Big congrats to the athletes and coaches for the club's performance at nationals! MCC may not have the numbers to populate every division but what we put on the water is quality!
I think the biggest bringer of points had to be our midget boys canoers. They did an amazing job, filling boats, lanes and the podium in midget, juvi and even senior (war) divisions! Nice work . Of course every other division had it's superstars - check the results for Friday and Saturday on padtrac.com

I was a bit of a waste-oid this weekend. Did quite a bit of paddling - well, until Sunday. Sometime during my Saturday afternoon paddle, I pulled something deep under my shoulderblade - it hurts to breath.

I should have known better, it's never a great paddle at that time of day on a sunny Saturday. There are so many big cruisers entering/leaving the harbour or cutting a line straight between Toronto and Port Dover that it's a constant bathtub wash no matter how far out you go. I didn't notice I had strained something until I woke up Sunday morning. I thought the strain would ease as I moved around so headed off to Memorial Park to meet up with some Barclay-Boyds and Budays.

I arrived a couple of minutes early and, as I made an uncomfortable loop around the playground, realized how out of place I looked without a child in tow. (Louise and I were laughing about it later - how I should have pulled out my camera and given mono-syllabic descriptions into my cell phone, just to complete the playground lurker image.) I was just about to go find a distant vantage point when I saw Louise and Jonathon lifting Mia and then Tristan out of the family SUV. Mia had been under the impression that the "Lynne" they were going to meet, was a new playmate.When she saw me crossing the playground, she said "Mummy, is she older than me?" Poor kid...play date let-down! Fortunately, Attila and Charlie found us a few minutes later. The guys took the girls out into the playground and that's the last we saw of them until they tired out.
Louise and I took Tristan in his stroller to a bench and got caught up. Tristan is such a sweetheart! I got a big smile right away and he's an equal mix between Louise & Jonathon - blonde haired and blue-eyed he looks more like Jonathon than Mia did as a baby.

Later that night, Carrie, Louise and I headed into Port Credit to check out the newly renovated Roc 'n Docs. It's nice and so great to finally have a rooftop patio in town. They have to shut down at 10pm because the area is residential but hopefully that will change.

So here's the scoop...Michael Bryant has hired a slick P.R. firm called Navigator to SPIN this incident. I'm picturing Ari Gold without the endearing qualities...
They're the ones digging up (irrelevent) dirt on the cyclist and dropping (irrelevent) information in news articles (social visits to Stornaway, that kind of thing).

Okay, I know it sounds old fashioned but... shame on Michael Bryant. Less than 48 hours after he killed a bike courier in a Yorkville, Saab vs bike altercation, the political spin machine is in action. But, as Christie Blatchford’s article pioints out "Details that suggest cyclist had been drinking may help former Ontario Attorney-General muster a solid legal defence – but is there room for a moral one?"

POP CULTURE

Disney buys Marvel Comics

I'm sad not being at CCA. The club is a ghost town.
Last year I was too involved with other stuff to even notice but this year, I'm feeling it. I paddled tonight and it was so weird with not even one paddler there. It was nice to see Tamlyn and Rory when I came in off the water though.
There was a straight south wind on the lake. Bathtub wash around the harbour but good once I got 3km out. I think the sailing club was doing big-boat lessons. There were three 20-30 foot sailboats doing big loops between Lakefront Promenade and the Ridgetown. I saw some collapsing sails and one looked like it was going to keel right over before it slowly righted itself. Everyone talked about how cold it is but I was wearing my same tank and shorts as always. The water definitely felt warmer so the air must have been cooler but it was comfortable.
All the fisherman were way out - in fact I didn't even catch sight of them until I crested the horizon line at 2.5 km. A beautiful night for a paddle.
When I got back to the club there was a group of boys and their parents waiting to go out in dragonboat. Well, the boys were waiting to go out in dragon boat. The parents were having happy hour up in the lounge. I'm not sure what the group was but there were some familiar faces running the program.
Wishing you guys great races and lots of fun at nationals. I'm going to try and make it up there for finals but it'll be tough. Even though Sherbrooke has an airport, there are no charters flying into it. I hear the course is pretty amazing - good viewpoints and deep lanes all the way across. I don't think we've ever had nationals ther (maybe just Trillium or Cloverleaf?). I heard as many strategies for junior and senior party as I did for race plans. I want to hear all the stories when you come home!

I was cleaning out various drawers and cubby holes around the house - it's ridiculous the amount of useless stuff I've accumulated - and came across some rhymes pencilled on a small notepad. Because some of it dated from when the band, Victims of Circumstance, was still getting together to jam every Sunday, I thought it was stuff I'd been working on.I usually kept that in my guitar case or with my other tabs.
One particular page had me wondering, "Did I write this? It's not terrible and with the right music could be quite good."
While I was typing this, I did a google search on a portion of the lyrics. Balls, it came up on a greeting card site. Oh well. I'll let you know if the one I actually did write, Gasoline Rainbows, ever gets picked up.

results for 200s

K1 Geoff Clarke - silver
K2 Geoff & Chris Mehak - silver
C1 Jared Trafford - silver
WK1 Tessa Oldershaw - bronze
C2 BenTardioli & Roland Varga -silver
wC2 Nina Doherty & Kaitlin Findlay -silver
WK2 Lizzy Bates & Tessa - bronze


Results for 1000s
K1 Chris Mehak - bronze
C1 Roland - silver
WC1 Rachel - gold
K2 - Rob Clarke & Jacob Sosna - silver
C2 - Chris & Dustin - silver
WC2 Nina & Kaitlin - bronze
K4 Nathan Barton, Geoff, Mehak & Jacob - bronze
IC4 Chris, Roland, Jared & Ben - silver

2 ks at Canada Games!

WC1 - Rachel Marcuson - gold
C2 - Dustin & Chris - silver
K1 Chris Mehak - silver
WK1 Lizzy Bates - bronze
K2 - Geoff Clarke & Nathan Barton - silver

Ontario has a good start at Canada Games. They're in first place so far with 93 medals - 36 gold, 29 silver and 28 bronze.
They're just heading into day two of the canoe/kayak events.

Day One - 500m
C1 Dustin Shaw - bronze
C2 Dustin & Chris Abbott - silver
WC2 Rachel Marcuson & Taylor Potts - silver
W IC4 Rachel, Taylor, Nina Doherty & Nicole Wong - bronze
K1 Chris Mehak - silver
WK1 Lizzy Bates - silver
K2 Rob Clarke & Jacob Sosna - silver
WK4 Lizzy, Cheyenne Farquharson, Mariane Fraser, Tessa Oldershaw - bronze

Ugh. Back to the awful cycle of plunking my big butt in my car to drive across the city to Centenary, just to plunk it down in a visitors chair in my mom's hospital room for the day and then drive back across the city to the liquor store so I can plunk my ass down in front of the television and self-medicate with Carmenere and pizza. I wish I were a better person but I'm not.

Got called to the hospital at 1:00pm - my mom this time. Difficulty breathing, non-responsive. I headed east since the ambulance hadn't arrived at the home yet but they'd call as soon as they knew where they were taking her. They called about 15 minutes later and said Scarborough General. Traffic from the west end was brutal - it took me over an hour to get there. When I went into the emergency and stood lost for a minute, I had a surreal moment - the wing is named after my brother-in-law. For a brief second, I thought I was losing it. (my sister later told me, yeah, Randall had the new wing built).

