Wow - this is the week of homecomings. So great to have you back Jenn! And I can't believe you actually volunteered to come out to practice at 5:45 this morning! You look fantastic, by the way. Vancouver apparently has some kind of reverse-aging oxygenation system - I must move there before it's too late!
We played a little birthday poker at Carrie and Attila's last night. Carrie had seen Louise and little Mia at Alyson's. Can't wait to see them!
I'm helping my son move into his new apartment this weekend. This is exciting because, although they've had lots of apartments while in university, they were too far away for me to be part of the moving process. I'll probably just get in the way taking photos - "Okay, hold up that heavy looking box ... just a little higher...hiiiigher...okay smile..."

I love that Monty Python is enjoying a renaissance. Since I overdosed on it in highschool and then 15 years later when Ryan was in highschool, I lost sight of how brilliant and innovative they were for the times. Matt has been killing us down at the canoe club with the fish slapping dance so I decided to pull it up. I can't find the whole sketch but here's a 15 second clip. I think Matt's technique is slightly better...

As mentioned, I spent the past two days at the Island for the db festival. It's always a good time but was kind of weird this year since so many people were missing. The women's race was okay but it wasn't really our crew. About half were at a flatwater regatta in Welland so we just got bodies to fill the boat. It never really came together but was good racing experience for all of us. SRS also put a throw-together team in the international race which was fun - eight from the womens team and random guys pulled mostly, I think, from Scotia-Rouge. None of the men's team were there except a couple who were coaching. Understandably, they chose not to race.
The crews I coach did really well - medals for everyone and a cup for the corporate team. Their president was there to see it and was very pleased. I think it's a good time to ask for a raise! The Kenyans were thrilled with their second place medal and put on a great performance on the awards stage. Later we went back to their team area at the end of the racecourse and danced and sang for about an hour. It was so much fun, I think I may go ahead with my plans to visit south and east Africa sometime soon!
The MCC group hung out at the marshalling area for a couple of hours and then headed to the patio bar at the ferry dock. The after-party, although not planned, was basically the same as always without the big entry fee and terrible food. It was a nice way to wind down before taking the ferry home.

The women's canoe group did amazing in Welland - Chrissy 1st, Eve 3rd and Rachel 4th in both 1000m and 500m, Jess was 6th and 5th respectively. I haven't heard about the 2K yet but imagine it was basically the same.
The men's canoe group did equally well on Saturday but I don't know how things went on Sunday. In the 1000m it was something like Paul Bryant 1st, Adam Klevinas 2nd, Chris 3rd and Dana 4th - not sure where Matt ended up or the midget guys. Will know more tomorrow.

Our juniors and U23 also did well in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Results are posted at http://www.canoepcf.org/events/bydgoszcz.html (scroll to the .pdf files at the bottom) but basically everyone made their A-finals. Canada was fourth overall in the standings. Not bad! It's been a long trip for those guys but they should be home soon. I can't wait to hear all their stories.

Hopefully I'll have some photos to post for each of these events soon.

MCC home regatta (clockwise from top-left); ** Christa and Lauren in K2 ** Matt realizes he picked England to win in the world cup pool ** Missy paddlers ** Women's K4 ** Paul Coulsen nipped out at the finish ** Women's C1 ** Men's K4 flexing **







The next couple of days are frustrating because every fun event in the GTA seems to have been planned for this weekend. I want to do it all!
What I'm missing:
- Ontario Team Trials in Welland
- Charlotte's birthday party
- a handful of wedding showers
- a baby shower
Where I'll be for 2 full days:
- Toronto Island for the Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival. Not the worst way to spend a weekend but still...

So Kevin Wallace finished the RAAM in 5th place - what an amazing guy! He rode 3042.8 miles practically non-stop and raised $100,000 to fight cancer. He is one of those, you know, heroes who lives in your neighbourhood.



On the other side of the ocean, our U23 and juniors are competing in Bydgoszcz, Poland (yellow clock). Results will be posted at http://www.canoepcf.org/events/bydgoszcz.html .
Good Luck Dustin! And I don't know everyone on the team but can you pass that on, especially to Geoff Clarke and Ben Russell.

