My new favourite artist...Duffy

Click here for a really great article about Andrew Willows' Olympic journey from The Chronicle in Montreal…

Jane Roos has been named to the 2007 CAAWS list of Most Influential Women in Sport! I ran into jane up in Collingwood this past weekend and she reminded me about the cocktail party she's hosting this weekend. It will be an amazing (women's only) event so let me know if you'd like to go.

In celebration of amazing women and in support of our FEMALE
ATHLETES the Canadian Athletes Now Fund is presenting
"Tell Me About Yourself" Cocktail Party on
Saturday Feb. 2nd, 2008...an evening of exceptional conversations.

Venue: Soma Restaurant & Lounge, 703 Queen Street East
Date: Saturday Feb. 2nd 2008
Time: 7:30
Dress: Be Fabulous!!

Join us to hear two POWERFUL OLYMPIC athletes share
their Amazing Formula, their Passion!

~ Networking Board,
~ Mingle with over 50 Olympic Female Athletes
~ Silent Auction,
~Tasty Food Stations
~Giveaways
~Entertainment

YOU ARE IMPACTING our female athlete's who are powerful, strong,
dedicated, courageous, determined, strive to be the best no matter how many
obstacles, wear the maple and represent all of us! They inspire us and our daughters.

To Order TICKETS ($50.00) & Event Details
Call Us: 416-487-4442
* This is a women only event

Looking forward to an incredible night...please pass this email on to
other Diva's in your network.

We went to see The Orphanage (El Orfanato) at the Carleton last night. This latest contribution by writer/director Guillermo del Toro is full of creepy-goodness! The last film I saw by him was Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) and I was blown away by the richness of the images and stories. Both are fantastic and eerie but Labyrinth (imho) is incomparable.

Huh. Talk about life imitating art...I just caught the last three skaters in the US Figure Skating Nationals and the top two were, well...I'll let you be the judge. For your consideration;

Johnny Weir...

and Evan Lysacek ...

Johnny Weir...

and Evan Lysacek...

Johnny Weir...

and Evan Lysacek...

Oh btw, they were tied for points but Lysacek won because of some figure skating rule - he won the free skate or something.

I love that I see so many hawks on my drive home from work.



So after weights last night, I went to an in-store event at the Lululemon in Oakville: a free life coach session on kick-starting 2008. I have to say that I was pretty tired and dragging my butt by the time I got there but it was worth it.

You know how I'm all about the little signs. Well, at Sunday brunch we had a brief conversation about potential trip destinations for this summer. Someone brought up India. Two people thought India would NOT be a good destination and two of us (Marisha and I) thought it would be worth it. The two negatories presented all kinds of arguments against and all we could say were things like, the Dalai Lama lives there, how bad could it be? What about the Taj Mahal? Maybe we could get visas to travel in Tibet. And so on. Really though - isn't anywhere different worth seeing?
So, back to Monday night where the speaker, Leslie, offered up this example for goal-setting ... "so, let's say your goal is to take a trip to ummm...India. This is how you would keep yourself on track."

Okay. India. Check.

We're supposed to be in Malaysia in late June/early August so it is clearly an option.

The rest of the session was about setting a goal and defining the ways to bring it about. My goal is to get a new career, preferably in the outdoor adventure/travel industry. After we laid out our plans we grouped up and discussed; I was grouped with an obviously well-cared for Oakville-ite I'll call Mindy and Jess, one of the 20-something clerks from Lulu. Mindy went first and said her goal was to meditate for at least an hour every day. And she would accomplish it by setting aside the time (??). I went next with a plan to start an outdoor-something business which could be anything from an adventure racers training camp up north somewhere to a surf hostel in Tofino. My execution included taking some entrepreneurial and travel & leisure courses and getting building quotes and projections on land cost from my friend Karen the carpenter. Jess, wants to effect change in our world by volunteering in a developing country. She would be would be researching and contacting the multitude of organizations involved in facilitating it and earning the money to underwrite the trip.

As I was leaving the session, Jess called me over and gave me the name of a friend's company in Toronto that organizes wilderness tours in Northern Ontario. She said at the very least I could talk to them about what's involved in this kind of business and at best, maybe apply for a job! It doesn't even matter if anything comes of it - I loved being reminded of the network of coincidences. My time these past few years has been so defined by the training, the team, nationals and worlds that I'd closed the doors on everything else and hadn't even realized it. Plus, it was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours. And it definitely gave me a kick in the ass to quit whining about how much I hate my job and take control of things.

I was so motivated about grabbing back the reins of my life that I even stepped on the scales this morning. I've been avoiding it but discovered I've lost 6 of the 10 pounds I gained after Australia.

Moving on.

Just glanced at the countdown clock and it's 200 more days until the Olympics!!

Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park

I cannot put down the book I'm reading. I woke up at 6:30am, made a pot of tea and have been sitting in front of the fire reading for over 3 hours. I kind of feel like I'm being dragged around Britain (past and present) by an extremely entertaining friend who keeps saying, "Oh. My. God! Just wait until you see what's over here!!" It reminds me of how I felt the first time I read Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume. Not to say her style is similar to his because it's not. It's just so .... so original.

Whoa, I just went onto Google Earth to map a paddling route in Florida and discovered they've added a new feature. I was selecting the various layers and clicked on Gallery. Suddenly there were little youtube icons everywhere...You can now look at any youtube video specifically associated with that location. So amazing!