An amazing paramedic (didn't get his name, I should have) who was waiting with another patient asked if he could help me. I gave him my mom's name and he went looking for her. He looked all over emergency then came back and said she wasn't there but he'd call in to find out if anyone had picked her up and where they'd gone. Honestly, it has been my experience that the paramedics are the most compassionate, helpful people when you're in the hospital. He came back a few minutes later and told me someone had taken a resident from her nursing home to Centenary. As I sprinted back to the parking garage, I called Centenary (in my phone book since my dad's chemo there) and they confirmed that she had just been brought into emergency.
When I got there, I was relieved to see that she had good colour behind the oxygen mask. She was unconscious and struggling to breath though and the duty nurse was too busy to come talk right away. While Scarborough General had been fairly quiet, Centenary's emergency was full.
Finally she came over and explained that the nursing home said she had aspirated some food. No big surprise considering her parkinsons and the low level of care provided by nursing homes. The big concern now was rotting food in her lungs and the subsequent infection and/or pneumonia.
I had called my sister at the cottage and told her not to bother coming home right now. She had driven up to Muskoka last night, hitting Vaughan just about the same time as the tornado. She was already a ball of stress and there was nothing she could accomplish by jumping into her car and fighting cottage traffic for 3 hours just to watch my mom gulp air.
Okay, I'm not going to lie. The acute care wing was nasty. It smelled like poo and decay and there was some crazy guy who was clearly well known to the staff. He had driven himself in, and was claiming he didn't know who he was and that he was having hallucinations. He stared at me the entire time I was there - 6 hours. I was too worried about my mom to really notice but every once in awhile, as I got up to adjust her pillow or IV, I'd catch a glimpse of his glowering, mouth-breathing stare as he sat hunched, gripping the sides of his stretcher. It certainly added to my level of agitation. The staff just kept saying to him, " and you had your last drink when?" and he would say, "I haven't had a drink for 3 years.....okay, well I had one 3 weeks ago... no, it might have a been a few days ago." (rule of threes? Sooo, three hours? Three minutes??). I just couldn't deal, you know? So after I was sure my mom was living, I got back in my car and drove away. I just drove around the block - 401 to Markham south, east on Ellesmere to Neilson and back into another parking spot - but it made me feel better, more in control. I went back to the chair in Acute Care, pulled it close enough to hold my mom's hand in one of mine and got Explore magazine out of my purse to read with the other hand.

The doctor finally came around 7:00pm. As usual (I've been through this before with my dad) she tried to convince me that we shouldn't provide my mom with medical care, that she won't recover from this, quality of life, blah blah. Look, neither of them is actually conscious of the world around them. My mom hasn't recognized me since 2005 and has dementia. My dad is not mobile and we don't know his level of consciousness because he can't communicate. Four times they've told us my dad won't live more than a few hours and he's always recovered. If you ever have an aging parent who goes in the hospital, call me and I'll come provide support. They're (understandably) brutal but you don't have to buy what they're selling. They actually want you to withhold fluids and antiobiotics - basic care.
So, tests show my mom's blood is severely oxygen deprived, she can't breath without assistance and blood tests show there's an infection. I believe, and the doctor confirmed, that she must have had the infection before today. Again, she advised that the prognosis was not good and I should call my brother and sister home. After that, I tried to call my sister but I'm glad to say she didn't answer the phone. (my guess is she's already on her way back without knowing the above info).
Driving back to Port Credit, I couldn't face going home to an empty house and parked at the canoe club with an idea of checking out Buskerfest. I walked across the bridge but everything just felt like sawdust. I couldn't even force myself to hit up Burrito Boyz for some dinner. I went back to my car, drove to Schlockbuster and rented the most trivial movie I could find - St. Trinian's (indicator of my state of mind that I rented a movie intended for tweens).
I'm just about to drain my second glass of wine and fire up the dvd. I'm glad I have people to care about but caring about people can really f* you up.

So my car has been making a funny noise and the service light has been on for the past four days. It needs new tires and takes two quarts of oil every couple of weeks. I'm dropping it off at Riverside this afternoon but just for the sake of discussion, I dropped by the Volkswagon dealership to help myself decide whether I should end my relationship with the Nissan or stick it out. The fact that I've been divorced twice should give you an idea of how good I am at working on broken down relationships.

I had been thinking that a Mazda 3 would be the way to go but last week, I saw a VW convertible parked outside the rowing club. It wasn't a Cabriolet - something different - so I checked out the website. It's an EOS hardtop convertible. This was a good trip actually. My fear was I'd yield to the frustration of constant maintenance costs and make an impulse buy. Instead, I came away seeing the value of "a bird in the hand...".
The EOS, above, would run about $39K list or $650/mo lease. I even took a look at the Beetle convertible which is supercute (for a university student) and rolls in at 32k or $515./mo lease.
I was mulling all this over on my drive back to the garage for the report on my truck. It was completely possible that I'll save so much on gas it'll be worthwhile getting a dependable car. However, that's a lot of money for 4 tires and a couple of doors!
As it turns out, the noises I hear are a cracked manifold and a loose heat shield. Since the crack in the manifold seals itself up as the car warms up, it's not a dire issue and the mechanic feels it can wait until next year. The loose heat shield is, well, just a rattle. I can live with it. I did decide to put new tires on it but that's a minor cash output compared to a new car. So, I'm stuck with the Pathfinder for another year at least. Can't complain. It can carry my boat, store my junk and transport 5 adults on it's leather seats. Might as well get my money's worth!

Great crew, great shoot, great shot!

In other news, Duke chose worlds as the venue to propose marriage to his kayaker girlfriend from Hungary! For those who don't know her, here's her results from worlds.

The writing was on the wall for this one what with all the 200m races at trials but the IOC made the official announcement with a few lines on their website yesterday:

More women and fewer men will paddle at the 2012 London Olympics.
All men's 500-metre races will be switched to 200 metres; a women's 200-metre K1 race will be added, and the men's 500-metre canoe doubles (C2) race will be cut. Women will compete in five canoe and kayak events and men will compete in 11.
Peter Giles says the ICF has final say on which men's race will be dropped from the Olympic program. He insisted the federation will not decide the issue until December and besides, the IOC could reverse its decision. Men will certainly lose one Olympic event, Giles said, but it may not be the C2 500-metre race.
Giles said the IOC shortened the men's races to make them more explosive and exciting for television. He said Canada supports both the drive to create exciting television and the drive to include more women in elite sport, but not necessarily the move to eliminate a canoe race and to replace a team event with an individual event.
Scott Oldershaw refused to comment directly on the changes.
"We want to focus on this competition and what is happening here," he said, "so we are pretending we don't know what has happened."

Canada's doing great at World Championships in Halifax. Tamlyn's through to her semi - in fact, I think the whole team has gone through. GO Canada!

I had my first sleepless night in a long time. It was definitely one of those wide-awake and worried nights but not for anything specific. I woke up around 2am and was still lying there reading The Beckham Experiment at 5:45 so I got up and went to the club to paddle. I felt pretty good all morning, propped up by coffee, I supposed, but it's hellish now and I have to go into a meeting.
I had my doctor's appointment. His diagnosis - Dupuytren's contracture. While paddling has nothing to do with the cause, he's suggested wearing a glove when I paddle might cut down on aggravation. Hmmm. Yeah, I don't know about that. Anyway, I'm not thrilled about it but he said it probably won't affect me much for a few more years. Most commomly, the ring and baby fingers curl in toward the palm so it shouldn't interfere with my paddling or playing the guitar. At the worst, I may have to opt for surgery in a decade or so.
On my way back to work, I returned Karen's call. She said she's coming down to paddle K1 this afternoon so we're going out for dinner after practice. I guess I'll find out what's up with her and chief.

So...those of us stuck in Ontario have decided we've just hit that point in the year where it's difficult to stay motivated in training. Add to that what's happening out in Halifax - without us!!! Anyway, in spite of nice weather, it was pretty quiet at the club. Oh, except for the exchange students from Spain and France. They were sure having a good time out in the dbs!
Last night, the women's team practice for 90 minutes out on the lake. I couldn't believe that Jessica actually flew in from New York! Doug was her coach for the junior national team back in the day (when Blake was also on it). She sat with us at Jenn & Trent's wedding and Blake and I took turns telling her what a great crew we were and how we'd love to have her come out.
After practice we went out for a team building drink. Not all of us know each other but honestly, I mostly sat with people I already know. I heard some funny shit like Sheila K. thinks this team, which includes many former national team paddlers, was put together to challenge the current national team. Baahhaaaha. For sure Gavin thinks it too. Dumb bitches. I stayed at the bar later than I wanted to but it was a really fun time.
I've got an appointment tomorrow morning for Dr. McL. to look at this lump that's growing in the palm of my left hand. If not for Mark O. I might not even notice it. Naw, I would. I've had problems with my middle finger for several months and then the past couple of weeks a lump appeared and just started getting bigger. More than anything, I just want confirmation that it's nothing to worry about. It's on my top hand so I'm hoping it's just something caused by paddling but considering I'm finally changing sides after 15 years of paddling right, does that makes sense? The worry for me is it's not on a bony part of my hand, otherwise I'd just think it was a bone spur. Fingers crossed that's what it turns out to be.

