DARK DAYS

It's been a tough week.

On Tuesday, I lost my job. Wow... it really hits home when you see it on your blog. 

We had an all-hands meeting and were informed that the entire studio was shutting down and all 93 of us, including the Execs were out of a job. As hard as it was to hear (and it was hard because I really really liked this job), I have to hand it to my bosses because they handled the entire day with class and professionalism, it was the best of a bad situation. Humanature was truly a great place to work from October 6th till January 27th and I'm thankful for that much too brief experience.

Now, you might think that it's easy to find new work since Vancouver is a Video Game Mecca but all is not as it seems. Vancouver's Gaming Industry is getting "gangraped" and people are losing their jobs left, right and center. Studios are cutting back, killing projects or closing their doors altogether and before you know it, there are over 400 people all going for the same handful of available jobs. Times are tough and they are only going to get tougher.

But the crazy thing is that Video Games are actually doing well despite the economy. Sales on consoles and games are still strong but I think my buddy Anakin (another brother who lost his job) summed it up best: "I'd like to say that this whole situation is brought about by fear. There is nothing wrong with the video game industry. The sales figures for the last fiscal quarter were higher than they were for the same quarter a year ago. Let me repeat that. The video game industry made more money when the economy was in trouble than when it doing well. It's all fear. Well, fear and the fact that marketing in certain companies can't forecast sales worth a damn. So, when they don't make their unrealistic sales numbers, or push out yet another mediocre title that doesn't sell well, they blame the state of the economy." Ha... awesome, this doesn't apply to all studios (including mine) but it does to a lot of them out there and other businesses as I'm sure you know.

Now, I can sit back and turtle like a Swedish Right Winger caught in the clutches of a fourth-line goon, or I can bounce back and find a great job. I choose the latter. After a big scotch and a moment of "oh my god, what am I gonna do"... I dusted off the old resume, updated the info and started hitting the information superhighway, looking for positions, calling in favors and hooking up some connections. So far so good as I have a bunch of irons in the fire and hopefully one of them will pan out.

These are dark days my friends, pretty dark for Cosiworld right now especially and I know it can always get darker but I have a flashlight and a plan and a supportive wife whose behind me 110% all the way. 

Here's to the next big adventure... the jobhunt of 2009!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAVERNE!

Hard to believe it, but our little girl LAVERNE is two years old today and she's just as cute as ever. Laverene is still a mellow pooch but now thanks to continual play with her Brother Carmine, she gets feisty and it's awesome. She runs, hops, fetches and tugs with the best of them. Happy Birthday Verny have fun snoozing on the couch!

You can see all our LAVERNE pics here!!!

THE OBAMETER

It’s only been a couple of days and Obama-fever is still gripping the world who can’t get enough of America’s 44th President. In fact, all this media attention may be a bit of a curse as well as a blessing as POLITIFACT.COM has set up THE OBAMETER. Here’s the dillio, PolitiFact has compiled about 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on their Obameter. They rate their status as No Action, In the Works or Stalled. Once they find action is completed, they rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken. If only there was a BUSH-O-METER, it would be interesting to see how that thing turned out. Anyway, you can check out the seriously cool OBAMETER HERE!!!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY CARMINE!

A year ago today, a little Boston Terror, err… Terrier soon to be known as CARMINE was born. As much as we love this little “ball of fire”, he is truly a rambunctious tyke who has yet to “fully master” the art of housetraining but has become the world champion at eating couches. Oh yes, I do not mean biting or clawing at a couch, I mean eating as in we have a nice Carmine head-sized hole in one of our Couch seat cushions thanks to our “little man”. But as much as he pisses us off and as angry as we get, he is still a sweet dog who loves to play, loves to walk outside, loves learning tricks and loves to snuggle and that means more to us than any couch ever will.

Happy Birthday buddy and learn to use the toilet.

You can see all the pics of Carmine HERE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICKY!

Another birthday, another celebration, another awesome night!

Last night, we celebrated the birthday of our good friend VICKY in style as her husband Dan prepped a kick ass shindig at Lucy Mae Brown's in Downtown. A good time was had by all, but notable memories include: the platter of cupcakes, Alison screaming "party" and throwing tinsel every few minutes, Buckley & I laughing at the DJ, Michelle's killer hairdo and ofcourse the giant smile plastered on Vicky's face throughout the night. It was a great time, I even wore a suit, yeah that's right, the t-shirt guy wore a suit to the event. Believe it!!!

Pics from last night can be seen HERE!!!

Happy Birthday Vicky, we love you!!!

GREAT TIKI BAR TV INTERVIEW

Remember TIKI BAR TV???

Well a great interview came out with Jeff (Doctor Tiki) and Tosca (TBTV's Producer) where they discuss the In's & Out's of the podcast. It's pretty cool and you can check it out HERE!

