J.R. is our friend. About 2 months ago (we were at Pickering regatta), his 3 year old neice, Zoe Gottwald, saw their neighbour out cutting the grass with a riding lawn mower and ran out to say hi. He yelled to her to stop and hit the emergency cut-off but it was too late. Zoe's leg slid under the blade. Three years old.

She was airlifted to Sick Kids where they tried to save her leg. Unfortunately, it had to be amputated below the knee. She and her mom, Jason's sister Denise, have been living at Bloorview Rehab Centre and doing well.

Sick Kids is all about the children and the Roussels want to say thanks for all the amazing care Zoe received. They're hosting a golf tournament on September 9 - 12:30 shotgun start at CedarBrae Golf and Country Club to raise money for Sick Kids.  The money will help other children get to the same great care. The plan is to raise $25,000.00

Mark the date on your calendar and get a foursome together. They're also looking for prizes and hole sponsors. If you don't golf or can't make it, please consider a donation. There'll be a website up soon with more information and they'll be sending out invitations

Please Find Zoe Gottwald on facebook and become her friend. Look for the event on my profile and rsvp. They'll have links to the website and updates soon.

Feed the fish.

Getting comfortable makes me nervous. It's not that I crave drama and excitement but life in the suburbs is so homogeneous that I'm afraid of losing touch with reality. And if you don't have a handle on the real world, if you are too cozy and sheltered, it isn't long before you're peeking at the world from behind your curtains or jumping out to shake a fist at little kids and yelling, "Get off my lawn!".

I had to go see my lawyer in the King West & Dufferin area. I got there early so wandered around the neighbourhood. It was hot! 28-30 degrees. I headed east on Dufferin, past Lamport Stadium where a soccer team was running drills and looked like they might melt....or stroke out. Then I was into the hipified, 30-something haven of Liberty Village. Not so different from home, with lots of interesting shops, galleries & cafes and people who looked like me (or at least like me 25 years ago). I liked it here and was completely in my element.

Turning west, I crossed over Dufferin and headed into the McDonald's on the corner to use the washroom. It's completely different on the west side. Seedy, dirty strip plazas with quikky marts and cheque cashing services. In the washroom, there was a cleaning woman in heavy leather gloves carrying garbage bags from stall to stall, emptying those hygienic garbage disposal thingies you see in some places. She had them stacked on the toilets and advised me to not touch them or brush against the garbage bags already stacked along the wall. I was like, "Of course. Not a problem" but must have a had a weirded-out look on my face. She shook one of the bags. It made a plasticky, rattling sound and she said, "Yeah, not ladies paper products. These are all needles."
Apparently there's a bad drug problem in the area but the owner of this McD's won't admit it & won't hire a proper bio-hazard/needle removal company to deal with the junk. And since the employees aren't paid enough to patrol the bathrooms, it falls to the regular cleaner to deal with the fallout. She volunteers at some drug centre, she said, so is used to it.

She also filled me in on this anti-drug fun fact: if you don't want people shooting up in your bathroom, install blue lights. The user can't find a vein. And you know what? I googled it and she's right. Apparently it's a fairly common practice in european clubs.


After that enlightening chat, it was time to meet my lawyers. I've been waffling a bit but I've decided to pursue the lawsuit. At first I was saying, "I'd hoped to live my life without getting involved in any kind of litigation" but then remembered that I've been divorced twice.
Okay then, that ship has sailed so I might as well jump in with both feet.

Somewhere along the way my life has become so comfortable that I can be unsettled by the idea of suing someone or surprised that blue lighting isn't just a trend in club decor.  Here's the point... ease and complacency make us old.

It's not that I want to trip over junkies every time I leave my house or walk into an armed robbery at my local convenience store but if your day in and out is spent in Pleasantville, you become fearful of the possibility. And the network news does it's best to reinforce the impression that this is exactly what will happen if you step outside of your bubble. As time goes on, the bubble gets smaller and smaller until...well, see above about peeking out from behind your curtains.

It's hot in the city!

Here's an email representation of how the week at work is going;


Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 10:22 AM
To: ITS TechAlert
Subject: RE: Server issues

As a result of the partial power failure in the datacenter, several servers and appliances went down. Application owners; please verify for apps and/or contact me
Thanks Mike, Dmitriy, Yury, Foroozan, Zaki, Ernando, Munir and Joey for participating (directly and remotely) in this unscheduled Sunday event.

Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 2:38 PM
Subject: High Temperatures in Data Centre Require Systems to be Shut Down

Good afternoon,
The failure of one of the compressors on one of the A/C units for the Data Centre and the increased loading caused by the high outdoor temperatures has caused the remaining units to reduce their operating capacity by 50%. This is causing temperatures in the Data Centre to approach 100 degrees and may result in systems going into thermal failure.


Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 9:26 AMTo: ITS TechAlert
Subject: RE: datacenter shutdown, an update

SERVERS UP - 129
SERVERS DOWN – 164
DATACENTER room temp at 9.30am = 75F, 24C

Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 July-06-10 22:51
Subject: RE: datacenter shutdown, an update, July 6, 19.00h

Unfortunately, power interruption last night at 21.00h seems to have triggered AC unit C malfunction, as a result, the room temperature is now reaching 83F.

There are now 113 servers UP with 180 DOWN

Sent: July-06-10 13:54
Subject: RE: datacenter shutdown, an update

The room temperature is now (13.45h) 77F, slowly going up.
147 servers are UP
146 servers are DOWN


Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 7:01 AM
Subject: RE: datacenter shutdown, an update, July 7, 6.50h

At the present time, the temperature in the datacenter is 83F with very hot spots between racks.

Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 2:02 PM

To: ITS TechAlert
Subject: RE: datacenter shutdown, an update, July 7, 14.00h


Servers
UP = 162
DOWN = 131
Room temp, 75F

“The world makes up for all its follies and injustices by being damnably sentimental”
~~Thomas Henry Huxley


The first time I saw the video below, I dismissed it based on the saccharin nature of "glee" productions and Toto combined. I received it again the other day, on it's second or third circuit of the viral email world, but this time viewing it brought an unexpected rush of sentimentality.  I remembered an experience during my first time at camp which snowballed into memories from paddling which spawned this post that is so saccharin and sentimental you'll get a toothache just reading it.

The memory it sparked is from when my sister and I were sent to church camp. At 12, it was my first opportunity to be free of an overprotective and controlling mother. The church stuff was secondary and most of our time was spent outside. OUTSIDE!!  Canoeing, orienteering, swimming,  soccer, hiking, running, campfires! It was a candy store of new experiences and I loved it!
One night after dinner, the entire camp of 100 or so gathered in the lodge for a "pow wow". We sang songs, performed skits and fidgeted through the director's god talk.
At the end, one of our favourite counsellors (a laid back, long-haired, hippy-type) got up and turned out the lights. "We're going to create a rainstorm," he said, "using only our hands and feet." He insisted it would be exactly like the real thing but only if everyone invested in the idea and worked together. We would be amazed at what we created. Together. He promised.
As babies of the technology age and cynical tweens, my cabin-mates and I mouthed yeah rights at each other. How could you recreate such a BIG thing, a GOD thing, without masses of technical instruments and playback devices? Not possible!

Maybe you've done the rainstorm team building exercise before or heard of it. Either way you'll see the method of re-creation when you play the vid. It is stunning in it's simplicity.

I was floored by it. In that first brush of 100 pairs of hands my cynicism evaporated. We were creating a rainstorm. By the time we were bouncing off the wood floors as a counsellor strobed the overhead lights, we were the storm! It was indescribable, intoxicating. As we walked back to our cabins, I was quietly aware that some vital synthesis was taking place in my psyche.

It wasn't until my second viewing of this performance that I felt the thrum of a chord struck. My overwhelming attraction to paddling when I first tried it was no coincidence. The sense of success and exhilaration in the boat, when everyone's doing the right thing at the right time, is the same one I felt the night of the rainstorm.

I'm not sentimental in my everyday life but I've been so lucky in finding the sport, the club, the coaches, the teammates and crews I've been part of, that when it comes to paddling I'm a huge marshmallow. When you spend years with one group of people, honing your technique, skill set and timing, then use that in performances that are near-perfection, sentimentality is unavoidable. No surprise that team athletes relive past events, races, regattas and tours, stay in touch and support each other long after their glory days are over. It's when I think of our times together that things like this performance of Toto's Africa can bring my cynical and sarcastic self to its knees.

When you play the video, watch the individual faces, especially as the audience reacts to the first crack of thunder...they're not even a minute into the piece and each performer's contribution has been validated. They're aware of it's success, that it couldn't have happened without them. Front row, back row, in front of or to one side of the group - each performer is invested and aware of the whole, whether they're carrying the main melody or doo doo doohing in an undertone. They're equals and unselfconscious in the execution of their job. As they gain momentum, they increase in stature, they shine. Check out the percussionist who is so rocking this number.

I identify with them. With the look on their faces. Don't you?  While accepting their applause, a performer in the back row pats his neighbour on the back and she turns, nods her head in satisfaction. We nailed this.
Haven't you felt that partnership? Winning a race, finishing a project, having a baby? We made this! What a team!

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Look for something from your life in this and take a moment to wallow in it.

Sentimental? Damn right.