Okay, last word on Paris Hilton's career in music. I was impressed with the quality of the song so I checked out who was on her production team;
Producers Scott Storch (50 Cent, Beyoncé, Missy Elliott), J.R. Rotem (Rihanna, Lil’ Kim) and Dr. Luke (Pink, Kelly Clarkson). Mixing duties were handled by Grammy Award winners Tony Maserati (Black-Eyed Peas, Destiny’s Child, Usher) and Serban Ghenea (Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears), whilst co-writers include Kara DioGuardi (Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera), Billy Steinberg (Madonna, Kylie Minogue) and Shepherd Solomon (Natalie Imbruglia). Power and money can go a long way! But if that's the case, I hope Donald Trump doesn't decide to do an album!

Okay, since I trashed Paris Hilton sound unheard in my last post, I'm offering up the video of her first pop release, The Stars are Blind. Taken at face value, I actually like the song and suspect it's doing well in clubs all over the world. It makes me wish I was going to Santorini this summer! The video, well that's another story. It's obvious that very little went into the "scripting". (It looks like the direction went something like this, "You...boy, yes you, the pretty one - go grope Paris..now roll around in the sand. More groping...more rolling. Annnnnddd cut."



I can't help but be struck by the similarities to a big club fav by another vapid Blondie.

I picked up Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere last night. I definitely like it but will have to listen a few more times before deciding whether I LOVE it. The style is a bit schizophrenic and at times there are strong reminders that Danger Mouse produced the Gorillaz last album but it must mean something that I played it all the way through on it's first time out of the wrapper. Word is that Paris Hilton (??!) is planning to cover "Crazy" for her debut album. Gah, that could ruin it for me!

It looks like Kevin is currently in 5th place in the RAAM and has raised $87,297.00 to fight cancer. Just over 350 miles to the finish line - GO KEV!

http://www.kanuregatta-bochum.de/reves/2006/Zeitpl_Start.php

Here's the link for checking on how our Junior team is doing at the international regatta in Bochum Germany (green clock). They were top 5 in most of their heats. Finals tomorrow and Sunday





Race Across America update
Kevin has moved into fourth place!! Apparently he's promised Rose that he'll quit racing after this one. Sad to think how much motiviation Kevin has to throw out to get us through a one hour spin class when he's pushing himself beyond physical and mental limits for 8 days. The photos and raceteam reports are great. Donations, dedications, motivational messages are all welcome at http://www.teamrace.com/

This dress? More than just a hot, retro-punk item. The fabric is woven from reclaimed magnetic tape - you know, the kind you find in audio cassettes. Running a tape head over the fabric emits a sound. Admittedly, it's sctratchy at best since the various recordings (close to 20 tracks) are mixed up during the weaving process. However, at the request of Jon Fishman (Phish), the Sonic Rhythm Dress was designed to emit "pure sound" by sewing in patches of individual sounds. The designer then provided him with gloves that had tape heads mounted in them for playback on stage. The heads have to be run across the fabric at the same speed it was recorded to get a good sound but still a great, original concept! Check out all of their products at http://www.sonicfabric.com . The Tell-tail Thangka or Fishflags seem an interesting alternative to the wind chimes I dislike so much...

I was standing in Starbuck's yesterday morning and saw what I thought was a weird weather system coming in from the lake. Then I remembered that the four stacks at the Lakeview Powerplant were slated for demolition...

Click here to watch the movie (Quicktime)

Oh yeah, something I meant to write about last weekend. I'll read anything by Fight Club author, Chuck Palahniuk. He is the master of creepy and I just picked up his latest, Haunted. So I'm reading the book before falling asleep one night and dropped it on the bed beside me. I turned out the light, set the alarm, rolled over and just as I was closing my eyes, saw the face at right glowing up at me - not the whole rectangle of the book - just the face. It was AWESOME! The cover is treated with some fluorescent material but it's a very subtle effect - eerie. The thing I love most is there's nothing on the cover or in the marketing that tells you about it. Sorry if I'm blowing it for you but the odds of you buying this book and recreating the situation are slim. You could always take it camping or to a cottage, get everyone telling ghost stories and then just leave the book lying around for someone to see as they grope their way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Actually, when I was telling the girls about it they all agreed that there's nothing in the marketing because mine is the only book that glows. They didn't come right out and call me crazy but it was clearly what they meant.

