Saturday morning - schedule says 20km paddle out to Howard Park Beach.


We did this same paddle last weekend in the worst possible conditions - howling winds and low, low tide. I think I commented on the fact that none of the commercial or pleasure boats were on the water?
Anyway, this Saturday was calm, beautiful and HOT. Pete had decided to split the trip into 4 legs so that everyone could switch up and try the different boats - OC-6, 4, 2 and single. I had on my bikini and carried a bag of gatorade, water, sunscreen and aspirin (see previous post re: jello shooters). I started out steering the 6 which is quite easy if you have someone who knows what they're doing teach you (thanks Peter!). I need to qualify that "easy" - 4 or 5 years ago at a db training camp, we had some Oc-6s to try out. They asked me to steer in a race - no one knew how to steer them so all I did was rudder and draw. It was exhausting! In reality, steering OC-4s and OC-6s just requires you to jam the blade in at the side of the boat and use the top hand to make subtle adjustments to blade angle. Okay, anyone who grew up sailing or steering crew boats is thinking, "Yeah? And what's your point?" but this kind of stuff is new to me. Point is, compared to that first time in OC-6, this was way less taxing, incredibly efficient and ummm...logical. The OC-4 is touchier and breaks away quickly if you oversteer. I've always had respect for those who race in the big water but this took it to a new level, especially for the steersperson.
Anyway, the trip was relatively uneventful. I ended up steering the OC-6 for 2 of the legs because Coach Del was a no-show for the workout. Something to do with Mucho Grande flu. We had some concern when we arrived at Howard Park because one of the OC-2s, Clem and Gail (a non-swimmer wearing a life-jacket), was nowhere to be seen. Rich paddled back in a single and found them making slow progress in the shallow water between the channel and Howard Park. They had hulied just where we entered the Gulf of Mexico and while walking the boat across a sandbar, Gail cut her foot badly on a shell. They had very little rest before we decided it was time to head home.
The trip back was more difficult. The beautiful weather had brought everyone out and the weekend traffic was unbelievable. The wash from those big boats and sea-doos was challenging to say the least. The OC-4 and a couple of singles hulied and we were all happy when, 4 hours after starting out, we got back to the bayou.
I grabbed a quick nap after breakfast at Danny K's and then headed back to the bayou where we unrigged and loaded the boats. I kept my C-1 out so I could keep paddling until we left but otherwise, all 34 boats were on the trailer by the end of the afternoon.

Afterward, we cleaned up and got ready to hit the town. We had tickets to see the Senators play the Lightning in Tampa Bay. St. Pete Times Forum was packed and Tampa has great fans. Even when they were down 7-2 they kept cheering for their team!
Everyone was leaving the next morning so it was a great way to finish the training camp.

Ha ha...this is perfect, I miss home and I'm up the road from Dunedin...(give it a few minutes to load).

The bayou is pretty active this week. I sat and watched 4 manatees rolling around for about an hour this morning while I talked on my cell phone (I might actually be a voyeur if that was some hard core manatee lovin'). Later in the afternoon, 3 dolphins swam with us for a few kilometres out to the Gulf. They were right in the middle of all the boats, disappearing for a few seconds and then leaping up from under someone's ama. They startled a few people this way but it made the paddle a lot less like work.
The weather has gotten really hot but I hear it's fantastic at home too. I've actually been here long enough that I'm looking forward to heading home next week. I'm tired of eating restaurant food and living in my training clothes and bathing suit.

