Friday, December 27, 2024

24 to 25

Happy, festive, fun,I think Ritsue's mother Reiko nailed it all with this Christmas card she sent us.
 

Had a couple of wrap days on Blue Moon. Nice to know fellow Teamster peep John has my back as I hook-up to a washroom trailer to take to a lot for storage.
Wrap days for cast drivers can and did involve picking up a lot of wardrobe from the dry cleaners to take back to the costumes office.
One last look at the stages that once housed St. Bonaventure hospital of Good Doctor fame. All is quiet at Bridge Studios in Burnaby. I have never seen it so slow, let's hope 2025 is a lot busier.
Santa came early. Retirement? gift to myself, yikes!
Went for lunch with my daughter at La Foret in Burnaby. I must say I have never eaten squid ink bread before, but turn it into a spicy bulgogi sandwich, and I'm in! (Twas very, very good.)
The visit the daughter at her work, it was noon, so why not have a beer, pic.
The 2024 Christmas tree. The original price at Rona was $30 for this small one. I went there every day for a week, and finally on the 22nd the price came down to $7.50. Score!
Yes, cod eggs was the perfect finishing ingredient for the very, very tasty..........
......prawn dish. Yum!
Well Ritsue nailed it again. The beef was done to perfection. Always a good cut at Kea's Meats close to our place.
Christmas selfie 2024......
.....and Christmas Eve morning selfie with bro Skip and family at Thierry Mount Pleasant. Now it is December 27th and as Ritsue and I sit at YVR all I can say is Feliz Navidad!

Sunday, December 15, 2024

6 days......

As an appetizer, I thought a prawn skewer was in vogue. (just not used to it being served, uhhh, whole.) Kudos to B&D Authentic Viet Cuisine in my hood in Burnaby.
 

Retirement? Bingo? No, I'm not ready!! Actually it was a fun night with junior at the Lougheed Village Bar & Grill in Burnaby. 
Well, it may be back to work soon after this booster fan was installed to help get the dryer air to the outside. Yikes, trades are expensive these days. 
We went to honor the veterans on Remembrance Day at city hall in New Westminster. A toast of course was mandatory after the ceremony, so we headed to the New Westminster Legion to do exactly that.
A toast and a chance to win at the meat draw. (Dang, I love the meat draw, a raffle to win meat, come on!) Unfortunately we will be buying our meat on this day. Still was a good outing.
What! Are you kidding yourself? Yup, back on the ice after a near 17 year hiatus.
The, after the booster fan was installed, we noticed the grate on the balcony needs replacing, but not until January, according to the strata corporation, pic.
So it was time, after wearing skates I got from one of junior's team mates back when he played minor hockey, to get a new pair. Not looking forward to the sore feet, lol.
Spent a Wednesday hanging out with the Calgary Stampeders football fans (and horses) at the Billy Bishop Legion in Kitsilano. It was one of the Grey Cup week festivities in Vancouver.
Well, a sausage syrup pancake sandwich. When in Rome......
I was there to visit diehard CFL football and 2010 Olympic Torch Relay teammate Jenn and her mother who flew in from Hamilton, Ontario.
Out on a walk, nice to find this time of year.
Ha! After skating a couple of times I went out for "stick and puck." I think my new nickname could be "rusty."
Hyuk, time to cut down on the calories, so I'm only having one sausage for my breakfast.
My last gig of the 2024 filming season. It was what they call additional photography for a show called Blue Moon. It is an 8-part limited series about the Amanda Knox story. Knox is one of the producers. This Brentwood neighbourhood is supposed to be Seattle. The fog for the first 3 days made filming a little tricky.
Well, I knew they were coming, but please, not in my neighbourhood!, I'm not ready!
The fog finally cleared and we got back to work taking over another neighbourhood.
........anddddddd action!
During this week I drove one director for the first 3 days and another for the last three days. This early morning I waited for Mike outside of Analog Coffee in Yaletown. 
There's that fog again.
A picture says a thousand words, lol. On this  day I had to take the head of health and safety for Disney down to Ironwood studios on Marine Drive in Vancouver. I had time to visit my transport co-ordinator Andrew, who is working on a pilot, called "Phony."
My choice for coffee early in the a.m. that week was Cafe Artigiano at the Yaletown Roundhouse.
One of the locations was Barnett Marine Park in Burnaby, a jogging scene. We'll see about that.......
Most of the action was in my rear-view mirror. Hard to tell that Burrard Inlet is just steps away.
Okay, back to thinking about retirement, lol.
Hanging out outside of set waiting for my director, why not?
The hatch open, back-up camera, waiting for the director at the Level on Seymour, pic.
Sitting and waiting on wrap of  this 6 day shoot. What's next, I don't know, Christmas? Maybe retire.......(What's that sound? Oh ya, the sound of a broken record.)

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Re-tired.......

Well, when you get to sleep in a little bit and not go to make-believe land while it is still dark, you get a chance to see one of the most beautiful sunrises over Mt. Baker that I have seen in the 8 years I have lived in our condo.
 

Standing by bay 8 at Vancouver Airport. I was waiting for Uma Thurman, one of the stars of Devon House. (Additional photography for Old Guard 2, which originally filmed overseas in 2022.)
If you get to the airport early, you can park in the outlet mall parking lot and watch.........
Day 1 of picking up Uma was another first in my not so illustrious cast driving career, lol. This first was driving down Kingsway at 4 a.m. and being the only one on the road. I had to pinch myself, thought I might be dreaming!
Ahhh, hanging out at the Rogers Arena parking lot. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times we have had our base camp here.
If you're going to do additional photography at a Catholic church that is supposed to resemble churches in Rome and Britain, then you better spend a day at Holy Rosary Church on Richards Street in downtown Vancouver.
Standing by, this time watching the action from the J.J. Bean coffee shop across  the street.
Ritsue's green thumb has the plants starting to tower over her, lol.
The not sure why I added this, cluster of fungus, on one of my walking routes, pic. ((I guess when you're finished a show, and close to retirement (Ha!), you see interest in many things.))
We've been talking about moving, sure would miss this........
The not so interested, but many repairs needed around the humble abode, including the washer taps, pic.
The clouds were swirling on this day, kinda like my brain thinking about retirement plans, hyuk.
Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be a thumbs up!
A real treat, I'll tell you what. A little egg, cheese and Jalapeno Asiago Ciabatta bread snack, yum!
Okay, I'm sure I'll find more to do in my retirement, but this, this was pretty darn entertaining. What a blast from the past!
.......wait for it.......
.....wait for it........
Yay!