Oh balls. I couldn't make a decision on what to do today;

A) drive to Welland to watch WODs
B) go for a paddle
C) go to the gym

so I ended up...

D) lying in bed, reading and drinking coffee.

Just now, when I decided that a paddle is what I really need, there was a loud bang of thunder and the sky has turned completely black! Even a squirrel who was in mid-scamper has frozen on a branch outside the stairway skylight. Now the rain is pelting down, there's continuous thunder and lightning and I guess I should be glad that I didn't leave 20 minutes earlier. Being caught out on the lake in a thunderstorm of this magnitude is heart-stopping. Worse than going to the beach after watching shark week.
I can't even catch up on computer stuff. I've too many photos stored on my harddrive to risk frying it so I'm shutting down for now.
ciao.

So I went down to the end of the road. No lightning but I did get this interesting shot of a cloud formation. The lights in the bottom right corner are on the pier at the Petro-Canada plant.



Immediately after this, a pure blue sky emerged from the clouds. I went for a paddle and just played in the waves. Lots of fun, especially since there were very few Sunday boaters.
Earlier in the day, I'd gotten a call from the gym I just joined. They wanted to know when I could come in for my "personal fitness assessment" so I said today! Now in my experience, personal fitness assessment really means, " when can we do our sales pitch for personal training" but I have to say - this one took 90 minutes and they made me work HARD. Needless to say, it's the first time I've actually pushed myself since I stopped training and, good god, I've really let myself go! If they had actually tried to sell a personal trainer at that moment, I might have signed up. However, it also reminded me of how much I love training so I am suitably motivated.
The reason for joining a new gym is simple. I've been at Revolution in Oakville which has been awesome. On the plus side, Larry, Chanda and Eve have also been there and we trained together. However, Eve broke her wrist, Chanda and Larry were coaching sports at school so by the end of last winter, I was mostly there on my own anyway. On the minus side, it's in the opposite direction from work so if I don't get there by 6:00am, it's barely time to do a proper workout, no one else in the group needs to get up that early (teachers bah!) and I stress about traffic on the QEW. Especially in the winter.
The new gym is about 3 minutes from my work, is bigger (more cardio equipment), has a pool and a ton of classes (cardio, pilates, yoga, spin, kick-boxing). Oh yeah and it's a 24 hour gym! And, the other thing I forgot, school board employees get a huge discount so I get all that for about $350 per year. I am so looking forward to missing rush hour traffic every morning and being able to run at lunch all winter long (on a treadmill). No shame there.

I am holding back posts on a lot of fun, exciting, important events recently - mainly because I want to write about them with the appropriate attention and consideration. So. I keep waiting for a rainy day or quiet time where I can be properly engaged and it's just not happening.
Even little things, like the sparrow that smashed into my screen door on Sunday and spent the better part of the day sitting on my front porch with the upper and lower parts of his beak pointing in different directions. I instantly turned into my 8 year old self, trying to save the poor thing. I crumbed up goldfish crackers (other crackers are available) which he couldn't possibly eat - although that was actually before I noticed his beak issue. Anyway I was frustrated at not being able to DO SOMETHING when I noticed around 12:30pm that his beak was normal again. He pooped on my front porch and then flew away.

Last night was off for everyone so when I got to the club it was empty except for the summer camp kids waiting for their parents. I was just dropping my stuff on the ground when someone came up behind me. Expecting it to be Helen telling me she would be locking the club, I was completely floored to turn around and find DUKE! I guess I shouldn't be so surprised considering worlds are coming up. He looks great, relaxed and happy. He and his girlfriend flew in Tuesday night and they'll be heading to the coast in a couple of days. After a quick catch-up (fb has made it unnecessary for a hardcore dish when someone has been away), we jumped into our respective boats and paddled away.
It was quiet on the lake after the long weekend. Only a few sailboats out and that guy who lives by Imperial Oil cruising around on his seadoo. Kind of a boring paddle actually. My GPS died as I was leaving the dock so I couldn't even use it for motivation.
Talked to Attila for a couple of minutes when I got back, he's covering Pete's outrigger groups while he's away. I may dog-sit Lola while they're at worlds. After he left the dock, I had to avoid that annoying french dber who was dragging Pete's boat trailer around the road so he could make a better parking spot for himself. He was already parked and had already unloaded his oc-1, he just wanted to leapfrog up the curb by 6 feet. Such a crétin.
I had a quick shower and then headed over to Rachel's for dinner. Kaylynne was already there when I arrived. She filled me in on what's new and I was fascinated by her dad's new project - bee-keeping. They actually have a hive in their backyard which will start producing honey next summer. Plus she knows all kinds of fun facts about bees, like.... honey made from rhododendrons can be toxic and might make you stoned and/or sick. There's documentation that so called "madness honey" was used to poison, then kill off invading armies a couple of times in the Black Sea area, once in 401 B.C. & again in Pompey in 69 B.C. Interesting!
Ryan and Corry from Burloak arrived shortly after I got there and then Jess after coaching db and K.C. after she finished training.
Rachel must have spent the entire day cooking! There were 3 or 4 different types of salads, seasoned meatballs in a peanut sauce (these were especially amazing and, note to Rache, I need the recipe), chicken in a cream sauce and for dessert, toffee bars and zucchini bread. She is a fantastic cook and could easily switch from Stevens to culinary school. Agh, we were so stuffed! Anyway, it was a great dinner party and we laughed a ton! When I left around 10:30, Rachel was putting together care packages of leftovers for the guys to take home.
I want to do this again at my place before everyone leaves for CCA. Hopefully we can fit it in.

Eve turned up on BlogTO's Street Style which is a Toronto version of the Sartorialist. You may recognize the photographer as well.

Real Turf for Real Madrid

Too bad it won’t last. The natural turf will be pulled up and discarded by Sunday. Only the TFC, Real Madrid and a couple of pro lacrosse teams will get to enjoy it. And of course the fans will enjoy watching a game where the ball that doesn't make freakish skids and bounces across the field.

Thursday - wind from the south-west. My expectations were pretty high for good waves but as I paddled out in bathtub chop around the harbour, I started to wonder. I could see Stringer way out in the distance, coming towards me and we passed when I was about 2km out. As he went by, he yelled "keep going another 2km - it gets a lot better". He was right.

Friday, more of the same. I noticed a wedding party having photos taken in Memorial Park. 4:30pm seems so early for a weekday wedding but I guess this is what couples are forced into by the overloaded wedding industry.
The police were out in their zodiac and they waved as they headed towards the harbour, intent on chasing down one of the fishing boats. I had some fun in the waves and after about 10 km, headed in. I could see the marine unit pulled up along the pier wall, surround by people. There were no boats around - what were they doing? I could make out the wedding party I'd seen earlier. Those bass-turds, I thought, they're giving them grief for taking photos without a permit...but no, as I got closer it became apparent that they were having their photos taken with the wedding party. The groomsmen were posed in the zodiac as I went by. Ah, such nice guys!

Saturday morning and the lake was like glass. I haven't done a steady paddle for a few days so did 14 km. On my way back in, I passed a couple groups in OC-4s. One of them was having serious steering issues but as I changed my trajectory to avoid them, they'd adjust theirs to match mine. I recognized a couple of dbers in the boat but not the steersman who insisted I admire their new OC-4. I was just like yeah, nice boat and kept paddling. Still don't know if he was just that bad at steering or if he confused me for one of their members.

After that I packed up the car and headed to Sutton where I spent a fantastic day with a friend.

Sunday. Kind of overcast and not nice. Marisha, Karen and I were trying to get together but Karen couldn't work it out. Marisha and I decided to go to Sherway instead. Four hours and a couple hundred dollars later and I was home with some new shorts. While we'd been in the mall/bunker, the weather had turned beautiful! I was going to go for a paddle but I didn't have my gear with me and it was already 6:30. I convinced myself that it would be too late by the time I ate something and ended up staying in watching the season one finale of True Blood.