I'm not sick of Danny K.'s breakfast though! Danny K.'s Alley Cafe is a staple of the Tarpon Springs Training Camp. The tables are spread around an indoor alleyway the runs between Tarpon Avenue and the next street. I could live on their "almost famous" omelettes and endless coffee. And the servers are the same year after year which makes it feel like home. It's kind of like Helen's South.
The mayor of tarpon Springs came to our afternoon practice for a photo op. She jumped in the motor boat with Peter and they shot her with the outriggers all piled in around them. She said if she'd known we would be paddling, she'd have worn her spandex and come with us. Nice sentiment but I'm sceptical that a 50-something female politician would allow herself to be photographed in spandex! Anyway, I'm not sure when it'll be in the paper but Carl Vogel (our host when we're down there) will let us know.
Friday, the three dolphins were waiting in the channel for us. They didn't stick with us for very long this time - we were doing long pieces so maybe they got bored.
It's friday night and you know what that means - Mucho Grandes at the Mexican! The mariachi singer has loosened up a bit (probably because of his encounter with a particular db paddler from the week before) and he paid a lot of attention to the ladies at our table (did I mention the group this week was 90% women? I don't think Matt's too upset about that.) Joanne was up dancing - she's really good which is not surprising since she's a dance instructor- and we were all up on the floor by the end of the bowl, I mean night.
Afterward, we headed over to Shades where we consumed ridiculous quantities of jello shooters (new rule - I'm not ingesting anything purple after 11:00pm) and people took turns testing their strength at the punching bag. You know I'm not into those macho displays so I ended up chatting with the drummer from the band. One of the paddlers insisted we had to go to some lounge called the Zone. It sounded kind of cougar-ish so as the group walked ahead, a couple of us ducked down a side street to see what was going on at the Lime 'N Coconut. It was dead so we followed the music down the street and across Alt 19 to Bally Hoo's. It was awesome! They had a huge deck with a live band so we grabbed a couple of beers and started ripping it up on the dance floor...After just a couple of songs, the band said, "Thanks everybody, that's it for tonight. Take care getting home". Crap. We finally got to the Zone where we found just the one lone paddler sitting at the bar by herself. We looked around for the others but they were no-shows so we left. Everyone was back at the hotel, lounging on the balcony. Perfect wind-up to the night. It sounded like my roommate was lining up a little rendevous and a discussion of possible room conifgurations was going on. In the end, everyone ended up sleeping in their own beds. I woke up around 5:30am - ugh - fully dressed, under the covers with the tv remote in my hand and contact lenses glued to my eyes. The smell of the popcorn I'd burnt a few hours earlier lingered in our room. I downed some water, aspirin, crawled back into bed and was ready for our 20Km paddle at 8:00am.
more later, I'm exhausted...

Okay, I know I'm all over the map but I'll fill in the gaps eventually. Today was our afternoon off so Del, Jess and I headed to Caladesi Island. We keep hearing about this place ranked as the top natural beach in the united states. It was pretty nice! We drove to Honeymoon Island (the beach we went to on monday - also verra nice) and caught the ferry - $9.00. This isn't at all like the Toronto Island Ferry, it's a pontoon boat which actually holds a deceptively large number of people. The water is turquoise and shallow - surrounded by mangrove islands. The beach is also a state park and nature preserve. The sand was amazing, fine and white. From where we lay, it looked like we could walk across the bay to Honeymoon Beach, it was so shallow. We're hoping that next year, we can put in a workout that entails paddling to Caladesi for the day. After a couple of hours, we decided to head home. One thing I wanted to mention - when you buy your ticket, you're given a return time. We arrived at 1:00 and were advised that we had to leave on the 5:30 ferry. However you are able to return earlier if there's room on the boat.
Since it's midweek wednesday - we were able to jump on the 3:30 ferry. On the return trip we saw 3 bottlenose dolphins and our boat driver Capt. Ron stopped so we could watch them playing in the surf. He had warned us that the boat's motor was unreliable and kept cutting out on him and we had a dramatic demonstration of this just as we were cruising into the dock. Without an engine, Capt. Ron couldn't steer or reverse and we heard him yell "Hold on!" just seconds before we crashed into the dock piling. One chubby lady (representative of the female american population in this area) was tossed to the deck and it sounded like she was working up quite the court case as we disembarked. It was a great afternoon trip and although we decided we'd be happy just going to Honeymoon Beach in the future, it was a great experience and were happy to have done it. We stopped at Panera's for a latte and to pick up some dinner. Happy hour had already started by the time we got home - Pete and Del were heading out for a bit of tennis (with the aid of some Crown Royal). A nice relaxing day. I'm starting to get used to this!

Happy birthday to Louise and Mia!

