Eric’s Estimate
A country kid in Vancouver

photo credit: Johnny Vulkan

There are a lot of places to play pool around the city of Vancouver. But there are not so many places that are actually worth your time. For example, the Yale. Though there are usually quite a number of people to play with, the Yale has bad tables, missing balls and your opponents are often times jerks. The main reason I go to the Yale is to meet women that are far to old for me, but not to play pool. Oh, and I guess their live music rocks too!

Playing in the BC EH! 8-Ball Pool local league has really shown me the great places to play pool in this city. Please feel free to add your own locales to the list if you see something missing.

1. Comox street long bar and grill - This place rocks. Sure it’s not the most happening place in town - most nights you’ll see just a bunch of old guys sitting around slamming a few pints. But they have three Diamond 7′ pool tables that are in excellent shape and are kept that way by the organizer of the BC Eh Pool league. He also owns a few other tables around town that I’ll mention below. Thursdays are 30% off everything at the Comox (yes even beautiful beer). Saturdays are free pool from 1-5 and Sundays are free pool all day. The free pool means that you can play all the 9 ball you want and not worry that you’re throwing away half of your dollar. The staff is awesome and I hang out here at least once a week.

2. Shark Club Bar and Grill - This is the Shark Club on Georgia st just before the viaduct. It’s a place with better food more people and a younger crowd than the Comox, but it gets number two because it’s usually more crowded and harder to get a seat/table. The Shark Club is a great place to catch a game while you play though, and you’ll meet a ton of people if you are so inclined. Plus if you’re like me you’ll have plenty of waitresses to flirt with. This Shark Club also has those amazing Diamond tables I was talking about, so your bank and kick shots are gonna be true as hell.

3. Commodore Billiards and lanes - If you want to hang out and play a few games of pool, then maybe some bowling, this is the place to go. I barely ever go here, but it gets number three because of the selection of tables, plus the fact that it is a real pool hall. You can rent tables by time here instead of coins so you also don’t have to jingle all the way to the bar.

4. Jazzy Cues - Sushi, pool, Diamond tables. What more can you ask for? Well you could ask for it not to be in North Van for one, but I’ll give them a break because they have such good food. The BC Eh pool league plays here as well and they have 7′ and 9′ tables depending on what you’re looking for.

Those are my Top Four places to play pool in Vancouver. There are a few other places to play that are mediocre (Soho in Yaletown) and one that I would stay away from like the plague (Q Zone in Burnaby - what is this place? A freaking bunker???).

Anyways, keep shooting, have fun, be happy and all that jazz!

~E

photo credit: jm3

Ever since I was 15 I’ve had a car (yes even before I could drive). I love cars, and even to this day I have two of them. But this is the first winter that I will be going without a car of my own on the road. I have a convertible, and Vancouver pretty well hates convertibles in the winter, so I’m stuck taking the Vancouver buses everywhere…

Or so I thought…

Through a friend I heard about a company called Zipcar. Basically it’s a car co-op ride share program in Vancouver and other cities across North America that has a whole slew of cars around the city that you can pre-book and hop in to go do errands, pick up groceries, haul stuff from IKEA etc. I signed up yesterday because I had to scoot over to a friends house on the other side of town and figured I’d post my experience with Zipcar in Vancouver.

Signing up for Zipcar

Signing up for an account is pretty reasonable ($55/Year + $25 sign up fee). I had to get ICBC to send in my driving record, but this was simple and I was approved in about two hours! I then just had to go down to Waterfront station and pick up the card and I was all set.

Reserving your Zipcar

Reserving the car couldn’t have been easier. Online I just chose the time that I wanted to book the car, and it brought up all of the cars in the neighborhood that were free. It listed them in order of distance, and provided a price estimate of how much the car would cost. After the reservation they also sent me a text message to my cell to remind me of the details. At this point I was very impressed. The selection of cars are also impressive. You can pick up a number of “zippy” cars anywhere from Toyota Tacoma’s to Mini Coopers to Honda Civics.

Picking up the Zipcar

I noticed that no one had reserved the car before I did, so I was actually able to head down and pick up the car 10 minutes early. Once you get to the Zipcar, you just scan your card on the windshield and the doors unlock. They key was in the center console, and the glove compartment had a guide which answers any questions you may have about the car.

