Detached

Active Listings: 4,636

Sales: 814

Benchmark: $2,040,000

Avg. Days on Market: 32

Townhouse

Active Listings: 1,872

Sales: 580

Benchmark: $1,127,200

Avg. Days on Market: 20

Apartment

Active Listings: 5,449

Sales: 1,416

Benchmark: $776,500

Avg. Days on Market: 25

I remember watching my first playoff run in 1994 like it was yesterday. My elementary school played a fight song every game day, we got cars to “honk for the Canucks” as they drove past our cul-de-sac on game days. I forced my cat Tigger to sit in the same spot on the couch as he was clearly good luck… Bure, Linden, McLean - it was amazing. I was hooked as a fan.

The Canucks lost in the Stanley Cup Final that year. To which my father responded optimistically:
“You know what? There’s always next year!”

And then pessimistically:
“We may never see the Canucks win the Stanley Cup in our lifetimes”

Geez, bit grim there Dad…. but he’d been following the team since their inception in 1971 so he had 23 years of mediocrity and a Stanley Cup final loss in 82 under his belt.

I ignored his history lesson - if it wasn’t this year it had to be the next. Right? Right? WRONG!

We got close in 95, 03, 07, 09, 10, really close in 2011, somewhat close in 2020. And now here I am - THIRTY BLOODY YEARS LATER - ever hopeful, steadily more superstitious, and experiencing a level of stress watching hockey I haven’t felt in ages. It feels amazing.  

And you know what? I THINK THIS MIGHT BE THEIR YEAR! And if not there’s always next year.

#NoRiotsPlease

Read These: Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

Outsider by Brett Popplewell

The Duel by John Ibbitson

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

Given my age I primarily know Steve Martin as an actor: Three Amigos, The Jerk, Roxanne, Pink Panther and so many more! In this book, Steve is remarkable candid about his comedic career path and family/private life - maybe a bit too candid when he explains his adventures in dating throughout the 70s. I’m looking forward to watching the documentary just released on Apple TV. And the next season of Only Murders in the Building!

“Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.”

TLDR:

1) Did you like it? Yeah
2) Are you glad you read it? It made me very curious about the banjo for a minute
3) Would you recommend it? Only if you like “The Jerk”.

Outsider by Brett Popplewell

“82 year old recluse / ultra-marathoner, lives in a school bus on the outskirts of Vernon…”

Curious? So was I and this book didn’t disappoint.

Dag Aaybe was a logger in BC, an actor (Goldfinger), skiing dare devil (he famously skied down the Lions Peak in 1969 causing an avalanche and made it out alive) and eventually the oldest competitor in Canada’s Death Race ultra-marathon.

The author digs deep into his past which is WILD to say the least.

“If you set your life up so that everything is comfortable, then you never have to work for anything. If you never have to work for anything, then you start to grow old. Most people don’t understand that.”

TLDR:

1) Did you like it? Yes!
2) Are you glad you read it? Very interesting read.
3) Would you recommend it? YES - this book just kept surprising again and again

The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada by John Ibbitson

That Mike Myers book on Canada from last month got me going down a historical path and this book popped up at the right time. Clocking in at 18 hours I think this might have been the longest audiobook I’ve ever tackled and to be honest it held my interest throughout.

“To understand our times, we must first understand theirs.”

Ibbitson does a great job of jumping back and forth between the two men - charting their respective paths to office, the climate of the time and a decent amount of greater historical context for the issues that arose.

The part that surprised / entertained me the most was Diefenbaker’s fraught relationship with JFK. Including a heated phone call where JFK called the Prime Minister a “prick” and a “shit” OR at a tree planting ceremony Diefenbaker enthusiastically dug a hole and JFK, not to be outdone, put his back out trying to out excavate him.

TLDR:

1) Did you like it? Yes
2) Are you glad you read it? I feel very well informed on Canadian Politics
3) Would you recommend it? Yes but at 18 hours that’s a chunk of time.

Mother’s DAY! Sunday May 12th

Don’t forget to call your mom, grandma, mother-to-be, etc, etc, etc.

Mom’s don’t wish they could sleep like a baby…

They wish they could sleep like a dad!