Just got my vacation approved for March! I'm going a little later this year with the idea that I might hit New Orleans on my way home for the French Quarter Festival April 7-10. We'll see how the month pans out.

Larry and Derek did a stand up race in N. Carolina - the Coldstroke Classic.  I had considered going until I found out that "Coldstroke" refers to the temperature and is not the name of a river or location. Larry came first and Derek second in their divisions so it was a successful trip for them. Some 100 people there in various divisions so it looked like a fun event. I think Larry even won some cash.

Ryan's still in Australia and I was briefly worried when I hadn't heard from him in a day or two. The last I'd heard, he was on his way to Brisbane but all of a sudden it was all over the news that there was massive flooding all over the area. It didn't help that youtube had tons of videos posted by locals.

Ryan was supposed to be there with Nuangi. She postponed her arrival for a few days and Ryan held off in the Gold Coast until the worst was over. Two days after the peak flooding, he went in, headed to the volunteer centre to sign up for cleanup duty. I'm not sure where he stayed the first couple of nights but that last time I talked to him, he'd just moved into Nuangi's apartment and the power had just been restored.

I'm home sick with the flu today so will take the time to back-post to catch up on the end of 2010.

Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of a snowplow rumbling up the street and the scraping of shovels on pavement. I could see through the skylight that the tree branches were covered in fluffy snow that continued to fall.
Shovelling the driveway seemed as good an excuse to rouse myself as any so I pulled on some clothes, ran the coffee maker and went outside. I was pretty proud of myself for getting out of bed before 11:00am. No lie, my life is good (as in "I do what I want").
It didn't take long before I was back in the house with my comfy clothes on, a latte in my hand and some Zeppelin playing while I read a book. Usually I'm hyper to get out of the house but given the weather, I was content.
Then Chrissy texted that she was in Port Credit buying skates, did we all want to go skating on the river. Can you think of a better way to spend a snowy day? It was the perfect suggestion. We got to the club shortly after 2:00pm and shovelled out the rink that the kids at the canoe club had made. Then we just kept shovelling. A half dozen guys had started creating another rink in front of the rowing club but when they saw us, they brought their shovels over and we created a huge rink. I haven't skated in 3 or 4 years so by the time we finished, I was ready to go home. It was perfect though, a little over an hour was just enough.

Because Mississauga doesn't pick up electronics like Toronto (you have to take them to the recycling depot yourself), Chrissy and Jeff came by to help me get it the monster mahogany tv off the curb. I'd put it out there in the hope that someone might want it but no dice. It was out there for a week, frozen, rained and snowed on. No one would think it still worked and I'm sure my neighbours were starting to hate me!

New Years Day, I caught a ride with Carrie and Attila to J.R. & Fanny's open house. So many people I haven't seen in a long time - the host & hostess, Mike & Barb S., Lara & Chris Diggs, Jodi B. etc etc. not to mention all their children, assorted relatives & neighbours.
Good times, good times. They had an amazing spread of food - JR had picked up a few hundred mussels and a giant wheel of Oka cheese on his trip through Quebec and Fanny had roast porks and assorted dips, sauces and appetizers. And POUTINE!! unbelievable. Perfect New Years day party, the kidlets were in the giant playroom downstairs, the guys gravitated to the deck (and the shucking table) and the rest of us wandered from one room to another. It was great reconnecting with so many friends.
Since I don't have any photos from the event, I'm posting JR's extranormal video Typical Windy Weekend.

Almost as good as a real dog...

I wouldn't say the holidays went by too quickly but that's probably because I didn't take any extra time off and continued to work through. We had a bunch of extra days off to make up for Remembrance Day and the fact that holidays fell on Saturday. The season fell a little flat for me what with our family getting smaller and Ryan being away in Australia but there were highlights that made up for that:
Pete and Sarah's Fake New Year party on Dec. 23rd. This is always a fun event. Low stress & well-attended...
It was so great to see everyone - some I haven't seen in ages; Sarah, Christina, Kris, Les, Tamas & Steph, Conor, PJ, Rachel E. as well as those I see all the time, Pete, Attila, Eve & Cliff... I didn't take any photos but I think Sarah took some so I'll harvest her fb photo albums...

