I've never been to Vancouver until now and I didn't really know where I was going an hour ago except Route 1 west. On a whim I took the First Ave exit and took my first right. I drove a little bit, crossed a cool looking street called Commercial, and then I saw the big bridge to the city. Since it was starting to get dark (yeah-I said starting at 9:30pm) I figured the bridge to the buildings could wait so I pulled a u-turn, pissed everyone off, and drove back up the hill I came down. I turned a right and ended up at a little park with ample parking. I walked up the few blocks to Commercial Street which looks like anything but the name: the street is trendy, sure, but relaxed with a lot of little coffee shops and small stores. I stepped into a pizza shop that had a sign for $1.50 slices and also had wifi (out of habit I grab my computer when leaving my car) and chairs and tables outside. I bought a slice and just as I was firing up my computer the pizza guy comes out with a box of pizza and tells me to have it. I turned around and looked inside the shop and could see they were closing. Awesome! The majority of pizza shops usually just throw it in the dumpster. Maybe I looked like I could use a few more slices, although I've been eating more on the road than I was in NYC, maybe it was my computer? Can technology get you free food? I say this because without my computer I would have kept walking on my way before the man would have thought to give me their day olds.
In film news: my interview with Gord Hotchkiss in Kelowna (a town supposedly only four hours away, in reality more like six) went really well, and I have concluded it worth the harrowing trip from up from Spokane, harrowing for the mountain roads, deer, and my interrogation at the boarder (keep in mind this is my second dip into Canada during this trip). At the Washington/British Columbia boarder the woman asked me to turn off my car. I did, but neglected to turn off my headlights. This wouldn't have been a huge deal if the woman hadn't questioned me for 25 minutes and searched my trunk. Finally, when I had convinced her (and she had the evidence to believe) that, yes, I do have filmmaking equipment and I'm not trying to get into BC for the pot, she let me go, but alas I couldn't, the old battery had died again. Since my last positing of the failing battery Otter, my temporary road buddy that I miss a little right now, and I both managed to kill the battery another three times during our travels-just by leaving the headlights on (hey, when it's foggy and daylight it's an easy thing to forget). Luckily a jump was easily accessible-then; this time over an hour went by before someone passing through the boarder had jumper cables (pretty slow at the 395 Highway border crossing on a Monday night). By now it was really dark and the boarder woman warned me about the deer "they're jumping tonight" she said. It's a good thing she said that because it stuck in my head and low and behold four deer over my course of Route 3 west were either slap dab in the middle of the road or running right in front of me. No deer were injured and I'm happy to say I can keep my "I've never hit an animal" status.
Earlier today I linked my blog to the flickr account I set up for the film, but then all the little thumbnails popped up on the blog and it looked very unappealing so I disconnected it, but feel free to go to flickr if you want to see a few snapshots taken with my computer. I will be uploading more and more as time goes on and I find more of it to dedicate to photo uploading (not my favorite activity).
I've got three people interested in my Ride Share offer from Vancouver heading south along I-5 tomorrow. One guy is going to Olympia, two others are going to Seattle, and one other guy wants a ride to either Seattle or Portland (but hasn't confirmed the ride with me yet, so...), needless to say it's going to be a full house and good for me since my funds are dwindling by the second. At least I have bread and peanut butter, free pizza, and a clear night to get me along...and promises of interviewing some awesome folks at Ad Busters in the morning (forgot to mention what brought me to Vancouver in the first place).
In film news: my interview with Gord Hotchkiss in Kelowna (a town supposedly only four hours away, in reality more like six) went really well, and I have concluded it worth the harrowing trip from up from Spokane, harrowing for the mountain roads, deer, and my interrogation at the boarder (keep in mind this is my second dip into Canada during this trip). At the Washington/British Columbia boarder the woman asked me to turn off my car. I did, but neglected to turn off my headlights. This wouldn't have been a huge deal if the woman hadn't questioned me for 25 minutes and searched my trunk. Finally, when I had convinced her (and she had the evidence to believe) that, yes, I do have filmmaking equipment and I'm not trying to get into BC for the pot, she let me go, but alas I couldn't, the old battery had died again. Since my last positing of the failing battery Otter, my temporary road buddy that I miss a little right now, and I both managed to kill the battery another three times during our travels-just by leaving the headlights on (hey, when it's foggy and daylight it's an easy thing to forget). Luckily a jump was easily accessible-then; this time over an hour went by before someone passing through the boarder had jumper cables (pretty slow at the 395 Highway border crossing on a Monday night). By now it was really dark and the boarder woman warned me about the deer "they're jumping tonight" she said. It's a good thing she said that because it stuck in my head and low and behold four deer over my course of Route 3 west were either slap dab in the middle of the road or running right in front of me. No deer were injured and I'm happy to say I can keep my "I've never hit an animal" status.
Earlier today I linked my blog to the flickr account I set up for the film, but then all the little thumbnails popped up on the blog and it looked very unappealing so I disconnected it, but feel free to go to flickr if you want to see a few snapshots taken with my computer. I will be uploading more and more as time goes on and I find more of it to dedicate to photo uploading (not my favorite activity).
I've got three people interested in my Ride Share offer from Vancouver heading south along I-5 tomorrow. One guy is going to Olympia, two others are going to Seattle, and one other guy wants a ride to either Seattle or Portland (but hasn't confirmed the ride with me yet, so...), needless to say it's going to be a full house and good for me since my funds are dwindling by the second. At least I have bread and peanut butter, free pizza, and a clear night to get me along...and promises of interviewing some awesome folks at Ad Busters in the morning (forgot to mention what brought me to Vancouver in the first place).
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