Nice - I just got an email from Dustin. He's had the flu but was still able to score another gold in C1 500m. Good job, D-Shaw!

Highlights of the weekend, MCC home regatta, fun night out at Tutti Matti for Jackie's birthday and then back to the club after only a few hours sleep for the MCC dragon boat festival on Sunday. It was especially sweet when the crew I coach beat the roommate's crew in the "E" final...too bad he wasn't around to see it.

quick update on things:

Dustin's doing well racing in Germany even though his luggage was lost and he broke the shaft of his paddle. The German guys helped him fiberglass it back together and then he raced 250m - winning gold. I'm hoping to find a better site with results as they continue their tour.

Kevin Wallace, has just begun what has been ranked as the World's toughest bike race, the Race Across America. Kevin is in the Solo category from San Diego California, to Atlantic City New Jersey, in just over 8 days (on 2 hours of sleep per night). In the spirit of doing things to the extreme, Kevin is raising money for the Betty Wallace Women's Health Centre at Trillium Health Centre. He is doing the riding, we need to do the donating. Go to http://www.teamrace.com/ . If you leave a message in the guestbook or send a dedication, it will be read to Kevin over a loud speaker as he rides so send something to help him stay motivated!

Another busy weekend which included our first db regatta of 2006 and a bbq for Sue & Kris.
The women's team went into the weekend with very few expectations and we came away with the trophy. Nice! Pickering also gave out patches instead of medals to commemorate their 10th anniversary - a nice change although it'll probably end up collecting dust on the shelf with my CCA snowballs (if I ever remember to take it out of my car, that is).
Anyway, it rained, no POURED, all day. The women's races were done by 12:30 and I was thankful to be able to head over to the K&K's house to shower and dry my clothes. I had to go meet the fam at Wongs for dinner but headed back later in the evening. As you can imagine, there was hardly anyone left at the course but, as proven in beer tents all over the world, the die-hards qualify as "the FUN people". We hung out there for awhile then mud-surfed over to Kevin and Karen's where the party continued. Stringer, Chrissy and I left around 1:30. Btw, if anyone needs a 'No Parking' sign, there's one in my garage complete with sandbag.

The next day was beautiful and sunny. I tried to sleep late but wasn't very successful. Dog-walking, coffee-drinking, errand-running - I did all the Sunday stuff, then headed over to Sarah's parents for Kris and Sue's wedding shower BBQ. Another great party with the emphasis on families... babies, puppies...it was so much fun! Enough reading, click here for my photos from the day (note: the photo of Drayton's watch was the first ever shot taken by Meredith. I just held the camera). Feel free to take a look at the other albums by backing out to My Photos.

Bits and Pieces

The women's practice was great this morning and I think it had a lot to do with Jackie being back in the boat! Also, everyone's really excited about our first race together in Pickering this weekend and that translates into power on the water.

Welcome to Chrissy who visited VOC for the first time and already holds the record for the most time spent reading! I'll have to find a suitably embarrassing photo to put up (jj). Oh and a guest shout out to Dave (who, according to his blog, lost his underwear at the Wayne Gretzky Centre last night. You can see his comment attached to this post. Be nice - he thought we were rowers.)

Check out the new link to the right. Guy Petzall is a prolific letter writer, asking the questions you'd never ask (why don't we milk pigs - they lactate too!), of the people you'd never contact (the Illinois Pork Producers, the Pope, the Simpson's), getting the responses you'd never expect.

Boygroove - Definitely worth seeing. Great choice Jackie! The Toronto run ends on June 4th but I suspect they'll bring it back. It's a funny, funny production with fantastic, talented actors. It helped that one of the characters is a ringer for Scott and after we'd determined that...well it was just that much funnier. Now, whenever I pass Scotty out on the water at Sunnyside, standing at the front of his dragonboat, hip-bucking in time to the stroke...aaahhaaha... I'm sorry...I have to take a moment here....the tears... it's just too much....

Okay, so what else? Carrie and Attila have a new family member! Lola, the cutest puppy ever. She's an English Bulldog - incredibly strong-willed and confident for a 13-week old. Carrie just sent some photos - see what I mean? Cute!