I had cancelled out of christmas dinner, telling my sister I'd be heading up north for a few days of x-country. To make up for it, Laurel and Tara came down to Port Credit for lunch on christmas eve day. I had a low-grade UTI that I thought I could treat by eating loads of pineapple and drinking cranberry juice. (What? Too much info? It's my blog - you don't like it, go read the Huffington Post). As luck would have it, the infection escalated the morning of our lunch date. Do I cancel so I can go to my doctor's in Markham or a walk-in clinic before they close for 3 days or do I tough it out? If I cancelled on lunch, my sister would think it was personal so I toughed it out. I spent the next few days in a fog of abdominal pain and fever until Clarkson's walk-in clinic opened again on Monday.
In spite of that, I visited my Dad on Christmas morning and took some presents to our favourite nurses and the caregivers. Laurel and Tara were there too so we had some more laughs. My poor Dad. He's so used to absolute quiet - our giggling and chattering must make him crazy but he can't say anything.
On the way home I stopped at the big Shoppers in Port Credit, surprised it was open actually, and ran into Greg. Too funny. He was buying Tammy's present (it's okay, she knows the whole story). They had discussed not getting presents for each other but then she'd gotten him a bunch. He invited me to drop by after dinner which was super nice but I was looking forward to just getting home and lying down.

I'm giving Christmas a pass this year. To paraphrase the waitresses;

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I'll miss this one this year.

NEW ORLEANS!!!!WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
WOOO WOO  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

ALRIIIIIIIIIGHT YEAH.
aahaa oh yeah!

So last night I was pretty tired after my workout at Peter's. I ate a quick dinner and was in bed reading by 9:30. I couldn't settle though and out of the blue I started thinking about going to New Orleans on the weekend. I've never been there before but at 2,084kms distance, not a simple weekend destination.
I lay there for about an hour while I debated the crazy quotient. Telling myself on the one hand that adults shouldn't act on such impulse but on the other, remembering that the last time I felt so driven I joined a d-boat program at work. That led to sprint, outrigger, standup paddling and all kinds of life-quality goodness. So, important points made, I was wondering why there can't just be a significant sign to indicate the best decision...
Cue the computer - just as I was thinking that, I heard my computer boot up in the other room. This happens occassionally when the furnace starts or some other unexplained household vibration wakes the machine out of sleep mode but under the circumstances, I couldn't help but laugh. And I couldn't ignore it either. I finally got up, logged on and checked cheap flight webpages. I wasn't really surprised to see a seat sale - $197 direct flight to Nola. Not bad when compared to other flights that were double and triple the price with 1 or two connections. I started to book but cancelled when I saw there were approximately 80 seats still available. Telling myself to sleep on it - I could still book it in the morning -  I was about to go to bed but just couldn't let it go. I logged on again and when I saw that 20 seats had been snapped up in the past 5 minutes, I just gave up and booked it.

I'm so stoked for this trip! I'm staying in the French Quarter and, even though this is mostly a sightseeing and shopping trip, I've already narrowed down my evening entertainment through this insider breakdown of the local scene.

I'm hitting the boxes again, trying to shuck off the material baggage. At the moment, it's a stack of paper. On the top, some autographed pics from Adam starting with his 2003 Worlds silver and on. Then there's the cover of the Regina Sports section - our C4 winning at 2006 nationals (we've even signed one - Chrissy, Eve, Jess, me and coach Larry Cain). Further down is a bunch of newspapers I saved in 1980 - the death of John Lennon - then a couple of the Saturday supplement magazines from the Toronto Star. One is from Oct 13th 1979 and the other January 5th 1980. I don't think I saved them, I think they the just got packed up in some move and have travelled with me ever since. They're funny to go through though. The latter has an article about Canadian up-and-comers for 1980s. They were off the mark with names like Carling Bassett (12 yr old tennis protege), Martyn Burke (filmmaker) and Pointed Sticks ("We're not punk. We're a pop band for the '80s.") but they finally hit it right about then 15 year old Alex Baumann setting his sights on the 80 & 84 Olympics. Then there's the ad for the 'Ayds Reducing Plan - We've learned to take weight off and keep it off". A product that disappeared shortly after for obvious reasons.
I'll scan some of this stuff later but right now I have to stop procrastinating!