Last night we had a party at a place we just call "The Mexican". It has another name but we can never remember what it is. They serve, yeah that's right, mexican food. The real reason we go there is for the Mucho Grande - a one litre margarita served in a giant glass. However, since our group was about 20 people, they brought us a Mucho MUCHO Grande - margarita in a massive punch bowl. We served everyone at our table (and several others at neighbouring tables) but still hadn't made a dent in it. A few glasses of that and everyone was up dancing to the mariachi singer. He seemed a little surprised.
After that (it was still disgustingly early) we headed to Lime 'n Coconut. This is the closest I've ever come to Jimmy Buffet's Florida. We had some of their fantastic sangria and then I started the long walk home. Cabs are basically non-existent here - Pete claims that the Greeks who settled this community didn't want the Athens cab mafia here and banned them forever. I'm not sure if that's true but whatever it is, there aren't any around. I stuck to Alt 19 because it's fairly well lit and busy but still, some creepy guy on a bicycle followed me. I stopped at Walgreens and wandered around for a bit hoping it was just a coincidence that we were going the same way but a few minutes after I left, a glance over my shoulder showed he was still there, hunched over the handlebars, paddling himself along with his feet. At least now I had a water bottle in a bag - a makeshift blackjack. He rode ahead of me and I could see him stopped by some bushes on an unlit stretch of the sidewalk. When I crossed the road, he road back a ways and then started to come up behind me. I crossed again and then again as he followed. By then I was at the service centre and the hospital which are both really busy. The next time I looked he was peddling up a sidestreet.
Even with the long walk, I was still home before midnight. I fell asleep and didn't even wake up when the bathroom window smashed while Peter was trying to close it at 4:00am. It had gotten really windy in the night. I also slept through some paddler knocking at the door around 6:30am. We were paddling at 8:00am so I'm glad I was oblivious to everything. As I mentioned, it had gotten really windy in the night. Our plan for the morning paddle was approximately 20kms to Howard Park an off-shore beach. Conditions were the WORST. Brutal wind and the
tide was against us but the group was determined to go. We put together crews for an OC-6, 4, 2 and OC-1. Jess paddled one of the Hukis but turned back when we got to the Gulf. I'll write more about the trip tomorrow. I just want to say that if you're ever staying in community where there are commercial fishermen and you're thinking of going out on the water, you should take note when they stay tied up to the dock...

Just a quick update - training camp is great, as always! Jackie, I really wish we had talked sooner. It's not the same without you.

This is such a great location and the weather has been phenomenal. Lots of dolphins and manatees in the bayou. And we lucked out. Our motel wanted to free up some rooms so offered us an empty two-bedroom house on the property for the same cost as our rooms. It's so great to have. That all changes next week when we move back to the Tarpon Inn with regular room assignments but right now we're spoiled. There's a beautiful golf course right across the street - makes me want to start golfing again. And we have a pool which is pretty but FREEZING all the time.

We paddled out to the Gulf this morning but didn't have enough time to go out as there's a second group that goes out after us - they need the boats. Lots of people at the camp this year. Liz & Fritz are here as well as Stan and his wife Daniella. Have met some Florida paddlers (always great people) who are interested in coming up to do the Around the Island race. Anyway, time's up at the library.

Meghan was in town last week so Alyson, Meghan, Carrie, Dominique and I got together for dinner in Oakville. Dom and I were the only non-pregnant women in the restaurant. What is going on in Oakville?? Okay, obviously we know what. Anyway, everyone looks fantastic and Carrie had some ultrasound pics with her. I stole this pic from Meghan's Facebook album because we all forgot to bring cameras. See... fantastic!

On Sunday, Marisha and I met up with Jax and

Blake to go pick their tree. Remember? The women's team dedicated a tree to them on the racecourse? So there are a few possibilities and we jsut have to get photos and coordinates to the city so the plaque can be installed! Exciting.

I'll be leaving for Florida momentarily. I don't know how often I'll be updating. I'll be doing it from the library in Tarpon Springs so no photos until I get home.

I love the way nature cleans up after itself. Big blizzard last night...rain and temp of +1 this morning. It wasn't too messy at all by the time I got on the road.
And BONUS... heavy snowfall + rain = clean car

We got an email yesterday reminding employees that they can't smoke on company property; not on the sidewalks surrounding the building, not in the parking lot, not INSIDE their CARS in the parking lot. I'd like to think that if I hadn't quit - wow 30 years ago - I'd have given it up when they banned smoking in public buildings. Hard to say. Just now, when I passed one of our employees smoking in the parking lot of the plaza next door, I got a feeling similar to what I would if I'd seen the same person digging through the trash in a dumpster. So yeah, it's a good bet I'd have been shamed into quitting.