The car was in great shape aside from a bit of garbage that was left by the last person. I guess this is to be expected sometimes as the cars don’t go back to a main office to be looked at after every use. I did notice that the car had a few deep scratches on it, so I phoned these into Zipcar’s automated phone system. It was pretty easy, but it takes quite a while to get through the phone menu.

Using the Zipcar

Using the car was pretty much as you would expect it. The zip car was in good working order, and there was fuel in the tank when I picked it up. I did have to extend my reservation twice during the trip (I was going to be late) so I had to call into the dreaded automated system again. Once I navigated through the menu it was very simple to extend the time, but doing so while driving was difficult.

Putting gas in the Zipcar

This is one aspect that I really like about Zipcar in Vancouver. Gas is included. That’s right, you don’t have to pay for gas. There is a gas card in the car that you can use to fill the tank at no expense. The only draw back is that the gas card can only be used at ESSO. I thought this kinda sucks, but they do say if you can’t find an ESSO that Zipcar will reimburse you for the fuel. I managed to find an ESSO and it was super easy to fill the tank with free gas

Returning the Zipcar

Returning the car was much like picking it up. I left the keys in the car, parked it in the same spot, and scanned my card to lock it. Simple, straightforward, fun…

Conclusion

My first Zip car experience was good. I haven’t dealt with their customer service as of yet, and I also haven’t gotten a bill so I’m not sure if the cost will be worth it, but if you’re looking for a way of getting around town occasionally in Vancouver or any other city that has it for that matter be sure to check it out. I know I’ll be Zipping around town this winter so wave if you see me.

Also, if you are looking to sign up you can get another $25 bucks off your driving bill by signing up through this site! Just click the square banner to the right.

Have fun, be happy.
~E

photo credit: HUS0

I live in Vancouver BC, and a lot of my friends have told me that Vancouver is a very difficult town to meet people in. I have a few guy friends especially who find it so difficult, that they basically don’t meet any women in person and turn completely to online dating.

When I was in high school I was terrible at meeting women. Let me rephrase that. I was terrible at meeting people in general. I just had a terrible lack of confidence in myself. Travelling on my own is really what brought me out of my shell, and I recommend it to everyone I meet.

Nowadays I love to meet new people and have no problems with meeting new women.

There are a lot of sites out there that will try to rationalize the act of meeting new people. They say “what’s the worst that could happen” etc etc. But to someone who has a lack of confidence, there is no way to rationalize their fear of meeting new people, and this way of thinking just doesn’t work.

I think there are a few ways that you can build yourself up to meeting a whole pile of new people, even while walking down the street and here they are. Try them out and you’ll be amazed at how many new names there are in your phone.

Step 1.

Make eye contact. This is huge. Even if you are not interested in a person physically, just try it out. Make eye contact with everyone you pass on the street, man or woman. It’s the most harmless form of communication, and there is no fear of rejection.

Most people who are afraid of meeting new people are afraid of making eye contact, and this needs to be addressed first. There are a lot of people who will not look back at you, but make the attempt anyways. At first if you are not used to it, you may look away out of reflex. This is fine. After all you pass hundreds of people every day, so you have lots of people to practice with.

Once you get to the point where you are comfortable with holding eye contact, you will notice that people will look at you differently. They will smile more, and more people will talk with you. Why? Because you seem more inviting, and you’ve already made a connection with that person.

Step 2.

Smile. Now that you’re making eye contact with everyone you pass, you need to start smiling. I know a few years ago when I started making eye contact I would forget to smile. I was basically looking at people with a stern face, and well… people don’t like that too much.

So for the sake of your mom who wants to be a grandmother one day SMILE! You’ll be amazed at who smiles back, and this is still a rejection free step. If you smile and the other person smiles back, great! You may have just made their day! If not, maybe they are just having a stressful day and their mind is wandering off in some other universe. Who cares. You haven’t put yourself out there…

Yet

Step 3.

You’ve made eye contact, you’ve smiled, you’ve gotten a smile back. What’s left? Say Hi. That’s it. If you want to rehearse what to say, do it in front of a mirror, but at some point you just have to say hi. You’ll find though that if you’ve practiced the first two steps for a few weeks that you’ll be way more confident in yourself. Smiling always helps to make you feel better, and it’s already broken down most of the barriers between you and you’re potentially future partner.

