Hi!

PART 1

Let me tell you about my new love: cooking.

It's turning into something guys, seriously. Lately, Kar has been working late at the lab, and so I've been the dinner preparer for a while now. Turns out I actually really enjoy it! I've been wading into new waters, as well. The other night, I made what was probably my best dish to date... what I'll call my oven grilled butter/rosemary talapia. A clean white filet glazed with melted butter, coated in a dash of oregano, a double dash of rosemary, and a snatch of BBQ chicken spice, oven baked alongside chopped and scattered white onion, and served with a side of sauteed button mushrooms. Man... read that again and tell me you didn't have to swallow a few times.

My other current best dish is grilled BBQ chicken legs (I've developed a bad-ass homemade BBQ sauce for this one) with golden mash and asparagus.

Additionally, a good salad is imperative. Romaine greens, chopped hotmix pickles and perpencino peppers, white onion, cheese, and a homemade vinaigrette (veg oil, vinaigrette, salt, pepper, spices, garlic).

It's good eating at the Bartel/Founks. Cmon by! (just let me know you're coming first!)


PART 2



If you can find it, this is a record I highly recommend. I've been spinning this daily as of late. It's instrumental, live. Bela Fleck is probably the more well known to most of you. He's probably the world's premier banjo player, and is a master of using the instrument to do things you wouldn't typically do with it. He strays far from the traditional folk/bluegrass landscape and takes the banjo into jazz grooves, and, often most impressively, classical pieces from the likes of bach.

Edgar Meyer is to the double bass (standup bass) what Bela is to banjo. A virtuoso talent, visionary, and creative genius who does things with the instrument that are atypical in the least.

The record is all over the place. Classical waltz, folk jive, atmospheric wanderings.. with some additional piano work as a compliment. I've been finding it (as, it seems, I tend to find most good music) extremely pleasant and calming as a background to my days work, but also extremely challenging and involving when listened to actively.

Check it out! (I'd suggest you start with the song 'Blue Spruce' for a first listen)



Happy Friday!
JB

Small Town, Big Dreams

Man, I'm really getting into country music. Crazy eh?

It's Cyn's fault. I borrowed a few records while I was out there and I'm sortof hooked.

I'm really loving Keith Urban and Paul Brandt. The music just seems so honest. Every song is a story. Secondly, it's hard to find anybody who plays with the skill that these country guys have. I mean, these guys have chops. They're always backed by awesome session guys too. Thirdly, the records are mixed really well. They've got a ton of life, but without that nasty squashed LA Lord-Alge brother thing going on. The drums sound live and clean, the guitars have that great Tele/combo thing going on, and generally, everything just breathes. I'm getting sortof tired of the old comp-heavy stationary meter-needle rock and roll business that seems prevalent today.

Finally, there's something great about the sense of fun in this stuff. It's sortof like there's so much in music about trying to be cool... Hip Hop, pop-rock.. they're so heavy on the 'check me out, I'm seriously very current..' We're much less interested in admiring musicians than we are interested in admiring personalities and celebrities. Which is why so many kids go see terrible bands play terribly live, and then say, 'BEST SHOW EVER!!!' I'm talking to you Pete Wentz. Nice eye makeup.

Anyway, these country guys... there's something in there where they just say, 'man, I like trucks, and big concert-parties, and singalongs. I'm proud of being from Alberta, and I'm proud of being a family man.'

This also probably stems from taking a trip out west last weekend, and realizing that Toronto has none of that down-home, positive, happy to be happy type of mentality going on that seems so existent out there.

Anyway, here's to Tele's, story-telling lyrics, and cowboy hats.

Check out songs:

Keith Urban
- Days Go By
- Better Life
- You're My Better Half

Paul Brandt
- Leavin'
- Alberta Bound
- Small Town, Big Dreams
- I'm Gonna Fly


I'm smiling a lot these days. We've got snow, and Kar is almost done for the holidays. Mel and Dave are on their way home with two princesses and the smiliest little dude the world has ever seen. It's good.