Oh yeah, because of the recent implementation of the law to ban talking on a cell-phone while driving, there's been a lot of media focus on the dangers of texting while driving. Here's a situation where a text message diverted a potential tragedy (neither of us was driving at the time but that's beside the point).
On Saturday, I texted Marisha to find out if she'd heard back from Karen about getting together on Sunday. She texted back that she had not but was up for brunch. We decided to talk in the morning. The next day, she told me that if I hadn't texted, the house she was in may very well have gone up in flames.
Here's how it happened. She and Carmen had gone to some friends' for a bbq. She'd dropped her purse in the kitchen and they were sitting outside talking when she heard the text message beep of her phone. Apologizing for not turning it off, she went into the kitchen where she responded to my text.
"Guys", she said, "something's burning in the kitchen."
The host responded that the bbq was right outside the kitchen window and she was just smelling the smoke coming through the open window.
"No", she insisted, "this is definitely not food and it's really burning."
They couldn't see any smoke but as they moved around the kitchen, the smell got stronger. Suddenly the frame of a painting propped on top of some cupboards burst into flames. They had recently put the picture up there to see how it looked, directly under some halogen lights. They put out the fire and moved it away from the lights, exclaiming they had to invite the person who texted her over for dinner sometime. I feel completely removed from any responsibility (but will take the dinner invitation!).

Exterior Design


The first time I came across the concept of projecting large-scale images was in William Gibson's 1984 novel, Neuromancer. Gibson, who coined the term 'cyberspace', is a genius at forecasting our socio-technological future and I find his work fascinating. His description of future-Tokyo's polluted, overcast sky serving as a virtual television or the drug-addicted artist who is able to project holograms due to electronic implants may seem a stretch but are no less prescient. Besides, who doesn't love to see the theoretical become reality? Just ask William Shatner.

Some day, when every surface has become a veritable billboard, this type of image projection might be the bane of our existence. At the moment though, it's serious eye candy. No joke, working on this stuff at companies like The Electric Canvas or Urbanscreen would be my dream career.

Anyway, they've been busy. Check out some of these badass visuals... (more on their websites)

Ahhhh, super fun waves on the lake tonight - south west and gusty. Things flattened out the further you went so I pretty much stayed in a 2km radius around the harbour. Caught some great rides. And about time too! it's been flat or offshore for weeks now.

I got off the water around 6:30 and didn't feel like making the drive home between workouts so went to Starbucks and got a strawberry-banana Vivanno (their protein drink) and then hung out at the club until the Stonehookers practice. (yeah this joke never gets old. Under memo on my fee cheque I wrote $250 for hookers.)

Now I'm tired and haven't had dinner. So happy cleaning lady was here today. House is perfect!

I met Ryan at the club at 6:45 this morning to go for a paddle. It was humid but sunny. Lots of debris in the harbour from the heavy rainstorms. We did about 4 km on the lake, came in to see if Chris' group was there yet, then did 2km more on the river.



Afterwards, we went to Helen's for breakfast. Ran into Eve on her way to Starbucks - so pleased to see her wearing the Stonehookers t-shirt I made! It looks really great. She's writing a paper for a course she's taking so couldn't sit with us for very long.

Since Jared's coming by to install a NEW GARAGE DOOR OPENER (hooray!) we're just hanging out at my place going through some photos I found in that closet I cleaned out yesterday. So fun since most of them date from when Ryan was born. I also struck geek gold when I opened up a box containing original Star Wars figures plus a G.I. Joe plus E.T. with extendable neck. I tried to hold them hostage for cash but it was too cruel teasing the nerd my son instantly turned into when he saw them.

We definitely got the best of the day by hitting the water early! From then on it was fractured by rolling thunderstorms. Jared arrived during a break in one. He said that those light blinking on the back of the motor wasn't a reliable diagnostic tool so he wanted to take a look inside before replacing the unit. He opened it up and pulled out the plastic gear. It was split in half. I wouldn't be needing a new motor after all. On the one hand, I would be saving a couple hundred dollars but on the other, a new motor would have meant a keypad outside of the garage. That would've been handy for running or biking - I wouldn't have to take house keys.

Jared had the unit apart and repaired in minutes. And the door mechanism is so quiet now, I can't believe it! If you ever need an automatic garage door opener or repairs, let me know and I'll give you Jared's number.

I took the boys out to the Pump for lunch and then they both headed home (Jared with a pair of TFC tix in his pocket and Ryan with a carload of furniture, photos and action figures). I carried on with "operation clean-sweep" - my plan to remove anything from my house that I no longer need/use. I've decided to tackle it one floor at a time. Once everything's perfect on the top floor, I'll move to the main one. All that really needs doing there is hanging some pictures and maybe getting some more plants. Oh, and cleaning out the dreaded Tupperware cupboard - containers without lids, lids without containers, old margarine tubs and empty Classico sauce jars. I just need one or two containers and have hundreds! I'm looking forward to that!

The basement is the real nightmare. The spare bedroom down there is filled with old furniture, both mine, Adele's and my parent's. Actually, more space is taken up by boxes of photos than anything - several generations of Currys obsessed with cameras and photography! There are even Daguerreotypes in there. Exciting!

That's one of the reasons I don't want to just arbitrarily throw out these boxes. There's some pretty interesting stuff. I found an 1800-something deed to some land in Apsley, Ontario in one box and some really old photos of Mooneys Bay in Ottawa. You never know - there may be more with some canoeing going on.

Anyway, there's that room and then the laundry room. I want to set that area up as a silk screen studio so will need to get rid of the dismembered kitchen cabinets that the last owner installed and create a darkroom in the cold storage at the back. Those have been my hiding places for all kinds of junk, "out of sight...". Oh and then there's the crawl space. I completely forgot about that. It's full of boxes. Ugh. That floor is a whole winter project!

Good point. Look at what I found in Now Magazine's Letters section;

Rethinking garbage

I ride my bike back and forth to work in Toronto and pass two of the temporary garbage sites. At first, the smell of the garbage made me angry with striking city staff. Their labour action directly affected my bike ride along the lakeshore. My focus shifted to the garbage when I saw the piles growing higher.
The temporary dumps present the most visible evidence of our “use once and dispose” culture and, more importantly, of our “out of sight, out of mind” perception of garbage. The temporary dumping sites are an opportunity to educate people about how quickly we accumulate garbage.
We need to rethink what we do with our garbage and what viable alternatives exist. Education and action could be the good that come from having garbage dumps in our city parks.

Marisha Roman
Toronto

Marisha says they edited it some but was pleased it made print. She also received a personally signed letter in response from Dr. David Suzuki! Who says they don't listen to the little people?

A couple of videos I meant to post. Big fan of the Beastie Boys, big fan of the Tour (and Lance).



I had to remove the Lance video because I couldn't disable the autoplay feature. sorry about that.

mmmlah. My mouth is frozen. I've had some gradually increasing pain in a bottom right molar so called up the dentist and luckily got an appointment for first thing this morning. Love Harley! I was worried I'd need a root canal but it turns out a 20+ year old filling needed to be replaced. He did a fantastic, painless, job of removing the old metal filling and putting in a new white one. In at 8:00am, out by 9:30. And he's convinced me to go to Crossfit in Mississauga with him some Sunday.
The freezing is all in the back of my mouth so my tongue feels all swollen up. I imagine this is how someone with a peanut allergy feels when initially exposed. I don't mind this as much as freezing in the front where your whole face feels rubbery and coffee dribbles down your chin when you drink.
yeesh, the freezings starting to come out and it really hurts.

