Here is where we insert the mandatory “John is great and I love him now I’m going to make all my readers cry by being SUPER sappy but he won’t be impressed by just a blog post so maybe after I write this I’ll go make him coffee and bring it to him topless”. You know, how it usually goes, right?

Well, I don’t really have anything prepared but we have been celebrating all week. I’d say it kicked off with attending another Canucks game last Wednesday where the guys beat the crap out of Calgary in John’s honor. Then on Thursday, Matt Good played an amazing show, that was super nice of him to do for John as well.

Friday we took it easy but I’m pretty sure the good folks at Mui Garden made our curry extra yummy, just for John’s birthday.

Saturday we had a whole bunch of great people over, just to celebrate the guy (man he must be pretty great, getting all this attention and stuff, eh?): Jennie and Amber from Pittsburgh (who were here on Thursday for Matt’s show), Dan from Toronto, an appearance by David and Pam, Corinna and Adam, John Biehler, my sister Jenny, my brother James, Sean, Tanya, Craig, Todd and my vixen in crime, Keira.

Yesterday afternoon we had a lovely lunch at my mom’s, just for John, followed by gifts and cake galore.

Today, September 24th is John’s actual birthday and his last birthday of his 20s… I guess the fun stops here eh? Hardly. We’re going to have a nice dinner tonight and hopefully see the Carlsons and Dave later on. Oh, but that’s not all. I also got us tickets to They Might be Giants tomorrow night, who will play a special show at the Commodore, just for him (and 1,000 other people) which should round out the birthday week rather nicely.

I know John really misses his family, especially around this time of year (it was just his God Son’s birthday too) and after doing a live online fantasy draft with some of his friends from back-home on Saturday, I know he’s really missing a ton of people right now.

Sometimes I forget what he gave up just to come up here and be with me. House, car, job, and while all of those are material things he did start back at square one when we moved in together. We don’t have a car and he didn’t have a job for 18 months (thanks Canadian Immigration!). Also, even though they still communicate and we’re hoping to visit soon, he did give up his weekend drives back home to visit his family, his annual camping trip with Kris, and nights out in Iowa City with D. Sure we keep busy, have a great circle of friends and a phenomenal support system from my loving family, but he did relocate, readjust, realign his life, all for the sake of seeking out something that was missing. I suppose that’s where I fit in. I don’t mean to sell myself (or Canada) short, but it was quite the leap and jolt to the system, it still is.

John’s determination, strength, and support of me when I would crumble from all the pressure we’ve been under for the last two years, is amazing. He fell in love with Vancouver but I’m even more happy, every day, that he fell in love with me. From our early morning walks through Stanley Park, playing Scrabble online on our laptops from opposing ends of the couch, to coming home on a Sunday evening and eating leftover ice cream cake while watching miscellaneous Discovery Channel shows. He keeps me active, on my toes, tries my knowledge, tries my patience, and makes me whole. I think everyone’s pretty impressed at how we both found someone just as utterly geeky as the other.

Happy Birthday John. There, I’ve done it, I’ve started to cry while typing this post and now you’re going to call me a wussy. I’m going to wipe my tears and run into the bedroom to pounce you awake, then you can wipe the tears from my face and give me a kiss – even though it’s your birthday and your special day, that’ll make me feel like gold.

For anyone else who can’t run in and pounce John and wish him a Happy Birthday – although he’d probably love it if Muffin did that – perhaps you could please sponsor him for the Run for the Cure next Sunday. My donations are all filled up but he still needs a hand reaching his goal. You can click here to sponsor his run.

So much content so little time so. Alanah and J.J. take the wheel for Episode #41 and interview the CBC’s Shanel Pratap.

In Episode #42 Dave gives us a great history of the Summit Series of 1972 and the modern-day Super Series. John produced these (as usual) meanwhile my only contribution is a snippet of a radio interview about the new beer cups at GM Place, which was a lot of fun. Check out the show notes for links and info, here are a few more details about each episode:

Shanel spent four days at Canucks training camp in Victoria, B.C. Our crew chats with him, gets inside his head a little, and look ahead at what we can expect by what he saw at training camp. [The Crazy Canucks – Episode #41 ]

DaveO chimes in with an editorial about the 2007 Super Series between Canada and Russia. He goes through a brief history of the 1972 Summit Series and relates it to the recent series, telling you why the hockey world should have payed more attention. [The Crazy Canucks – Episode #42

Speaking of podcasting, last night we met up with Mark Blevis from the Canadian Podcast Buffet for a Vancouver Podcast Meetup. He’ll be in town for the next week, should be at Third Tuesday tomorrow and sure knows his podcasting (from shows to gadgets).

And remember, if you have a favourite hockey blog be sure to let people know because the Georgia Straight’s perception that HFBoards is the best source for Canucks talk is pretty skewed (for a little help, I have a ‘hockey blogroll’ on my sidebar).

The annual “Best of Vancouver” issue of The Georgia Straight left me wanting more and had some of my readers saying wondering just what we’ve done to deserve Nickelback as a top band in our city? Because of this, I’ve decided to follow in the footsteps of the MaGoggy‘s and create my own awards, the Best of 604. These are not the things that are highest rated by Zagat or that have the most stars. These are people, places and things that I personally find enjoyable. With some help from John and my sister Jenny I hope to cover a different spectrum, all inclusive of the “604“.