I mentioned the new Lily Allen CD I picked up on the weekend. She's quirky. That's the only word I can think of - quirky and cute and totally fresh. Part Nina Hagen, part Norah Jones, an echo of Fairport Convention. I shouldn't be comparing her to all these other artsist because her style is clearly her own. I see so much future potential!
This cut, Alfie, would fall under the novelty classification and is best described as Snow White meets Dorothy Parker. I'll have to do more research on whether she writes her own stuff but in the meantime... This video sucks - I'd hoped to just post an mp3 but this is the easiest. Maybe turn off your monitor while you listen. Seriously. Oh man this video blows. Scroll up.

I was planning on keeping my fuel consumption low this weekend but by the end of it, I'd filled my tank 3 times. Okay, the final time was so I'd have a full tank this morning but you know what I mean.
Anyway, I was all over the place. I had dinner with friends in West Rouge on Friday night. Kev barbecued some chicken for us - perfectly spiced amd delicious. We were still sitting around the table laughing and talking at midnight... bad call for morning practice but so worth it to see Karen and Kevin for a few uninterrupted hours.
Saturday morning stupidity. Without warming up I tried to bench press 120lbs. I felt something pop as soon as I started to lower the weight so I just let it drop to my chest. Oomph. Good call though. I strained my teres but it would have been way worse if I'd continued to bear the weight. Shitty though - it meant I couldn't do the circuit and I had to skip two classes at circus school.
That afternoon, I headed back downtown to see Johnny O's condo. I really like it. Too much. If I could sell my place and move tonight, I would. Ideally, I'd like a little more space but he's in a really good building, the people seem nice and it's in my old hangout area - Queen West @ Spadina. I'm getting an agent to take me around to various lofts and condos in the area when I get home from Florida. It means a complete mind-shift but I think I'm ready for it. When I bought my house, I still had a son in university who may or may not move home plus two big dogs that needed a yard. Things have changed considerably since then. Johnny and I hung out for a bit, headed up to HMV (got the new Lily Allen and Fallout Boy - love both). We stopped at Sen5es for a drink and a snack - had a minor celebrity sighting just seconds after Johnny had made an unkind crack about the celebrity in question (we didn't know she was sitting just behind us - on the other side of a pillar!).
From Johnny's I went home, packed my overnight bag and headed up to Lake Simcoe for Sabrina's birthday. Her champagne birthday. I've never heard of this tradition before but your champagne birthday is when your age and the day of the month on which it falls are the same. So Sabrina is 27 on February 27th. TONS of food and alcohol. The food did me in - I hit the pillow around 1am but the party continued until 4. I hung out there until 1pm on sunday then headed home. Watched Diner on DVD then slept until the Oscars came on. Thank goodness for frozen pizza! I didn't have to go out to get something to eat!

The power has gone off at work 6 times since I've been here this morning. I wish they'd just send us home. I wonder if there's any correlation between the outages and my severe craving for coffee and peanut butter cookies.

I picked this item up at christmas just because....I don't know why... it's so damned funny (did I say "damned"? Ironic.) Couldn't figure out who to give it to so it just sits on my desk at work. A couple of people were slightly offended until I pointed out that it's probably marketed as a serious item in the southern states. Click to enlarge so you can read the labels. The Jesus statue with the mirror belly is pretty cool but my favourite is the Virtuous Vanilla Lip Balm - SPF 18! Is that enought to keep my lips soft and smooth while I burn for all eternity??!

Ever since I checked out Marisha's new condominium overlooking the lake, I've been rethinking my need for a house in the suburbs. The more I think about it, the crazier it seems. Do I really need 4 bedrooms? 3 bathrooms? A CAR?? The answer is obvious. However, being the slow mover that I am, it'll be at least a couple of years before I make a move. On Saturday, I'm dropping by another friend's new condo at King & Spadina. The penthouse in his building is available for about the same cost as my house. I wish I was more spontaneous...