In the meantime, you can check out my MR. AMBASSADOR episodes here:

• RED OKTOBER
• RED HANDED
• ICE BREAKER
• CCCP

Or you can order the TIKI BAR TV DVD right HERE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUCKLEY!

Today the "jerk store" known as Chris Buckley celebrates his birthday so last night, the crew got together at Section (3) to help ring in the celebration. Ali & Hopkins came with Buckley T-shirts, sking bought shots and Brooke presented her man with a Wall-E Ice Cream Cake! Needless to say, a good time was had by all and you can see pics of the event HERE!!!

Happy Birthday Jerk!!!

DINE OUT VANCOUVER - QUATTRO

It's DINE OUT VANCOUVER time again and while Michelle and I finalize our choices for this year, I thought I'd share the QUATTRO menus with all y'all. Why these ones? Well 1) because they are family and 2) because they sound so damn good.



DINE OUT VANCOUVER is a great reason to go out there and try some good food and new restaurants for a reasonable price and why not try QUATTRO as well, you won't be disappointed.

DINE OUT VANCOUVER 2009 -Q4 (Kitsilano)

APPETIZER

• Radicchio Bocconcini - Grilled fresh mozzarella wrapped with prosciutto and radicchio in a cherry vinaigrette
• Ortolana - Baby frisee and radicchio salad with gorgonzola vinaigrette and candied walnuts
• Bresaola - Shaved air dried beef , baby arugula and parmigiano reggiano with a white truffle essence
• Zuppa del Giorno - Homemade soup of the day

ENTREE

• Penne Arrabiata - pancetta, mushrooms, parmigiano reggiano, fresh tomato and peperoncino
• Fettuccine Tartufate - wild mushrooms, fresh sage, shaved parmigiano reggiano and truffle oil in a light porcini cream
• Caciucco - mixed seafood cioppino in a pinot grigio, spicy tomato brodo served with grilled herb garlic crostini
• Stinco d'Agnello - braised lamb shank in a red wine rosemary succo served with parmesan creamy polenta
• Involtini di Vitello - Braised veal breast stuffed with spinach and caciocavallo in a marsala sage succo

DESSERT

• Caramellata - Chocolate pate with caramel & cocoa chips
• Torta al Sanguignia - Blood orange, almond tart, vanilla mascarpone cream
• Ciliegie Filate - Phyllo pastry,mascarpone cheese, cream & sour cherries

DINE OUT VANCOUVER - GUSTO DI QUATTRO (North Van)

APPETIZER

• Mixed Organic Greens - Honey Truffle Dressing & Candied Walnuts
• Broccoli & Asiago Soup - Black Pepper Breadstick
• Herb Arancini - Rustic Tomato Ragout

ENTREE

• Spaghetti - Crusp Spicy Pancetta, Tomato& Basil Sauce, Rosemary Bread Crumbs
• Penne - Roasted Chicken, Portobello Mushroom Cream, Fresh Arugula Leaves
• Baked Seafood Canneloni - Saffron Cream and Fresh Pea Shoots

DESSERT

• House Made Almond Gelato - Toasted Almonds
• Vanilla Panna Cotta - Spiced Chianti Syrup

DINE OUT VANCOUVER runs from January 14th - February 1, 2009

2008: IN PICTURES

As you may remember from my last year of posts, I kept a monthly log of pictures for 2008 and now that the year is over, it's time to review them. It's hard to believe that the year has already come and gone but at least we have the pics to relive the good times with...

JANUARY 2008
FEBRUARY 2008
MARCH 2008
APRIL 2008
MAY 2008
JUNE 2008
JULY 2008
AUGUST 2008
SEPTEMBER 2008
OCTOBER 2008
NOVEMBER 2008
DECEMBER 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

I can't believe how fast 2008 went but there's no better way to say goodbye to one year and hello to the next than with a big party. So that's just what we did thanks to SEAN & LEA who hosted a great New Years shindig! What made it so special was all the friends who came into town and partied it up, it was a great night and a great way to ring in 2009.

Check out all our pics HERE!!!

SO LONG DECEMBER

Quite the hectic month with the snow and the holidays but here's the lowdown on the final installment of 2008:

• I reviewed quite a few places for VANCOUVER EATS including: CHAMBAR, GLOWBAL, LOCUS, COBRE, DEUCE BUNGALOW and YALETOWN BREWING COMPANY!

• We celebrated another fabulous CALDER CHRISTMAS party!

• TODD celebrated another birthday!

• I started a VANCOUVER Photo Set!

• It was time to celebrate that little known holiday called CHRISTMAS!!!

• And here's the rest of our DECEMBER pics!

Up next New Years and 2009!