So, I found the online manual for my garage door opener. The LED error code on my unit indicates a logic board failure. I was hoping that reprogramming the remotes would do it but no...I actually have to purchase the part and climb a ladder. Stupid house falling apart! Anyway, at least it's something I can fix. Love the internet. I want to marry it so it can fix everything in my life.
It started pouring rain just as I left work tonight and there was a massive backup on the ramp from the 427 onto the QEW westbound. It took awhile to work my way down to and across the Lakeshore, plus it was still raining as I went by the club so I went home instead. Since I have Doug's practice at 8:00 I went early and did 8km on the lake. There was basically a line running south off the end of the Ridgetown - east side of the line, in the rain - west side of the line out of the rain. Weird.
When I came into the dock, Chris was just going out in the motorboat to coach masters, carrying a deli tray of finger sandwiches, like he'd just come from a conference or something. I didn't care, I was doing back-to-back practices without dinner - I took two and they were delicious (buttery!).
Blake came to practice tonight so both crews were on the water at the same time. Ours is starting to come together even though we were missing a few people. After practice I gave Eve the Stonehookers t-shirt and asked Chris to give Matt the Cleese. When I came out of the changeroom, Chris had Matt's shirt on and said he was keeping it. By the time I got home Matt had posted a protest on FB so I told him I'd print him a new one. If anyone's a fan of silly walks or stonehookers, let me know.

I got out on the water a couple of times today - late morning and afternoon. In the afternoon, I ran into Mike out in the harbour on his SUP. There was a lot of chop but he's rock solid on the board. We paddled in together but he went back out to try and catch a ride on boat wash as the fishermen and sailors packed it in for the day.

News item that granite counter tops may have come from contaminated sites. "The cancer comes from within". yeah the fear-mongerers were calling the item something like that.

Went up to Chapters for a semi-annual book-buying blowout. I think I'm set for the rest of the summer.

Garage door is not working. Can't figure out why. To the internet!

I spent the day at Model Citizen with Julian making screens and printing shirts. The weather wasn't outstanding so I don't feel like I missed anything. Besides, we were in the basement most of the time and never knew what was going on out of doors.

I did my usual thing of forgetting I needed 2 designs laser printed on paper until yesterday afternoon but I was going to the TFC game and couldn't do anything about it at the time. I always do this, ignore jobs I have to do until the last minute and then rush around trying to cobble something together. Somehow I always seem to get away with it. I'm starting to think I do it on purpose because I enjoy the challenge of proving I can pull it off.


So this morning at 9:30 I called a Kinkos on Hurontario to see if they could do a couple acetates on short notice. The girl who answered the phone wasn't sure but said to email the images and someone would call me back. Great! Now I just need to come up with some art.

Okay, keep it simple....simmmmmpulllll...simple. Simple, plain graphics that are eye catching. Got it - one I've always liked is the adaptor you put in a 45 record to play it on a regular turntable. Easy! One down, one to go. I had already started working on one of a stonehooker so cleaned that up and added some text. But then I came across some images of John Cleese doing his silly walk. I thought it would look amazing all strung together so did that too and sent them all off to Kinkos asking them to let me know if I could pick them up in half an hour.
I had to leave the house at 11:00 to get to Kensington Market in time but I still hadn't heard from Kinkos when I stepped out of the shower at 10:50. I was starting to stress a little - I couldn't just show up empty handed.

As I was heading out the door, Kinkos called. They'd received my images and could have them for me anytime. I asked them to increase the size to fill 8.5 x 11 sheets and print 2 acetates and 2 plain paper of each. This was actually going to work out! Yeah, I would be a little late but I would have something to work with.

Julian called just as I crossed Bathurst & Dundas. He was getting things setup so we were cool. (See what I mean? I should be more organized and definitely shouldn't get away with this stuff.) Julian had already made the frames so we just had to stretch the fabric screen, coat it with emulsion and set it in the darkroom to dry. By then it was 2:00 so we took a lunch break... at Big Fat Burritos, my favourite!

When we got back around 3:00, we positioned the artwork, exposed it on the light table for 11 minutes and then rinsed the screen, blasting out the image.

I'm really pleased with how my stuff turned out - especially considering how last minute it was. I never did print the 45 spindle but will save that for another time. Maybe for cushions or something.

One of the guys at work found a two-way radio on the road outside our office. He brought it in and now we're listening to the various conversations going on. This is better than reality tv. We suspect it might belong to one of the striking union members picketing at the Etobicoke Civic Centre across the road so they're trying to come up with a dialogue guaranteed to piss them off. Dorks.

Aw, Danielle's so sweet. I shot photos at her "before prom" party - no big deal - and tonight I find a thank you card in my locker with two really generous gift cards - for Starbucks and Pier 1. So not necessary (but I love both)!

Had a great day which disintegrated at the end when I got an email from a friend who'd received bad news. But tomorrow - sun is shining.

Arrived in Toronto around midnight last night. I had a nice little trip to Halifax for Jenn & Trent's wedding - what a great time we had!! - and now I'm hunched over my third bowl of coffee, filtering through the photos so I can get them up on fb for Jenn. I'm still in my housecoat and haven't even unpacked my bag except to get my camera.
There must have been a power outage over the weekend because all of my clocks are flashing 12...12...12... And even though it's only an hour's time difference, I had no idea what time it was when I woke up. By the time I found my phone and saw it was 7:35am, it was too late - I couldn't go back to sleep. Way too early for a day off!

Is Judith Hill the new Yoko Ono? Okay the comparison isn't exact (although closer than I realized - a quick google indicates she's also of Japanese decent) but it came to mind because of an old joke "What do crows and Yoko Ono have in common? They both make a horrible noise and live off dead beatles ."
Judith, if you don't know, is the backup singer turned featured artist who sang "Heal the World" at Jackson's memorial. While her singing isn't nearly as awful as Yoko's during the Plastic Ono Band days, it is not outstanding. And that's why I looked her up - how did such a mediocre vocalist come to such prominence at this epic event when she'd barely make the final 12 on American Idol? Good publicist? Clever agent? Some kind of family connection? Time will tell. Still, no good can come of launching your career off a dead icon's coffin.

Note: This doesn't reflect my opinion of Yoko Ono, just my generations. I was too young to have an opinion on her relationship with John Lennon and its effect on the Beatles but after seeing her exhibit at the AGO, I'm actually a fan of her art and the impact it had at the time. Definitely not a fan of her music. Here's a sample from their gig in Toronto in 1969;



It's so weird to see this in colour. They showed part of the concert on the news but we just had a black & white tv back then.

You know, I could swear there is stuff they only teach guys. Like today. I have a day off and decided to tackle those household jobs I've been putting off. There's a particular pile of laundry which I've moved from one spot to another just to avoid sorting and folding it. That needs doing. Also, I should hang the pictures that have been lounging around the house for years, leaning against walls at potential points of suspension, their little faces tilted up as I pass by, deliberately ignoring them. And I really need to attend to the rehabilitation of my lingerie drawer (okay, that job I don't really mind as it involves shopping and pretty things).
Anyway, the main job I set for myself today is replacing the washers on the leaking faucets in the two upstairs bathtubs. The one in my bedroom leaks so badly that I started using the main bathroom exclusively as soon as Kyle and Gavin moved out. Unfortunately, the main one has started leaking and I can't keep ignoring the fact that the washers need to be replaced.
It's not that it's a difficult job. In theory it's pretty simple; turn off the water at the main valve, remove the knob cover, unscrew the valve stem, remove the screw that holds the washer in place, flip over or replace the washer and return all to their original state. I've done it before in my old house (circa 1935) with no trouble. In this house though (built in 1984), the problem is that I can't loosen the valve stems. I've actually attacked the faucets a couple of times but I'm just not strong enough to budge the buggars. It's very frustrating knowing I'm just not strong enough to do something. And in the process I'm chewing up the fitting with the wrench.
Today I was determined to fix this once and for all. I'll spare you the details but after about an hour spent searching for tools and struggling with various parts of the fixtures, I successfully removed the valve stems in the bedroom faucets. As the screws holding the washers wouldn't budge, I wasted another 15 minutes trying to locate a vice grip before deciding to take the whole valve stem up to the Clarkson Home Hardware. Those guys are great and I thought they might be able to give me a hand getting the various pieces apart.
Did you know that for $5.99 you can just buy a whole new valve stem complete with washers that you can then just screw into place? I didn't. But I bet that guys know this. That little bit of knowledge would not only have saved me about an hour of work but I probably would have fixed the issue ages ago!

Results from 2009 Pan Ams in Rio. Canada finished with 23 medals (11 gold, 10 silver and two bronze).