JB

Go West Young Man

I'm going out west for the weekend. Got a wedding to be at and a niece to sing to (I'm teaching them all to grow up loving music. It's a bit of a master-plan of mine..). I've always liked Saskatoon.

Listen to:

Peter Bradley Adams (Leavetaking)
Glen Hansard
Folkalley.com
Sufjan Stevens
The Restless Age
Bon Iver

Read:

Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
Hey Nostradamus, Douglas Coupland
Other people's stories


Happy Friday everybody!!
JB

And merry christmas tree.

time for a rebuild

the world is falling apart!!!!

not really, but it seems that way, no? we're in financial tatters, our government is being overthrown, and athletes are accidentally firing off illegal firearms in busy nightculbs!

man, in times like this, it becomes abundantly clear how lacking we are in the department of 'humility'.

we're really are quite divisive and aggressive. we're always right, and they're always wrong. i know many staunch conservatives. they have their reasons for supporting harper. they seem very sound to me. i agree with them. i know many staunch liberals who have their reasons for supporting dion. they seem very sound to me. i agree with them.

when did it become standard practice to hate? to aggressively assert unbelievably negative bile about another person, in ANY situation? i mean, harper isn't a murderer.. he isn't the antichrist. he's a guy with some ideas and some morals, and some interests and leanings. so is any other politician. they all speak for a certain portion of society. the term society is ripe here. we're a whole.. a big conglomerate. and as much as we like to take sides, separate, and point fingers, we all need each other. CEOs and high dollar execs aren't worth much without their dutiful workforce. and laborers have nothing to labor at without the initiative and leadership of the execs. the arts community supports healthy living, and adds beauty to life. it's so important. but without the guys selling cars and plowing fields, there isn't going to be anybody coming to the shows. we NEED each other. we're like a giant eco-system that thrives on all of its parts working as a whole.

i... don't know how this government crap will end up.. and i'm not sure it really matters. we, as humans, aren't really all that different. we love to defiantly stand with our hands on our hips and chirp otherwise, but at the end of the day, we generally look out for ourselves first, others second. we generally tend to follow the lead of those we've been around and those we have relationships with. we generally think a lot about our own money, and our own stability, and very little about the stability or well-being of the rest of the world.

at the end of the day, if all of our money went away, maybe we'd start looking each other in the eye more often. at the least, maybe it'd force us to look across the great chasm and learn to work with each other.

or else, maybe we'd all just die in a giant burning pile of garbage because we can't get along and we can't agree.

but that's a sad thought... so i think that... no, we are capable of much. we're just a bit (or a lot) too comfortable. when the biggest thing we have to worry about is whether we'll get our christmas bonus or not, to go on top of our big ass yearly wage and our 2 cars, then we're a little crazy, and a little out of touch.

it's like when your computer starts getting really slow and cludgy, and eventually, you just back up the stuff you need, and do a complete hard disk wipe, and reinstall only the apps you want, and the thing just comes back to life.

time for a rebuild.

JB

face

Well, my better half turned 24 yesterday. she's totally awesome! and also... 'For She's a Jolly Good FELLLOOWWWW...' here's a picture of us in case you've forgotten what either of us look like:



so last night we were at the swiss for dinner, and as a direct result of my shameless attention seeking and karen's love of capturing moments via photgraphy, a small and slightly embarrassing photo session ensued.

the results, of course, have already made their way to facebook, so most of you are probably up to speed. to put it bluntly, i can do unattractive and slightly appalling things with my face sometimes, so for whatever reason, i started making nasty faces, and kar started snapping pictures. anyway, it got a bit out of hand a few times (it really did go on for a surprisingly and probably somewhat unnecessarily long time). specifically, when i was in the middle of a really scrunched up, wretched little piece, and suddenly the waitress, clearly perturbed with the fact that we were making her other patrons uncomfortable, came over to ask if we wanted more drinks. unfortunately, when i descend into the depths of thought required in order to manufacture a face as hideous as this, it taxes me to the full extent of my concentration, and so for the first second or so of looking over to see who was talking, the face remained in tact, and was directed solely, and with full force, at the clearly uncomfortable and somewhat frightened waitress.