Wow, long time since the last post. I guess it's been a fairly busy time but mostly in a domestic way (read boring). The never-ending renovations continue but I hope to close the book on them/write the final cheque before the end of the year. I know I've said this before but I will NEVER hire someone to do renovations again. What I mean is, I will take a course in electrical, tiling, drywall or whatever needs doing and do it myself.
So in the interim, I've put most of my old furniture from my Markham days up for sale - first on a popular classifieds website, then in a yard sale. I was able to get rid of a ton of stuff and made about $1500! 
You just don't realize how much you accumulate. Each time I pulled something out of a storage space, it revealed 5 other things...
For example, I had a never-been-used double mattress & boxspring stored on its side in the cold room. Mike was buying it and as I hauled it out I found the headboard footboard, a rocking chair, antique singer sewing machine, two massive mirrors (6 ft) and assorted other household stuff that I didn't want or need. Although I got rid of quite a bit in the yard sale, I still have a garage full of furniture - wall unit, couch and chairs, coffee and end tables - and I'm starting to despair of ever getting them out of my life. And while I can finally get my Pathfinder back in the garage, I really want the other half empty too. I'm trying to decide on whether I should get a storage locker or just shift the stuff any way I can.
The house is upside down - it looks like I just moved in with boxes all over the place, framed pictures leaning up against walls and my standup board lying on the floor in the living room. It's becoming obvious that I can live without whatever's in those boxes and I think that's what's keeping me from opening them.

Hey, I know her!

Alyson was honored for exemplory service at a ceremony this past week. She received a weekend away at Deerhurst and an offer to let her "kiss the General" from that guy.
(I really hope his title is the General-something although I don't think that makes the offer any more appealing or appropriate)


Congratulations Alyson!!

I feel like I'm on vacation in my own town! Maybe it's the upside-down quality of my life - evanescence of our family, renovation chaos at my house, summer patterns disrupted by seasonal change or having a new toy - but whatever it is, I LIKE IT!
Saturday morning I bounced out of bed at 7:30am and was at the beach by 8. I remembered my camera this time and was setting up a self-timer shot when a woman (who looks exactly like Morty's mom) offered to take this photo of me. It really doesn't do justice to the sky that morning, the sunrise and clouds were spectacular. (and you might say that blows my theory about people on the lake not acting like water people but as it turns out, she and her husband are sailors, seven seas and all that, originally from Bermuda, so my theory stands.)
As before I paddled to the canoe club and got my outrigger for the return trip.

Well, it's officially an addiction. The sun can't rise early enough for me but I found some time before work this morning and got down to JD for a quick trip to the harbour and back on my board, not quite 5km. It was just rollers, a little foggy and cool but perfect paddling weather. I didn't want to come in, I was enjoying it so much.
I was tempted to go out on it again tonight but decided to test the rudder on my boat instead. It's working just fine and I enjoyed a steady 9km workout - straight out into the lake and back. With the air temperature dropping, the water feels pretty warm. I'd gone out in crop tights and a Craft long sleeve with a dryfit T over top but was peeling layers off before I passed the Ridgetown. The t-shirt was enough (yes, I kept the pants on.).
We took most of the docks out at the club cleanup last weekend. (when I say "we" that doesn't mean I actually helped with the lifting/removal. I was busy cleaning the showers and taking photos). When I came in from my workout, the newest crop of banti were standing around on the remaining 2 docks, squealing and talking and holding their boats on the water. They were completely oblivious to the fact that the athletes gathered around the ends of the dock were not an admiring audience and really just wanted to get off the water. It wasn't completely their fault - Dean was standing at the top talking to them. He'd say "girls move your boats" then immediately distract them with some useless task; "who left those seats/paddles/life jackets there? Go pick them up." and they'd leave their boats to scramble around on the dock. There aren't a lot of boys in this group - hey, with so many girls, maybe Missy can produce the next Carolyn Brunet.