1000m

K1 - 3rd Neil Lang
C1 - 3rd Cory Rublee
WK1 - 5th Marie-Pier Langlois
WC1 - 1st Mallorie Nicholson
K2 - 1st Neil Lang / Wesley Hammer
C2 - 5th Antoine Meunier / Dustin Shaw
WK2 - 2nd Hanna Vaughn / Tierra McLeod
K4 - 2nd Geoff Clarke / Hugues Fournel / Chris Mehak/ Phillipe Duschesneau
C2 - 1st Maria Vera Halavrezos / Jenna Marks

500m

K1 - 4th Wes Hammer
C1 - 2nd Cory Rublee
WK1 - 2nd Tiera Mcleod
WC1 - 1st Mallorie Nicholson
K2 - 1st Hugues Fournel / Chris Mehak
C2 - 2nd Dustin Shaw / Antoine Meunier
WK2 - 1st Nicole Brown / Marie-Pier Langlois
WC2 - 1st Jenna Marks / Maria Vera Halavrezos
WK4 - 2nd Erika Taras / Nicole Brown / Tiera Mcleod / Hannah Vaughan



200m

K1- 2nd Hugues Fournel
C1- 2nd Cory Rublee
WK1 - 1st Erika Taras
WC1 - 1st Mallorie Nicholson
C2 - 2nd Dustin Shaw / Antoine Meunier
WK2 - 1st Marie-Pier Langlois / Hannah Vaughan
WC2 - 1st Jenna Marks / Maria Vera Halavrezos
WK4 - 2nd Erika Taras / Nicole Brown / Tiera Mcleod / Hannah Vaughan

Whole lotta crazy...

Do you recognize this celebrity??

The massive purse was the giveaway for me because I just saw her itemizing it’s contents on TMZ like some 14 year old. I would never have believed this is Courtney Love if it hadn't been confirmed by Dlisted.
"You can never be too rich or too thin", my ass. This is what the ol' drugs will do to you kids.

Canada day.

Huh, I forgot it was coming and my only plan is to meet Doug and Stringer for a downwinder at 3:00pm. Don't know what to do with myself.
Coffee? check. Book? check.
To the couch!


I couldn't really lay on the couch for too long. I actually fell asleep for a bit but when I woke up, was desperate to get out of the house. I didn't feel like waiting until 3:00pm to paddle. I headed down to the club not knowing if it would be open or not. They have the Dominion Day regatta today - 125th anniversary, I believe. Anyway, with the city workers on strike, there are no ferries to Toronto Island so they moved the event to Welland.
I was in luck! Not only was the club open, it was busy. Jess and Del were just loading their boats onto the car, Pete had some clients, some dbers had set something on fire between us and the rowing club (okay it was a bbq). I put my car keys in my dry bag and headed out onto the lake - straight into a perfect south-west wind. Paddled out for 4km, rode waves back in for 2km, turn, repeat, turn, repeat. It was great. I came off the water, put my boat away, grabbed a Starbucks and then wandered over to the park where the annual PC CD festivities were happening.
After a walkaround town, I realized I was starving. Normally, that meant a stop at Burrito Boyz but I wasn't feeling it so stopped by the crazy-guy hot dog stand by the totem pole. As usual he was ranting on to no one (or possibly his dog) about politics, specifically the Quebec referendum. I just ignored him and tried not to make eye contact while I waited for my sausi-dog.
Walking back to my car, Chris pulled up. There was no parking anywhere near the club but since there were pylons put out for the club trailer, I just moved one enough to fit his van in. There was still a ton of room for both truck and trailer but Chris figured he'd be back in before they returned anyway.
I left those guys unloading their boats - I wasn't quite ready to go back on the water. I left my car there though and walked home. I'll probably head back around 6:00 for a leisurely evening paddle and don't want to fight for parking (I need my car since I can't carry my ama and iakos on my bike). Hopefully there'll be fireworks.

Around 5:30, I rode my bike back to the club. Chris Abbott was just leaving but there were still paddlers on the water so the club was open. Forgot to pack my GPS, watch and ipod but this was just going to be an easy paddle anyway. The lake had flattened out considerable since this afternoon but the wind was still from the south-south-west. I had checked the weather network and NOA websites but all they could tell me was that there would be thunderstorms sometime today. I could see thunderheads waaaay off in the distance - probably Chatham area but we all know how quickly a storm can move in. A much better gauge was the sailing regatta going on just off Lakeshore Promenade. I knew they'd head for the marina if there was any radio indication of an incoming squall. I just did a few km on the lake before the clouds moved in - I must be getting better at reading them, the rain hit just as I got to the dock.
There was a really good Neil Young cover band at the park so I took my time putting my boat away. As I stood up on the dock, I looked up the river and was presented with one of the most stunning scenes I've encountered - the sun and rain combined to create what looked like a trail of diamonds meandering up the river. Of course my first thought was "where's my camera" but I knew I could never capture this phenomenon. So I just stood there staring, creating a mental image. It was spectacular!

Rory, Darryl and Tamlyn were just leaving the club. Tamlyn was making fun of Rory for wearing maternity pants when she doesn't look at all pregnant yet. They were very stylish jeans, but she lifted her shirt and, yep, there was that ugly spandex panel. Too bad, because I was about to aske her where she got them. Anyway, I totally get why she's wearing them. The people around us are never aware of how "thick" a pregnant woman's waist gets before she gets the baby bump. I give her 2 weeks.

Now I'm at home listening to the neighbourhood fireworks and remembering how my dog used to tremble on any Victoria or Canada Day. Someone should create earplugs or headphones for dogs to protect them for the fireworks terrors - they'd make a fortune!

I'm always playing catch-up these days. And it's too bad because the day to day is the whole point of a journal.

So the summer has officially started, the weather was fantastic for our home regatta and db festival. Love the home regatta because it's a chance to catch up with everyone after a long winter. Plus, the distance is limited so races are a low-stress 180m or so. No one gets freaked out about this event. Well, no one but the starter apparently.

From all reports, she was an absolute cow - you probably know her, name rhymes with Dandy Hell, did db in the past and mom of a girl who used to kayak at our club. If you've figured out who it is, I know you're shaking your head thinking, "That figures. Why did they let her become an official?"

All of us accept bitchiness from a starter if conditions suck and the regatta's running way behind schedule but there was none of that on this day. In fact I think they were a few minutes ahead. But for whatever reason, many paddlers found themselves watching their race start without them - either as they paddled to the line or just as they turned to line up.
I was talking to a friend the next day - kayaker - and she told me that as she paddled up to the line in a K-4 with 3 midgets, she yelled, "we're coming, we were waiting for one of the kids to finish their last race." and Dandy Hell snarled back, "You're too late" and started the race. My (very vocal) friend who insists they were actually on time, yelled, "What are you doing? Do you think this is the fucking Olympics?" She cursed under her breath all the way back to the dock with the silent, quivering midgets. As they were getting out of the boat, she heard "Would the head coach of (rhymes with) Quest Mouge please report to the judge's station." over the speaker system.

They just gave them a warning but you can't help but marvel at how adults (especially a couple of alpha-females) can really mess up a good time for kids.

Other than that, it was a great regatta. The sun shone all day. I left early to go to see Jenn but you can see photos from the early part of the day here.
(sorry for all the pseudonyms, just don't want to expose my blog to random googlers)

The db festival was actually more fun and laid-back. I rode my bike over later in the day and wandered around socializing and taking photos.

I love this line from the Metronews Halifax article about Adam's injured ankle,

"Although van Koeverden won’t be available for the trials, Lake Banook will be crawling with Olympians on Saturday and Sunday..."

get the lowdown on what happened from the man himself at http://www.vankayak.com/

Michael Jackson in a coma in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering from cardiac arrest.

"Pop star Michael Jackson is in a coma after being rushed by ambulance to a Los Angeles-area hospital Thursday afternoon after suffering from cardiac arrest, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
Capt. Steve Ruda, an official with the Los Angeles Fire Department, told the Times that Jackson was not breathing when paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m.
The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper."