So. I've retired from the women's team. I started to type that it wasn't a difficult decision due to my age but I'm going to amend that - it's not an unexpected decision.
It was a difficult decision.

Difficult because being on the team has added so much to my life; the people, the goals, the trips, the competition (and of course the winning). Difficult too because it's easy to stay involved with a team like this. They always need people to fill the boat or organize something, drive the coach boat or hold the video camera. However I realized that if I'm not racing, it's not where I want to be. And hopefully I'll be too busy with other endeavours.

I think it was slightly less difficult because I'd faced the possibility of leaving the team before. Just before we left for Berlin in 2005, my Mom, who has advanced Parkinson's, finally got a spot in a nursing home. A day later my Dad was diagnosed with cancer (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma). Their care became the dominant focus for my siblings and me so it seemed time to quit paddling. Since we were so close to leaving I was torn between the two committments. It's not difficult for another paddler to step into stroke just before a major event but it's not an ideal situation. My sister was great and assured me that my parents' health would not decline drastically in the couple of weeks I would be away.

The whole time we were in Germany I felt terrible, afraid that one of my parents would disappear before I came home. It was too hard and I decided this would be my last worlds. We made history in Berlin by sweeping the event with 3 gold medals. I was glad I went but barely remember anything other than an overwhelming sense of worry and guilt.

Our coaches always say that the end of the season is never the time to make decisions about next year so I chose to enjoy the break and let things be. As my parents lives settled into a "new normal", I continued to paddle.

Just before winter training started up in 2006 Jackie, and then Blake, announced that they would be retiring from the crew. It sounded like a good idea. And why not leave while we're on top? In the end I stayed on because I love the team and the training - it wouldn't hurt to do some extra pool paddling and weights and to see my friends regularly. Underlying everything though, was the concern that I wouldn't make the cut. For the past 18 months my training had taken a back seat and there were a number of times I kicked myself for not leaving before the season started. Then I made the short list and forgot all about that. I was going to Australia!

I am so glad I decided to stay this last year because I can retire and be content with it. We swept the 2007 Worlds (this time winning a fourth gold medal in an add-on event we never raced before - the 2k) and I got to travel with the tightest group of friends since Poland.

It also helps that the next Worlds are back in Poznan, Poland where this crew made it's debut. Serendipitous actually, since the 2009 Worlds were supposed to be held in Moscow. This way I can leave feeling things have come full-circle.

Oh George! I'm watching The Hour, ready to re-commit myself to Strombo but I'm torn...his guests are Peter Mansbridge and Les Stroud. If any men can pull me away from GS, these are the two....

Happy Birthday, Larry!

For your viewing pleasure...A very good (albeit dark) CG animation.

As always, the universe has a way of balancing the good & bad. My day did improve yesterday.

A) I received a really great voicemail from last saturday night's date (I'm not sure if it's going anywhere...maybe one more date before I say something).

B) I got a call from a former hook-up and we had a really nice conversation that was ... just nice. Nice when things end and you're still friends, nice that he still wants to know how I'm doing (and it's not 2:00am), nice to have coffee & a convo to look forward to...

C) did heavy weights at the gym and nothing hurt even though I'd upped the load.

D) the mail-lady brought;
i) a refund cheque from Enersource because I've cut down on my electrical consumption so much. Really it's just because past roommates who were home for most of the day have moved out but a refund is a refund! Am I right? This also translates into a 10% reduction of my regular bill.
ii) a notice that the credit limit has been raised on one of my credit cards! I realize that's a double-edged sword but yay for good credit!
iii) an accounting of my Aeroplan miles and a list of the cruises and vacations I could take for next to nothing!

E) my gmail brought;
i) an invitation to a free Lululemon session with a life coach. I would never hire one on my own but it's always great to have a positive outside force provide motivation for the new year.
ii) notice of a 50% off sale at Ninewest (so I can proudly walk the second floor at work!)
ii) an invitation to a friend's condo in Collingwood for the weekend. Should I snowboard? X-country? Snowshoe? Lounge eating bon-bons? Decisions...

I'm a whiney bitch today so don't read any further. This post is mostly for venting. It's also to remind me that there will occasionally be days like this and we do get through them.

The list of grievances so far;

A) I had to do a bingo last night. For anyone masochistic enough to still be reading, canoe club members have to work at a bingo hall a couple of nights because they reciprocate with funding for the club which in turn saves us a lot on our membership fees. It's a good thing but it's still annoying to be stuck in a bingo hall on a sunday night for 3 and a half hours when you're not a bingo type of person.

B) We had paddle pool this morning (7 x 7', 1'R)and since my S.I. is still jammed, my back hurts more than usual. I'm fine with pieces shorter than 4' but right now we're doing a lot of technique which means longer pieces and I suck. Every part of the stroke hurts and it's got to be frustrating for the coach who says the same things over and over and thinks he's not getting through. Sorry Larry - you are, I'm just a whiney bitch..

C) in the "Waaah, I have to do my jaawwwwb" category, it's the first Monday where everyone's back at work (our clients in the academic sector have been off for 2 weeks) so we're really busy and they're all pissy and bitchy too.

D) and finally, somebody left a DQ swirl of poop on the seat of the only working women's toilet on the first floor. This is an office, dammit, adults only. WTF?? I had to go up to the second floor which always depresses me because they can afford nicer shoes.

Keep in mind it's only 8:00am.

Matt Frewer turns 50 today. If you're asking, "Matt who??", here's a reminder;