That's our new head coach on the right, by the way. Derek's resignation, submitted shortly before CCA, became official when the athletes returned after the post-nationals break. Expect a lot of fall-out from this in the future. Kyle stepped in as interim head coach and a job posting appeared on canoe-kayak.ca sometime this week.

After I'd put my boat away I as joking around with Steph about her 'fat hand". She's seriously allergic to bee stings so when she got stung on the hand last week, it swelled up to blowfish size. I noted it had shrunk and asked her if she'd put her fat hand on a diet or was she worried about it being anorexic since it lost a ton of weight in a short time...etc. She pulled out her old standby, "Does anyone smell OLD, like decaying flesh and Bio-Oil?" I came back with something weak like, did she have to send her hand to fat hand camp but I was already defeated.
When I got home there was an email that Marisha was going to be on CBC's As It Happens. It was coincidentally 2 minutes to broadcast time. It's an interesting story that I meant to post here a couple of weeks ago. Instead I'll direct you to the programme's link for Thursday, September 30, 2010 , select "listen to part one" and advance to the 17:10 mark.

After the fiasco yesterday, I was determined to get out on the water tonight.
I rushed home from work. My heart sunk a little when I saw that the contractor was still at my house but he was just packing up. I told him right away that I was rushing to go paddling - I had a very small window of daylight - he's a pretty focused guy and I knew he's understand. He was awesome and just showed me the stuff he did today - varnished the stairs (don't go there, don't touch that), put up my beautiful new bathroom light fixture - while I ran around finding my gear. We chatted while I tied my board to the roof of the pathfinder.
I got to Jack Darling and it looked pretty good. I thought I might paddle to the club if conditions were right but once I got on the water I realized the chop was a little bigger than it looked from the parking lot. It was a fairly regular roll from the south, probably the smallest chop we'll get on the lake, so at least it was something I could work with. But once I was up on the board, I knew I wouldn't be paddling to the club. I angled out into the waves turned and rolled back in to the beach. I did that a few times until I got my legs under me. Then I worked on rolling back in and then turning back out into the chop. I thought about how if I had someone standing there coaching me, I'd be a lot more aggressive so I just got a lot more aggressive. I paddled out a lot further and on the next one I was watching how the board took the waves - and sliding off the back of most of them. I noted how on the bigger ones the nose of the competitor really submarines, (I'm going to have to get better at running on the board!). On the next loop I caught a couple of waves. The wind was starting to shift and come up a bit as a dark storm cloud moved in from the north. By then I'd been out there for 45' and was getting tired. I did two more runs out & back and then came in.
An older gentleman who had been sitting in the car with his wife in the parking lot the entire time got out while I was loading the board and asked me a few questions, commented on the weather. His wife just stayed in the car reading People magazine. Actually it's surprising the number of people who were just sitting down at the lake in their cars. It was such a pleasant way to spend the evening. At the club I'm always rushing...rig the boat, get on the water, put the boat away, get out of the club before they want to lock it up.
When I was done, I pulled on some warm clothes and walked down to the lake to see how the waves break in that bay. It's well protected from the stronger SW winds by the natural curve and the Petro Canada pier. But along the park there are a number of stone piers that break up the wave pattern. Also some sandbars. I don't think of it as my local beach yet but I know I will soon.