So, obviously when I posted that he was already dead. It was so shocking at first and then I thought, "What, did you think he'd live forever?" Really though, it's because we're the same age. And don't judge, I bet every one of you knows a celebrity who has the same zodiac sign or birth year as you. I'm about the same age as Madonna adn Michael Jackson. Imagine aspiring (or expiring) to those benchmarks!
Anyway, tonight at practice there were only 5 paddlers from Unbwogable so we decided to go to the bar. They figured the other paddlers didn't show up because;

A: in mourning for MJ
B: random thunderstorms across the GTA (but strangely, blue sky at Sunnyside)
C: they just couldn't be bothered. The 5 are convinced it's the end of Unbwogable.

We had a couple of drinks at Sunnyside, then I headed over to Marisha's (very, very late) and we immediately booted over to Hollywood on Queensway for Cori's "gatehouse" fundraiser. I bought the first round by way of apology.

Every year when school ends, there's a massive party at the end of my street in Rattray Marsh. It's held in this big clearing the kids call "The Cathedral". Generally, I don't hear any noise from the party, I just know it's happening because of the increased pedestrian and vehicular traffic on my dead-end street as soon as it gets dark. The police just busted up this year's bash and there are hundreds of teenagers crowding up my street. It's like a concert just let out!

Can't wait! Sam Roberts is playing at the waterfront festival. I'm just going to grab a burrito for dinner and stay at the club after my paddle. Also playing this weekend are 54-40 and Bruce Cockburn.
I have to go to Toronto Island this weekend (coaching a crew) but should be home by around noon on Saturday. Lots of time to wander around Port Credit and enjoy one of our biggest parties of the summer!

Danielle was out in the coach boat tonight and when the bantam K-4 tipped, she couldn't get there fast enough because the motorboat was filling up with water. They pulled it out onto the trailer where you could see that someone had punched a hole in the side, near the back. Kyle pointed out that it looks like an ice pick or awl and I have to agree. They'd taken shots all along the side of the boat - only punctured it through in one spot though. Maybe it's the same person who trashed my boat last year!? I'd love it if they figured out who that was.

blog-neglect.
Here's a quick overview of the past weekend (with photos pilfered from other people).

Jenn was home for a super-quick visit and wedding spa/tea/lounge party. I didn't realize how much I've missed her until I heard her voice! Why did we ever let her leave Toronto? I actually encouraged her! I think they should just skip Deline and move back to Toronto. At least I'll be in Halifax to see her and Trent get married!
(I'm hiding in the back of this pic because I was heading to the soccer game and had already changed out of my party clothes, into jeans and TFC t-shirt. It offended my sense of photo-symmetry - until I saw this. It's like the crazy lady next door stuck her face in at the last minute).


A new puppy has taken on the job of training Larry. Meet Finley: 14 weeks and very laid back by all reports. I'm envious but not enough to go out and get a dog.

Louise and Jonathon are returning to America. They'll be here for a visit during July. In these photos, they're taking a break from packing...remind me why you're leaving Repulse Bay? I know this is right outside your front door!

I've secured my tickets for the Real Madrid game here in Toronto in August.

Excellent.

Step one of plan to seduce Cristiano Rinaldo initiated.

Thanks for the comments and support from my last post. I know you completely understand what it's about.

I'm trying out all kinds of new things. Nothing has really clicked the way paddling did but it's an interesting social experiment. There's an unexpected negative side to being single past a certain age. I love the tennis and salsa lessons but there comes a time when it's difficult to progress without a regular partner. Rock climbing is also on the agenda but once I get past the initial instruction, I can't just show up at Rattlesnake Point with my gear and a warm smile... that would have worked 15 years ago but not anymore.

Okay, now I'm just making excuses. There are all kinds of groups looking for people to join them on excursions - rock-climbing, cycling, running, adventure racing. The irony is, I'm too busy at the moment to take up anything new. That'll all change in the next month as my language & dance classes plus one of my coaching commitments end.

Urgh...in terms of motivation and self-regard, I've hit, if not the bottom, the shelf before the bottom. The garden is all weedy, the garage and basement are stacked with furniture waiting to be put on Craigslist, car needs service, the showers in 2 bathrooms spray water everywhere because I never get around to replacing the washers, piles of laundry to fold... The doctor called, my last set of tests showed 'something' but I have put off making an appointment to run the tests again. okay, obviously those are all symptoms and not the real issue.
Anyway, tonight I have the flu so after an indifferent paddle, I skipped my Spanish class. I put on some sweats from 2001 (that barely fit anymore) and was pulling a Homer in front of the tv when I remembered that my car has been threatening to throw a rod for the past 1000km. If I don't put some oil in it, you're going to see me standing on the side of the highway with black smoke pouring out of the engine.
I pulled on a hoody, my black Canada one from 2004. Yep, I've resorted to wearing old, oversized sports clothes. And worse, it was black on black. The dreaded (almost) matching sweatsuit. Might as well just book my ride to Casino Rama now. I pulled my greasy hair into a ponytail and drove to the PetroCan in Clarkson. Tugging the hood up over my head, I pumped some gas before grabbing 3 quarts of 10w-30 from the rack. I tossed in a Reeses Peanut butter cup as I cashed out. What the hell? How is that going to help?
When I got home, I tried to figure out where the self-sabotage is coming from. The only conclusion is that my life has stagnated. I've got lots going on but at the end of the day it's just treading water. It's like I just left this room that was my life of training and racing and everything that entails and now I'm standing in the corridor - do I go forward, or back into that room. Neither option is completely heinous but I've become far too comfortable in the hallway... decision time... re-decorate or find a new room.

World Cup 3
200m & 500m finals

The K1 500m results haven't been posted so someone must be disputing them. They've even taken down the start list so I can't see who was in lane 4. They've forgotten to take down the finish line photo thogh and I can see why lane 4 might dispute this - it's really close. If you click on this for the bigger image, it still looks like Adam took silver though.

postscript note: Adam claimed silver




One report indicates that strong headwinds added about 10 seconds to everyone's times (which I haven't takent the time to post here - maybe later).

K1 200m
5th Richard Dober

W K1 200m
3rd Karen Furneaux

K2 200m
3rd Andrew Willows & Richard Dober

C2 200m
4th Paul Bryant & Pierre-luc Laliberte

K4 200m
7th Lyall, Connor, Shaun & Corey
8th Brady, Rhys, Angus & Chris

W K4 200m
3rd Kristin, Mylanie, Genny & Emilie
4th Trisa, Jillian, Una & Kia

C4 200m
3rd Gab, Andrew, Mark & Mark

C1 500m
1st Attila Vajda
6th Mark

C2 500m
2nd Gab & Andrew

W K4 500m
2nd Kristin, Genny, Emilie & Kia

A Finals

Women's K4 500m
Silver Kristen, Genny, Emilie & Kia

K1 1000m
1st SWE Anders
2nd AUS Ken
3rd ITA Max
4th CAN Adam

C1 1000m
1st HUN Attila
2nd UZB Vadim
3rd ROM Florin
4th CAN Mark
5th CAN Tom

C2 1000m
9th CAN Andrew & Gab

World cup # 3 Szeged, Hungary
Adam was sick earlier in this series and is now having some issues with his ribs.


In the heats, Adam was 1st (1000m, 500m) , Angus 1st (500m), Karen 1st (200m) & 5th (500m), Mark 4th (1000m) & 3rd (500m), Tom Hall 3rd (1000m) & 4th (500m) and, look at that, Duke was 3rd (1000m) & 5th (500m).

K1 200m Shaun 4th (heat 1)
Richard 3rd (heat 2)

K2 1000m Conor and Lyall 4th

K2 200m Andrew & Richard 1st

K4 1000m Rhys, Chris, Angus & Brady 3rd

K4 200m Brady, Rhys, Angus & Chris 5th (heat 1)
Lyall, Connor, Shaun & Corey 4th (heat 2)

K1 200m Una 6th
K1 500m Emilie 4th

K2 Tory & Trista 4th

K2 (200m) Tory & Emily 5th

K4 500m, both boats (Mylanie, Jill, Una and Emily) (heat 1)
(Kristin, Genny, Emilie & Kia) were 4th (heat 2)

C2 200m Paul and Pierre-Luc

World cup # 2 in Poznan, Poland

Adam won silver in the 500m and bronze in the 1000
Mark won silver in the 1000m

Mark and Gabriel were 1 & 2 in the C-1 5,000-metre race on Sunday

1st CAN Oldershaw 21:4.06
2nd CAN Beauchesne-Sevigny 21:07.94
3rd ROM Sergiu Cracium 21:30.07.

