…the mood for Pastrami.

But my Google-fu is letting me down and I can find any reliable references online for where to get a good pastrami sandwich in this berg.

So, cleveristas, where do you suggest I go for the best in pastrami goodness? And yes, I will consider corned beef recommendations, but only with an appropriate handicap. Nothing beats pastrami.

I’ll try them all and let you know which are the best.

Rachael arranged for tickets for both of us (regularly $125-ish for all three days or $65 for one day) and we went on Saturday. The festival was held at Jericho Beach park. There were seven stages set up, some in sunny fields, some in shady groves.

The temperature was fairly hot, and I found myself wishing I’d brought a hat. Rachael had a parasol, which was great for walking around, but when we were sitting on the ground in front of the stage, people behind her asked her (legitimately) to close her small parasol. The stages in shady areas seemed more popular than the ones in the sun, but that could also have been because of the performers chosen for those stages.

Water was available from several fountains for free, which was nice; most other summer concerts I’ve been to have charged for water. Bring suntan lotion and put it on before you leave the house; the less the sun bakes you, the longer you can last. And for goodness’ sake, don’t be afraid to let someone else do your back.

The Web site had a simple schedule in PDF format only; to know what was happening, you really do need to buy a program, which was $3. The program can also be used as a sun shade.

Monique blogged about the harrowing process of getting a good spot in front of the main stage; I didn’t see it this year, but by the time we got there, we could find only a very small patch free.

Be sure to triangulate your blanket’s position so you can find it again later, especially in the dark. The best way is to find a spot that’s on a line between two tall objects — we chose a large speaker on the left and a large tree on the right. The evening concert is a single event that everyone attends; if you don’t know exactly where your blanket is, you’re screwed.

Some people brought plastic tarps. I dislike them because they’re hot and noisy.

Food-wise, there were lots of good choices. The ones I tried were all very good: A donair, a BBQ chicken sandwich, and a whale tail (deep-fried flattened donut with cinnamon sugar). I’m told the Thai food was also pretty good. The food on plates is very tasty, but all the food I got was on wrappers that could be thrown away, which saves time and hassle. The plates have a $2 deposit and even if you don’t want the deposit back, you still have a plate to return. Boring!

Come ready to dance. Even non-dancers look good in that setting, and everyone’s participating.

You will run into other people you know. Be prepared to meet up with and lose people for significant chunks of time. If this is worrying, set a rendezvous point. And in general, don’t leave your stuff with anyone else; plans change and you might really want your camera or a jacket later but not be able to find anyone.

Outside the festival on the seawall, there were some amazing vendors from all over the place selling interesting merchandise. Pillowcases from pakistan, wooden necklaces from central B.C., homemade hackie sacks. I bought three hackie sacks and I’m re-teaching myself to juggle.

The scene. Where to start? It’s the best people-watching event I’ve been to in years. And not just because that one lone woman was nekkid. Basically, take a long hot day, add in groovy music and funky dressers, and you end up with a lot of eye candy, for guys and girls both. Every age group was represented, from 4 to 84. The whole festival seemed very wholesome and safe, and everyone seemed basically happy to be there.

Oh, and what about the music?

Well, actually, that was a little disappointing to me. I love traditional folk music: Stan Rogers, Iron and Wine, Celtic tunes and the like. Strong vocal harmonies, string instruments, wise lyrics. Now, maybe I’m a little narrow in my views, and I will freely admit to being uneducated about 99% of the musicians there. But hey, I think most of the people there were only slightly more tuned in than me.

Folk music, to me, doesn’t mean world music. It doesn’t mean spoken word poetry. It doesn’t mean “Love Everyone”-lyrics to a techno-dance beat with didgeridoo highlights. It doesn’t mean jazz or modern blues. I’m not saying that each of these kinds of music isn’t great, or that it wasn’t done well at the festival. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. So, while much of the music was wonderful, it wasn’t folk to me.

And, while certainly most folk music isn’t protest music, I was expecting much more in the way of activism and protest and social awareness from the musicians and what they were performing. There was only one singer, Eliza Gilkyson, who sung a song called “Man of God” that pretty much took George Bush out behind the woodshed and whipped him with his own belt. Other than her, the music was definitely more “grasshopper” than “ant.”

That said, I did love Afrodizz — that Montreal band can get your toes tapping, your head bobbing and your hips swaying, even if, like, me, you’re huddled under your own T-shirt to keep the top of your head from burning. :)

If you’d like to see my photo album of the whole day, click here.

For instance, here you can see Cirque du Soleil Varekai tents beside B.C. Place.

And here you can see what appears to be a soccer or ultimate game at 29th and Blenheim.