How do you like my new "Chinese Zodiac" clock? I wish I had more time to change the rest of the template to match it.
Actually, the question of how much time I spend on my blog came up the other day when a non-blogging friend checked mine out for the first time. Blogspot makes the initial setup pretty easy with ready-made templates. I've made some additions like the clock - in which case getting it the way I want it, size and position, takes some time but not hours or days. In general, I do most of the posts during my coffee break or at the end of my lunch hour. Video and photo uploads only take a second, especially since I have a HUGE database of photos. Plus, I am the google - youtube queen. So, if you think you'd like to blog, give it a go and let me know if you need help!

Speaking of blog-goddesses...
If, like me, you are disturbed by the current goings-on in the music industry, please visit Go Fug Yourself (link at right) and read the "Well Played Tina Turner" post. It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one who falls asleep each night hoping I'll wake up to the realization that Freddy Mercury is not dead - that, in fact, "he's just fine and ready to go on tour again".
Well played, fuggers!

Ladies, I can't stress this enough - if you go out with your girlfriends, no matter how drunk and/or obnoxious they get, no matter how early you have to get up the next day - make sure everyone gets home. The following sounds like an episode of Sex & the City - so much so that I checked Snopes.com to see if it's an urban legend (it's not). And don't try figuring out who it is, none of us know the woman. I know the friend through a friend.
Two thirty-something girlfriends meet after work for a few drinks. One of the ladies gets completely wasted. Her friend (who has to get up early for work the next day) wants to go home and does what any of us would under the circumstances; pushes Drunk Girl into a cab, gives the driver Drunk Girl's address and enough cash to get her home. On the way, Drunk Girl decides she wants just one more drink and directs the cab to a bar within walking distance of her place. She's out of cash though and has to go to an ATM. At the ATM, the man who was (apparently) using it before her says, "That guy over there (points across the street) looks a little shifty. I think he's waiting to roll you for your cash. I recognize you from the neighbourhood and I think it's best if I walk you home. Don't worry, I'll stay about five steps behind and just make sure you get into the house safely."
The last conscious thought Drunk Girl has is, "this is a GREAT idea, what a NICE guy"....
The next morning, the friend who paid for the cab gets a frantic phone call...it's Drunk-now-Hangover Girl who is horrified that she woke up to find the ATM guy in bed beside her. She tells the whole story, as much as she remembers, and her friend tries to make her feel better. "Okay, so you had a one night stand with a guy you met at an ATM. He didn't kill you or rob you so it's not that bad. Could be worse, right?"
It kinda is.
Turns out he's the HOMELESS guy who panhandles at the ATM each day.

By the time she gets off the phone and goes back to her room, her bed is empty. She finds Homeless Guy in a bathtub full of bubbles, surrounded by candles. He's in homeless guy heaven!
Anyway, she says she's gotten to know him and he's not so bad. In fact she lets him store his gear on her front porch. Not quite what's meant by the expression "Charity begins at home" but whatever...

A bunch of us had a weird, six degrees of separation moment last night. After my class, I met Marisha at Bar Wellington . I drive past this place on the corner of Wellington and Portland at least 3 times a week and wanted to check it out. We had been there for about 2 hours when Blake called. He was on his way home from Port Credit so took a detour to meet us. Anyway, we're sitting talking and Marisha says to Blake, "I ran into someone who knows you. Do you remember Jay Prentice?" Blake didn't get a chance to answer. There was a couple who had been sitting beside us for the entire 3 hours and at that point the guy says, "excuse me, I'm Jay Prentice's brother"...so weird! Former Rouge paddlers so everyone's talking at once - "You know Jenn Stanford?! She was your roommate??!! Jonathon Hollins?! Do you remember that girl Jodi??". This guy's poor date was just sort of sitting there, out of things. So the brother (Derek Prentice) asks Blake if he played hockey with Jay and Blake replied, "No but my buddy Greg Secko did". The girlfriend perks up from the end of the bar and says, "Hey, I went to Western with Greg Secko!" It was one of the craziest, small world moments I've ever witnessed. Maybe Bar Wellington is like some Twilight Zone-ish location where everyone who enters is connected in some way. Anyway, if you're in the area, it's worth dropping in.