I seemed to make all the wrong decisions today; from what route I took to work to how I spent my leisure time afterwards.
It was raining all day today and as the temperature dropped, so did my enthusiasm about going for a paddle tonight. With the high winds, I self-encouraged by thinking about what a fun outrigger paddle it would be and headed to the canoe club. At least the rain had lightened up a bit.
You know those times when you're just feeling lethargic mentally and physically? That was me. But I rigged my boat and walked towards the dock. That's when it really started to pour!
Okay, so I have these flip flops that I've been meaning to get rid of for awhile. The bottoms are completely smooth and slip-slide on any slick, wet surface: e.g. the boat bay floors. Twice in the past couple of weeks I've sliced my toes up from sliding into something sharp as I skidded across that floor. SO PAINFUL.

Anyway,  I was super careful getting my gear. I walked carefully down the ramp to the dock and as I took the last step, I hit wet wood and goose poo and my legs went out from under me. The good news is I went straight down, landing on my butt. The bad news is, so did my boat. It bounced off my shoulder at impact and the rudder rammed straight into the (wooden) ramp.
I flipped my boat over on the dock and tried to straighten the rudder but it was bent into the hull and couldn't budge. I carried it back up to the top and inspected the damage. The paint was a little cracked but at least it hadn't punched up through the hull. It didn't take long to realize I couldn't do much with the rudder attached to the boat.

I removed it and took it up to the repair room. Tamas Sr. was out on the water so I was a little tentative as I tightened the pin into the vice grip and carefully bent it back to 90 degrees. No damage! I popped it back onto the boat...good as before. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go on the water anymore.

When I got home, I really just wanted to have a hot jacuzzi (yay for renovations) and go to bed but forced myself to go to SST for the circuit with Alyson & Chanda. No lie, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have gone. In fact, to make sure I didn't sit down on the couch, I left early and went to the New Balance store for some workout inspiration. I bought a new water bottle and some Hue toe socks (for dress shoes).

There must have been 17 people in the class - far too many for the space so it was a little frustrating. Then I bashed up my leg on the tire jumps (do a two-footed bunny hop into the centre of a tractor tire and immediately out again) when my shin caught on the tire and I hit the astroturf. Okay, there weren't 3 tires, only one but you get the idea.

Then buddy decided we would do suicide runs between circuits instead of rest, then we had to switch our first exercise for something else on the next round. Listen, that's not normally a big deal but this group has trouble remembering which exercise they just finished or who they're following. Anyway, I knew I was just cranky from my BAD DAY and struggled through. Of course I felt better after we were done. Still tired but at least the day ended on a positive.

Okay, I realize it's a photo of my OC-1 and not my new Bark board. I took the photo on Sunday after I paddled stand-up to Missy, then returned in my outrigger. I didn't remember my camera was in the car until I got back.

I had a weird night on Friday and only fell asleep around 6:45am. That blew my only window for paddling. The club clean-up was 9-12, I had to meet the contractor at my house to go over some stuff at noon and then K.C., Courtney and I were catching the 2:36 GO to meet Ryan at the TFC game.
The game was so fun. Let me qualify that, TFC lost but we still had a good time.

After the game K.C. and I hit Momiji for dinner. Court was going out so her dad came to pick her up there.

On Sunday morning, my eyes flew open at 7:45am. I made coffee, slurped down a few spoonfuls of yogurt and got into my paddling gear. I was at Jack Darling by 8:10.

The guys have told me that they're wearing wetsuits when they go on the lake. In spite of the warm air temps, I figured they must know what they're doing and pulled mine on over shorts and a Craft long sleeve. Within a few strokes I was BOILING. I'm still not sure if it was necessary. I guess if I'd gotten wiped out by a motorboat or went swimming I'd think differently but there was no one on the water and it was perfectly flat. An unbelieveable day.

As planned and mentioned above, I paddled my stand up board to the canoe club. About 1km into it, I realized I didn't have my leash. I'd been so excited about getting on the water I forgot it! But it's rare for the Peel marine unit to be out that early so I wasn't too concerned about getting a fine. Anyway, they're nice guys and don't often pull a Halton.