''I was happy to have Gabriel with me because we've been training partners almost all year,'' Oldershaw said. ''Everything went as planned. We got ahead together quickly and we were able to ride each other's wash and save energy. We had both been in races earlier in the day so that was important for us.''

''It was nice to come back from a messy 500-metre race (on Saturday).''
''My focus has been mainly on the 1,000 because it's early in the season and my speed isn't quite there yet. I got off to a great start and felt comfortable right up until the finish.''

I started dance classes last night - salsa to start. It's fun! This part is good because you don't need a partner. Since I don't have a guy, I'd have to pair up with a stranger or worse, a woman.
I'm not comfortable touching people, so that would make me very tense for dancing. I guess I'll have to do it at some point if I plan on going any further. The whole two women pairing up at dance class is a sad image, spinsters at holiday camps like the one in Dirty Dancing, the headgear girls dancing in Sixteen Candles. I'd prefer Long Duc Dong over that!

The class is a fair size - about 14 people - and there's only one couple. The rest are singles - pairs of girlfriends and random single guys. The instructor is pretty funny and pretty pregnant.

It's interesting, the women are fairly quick at picking up the steps but the guys are brutal. Seriously, it sounds mean but I give them full credit for signing up because this is so clearly a challenge for them. We only did a basic step last night - rock forward, tap right, rock back, tap left. Then we mixed it up by step left, tap together, step right, tap together. Trust me when I say it's as basic as it gets.


I think it's because women do step classes, aerobics, those kinds of workouts that help us with body-brain coordination. The guys were all over the map. And once she turned on the music? They lost it!
Anyway, totally fun - I wish I'd started up with these last winter when I wasn't doing anything at all. Right now I'm going downtown for the classes - right at Yonge and Bloor - but I think come the fall, I'll look for a studio closer to home.

I was up at the hospital again this morning. This is the first time Dad hasn't been sleeping when I've been there. I would normally just type "Dad was awake" but it's not really like that. His eyes are mostly open but there's no focus or recognition or response to my voice. He did respond to a cup of juice being put up to his lips but wouldn't open his mouth for some food - a spoonful of yogurt.
The doctor says he has two bacterial infections and indicates that his organs are shutting down. He has a collapsed lung, his skin breakdown is continuous anywhere there's an ulcer (several places) and, since they believe he's in almost continuous pain, are providing some relief from that. The doctor at one point suggested we stop providing him with food to allow him to "give up the ghost" but we declined on that for the most obvious reasons; we have no interest in starving our parent to death and also because taste seems to be the only sense left to him. Two weeks was the timeframe given last Wednesday. We've been hearing these sorts of proclamations for the past 3 or 4 years but this time, I think they may be right.

I was able to move a bookcase to the basement, the stacking shelves with glass covers, and start filling it up with books and my antique camera collection. I might finally be starting to get a handle on the overflow of furniture in my house. My problem is I'm too sentimental. I have boxes of old photos, my grandmother's rocking chair, assorted antique dressers and mirrors, not to mention my own furniture discarded and relegated to the garage in favour of newer stuff. Anyway, I hope some day to get over these attachments (why do I keep buying books and why do I have to keep every book ever read?), put it all up on Craig's list and make a fortune!

I cut the grass in the backyard. Okay, I say I cut the grass but it was mostly dandelions and wild rhubarb. anyway, from the second floor it looks like a nicely manicured lawn and that's the best I can expect for now.

I'm so glad I have my outrigger. It's a beautiful sunny day out there, just 15 degrees but that's nice for a paddle. I headed down to the club and ran into Eric Sziraki who was just putting his boat on the car. He's been visiting from his new home in Brisbane for the past month. Actually, I recognized the boat first as Kris' old one before realizing the guy using it was his brother. We chatted for a bit, their mom is doing pretty well. She recently had a couple of procedures to remove fluid from her lungs but things sounded very positive.

So happy I was able to fix my Garmin! It just stopped working one day for no apparent reason. I thought the battery was dead (dead-dead) but I've only had it for a year so did a quick search of the Garmin site and found a way to soft boot the unit and reconfigure the software. The first three times it worked fine as long as it was connected to the USB port but failed if I disconnected it. It just wouldn't power on. I decided to power it on while connected to the usb before I left the house so I could at least do the workout.

Fortunately, Chris A. showed up for practice or I wouldn't have gotten into the club. The lake was a little rough but mostly from boat traffic - I'd forgotten how many people get out on the lake on weekends! I stayed out for an hour and then headed back into the dock. I really didn't want to come in but frankly, I was just bored. I'd done a workout and didn't feel like just paddling around the river. My Garmin seems to be working fine now after doing a full recharge and workout.

Now I'm going to get a glass of wine and an apple and finish reading Russell Brand's autobiography. (I've a bit of a crush.)

Yesterday we got our new scarves for the TFC Lakeside Loyals. JP and Jeff had ordered them from a supplier in Poland and they were worth waiting for... don't you agree? (that's JP in the photo).

I met up with the guys at Clarkson station and we joined Toby & Brandon on the train. It started pouring rain as we walked from Exhibition to the Brazen Head but it had cleared up considerably by the time we walked back to the stadium. I met up with Ryan and Jason, a friend from UNB, in the stands.

The TFC online account manager is great - I can email my tickets to anyone before the game so we don't have to arrange to meet somewhere beforehand. I've left tix for people at the will-call before but they have to have photo ID and not everyone brings that to the game.

Anyway, we lost 2-0 to Chicago but as always, we had a good time.

Today, Karen and I had planned on doing OC-2 so I drove out to the Bay. The wind was unbelievable and when I got there told Kev there was no way we were going out. He was all disbelief and wanted to hear what Karen would say when she got back. She'd ridden the bike down to the beach to take a look at the lake. When she came in, she said exactly the same thing so we had to put up with Kevin's ridiculing us for being soft. Lucky for us, we just don't care. Instead, Karen made us a great brunch of french toast and fruit and we enjoyed just hanging around the table talking shit. We had to take another dose of ridicule when Kev saw two db paddlers out in one of the Fairport OC-2s, saying how we might have a chance of beating them - they were clearly inexperienced paddlers and barely moved in the 60km/hr headwind. Even when they turned around and had a tailwind, they were crawling along. It actually didn't seem safe for them to be out there considering the conditions and their inexperience.

This afternoon I'm home and lounging around on the couch. I feel like a beluga! Marisha called from the Q and invited me out for a beer but I passed. She had a masters swim meet this weekend and won a bronze (um, I'm a bad friend because I can't remember what it was in - the 50m backstroke maybe?) and some 4ths and 5ths. The oldest swimmer there was 100 and received a standing O during his race. Can you imagine? I could start swim training now and it would 50 years before I'd be racing in his age group! Ugh. I'll put off making a decision on that for now - I've got lots of time and may consider taking it up when I'm in my 80s.

back to the couch...I'm exhausted.

So Peter was out tooling around in his OC-1 yesterday morning when he saw something rather big perched on the trestle. He thought at first it was a pelican (one of those moments where your stored memories conflict with your geographic reality) but didn't have time for closer observation as it launched itself and plummeted straight into the water. He waited for it to surface and when it didn't, headed over to investigate.
When he got to the spot and looked into the water, he saw a head, a human head, just below the surface. He reached down and, grabbing it by the collar, hauled up a boy, unconscious and turning blue. Still holding him by the collar, he paddled to shore where two CN rail workers were scrambling down the bank to meet him.
They said they'd seen they guy behaving suspiciously and were just going to investigate when he disappeared over the side of the trestle. He'd left behind a gym bag filled with booze and a suicide note.
The guy came around quickly on shore but when he realized he was still alive, plugged his nose, closed his eyes tight and held his breath - apparently hoping to complete the suicide by self-suffocation. Comical under the circumstances. This was a better story than the usual paddler/rower finds body in river...

So wrong but still the only reason to watch SNL since the US election ended...(for now this is the only link that's showing this clip in Canada - sorry about the fat guy. You can fast forward to :30)