Olympic medalist Nathan Baggaley has been arrested on drug charges. Police found 762 ecstasy tablets, a quantity of unknown white powder, cannabis and more than $1000 in cash in a car occupied by Baggaley, 31, and NSW surf-ski representative Kane Thomas Battese. He’s already serving a two-year sports sanction imposed by the ICF for taking banned steroids. Now he’s charged with five drug offences, all of which carry maximum 25-year jail terms.
The really shitty thing is, he shares a house with a number of other athletes all of whom are now suspect and being questioned by police. And I’m sure his former girlfriend, world record-breaking swimmer Sophie Edington, will also suffer from the fallout. She ended their two year relationship a week ago but that’s not very long. There'll be lots of questions about her integrity as well.

wow! Paddler babies from coast to coast. I always enjoy getting emails from Meghan (Hersey now Lea) but her most recent - announcing that she and Andrew will be having a baby in early August - was especially nice to receive. That'll be 3 babies born to friends in less than a month - Alyson, Carrie and then Meghan...of course, it's right at the 3 month mark for August dates so maybe there's one out there we haven't heard about yet! I don't know whether I should open an account at Pottery Barn Kids or buy stock in Toys 'r Us...
I will add a photo of Andrew and Meghan together when I get home.

Point form post.
-Really busy the past week what with upping our workouts in preparation for Florida and more classes at circus school.
-Went on a date on Thursday unfortunately, he turned out to be baggage guy after all. Brought up his ex-wife within the first 8 minutes so I won't be seeing him again.
- On Friday, I went skating with Andrea, Trevor, Mackenna and Alicia at the ice pad on Woodeden. I haven't skated in ages and it was tons of fun - even with my hockey skates and a pitted ice rink.
- Saturdays a full day of training - until 2:00 at least. After that, I went to the F.I. for a flush run and then sorted clothes for Jackie's clothing swap party. It was a fun time, got rid of some clothes, hung out with friends and Jackie raised about $600 for the arthritis foundation. Tammy brought their new little baby, Kyle John. He's 10 days old and a dream child. He slept the entire time except for 10 minutes when he woke up for a snack. Carrie's been so busy with school that I haven't had a chance to see her - she doesn't look pregnant from the back but she's got a baby bump up front.
- I slept until 10:30 on Sunday. Truthfully, I only got out of bed because I wanted coffee and it had to be Timmie Ho's. I spent the afternoon checking out Marisha's new place at Harbourfront - it's fantastic! End unit with an unobstructed view of the lake. I think she'll be really happy there. After that, I headed home for a relaxing night eating pizza while flipping between Entourage (dvd) and the Superbowl.
- There's new energy at the club as people get ready to leave for training camp. I don't go until March but all the boat loading and talk of flying/driving south is making me excited about my own trip! I haven't booked my flight yet but am watching the websites. I may end up driving yet if I don't find a way to get my boat down there!
-I'm still plagued by this sinus infection but I have a doctor's appointment at the end of the week so have hopes of getting rid of it forever!

Okay, I think I know what it is about George Stromboulop...the guy on The Hour. his interview style reminds me of Brian Linehan...without the turtleneck, blazer, munchkin-faced thing he had going. I was addicted to Linehan's interviews in the '70s & '80s. James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio?? He's a rank amateur next to Linehan's exhaustive research and smooth, smug delivery. So many times you would hear an actor respond to some little tidbit Brian had dredged up from the past with, "How on earth do you know that??". He never revealed negative things, only the positive or flattering. And the were usually superstars who had been interviewed millions of times so they appreciated that someone had gone beyond reading their press release.

Last weekend - Marisha's birthday/moving party - so many people there! It was so much fun and I wish I'd had a camera but my lithium batteries have tanked and I'm reluctant to replace them at $75 a shot. I already had to replace 1 battery + the charger after I left mine in a hostel in Budapest and now the camera is basically obsolete. Okay, I'm wiped out from training and circus school (STILL FUN!) and have to get up at 5:15am tomorrow....guhhh.

I'm really liking The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC. Maybe it's because his style and delivery are uniquely Canadian. I don't know. I just feel like I'm hanging out in his living room when I'm watching it. Great guests and content.