There’s only one way to change your life, and that’s to act and move forward. It’s not going to be super easy, and no one else is going to do it for you. But after the first few times, you’ll find that other people aren’t so scary. In fact they’re probably more scared of you than you are of them!

Have fun, be happy.

~E

photo credit: TuTuWoN

So you’ve realized there are a few things in your life you want to change. Either you want to make more money, you want to have more relationships, you’d like to be more social (or less social), you want a new job, etc.

Whatever it may be, there is one place where your personal change must take place, and it is the hardest step to take.

You need to be honest with yourself!

This is really the only thing that matters. When you take a look at yourself, be honest, and realize the root cause of whatever life change you want to make, the rest is easy. It’s also the most difficult.

I used to always jump at the opportunity to blame my situation on some external factor. For example, I was working for a company a few years ago where I was completely miserable. I hated everything about my job. Most of my friends at that job had moved on to better situations, and I was left there to work at something I despised. I used to blame my situation on whatever I could think of.

“I don’t have the money to quit”, “If only the people I work with weren’t such jerks”, “If only the company would pay more”.

All of these reasons were excuses for me to sit at work and wallow in self pity. I took these excuses to the bank and said “I am JUSTIFIED in feeling like crap”. But this way of thinking is actually what kept me there.

It took me a long time, but I was able to realize that the situation that I was in was completely created by me. no one else was forcing me to work at that company. No one else had attracted my coworkers into my life. There was a root cause in my own mind for every single area of my work that I did not like, and when I realized it, everything changed.

I was stuck. My career was not moving forward, and I was pushing further into debt. But when I made the realization that it was me and me only that was bringing these situations into my life, I was able to change them. Not even a year later I work at a job that I love, and have started a career that will help me learn and grow over the next few years. I live in a much better apartment, and I have 10x the amount of amazing friends.

You can’t move forward without knowing where you are. And you’ll never know where you are until you are honest with yourself.

So ask yourself these questions in regards to a change you want to make:

• What aspect of me has brought this into my life?
• Is this something that aligns with how I want to live my life?
• What habits or ways of thinking are preventing me from changing?
• Am I willing to change these habits and live with the consequences?
• Am I blaming someone or something else for where I have put myself?
• How badly do I want to change?

Have fun and be happy!

~E

photo credit: 96dpi

I love to drink wine. For that reason I like to have as many bottles on hand at a time. However I think there are really only 4 bottles every guy needs to have in his domain to be prepared for any prospects/friends that decide to show up.

1. A Quaffing Wine
   This is a wine that you can slam with some friends and not really care about the price. This generally isn’t a wine that will get you any brownie points with members of the opposite sex, but hey! you never know.
   Currently in this department I have a bottle of Circus Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s pretty easy to drink and goes for about 14 bucks.
2. Decent bottle of White
   If you’re anything like me you won’t be opening too many bottles of white wine (what man drinks this stuff anyways???) so it allows me to buy a bit better bottle so that it’s at least not painful when the occasion arises.
   Currently I have a bottle of Hatfield’s Fuse by Blasted Church in my fridge. It’s a really great bottle for about 16 bucks and is pretty mellow. I usually alternate between this and a Wild Goose Chardonnay which runs a bit higher but is definitely worth it.
3. A better bottle of red
   In this department it’s up to you for which grape you choose, but it needs to be a bottle that can hold up to a good dinner and beyond. Caberney Sauvignon, Merlot or Pino Noir are my choices here.
   Currently I have a bottle of Chateau Pey La Tour Reserve. It goes for about 26 bucks and can back up anything you pair it with. It’s a blend of Merlot and Cab Sauv so it’s also not too heavy for someone who doesn’t drink a hell of a lot of red wine.
4. Sparkling Wine
   This one is something every guy should have in his fridge. Why? Not for hanging out and drinking with the boys of course, but when your girl comes home with a promotion it’s nice to have an instant celebration. Also, it’s fun as hell to pop the cork!
   Currently I have a Cremant do Bourgogne which is not quite champagne, but damn close ( Burgundy is 450kms from Champagne ).

I have a number of other bottles kicking around, but those are the basics that I will pretty well always have at my place. If you have any suggestions, also be sure to let me know!