As I was coming into the harbour, I heard my name called from way up. I looked up and there was Chrissy on her fabulous, penthouse balcony. I waved my paddle and carried on, kind of distracted by fishing boats that were heading towards me. She yelled again and I realized she had her camera. I paused for a minute but was already drifting past the corner of the building and out of her sight. I hope she got a good shot!

The second I hit the dock at Missy, I stripped off the wet suit. What a relief - like running out of a sauna and jumping into cool water! I checked my gps and was surprised that it only took me slightly longer to paddle the distance than it did in my outrigger. Cool.

No one was at the club yet. I stowed my board in the back alley, by the club kayak paddles and rigged my boat. The oc paddle felt ridiculously light & short so I was awkward on the first few strokes, reaching way too high. But once I settled in, I felt I was paddling with more power and better technique. So it was a good decision - the switch up will be great cross-training for all disciplines.

When I got back to JD, I grabbed my thermos and camera from the car. One thing I've noticed - in places where people have a genuine connection to the water they live on/near, they'll approach me on the beach with questions about the boat or the sport in general. In Mississauga / Toronto, people will watch me from far away or leave the beach as I approach. I find it strange and sad that the majority of Torontonians feel no real affinity for this amazing body of water (14th largest lake in the world!). It was no different today - within seconds of pulling my boat onto the sand, I had the beach to myself.

Before loading my boat on the car, I enjoyed my coffee sitting on the beach just absorbing the reality that I'm pretty close to living my dream. It may not be the tropical location I ultimately hope for (read "warm water") but I'm close to the beach and have the equipment and gear to enjoy it fully. Now I just have to retire so I can do it whenever I want.

Record-setting 31 degrees today. Driving to work was difficult. I had my new Bark board on the roof of my car and each time I passed an opening where I could see the lake, I had the STRONGEST urge to drive to the beach and go for a paddle. I should have done it!
I think I may have had the perfect evening..
I was able to pick up a fanny-pack life jacket at West Marine so I don't have to wait to paddle on the lake (or worse, wear a regular pfd).
I came home and ate something, waiting for the 75km winds to die down and took my board for it's first paddle.
I genuinely love stand-up. I mean, you know how you try something new and it's fun but then you invest in all the gear, you may not be as driven or don't like it as much as you thought. Then the next year it's collecting dust in the garage? I love this sport.
Anyway, I paddled until it got dark and had a giant smile the entire time.
I came home and had eggplant parmesan, a glass of wine.
Weird Science was on tv.
Little Miss Sunshine was on tv.
I feel fine.
I can even ignore the giant QEW star I got in my windshield from an 18 wheeler at lunchtime.

Curse you Joe Fresh for ruining a favourite song by using it in a commercial. Nouvelle Vague's cover of Dancing With Myself.

The contractor cleaned up the house A LOT before they left last Friday. I'm actually reclaiming some of the living space beyond my bedroom! yay. There's still some stuff to finish but I think I'll actually have my house back to myself SOON.

It's been a long haul and it's not fun having strangers in the house all day. I asked them to take a few days off when my mom died but I wish it could have been a little longer. Although it didn't feel like grieving, I was tired all the time and there was no way to have the house to myself when I wanted it. Some days I'd go home and want to cry - having to face the mess, all my possessions packed in boxes... I just keep remindiing myself how much better it is than before and what it will mean if/when I decide to sell the house.

I don't mean to sound like my life is a drag. In all of this, I got a chance to try out stand up paddling. I love our community because everyone's so encouraging and ready to help. Mike H. got a bunch of boards together and met Courtney and me at the beach at Jack Darling one night. We paddled around the bay there, switching up boards and paddles. I came away from it so pumped and asking myself why I hadn't been standing on a board on Lake Ontario (or some other body or water) all my life! It's the perfect combination between surfing and paddling.

Having an SNL day.