What interesting activity can you spot in Google Maps for Vancouver?

Update: As has been pointed out by commenters, the Google Maps map is about two years old, and has been . I think, perhaps, this is the least well researched, and most inaccurate, posting ever made on Metroblogging. I apologize sincerely, and I promise to make smaller mistakes in the future.

Every time I make a post, I try to think of a way to work mythical animals into it, but I haven’t been able to make it happen. So I’m asking you, dear reader, to help out. Tell me about a mythical Vancouver animal in the comments. I’ll start:

The Vancouger can be seen in her natural habitat, the courts at the Jericho Tennis Club. Often spotted wearing (or wearing spotted) lululemon pants and offering to buy microbrews for young male cyclists passing by the patio. They hunt in packs but devour their prey in isolation, usually while their husbands are on “fishing trips.”

Your turn!

Click to see the whole set

OK, so let me start by saying I know nothing about baseball. Well, not nothing. I know as much about baseball as I do about women, about Africa or about how to teach my cat to stop throwing up on the carpet when there’s a perfectly fine tile kitchen floor about six feet away.

But tonight I went to a baseball game between the Vancouver Canadians and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. Salem-Keizer is a city-collective that pooled its resources to field a superb A level baseball team. A level sounds very important to me — like getting an “A” in school is very hard, so an A level team must be very good. Full of honours students, perhaps.

Nine other good friends and I showed up and went in and had a good time. It’s an intimate stadium, which means that it’s small. Every seat is pretty good and people are happy and smiling and not at all ready to punch you in the head and steal your sushi like at the hockey games I attended in Los Angeles.

Tickets were about $10, and there are home games up until September 6, and it’s in historic Nat Bailey stadium which has not been torn down, nor should it be. (That last link is from local blogger Chris Parry, who just got a gig writing for scout.com…) But they should have had more food supplies on hand — they ran out of chili in the 3rd inning and hot dogs in the 7th inning and the mini donuts were rationed out slowly for only half the innings before they shut down completely. I guess what with the whole ten of us showing up unexpectedly…

Hey bloggers, I’m told there’s free wireless Internet access is also available in the stands. Shall we go test it out?

p.s. We won, 5-3.

When two Metrobloggers hang out, stuff happens. For example, Rachael and Susie and I went walking around my neighbourhood last Friday, and we stumbled upon this quirky scene (see picture).

The folks who run Vancouver Telescope Centre (3303 W. 4th Ave.) apparently set up telescopes outside their shop every weekend night so long as the weather is clear. People can come by and take a peek. I saw the stripes (and perhaps the Great Red Spot) of Jupiter.

Also participating were several drunk guys and girls from nearby Nevermind (motto: “Good times in your mouth”) who were able, without much prompting, to spot the full moon.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a cheap date, perhaps these telescopes could help. :)

See what I miss when I don’t go to the cupcake store like I really really wanted to?

So for the non-sea cucumbers out there, I’m telling you about a set of cool New Media Workshops coming up Monday, July 31 to Thursday, August 3, at SFU. You’ve got to plan now if you want to attend.

Some of the speakers:

• Robert Scales on web trends and standards

• Kris Krug on the top 20 online social networking sites
• Weston Triemstra on managing digital identity
• Avi Bryant on web applications
• Steve Kellas on writing for multimedia and the web
• Travis Smith (hey, that’s me!) on branding, positioning and designing for the web
• Haig Arman on css and design
• Will Pate on integrating blogs into your business
• Darren Barefoot on monitoring the blogosphere
• Susannah Gardner on working with bloggers, forums and building community
• Robert Ouimet on podcasting and vidblogging
• Paul Sullivan on making money on the web
• Alexandre Brabant on search engine optimization
• James Sherrett on how to measure successful online campaigns

You can come for one day, or all four days, for about $200/day — I recommend day 2. :) Full details here.

Sadly, Churrolicious restaurant is now closed. The note in the window says it’s moving, but doesn’t have a new location yet. Here’s a photo retrospective.

I feel personally responsible. I left town for a week and without me to buy churros, the entire churro sector here in Kits must have suffered awfully.

Hang in there, Hola Churro!

Zip.ca is committed [can you say committed if you haven't been doing it? - ed.] to providing you the best online video service in the country. To meet the needs of our growing membership base in British Columbia, we’re pleased to announce the opening of a new, state-of-the-art distribution centre located in Vancouver. Over the next few days we’ll be transitioning some of our inventory to Vancouver and we’ll begin shipping your DVDs bright and early on Monday, June 5, so watch your mailbox for your next DVDs.

That’ll cut Susie’s time to watch all 14 16 seasons of Law and Order on DVD in half!