bbaahahaha... of course, kar has the camera, and looks totally cool and collected. i, on the other hand, am a mess. it takes a while to recover from stretching your mouth open as wide as you possibly can while bugging out your eyes.


we gotta get a christmas tree soon baby! i wonder if Ikea still has the $10.00 tree special on? who buys there tree at Ikea? we do friends, we do.

live
JB

lay off the fear...

apparently what's going on at CTV is a big newsmaker across Canada. The other day the boss sent out a company-wide email that, to be short, said, 'the economy is in the tank. we're going to cut back, and also lay some people off.' The next day it was in the papers, including, for some reason, the Windsor Star, and was (of course) also a feature article on CBC.ca

it's certainly become the talk of the hallways around here. 'is it gonna be me? do you think you're safe? i heard pam in HR is a gonner! don't use facebook at work anymore, cause i heard they're getting rid of the first 100 people who log-in tomorrow morning!'

i've been thinking. the beauty of life is that you're never trapped. you really are never trapped. it's all about decision making, and priorities. we have a way of cornering ourselves mentally. we convince ourselves of the exact opposite. that it's impossible to do anything, or that there's never enough money, or time. or that, if only we were 5 years younger, than we might actually pursue an idea. i'm learning that you're either a person who lives an open-ended life (full of possibilities) or a closed-ended life (full of fear), but it isn't a matter of your circumstances or your scenario so much as it is a matter of your mindset.

what would i do if i lost my job? what would i do if i lost all my money? what would i do if i got sick?

i'm not interested in being a victim of my circumstances, no matter what they are. i'll decide what i'm going to be. work... work is unimportant. in that work is a means. the actual business of making television is not of great value. but there's so much that can be done in a day on top of the day's work. so much living, and relating. and learning. learning is what makes work incredible, and fun, and exciting. there's way too much to learn. it's fantastic.

i don't have kids. i don't have a mortgage. i know. but i don't believe in the 'you just wait.. you'll see...' way of thinking. i'm suspicious of people who say things like 'you just wait... you'll see...' i think, generally, what they're actually telling you is, 'i've resigned myself to this mindset. i'm not changing.' it says a lot about them, and little about you.

the great question is: 'what do you want to do?' i've been lucky enough to have a few people in my life who were up to asking me that question. that's a fantastic and exciting question. additionally, as a small, but noteworthy side-benefit, it makes 'the greatest financial crisis in the history of north america in the past 60 years' much less frightening.



yesterday Kar, Kris and I:
1. listened to Bing Crosby's christmas album
2. drank hot chocolate
3. watched Home Alone

it's time.

JB

once

we're home till christmas (toronto home). it's more exciting than it sounds. kar and i have been on the road a bunch the past few weeks, which has been great, but it's nice to have a bunch of weekends where we're just around the city with friends and stuff.

kar and i watched 'once' last night. mom founk, you should rent this some saturday night and watch it.



it's a really great music film. ya, it's one of those ones that you call a 'film' more than you call it a 'movie'. it just deserves a little more for the care that you can tell was put into it.

read a few good books too, from nik.



about... nothing. and everything. just, existence. it's douglas coupland. i never really can tell, but i always identify and understand in a more whole and genuine way than almost any other author.

and



about life, and a journey across the states, and existentialism mixed with faith, searching, wondering, and asking entirely unanswerable questions. along the vein of 'blue like jazz', where you're left feeling alive, and free. freedom is huge.

i've got to get back to watching the late game (giants v. eagles). kar's curing diseases on the couch beside me, looking incredible.

bye.
JB