The “Best of 604” will be an ongoing series, so watch for more posts in this category.

I wanted to touch on a ‘real’ demographic and ‘real’ places in and around Metro Vancouver. The first edition of the “Best of 604” is focused on family. Here are Jen’s recommendations.

• Best low-tourist, in-park, miniature train experience: Bear creek Park Train (in Surrey) – Really inexpensive and fun for the kids (especially at Halloween and Christmas)
• Best place to take energetic kids who have been cooped up on a rainy day: Go Banana’s (various location) – Cheap and the kids can run wild for hours and hours
• Most kid-friendly restaurant where your child’s screaming can be camouflaged by other children’s screams: Montana’s (in Langley) – Wicked kids menu, they can colour on the paper table cloths, tons of families and good grown up food too, really good place to take kids with super friendly staff
• Best park and playground you probably haven’t been to: Flight Path Park (in Richmond) – The kids love the park by the airport where you can see the planes taking off and landing, it’s free entertainment for hours and hours. There are a few little planes to pretend to fly on, mock runways they can run down and off course real-live jumbo jets flying overhead

Photo is property of True Colors Painting Ltd.

• Best park and playground you may have been to AND there’s ice cream: Rocky Point Park (in Port Moody) – Water park, playground, ice cream, fish and chips, walking trails, who could ask for anything more
• Best 1-day getaway from the city: Cultus Lake (in Chilliwack) – 1 hour drive East, lots of places to swim, nice picnic areas, nature trails to pick up sticks and discover bugs and stop at the dairy on the way home for some yummy ice cream (it’s all about the ice cream)

When Miami Ink started airing on TLC it became a ‘regular’ series for John and I, the skill and talent the tattoo artists possess is pretty out of this world. My favourite personalities on the reality series were Kat Von D and Chris Garver but after some end of season drama, Kat was ousted from the shop and now has her own business and series called L.A. Ink.

Kat opened High Voltage Tattoo in Hollywood recently and caters to a clientele of tourists, walk-ins and celebrities alike.

She’s put together a super team of artists such as Hannah Aitchison, Corey Miller, Kim Saigh, and her best pal “Pixie” who is the shop manager. They are all so talented, producing emotional depictions with any palette, lifelike, heartbreaking and passionate works of art for their clients. The TV shows have been such a hit that there seems to be a newfound romance with the art of tattoos everywhere you look today.

A friend of ours works at the Surrey Museum, where they currently have an exhibition called: “Tattoos: Tribal to Trend”, which is running from September 1 to October 27th.

Take a visual journey through human history and see how tattoos have evolved from Polynesian tribal markings, to facial identity clues to sideshow performance art and contemporary body decoration. “Tattoos: Tribal to Trend” explores how tattoos have provided magical protection, declared victory, signaled group identity, and depicted spiritual belief or personal independence. [Surrey Museum Exhibitions]

Tomorrow, Saturday the 22nd, there will be a special panel called “Behind the Ink”.

Join a panel of tattoo experts and “collectors” to hear the stories behind the ink and see live tattoo art. Filmmaker Vince Hemingson will share his experiences receiving a traditional hand-tapped tattoo and filming the Iban peoples of Borneo for the documentary “The Vanishing Tattoo”. [Surrey Museum Events]

Vince also has a blog, with an amusing post featuring the top finger and knuckle tattoos.

The session is $5 to attend and goes from 2:00pm to 3:00pm, pre-registration online is required.

Visitors to the museum are also welcome to have their own tattoos photographed for the Surrey Ink’d wall. [Surrey Leader]

The Surrey Museum is located at 17710 – 56A Avenue (Hwy 10) in Cloverdale [Google Map].

The annual issue of the Georgia Straight, “Best of Vancouver”, is now available in stores street corner boxes. This free weekly newspaper takes a poll every year where readers can voice their choices for the best spots in town for any kind of activity or lack thereof. I have yet to get a print copy to see if there’s a side column about blogs but I’m reading the online results right now.

Here are a couple of the ‘winners’.

City Life:

Media/Arts/Culture:

Style:

Travel:

Mind/Body/Soul:

Sports and Recreation:

Lifestyle:

Food and Drink:

These are just a few of the results, pick up a copy of the Georgia Straight for more results or check it out online.

Update: Just picked up my copy and there are columns about things that don’t fit into the actual award categories. Such as: Best Way to Get Rid of Styrofoam Peanuts is by going to Vancouver Reuses, and The Most Flagrant Waste of Precious Urban Space goes to the concrete park on the corner of Mainland and Nelson in Yaletown. Also included is the Best Place to Eat Before a Canucks Game, which is Costco mmm warehouse hot dogs. Unfortunately Best Canucks Talk does not include a mention of The Crazy Canucks Podcast BUT the Best Reason to Get up in the Morning goes to Gastown’s own Workspace and the Vancouver Graffiti Flickr Group also won for Best Graffiti Gallery.