring some key items, a pen, a map of Vancouver and a patch kit. Like most things I figured WTF I would just wing it. Well lucky for me, I had Lyle and Nick to back up my lack of planning.

Primus Metal water bottle

I bought this the other day, its a metal Primus water bottle. You can get them at MEC, for about $7 on sale right now. I think their great. Obviously since I bought one.

My reasons were simple. First off, all the plastic bottles leak all sorts of toxic crap into your water (many of which are estrogenic), as much as I am a fan of breasts, I don't want to develop bitch tits.

The second reason is even simpler:

Assured Mutual Destruction

Filled with water this thing is a frickin' missile. It fits nicely into ones hand. Its got a good heft behind it. It means business. You do not fuck with this water bottle. I figure it could pretty much go through any window. Front, back side, you name it. You slam me with metal, I'll slam back.

So one of our roommates got a job in Victoria and is moving out, now comes the task of finding a new roommate. I hate searching for roommates. Its a lot of work. So I figure why not advertise to bike minded people. We have a cool old heritage house, with lots of storage room and even a place indoors to store bikes. So if you are looking for a cool place in the East Vancouver area (we are near the Commercial and the Trout Lake area), or know someone who may be interested, then read a bit more and send me an email via the handy dandy contact form.

For all you cool bike wielding hipsters out there, there is only one place to be on St. Valentine's day: