Monkey Wrench

Fuck.

Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

I came home to a lovely notice stating that my rent is going to increase as of September 1st. It will be increasing 37%. With this increase a full 45% of my income will go to rent. This does not include my utilities, or other bills.

Calgary is out of control.

If things do not improve in the next 6 months I will have to move back home and start over. I can not afford to have almost half of every dollar I make go towards putting a roof over my head.

I'm glad I moved here, I'm glad I've had this opportunity but I don't know how long I can afford to keep living here. I know I'm not the only one. I wonder how long Calgary can survive this economic climate before it implodes.

Bjorkudden/Norden Tables.... again.

Okay, this is the last I am going to say on the subject because I'm Canadian, I live in Canada, and this information is totally useless to me for at least the next two years since I won't be moving to the UK until 2009. Thanks to Google I have become the number one destination for people doing a search for the Bjorkudden table.

You lucky UK people, listen up. The very lovely Steve has confirmed what the very lovely, gold star winning, Jonathan had to say.


Steve Benner said...

I just phoned IKEA and they assure me that this item will remain in the catalogue, under its new name of Norden. Item code is now 201.047.18 and Warrington have 12 in stock...

So there you have it you lucky UK bastards (not really, I love you, it's not you... it's me, and my lack of a Bjorkudden table), you can start buying Norden tables until the cows come home.

I'm still trying to find out if the Norden table will grace Canadian stores. So maybe this isn't my past post on the topic... damn.

My name is faithful

I'm a dork so I tag all my Canadian music. I just created a smart playlist to pull all Canadian music.

My music collection falls within the CanCon rules.

I am so awesome.

Who knows if I'll see you again

One of the things I really miss about Vancouver is the music. Vancouver gets a fraction of the bands that places like Toronto or Seattle get, but Calgary gets a fraction, a very small fraction, of the bands Vancouver gets.

At least when I was in Vancouver if a band was only going to visit Seattle I was a couple hours away.

Sigh.

I spread my love like a fever

Long weekends always screw me up. This weekend has been no different.

I feel like I've fallen into a hole. I fell into a hole filled with music. I've spent about 80% of my weekend listening to music. Stuff that is new to me (I'm seriously in love with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, in a bad way) and stuff that takes me way back to the days when I was just starting to discover music that had nothing to do with my mum (Sons of Freedom and Moxy Früvous own my teenage soul).

Music is absolutely food for the soul. I've been feeling a little off lately. I've been leaning a little more to the dark side rather than the light. It's amazing what an iPod full of really good music can do to a mood.

The last three days has been a virtual buffet of music. It started out with a little Cloud Cult, and Klaxons. Then I decided I needed to listen to some old stuff, so I hopped into the wayback machine and pulled out the Lagwagon, No Use For a Name, Moxy Früvous. Then I went nuts for all things Canadian, Sons of Freedom, Me Mom & Morgentaler, 13 Engines, The Odds, Propagandhi, Huevos Rancheros, throw in a little of The Guess Who…

I’ve spent three days inside music. It's been a good weekend, but man will it be hard to get back to reality.

Fans of Bjorkudden Listen Up!

In April I lamented the discontinuation of the Bjorkudden gateleg table from Ikea. Since that post the majority of people that stumble across my blog are from google searches for “Bjorkudden”.

For all those that live in the UK and are looking for the Bjorkudden table, commenter Jonathan comes to the rescue!: According to Jonathan the Bjorkudden table has been renamed in the UK. He says:

“I had the same problem in the UK, but it has come back under a different name. It is now called "Norden" and I picked one up last weekend. It had the Norden sticker on top of the Bjorkudden label. It's a lovely table. Good luck finding one!”

Please Ikea, please keep this in stock until I’m able to move across the pond. And for those that don't live in the UK, please Ikea, they are begging you, make this a trend across the board. This table is much sought after!

Thanks Jonathan!

Update: Jonathan gets two gold stars! Those of you near the Milton Keynes Ikea are lucky bastards.

Cmere

Phase one of "The Biggest Move Ever" is now in full swing.

I have secured a second job, part time, working for a catering company.

I've set a leave by date of August 1, 2009. Doesn't mean I've set an arrive by date ;o)

You know when you read somebody's blog on a regular basis, perhaps even for a couple of years, and you decide one day to read a blog that they link to? It's interesting how sometimes you learn a lot more about the blogger you read by reading somebody else's blog.

Addendum

My mum said it best:

"If I blame my parents for all the bad stuff in my life I would have to give them credit for all the good stuff, and I don't want to do that."